High Spirits 3: Culture Club
Transcript
High Spirits 3: Culture Club
1 Culture club The environment: Hurricane Katrina 1 Che cosa sai dell’uragano Katrina? Fai il quiz e scegli la risposta corretta. Poi leggi il brano e controlla le risposte. 1 When did it happen? a 2005 b 2006 c 2007 2 Which state is New Orleans in? a Texas b California c Louisiana 3 Where was the most damage? a Mexico b New Orleans c Florida How did it all start? A hurricane is a very strong storm with winds faster than 119 km per hour. These storms start over the sea. When the storm hits the land, it can cause serious damage from wind, floods and rain. When the storm Katrina formed over the Caribbean on 23rd August 2005, people called it a tropical storm. Two days later it was so powerful, that it officially became a hurricane. It hit Florida, where nine people died. On 29th August it hit the Gulf Coast of the USA. By this time it was a Category 5 hurricane – the strongest kind of hurricane. The hurricane went on for nine days before it disappeared on 31st August. Why did the city of New Orleans suffer so badly? New Orleans is just above the Gulf of Mexico in the state of Louisiana. This area is famous for hurricanes. The Mississippi river flows through the city, and there is a big lake, Lake Pontchartrain, to the north. The river and the lake are on higher ground than the city. Because of this, the people of New Orleans built high banks, called levees, to prevent the river and lake flooding the city. But the levees weren’t strong enough to resist a Category 5 hurricane, and they broke. Water came flooding from the lake into the city. It damaged buildings, and also the water, sewage and power supplies. What happened to the people of New Orleans? The people of New Orleans were expecting the hurricane, and the authorities told them to leave the city. But the authorities did not organise the departure from the city very well. Many citizens did not have cars, or enough money to leave. Many were old and too weak to travel. After the levees broke, 80% of the city was under water. About 100,000 people couldn’t leave their homes. 2 There was no food and water, and people began to steal from shops. About 25,000 people were living in the Superdome Stadium, in very bad conditions. There was a lot of crime there, and six people died. After almost a week, and much criticism, the government started sending food, water and medicine. They also sent the police and the army to keep control. Helicopters and rescue boats took thousands of people away from the city. At least 1,300 people died during the hurricane, but there are still hundreds of people missing today. What is New Orleans like today? Before Hurricane Katrina, the city’s population was about 450,000. Today around 150,000 people are still living somewhere else, and have not returned to their homes. Some may never return. Although things are slowly improving in New Orleans, life in the city will probably never be the same again. “Hurricane Katrina was one of the most damaging hurricanes in the history of the USA.” 3 Ascolta e leggi una canzone sulla grande Alluvione del Mississippi nel 1927. 3.16 1 The levee’s goin’ to break If it keeps on raining the levee’s going to break. If it keeps on raining the levee’s going to break And the water goin’ to come in, I’ll have no place to stay. Well all last night I sat on the levee and moaned Well all last night I sat on the levee and moaned Thinkin’ ’bout my baby, and my happy home. If it keeps on raining the levee’s going to break. If it keeps on raining the levee’s going to break And all these people have no place to stay. Now look here mama, what am I to do? Now look here mama, what am I to do? I ain’t got nobody to tell my troubles to. Glossary damaging devastante flood inondazione tropical storm temporale tropicale lake lago banks rive levee argine 2 sewage rete fognaria supply fornitura authorities autorità departure partenza criticism critiche army esercito missing scomparso Decidi se le frasi sono True (T) o False (F). Correggi le frase false. New Orleans was the first place that Hurricane Katrina hit. F – Florida was the first place it hit. 1 There are many hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. 2 The levees weren’t strong enough for such a powerful hurricane. 3 Nobody told the people of New Orleans that a hurricane was coming. 4 Most people were able to leave the city before the floods arrived. 5 The US government reacted to the emergency immediately. 6 The population of New Orleans today is less than 450,000. I works on the levee, mama, both night and day. I works on the levee, mama, both night and day I ain’t got nobody to keep the water away Presentazione orale 4 Project Prepara una presentazione orale su un disastro naturale avvenuto in Italia o nel mondo. Prendi degli appunti usando le seguenti domande per aiutarti. Parla per circa 2 minuti. ES t t t t t When and where did it happen? How did it start? How many people died? What damage did it cause? How did it change the area, or people’s lives? Look! Assicurati di saper dire correttamente i numeri in inglese: 100 Si dice: a hundred / one hundred 1,000 Si dice: a thousand / one thousand 1,304 Si dice: one thousand, three hundred and four 10,000 Si dice: ten thousand 1,000,000 Si dice: a million / one million DVD 3 Puoi trovare ulteriori informazioni sull’ambiente nel Culture 1 del DVD e a pag. 30. 3 2 Culture club The history of Australia 1 Leggi il brano. Scrivi i titoli dei paragrafi al posto corretto. Emigration in the 19th century Australia becomes a federation Britain and Australia in the 20th century British colonisation Early exploration 1 Early exploration The native people of Australia are the Aborigines. They have lived there for more than 60,000 years. From the 1st century other explorers from Asia visited the island. In the early 1 17th century, Europeans E arrived, a especially from f Portugal and a Holland, but b Europeans did d not settle in i Australia till t around the 17 1 th and 18th ccenturies. 2 In 1770 Captain James Cook from England landed on the east coast of Australia. He named it ‘New South Wales’. The area became part of the British Empire. Life in Britain was very hard at that time. There was a lot of crime and prisons weren’t big enough for all the prisoners. The government started sending prisoners to another country far away. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this country was North America. When America became independent in 1783, the British government had to find another country for convicts. Australia was the perfect solution. In 1787, eleven ships sailed to Australia from Portsmouth. Half of the people on the ships were convicts. They arrived in New South Wales on 20th January 1788. They found the perfect place to start a colony, and named it Sydney, after the British Home Secretary. It is now Australia’s largest city. 4 3 Convicts were not the only people to go to Australia. From the 1800s, many Britons, and later Europeans, left their home country to start a new life there. Sheep farming became an important industry and, in 1851, when they discovered gold, immigration increased. From 1850 to 1860 the population grew from 400,000 to 1.2 million. 4 There were six colonies in Australia: New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. On 1st January 1901, the six colonies became a federation of states called the Commonwealth of Australia. 5 After World War II, the Australian government encouraged immigration, to help build up the economy. In the twenty years after the end of the war, more than 2 million people moved to Australia from Europe, mostly from Britain. During the 20th century, Australia became more independent from Britain. The Australia Act of 1986 meant that the Australian government, not Britain, made all the laws in Australia. However, the Queen is still Australia’s monarch. Glossary native nativo explorer esploratore settle insediarsi fertile fertile crime delinquenza prison prigione prisoner prigioniero convict detenuto colony colonia increase aumentare encourage favorire monarch monarca 2 Abbina le date agli eventi. 1st century 1770 1783 1788 1851 1901 1940s to 1960s 1986 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 3 1783 America becomes independent from Britain Australia, not Britain, begins to make its laws Captain Cook lands in Australia explorers from Asia come to Australia more than 2 million immigrants arrive in Australia the Australian ‘gold rush’ begins the colonies of Australia become a federation the first British convict ships arrive in Australia 2 Presentazione orale 5 Project Prepara una presentazione orale sulla storia dell’emigrazione italiana. Leggi il brano e prendi degli appunti usando le domande per aiutarti. Parla per circa 2 minuti. ES Between 1870 and 1900, more than 7 million Italians emigrated. Most were from the north of Italy, and emigrated to other European countries. Between 1900 and 1913, more than 9 million emigrated. Most were from the south, and emigrated to North and South America. Rispondi alle domande. ES 1 Why did Britain send so many convicts to other countries in the 18th century? 2 Why did convicts stop going to America? 3 Why did people who were not convicts come to Australia in the 19th century? 4 Why did the Australian government want to attract immigrants after World War II? 4 Ascolta e leggi questo inno australiano non ufficiale. 3.17 Waltzing Matilda Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, Under the shade of a Coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me. Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me. t What were the main reasons for this mass emigration? t What role did the unification of Italy play? t What other reasons for emigration – health, poverty, social and religious differences – had a part to play in Italy’s history? How? Look! Assicurati di saper dire correttamente le date in inglese: 1870 eighteen seventy 1900 nineteen hundred 1906 nineteen hundred and six / nineteen oh six 1913 nineteen thirteen between 1870 and 1900 tra il 1870 e il 1900 in 1913 nel 1913 (in) the nineteen fifties (negli) anni Cinquanta (in) the 19th century (nel) diciannovesimo secolo on the first of May il primo maggio DVD 3 Puoi trovare ulteriori informazioni su Sydney, Australia nel Culture 2 del DVD e a pag. 31. 5 3 Culture club Famous authors: C.S. Lewis 1 Hai mai letto uno dei libri de Le Cronache di Narnia? Quale? Che ne pensi? Leggi il brano sull’autore, C.S. Lewis. Clive Staples Lewis, (who preferred to be called Jack), was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 29th November, 1898. He had a happy childhood with his parents and brother Warren, playing in the long, dark passages of their big family home, and reading books. But when Lewis’s mother died of cancer in 1908, his father sent the two brothers to a boarding school in England. Lewis In 1916 Lewis went to Oxford University, but he left in 1917, when he joined the army in World War I. Lewis returned to Oxford in 1918 at the end of the war, and lived there for 45 years. While he was a lecturer at Oxford University, Lewis began writing books. In 1926, he met another young lecturer, J.R.R. Tolkien. The two men became good friends. After one long discussion, during a walk one night in 1931, the world of literature changed forever. Their discussion was about fantasy worlds and time travel. Each influenced the other’s work. Lewis first had the idea to write a children’s book in 1939. At this time, the start of World War II, many children went to live with families in the country because it was safer than being in the cities. Some young children came to live in Lewis’s home. One child was very interested in playing in a wardrobe in Lewis’s house, and he began to write a story for the children to read. In 1950, his story became the classic book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Lewis wrote six more Narnia books. They weren’t published in the same order in which he wrote them, but people usually read them in the published order. The last one was The Last Battle, in 1956. At first reviewers didn’t like the books, but they soon became very popular. They have sold around 100 million copies. Tolkien In 1956, just after he finished the last Narnia book, he married Joy Gresham. He continued to write, but spent most of his time caring for Joy, who had cancer. She died in 1960. Lewis died on 22nd November 1963. Did you know? President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on the same day that Lewis died – 22nd November 1963. The author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, also died on the 22nd November. 6 Glossary passage corridoio cancer cancro boarding school collegio fantasy worlds mondi fantastici time travel viaggi nel tempo influence (v) influenzare compare confrontare publish pubblicare assassinate assassinare 2 Numera correttamente gli eventi. He finished the last Narnia book. He got married. He and his brother went to boarding school. He joined the army. He met J.R.R. Tolkien. He wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His wife died. Lewis went to Oxford University to study. 1 Lewis’s mother died. Some children from the city came to live in his home in the country. 3 Leggi alcuni estratti del capitolo iniziale di The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Rispondi alle domande. ES 3 3 Why did she leave the door open? 4 What was the ‘hard and rough and even prickly’ thing she could feel? 5 What did she find, instead of the back of the wardrobe? Presentazione orale 4 Project Prepara una presentazione orale su un classico italiano della letteratura. Prendi degli appunti usando le seguenti domande per aiutarti. Parla per circa 2 minuti. ES What is the book called? Who wrote it, and when? What is it about? Who are the characters? What do you know about the writer’s life? Did the writer’s life play a role in the story? How? t Did you like this book? Why, or why not? t t t t t Dante L ooking into the inside, she saw several coats hanging up – mostly long fur coats. There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe. Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough and even prickly. “Why, it is just like branches of trees!” exclaimed Lucy. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air. 1 What did Lucy see in the wardrobe? 2 Why did she get inside the wardrobe? Look! In inglese, le date di solito si scrivono così: 29 November / November 29 / 29th November / November 29th. Ma quando parliamo di una data, diciamo: the twenty-ninth of November / on November the twenty-ninth. Si usa on se parliamo di una data specifica: on the twenty-second of November ma si usa in se citiamo soltanto il mese o l’anno: in November in 1963 DVD 3 Puoi trovare ulteriori informazioni su un altro scrittore inglese nel Culture 3 del DVD e a pag. 32. 7 4 Culture club A media giant 1 Leggi le seguenti affermazioni su Rupert Murdoch. Quale di queste lo descrive meglio? Leggi il brano e controlla le risposte. 1 2 3 4 He owns MySpace.com. He owns the satellite TV company Sky Italia. He owns many newspapers and TV companies around the world. He owns businesses worth £30 billion. Rupert Murdoch was born in Australia in 1931. His family was very rich and his father owned a newspaper group there. When he was 22, his father died and Murdoch became head of the family business. He was very successful, and eventually owned newspapers, magazines and TV stations all over Australia. He then began to look for business opportunities in other countries. A new British daily newspaper, The Sun, started in 1964, but it was not very successful. Murdoch bought it in 1969. By 2006 its sales were three million copies per day. In 1981, he bought The Times (and The Sunday Times) and in 1986, he bought The News of the World, the most popular Sunday newspaper in Britain. Many people have criticised him for making newspapers ‘less serious’. They also criticise him for using the media he controls to spread his own political opinions. During the 1980s and early 90s, Murdoch’s newpapers supported the British Conservative party under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After the 1997 election, which Tony Blair won, Murdoch supported the Labour party. This support is very important for political parties and governments because newspapers often influence the way y ppeople p think. During the 1980s and 1990s, Murdoch’s business empire has grown to include film (Twentieth Century Fox studios), print (his many newspapers and HarperCollins Publishers), the Internet (MySpace.com) and even sporting organisations (he owns 50% of the National Rugby League, and he also owns the rights to Premiership football in the UK). In addition to this, News Corporation, which Murdoch started in 1980, is now the world’s biggest media company. It includes TV networks, satellite TV, including Sky Italia, as well as major newspapers around the world. In 1985 he changed his nationality from Australian to American. Although he is now in his 70s, Murdoch has not retired, and is still in control of his empire. He has appointed three of his children to run some of his companies. Glossary daily (adj) quotidiano criticise criticare spread diffondere support (v) essere un sostenitore di support (n) sostegno election elezione …The headlines of The Sun in 1992, when the n Conservative party won the election, and 1997, when the Labour party won… 8 influence influenzare rights diritti network rete retire andare in pensione appoint nominare run (v) gestire 2 Rispondi alle domande. ES 3 Rispondi alle domande. 4 1 Where is Rupert Murdoch from? 2 When and how did he enter the world of newspaper publishing? Name: Rupert Murdoch 1 What nationality is Rupert Murdoch? 3 How do we know that he was successful from the start? 4 When did he buy his first British newspaper? 5 How successful was this newspaper in 2006? 6 What two criticisms do many people make about Murdoch’s business? 7 How old is the company, News Corporation? 8 When did Murdoch change his nationality? 2 When was he born? 3 How old was he when he took over his father’s business? 4 When did he buy The Sun? 5 How many copies did The Sun sell in 2006? 6 When did he buy The Times and The Sunday Times? 7 Which newspaper did he buy in 1986? 8 Which political party did he support in the 1980s and the 1990s? 9 What year did the Labour party win the election with Murdoch’s support? 10 Which Italian network does Murdoch own? Presentazione orale 4 Project Prepara una presentazione orale su un gigante italiano dei media. Prendi degli appunti usando le seguenti domande per aiutarti. Parla per circa 2 minuti. ES Did you know? Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News and Fox Broadcasting. These companies broadcast the popular series, The Simpsons. Murdoch was once a character in an episode of The Simpsons. In the episode, Homer Simpson and some of his friends break into a privately owned ‘skybox’ at the Superbowl stadium to watch a baseball game. The owner of the skybox is Murdoch. He arrives at his skybox and says, ‘I’m Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire tyrant, and this is my skybox.’ Murdoch wrote those words. Who is Italy’s biggest media giant? When and where was he born? How did he start his media business? What media in Italy or elsewhere does he own? t How does he influence the media? t Are there any similarities or differences between his business and Rupert Murdoch’s business? t t t t DVD 3 Puoi trovare ulteriori informazioni su un gigante della tecnologia Internet nel Culture 4 del DVD e a pag. 33. 9