Episode 110 B

EPISODE 110
LEVEL B2

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

MEN’S WORLD                                                             

For the last 30 years we have been told that the war of the sexes is over and that women now have equal rights with men. To try to prove this, some have pointed to the way in which women have reached the highest offices. In the traditionally male-dominated world of sport, women have also made great progress. However, several recent news stories have highlighted (to attract attention to or emphasize something important) the fact that women are still being discriminated against ( to treat a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their skin colour, sex, sexuality) in all areas. Women earn on average 30% less than men and in many companies there is a glass ceiling (a point after which you cannot go, usually in improving your position at work) , preventing women from getting top jobs. Evidence also suggests that women do more than their fair share (to have a lot or more than enough of something bad) of the work in the home. Women have today the burden ( something difficult or unpleasant that you have to deal with or worry about) of having to go out and fight for their rights in the workplace. 

Sadly, despite the success of women like the Scottish kick-boxers, sexism is also still alive and well in sport. The unofficial world women’s lightweight (to have a heaviness of a stated amount, or to measure the heaviness of an object) boxing champion is today waiting to hear whether the British Board of Control will allow her to continue her career. The BBBC is deciding if women boxers will be allowed to box officially  or if they will have to remain in the shadowy (someone or something about which little is known) world  of unofficial boxing. 

 

EXERCISE 1

Match the question halves, then answer them.

1. Is there any glass a. dominated in your field?
2. Are women discriminated b. shadowy as it seems in other countries?
3. Is the sports world so c. ceiling in your company?
4. Are top positions male d. against in your country?

 

ENGLISH IN USE  

 

Lets’ revise Passive Voice

Passive voice structures are mainly created by using the verb BE + III form of the verb (past participle).

 

EXERCISE 2

1. Millions of dollars (spend) ______________________ in Las Vegas every month.
2. My jacket (clean) __________________________ recently.
3. I hate (interrupt) _____________________________.
4. (Fire) _________________________, he applied for another job.
5. 10 million bicycles ___________________ (sell) in the world every year.
6. More and more pollution ___________________________ (produce) by the factory.
7. All the questions must (answer) _____________________ in English.
8. About half of the world’s gold ________________________ (produce) in South Africa.
9. When I saw his pictures I could not help (impress) ________________________.
10. The final of the Football World Cup __________________________ (never play) in Asia.

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A WIN’S A WIN AND NOW WE’RE WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF MAN UNITED ( = near enough to reach ar attack sb)

WE’RE OUT OF THE RUNNING FOR (= HAVE NO CHANCE OF BEING SUCCESSFUL) THE LEAGUE NOW. I THINK OUR MANAGER’S LOST THE PLOT (=no longer understand the situation or how to deal with it)

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

I THOUGHT WE EASED OFF (= try less hard) AND LET THEM OFF THE HOOK ( = allow sb to get out of a difficult situation) IN THE SECOND HALF.

 

WE HAD TO DIG DEEP (= use all your effort) BUT WE FOUGHT BACK (= work hard to achieve or oppose sth) WELL IN THE SECOND HALF.

 

EXERCISE 3 

Decide if you are pleased or unhappy with your team:

1. We dug deep
2. We let them off the hook
3. We lost the plot
4. We are in the running
5. We fought back
6. We are within striking distance

 

NEWS

 

PAY INEQUALITY IN SPORT

 

“College and professional sports continue to provide unequal funding for women. Paying men more for the same sport gives women in the sport less incentive to push themselves and discourages future female participation in the sport.

• Even though female students comprise 57% of college student populations, female athletes received only 43% of participation opportunities which is 56,110 fewer participation opportunities than their male counterparts. 
• Although the gap has narrowed, male athletes still receive 55% of college athletic scholarship dollars, leaving only 45% to be allocated to women. 
• Women’s teams receive only 38% of college sport operating dollars and 33% of college athletic team recruitment spending. 
• In NCAA Division I-A, head coaches for women’s teams receive an average salary of $850,400 while head coaches for men’s teams average $1,783,100. This is a difference of $932,700. 

• When Jelena Prokopcuka won the New York City Marathon in both 2005 and 2006 she became the sixth woman in the history of the race to achieve this feat. Both years the women’s winner took home $100,000 plus a bonus of $30,000, equaling the largest purse in marathon history.”

GLOSSARY 

– incentive = something that encourages a person to do something
– comprise = to have as parts or members, or to be those parts or members
– counterparts = a person or thing that has the same purpose as another one in a different place or organization
– to narrow = to become less
– purse = an amount of money that is offered as a prize in a sports competition

 

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