Riassunto esame Lingua Inglese, prof. Ferrario

Aquarium on wheels (Video)

Some students of the secondary school prepare a lesson and they prepare a show and tell presentation to

give to a group of children. This preparation and planning appears to be schoolwork but it isn’t. In fact, these

students are employees of a very special programme called Aquarium on wheels. It was created for children,

who do not have the opportunity to go to the aquarium or see live animals, so these people bring it to them.

The objectives of Aquarium on Wheels are to entertain and educate. This year’s goal is to explain the

importance of the world’s rain forests to young people. These students’ teachers want to help their young

audience to better understand conservation. For aquarium administrators the programme is about more than

just teaching biology, or teaching about the environment, it’s about offering student employees lessons for

life. Through this work, the student teachers learnt an enormous amount about organisation and planning,

and they learnt a bit about themselves. For some of them the value of Aquarium on wheels is personal, it’s

about their dreams for their lives. The programme is trying to help them to prepare for their future

professional lives.

Sustainable Development

Sop On is a village in southern Laos, where over 20 years ago the World Bank funded the construction of a

hydroelectric power plant.

The World Bank stopped financing hydroelectric dam projects in developing countries because of criticism

that such projects were harming local communities and the environment.

However, a high dam generates over 1thousand megawatts of electricity, this is the showpiece for the bank's

new policy of supporting sustainable hydropower projects.

For Laos it's important to revitalise the economy and become the battery of South-East Asia in fact in 2010

the dam brought millions in sales of electricity. The government has promised that this money will be spent

on reducing poverty and improving the country's infrastructure.

The old criticisms not gone away, environmental and human rights groups warn the dam will have a negative

impact on water quality and that the local people may not be able to support themselves economically in

future.

The World Bank created a big protected area around the dam to safeguard flora and fauna.

Vocabulary:

to fund: to finance

dam: breakwater

amenities: pleasant things

livelihoods: basic necessities of life

Grammar: verb+infinitive or –ing Verbs with -ing and to + infinitive

UNIT 6

Staycations

Staycations don't just mean staying in doing things around the house or just relaxing at home. They involve

seeing local sights in your town.

Staycations originally became popular after the financial crisis of 2008, when people were looking for ways to

cut on their spending.

There are many benefits: not problems associated with travel, such as parking and long drives.

The only people who hope this kind of holiday will not catch on are the holiday companies themselves.

In the Wall Street Journal, there is an example; Karen Ash instead took a weeklong Japanese vacation in her

own city. This included buying postcards and souvenirs at a Japanese market and admiring bonsai plants.

Unusual places to stay

PRISON HOTELS: This is a particular kind of accommodation it housed political prisoners. This is an

opportunity to stay overnight on real prisoners' benches and mattresses.

This is more a reality jail experience than a hotel. Reception is a dark corridor where a former prison guard

explains the rules to you. The meal is bread with sweet Russian tea.

PERIOD HOTELS: Virginia City in Montana, a former gold-rush town, was a ghost town until it began to be

restored in the 1950s for tourism. Nearby there is the Nevada City hotel, the rooms feature period Victorian

furniture and downstairs there is the saloon as in a true Wild West. The city comes to life at weekends, when

actors walk around in period costumes, such as sheriffs and cowboys.

CAVE HOTELS: For tourists who prefer primitive accommodation, there is the cave of Sassi di Matera in

Italy. They are best known as the poor homes of the peasants, now they have been renovated to provide

hospitality in a historical setting. The rooms are comfortably furnished with antique furniture. The owners

wanted the cave as authentic as possible. Prices start at 300dollars per night.

ART HOTELS: Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin manages to combine a modern art gallery with a hotel. It

is housed in a former apartment block and it is a collection of individually designed rooms. The rooms are

often so extreme that you have no choice except to get into the spirit of it. This is a perfect accommodation if

you want to spend a night in a gallery.

Vocabulary:

To stay overnight: to sleep in some accommodation

feature: is the set of pieces of furniture in a room

prospectors: people, who is looking for something

tiles: they make up the roof

peasants: farmers

the spirit of it: the soul of it

Grammar: not, negative and tag questions

MIND

East Timor (video)

East Timor is one of the world newest countries. It is an emerging tourist destination with unspoiled natural

beauty. It’s a place where you can spend the rest of your life and enjoy the quality of the marine life, the

healthy coral, the lack of environmental damage and a huge diversity of marine life. Hundreds of fish species

have been recorded in East Timor’s waters East Timor is a former war zone and lacks a lot of basic

infrastructure. There are many changes to be made in terms of tourism. The government is anxious that new

tourism developments don’t ruin East Timor’s greatest asset: its natural beauty. A spokesperson for the

Ministry of tourism says that they are still developing policies and regulations in relation to the environment.

UNIT 7

The minister for no oil

Alberto Acosta, the Ecuador's Oil minister, decided to block the development of his own country's oil fields.

For a poor country, whose main income is from oil exports this is madness.

But Ecuador is one of the richest places on Earth for its biodiversity.

In the Yasuni National Park in Ecuador's rain forest, were found 650 different species of tree in just one

hectare.

Mr Acosta said he would prefer the oil companies didn't destroy these natural riches. His innovative idea was

to leave the oil reserves beneath the Yasumi Park untouched, in return for compensation of half their value.

The oil value is more than 7 billion, so Ecuador asked the international community to pay 3,6 billion not to

extract it.

There were 2 problems: the state oil company opposes the scheme and a few countries have shown interest

in paying to maintain the forest.

Vocabulary:

beneath: under

Scheme: the political system

A world of its own

Madagascar is an island with its own unique ecosystems and nature. 90 per cent of its flora and fauna is

found nowhere else on the planet, in particular the spectacle of its carrot shaped baobab trees.

But its rare beauty hides the desperate situation of its people, the typical Madagascan lives on about 1 dollar

a day.

This tension between rich land and poor people alarmed ecologists, in 2002 the global environmental

community rejoiced when green-friendly Ravalomanana was elected president.

The new government reversed a ban on the export of precious hardwoods, making it legal to sell wood from

trees which had already been cut down or had fallen during the cyclones.

Behra, who first came to Madagascar from France, believes that the only solution is to give local people

economic alternatives, he has stopped deforestation by encouraging the locals to collect medicinal plants,

which had high monetary value, and sell them overseas to companies like Chanel.

Vocabulary:

Nevertheless: however (tuttavia)

Roughly: approximately (Approssimativamente)

cheerful: joyful (allegro)

green-friendly: a person, who respects environment (rispetta l’ambiente)

ban: proclamation (bando)

to rob: to steal (rubare)

to bring down: to break down (abbattere)

to silt up: to cover up (insabbiare)

bleak: dark (cupo)

Grammar: mixed conditional sentenced / wish, would rather and if only

Galapagos Energy (Video)

In splendid isolation, animals on the Galapagos evolved into a unique species found nowhere else in the

world. This archipelago of 13 main islands is close to the Ecuador’s coast. However, an alien species has

invaded this tropical heaven: Humans. They have been living here for more than a century. Tourists bring

much needed revenue but all these people generate pollution through vehicle emissions and energy

consumption. In addition, like all humans, they create rubbish. Recently an oil tanker ran aground trying to

deliver fuel to the Galapagos, creating a spill that eventually killed an estimated 60 % of nearby iguanas.

Nowadays there are many organizations, which want to preserve the unique species of Galapagos for this

reason they work together with the government. The goal is to end the use of fossil fuels and to use only

renewable not polluting energy. A recyclable campaign is teaching islanders about the importance of keeping

their land pristine to protect the environment.

UNIT 8

A life revealed

In 1984 the photographer, Steve McCurry, went in Pakistan to record the lives of refugees in a camp. He saw

a young girl, she was staring out the school tent and he took a picture of her.

The picture of the ‘Afghan girl’ is now known as the most iconic images of our time.

McCurry used her intense expression to warn us not to ignore the victims of war.

In 2002 National Geographic persuaded McCurry to return to Pakistan to look for the girl. After showing her

picture around the camp, he met a man, who knew where to find her.

After 3 days he came back to the camp with Sharbat Gula, her eyes still burned with the same intensity. The

most amazing thing is that she doesn’t know the impact that the photo of the young Sharbat had on the

world.

She remembers the moment of the photo, she had never been photographed before and until they met a

second time, she was not photographed again.

Vocabulary

revealed: it’s something that is explain

to star out: to look out

to warn us: to inform us

From Hero to Zero

In January 2008 Peter Burkill was being praised as a hero, after saving his plane from crashing at Heathrow

Airport.

He was the pilot on flight 38 from Hong Kong, 35 seconds from landing two of the plane’s engines failed,

Burkill let his co-pilot take controls while he adjusted the wing flaps to help the plane reach the runway.

After some days it was reported that he had failed to issue a mayday call and had not evacuated the

passengers correctly.

BA started an investigation that was published in 2009, it concluded that ice had formed in the fuel system

during approach to Heathrow, cutting the fuel supply to the engines. The action of the crew had saved the

lives of all on board, in fact the pilot and 13 cabin crew were rewarded.

Vocabulary:

ma