Not Eating in Hollywood

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• body image
• self esteem
• role model
• off the top of my head

• leading ladies
• side effect
• speed
• skin and bone

• I guess
• crank

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

How do Hollywood’s leading ladies stay so thin?

A recent article in W Magazine reports that a number of Hollywood’s young actresses are taking a little pill to stay thin. The drug is Adderall, commonly prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Adderall helps the mind focus. But one side effect is loss of appetite. And for those not afflicted with ADHD, the amphetamine is just speed.

Goodbye Marilyn Monroe. Hello Lindsay Lohan and Cameron Diaz. Emily and Toby talk about this latest trend.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Toby

Emily

Toby:  Apparently there’s a substantial number of actresses who are taking a drug that’s actually a pharmaceutical drug being subscribed to kids who have ADD, but actresses are taking it to control their weight and I guess it’s just this intense speed and they just crank all day, yeah, and they’re not hungry.

Emily:  So basically it forces them to be anorexic?

Toby:  Yeah. Ya know?

Emily:  Yeah and I wonder what that does for their body image. I mean, I wonder if it… ‘cause, I’m sure a lot of them who are really small starting out, you know, small in size, that is, um, feel that their body’s OK, like, they’re comfortable with their body, but then with so many people scrutinizing them, telling them that they’re too fat and they need to lose 20 more pounds, um, that must be really hard…

Toby:  Yeah.

Emily:  ... for their self esteem.

Toby:  Yeah. I remember reading something, like, a year or so ago, um, where Kate Winslet, who is not skinny… it’s like, she’s got hips, she’s got thighs, she’s got big boobs and she was saying, like, she hopes she can be a role model and, like, show girls that, like, you don’t have to be skinny to be beautiful.

Emily:  It’s to the point now where, I think, some actresses are so skinny. I mean, I could name a few off the top of my head, Nicole Richie and Kate Bosworth, and you see pictures of them and they are just all skin and bone and then you have the media praising them, “Oh they look fantastic,” but they’re just complete bones.

 

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