VIDEO orale Inglese 2 | Dispense di Lingua Inglese

Greta Pontieri

1f - ARCTIC WISDOM

Elisapee Sheutiapik is the mayor of the city of Iqaluit, in the Arctic. She says that the elders are

incredibly important because they’ve gone through and seen so much change in a very short time,

which also made them become quite good at planning. The words of the elders are so important

that there is a committee of elders at government level.

It is therefore possible to say that the phrase “RESPECT YOUR ELDERS” is very alive in Iqaluit.

What’s more, the elders who now live in the village represent the FIRST SETTLED GENERATION.

The PARENTS of these men and women lived as NOMADIC HUNTERS. Also, up until this

generation, all of the Inuit TRADITIONS and history were passed down ORALLY. Nothing had been

written down, making their knowledge of the past invaluable.

Moreover, the ROLE of the ELDER has CHANGED in the last few years. Elders were advisors for the

others in the community. Each one was an expert on a particular area (weather, environment),

helping the community to survive.

The mayor then says that Inuits are HAPPY with the very BASICS and this derives from the life

experience that have brought them to where they are today.

One thing her mother always said was NEVER FORGET WHO YOU ARE. This means that the Inuit

population went through a lot of changes in a short time and, even if this will happen again in the

future, they should never forget who they really are.

Another reason for which the elders are so special is the DISPROPORTIONATE AGE groups of

Iqaluit. Factors such as lower infant mortality and improved healthcare have allowed the

population to grow, but this means more young people and fewer elders (the average age is 23

years old).

An old woman is then interviewed and she says that to live an HAPPY LIFE you have to RESPECT

YOURSELF and THOSE AROUND you. It’s important to have HIGH SELF-ESTEEM and ENCOURAGE

YOURSELF and OTHERS to BE POSITIVE.

The old woman then described the COMMUNICATION PROBLEM with the YOUNGER generation,

as many of them don’t understand enough the language to have a complete conversation.

The Inuit population had a culture where EVERYTHING was VERBAL and YOUNG PEOPLE heard the

stories. they think this helps to understand where their ancestors came from. It’s important to

listen to what the elderly have to say because the future can only be improved by knowing the

past. Today’s generation indeed have to RECORD and PASS ON the wisdom of the ages.

2f - CLIMBING YOSEMITE

The process of climbing is rewarding, physically difficult, cerebral, slow. When climbing you have

to control fear because every little mistake could cause a severe injury or even death.

The photographer Chin explains how he became one of the experts in participatory photography:

after college, he decided to take a year off to devote all his time to climbing and skiing. However, 7

years later he was still living in the back of his Subaru, always climbing and doing simple jobs to

survive. He felt free and lucky to be able to wake up every day to such beautiful sceneries such as

Yosemite.

Yosemite was an influential place for him, because there he met passionate people but also

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1f - ARCTIC WISDOM Elisapee Sheutiapik is the mayor of the city of Iqaluit, in the Arctic. She says that the elders are incredibly important because they’ve gone through and seen so much change in a very short time, which also made them become quite good at planning. The words of the elders are so important that there is a committee of elders at government level. It is therefore possible to say that the phrase “RESPECT YOUR ELDERS” is very alive in Iqaluit. What’s more, the elders who now live in the village represent the FIRST SETTLED GENERATION. The PARENTS of these men and women lived as NOMADIC HUNTERS. Also, up until this generation, all of the Inuit TRADITIONS and history were passed down ORALLY. Nothing had been written down, making their knowledge of the past invaluable. Moreover, the ROLE of the ELDER has CHANGED in the last few years. Elders were advisors for the others in the community. Each one was an expert on a particular area (weather, environment), helping the community to survive. The mayor then says that Inuits are HAPPY with the very BASICS and this derives from the life experience that have brought them to where they are today. One thing her mother always said was NEVER FORGET WHO YOU ARE. This means that the Inuit population went through a lot of changes in a short time and, even if this will happen again in the future, they should never forget who they really are. Another reason for which the elders are so special is the DISPROPORTIONATE AGE groups of Iqaluit. Factors such as lower infant mortality and improved healthcare have allowed the population to grow, but this means more young people and fewer elders (the average age is 23 years old). An old woman is then interviewed and she says that to live an HAPPY LIFE you have to RESPECT YOURSELF and THOSE AROUND you. It’s important to have HIGH SELF-ESTEEM and ENCOURAGE YOURSELF and OTHERS to BE POSITIVE. The old woman then described the COMMUNICATION PROBLEM with the YOUNGER generation, as many of them don’t understand enough the language to have a complete conversation. The Inuit population had a culture where EVERYTHING was VERBAL and YOUNG PEOPLE heard the stories. they think this helps to understand where their ancestors came from. It’s important to listen to what the elderly have to say because the future can only be improved by knowing the past. Today’s generation indeed have to RECORD and PASS ON the wisdom of the ages. 2f - CLIMBING YOSEMITE The process of climbing is rewarding, physically difficult, cerebral, slow. When climbing you have to control fear because every little mistake could cause a severe injury or even death. The photographer Chin explains how he became one of the experts in participatory photography: after college, he decided to take a year off to devote all his time to climbing and skiing. However, 7 years later he was still living in the back of his Subaru, always climbing and doing simple jobs to survive. He felt free and lucky to be able to wake up every day to such beautiful sceneries such as Yosemite. Yosemite was an influential place for him, because there he met passionate people but also

because it was in Yosemite that he first took a camera to snap a shot for his friend. This friend eventually managed to sell that photo and Chin realised he could actually make a living from doing what he loved the most, climbing. So, he bought a camera and started to head out to start his new career. Over the course of 12 years he got to shoot wonderful photos in the most beautiful parts of the world (Everest, Mali, China, Wyoming, Borneo…) with people from all over the world. 3f – A STORY OF SOLUTIONS This video was taken from a campaign launched by the American Institute of Architects , called the “ I Look Up ” challenge. The aim was to shine a light on the work of architects designing solutions to some of the most pressing problems in the country. Newbern is a village of 184 people in Alabama. It is mainly a rural town, as can be seen from the quite small run-down prefabricated buildings shown at the very beginning of the video. The video introduces the outstanding work of the Rural Studio , a community of students, architects and citizens in partnership between Auburn University’s School of Architecture and the citizens of Hale County, Alabama, which aims to build efficient and affordable housing. In partnership with the community, they have completed over 170 architectural solutions. For instance, they took care of the design of a new fire station. The firehouse was the first public building in Newbern for 110 years. Its design is quite essential and functional: it’s small, like every other building in the town, but it’s very practical since they don’t actually need big headquarters, like would probably be necessary in a city. It has a trapezoidal shape; the right wall is higher than the left one and the roof is kind of slantwise. Beyond this, the Newbern Library is probably the most profound project Rural Studio ever built: it is made up of a single, wide space, a pleasantly enlightened environment provided with books, computers, ceiling fans and everything else one might need in order to read and study quietly. The video also shows children entering the library, meaning it is a social space everyone can benefit from and has really left a mark on the development of the community. 4f – THIS MAN RISKED IT ALL Sanga Moses can be considered an energy innovator. When he went visiting his mother he met his sister, who was carrying wood. She was crying because she was tired of repeatedly missing school in order to gather wood for her family. In fact, in Uganda kids are used to miss some days of school because they are sent to collect wood, as it is the fuel used by their families to cook. Sanga didn’t want her sister to miss the opportunity to educate herself because she had to provide her family with wood. Therefore, he thought about an alternative source of fuel. He left his job and found help in the university he had attended. He decided to sell everything he had and because of that he broke up with his girlfriend, who thought he was crazy. Now he works as CEO of Eco fuel Africa, a business that turns farm waste into cooking fuel, which, compared to wood, burns cleaner and longer and is much cheaper. This company has 460 women retailers, who sell this fuel back to their communities. Thanks to its work, the business is stopping deforestation, indoor air pollution and enabling farmers and women to earn a living. More kids can now attend classes at school and get an education. Sanga thinks about himself as an average man who tries to make the community better.

The programme “talking dictionaries’’ wants to give small languages their first presence on the Internet. This program is dedicated to a variety of communities around the world. One of them is a language spoken in the state of Oregon: Siletz Dee-ni. Siletz Dee-ni has only one fluent speaker and just some people who have some knowledge of the language. But the fluent speaker has recorded thousands of words in the language. In the website of “Talking Dictionaries’’ we can look for some words and then see words translated into Siletz Dee- ni. There’s also a talking dictionary to Matukar Panau , a very small language spoken in Papua New Guinea only by 600 people who live in one village. When National Geographic visited the village, villagers expressed their desire to see their language on the Internet, even though they hadn’t seen the Internet before but just heard about it. The following year they got electricity in the village and as a consequence, they got the internet connection. For the first time they were able to see and hear their own language spoken. This sends a powerful message because it means that their language is just as good as the others and it can exist in high tech. The first talking dictionary was built for the Tuvan language, spoken by nomadic people in Siberia where the inhabitants mainly raise animals. For this reason they have huge lexicon regarding the natural world and the environment. Linguistic diversity is one of the most important parts of our human heritage. Scientists as well as indigenous communities are responding to a crisis of language extinction. But the Talking dictionary could help the young generation to acquire small languages by using technology. 8f - A BIOPIC Kevin Macdonald, the director of Marley, is deeply honoured to be taking part into the special project which is Bob Marley’s documentary film. What he wanted to talk about in his film was the man that was Boob Marley: who he was, where he got his inspiration from, what he said and thought. The director says nowadays we hear Marley everywhere, but we became deaf to the messages the singer wanted to communicate. Macdonald hopes that shading light on Bob Marley’s story can help a better and thorough understanding of his music. Marely’s story is fascinating because he experienced so much: he went from being poor and oppressed in a ghetto, to touring the world and being a superstar while leading his battles against racism and violence. What people love about Bob is that he was attractive, his message was clearly true and you could tell he was sincere. This is why he could give people solace from their troubles. The director of the film says that Marley has probably been the most listened to artist throughout the world because his message is universal and people from all over the world could relate to the meanings of his songs.

9f – COLLECTING THE PAST Finely embroidered robes (accappatoi finemente ricamati) that were once used by an emperor of Chin dynasty, the last dynasty to rule Imperial China, are now part of Mr Chen’s art collection of stately Chinese artefacts, which are sold in auctions abroad. Many artefacts are displayed in a shopping mall in Hong Kong, an unusual setting for such a regal finery, but what makes the collector happy is just the fact that these pieces came back to China, its home soil. The collector, Mr Chen spent 25 years and over 1 hundred million dollars collecting. He’s part of a growing breed of wealthy buyers who scanned the catalogues of auction houses around the world, looking to reacquire pieces of China’s imperial past. The collectors go after any kind of Chinese antiquity, and it can often be Chinese versus Chinese. As a consequence, American and European collectors are left behind at the auctions. China currently counts almost 1 million millionaires and dozens of billionaires, potential buyers with cash to spend, who are emerging as a powerful force in the global art market. Their spending power is making prices higher and higher , so that European and American collectors are being left behind , sometimes not even being able to raise their hand at the auctions. Some dealers said that this has happened before with the Japanese. In the late 70s and 80s the Japanese bought important works of art which they had lost from their country to bring them back to the home soil. And they especially bought affordable decorative pieces. 10f – INITIATION WITH ANTS A particular ritual is hold several times a year by the tribe of the Sateré-Mawé Indians. It is a painful eleven-hour ritual in which boys must stick their hands into a pair of gloves infested with giant carnivores tropical ants. The purpose of this initiation is to demonstrate whether the initiates are true Indians, warriors, or not. Therefore, they must wear the gloves 20 times. After having captured the ants (with the risk of getting stung before the ritual), the tribe’s medicine man, drugs the ants by soaking them in an herbal solution and then they are pushed into the gloves. In less than an hour the ants are awake, and they struggle angrily to free themselves. To help distract the initiates, the medicine man leads them in a dance. In order to be seen as true tribal warrior, they must endure this punishment for more than ten minutes. The problem is that the neurotoxic venom released from the ants attacks the nerves and causes paralysis and a terrible pain. According to the chief, the ritual not only marks the initiate’s entrance into adulthood, but also makes them better men. 11f – MADELINE THE ROBOT TAMER Humans and robots are both part of the planet. It is important to find a balance between them and work together. There is a global community where this co-working already exists. A robot, called Mimus , can handle heavy things and can move really high and fast; around the robot there are cameras that let it know where human beings are moving. Thanks to some adjustments and gestures the robot is made responsive to people and made it easy to be used. So, just with your natural gesture, the way you would communicate with another person, you can tell the robot, for example, to come closer.

VIDEO orale Inglese 2, Dispense di Lingua Inglese

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