Fill in the gaps in the article with the words in bold below:

 

shitty(x2)        hues      for granted    abode           sift through    drenching

   signature       overwhelmed          pleasing          juggles             doused            dazzling

(…) The summer blockbuster movie Barbie premieres in theaters today, and director Greta Gerwig has created a visual sensation. The film’s 1. ……… vibrant aesthetic—fans refer to it as “Barbiecore”—has become a pop culture phenomenon, 2. ………. the world in its 3. ………. , candy-bright color: hot pink. (…)

But the perfect pink 4. …….. in the film poses real scientific questions about how our eyes and brain perceive color. Imagine if Barbie was a real person growing up in that house. What would it be like to actually live in a monochromatic pink world? Would it be as 5. ……… on the eyes as the movie and the franchise’s branding suggest?

Probably not, says Anya Hurlbert, a neuroscientist at Newcastle University in England. “It’s not a 6. ………. world just because everything’s pink,” she explains. “It’s a 7…….  world because there’s only one color. If we made an all-blue world, we would feel similar about it.”

After a lifetime 8. ……… in pink, a real-life Barbie would likely be entirely desensitized to the color. Eventually we would, too, says Mike Webster, a psychologist at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“We only see it as striking because it’s different from the world we live in—but it’s not striking to someone living in that world,” Webster says. If Barbie was exposed to a single color her whole life, she wouldn’t necessarily register the world as pink but would instead likely see it as gray or neutral, he adds. “If she looked at our world, she’d be 9. …….. ,” Webster says.

Color helps the brain process visual stimuli and 10. ……. information in the world. The various shades and tones can differentiate objects and boost memory. Research suggests the brain devotes as much space to processing color as it does to recognizing faces.

The organ has a tall task in processing vision. To create a cohesive world, it 11. …….. two things: the color of the object you’re looking at, such as a house or a car, and the ambient light around you, such as sunlight. The object and light both have color, and they interact to produce the kaleidoscope of 12. ……  that we see.

“Everyone just sort of takes their vision 13. ……. . They miss the wonder of how incredible it is that we can interpret this tiny pattern of light that’s falling in our eye and make so much sense out of it,” Webster says. (…)

In order to read the whole article/check your answers, go to:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-life-in-barbies-dazzlingly-pink-world-would-do-to-her-brain-and-yours

 

Key: 1. signature; 2. drenching; 3. dazzling; 4. abode; 5. pleasing; 6&7. shitty; 8. doused; 9. overwhelmed; 10. sift through; 11. juggles; 12. hues; 13. for granted

 

Glossary

 

• to flock – to move or come together in large numbers
• abode – the place where one lives
• tall – (informal) difficult to accomplish
• drab – boring, cheerless
• conundrum /kəˈnʌn.drəm/ – a problem that is difficult to deal with

 

Practice makes perfect

Fill in the gaps in the article It’s the Summer of Barbie. How Brands Are Cashing In on All That Plastic Fantastic With Licensing Deals and Themed Products with articles: a, an, the or nothing (-).

 

(…) 1. …. much-anticipated release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie on July 22 has spurred 2. …. onslaught of interest from 3. …. brands — both big and small — hoping to capitalize on 4. …. doll’s timeless appeal by scoring licensing deals with Mattel, 5. …. toy company behind Barbie. From Airbnb’s Barbie Dreamhouse in Malibu sweepstakes to smaller collabs like Moon Oral Care’s hot pink toothpaste and brushes, brands are whipping up limited-edition products across 6. … wide range of categories. They hope, like 7. …. 64-year-old doll, Barbie 8. ….  movie has 9. …. sticking power.

Swoon, 10. ….  New York City-based zero-sugar beverage brand, launched 11. ….  Barbie-branded version of its pink lemonade in May, after pitching Mattel on 12. …. collaboration last summer. “It allows us to reach new customers, and with our current customers, it allows us to talk about something that has 13. …. cultural relevance,” says co-founder Cristina Ros Blankfein. “Our retail partners have been really supportive around different displays and different sampling opportunities.” (…)

In order to check your answers/read the whole article, go to:  https://www.inc.com/rebecca-deczynski/its-the-summer-of-barbie-how-brands-are-cashing-in-on-all-that-plastic-fantastic-with-licensing-deals-themed-products.html

Key: 1. the; 2. an; 3. -; 4. the; 5. the; 6. A; 7. the; 8. the; 9. -; 10. a; 11. a; 12. a; 13. – 

 

Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with some of the words (in bold) from the first exercise. Make sure their grammatical form is correct.

 

1. Welcome to my humble …….. .

2. He felt as if he’d been ……….. in ice water.

3. Her blue eyes were more ………… than ever up close.

4. In the Caribbean waters there are fish of every …… .

5. His mind was ………… through the data he’d read.

6. If only a good storm would come and ………. everything.

 

Key: 1. abode; 2. drenched; 3. dazzling; 4. hue; 5. sifting; 6. douse

 

Explore more to create your own teaching-learning experience!

 

“Barbie” Is Brilliant, Beautiful, and Fun as Hell

Greta Gerwig’s giddily stylized vision of a doll coming to life makes a serious case for the art of adapting even the most sanitized I.P.

 

Read:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/barbie-is-brilliant-beautiful-and-fun-as-hell

 

 

 

 

 

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