Scarica riassunto reading between the lines e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! 1. We are what we buy The main concept of this text is you can understand a person’s life style and way of being by watching what they buy. Shopping is no longer a frivolous activity, but it reassure ourselves about who we are. Professor Campbell, who sustains this idea, has a different opinion about Christmas shopping: he says it’s a desperate try to identify other people’s tastes. We are usually destined to fail, because modern concept is based on wants rather than needs, and it’s much more difficult to understand people’s desires. Professor Campbell’s view about this topic is that we discover what we are like by exposing ourselves to the wide range of products and services. In this way we have the possibility to identify ourselves in our tastes in music, wine, food and so on, while our grandparents tent to identify themselves in terms of their social status (as a father, as a farmer, as a catholic and so on). Professor Campbell also thinks that the slogan “the customer is always right” reflects the idea that the costumer himself knows what he wants better than the experts. LIFE ! 1B. What image of yourself do you want to give to the others? What do you give more importance to (family, look, friends, work..)? 2. Good riddance to the old CV Nowadays CVs are not so useful as in the past; information and personal data could be found online, thanks to the many social networks we are signed in. The traditional CV is risky because we write details and personal opinions, like our interests or if our previous salary was too low. LinkedIn allowed to move CVs online, a profile with too much connections (or too few) is considered not serious; but it is better than Facebook and Twitter that show every part of our life and thanks to them employers can analyse habits and personality of their future collaborators. Fortunately sometimes applications are previously skimmed (scremati) by a computer, which cannot see a Facebook profile, but hasn't human sensibility. Computers help also to not differentiate CVs, for example if they're written in a particular way or have images. A reason CVs have lost their power is that people are much pickier about ethical things, rather than the salary. They want to know who they work for and with the Internet they can look for it; this veils that also organizations have to worry about their reputation. Nowadays the employment world is more transparent and there are few surprise candidate; an additional useful tools could be a sort of "TripAdvisor" of the employers, with a black list of "bad organizations" and opinions of previous employees. Retail = commercio al dettaglio To be doomed = essere condannato To set out = esporre (un’idea, una tesi) Clergy = clero Hence = therefore = quindi, percui LIFE: 1d ! how we present ourselves: though words, acts, clothing, … 1e ! letter of application: how to answer to an advertisement + use of fixed expressions (I am available, in response to your advertisement, yours sincerely, …) 3- Moken nomads leave behind their “sea gipsy” life for a modern existence The Moken are a nomadic seafaring tribe of hunter-gatherers who live in the southern seas of Burma and
Thailand. Little is known about their origins, they are believed to descend from migrant Austronesians who moved from China 4000 years ago. The Moken spend eight months of the year at sea , roaming with their boats and they return to land only during the monsoon season or to barter fish and shells they’ve collected.
Their way of life has existed for centuries but nowadays it is at risk. The great quantity and variety of seafood has been wiped out by the 2004 tsunami and now the little that’s left is being wiped out by the International fishing boats. Most mokens have moved to land and, since they are running out of resources, their diving skills are used and exploited by Thai fishing boats for dangerous jobs, such as planting explosives on the seabed. Many of them suffer from decompression sickness and many have also died.
Young Mokans, living now in village, are under the bad influence of Thai society: they steal, they use drugs etc.
To give new “option” to the vulnerable Moken youth and to preserve traditions the Moken museum has been created and the village is trying to offer classes in Moken language and training as tour guides.
But not for everyone education is the right solution; an anthropologist says that it could be a sort of integration into Thai society. Kang Jao and her brother Ngui Jao represent the two different possibilities for the future of Moken tribe: Kang is so far the only Moken to have graduated from university and she is going to be the only Moken teacher; she sees herself as a bridge between the Moken community and the outside world. Whereas her brother Ngui is trying to preserve his traditions, living as an “old Moken”, he dives to collect seafood and sells it to shops. Good riddance: che liberazione! To hand: consegnare CRB: Criminal Record Bureau: certificato penale Double-spaced: con doppia spaziatura Snappy: stringato, conciso Bullet points: elenchi puntati To cut the mustard: r ispondere al le aspettative Committed: impiegato Archiving: archiviante To come off: uscire To sniff: annusare Endorsed: sostenuto To despair: disperarsi Loftily: altezzosamente Stack: pila To sort: classificare To square: squadrare Pickier: più esigenti Empowering: che danno potere Textured: ruvido Weave: tessuto, zigzag Whistleblower: spia, informatore Appointed: nominate To swap: scambiare To steer clear: stare lontano the first lot of other cities followed this project and skyscrapers started to bloom around the world. But these buildings create emission of CO2 and engineers are now seeking new ways of building without dramatic negative effect on the environment. They have revisited the building materials and have decided to use wood. A type of super-plywood has been created and it has obtained success between the architects. Michael Green’s idea of a world full of wooden and tall skyscrapers has been adopted and he decided to give his book for free in order to spread it. But there is still a limit on the height of timber buildings: wood is historically famous because of great fires that destroyed big cities, but nowadays timber has a protective layer (which prevents from burning). Innovation goes fast and there are studies that re-imagine already-existent buildings or create new ones. Another important advance comes from Canada, where a forest was destroyed by a pine beetle, which releases a blue-staining fungus into the wood; it was promoted the use of this wood in construction projects and this former-undesirable material became useful. The most noticeable example was the Richmond Oval during Vancouver’s Winter Olympic. In New Zealand, after a violent earthquake, the city of Christchurch was rebuilt with wood, which resists in a better way and follow seismic movements. In China engineers are being educated on the use of wood and in the last years they could build high wooden towers. LIFE: 3d 7 ! 2 proposals for a public work of art for the city centre park. 7- Why did LOL infiltrate the language? Engineered: “per la costruzione” Timber: legname To herald: annunciare Plywood: compensato Multi-storey: multipiano Lightweight: leggero Frame: struttura To relieve: ridure, sollevare Masonry: muratura Shackles: catene, ceppi (fig.) Trade-in: permuta Spindly: esile To provide: fornire Blueprint: cianografia To reckon: ritenere To warp: avvolgersi Slotted: infilati Stacked: impilati USDA: Un i ted States Department of Agriculture Scorched: bruciata Breakthrough: passo avanti Beetle: scarafaggio Blue-staining: che macchia di blu To halt: arrestare, fermare Lodgepole pines: pinus contorta To trigger: provocare To top off: completare Under way: in corso To choke: soffocare Stunted: sottosviluppate Softwood: legno di conifera Akin to: simile a Sawn: segato, tagliato Lumber: legname To draw up: redigere To soar: sollevarsi Hefty: pesante To branch out: espandersi To sequester: isolare, sequestrare Advocate: difensore To sow: seminare Lid: limite Kindling: ramiscelli, frasche To ravage: devastare To wipe out: distruggere Swathes: cose che lasciano il segno Charring: carbonizzato, bruciato Predictably: prevedibilmente Brainchild: idea To lash: sferzare To snap back: scattare indietro To loosen up: allentarsi The internet slang term LOL (laughing out loud) has been added to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) alongside the expression OMG (oh my God) due to ther growing occurence in text, email, social network and even in spoken language. “Used chiefly in electronic communications, to draw attention to a joke or humors statement, or to express amusement” this is the definition given by the OED of the interjection LOL. Graeme Diamond, OED's principal editor for new words says that this word is now common, widespread and people understands what it means. Obviously there are people who are happy with this decision and people that don't agree. The anti-lol groups say that LOL doesn't sound at all like laughter, in fact you can't phisically laughing while saying it, but the most negative about this word that has been added to the OED are the language purists. They are painting out that nowadays adults are mimicking teen speak, using slang words and ignoring grammar, deteriorating their language. Before adding the word to the OED they traced its origins and discovered that date back to the 1980 created by computer fanatics. It was used in geek-speak, the oldest written records of LOL is in a discussion forum and then it got picked up by young kids. Many mistakes LOL as “Lots of love”, most of all adults. Once a mother wrote to her daughter “you grandmother has just passed away, lol”. LOL is simple and multipurpose, you can use it also in an ironic way or to help someone overcome an awkward moment depending on the situation. LOL it's simple to understand, that's why it became a phenomenon. Tony Thorne, author of the Dictionary of the Contemporary Slang, says that these slangs are not harmful to children's vocabolary, studies show that kids who use slang abbreviations are the most articulate ones, they call it code switching. Language is a vibrant, evolving animal so we need to accept changes. Life ! unit 4 8- Social responsibility no longer optional for businesses Dismay: sgomento Unintelligible: incomprensibile Blimey: cribbio Ushered: annunciata Loathe: hate/detestare Arch: malizioso/furbo Acknowledging: riconoscere Disingenuous: falso Hallmark: elemento caratteristico Concoction: miscuglio Naff: senza stile Get all worked up: farsi coraggio Substandard: sotto lo standard Unorthodox: non ortodosso/non convenzionale Culprit: colpevole The Cone Communications and Echo Research, 2 firms involved in public relations and marketing, have published a study that shows how social responsibility in companies is now essential. They survey more than 10.000 consumers in 10 countries, USA, Canada, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Russia, China, India and Japan. More than 90% of the consumers surveyed are more likely to trust socially responsible businesses and they are ready to boycott companies engaged in irresponsible business practices. Selling good products or services is no longer enough to attract shoppers, consumers want more from the businesses where they shop. Only 6% of the consumers surveyed say that the purpose of the company is to make money for shareholders and more than 80% want to see whats behind the products they are buying and they also consider social environmental issues when deciding what to buy. Shoppers encourage others to do the same when they shop, they make themselves feel responsible. Most of them pay so much attention when buying products because they want to try to improve society and reduce environmental damage. Modern shoppers also do research on social media about the companies they are interested in, and they are ready to share positive or negtive information with others. Life ! Unit 8: Digital Media 9. Calling all Moleskine Fetishists – you may yet get a share in Hemingway This text is really ironic: the main idea is that sometimes we want to owe something only to show other people what we want to be; in this case, a Moleskine notebook to show we’d like to be a writer. Moleskine, the tipical black covered with rounded corners notebook, based its history on a false belief: in fact, everybody believes that Hemingway wrote on one of them, but the company only started its business in 1997. In addition, the author jokes about some tools with which writers are obsessed, for examples Japanese gel pens or old manual typewriters. Because of the financial crisis, Moleskine is now owned by a private equity firm, which knows how to do marketing: in fact, they build the image of footloose, cosmopolitan litterateur behind the simple black notebook, which has now become a status symbol, such as Bulgari or Salvatore Ferragamo. Concluding, the author mentions the ancestor of the Moleskine: the German Leuchtturm1917, wondering which one makes you write better. Survey: sondaggio Corporate: aziendale Be engaged in: be involved in Proactively seek out: cercare in anticipo Poised: pronti To sew – sewed – sewn = cucire Deceased = deceduto Sci-fi novelist = scrittore di fantascienza Sketch = schizzo / scrawl = scarabocchio Hipster = persona alla moda (lett. Vita bassa) Gloomy = depresso Nimbus = aura Cred = reputazione Cocoon = coccolare Wander off= allontanare Footloose = spensierato To frown = corrucciare la fronte Psycobabble = psicoballe (cazzate) Cachet = marchio di qualità 11 - It's true, there is such a thing as beauty sleep Researchers said to have found the first proof that getting a regular eight hours sleep does make you appear healthier and more attractive. When non experts observers were shown photographs of the faces of volunteers who had been deprived of sleep they judged them to be less healthy and less attractive than photographs of the same volunteers well-rested. " If you want to look healthy and attractive, it is way better to get a good night's sleep and a lot cheaper than other beauty treatments" said John Axelsson, department of clinical neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Sleep deprivation can cause physiological changes which could be seen in the face. The immune system is affected, increasing the risk of infections, glucose regulation is weakened and blood pressure is raised. Dr. Axelsson led a study were dozen of men and women slept for no more than 5 hours on the first night and they spent the night after in a sleep laboratory when they were not allowed to sleep at all. After 31 hours of no sleep photographs were taken and compared with photos taken after a full night's sleep of eight hours. 65 observers judge the photos and few of them perceived healthier, less tired and more attractive the volunteers in the sleep-deprived condition. Untrained: non esperti Finding: il verdetto Slight: sottili Triggers: scatenare/innescare 12 – Why am I tired all the time? The science of sleep Dr. Nick Knight with this article describes why we need sleep, how much is enough and how to make the most of it. With modern life, with increasing and competing pressures from work, family and social change many of us face the prospect of 6 hours sleep per night or less, according to the Sleep Council. We can divided our sleep in 4 stages. The first 3 stages are called non-rapid eye movement (non- REM) in which we fall into a progressively deeper sleep with increasing less reaction to environmental stimuli. The final stage, is where you are essentially an active brain in a paralysed body, it is called REM. In this stage is where we dream. We can't live without sleep, it must be needed, it helps support some very biological functions as supporting our body's physiological processes, memory processing and learing. Modern living, occasionally lend us to a sleepless night or two, in fact the Sleep Council say that almost half of Britons say that stress or worry keeps them awake at night, the result is that you become sleep deprived. How can we achieve a better night's sleep? There are a set of principles, called “Sleep Hygiene”, that we can follow and they may help us to control the behavioural and environmental factors that precede our sleep. The principles of Sleep Hygiene are: • Get a regulare schedule • Allow enough time to sleep • Avoid exercising 3 hours before sleeping • Avoid caffeine at late night • Avoid excess alcohol before sleeping • Turn off your phone before going to bed • Avoid having a television in your bedroom • Make your bedroom a peaceful, tidy environment • Manage your fliud before going to bed so you don't have to wake up during the night • Avoid sleep medications • Avoid excessive planning and worrying. Dr. Nick says that there are also proves that naps are important. The nap has been shown to enhance our information preocessing and learning, and increase our alertness and motor skills. If we just want to rest, a 20 minutes nap is enough but if we need to consolidate our learing and memories we need a 60 minutes “consolidation” nap, it taked us to the REM sleep where memories are deposited. At the end Dr. Nick says sleep is fundamental, it helps us refresh, recharge and cement learning and memories. 13. The lost village There is a village in England that no one knows about. Its name is Tyneham, and before the War it was a rural town, where more or less 250 people lived and worked peacefully. They had no comfort, such as electricity or running water. The author thinks that the fact that no one knows about the story of this town is a pity, so he tells it us. In the middle of November 1943 a letter was sent to the citizens, ordering them to leave their homes and works because the Army needed that lands to the training of the troops, who had to be prepared for the war that was going to hit the whole Europe. The people obey, even if it was mentally destroying for the majority of them, who never stepped out of the little town. Some of them also died of a broken heart. The War Office never gave the citizens their houses back. The church and the houses were abused and the Army never refuse to leave its hold on the valley. Nowadays it is possible to visit some ruins of the town, even if only the church and the schoolhouse have been refurbished and turned into museums. Pitifully: infelicemente Pierce: penetrare o riuscire a comprendere (in senso figurato) Behavioural: comportamentale Disengaged: disimpegnato Subsequent: succesivo/seguente Pattern: schema/modello Engulfed: travolgere/inghiottire Plethora: pletora (excess) Sluggish: apatico/inerte Whale: balena Endorse: promuovere Drowsiness: fiacca/sonnolenza Enhance: aumentare/accrescere Drowsy: sonnolento/intorpidito 16- Study: smartphones stunting students' social skills When you see a teenager on the street, in a bar, sitting in a car, at a fast food he's probably using his smartphone. A recent study done by the University of California, Los Angeles, says that using a smartphone for so much time it can be a barrier in a child's ability to read emotions. The American Academy of Pediatric (AAP) had reported in 2009 that 22% of teenagers log on social media more than 10 times a day, 75% own cell phones, 25% use them for social media, 54% for texting and the others for instant messaging. Digital media doesn't have only benefits but it has costs, losing the ability to understand emotions of other people, is one of them. Researchers worked with 105 sixth graders from a southern school of California. Half of those spent five days in a camp where technologies were not admitted and they were forced to interact with each others face to face. All were tested before and after the five days, they were shown photographs and videos and asked to tell what kind of emotions those people in the videos were feeling. The group of teenagers that did the camp experience did much better. Researchers say that if you do not practice face to face communication, you coud be losing important social skills, you can gain so much more from the interaction than talking to them on the phone. Dr. Benzio, Executive Director of lighthouse Network made a list of other problems social media presents, like: – Impatience in relationship because of the instantaneousness of social media. – Having so many acquitances but no time to have deeper relationships with them. – Mistaking social media relationships for real ones. – Using social media to engage in relationship activities, like dating, breaking up, forgiving or offering a job. These are just a few of social media's problems. The AAP, advise parents to talk to their children about their online activities and discuss the problem of cyberbullying, sexting and the problem to manage their time because their are spending so much time on social media. Eyewitnesses: testimoni Savage: selvaggio Bystanders: passanti Wildfire: incendio incontrollato Disputed: contestate Sparked waves of protest: scatenò onde di protesta Sickening: nauseante Footage: filmato Attorney: avvocato Bunkum: sciocchezze/stupidaggini Curfews: coprifuoco Triggered: innescata And at the end, the AAP says to become better educated about technologies their children are using, and supervise them while they are online. Life ! unità 8 Digital Media 17. Music and culture Music is, like the other arts, able to connect people, even if they are from different cultures. Basing on this fact, in 1990s the pianist Daniel Barendoim and the intellectual (and amateur pianist) Edward Said decided to give life to a project with the aim to see people from Israel and people from Palestine (two nations which have been in conflict for so long) playing and discussing together on a neutral ground. For this reason they choose Seville, in Spain. The main objective of this project is to let music become part of the society and it contributes to educate and promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence. LIFE – 9 A ! Justin Cape is a musician who has travelled for two years in order to explore different types of music. His aim was not to find something that could be appreciated all over the world, as it already exists. Justin says every generation has its music and feels like it speaks to us and that, even if the sounds could be different, the themes are more or less the same all over the world. 18. To beat pain, find the right beat Music reduces pain, anxiety and stress, music therapy and its benefits are used to treat diseases or to alleviate pain; for example classical music can reduce depression and chronic pain. Patients who listen to their favourite song suffer less and it was discovered that also singing has healthy effect on quality life. According to this the charity put on concerts for adults and children in hospitals and sick people could benefit their short-term effects. Doctors can’t explain the neurological reasons, but maybe it’s related to the production of endorphins and to our emotions. Suffering in silence is more painful than doing the same thing with music. In waiting rooms we find music system because they make people calm and relaxed. Music can also manipulate the mind, but these effects aren’t confirmed, for example when mothers play Mozart to their little children. At least music can help people at work: people work faster and longer with music, but obviously it depends on the genre. Stunting: arresto di crescita Roadbloack: barricata Poll: sondaggio Cues: segnali Deepens: più in profondità Hone: affinare Predictably: prevedibilmente To devise = ideare Amateur = principiante Lobby = atrio To launch = lanciare, dare il via (ad un progetto) Broad – reaching = ad ampio raggio Premise = premessa Fabric of society = tessuto sociale LIFE: 9b ! Exercises about healing music: how music affects our mood, relation endorphins- music, … 19 – David and Victoria Beckham “getting posher”, study finds Some researchers of the university of Manchester carried out a study to understand how changing circumstances affect the way we pronounce words and they took as example the Beckhams, analyzing the way they spoke before and after their move to the us. Before moving to the us David Beckham used to drop the “h” in words such as “him”, “has” while nowadays he speaks with more of a standard English accent and he even puts “hs” in words which don’t really require it.
The reason is linked to the influence of the American English that uses the h sound more. But actually David Beckham has changed his speech to “sound less working class”
Victoria Beckham used to speak as a typical Essex girl, mispronouncing ls sounds in words such as “all”. Nowadays the way she speaks has completely changed. This research has revealed that our way of speaking isn’t fixed after puberty; factors such as social mobility and geographical location can have an impact on the way adults pronounce words. 20 - My year of living without money A man, after becoming disillusioned with consumer society decided to live without spending money.
What first inspired him was Gandhi’s quotation “ be the change we want to see in the world” but at the beginning he actually didn’t know what kind of change he wanted to be back then.
After getting a business and economics degree he worked for organic food companies but soon he realized that even “ethical business” would never be enough to change the world.
His life completely changed after a conversation with a mate about global issues such as sweatshops, animal testing labs etc. , in this circumstances he realized that he was looking at the world in a wrong way and that the main problem are money. Because of money production and consumption are completely separated and we are unaware of what’s involved in the production of what we buy. If we produced things on our own, instead of buying them, we wouldn’t waste resources as we do now.
Firstly he found a sustainable shelter, an old caravan, and decided to volunteer at an organic farm in return for a place to park it. To turn his “home” off – grid he made a wood - burner and a stove using materials taken from the skip or destined for landfill. He could cook only outside and this helped him to discover and appreciate nature and wild life. Publicised: reso pubblico To cope with: fare i conti, gestire Task: incarico To pop: scoppiare Claim: affermazione, reclamo Inflated: esagerati Tune: melodia Off-licence section: reparto per le bevande alcoliche To stick to: attenersi, seguire rigorosamente Soothing: calmante Painkiller: antidolorifico Coronary care unit: reparto di cardiochirurgia Mere: puro Stroke: ictus Distraction: follia To stick: infilare To gather: raccogliere posh = snob The park is open during the whole year. During summer is the most popular time to visit the park but, because of its weather most of the animals go to higher and remote parts of the plateu. From april to may you probably see baby bisons and new born elks. During autumn days it could be the best time to visit the park, you can hear the valleys echo with the metallic sounding bugling elks as they jostle for supremacy. From january to march, in winter time you need to come equipped because the temperatures goes down to -25°C. Animals migrate to the lower regions of the park where the geysers basins are. The text gives us also some tips like, bringing a pair of binoculars or rent a spotting scope from the outdoor gears shops sorrounding the park. And tell us also to pay attention to the park because it's not called “wildlife” for nothing, visitors die every year in the park. Life ! unit 12 Landscapes, 12b Nature close up 24- How Monet's cataracts coloured his view of the Lilies Monet's painting are considered some of the finest works by French Impressionist. Nowadays a new research had shown that the famous blurred effect in his paintings might be caused by his cataracts. Professor Michael Marmor, an ophthalmologist, has shown how Monet's vision of the world had affected his works. The artist wrote a number of letters to his friends complaining about how colours were getting dull and it was hard to tell them apart. Pristine: immacolato Stunning: splendido Fearsome: pauroso Roam: girovagare Elks: alci Bighorn sheeps: pecora delle montagne rocciose Crags: rupe Trumpeter Swan: cigno trombetta Sandhill cranes: gru Grazing:pascolare Herds: A group of cattle or other domestic animals of a single kind kept together for a specific purpose. Bugling: suono prodotto dall'alce maschio (bugle) Jostle: sgomitare Binoculars: binocolo Spotting scope: telescopio Pronghorn antelope: antilocapra americana Skeptical: scettico Mobbed: assaltato Chain: catena Howl: ululato Backcountry: zona isolata Patrol: pattuglia Handful: manciata Groves: boschetto Wildfowl: uccelli selvatici The cataract Monet had caused to the lens of his eye to become denser and more yellowish. Professor Marmor says that it was getting harder for Monet to see and his eyesight was getting blurrier. In 1923 Monet had surgery, 3 years before he died for lung cancer, but later he complained that his eyesight was first to yellow and then too blue. While he was suffering for cataracts he destroyed much of his works and only few pieces were rescued by family and friends. When he eventually went back to painting he completed the lily series that now hangs in the Orangerie. Professor Marmor has also examined the paintings of Edgar Degas who suffered from maculopathy, a pathological condition of the macula,an area at the centre of the retina that cause difficulty to distinguish things. Marmor says these two painters suffered some physical limitations which limited their ability to paint. Life ! unit 12: Landscapes Blurred: appannato Ophthalmologist: oculista Dull: attenuato/fosco Tell them apart: distinguere Lung: polmone Depicting: che rappresenta Dappled: screziata Lilies: gigli Reappraisal: riesame