UNIT 8 – The generation gap

UNIT 8

THE GENERATION GAP

A The generation gap – does it exist? B Appreciate what you have C Fashion through the decades

In this unit, you will

a. read, listen and talk about • what people think about the generation gap • problems of the young • how important wealth is • fashion

b. practise • reported speech - statements and questions • sequence of tenses • negative prefixes • phrasal verbs with bring • making suggestions

114 LEAD-IN

1 Read the following quotations about the generation gap. What do you think they mean?

• A boy becomes an adult three years before his parents think he does, and about two years after he thinks he does. ~ Lewis B. Hershey • Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. ~ George Orwell • You can tell a child is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and starts refusing to say where he is going. ~Author unknown

2 Before you read the text discuss these questions in pairs.

1. How do you understand the term generation gap? 2. Do you believe that barriers between generations really exist? 3. Have you ever felt that older people don't understand you or your problems? 4. What sorts of things might cause an argument between you and your parents? Name them.