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I

Read the passage below'carefulll', t|rcn answer the questions thatfoilon,.

TATTOOS, ANYONE?
$l lianre
Have you ever seen a man with tatloos all over his body? Have you ever seen a wonran with
a tattoo'J According to the latest reports from the USA, tattooing is becoming very popular
there and there are now ten times more people with tattoos than there were in 19g5. !T Cile t
A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made by injecting colour through very small
holes in the skin. Tattooing dates back over 5000 years. A frozen Stone Age man found in
Austria showed tattooed lines on his back and behind his knee. Egyptian mummies dating ff Ciret
from 2000 BC have also been found to have tattoos.
Tattooing has been done in various methods-some of which were very unhygienic and
likely to cause infections---over the centuries. These days, tattoo artists-the people who do :*f i Da
the tattooing-use electric needles that jab the skin between 2000 and 3000 times
a minute.
The needle itself does not actually contain any ink; it simply spreads and pushes the ink
into
the skin. Tattooing is quite a painful process and it takes about one week for the wounds
to u ul\
heal but the tattoo is there forever and it is almost impossible to remove it since it
lies uncler
the surface of the skin. In the twentieth century, tattooing first became popular :_
among
sailors and members of the armed forces. In the 60s and 70s, the tattoo became a symbol
for
gang membership, especially among the Hell's Angels and other motor cycle gangs
in
America and Europe.
In the USA. however, it seems that tattooing is becoming more acceptable to onlinary ffirad xurri
j-.ii:.'
people, not just gang members and 'tough guys'. Many college students are getting
but the most surprising of all is the fact that 40 per cent of all tatrooing in the USA
tattoos tri The
is done on tPei
women. Women not only get ordinary tattoos but also go to have their eyebrows
tattooed or
i,lg{ to have beauty spots tattooed on. Even men have cosmetic tattooing done, though it
is a very
painful process. Some men have bald patches on their scalp tattooed in the
same colour as ii The
ril'iini'
their hair so that their baldness is less obvious.
iitrr:. In Malaysia. though, aparr fiom certain racial groups who have always tattooed
ffi bodies, tattooing is not popular, perhaps due to societal and religious
their
iile,
441 perhaps a good thing. After all, pumping ink into our sensitive skin
restrictions. This is & Peal
.liftfl: . using painful processes
i.fn,i: is hardly a uset'ul thing to spend money on. How many of the young
jf..!
people in the USA who
are now proud of their tattoos will find them more of an embarrum*"nt
:,i!a later? The health Ir l-tnd
risk is also something which sannot be ignored. At a time when everyone
knows that one
way of contracting AIDS is through sharing needles, how would one
know if the tattoo artist
is not using a needle which has jusf been used on a person with the
HIV virus? It seems an
unnecessary risk to take for the sake of an omament on our skin.

Answer the following questions hrie.fty-in a word, a phrase or a sentence,


when necessary.
11 What evidence is given to show that tattooing is now more popular in the uSA than it used to be?
(I mark)
12 How long has tattooing existed?

(l rnarkl
13 Give two examples which show that tattooing has existed. in ancient times.

(2 marks)

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