World News for Students of English

25-11-2016 07:00

Many years ago, Marilyn Monroe sang the Happy Birthday song to the president of the USA. It was an iconic performance by one of Hollywood’s most iconic women. Now you can own the dress that Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang this song to JFK in 1962.

The flesh-colored dress is ready to go under the hammer in California. The dress represents many things: history, politics, a work of art, Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, and the Kennedys. It is all of this wrapped up into one dress with 2,500 crystals on it.

It is part of a larger sale of Monroe items, representing Marilyn Monroe’s life and career: her paintings, her poetry, her writings, her personal wardrobe, and her pots and pans. There are also recipes handwritten by Monroe, her recipe books, her toaster, her juicer, her shoes, her handbags, her makeup, and, of course, all of her most important career gowns.

Over all, the auction is expected to bring in around five million dollars. The biggest part of that will undoubtedly come from the dress. It will cost between two and three million dollars. It is the price of a piece of history.

Difficult words: go under the hammer (go to auction), gown (an evening dress), bring in (earn).

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