English Unlimited HTL 3, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

100 Unit 8: Fiction and reality t5uw3k Goals relate a conversation talk about truth and lies summarise what people say find out news about people you know write a brochure Gossip How many people have you talked to today? Did you talk about any of these topics? a VOCABULARY 1 Verbs of communication Now read a fact file about gossip. Check your ideas from 3a. b e truth about gossip  Primarily, gossip allows people to develop and maintain a sense of community, which can relieve stress.  Two-thirds of all human conversation is about social topics: who is doing what with whom; how to deal with di cult social situations; the behaviour, relationships and problems of family, friends, partners, colleagues and neighbours.  Men gossip for just as long and about the same subjects as women, but they tend to talk more about themselves.  Men are more likely to gossip with work colleagues, partners and female friends, while women gossip more with same-sex friends and family.  Mobile phones have increased the amount of time people gossip in general.  irty-three percent of men gossip on their mobiles every day or almost every day, com- pared with twenty-six percent of women.  Only about ve percent of gossip-time is devoted to criticism and negative evaluation of others. Discuss the questions. 1 How much do you gossip? Who with? 2 Do you gossip on your mobile phone? How often? 4 3 What kinds of things do you gossip about? 4 Do you think gossiping is a good or bad thing? Why? How often do you do these things? Do you remember the last time? Example: When we walk to school, we often gossip about people we know. Do you think these sentences are true (T) or false (F)? T F 1 Gossiping can be good for you. 2 More than half of what people talk about is gossip. 3 Women gossip a lot more than men. 4 People gossip more now that they have mobile phones. 5 Most gossip involves being critical of others. b a READING 3 Listen to conversations A–G and match them with the topics above. Listen again. In which conversation do people: TCD 2/17 b a 2 friends politics the weather your plans today work / school a problem something that frightened or shocked you 1 complain 2 boast about something 3 argue or someone? 4 gossip 5 whisper 6 scream something? 7 shout Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv