Диалоги на английском языке с переводом (уровень Intermediate). № 86. Тема: Навыки овладения языком.

Which woman…

(1) prefers to dress formally? D
(2) looks like the rest of her colleagues? C
(3) wants to change the clothes she wears? B
(4) would like other people to change the way they dress? D
(5) is not interested in clothes? C
(6) thinks she might spend too much on clothes? A
(7) takes a long time to decide what to wear? B
(8) thinks clothes make an important statement? A

A I love dressing up and putting on a show, especially at weekends when I go out with my friends. Taking the trouble to look good shows that you care about yourself and where you are going and who you are with. I certainly appreciate it when friends have put a bit of thought into what they're wearing. I want to look good in my friends' company and vice versa. Of course, buying cool trendy clothes doesn't come cheap and I have to make other sacrifices in my life but I don't regret it, except when the credit card bill comes at the end of the month, of course!

B A recurrent nightmare of mine is that I'm late for a date and I haven't got anything to wear. Everything I try on has a hole in it or is far too small. Then the doorbell rings and if I'm lucky I wake up. I'm not much better in reality, to be honest. I can't make my mind up until I've emptied the contents of my wardrobe and drawers onto the floor several times over. I guess fundamentally I'm fed up with my style. I hang out with a new crowd these days and because they've got a bit more money than me I sometimes feel a bit frumpy. I can't wait till the sales. I'm going to blow all my savings!

C I must admit, clothes are not exactly an absorbing passion of mine. I tend not to notice what anyone else is wearing either. I remember thinking during my interview that I wouldn't have a problem fitting in here. It's all very egalitarian - not a power-dresser in sight. You would definitely call the style 'casual' - anything goes really. In that sense it's a good reflection of the way people here think. Having said that, there is an almost global uniformity. Nobody wants to stick out from the crowd, I suppose. That might bother some people but not me. I'm only too happy to blend in with the rest of them.

D When I first came to work here many years ago, there was quite a strict dress code. There was no question of us getting away with jeans and the like. It worked well in my opinion because people knew what to expect. Then slowly over the years standards slipped and nowadays the only dress code is a voluntary one. The problem with that is that the boundary between what is and what is not acceptable has become blurred. Some people dress down to such an extent that it has become an issue for a number of people. I'm all in favour of adopting a more prescriptive code with clearer guidelines.