Lang 8.2. Lucky findings: word contexts

Lang  8.2. Lucky findings: word contexts                                     level 3-4-5                 20-30 min

GOAL. To have all the luck at identifying collocations.  

LEAD IN.  Read the visible collocations.

We know several items or happenings are considered lucky or unlucky depending on where you were brought up. A black cat crossing one's path  is taken as an unfortunate event in many places (i.e. Catalonia) but it is believed a lucky stroke in Great Britain. If you go through a period when you are down on your luck perhaps it is good to know the bright side of a lucky break.

TASK1. Read this passage and underline three examples of  favourable auspices in China.

Luck  and  numbers  in  China.

For the Chinese, numbers are not just for counting things or money – there is a meaning or two behind the figures. Numbers can be lucky or unlucky, and in most cases this division is made based on how the word sounds when pronounced. Due to the nature of Chinese language there are lots of homonyms. Many Chinese words are pronounced the same, or sound almost alike, although they have totally different meanings.

The classic representative of fortunate Chinese numbers is the number eight - the luckiest of all lucky numbers. Eight is bā in Chinese, and it comes close to the word fā, which carries the meaning of “becoming rich”,  fā cái. There are stories about extremists, who have paid literally millions of yuans to get bank accounts with numerous eights. In order to get totally convinced about the importance of bā: it is NOT a coincidence, that the Beijing Olympic games are to start on year 2008, August the 8th at 8 pm.

If eight is known to be the most auspicious number, at the other end of fortune is four, considered as the most unlucky of them all. This is due to the fact that four, sì , sounds scarily enough like the word sĭ,  death.    

                   [source       www.radio86.co.uk/explore-learn/learn-chinese/988/the-lucky-number-eight ]

TASK 2. There are some  items in the list below. Sort them out with seven L or  six U according to lucky (L) or unlucky (U) events.

...... Stepping on a crack                      ...... Finding a coin with heads facing up    

...... Putting shoes on a table               ......  Horseshoes       

 ..... Breaking a mirror                          ..... Spilling over salt    

 ..... A rabbit's foot                                .....   Walking underneath a ladder    

..... A shooting star in the sky               ...... Crossing one's fingers 

....  Four-leaf clovers                             ....   Replying "thank you" to someone wishing good luck   

..... The number 7

TASK 3. Copy five unlucky happenings with their respective ominous correlations.

1 - Doing ..........................................  would cause your mother's back to break.

2-    ..............................................  will bring a seven years streak of bad luck.

3-    ........................................................... was the last action of a condemned man.

4-     The demon will take the remains of ....................................  and will be appeased.

5-    You will be making a perilous calling of bad luck  if you are .................................... 

 

TASK 4. Read these starting lines in the piece of news ans answer the questions below.

The luck of the Irish

SURELY no other country in the rich world has seen its image change so fast. Fifteen years ago  Ireland was deemed an economic failure, a country that after years of mismanagement was suffering from an awful cocktail of high unemployment, slow growth, high inflation, heavy taxation and towering public debts. Yet within a few years it had become the Celtic Tiger, a rare example of a developed country with a growth record to match East Asia's, as well as enviably low unemployment...

source:  The Economist (oct 14^th 2004

Q1. Would you consider the information positive? .................................................................................

Q2. What does the title suggest?          a) good luck    b) changes in luck     c)  difficult to tell    

TASK 5. Copy 9 expressions in bold type related to be in luck or be out of luck you.

Good  luck……………………………………………………………….……………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……

Bad luck   ………………………………………………………….……………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….......

 WS-VOC.8.2  Lucky findings  (a.k.a. Some people have all the luck.)                         KEY

TASK1. Underline three examples of auspicious luck in China.  See second paragraph:

a)     bā  sounds close to fā  as in  ‘becoming rich’,  fā cái.

b)     extremists have paid literally millions of yuans to get bank accounts with numerous eights.

c)     it is NOT a coincidence, that the Beijing Olympic games are to start on year 2008, August the 8th at 8 pm.

TASK 2. Seven lucky events (L):                                        

Finding a coin with heads facing up  /  Horseshoes  /   A rabbit's foot     /  . A shooting star in the sky    /   Crossing one's fingers / ..... Four-leaf clovers /    The number 7

Six unlucky (U) events.

Stepping on a crack   /      Putting shoes on a table /   Breaking a mirror     /   Spilling over salt    /       Walking underneath a ladder    Replying "thank you" to someone wishing good luck 

TASK3.

1- Stepping on a crack (doing so would cause your mother's back to break; rhymed as "step on a crack, break your mother's back")

2- Breaking a mirror (seven years bad luck)

3- Walking underneath a ladder (when being hanged, the condemned man would often be made to pass underneath a ladder before climbing it and onto the gallows)

4- Spilling over salt (dates to when salt was more precious than gold, if one spilt some it was believed to mean that a demon was trying to steal one's salt, but by appeasing it with a little salt over the left shoulder, the demon would leave)

5- Putting shoes on a table. In the UK, this is considered to bring extremely bad luck, traditionally the death of a person in the house. This is sometimes specified to only be unlucky when new shoes are put on a table

Task 4. Q1. It seems it must be positive. “Fifteen years ago Ireland was deemed an economic failure, ... Yet within a few years it had become a rare example of a developed country with a growth record, as well as enviably low unemployment...”

Q2.   c) and perhaps both (see working sheet 8.4)

TASK 5. Be in luck : happenings are considered lucky, believed a lucky stroke, the bright side of a lucky break, favourable auspices

Be out of luck : taken as an unfortunate event, a period when you are down on your luck, sounds scarily enough, unlucky happenings with their respective ominous correlations, a seven years streak of bad luck, perilous calling of bad luck