Life - Riassunto Life student\'s book upper intermediate PDF

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Riassunti completi di tutti i brani e video di 'Life - upper intermediate' per l'esame orale di Inglese 1. ...

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Life Unità 1 A confused generation! Bella lives with her family in Shangai, in a brand new apartment and her parents represent a confused generation in a confused time. Nowadays in modern chinese society old values (for instance the respect of family and the older generation) are being replaced by new one's (as the importance of money) . But at the same time these e values are also being questioned and people are trying to balance the new and the old ones. To this end recently Bella's family put their grandfather in a nursing home: it was a painful decision, but this proves that the times are changing, since in the past, caring for aged people was an unavoidable duty. The parents say that they don't want to be a burden (peso) on Bella when they get old. Her parents just want to be supportive although they know Bella has already learnt more about the world than them. The mother says that their advice is not listened by her, Bella doesn't no longer agree with their opinions, for this reason the mum thinks that their child-raising has been a failure. So definitely change brings problems and in China there is no concept of the rebellious teenager.

Bloodlines ! America is an example of a melting pot where immigrants and people from all over the world visit and live and share thoughts and ideas to create one big new culture. America is a melting pot of different ethnic groups and cultures, especially in New York and particularly in Queens district, where first-generation Koreans live together with secondgeneration Puerto Ricans and third-generation Greeks. What characterizes these generations is that they all have a feeling of pride for their American identity and for their ancestral roots as well. In fact, National Geographic's Genographic Project (known also as The Human Family Tree) examined this community's genetic makeup, thanks to a simple DNA test, to trace (= discover) the origins and common ancestry of its immigrants. According to this project, the common feature belonging to this community is a strong work ethic and the tendency to do sacrifices for the family, which are all traits that their descendants have inherited as a duty and an honor as well. ! Here are 2 Queens residents' stories. RICHARD, 38# His great-grandfather Tomas came to America from Poland when he was 15. His mother died and he didn't like his stepmother so he escaped. As soon as he arrived in America he got a job in California on the railroads. One day he read an announcement in a newspaper where his brother, who was also seeking his fortune there, was looking for him. Then they got in touch and they met in NY. This is the story that his grandmother has passed down to them. Now they're a strong family, who has struggled together to succeed in America.# TANJA, 29# She's a first generation American, her parents came in America from Jamaica, where getting a good education is the most important thing. Her parents were both nurses, but once startled in America her father started to study to become a doctor while keeping on working. Tanja and her sister followed their parents undertaking the medical profession, as a consequence she's now working as a doctor in an hospital in Queens. For Tanja the great thing about America is that gives you the opportunity to make your dreams come true.

Lady liberty & Ellis Island! December 2013: Ellis Island has recently reopened to visitors, following significant damage from Hurricane Sandy. Stewards and visitors describe the importance of the island to them. ! Immigrants used to come to Ellis Island in the past while nowadays it’s visited by visitors and tourists. ! The video is initially presented by David Luchsinger, the steward of Liberty Island and last resident; his great grandparents arrived to Ellis Island as immigrants, bringing all that meant the world to them. ! Moreover, it’s been reported that no bag has ever been lost in Ellis Island; at the busiest point, Ellis Island processed up to 12 000 immigrants a day while now, in the summer months, it receives up to 22 000 visitors per day. ! The storm, Hurricane Sandy, destroyed the infrastructure (in particular the dock), but the stewards saw the storm as an opportunity to improve the park. !

Unità 2 A key moment! In July 1976 Niki Lauda was leading the world Formula 1 championship. The following race was the German Gran Prix at the Nürburgring track, that was narrow and bumpy and many pilots, including Lauda, thought it was unsafe and dangerous. Lauda had tried to get the race stopped but James Hunt had argued for it to go ahead and won by one vote. So on 1st August the race took place: it had been raining during the morning and parts of the track were still wet; halfway around the track he came out of a left-hand corner too fast and lost control of the car. It hit a bank on the far side of the road, bounced back and burst into flames; fortunately other drivers stopped and ran to help. They managed to pull him free but by then he had been sitting trapped in the intense heat for over a minute. He was immediately transported to the hospital and suffered extreme burns. Meanwhile, the organizers restarted the race, which Hunt went to win. ! Six weeks later, after serious plastic surgery, Lauda got back into his racing car, arriving fourth at the Italian Grand Prix. !

Once upon a time ! This text is about the born of brothers Grimm's, Jacob and Wilhelm, fairy tales collection "Children's and household tales", published in Germany in 1812. The Grimm's work started when Germany had been occupied by the French under Napoleon, in order to save the oral storytelling tradition of Germany, which risked to be suppressed by the new rulers. This is why the brothers Grimm considered themselves as "patriotic students of folklore". The collection narrative source came from inns, barns and peasant women's homes, where storytelling thrived (=prosper, grow strongly and vigorously). ! Particularly, one of them, Marie, seem to be the tellers of Little red riding hood, Sleeping beauty and Snow White. Actually, she said to have heard these stories from her French nannies, who they themselves read in the "Tales of my mother goose" collection, written by Charles Perrault ! in 1697. ! In 1857 there was finally the final edition of the stories, where there is a stress on the moral of each tale, as a manual of manners (ex: obey your parents, keep your promises, don’t tell lies). But what people liked (and still like) about them is their charming nature, which comes the presence of adventure, magic and romance in them. At the same time, they described cruel treatment of children and violent punishment handed out to (= riservate, dispensate a) villains, medieval coarseness feature that were left untouched. ! The Grimms then tried to make the stories more acceptable to children by stressing (=to give emphasis or prominence to stgh) the moral of the tales, making the collection a sort of "manual of manners". ! The story collection has become such a world publishing phenomenon to be translate into more than 160 languages. Nowadays it is featured in every media: theatre, opera, comic books, movies,

paintings, ect. In Japan there are two parks devoted to tales, whereas in the United States the Grimm's collection helped launching Disney.# The funny thing is that at the beginning the collection sold few copies and it wasn't even aimed at children. In fact, there were no illustrations and there were a lot of scholarly footnotes at the end of the pages.# What made Grimm's tales so popular is supposed to be both the characters' tendency to strive for happiness as well as the tales capacity to overcome the boundaries of age or culture thanks to their universal style of writing. !

How not to climb a mountain ! The video concerns the story of Cedar Wright and Alex Honnold, two professional rock climbers that planned their next track on the Middle Palaside Mountain in the Sierra Nevada, USA, a 14 000 foot peak. They were not prepared to take on this track; they immediately found out that the climb was not easier as they thought. Right on top of the peak, while consulting the summit register, they realized that they were on the wrong mountain. They decided to reach the other mountain (the right one) walking along a dangerous ridge. The rocks under their feet was falling away in thin pieces. After 12 hours walking, they finally reached the peak and were completely exhausted; although the climb was horrible, his conclusion was ‘good times! You should totally do it’. !

Unità 3 Is technology the answer?! Overpopulation is a growing issue. It’s a situation in which there are more people than resources to support them. The main consequences of this condition are the growth of pollution as well as the anger of the crowd, the rise of unemployment and people might begin to fight over the limited resources. ! Overpopulation is a problem that divides opinions: some people say that population has to be controlled. Paul Ehrlich, an american biologist, predicted that many people are going to die because there is not enough food for the growing population.! Other experts in the scientific community believe that people, with the help of biotechnology and nanotechnology, will always find a solution to this problem, since in the 1970s and 80s mass starvation hasn’t happened because better seeds and pesticides were developed to increase food production. ! In the 18th century the english economist Thomas Malthus stated that the real problem is that people are radically lazy so they will only act to deal with a problem only when there is no other option. !

Appropriate technology ! Appropriate technology is't a new concept. The concept of "appropriate technology" was first born in the 1930s when Gandhiin 1930s declared that the advances technology used by industrialized nations wasn't the right method to reach progress in India. He wanted the poor Indian people to use technology to help them to become more self-reliant. On the other hand a philosopher, Schumacher, in his book ‘Small is beautiful’, called for intermediate technology solution. What was important for him was that the solutions of technology were long-term, labourintensive, practical, decentralized, energy-efficient, environmentally sound, and locally controlled but above all in the hands of the people who need them. Nowadays the term appropriate technolgy means technology that takes into account also environmental, ethical and cultural ! issues: a very difficult thing to achieve. Anyway some examples are: solar-powered lamps bringing light to areas with no electricity and water purifiers working by the action of sucking through a straw (=cannuccia). Moreover, in Sweden the heat of thousands of bodies rushing

through Stockholm's central train station each day is absorbed by the building's ventilation system and then used to warm up water in the new office building nearby, in order to bring down the costs. ! Hoevere there is no guaratee that the appropriate technology is in fact appropriate. For example in Guatemala a new mechanical device used to shell corn led to the return of women to the old manual method. Moreover, in Malawi an entrepeneur who wanted to replace the traditional way to burn wood, created an efficient method that implied lots of CO2 emissions. !

3D Printed prosthetic limbs ! Charlotte, the girl form the video, lost both his hands and legs because of meningolocal septicaellia. However, thanks to her courage, she was able to overcome all the difficulties.! The fact that she has fine motor skills and her independence still surprise people even though she needs help to do some things. ! The presenter says that legs Charlotte has used up to now did they job but for hands is not simple: they are crude (= basic) and will be little used as she grows up. However, an adult bionic hand costs the earth - in fact it costs 40 000£ only the hand. Charlotte needs a new prosthetic arm every year but a target price of 1200£ could be the answer. ! By felxing our muscles, the hand in response will open and close all the fingers. First, a 3D scan is made using a tablet computer, then a 3D printer constructs it bit by bit.! The advantages of the 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for Charlotte and her family is that it is cheaper.! At the moment children are a bit underserved by prosthetic industry, so this project can really help them because as a child grows they need to have a new prosthetic every year and so the cost component really helps out. ! It is still a prototype stage but this new advantage means that for Charlotte a working hand is not far off in the future. !

Unità 4 Reverse graffiti! Reverse graffiti is a very original kind of art: also known as green graffiti or clean advertising, it is a method of creating temporary or semi permanent images on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt from a surface. It is often done by removing dirt/dust with the fingertip(s) from windows or other dirty surfaces, such as writing 'wash me' on a dirty vehicle. This art draws the attention to the pollution in our cities. There are many artists like Paul Curtis (who operate in London and Leeds) and the brasilian artist Alexandre Orion who make reverse graffiti advertisements. Anyway, their message confuses the authorities since they spoil (rovinano) the appearance of both public and private property. This art is seen as an environmental damage and the artists are ordered to clean up the graffiti without giving them a fine or a punishment. In Brazil at the beginning the authorities only cleaned the part of the tunnel that Alex had already cleaned but then take the drastic decision to clean every tunnel in Sao Paulo. !

Why do we need music! Humans, on average, spend a fifth of their waking lives listening to music even though it is not something we actually need in order to survive. ! Valerie Salimpoor, a neuroscientist at Montreal’s University believes that the answer lies in music’s ability to stimulate us both emotionally and intellectually.! On an emotional level music has the power to excite us and it can do this more effectively than any other way humans have come up with so far. Music produces emotions that we immediately feel and understand, but that we find difficult to explain - e.g. sad music seems to help us regulate negative feelings and even lift us out of them - but none really knows the answer. !

Music’s emotional power also comes form the fact that it can make a verbal message stronger, in fact in some parts of the world rap music still is a powerful tool for expressing the injustice that people in poor communities feel. ! On an intellectual level, Salimpoor says that music challenges our brains to understand and recognize certain systems and patterns; when we understand the music and are able to predict the direction it will take, we find this incredibly rewarding. However, we enjoy new music when it moves in an unpredictable, but still understandable, direction.!

Art for the people! The video is about an artwork in Cheltenham in the UK. Cheltenham is home to GCHQ, the British Government Communications headquarters. GCHQ is a government agency that checks communication on the internet and other electronic media to protect national security. ! The graffiti artist Banksy decided to paint a murales, trying to make a funny - but also serious point about GCHQ government surveillance.! The owner of the building on which the graffiti has been made wants to sell the mural, which will go wherever the collector decides. Local campaigners want it to stay because it is about the city itself and represents an important issue. ! Residents also think that people shouldn’t pay to see it, even though another Banksy mural in London was sold for 750 000£. Banksy himself isn’t involved in the debate. !

Unità 5 From reality to fantasy ! Sheikh Rashid imagined creating a gateway (cancello) to the world: it was a dream that he couldn't afford to realize. So in 1959 he asked to his neighbour to lend him millions of dollars and he made a creek, he built roads, schools, homes.. He decided to make Dubai the most important financial centre. His son Mohammed carried on developing his father's dream. He transformed Dubai into an air-conditioned fantasy world. He built the tallest high-rise building, the biggest shopping mall (centro commerciale) and the largest motorway intersection, and he created many green spaces. Since those years Dubai has been attracting a large number of tourists also because of the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island built in the shade of a palm tree. So it’s an undeniable fact that Sheikh Mohammed helped little Dubai become the shopping capital of the middle East.But at the same time the financial crisis in 2008 made people think again and Dubai failed to sell many of its new luxury apartments. The rest of the world considered this process of development with a mixture of wonder and suspicion, taking into account if Dubai is becoming like Las Vegas of the Middle East.!

The teenage mind! When we think of adolescence and teenagers a certain type of behavior comes to our mind - the text wants to analyze what lies behind all these way of acting.! At around the age of fifteen, we all reach a peak called ‘sensation seeking’, which referrers to the searching for unusual or unexpected experiences.! If on one hand sensation seeking might seem dangerous, on the other hand trying new experiences can increase our knowledge and expand our world.! Teenagers, as well as adults, are fully aware of the risk they take; adults think less about what they could gain from a risky choice than teenagers do.! This willingness, according to researchers, is linked to the human need to be able to adapt to the new surroundings when they are young. ! Moreover, another characteristic of adolescents is that they usually tend to spend time with people their own age. This is due mainly to two main reasons: firstly their peer offer more innovation and variety than monotonous old family. Secondary, teenagers need to invest in the future rather than in the past. So, understanding and building relationship with our peer is

essential. Wherever we go in the world, teenagers show the same characteristics; instead of complaining about them, as adults, we should celebrate them because they make teenagers quite possibly the most adaptable human beings around. !

Scandinavian megabridge ! In Northern Europe the Baltic Sea converges with the North Sea and the Øresund Strait. It is 10 miles wide and the weather in this region in lousy.! It has also done a great job in keeping Denmark separate form Sweden. It is a frustrating barrier because each shore has something the other needs: Copenaghen needs cheaper housing while Malmö needs more jobs. ! The idea was to connect Malmö and Copenhagen to create a large metropolis with economic benefits for all.! The Øresund Bridge is the world longest cable-stayed bridge that can carry cars, and enormous weight of trains. It is 200 feets above the sea and the support towers soar 670 feet; making it one of the tallest cement structures in Sweden. In 1991 the two countries signed an agreement and a consortium of companies was formed to do the work. ! But the project faced a lot of technological difficulties: it would block the air traffic. A turner (under water - 10 miles long) would have been the ideal solution but it was too expansive. So in the end they decided to build a part-bridge and then a tunnel where we were getting closer to the airport. Somewhere they need dry land for the tunnel to emerge from under water, so they will habe to build and island form scratch.!

Unità 6 Staycations ! Definition: A staycation is a vacation spent at your home, or in your hometown. If done right, a staycation can be just as relaxing as a traditional vacation and in some ways, a staycation can be even more restorative than a traditional holiday because it typically involves less planning and expense. However certain measures should be taken to maximize the benefits of a staycation such as turning off your phone and computer, otherwise, your staycation is little more than a stressful extension of your regular life. Anyway staycations doesn't mean only staying at home and ...