Text Explanations and Supplementary Readings

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1.  Bill P 1.  Bill Porter

Bill Porter was an American door-to-door salesman in Portland, Oregon.  He was a successful salesman despite being born with cerebral palsy, a disability that made walking and many of the tasks of everyday life difficult for him.  He became famous in 1995 after a local newspaper published stories about him, and two movies based on his life story have been made.  For more information about him, see these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Porter_(salesman)

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20137570,00.html 

2.  Tom Hallman Jr.

Tom Hallman Jr. is an award-winning journalist and author from Portland, Oregon.  In 2001, he won the Pulitzer Prize, the highest award in American journalism, for his writing.  He has also won most of the major US awards for his feature writing, specialising in 'human interest' stories. For more information about him, see these links:

 http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/152379.Tom_Hallman_Jr_

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/03/powerful_stories_worth_your_ti.html

3.  Feature story

A feature story, or feature article, is an article in a newspaper of magazine that is not necessarily related to recent news but is written to entertain or inform the reader.  Feature articles often focus on a particular person, place or event to evoke an emotional response in the reader.  For more information, see these links:

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5240495_feature-article-journalism_.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Feature-Article

http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/WritingFeatureStories.html

4.  Door-to-door sales

Door-to door sales is a sales technique that involves walking from door to door in a neighbouhood to try to sell a product or service.  This practice was once very common but in recent years, because of advances in technology and internet shopping, it has declined. 

For more information, see these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door-to-door

http://www.wikihow.com/Sell-Anything-Door-to-Door

5.  Portland

Portland is the largest city in Oregon, US.  It has a population of just over 600,000 in the city (2.3 million in the greater metropolitan area).  It is often called 'The City of Roses' because its climate of warm dry summers and wet cool winters  is ideal for rose growing.  Matt Groening, creator of 'The Simpsons” was born and grew up in Portland.

For more information, see this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon

6.  Menswear & Womenswear

These two words are just used to describe the clothes worn by men and women.  For example, a menswear store is a shop that sells clothes for men.

7.  Cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is a physical disability that affects movement and posture.  Cerebral means it affects the brain, palsy means it causes a lack of muscle control.   It can affect the ability to control muscle movement in any part of the body.  It is caused by damage to the brain before or during birth, and it is the most common cause of disability in children. Cerebral palsy can be mild - causing few problems - or it can be very severe.  It is a permanent condition but usually does not get any worse with time.

For more information, see these links:

https://www.cerebralpalsy.org.au/what-is-cerebral-palsy/

http://cerebralpalsy.org/

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cerebral-palsy/basics/definition/CON-20030502

8.  Company literature

Company literature, or sales literature, is the name given to all written material produced by a business.  Examples of company literature include brochures, catalogues and advertising material.

 

9.  Order forms

An order form is a printed form that is used to order goods from a company or a shop.  It has spaces where the customer writes the goods required,  name, address etc.

 

10.  The Disabled

'The disabled' is a collective name for all people who have any kind of disability, physical or mental.  It is used in a way similar to 'the rich' or 'the poor', to describe a whole category of people.

Examples:  

'The disabled often face discrimination in employment.'

'All shopping malls in the UK provide special car parking spaces for the disabled.'

'Our school has installed lifts to provide easier access for the disabled.'

11.  'Help wanted' ads

'Help wanted' ads is an informal name for job advertisements.  This expression is used more often in the US than in other English speaking countries, where they are commonly called 'job ads'.  

12.  Product guarantee

A product guarantee, or product warranty, is a promise to replace a product or to refund the buyers money if a product does not work properly or breaks down within a short time of purchase. 

13.  Transit Mall

A transit mall is a street, or a group of streets, where no cars or private vehicles are allowed, only public transport.  Transit malls are one solution to the problem of traffic congestion in cities.  The transit mall in Portland has operated since 1978.

14.  VCR, Cable & Rotary Phone.

A VCR is a video cassette recorder.  Before the invention of DVDs, most American houses had a VCR.  Cable, in this article, means cable TV.  A form of television that is delivered through fibre optic cables (phone lines) and that allows people to watch a wide variety of TV channels.  Most American homes have cable TV. A rotary model phone is a very old-fashined type of phone – not used by many people in America after the early 1970s.   In the article, the fact that Bill Porter's home has a rotary phone and no VCR or cable tells the reader that his house is very old fashioned, like a home from the past -  inside his home 'an era is preserved'. 

15.  Checkbook

A checkbook (chequebook in UK English) is a small booklet of printed checks (cheques) which can be used to take money from the user's current account at the bank.  Before the introduction of debit cards and credit cards, checks were normally used to pay for goods and services.  Nowadays, many banks no longer issue checkbooks as most people use cards instead.