English as a second language We Are Different
Amusement Parks
An amusement park is an outdoor area with games, rides and shows. They are spread over a large area, often many square kilometers. Young and old visitors can enjoy many types of attractions. They can ride on roller coasters, go high up in the air in a Ferris wheel or ride on carousels. Amusement parks also offer restaurants and bars to eat and drink, as well as green areas with grass to sit down or relax.
Most amusement parks have a fixed location. Some of them are open all year round, others only during the warmer season. Today amusement parks have been replaced by theme parks. These places focus on a certain topic of history or natural life. The first theme park, Disneyland, opened in California in 1955.
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system in which private people, not the government, own and run companies. These companies compete with other companies for business. They decide what products they want to produce, how much they should cost and where to sell them. Companies do all these things in order to make profits for their owners. People who use their money to start companies or run companies are called capitalists.
Even though a pure form of capitalism does not exist and governments control the economy in some ways it remains the world’s most popular economic system. In the United States the government keeps itself out of the economy as far as possible but in some European countries economic control is much larger. Other names for capitalism are free-market economy or free enterprise.
Features of capitalism
In a capitalist system private households need goods. They buy these goods from the income that they have. Some households have more income than others. Sometimes only one member of a household has a job, at other times both husband and wife go to work. Then they have more money to buy goods. This is the demand side of the economy.
On the other side companies and businesses offer private households goods and services. They produce the goods that they think consumers will want to buy. To do this they need workers to produce these goods and services. This is the supply side of the economy.
Companies and households get together at markets. Here they exchange goods, services and jobs (labour). A market is a place where people buy and sell things. In a capitalist society the prices of goods, services and labour are determined by supply and demand. If a lot of people want to buy a certain product its price will go up. Products that are mass produced usually have low prices.
Jeans – History and Popularity of Great ClothesJeans have become one of the most worn pieces of clothing in the world. Everybody wears them, from the rural farmer to the urban lawyer and from models to housewives. But why have jeans become so popular. You’ll get many answers. For some people they look cool, for others jeans are simply comfortable. Jeans were first designed as durable trousers for farm workers and miners in the states of the American west. A Nevada tailor, Jacob Davis, had the idea of using copper bolts at the corner of the pockets to make them stronger. They became popular instantly and soon many people bought them. Although Davis knew that he had a great product which many people wanted to buy, he didn’t have the money to patent it. He asked Levi Strauss, who supplied him with cloth, to help him out. The two worked together and started making jeans out of denim, which was more comfortable and could be easily stretched. It also became softer as it got older. They were dyed with indigo because it did not go through the cloth like other dyes do. At first jeans were worn only by workers, especially in factories. In the eastern part of the US jeans were hardly worn at all. They were associated with rural people and the working class. But when rich easterners went on holidays to escape everyday life they often put on jeans. James Dean and Marlon Brando made them popular in movies and everyone wanted to wear them. Jeans became a symbol of the youth rebellion during the 1950s and 1960s. College students started to wear them as a protest against the Vietnam War and the establishment. The new trousers were banned in American schools and sometimes in theatres and cinemas. As time went on jeans became more acceptable and today they are worn not only as casual clothes but also at formal events. Other countries quickly started to get accustomed to wearing jeans too. American servicemen on duty in Europe and Japan often wore them when they were not on duty to show that they were Americans. The trousers showed the world a happier way of life, something that people needed, especially after what they had endured in World War II. Jeans were also worn because they made people equal. You could afford them and they couldn’t be torn so easily. They had practical advantages as well. They didn’t need to be washed as often as other trousers and women didn’t need to iron them. This became more important as more and more women started working and had less time for housework. Today jeans are an essential part of our lives. They are almost always washed a few times before being sold to give them their faded appearance.
------------------
Acceptable = good enough, all right
Accustomed = to get used to
Advantage = good side
Afford = to have enough money to buy something
Although = while
Appearance = how something looks
Associate = connect, link
Ban = forbid
Bolt = a metal piece used to hold things together
Casual = relaxed
Cloth = material used for making clothes
Clothing = clothes, outfit
Copper = soft reddish brown metal
Denim = strong cotton cloth
Durable = strong; hard-wearing
Dye = color
Endure = to go through
Equal = the same
Escape = get away from
Especially = above all
Essential = very important
Establishment = group of people who have a lot of power in a country
Fade = lose color
Formal = official
Hardly = not very much
Indigo = dark blue color
Instantly = at once
Iron = to make clothes smooth and flat
Lawyer = a person who has studied law
Miner = a person who works mostly underground and digs minerals out of the earth
On duty = to work
Patent = to get the rights to produce something
Popular = liked by many
Practical = useful
Rural = country side
Serviceman = member of the army
Stretch = to make flexible
Supply = sell
Tailor = someone who makes clothes
Tear – tore- torn = break
Urban = from the city
Smart TVs - Television and the Internet
More and more television manufacturers are producing Smart TVs. Although they differ in some ways most of them use the same technology. Smart TVs can be connected to the internet using a setup box ,.. and click link below for more
ادامه مطلب ... صفحه قبل 1 صفحه بعد آخرین مطالب ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() آرشيو وبلاگ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() نويسندگان موضوعات ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() پيوندها ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
![]() |
|||
![]() |