Reading Aloud 5

Beware of brand addiction

In my opinion, Hong Kong people love brands too much. They spend half their salaries or pocket money on brand names.

They believe that wearing brand names makes them appear rich. When they see people who do not have them, they assume they are poor and will discriminate against them.

Many Hong Kong people are materialistic – nobody will deny this. But part of the reason is that the city is a metropolis and we can acquire products from all over the world.

That is partly why Hong Kong people buy brands all the time. I just hope they don’t get addicted.

Carrie Wong (6A)
South China Morning Post (April 27, 2005)

Vocabulary

1. opinion (n) 意見
2. brands (n) 品牌
3. salaries (n) 薪金
4. assume (v) 認為
5. discriminate (v) 歧視
6. materialistic (adj) 物質享受主義的
7. deny (v) 否認
8. metropolis (n) 大都會
9. acquire (v) 獲得
10.addicted (adj) 上癮

Useful Sentences

1. beware of 謹防
  Travellers have been warned to beware of pickpockets.

2. spend sth on sth 花費，消耗
  She spends too much effort on things that don’t matter.

3. appear to do sth 好像
  They appeared not to know what was happening.

4. discriminate against 歧視
  We should abolish such practices that discriminate against women and in favour of men.

5. It can’t be denied that 無可否認        
  It can’t be denied that we need to devote more resources to this problem.

6. is addicted to 上癮，沉迷
  He admitted that he was addicted to drugs.