Choosing gifts for hosts is rather difficult. And people can be very sensitive, especially if they don't realize things are different in other countries. Take flowers for example. One of the most difficult presents is flowers. In some countries, like France or Germany, they cannot offer an even number of flowers. Five, seven, or nine roses are fine, but not six, eight or ten. An even number of flowers is considered bad luck. The other thing is the colour of the roses. People think of red roses as a symbol of passion in many countries. They give red roses to their loved ones, so they're not appropriate in a business context. There can be other problems with colours. Yellow and white for instance. And sometimes the kind of flowers. So, if you're giving flowers it's a good idea to stick to pink roses, or something like that.
In many countries knives of any kind are not suitable gifts. They can mean "cutting friendship", or something like that.
Shoes and boots can also be difficult. The American President once took a pair of black leather cowboy boots to the Chinese Premier as a gift. There was a terrible silence. And that's because the Chinese think that the sole of your foot is the dirtiest part of the human body.
Be careful with alcohol. A bottle of good whisky is acceptable in America, or in a European country. But obviously absolutely not in the Arab world. Something in silver, like a photograph frame or a tray, especially if it is engraved, is always acceptable or a good pen. Usually a clock is okay, except older Chinese people who sometimes think it's a sign of bad luck. And of course, chocolates, especially if they come from a well-known store like Foster and Massons.
| Country | Present | Reason | |
| Positive | Negative | ||
| alcohol | |||
| flowers | pink colour | red, yellow | |
| European countries | sweets | ||
| knives | |||
| Nearly all countries | |||
| China | traditions |
b) Now read the text about receiving, giving and packing gifts. Are these things so important? Why? Divide into pairs and discuss with your partner cultural differences in packing, receiving and giving presents.
The way you give or receive a present is very important in some countries. In Britain or America you usually open your present in front of the person who gave it to you. And you make all sorts of exclamations, like "Oh how nice", "How lovely".
Well, in Japan you don't do that. You never open the present in front of the giver. In fact, present giving is very-discreet. In many countries the way you wrap up the present in beautiful paper and ribbon is as important as the object itself.
In some countries it is more polite to send flowers after a dinner party than to arrive with them. And finally, be careful what you admire in the Middle East. If you admire a beautiful object, your host may just pick it up and offer it to you.
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Unit 4
Environmental Pollution
Vocabulary list
environment
pollution
discharge
to cause
detriment
pollutants
impact
waste
to spew
Answer the questions using the vocabulary list and words in the box.
1) What do you think about our environment?
2) Think of some reasons explaining why our environment is getting worse.
| To pollute, hard to breathe, damage, release, to protect tress, to take care, to preserve a healthy and clean environment, not to pollute with, to keep clean, to collect rubbish(), to affect harmfully, waste from chemical plant, to influence harmfully, to preserve the purity of water, to turn the land into desert, to recycle ( ), to purify (), to reduce(), to remove () plants from the city, green zones, must be, create, noise. |
