英語播客 A Cup of English A Manicure Fanatic.

My daughter is obsessed with fashion. She is only six, and it comes as a surprize to me that she is so fashion conscious. She is not so concerned with the seasons' colors or styles, but she does like to know the 'pop' fashion. I think it comes from her being very musical. When she hears a pop song, or sees artists sing on television, she really takes notice of what they are wearing, and their general style. Also, she is influenced by her girl friends at school. If so'n'so has a pretty, new jacket, she will want one that is similar. She won't necessarily get the jacket, but she will certainly talk about it a lot, and try her hardest to get what she wants. So, she started to become interested in makeup. You know, you can find little girls makeup sets that they play with at home, and with their friends. I went along with this, thinking that, as long as she keeps it at home, but washes it off before going out, then it was okay. However, sometimes we would be going out, and without me realizing, she would have eye shadow on, or blusher. Once, she even got into my makeup and put on mascara which looked ghastly. So, I decided that I had to do something about the situation. My thinking was, if I could transfer her attention away from her face, and onto something else, it should help. So, I came up with nails. I bought her a collection of cute nail polishes, and she immediately took the bate! This now has developed into a habit. She'll paint her tiny nails, and go to school and show her friends. We're both happy. So, the other day, I took her to V-tech nail salon for a special, professional manicure. They didn't actually do much. Her nails were short anyway, and clean, so they only had to paint them. Plus, her nails are so small, that they hardly had to use any nail polish. She sat down at the table with the lady and picked out some nail stickers that would go on each nail. Then the lady set to work. She applied one coat of pink, carefully placed the stickers, and then applied a clear coat to keep the stickers on, and to add shine. Domini felt very special and grown up. She had to hold her nails over a dryer, and then place her hands in a UV machine that quickly sets the polish. The salon was packed, with nail technicians working away, beautifying ladies' nails and toe nails. It was warm and colorful, and there was a buzz of conversation from these happy females.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: to take notice, so'n'so, to go along with something, eye shadow and blusher.

1. He was very angry, but I didn't take any notice.

2. So'n'so is an example of someone who you don't know, a nameless example.

3. The group played a joke on my friend; I went along with it to really trick her.

4. That eye shadow really brings out the color of your eyes, and the blusher makes your cheeks look healthy.