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Cottage Industries

简体
Cottage Industries
家庭手工业

Date: Jul 01 2013

Themes: Work

Grammar: Present Perfect Tense

Intro

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“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” If someone says this to you, they’re saying that it’s important to make the best of a difficult situation. More and more people are taking this idea to heart in our current economy and finding creative ways to earn money.

A serious entrepreneur thinks carefully about what the community wants or needs. It could be as basic as feeding people’s pets or buying their groceries. Or perhaps someone has an idea for an invention that will simplify people’s lives. If you want to be self-employed and find success, your product must be one of a kind.

Listen in on Marni and Mason’s conversation about being in business for yourself in this English lesson about cottage industries.

“当生活给你又酸又苦的柠檬时,你可以把它做成又甜又好喝的柠檬汁!”如果有人对你这样说,他们是要告诉你应尽量积极地面对困难。在当今的经济形势下,人们想尽各种新奇的办法赚钱,越来越多的人认真对待这种说法。

一位严肃的企业家会仔细思考社区居民希望得到或需要什么?他们可能需要像宠物喂养或购买食品杂货之类的基础服务。或许某个人有一项可以简化人们生活的发明构想。如果你想自己经营一项业务,并最终取得成功,那么你的产品必须独一无二。

在本节与家庭手工业有关的英语课上,听听玛尼和梅森有关自己做生意的谈话。

Dialog

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

Mason

Mason

Marni

Marni

Mason:  So, I’m really excited to go to the local flea market this weekend because a friend of mine has a booth there. She does all these hand-crafted goods.

Marni:  Oh! So, would you call it a cottage industry?

Mason:  I suppose so. I mean, she does run it out of her house. And it’s kind of just self-employed. She doesn’t have anyone else doing it.

Marni:  Do you feel like that’s a trend lately maybe with the economy being what it is? People are just doing it for themselves. DIY little companies out of their homes.

Mason:  Definitely. Added to that is what she does: She finds old clothes and refurbishes them and fixes them up. She only picks the nice stuff. That, I think, of all of the cottage industries has been the most easy to jump into from a recession perspective. People are selling their old stuff, and then other people are going to go buy it and resell it. Right?

Marni:  Yeah, that’s pretty great. That’s kind of recycling and the whole cycle of just reusing things. I like it.

Mason:  But I really respect… it takes a lot of dedication to do something like that by yourself and keep it together.

Marni:  Absolutely. Being self-employed can be scary, but good for her for trying to do it.

 

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Discussion

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Mason is looking forward to seeing his friend at the flea market. She sells hand-crafted things that she makes in her home. Mason respects his friend for working hard to make her business a success.

Marni points out that there seem to be more and more people starting their own businesses. She wonders if the economy has something to do with it. Marni likes that Mason’s friend recycles old clothing because she believes that it’s smart to reuse things. She admires Mason’s friend for being self-employed because it can be a little scary.

There are fewer jobs today than ten years ago, so people are doing their best to start their own businesses. Often this means that a company has only one employee—the owner! You have to work hard to make a new business succeed. It must feel great when that finally happens.

Have you ever started your own business? What was it, and did you succeed? If you could start a business tomorrow, what would it be?

 

Comments

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mohamma

mohamma

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i dont like do this work!

03:41 PM Nov 14 2013 |

MAHSA1995

MAHSA1995

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i would never ever do that!it is a tough thing i guess


 

05:38 PM Jul 05 2013 |

1 person likes this

Mahtab.bp

Mahtab.bp

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Yes I strated my own small business and it was great!


I make ornaments by beads and stones!


As I teach entrepreneurship , I wanted to try a new business for myself to see whats I know in theory , how would be practically!


It was precious lesson to me and a successful self-employd implies creativity , efforts, hard work and of coursse love !!


If you dont love what you do you wont succeed in anything!


Anyway I have my job too and I dont have enough time for doing my own business now!


But I’m sure I will continue that in future!


Maybe after retirement! ;)


Mess:


I’m sure one day I will come to your boutique and I will be one of your brand’s lovers!;)


Good luck! :)


09:44 AM Jul 03 2013 |

3 people like this

samirah

samirah

Saudi Arabia

i hate anything has to do with trade

06:42 PM Jul 02 2013 |

elsapo

elsapo

Dominica

when you are self employed, you dont have limit, you dont know how far you can go, but you dont, the hiest level you could reach is to becom GM. no more than that, so let’s challenge our self 

08:43 PM Jul 01 2013 |

rara_fe

rara_fe

Indonesia

I ever try to make my own business. I did make bag, dress and skirt. but because I like with the result of it, i save it for me and use it for me :) . and some people who saw that, they got interesting to buy it because limited edition. and hand made. but I didn’t continue it, because I was busy with my education and some stuff. so, I’ll try to find good time, and try make it again. and I already some plan to make own business in another city :). and I hope it’s work n sucsess

01:23 PM Jul 01 2013 |

MESS

MESS

Turkey

Individual business is highly encouraged among young entrepreneurs in my country recently. Being self-employed and being the boss is enticingly suggestive to many young people including me. I have a leading personality. I need to lead, run and be proud of my skills. I detest taking orders from someone higher than me. Maybe it is partly linked to ego, but being self-employed, running your own business, following your own rules and being your own boss seems incredibly attractive to me and my personality.


As for starting a business, I am very passionate about fashion. I was thinking about opening my own boutique where my designs would be sold. I made a round sum and looked into my finances, but found out that opening a boutique would require a huge budget, so I decided to save up at first, improve my budget and look out for any improvement, at the same time, that would be of significant help to me in my future business plans. I am on stand-by right now with my passion at the back of my mind. I will put it into practice as soon as the right time comes. :)

11:29 AM Jul 01 2013 |

1 person likes this

joodiaboot

joodiaboot

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

wowwwww.i like them so much.it gives me good feel,that i can help s.b with buying some thing like that…
:)

08:28 AM Jul 01 2013 |

sama.a

sama.a

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I feel some kind of feelings in cottage industries. They reflect the mood of their creator. Happy or sad, love or hate doesnt matter, just having human emotions matter to me.

07:08 AM Jul 01 2013 |

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