Who Doesn’t Have a Tattoo? Body Ink Surges

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Materials Daily News

Intermediate

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

boom

Verb

buːm

to have a period of rapid growth; to become bigger, more successful, etc.

The popularity of beards boomed.

surge

Verb

sərdʒ

(of prices, profits, etc.) to suddenly increase in value

Oil prices surged this week in response to political events in the region.

The stock market surged to record highs earlier in the week.

River levels surged during the storm and came inches away from flooding the city.

identity

Noun

aɪˈdɛntɪtiː

who or what somebody/something is; the characteristics, feelings or beliefs that distinguish people from others

A logo helps establish a company's corporate identity.

His national identity is important to him.

drive

Verb

draɪv

to influence something

What drove him to do that?

define

Verb

dɪˈfaɪn

to describe or show something accurately

He is defining the company's business principles to the new employees.

If I have trouble defining a word, I look it up in a dictionary.

She always found it a little difficult to define the exact nature of her work.

The concept of "soul" is very difficult to define and has always been the subject of religious and philosophical debate.

The word "colorful" defines the designer's Spring/Summer collection.

How do you define this term?

rapid

Adjective

ˈræpɪd

done or happening very quickly

The market is going through a period of rapid growth.

Rapid economic expansion transformed Hong Kong from a small port to a major city.

The Internet is making rapid changes in our society.

There will be a rapid change in the weather in the evening.

The city lacks a reliable rapid transit system.

Steve is making a rapid recovery.

Exercise 2

Article

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Who Doesn’t Have a Tattoo? Body Ink Surges

Tattoos are no longer the sign of a sailor, soldier or criminal. They are wildly popular.

In America today, lots of people are getting tattoos — especially younger people. Forty percent of men and women aged 26 to 40 have at least one tattoo.

As a result, the American tattoo business is booming. In 1960, there were only about 50 professional tattoo artists in the United States. Today there are almost 55,000 people working as tattoo artists in the U.S.

In Britain, tattoos are also surging in popularity. The Guardian reported that a fifth of all British adults have been “inked” – another term for being tattooed.

What’s driving the wild popularity of tattoos?

It could be a search for identity.

“Tattoos, recent research suggests, don’t just express identity, they help define it,” writes Chris Weller in The Atlantic. In an era of rapid and unpredictable change, driven by technology, a tattoo can be a source of stability. This is particularly true for Millennials, who grew up with the Internet, notes Weller.

Exercise 3

Questions

What is another term for being tattooed?

What did Chris Weller say about tattoos? What can they be a source of?

How many people are working as tattoo artists in the U.S. today?

Exercise 4

Discussion

Do you have a tattoo?

Are tattoos popular in your country?

Can tattoos cause problems at work?

Parts of this lesson are based on:

An article by Voice of America.