Scarica Riassunto dispensa "Reading between the lines" + reference per esame orale di inglese 2 e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Riassunti dispensa “Reading between the lines” e references – Esame orale Inglese 2 LIFE UNIT 1: LESSONS OF LIFE 1. Forget mindfulness, stop trying to find yourself and start faking it The text shows us some tips from a book, which provides us recommendations concerning our lives based on Chinese philosophers’ thought. Chinese thinkers didn’t ask big questions, on the contrary they have a pragmatic philosophy, based on small questions. Chinese philosophers offer alternatives to some ideas we hold dear: for example, look inside yourself and discover your true self. We are multifaceted and our personalities are formed through everything we do: how we interact with others, our reactions to things, the activities we pursue. Each of us is a complicate being that collides against other complicate beings all day. Some tips from Chinese philosophers are: - Be inauthentic = authenticity limits our freedom because it doesn’t allow ourselves to that kind of growth we experience when we realize we are perpetually changing. That authentic self is just a snapshot of who we are at that moment of time. We flourish when we recognize our complexity and learn how to work with it through self-cultivation, by interacting and experiencing. - Do rituals = ritualistic behaviour means that we pretend to be comfortable in a situation even if we are not, we “fake it”. We should do more “as if” rituals (like smiling as if you’re not angry). This way we stop trying to exercise the right to express authentically honest but destructive feelings, and we become better people and more mature. It’s a way to break patterned behaviours we’ve fallen into. - See the world as capricious = people tend to remain in their comfort zone and to think that the world is generally predictable. However, we should see the world as fragmented and capricious and work with the shifts and detours that nurture an expansive life: try new experiences, chance conversations, think outside the box, without having everything planned. - Stop deciding = if people plan something, they base their decision on the person they are today, not on the one they will become. The advice is to approach decisions through the small and doable, paying attention to your responses, which will guide you in new directions. - Be weak = our society wants us to be strong and confident of what we want. But Chinese philosophers support the power of weakness over apparent strength. People should see everything in the world as interconnected instead of divided and distinct, so that we can stay attuned to others. Passivity is not what he means. Attunement allows people to subtly alter situations, to lead others without them perceiving to be dominated. - Don’t play to your strengths = people should live their lives as a series of ruptures, because this is what changes them overtime. We have always been taught to cultivate our inclinations, but if we take this mindset too far, we might stop doing everything else. Chinese philosophers suggest trying to do something we think we’re not good at. - Don’t be mindful = mindfulness is now believed to help us achieve serenity in our fast-paced lives and it is even promoted as a tool for productivity. However, this is not what mindfulness was meant to be: mindfulness isn’t a passive activity, but a very active way of cultivating oneself to become a better person by engaging with the world. - Rethink the traditional and the modern = we think that we’ve broken free of a repressive, traditional world and now we live as we choose. But doing this we are the ones who are traditional. Our assumptions restrict out greatest possibilities. Don’t lay out a plan, but work on your interactions, experiences, and responses. 1b What makes us who we are? The speaker thinks that the question ‘what do you do?’ can sound judgmental as a conversation starter: while some people might like to define themselves by their job, because it is what they live for, for many 1 people their work is not their identity. We sometimes use that phrase to form an idea of a person’s identity by trying to fit them into an easy to-understand category. There are of course other ways we identify people: by their background, by their values or by their hobbies and interests, or sometimes by their character; we also identify people by their beliefs and obviously sometimes by their work too. What do these identifying characteristics have in common? Well, identity really seems to be about the experiences that shape us. So, while there are many ingredients that go into making us what we are, it seems that what defines people first and foremost is experience. 2. Good riddance to the old CV The text deals with the theme of CVs and the fact that they have changed in fact today employers can decide to hire somebody because of his social networks profile. CVs have moved online, for example, to LinkedIn but this has some dangers, since, for example, less than 500+ connections could show that you’re not as serious as you pretend to be. Nevertheless, Facebook and Twitter are even worse because of its more personal approach: the journalist says they both allows any potential employer to follow you home and “sniff your fridge”. One of the reasons why CVs have lost their power is that our generation is much pickier about what it wants to do. We are looking for a lot more than salary and pension, we are looking for ethical, engaged and powering things to do. The writer affirms that today, you can easily be recommended and endorsed publicly on LinkedIn. But the biggest change is that the whole employment world is now more transparent. 1d How did you get into that? The topics that I like the most to talk about, when I meet a person for the first time, are entertainment (such as movies and tv series); I really like to find out the views of other people on popular topics and so enrich my ideas. I think that good conversation topics to getting to know other people are general topics, as not everyone would feel comfortable to share personal information at the first meeting. In my opinion when you meet someone for the first time, the most important things to keep in your mind, are to introduce yourself for who you really are, not trying to impress the other person by acting in an unnatural way, to try to respect the character of the person in front of us and therefore respect his times. 2d Tell me a bit about yourself Almost every interviewer will either begin with or include the question ‘can you tell me a bit about yourself?’. While it is important not to give a scripted answer, it is important to think about how you will answer this. The interviewer doesn’t want our whole life story. What they really want to know is our relevant background, what has brought you to this point in your career and your hopes and goals for the future. The interviewer will also note how comfortable you appear answering open-ended questions. This will speak to your ability to think quickly on your feet, as well as to prepare for important conversations at work. One option for your response is to share some of your personal interests which don't relate directly to your career. Examples might include a hobby that you are passionate about like astronomy, chess, choral singing, golf, skiing, tennis, or antiquing. In fact, one of the goals of this question is to get to know you a little bit beyond your career and on-the-job attitude and experience. 2e A letter of application Writing a good cover letter can be hard work. You need to make sure it’s well written, shows the employer why you’re qualified, and doesn’t have any evident error that could cost you an interview. Even if it’s not required, a well-written cover letter gives you the opportunity to sell your credentials to the company and to show them why you’d be a good fit for the job. It must be a short letter that should basically just refer the reader to your CV, and it should give a personal touch to your application; pay close attention to the detail of the job description, specifically the responsibilities and requirements. 2 UK, she was searching for her next internship when she saw an advertisement for Mammal Coordinator on Fauna Forever page on Facebook. So, she decided to apply and managed to get the job. She led Fauna Forever’s mammal research in the Amazon, and she trained volunteers and interns. Her work consists in recording animal sightings, sound, tracks, and scrapes and, after that, in inputting data or checking camera traps when mammals aren’t active. These surveys are then delivered to the Peruvian government, giving it mammal density estimates. She maintains that cultural differences are the greatest challenge: she had to adjust to “Latin time”, and she had to struggle to be taken seriously as a female scientist in a male-oriented culture. O’Donnell also advises gaining field experience which is important according to her. Briefly, her goal is to encourage people that this is not a ‘dream’ job, but an activity they can do. Consequently, with the aim of doing so and encourage people to follow conservation careers, she created a Facebook page to inform and inspire others. 2b Smokejumpers (=pompiere paracadutista) Smokejumpers are firefighters with parachutes who are dropped into inaccessible areas to challenge forest fires. Kerry Franklin explains that women firefighters are well able to this kind of work as they weight on average around 70/80kg, so they are the right weight for it. If you are heavier than that, you descend too fast, and you can get injured when you hit the ground. If you are a lot lighter and there is a strong wind, you might be carried a long way from your intended landing point. They get dropped with tools and are given water pumps too. First the fire needs to be assessed to see how bad it is and how it is going to develop: if it is a bad fire, they must find a way to contain it. Usually that means finding a natural firebreak, something like a road or an area of rock, or perhaps some area of thinner vegetation that the fire can cross before it continues its paths. Being a woman in a traditionally male profession is not a problem for Kerry, because as the job involves being trained to a certain standard which you can reach or not, then those who come through it successfully have a natural respect for each other. 2c Daring, defiant & free The article tells the story of a young man, Honnold, that is trying to climb the north-west face of Half Dome, in the hearth of Yosemite Valley in California; he is attempting the route free-solo, which means climbing with only a chalk bag and his rock shoes and is trying to reach the top in less than three hours. But less than 30 meters from the summit, something potentially disastrous happens: he loses his confidence. In free- soloing, confidence is everything. For a few minutes, he stands there, staring out the sky unable to look up or down for fear of falling. Then suddenly, he is in motion again and, within minutes, he is at the top. Word of this three-hour free-solo of Half Dome flashed around the world: on that day, the 23- year- old Honnold became a climbing legend. That is the magic of Yosemite: it creates heroes. But for climbers, they are just doing what they love and even get paid for as a bonus. One such person is Jimmy Chin, who works as a photographer; the difference between him and Honnold is that Chin always works closely with other climbers, taking photographs as he climbs. Combining a natural gift for photographic composition with his mountaineering skills, Chin has become one of the leading specialists in what has been called ‘participatory photography’; he is able to carry a camera where few challenges to go, at the same time remaining a reliable member of the climbing team 5 LIFE UNIT 3: DESIGN FOR LIFE 5. Story of cities: Barcelona unloved planner invents science of urbanization “In the second half of the XIX century, Barcelona grew increasingly thanks to the development of the textile sector during the industrial revolution. The city was ready to become a European capital, but its huge population was still forced to live within the medieval walls. The mortality rates were higher than those in other big cities (such as Paris or London) because the walls were suffocating people. In addition, hygienic conditions were worsened by the problems the city had with horse-drawn carts traffic and the Mediterranean way of life. The medieval walls were finally demolished in 1844 and the Spanish government chose an unknown Catalan engineer to redesign the city: Ildefons Cerdà and his plan was based on a grid of streets which would put together the old city with seven peripheral villages, creating an area called Eixample (literally “expansion”) which was almost four times the size of the old city. Therefore, he mapped the services the population might need, such as schools, marketplaces, and hospitals. In doing so, he invented the study of “urbanisation”, which he codified in his General Theory of Urbanisation in 1867. He created neighbourhoods without class distinctions, with no exclusive areas for the rich or poor, both for ideological and public health reasons. In short, Cerdà turned Barcelona into an actual modern city. He began to be admired for his work in the last decades of the XX century, when architects started revising history working in view of the 1992 Olympics. 3a Town with character Granada, Nicaragua = Granada is quite small and self-contained; it’s also the oldest colonial town in Latin America with beautifully preserved, elegant architecture. Outside the commercial areas, life has quite a gentle rhythm and after sunset everything goes quiet. That’s changing a little now as tourism in Nicaragua increases and Granada becomes a magnet for visitors. But you can see why they come: it’s such an incredibly photogenic place. Billund, Denmark = Billund is an ordinary kind of town, except in one aspect: almost everyone here has a connection with Lego; the town dates to medieval times but it boomed when the Lego factory started exporting its toys in the 1950s. Most residents either work in the factory or in the Legoland theme park, or they have some other business like a hotel or a café that accommodates for the endless flow of visitors to the park. Life’s pretty good here, partially because it’s such a family-friendly town and partially because the company looks after its people. 3b Compact living During an episode of Your Property, the architect Jonas Wilfstrand was hosted to speak about small homes: he is in fact specialized in the design of compact living spaces. The average house size these days is hard size that it was in the 1920s and there are good reasons for that. According to Wilfstrand, this trend of smaller homes is basically due to two key points: one reasons is that in large cities we are incredibly short of space; the other thing is affordability, as a house or a flat half of the size should in principle cost half the money. One source of inspiration was the Dolgan who live in northern Russia. It is absolutely freezing out there, so a small living space is very practical. They are constructed from wooden frames and reindeer skins (pelle di renna), which is a great insulator, and they sit on sled runners, so that they can be pulled along by the reindeer. But small doesn’t always equal simple: some cabins he owns in California of ten square meters forced people living there to reduce their possessions to only what was essential. 3c The paper architect Zaha Hadid was known for a long time as the paper architect because very few of her daring designs became real buildings. However, following the success achieved with some art galleries, Hadid’s building 6 became very popular, and had become one of the most famous architects in the world. Why did Hadid’s architecture take so long to be accepted? Firstly, because she was one of the few women in a profession dominated by men: today in Britain, because of slow career progress more and more women decide to give up. But in Hadid’s case, this seems to have been a motivator, she was determined to challenge the establishment with her own new ideas. Secondly Hadid was interested in pushing boundaries and in creating buildings that were new and different. It was not easy to convince people of her incredible ideas but, once they began to see the results (such as the MAXXI art museum in Rome), they began to appreciate her. The idea of the architect as an artist was something Hadid herself rejected: her aim was to create buildings that were not just innovative, but practical too. The internal space and how people interacted with it were the keys for her; for this reason, she was attracted particularly to public projects, for example, the Aquatics Center for the 2012 Olympics and the Evelyn Grace Academy. Now she is dead but her impact on architecture will remain forever. 6. How two architects are transforming Chinese villages In the 2000s China started the process of urbanisation. While some architects were planning projects for cities, the architects Bolchover and Lin focused on the rural side of China. They founded a non-profit organization that worked on public services. Many rural villages disappeared because of the city's expansion and the people migration to the city. However, some buildings were built in the middle of empty fields with the money sent home from the rural migrants. These buildings weren't designed very well, they ended up looking all the same. RUF's project was about building public structures such as classrooms, bridges, and hospitals and to make them functional and nice looking. In the rural villages, it was not always easy to convince the authorities to accept a modern design. These two architects were at that moment rebuilding a village in the southern China destroyed by an earthquake. This village had facilities that generate energy from biogas. They were also working in Mongolia where people that migrate to the city didn’t live in houses but, they just moved their tents in the suburbs of the city. To solve this problem the architects designed a sort of tent that has electricity, was connected to pipes and to the sewage system. Their aim is to preserve traditions and adapt to the new society at the same time 3d A lot to recommend it Two people discuss about a project for a public work of art in the city centre. It has been proposed a sculpture in the shape of an open book. On the book will appear quotes\references by famous local people that change continuously. One person say that people won't get bored of it because it tells something about the history of the city, it has an educational aspect. He continues saying that it will attract more people because is an interactive work of art and can attract people to the square. 3e Old and new The question of the text is: should we allow modern buildings to be built next to older buildings in a historic area of city? According to the author’s point of view, modern architecture can fit perfectly well with buildings from another period. If the new building is pleasing and does not dominate its surroundings too much, it should improve the attractiveness of the area. But there should also be a limit to the number of new buildings if we want to preserve the area’s historic feel. The main reason for objections to such building is that people are conservative: in other words, they do not like to change. 7 LIFE UNIT 5: THE MAGIC OF TRAVEL 9. The highs (and lows) of travelling solo A man talks about traveling solo. He remembers his first solo-trip, in 1982, when he went to Africa with just £300. He doesn’t deny that you could find yourself vulnerable, isolated, and homesickness. Some weeks after his arrival to Cairo, he got off a truck in a village in Sudan. In this village, there was only a secondary school where he met a teacher, Mohamed. The traveller asked when the next truck to go south was, the man told him that he had to wait for some days for the next transport, so he invited him to ride a bike to his own village and stay there. He was about to experience a kind of life that Western society isn’t absolutely used to: no electricity, no running water, no way of communication, etc. This was one of the most remarkable moments of his life, and that’s why he was alone. The writer believes that’s when you start to appreciate the experience of traveling solo: you are forced into contact with people, you have to catch opportunities, make decisions, change your route, and learn how to recognize who you can trust. He underlines one of the best parts of traveling solo: when you find a friend, you never forget him; and that’s what happened with Muhammed. After leaving his village he never saw him again, but they kept in touch for some years by sending each other letters. Since then, he has travelled solo again. 5a How we travel The narrator explains that going on holiday when he was a young boy meant going to spend the summer with his grandparents in his parents’ hometown in the north of India. For the author’s father it was the same: even now he can afford to travel abroad and see the world, he prefers to stay at home or sitting on a couch reading a newspaper with a cup of coffee. Most of travellers want to feel carefree and open to experience, want to take life day by day and want to do exciting and unusual experience. The month before he had a trip of a lifetime in Chile: it was a guided trip with a strict itinerary, but it didn’t fulfil his expectations. In the end he says that he knows what he likes about travel, his father knows too; it’s just different! 5c The adventures of Hergé Hergé is the famous author and cartoonist of the graphic novel Tintin. He is famous for his detailed work: full of accurate representations both in the drawings and in the storylines but the greatest aspect is that he and his team never travelled to these places. Those who reads his books, feels like visiting the place thanks to all the details and those who (as the author of the text) has seen the places confirms that it’s like looking at a view straight from the pages of the book. That’s Hergé gift: to understand and communicate what a place was like without ever having travelled there. 10. Travellers’ tale: three very different backpacking trips Three different kinds of travellers share the highs and lows of long-term travel. - The older traveller: 70 years old and travelled around the world for a year. After a 45-year career as a university and college lecturer he decided to try again in his retirement. He did things he never thought he would, for example volunteering, selling clothes or do bungee jumping despite his health problems. He stayed in hotels, hostels, at friends’ homes and slept also in public transports. There were also few obstacles: he was robbed, and he could see his family only using social media and modern technology. This travel gave him confidence to deal with whatever life might throw at him over the next few years. The daily budget was roughly £50 and the only thing he would have done differently are pack lighter and take a Swiss army knife. - The disabled traveller: 40 years old and spent three months backpacking around west Africa. He’s totally blind and partially deaf in both ears without his hearing aids, but he has visited all seven 10 continents and in 2017 he backpacker solo though Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, staying with local people thanks to couchsurfing.com. By this travel he learned to trust people he met on the streets to guide him into museums and other tourist attractions. Travelling blind and partially deaf in Africa is challenging but gratifying. He saw Africa through the smell of spicy food, by hearing African music, tasting local food. His first host, Charles, was Nigerian but lived in Accra (Ghana’s capital) and led him in some of the city’s historic places. Then he went to Guinea and visited the capital with a local friend and his girlfriend. Then he went to a South Senegalese beach town, and he felt in paradise. The daily budget was £20 and one thing he would have done differently is organising visas in advance that would have saved a lot of time. - The career-breaker: Antonia was 30 when she travelled around the world for 10 months with her boyfriend. They had a career and a life in the UK, but it was the easiest decision. The first flight was into Bangkok, the second out of Bali, giving them three months in between to explore south-east Asia overload. They learnt meditation with monks, camping on a remote part of the Great Wall, went to the Olympics in Rio, stand underneath multiple rainbows at Iguazù falls and saw the giant turtle in the world in Mexico. However, a long- term travel is rarely rosy: sometimes you get sick, tired or argue. The daily budget was £50 each, but it varied by location. One thing she would have done differently is having avoided the party on the first night in Cusco, Peru and having played drinking games: they didn't help the altitude sickness. 11 LIFE UNIT 6: BODY MATTERS 11. Beholding beauty: how it’s been studied The text is about the perception of beauty. Scientists are still trying to discover what makes things and people beautiful, but there is no way to know it for sure, since probably everybody has a different perception of beauty. According to some studies, there are some patterns of brain activity associated with the view of something beautiful. There are also some cultural trends which vary the perception of beauty: for instance, Japanese people prefer asymmetry (eisimetri) while western people prefer symmetry. It has also been demonstrated that the perception of beauty may weaken when we start to recognize the defects: in fact, we see every imperfection in ourselves, while there are people, we consider beautiful because we don’t examine all their possible defects. When it comes to (se parliamo di) facial attractiveness, there are some features and factors which guide the evaluation of beauty. Symmetry is an element that tends to be related as more attractive, because symmetrical features may be markers of genetic quality. Beauty also plays a role in friendship, as we tend to have friends of similar attractiveness and who share genetic links. Also, in a friendship pair, the one who is less attractive is more likely to see the more attractive friend as a mating rival. Some people are their own worst critics because they are never satisfied with themselves. This happens because “we don’t filter our judgments of ourselves in the same way we filter judgments of others”, and this can easily lead to obsessions and self-hate. This also explain why many people get plastic surgeries, but they are never satisfied with the results. The most important thing is to be aware that sooner or later beauty is destined to disappear because of aging and the good looks of youth no longer match the vision of yourself. 6c The enigma of beauty It is not easy to define beauty. Some people say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, there are some universally agreed characteristics of beauty, and a psychologist have proven this by testing the attractiveness of different faces on children: symmetry is one of them, but also things that suggest good health, like glowing complexion or full lips in women or a strong jaw in men. But scientists also say we are ultimately influenced by biological considerations: the need to produce healthy children. There are also cultural differences: some tribes consider very long necks a sign of beauty (copper coils), while in China small feet are admired in women; in the north people want a tanned skin, whilesome populations with dark skin like fair skin. Perception of beauty changes over the time: white skin was a symbol of status and beauty and a tanned skin belonged to workers, now it reflects the fact a person is rich and can afford to go on holiday. In the past, a little fat was seen as healthy, while today fashion magazines suggest a very different image, slim and long limbed. The search for beauty has worried people for centuries, even if we repeat that personality and charm contribute more to attractiveness. But people get satisfaction from looking nice. Maybe the quest for beauty satisfies a deeper need in all of us. 12. Why am I tired all the time? The science of sleep It is proved that sleep is very important for our biological system and help us refreshing and recharging. Sleep can be divided in 4 periods: the first three are the non-REM ones (non-rapid eye movement) during which you gradually lose reaction to the environmental stimuli, while the final phase is called REM (rapid- eye movement) and it is when your brain is active, body is paralyzed, and we usually dream. In this text a doctor explains several problems related to sleep, because our modern, busy, and stressful lives often keep us awake thinking and worrying at night and in this way we can’t rest correctly. This behaviour, if not solved, can gradually produce a “sleep debt” which can negatively impact on our physical and mental efficiency. Experts recommend sleeping about 7/9 hours per night, but the real matter is how to sleep better and feel more rested. Unfortunately, there is not a miracle cure for a better night’s sleep, but there are some principles (called “Sleep Hygiene”) to follow which may help to control the behavioural and 12 are often considered cooler than people who have less. Consequently, hyper-connected teens are becoming overwhelmed with the responsibility of maintaining active their social sites. Therefore, some of them decided to take at least one break from at least one social media platform. Other reasons of this choice included feeling tired of the conflict or drama among their peer group online and the fact that their excessive use was getting in the way of schoolwork and jobs, and they wanted to use time in a more valuable way. Even if people are becoming aware of the amount of time they waste online, leaving social media can create new anxieties. Apparently, one of the biggest fears of quitting is missing out: they feel excluded since many teenagers feel like social media are a part of them and their identities as teenager and so it is something they “need” to do. It’s hard to take social media out: it is a determined, renegade, and countercultural move but once you find the strength to do it, you can feel a big sense of relief and receive a lot of admiration from those who wish to be able to log off too but can’t do it. Unit 11 listening The composition and the colour are very important to take a good photo, but emotions it expresses or evokes are the key. Elijah Walker, a photo editor at National Geographic, calls it ‘emotional gravity’, when a picture gives an emotional punch. Most often emotionally powerful photos are ones of people, when they reveal at one glance a moment of genuine joy or anger, sadness, or surprise. It does not have to be an extreme emotion; more nuanced emotions can be almost more effective in a war: a shy smile or a look of calm pride. Kids are great to photograph, because they tend not to hide their emotions in the way that adults sometimes do. 11d Recognizing feelings My opinion: Even if I try to be sensitive to other people’s feelings, I cannot betray my nature: I always wear my heart on my sleeve and say what I think about other people or general topics. This often leads me to misunderstandings, but I generally respect others point of views different from mines, and so I expect other people to do the same with me - even if you do not agree with what I am saying you should respect my point of view as I do with yours. Listening: - In the first conversation we hear two guys, Jennie and Felipe, talking and Felipe seems to be a little bit frustrated because nothing works in that day: he couldn’t log into the system because of maintenance work and then he has to go to a meeting, but he thinks it’s a loss of time. - In the second conversation, we hear Lewis and Ohoud talking; Ohoud is making a birthday card for his brother, and he was trying to draw a person skateboarding in a park, but Lewis didn’t understand it and didn’t want to offend him. - In the last conversation there are Paola and Megumi who haven’t seen each other for years, and we hear that Megumi has found a new job: she is in the charge of merchandise Disney book characters. Paola was smiling and Megumi thought she was making fun of her and her job, but it was not so, simply it sounded so amazing to Paola. 15 LIFE UNIT 8: THE MUSIC IN US 15. Music and culture This text focuses on the limits of the sector of music education that in fixed on formal learning and fails to explain the ways in which young people can be engaged with music the results that can be achieved without following the exam system. Even if many programs have been created in the last few years in order to encourage early engagement to music, progression in this area is still fragmented. In fact, there is still a touch of snobbery towards those who wants to make musical progress. Evidence shows that almost half of the children who currently play an instrument have never had a lesson. The fault in this sector mainly lies in the way it is articulated. Social and economic barrier to learning worsen the problem. Although many have recognized the problem, music education and professional music organizations don’t coordinate effectively, making it difficult to people to navigate the music landscape. Many musicians or teachers which recognise these inequalities of opportunities are trying to invent ways to fill the gaps. For example, at a local level, it has been provided facilities where keen musicians can progress. Enjoyment and passion are the real keys to a lifelong engagement in music and in this sense, it is necessary to focus less on the best way to learn and more on how to engage children and young people, by filling the gap between formal and informal learning and by improving the way to tell people about opportunities for musical learning (for example, through a national online music education map). 8a World music This text is an interview to Justin Cape, who has been traveling around the world for two years collecting ideas for his new album. He has spent a lot of time studying and experimenting with musical styles in other countries and he gets very excited when he hears new types of music, and he would like to share with others. But for many people, those different styles are very difficult to appreciate; however, if we get over that initial strangeness, discovering new musical styles can be incredibly rewarding. At that moment he enjoyed, which consist in an upbeat mix of Middle Eastern and African music. Themes in general are universal: love, heartbreak, hopes for the future, nostalgia, challenging social rules and sometimes daily life. Songs are also linked to the times in which they are produced (ex in the 60 independence). In the end he says that each new generation feel that their music is speaking just to them, as if the same feelings hadn’t been experienced before. 16. To beat pain, find the right beat Music has proven to help people in many different situations. If we are stressed, depressed, in pain, anxious, or need to boost our power, music could help significantly. Even in the medical field music is being used to reduce chronic pain and depression. According to a report, rheumatoid arthritis sufferers who listened to 20 minutes of their favourite music daily reported a significant reduction in pain. Such effects are short-term, but they still make a huge difference to people who are suffering. Music can lower blood pressure and respiration rates; it can stimulate the production of endorphins (responsible for happiness) and boost the immune system. A doctor studied people undergoing foot surgery and has found out that those who listened to their favourite music before and after surgery experience less pain. Nevertheless, music can be used to manipulate minds: in a supermarket, when French music was played, people buy more French wines. Sometimes, anyway, the genre is the key. Rock music makes people eat more and faster, while classical music encourages slow eating and consuming less. 8b Healing music The study of how music affects the brain is still a work in progress, and always new things are discovered. We already know that music activates many different parts of the brain; music has also the power to release endorphins, which are the chemicals that our bodies use to help us deal with stress or pain. 16 Endorphins are vital to our wellbeing in general, because they produce feelings of happiness or even excitement. So, when we listen to music, we are rewarded with this boost of feel-good chemicals. Its power to relax us is so strong that it is commonly used in hospitals now to calm people before they undergo surgery or for the relief of pain after an operation; another important point is about people who have language difficulties like dyslexia or disorders after a stroke. It is proved that with musical training they have improved their brain’s ability to distinguish not only musical but also spoken sounds and recite short phrase. 17 LIFE UNIT 10: SOCIAL LIVING 19. Religious upbringing linked to better health and well-being during early adulthood According to a study from Harvard people who attended weekly religious services or practiced prayer or meditation in their youth report better health and well-being in their 20s: they suffer less from depression, smoke, drugs, have less sexually infections, have better health behaviours, better mental health, overall happiness and well-being and lower risk of premature death and they are more often volunteering in their communities. The study analysed 5,000 youth and controlled many variables such as maternal health, socioeconomic status etc but there were some limitations like: it consisted mainly od children of white mothers with high socioeconomic status and the study didn’t look at the influences of parents and peers on adolescents’ religious decisions. 10a A cooperative society Ants are approximately ten thousand trillion worldwide. They can live everywhere except on icy mountain peaks and around the Poles. For their size ants are successful, and this success is because they are such sophisticated creatures. They live in colonies and each ant plays a clearly defined role: there is a queen whose job is to reproduce, and the rest are population of workers and soldiers. To communicate, ants depend on pheromones (substances which are secreted to the outside by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species), that are chemical signals emitted by individuals and sent to the group. They use them to indicate where the food can be found and leave a pheromone alarm in case of danger, for alerting the group. They defeat from bigger and larger animals in a fight attacking in a big group so that overwhelm (seppellire) the enemies. Ants have also a big sense of community. They are so fearless. 10b The power of play In our society we often forget to play but it is an essential part of our well-being and our social interactions. It is necessary and there are 4 main benefits of playing: - It is a brain stimulant, it increases our ability to solve problems and think outside the box because when we begin to relax our minds think differently, - It is good for our health, it improves blood circulation and increases the body’s resistance to disease, - It connects us because it breaks barriers between people, it encourages empathy and improves communication, - 4- Lastly, it keeps us in the present moment, the only place where we can feel real happiness according to psychologists. It scarcely matters what kind of play it is because playing is a state of mind. 20. My year of living without money One day a man decided to give up using cash, for one year initially. He has always been concerned about global issues and wanted to make the change. He started with working in an ethical business, but he felt that it wasn’t enough. Soon after he understood that he was looking at the world in the wrong way. He believes that the key reason for so many problems in the world today is the fact that we don’t directly see the repercussions of our actions and we are unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering involved in the production of the food and stuff we buy. On the contrary if we grew our own food and we made our stuff we wouldn’t throw them out or waste. According to him the fault is in money. The first step to live without money is to find a sustainable shelter so he located a caravan, then he installed a wood-burner for heating and a stove to cook outside. His toilet consisted in a loo out of old pallets and his toilet roll was old newspapers. The only thing he spent money on was a solar panel to supply energy for a light, a laptop, and 20 a phone. He washes in the river or under a solar shower, rarely with soap and he makes his own toothpaste. He grows his own food, mostly vegetables or wild foods and he also gets some waste food from local restaurants. In the end he realizes that in a moneyless world everything takes much more time but he enjoys this kind of life. 10c Living free? The Hazda hunter-gatherers (cacciatori) of Tanzania live a life that has not changed much in 10,000 years. They have no crops, no stock, no permanent shelters and have maintained a nomadic, foraging lifestyle. These people do not engage in warfare, and they are too few and spread out to be threatened infectious disease. They don’t divide its people in social classes and don’t have a leader or social obligations. They also don’t suffer of famine because their diet is more varied and adaptable than that of most of the world’s citizens. The things they own are only a pot, an axe and a water container and can be wrapped in a blanket and carried over a shoulder. Hazda women gather (raccogliere) berries and baobab fruits and dig (scavare) for tubers; men collect honey and hunt. People sleep when they want, generally staying up late at night and sleeping during the heat of the day. The main reason the Hazda have been able to maintain this lifestyle is that their homeland is not an inviting place and no one else wanted to live there. But now the rising population of other places is coming into Hazda lands, so they are being forced to share what was once their exclusive territory. There are many things to envy about the Hazda: free from schedules, jobs, bosses, taxes…but now anyone could live like them, it’s so risky and it’s too late for us to go back to a Hazda lifestyle. 21 LIFE UNIT 11: REASON AND EMOTION 21. The second mind In this article a researcher describes our rapid decision-making system thanks to an experiment made by a group of scientists from the University of lowa. The experiment put in front of people 4 decks of cards, 2 red and 2 blue. The game consists of turning over one card at a time from any deck trying to catch the winning ones. The players don’t know that when you lose in red you lose a lot, and you can really only win by taking cards from the blue decks. The question is: How long will it take you to figure this out? Scientists found that after they’ve turned over about 50 cards, most of them start to develop a slight idea about what’s going on: the blue decks for some reason are better. The experiment tells us that in those moments our brain uses 2 different strategies to make sense of the situation: - the conscious strategy that takes us 80 cards to get there, in which you think about what you have learned and come up with answers, but it is a lot slower, - and the second strategy that starts to kick in after 10 cards and understands the problem with the red ones right away, our brain picks up the problem and reaches the conclusion without immediately telling us. The messages of the second strategy are indirect such as sweat glands on the palms of our hands, this means that our brain reaches conclusions without immediately telling us, before we become aware. 11b Thinking fast and slow Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman studied how we make certain judgements and decisions and he found that what seem to be rational decisions are often based on irrational thought. His research was based on asking people certain question to understand how emotions can affect what is usually logical. He explained that our brain has two system: - one that forms intuitive responses - the second more conscious. The problem is that on many occasions system 1 tries to help system 2 often with imperfect information. 22. Coming soon to the library: humanoid robots This text is about Westport Library (Connecticut) the first in the nation to offer instructions in programming or robotics with sophisticated humanoid robots made by the French robotic firm Aldebaran. “Vincent” and “Nancy” will be buzzing around the library: they have blinking eyes, a quizzically glance, they can dance, walk, and talk in 19 different languages. These robots are complex: they have two cameras, four microphones and motion sensors. They can recognize faces and detect where a sound is coming from; they can also “touch” and “feel” thanks to some tactile and pressure sensors. The director of Westport library believes that robotics is the next technology coming into our life and it could be important from an economic and job-development perspective. Westport has made it a priority to provide public access to innovative new technology, in fact it was one of the first center in Connecticut to acquire a 3D printer. Another public library which has robots is, for example, the Chicago public library, in partnership with Google. Their goal is to push it as far as they can and inspire people to go even farther as well to program robots for practical stuff such as locate books. 11a Emotional intelligence This text is about emotional intelligence (EI) and the advantages we could gain if we start training it. While our IQ (intellectual intelligence) will get us through exams and help us to solve problems in our working life, it’s thanks to emotional intelligence that we could be able to manage the stress in those situations. EI 22 - Orangutans, Borneo (in the middle of Malaysia and Indonesia): Orangutangs are one of the species fighting for survival due to hunting and habitat destruction. Volunteers can help and provide footage for 14 days. - Sea turtles, Greece: This project relies on volunteers for night and day patrols to protect nesting sites and improve public awareness. There are also family programs. - Rescued elephants, Laos: volunteers help with maintaining the centre and the elephants that live in its protected forest for 7 days. Work includes gardening, painting, cleaning, and making paper from elephant dung (animal excrement). - Scottish estate retreat: in the south of Edinburgh there is an institute running self-discovery retreats and volunteers can help run the centre from a weekend or applying for a 40-day intensive course. You can stay for free if you work in the organic garden, or you can pay a fee and help with indoor tasks. - A volunteer teacher in Ethiopia: It is an opportunity for people with degree and at least 3-year experience in fields like medicine, education, and engineering. They get accommodation and a basic wage, trainings and at least 3 weeks’ free. The program lasts from 6 months to 1 year. - Help refugee volunteers at work in Calais: this charity needs both skilled and unskilled workers for its projects in Calais, Greece, and Serbia. - Eco-farm works a WWOOF volunteer in Portugal: The project is worldwide and consist in volunteers which helps in organic farms with daily tasks in return of accommodation and food. It is also open to families, who are advised to find farms where the owners have children too. 25 Video Life 1f Arctic wisdom This video deals with the theme of “older generation” in the city of Iqaluit, in the north of Canada. The mayor wants to have a long-term vision in planning, as the elder did in the past. In this kind of society, elders play an important role, since they even have a committee where they can meet and chill. Their elders are the first settled generation in that area and their advice are very important to the new generations. Before settling they were nomadic hunters and used to pass down the Inuit tradition orally. Everyone was useful for something because everyone was expert in something. Life experiences made them appreciate any little things they had (happy with basics). Moreover, this population present the phenomenon of disproportionate age of members: many factors have influenced the gap and today there are more young people and fewer elders, for example less infant mortality. According to a grandmother the key to happiness is to have high self-esteem, encourage yourself and to be positive despite the difficulties to communicate with younger people because many of them can’t understand really well the local language and there is no possibility to talk, but the future can only be improved by knowing the past with the wisdom of years. Relevant phrases: respect your elders and see the change but never forget who you are. 2f Climbing Yosemite /iosEmiti/ This video is about climbing, a very dangerous, methodical, and slow sport. It is obviously a physical sport but also cerebral because you have to think when you move, you don’t have to lose concentration and fear is central because at every mistake you pay consequences. Jimmy Chin talks about his story and how the got passionate: he had just finished school and he had no idea about what he was going to do in his life. After deciding to take a year off, he started to do some odds and ends. He had nothing stable, and he spent time skiing and climbing. 7 years later he settled in Yosemite, he found his community there, that place inspired him a lot as he felt like home. People was very interested in what they do and every day they went out to climb. After a while, he took a photo which a friend sold for $500, and he realized taking photos could help him continue what he was doing so he bought a camera and decided to go around the world and photograph any kind of place where he was so this is what he does for 11-12 years. In the end he says that this sport gave him the possibility to travel the world and meet many different cultures and people, to live a life that he loves. 3f A story of solution This video talks about how a small community of people can make great things if anyone helps each other. A town in Alabama was burned down by a great fire, the citizens couldn’t do anything as the nearer fire station was 50 minutes far from their town. They got together, organised in groups with engineers and architects from Auburn University for building new construction such as the fire station, the first public building in Newbern. Moreover, the fire station has volunteer firefighter, and this initiative has been positively welcomed so much that at the first call that was to a grass fire they took 32 people even if 3 were enough. The project aimed to build efficient and affordable houses, but people soon realized that together they could do more, so the result is that they have completed many others architectural solutions among which a library which has given a strong positive impact to the city. The project works because everyone has the same goal as a team. It’s people that really make the difference. 4f This man risked it all That’s the story of a man in Uganda who became an energy innovator. One day after visiting his mother, he saw his little sister carrying woods for cooking. She missed the school at least twice a week for this reason and he couldn’t stand because school is an opportunity that cannot be thrown away. His said that 26 education changed his life. So, he gives up his job and started to think for an alternative source of fuel. He sold everything he had and even his girlfriend left him because she believed that he was wasting his life. Now he is the CEO of Eco Fuel Africa, a company that turns waste like corn, coffee, or sugar cane waste into clean cooking fuel. This fuel burns cleaner and longer and it’s cheaper. They put the project on the market and people loved it. Now they have network of farmers and involve women and their ambition is to supply more and more households and to prevent deforestation and air pollution. In this way kids can also go to school and get the education they need. 5f On the road: Andrew McCarthy This video is about how can a trip change a person. The interviewed person Andrew McCarthy spoke about his experience along the Camino de Santiago in Spain about 18 years before. One day he was in a bookstore and picked up about the Camino, after some months he grabbed it and read it on a plane, and he felt very touched. So, because there was no Internet to research information about how to do that trip, he called the author. Then he went to Spain and walked for a month. He had a transformative experience, he felt lonely and miserable for most of the time but then something happened. He went there to see if we could take care of his-self and then he felt for the first time unafraid in the world. He stayed in hostels, but they weren’t very comfortable so sometimes he went to hotels. In the end he says that he would come back with his sons and daughter. 6f The art of parkour The video deals with a particular sport: parkour. This sport was born in 1940 from a you, unemployed man, John Ciampa who was able to walk con fences with normal shoes and to jump and climb for 30-40 feet. He had just a great ability, courage, and supernatural sense of balance. Then the sport became famous in 1980 in the suburbs of Paris before spreading all over the world. Now it is considered a form of self-expression and its essence consist in jumping up and down, overcoming obstacles without equipment and improvising with the environment around you. Now parkour has developed in an area where opportunities are limited since it is an affordable and creative form of exercise: the area is Gaza in Palestine. There unemployment and poverty rates are very high, but this sport allow them to stay fit and active. Their parents are proud, encourage and support them even though obstacles and risks like injuries are very common; that’s why the first parkour lesson is how to fall without hurting yourself. The dream of these young people is to perform in a competition or a film. 7f Talking dictionaries This video deals with the matter of “endangered languages” around the world. It’s been estimated that of the 7,000 languages in the world, half of them may disappear in this century. This is happening because the social pressure and attitudes devalue small languages as if they were not modern enough to be used. Some people consider technology as a threat to the existence of small languages but honestly these small communities use technology to sustain themselves and a way to make the language survive. To protect languages, it has been created a project called “Talking Dictionaries” to give endangered languages a first- ever presence on the Internet. An example is the Siletz-Dee-ni from Oregon which has only one fluent speaker who has recorded thousands of words to create an online dictionary. This project helps appreciate the cultural knowledge and revitalize the language. An other example of “Talking Dictionary” is about Matukar Panau a very small language spoken in Papua New Guinea by six hundred people, when National Geographic team visited the village they agreed to put their langue on the Internet, even if they had never seen the Internet before. They collaborated and created the dictionary and some years later when they finally had Internet, the first thing they did was to see and hear Matukar Panau spoken so they understood the importance of the project. But the first “Talking Dictionary” they built was with the Tuvan language spoken by nomadic people in Siberia, a language that had a very rich lexicon of the natural world and 27