Riassunto esame Lingua Inglese, prof. Ferrario

Unit 1

A confused generation

Bella’s parents are representative of a confused generation in a confused time. Change brings problems and Bella’s family is an example. The debate is about family life and values. Old values are being replaced by new ones, which consider money as a classifier of social position. The question is in all changing societies people are trying to find the right balance between old and new, the answer is no, because when you can buy particular things and services the life is easier and you don’t want to go back. In China, there is no concept of the rebellious teenager but Bella is one of them, because she is more modern than her parents are, she prefers western brands and she wants to teach her parents the latest slang.

Blood lines

America is well known for being a melting pot of different ethnic groups and cultures, but nowhere there is diversity like in Queens, NY. National Geographic’s Genographic Project set out to trace the origins of various immigrants by examining the genetic makeup using a simple DNA test. One recurring theme among immigrants seems to be the hard work and sacrifices that went into building a new life. There are two Queens Residents’ stories: the first is Richard from Poland and the last is Tanja from Jamaica. They tell the story of their relatives when they have decided to move to America.

Immigration (Video)

Every day a massive number of aeroplanes and ships arrive in the US, bringing people from other lands. Many of the people, who come to the United States, end up staying. A woman said that America is by its nature more diverse, more welcoming to immigrants, less discrimination, more opportunities for their children. Many millions of people left their homelands in Europe and Asia in search of a better life. Europeans including Italians, Irish and others settled in the eastern half of the United States. Immigrants from Asia and Mexico tended to settle in the west and southwest. During the period between 1892 to 1924, Ellis Island in New York Harbour opened its doors to immigrants’ people. On the west coast, immigrants passed through a point of entry called Angel Island in California’s San Francisco Bay. The United States remains open to new settlers today with about a million new legal immigrants each year. A large number of immigrants also enter the United States illegally, like Mexican people. More than 2 hundred years of immigration to the USA has shown that even immigrants, who keep their language, their way of dress, and their own customs often share very similar values.

Grammar: the present tenses and the passive

Vocabulary

• Flatmate: person with whom you divide your apartment (conquilino)
• Acquaintance: someone you know. (conoscente)
• Mutual friend: a friend in common between me and my other friend (amico in comune)
• Fellow student: a companion with who frequent the university (compagno di studi)
• Melting pot: a place where different ethnic groups and cultures meet
• Roots: the origins
• To set out: start up (iniziare)
• Duty: obligation (dovere)
• Stepmother: the new mother of my dad
• Bond: link, connection (legame)
• Busy as ever: I have never been so busy
• To be snowed under: to be submerged by something
• I'm getting quite homesick: nostalgic
• To get established: to start doing something
• Get: -Receive something -do/manage -catch -being -persuade -reach

Unit 2

A close shave

Photographer Winter and writer Chadwick had been working at the Kaziranga National Park in India for a few days when they had a rather frightening close shave with some rhinos. This Park is famous to be the home of two world has most endangered species: the tiger and the single-horned rhino. They were driving into the park with a jeep, when they had stopped to see a turtle, they saw a rhino, it was charging at them, the guard fired a shot into the ground and it was enough to distract the rhino. They drove on and they entered in a forest area, there three young appeared in front of them, but they seemed uninterested. Just then, the mother of the three came from their left and she slammed into the side of the jeep. The guests were afraid and after a few minutes the jeep succeeded to start, the female rhino followed them but after some metres, she gave up the chase.

Vocabulary

• Endangered: at risk of extinction (In via di estinzione)
• Frightening: scary (spaventosa)
• To stretch: to lengthen (stiracchiarsi)
• To charge: to prepare to strike (caricare)
• Sprint: (scatto)
• To leap back: to jump back (balzare indietro)
• To veer off: to change direction (virare)
• To climb into: to appear (salire su)
• To slam into: to hit (sbattere)
• To wrestle: to push out of the way (combattere, spingere fuori)
• To gouge: dig (scavando)
• Skidded free: (partire)
• Chase: tracking (inseguimento)

Once upon a time…

Once upon a time there were in Germany two brothers, who loved good stories, they met a wise man who led them to a treasure, a library of old books, they decided to collect their own stories and folktales and to produce their own treasure. The brothers Grimm named their story collection Children’s and Household. The stories and their characters continue to feature every media and in USA the Grimm’s collection helped launch Disney. Such Fame would have shocked them, because during their lifetimes the collection sold few copies, the reason was that first editions were not suitable to children, without illustrations. Wilhelm, one of the two brothers, continued to revise the stories until the final edition of 1857. In an effort to make them more acceptable to children and their parents he stressed the moral of each tale. The collection served as a manual of manners, parents read it to their children because they agree with the lessons in the stories.

Vocabulary

• Villains: bad guys
• Enchanting: charming
• To launch: to start something
• Thrived: to prosper (prospero)
• To polish: to review (lucidare)
• Boundaries: borders (frontiere)
• To strive: to strain (sforzarsi)

History of film (Video)

In the 19^th century was invented the illusion of motion by presenting a quick succession of pictures. In the US, inventors Thomas Edison and Dickson exploited this idea and created the kinescope, bringing motion pictures to the American public. By the 1920s, the emerging film studio system was centred in Hollywood, California. The increasingly expensive productions drew crowds to fill newly built movie palaces and actors like Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin became stars; they were the new American aristocracy, a tradition that continues with film stars of today. Film has taken us to new places and allowed us to see the world in a different way. The camera has proven an amazing window to the world bringing home images of distant cultures. Documentary filmmakers have trained their lenses on reality, showing life in new ways. In places impossible for us to visit, the camera brings us images of great beauty.

Unit 3

Revealed world

Augment reality overlaps computer generated images on the real world, via a mobile phone camera or special video glasses. With the right downloads, smart phones can deliver information about nearby ATMs, restaurants and other points of interest. A few years from now the quantity of information available will have increased enormously. The next revolution in computing will take place in the interface between the real world and the information brought to us via the internet. In ten years, smart phones or special video glasses will have been replaced by contact lenses, which display text and images.

Vocabulary

• User-friendly: easy to use
• To augment: to increase
• To superimpose: to overlap
• Enormously: huge
• To label: to docket

One size doesn’t fit all

The appropriate technology means not just technology, which is suited to the needs and capabilities of the user, but technology that takes particular account of environmental, ethical and cultural considerations. It is found in rural communities in developing or less industrialised countries. The principle of appropriate technology doesn’t only apply to developing countries. It also has its place in the developed world. For example, a Swedish state-owned company has found a way to harness the energy produced by thousand bodies rushing through Stockholm’s central train station each day.

Vocabulary

• To claim: to sustain (rivendicare/sostenere)
• To empower: to give power to someone
• Self-reliant: self-sufficient
• To argue: to discuss
• To suit to: to adapt to
• To harness: to take advantage of
• Guzzling: with high consumption (ad alto consumo)

Grammar: future forms, present continuous, future continuous and future perfect simple

Augment reality (Video)

On the campus of New York’s Columbia University, researchers are already looking into the future. It is part of a programme designed to change the way we see the world. Professor Feiner and his group of computer science students are working to augment reality. The idea means essentially that they are trying to build up a virtual world that they can integrate with the physical world so the virtual world can provide extra information. There is a particular device, which permits to superimpose texts and graphics on the normal field of vision. The computer constantly updates information on display. It is very important to take augmented reality technology outdoors and into the real world. It’s already begun on Columbia’s campus where augmented reality permits to see buildings overlaid by which occupied that place before. For example, we could see an old building, which is overlapped by the old library.

Unit 4

Reverse graffiti

A number of street artists around the world have started expressing themselves through a practice known as reverse graffiti. They find dirty surfaces and inscribe them with images or messages using clean tools.