Opportunities

Who does most of the shopping in your household? The answer will almost certainly be the women. I don't just mean shopping for household needs but shopping in the way most women understand it: an activity we do for pleasure.

Daniel Miller, professor of anthropology at University College, has conducted a study of shopping and written a book, “Theory of Shopping”. His research shows that the differences between men and women are very strong in this area. For women, shopping is often a kind of therapy, a hobby, while men don't believe in shopping and see shopping as a feminine activity.

But shopping has its darker sides as we learned this week with news of the suicides of two shopaholics. Trudi Susyn killed herself after the therapy to help her with her addiction failed. She had been spending as much as ?7,000 per week on clothes, shoes and beauty products. Masimi Dawson, a single mother, hanged herself after it was discovered that she had been stealing money at work to pay her shopping debts.

Do tragedies like these show that women are really crazy about material things? Miller believes that most women don't shop to satisfy their own needs alone. He thinks that in our culture shopping is one of the main ways of expressing love. Most of the shopping women do is for others. 'In contemporary English families, love holds the whole thing together but it's not talked about. Love is expressed by paying attention to what others want. If you buy your partner the coloured underpants he's always wanted, or you buy your child the right health food, you show that you care about that person. This is the essence of contemporary love; understanding what the other person is about, doing things for them or buying things for them, not because it's your duty but because you understand them.

(p.44 ex.1) -ing and -ed adjectives Circle the correct adjective.

Last week I went to a party. For the first hour I was , but then I started to talk to people and dance. I was really ! It was a really party! I met a lot of people. I talked to a girl who was very in dangerous sports like parachuting. There was one person there who was not very . He talked about his motorbike for half an hour. But then I listened to some rock music and danced again. Some time after midnight I got and went home.

(p.46 ex.2) Complete the text. Use all, none, both, neither, another, other, the other or the second.

Paula and Maria are financial dealers, but of them are millionaires. They work long hours. I usually get to work about 7.30 and all people in my office get there before 8.15,' says Paula. 'You have to start early. of Maria's colleagues get to work later than 8.00,' she adds. 'I usually start the day by reading my emails because of my customers do business by computer, so I need to read and answer my emails as quickly as possible. thing I do is check if prices are up or down. After that I do things, for example talk to customers on the phone, write reports or go to meetings. thing I have to do is visit customers, but I usually do that in the afternoon. I work in London, but we have office in Manchester and I go to office once a week. If I'm lucky I finish work about 7pm’. After a long, tiring day, Maria nor Paula do very much in the evening and they go to bed early.