News Exercise #27

First, please watch this news video from BBC, then answer the questions below.

1) She was older than usual student – what word did she use to explain this?
2) How serious was she about women’s liberation when she was a student? (She used a word to describe this)
3) What did she dislike about Miss World?
4) From 1:36, what was the mood of the women involved in this demonstration?
5) How did they ensure that nobody would suspect their reason for attending?
6) It is very common to use an impersonal pronoun even though the meaning is personal (“I”) – can you find an example of this?
7) Why did the demonstration start earlier than planned?
8) How did they feel after the demonstration?
9) Finally, how did she explain what the practical result of this was?

Answers:
1) She was a ‘mature student’.
2) “I was ‘immersed’ in the activities of the Women’s Liberation Movement.”
3) She felt there was ‘injustice’ in women being judged by their looks, their bodies.
4) “There was a sense of exhilaration and excitement that we were making a mark.”
5) “We dressed up. We wanted to fit into the audience, so we went in with our handbags and our… looking good.”
6) At 2:28 she says “You felt, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got to do this’, you know, you felt terrified.” She meant “I” or perhaps “we” but she said “you”.
7) The woman with the rattle (which was to be the signal) got so angry at the sexist jokes of the show presenter Bob Hope, that she couldn’t wait.
8) “We were exhilarated by the demonstration and exhilarated by its success, and astonished at how successful it had been.”
9) She dais that it was “consciousness-raising” and that it had left its mark.