I Read the article and answer your teacher’s questions.

THE FIRST WOMAN IN BUSINESS David Evance

At the start of the twentieth century the idea of women in business seemed crazy. In those days men held all the positions of power and made all the decisions about money. They believed that a woman` s place was at home, looking after her children, cooking for her family and managing the house. If a woman needed to work she could perhaps find a job in a shop or in a factory, but she had no chance of working as a businesswoman or a banker, or a lawyer.

Women` s fashions in the USA and Europe at that time supported their position in society. Fashionable women wore long dresses that almost touched the ground. This made it difficult for them to drive a car, ride a horse or even walk quickly.

But many women were not happy with their position in society, and they didn’t like the clothes they had to wear. One of those people was a French woman called Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. When she went into business in 1910, she planned to change clothes that women wore. But over the next sixty years she did much more than that, as she became the richest and the most successful businesswoman.

Coco Chanel had no experience of business when she opened her first hat shop in Paris in 1910. She was only twenty-seven years old and she came from an ordinary family.  Many of Coco`s customers in her first shop were her young women friends. They loved the simple but beautiful hats and dresses that Coco made for them, and soon her shop started to do well. (1181)

 

 

 

II Read the text and say how football has changed in the course of time. Speak about the most popular sports in Britain.

About Football 5minute ENGLISH

People have played games like football for thousands of years.

In ancient China they played a special game for the emperor's birthday. Soldiers kicked balls made of animal skin into a net between two posts. These posts were ten metres high.

In the Pacific Islands they played games using hands and feet. They used coconuts and oranges as balls.

In the Nineteenth Century football began to be played in English public schools. The public schools were very expensive private schools attended by the sons of the rich and powerful.

The headmasters of three schools - Rugby, Eton and Harrow – began to develop new versions of football. The game became less violent, less dangerous and easier to control. It became a game for young gentlemen.

 

 

 

 

III Speak to your teacher. You begin the conversation.

 

You’re on an excursion abroad. You’ve got lost in a city. Ask a passer-by how you can get to the hotel you’re staying at; which is the fastest and the most convenient means of the city transport, how long it will take you to get to the hotel.