Unit 6 Page 56 Lesson B2C

Page 56:

2: speaking and listening: lucky or not

C: listen again

can you write down each superstition?

compare with a partner.

1:

Oh, a black cat!

Well, there are many different ideas about black cats in different countries.

I guess what most people believe is that if a black cat walks toward you, or crosses your path - you know, walks across in front of you - then something bad will happen.

You’ll have some kind of bad luck.

So basically, black cats are unlucky, I guess.

2:

Superstitions about mirrors?

The only one I know is if you break a mirror, you’ll have seven years of bad luck.

These things often come in sevens.

So you have to be careful when you’re hanging up a mirror, or cleaning or holding one, because if you drop it, you’ll have bad luck for seven years.

You don’t want that.

3:

A four-leaf clover, yeah.

Clover’s a kind of plant, like grass, and it usually has three leaves on it, so if you find one with four leaves, it’s supposed to be really lucky.

I guess this is because they’re so rare - you don’t find many of them.

I’ve never found one, though I’ve spent a lot of time looking!

So, yeah, it’s good luck to find a four-leaf clover.

4:

Huh. A yellow butterfly?

There are a lot of superstitions about butterflies, both yellow ones and white ones.

In some countries they think if you see a yellow butterfly, then your wish will come true.

So it’s lucky.

I think all butterflies usually bring good luck.

Another one I heard is that if you see a yellow butterfly in the spring, you’ll get a lot of new clothes!

Now, that would be nice!