Beauty in the past

Used to (revision) Past simple

1. Check the meaning of these verbs in the glossary on page 133.

Present past present

past

Is / are …………… have ……………

Bind …………… suffer ……………
Make …………… prefer …………….
Ban ………….. do ……………
Break …………… continue ……………
Grow …………… stop ……………
Remove ……………

2. Read and give the text a title.

Foot binding was an old Chinese custom. From the 5th to the early 20th century
the Chinese used to bind women’s feet. They bound women’s feet in tight
bandages. This made their feet smaller. The Chinese used to do this for reasons of
beauty and show how rich they were. The government of China banned this custom
in 1911.

In the early days, when a girl was 3 years old, they broke most of her toes. The only
toes they didn’t use to break were her big toes. Then they bound her feet tightly
with bandages. Women’s feet grew no longer than 10 centimetres. When the
government banned this custom, some girls removed their bandages but their feet
were already deformed. However, foot binding continued for some time before it
stopped completely. Old Chinese women had very deformed feet and suffered
badly.

3. Read again. Answer True or False.

a. Foot binding is still popular in China.

b. Foot binding lasted until the 20th century.
c. Foot binding showed how rich families were.
d. In 1911, the government wanted foot binding to continue.
e. They broke all the toes of three year old girls