VIP Class Notes (Lily) [S/R]

Vocabulary

1. firecracker= 烟花
ex: We are not allowed to set off firecrackers in Shanghai.

2. LGBT= Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
ex: Nowadays, people are more open to LGBT.

3. piercings= 洞（身体）
ex: do you have your ear pierced?
ex: how many piercings do you have?

4. breach (verb)= violate
ex: if you breach the code, the company can fire you.

5. swelling= 肿胀的
swollen (adj)
ex: Her face is swelling because she just pulled her wisdom teeth. 智齿
ex: My feet are swollen at night.

6. wisdom teeth= 智齿
ex: Only 5% of the people don’t have wisdom teeth.
ex: I got my wisdom teeth pulled before I reached 18.

I think I could cook a New Year Eve’s dinner for my family at home. During the home holiday, I would take some time to visit my grandpa, maybe I would take my son together. I’m not at work, so I’m not aware of the holiday. As usual, we will stay at home, and enjoy the new year gathering and enjoy some traditional food. When I was a child, I always look forward to CNY, and we can play the firecrackers. I remember during the whole night for the New Year’s Eve, you cannot sleep because it’s too noise. When I grow up, the spring festival is just a long holiday for me, which I can take a rest and go traveling. The airplane ticket is very expensive during the holiday.

Revised

I think I would cook a New Year Eve’s dinner for my family at home. During the whole holiday, I would take some time to visit my grandpa, maybe I would take my son to go together. I’m not working at the moment/ yet, so I’m not aware of the holiday. As usual, we will stay at home, and enjoy the new year gathering with some traditional food. When I was a child, I always looked forward to CNY, and we could play the firecrackers. I remember I couldn’t fall asleep during the New Year’s Eve, you cannot sleep because it was too noisy. As I grew up, the spring festival is just a long holiday for me, which I can take a rest and go traveling. The airplane ticket is very expensive during the holiday.

Do you have any tattoos? I don’t. I’ve never been brave enough to go under the needle. But if you do have one, you are not alone. According to a report by Experian, the number of tattoo parlours in Britain increased by 173% between 2004 and 2014. Tattoos have always been controversial – personally and culturally. Some people love them and some hate them. So, are they good or bad?

These days, one in five people in the UK has some ink– whether it’s a commemorative date, a sleeve or a full body suit. What’s responsible for this rise in popularity? “You see a lot of celebrities getting tattooed,” says Lee Clements of the British Tattoo Artist Association speaking on BBC radio. As a result, people want to copy them or it becomes a fashion thing – certain tattoos become a trend.

Employers have become more accepting of visible tats too. Last year, London’s Metropolitan Police relaxed a ban on recruiting candidates with visible body art. And earlier this year, Air New Zealand said it would end a ban on body art to allow workers to express their individuality and cultural heritage.

That said, not all employers would agree. Grace, 28, told the BBC that she had been offered jobs in sales, which were then withdrawn when employers saw her hand tattoo. “It feels like having a tattoo is not socially acceptable,” she says. “Having a tattoo does not amount to a protected characteristic,” remarks Susan Harris, legal director at the GMB union, a UK trade union. This means a person can be dismissed for having one if it breaches the employer’s dress code– except on religious grounds.

And let’s not forget the risk of infection. At present anyone in the UK can set up a parlour and offer procedures without proper training, a report from the Royal Society for Public Health says. They note that just under 20% of those tattooed experience negative side effects, including swelling, burning or a skin infection.