testi esame orale inglese 1

Inglese 3c - One size doesn't fit all

Even if the term “appropriate technology” is a relatively new one, the concept certainly isn’t. Mahatma Gandhi claimed that the advanced technologies used by western industrialized nations did not represent the right route to progress for his motherland India. He wanted the poor villagers of India to use technologies in a way that empowered them and most of all helped them to become self-reliant.

This is also the philosophy promoted by Schumacher in his book “Small is beautiful”; according to Schumacher it did not matter whether the technological answers to people’s needs were simple or sophisticated. What really mattered was that solutions were long-term, practical, and above all firmly in the hands of the people who used them.

More recently the term “appropriate technology” has come to mean technology that takes particular account of environmental, ethical, and cultural considerations. Which is something really hard to achieve. Often it is found in rural communities less industrialized but appropriate technology also finds its own space in developed countries.

For example, a state-owned company has found a way to harness the energy produced by the bodies rushing every day in Stockholm’s central station. The body heat is absorbed by the building’s ventilation system then used to warm up water that is pumped through pipes over the new office building nearby. It’s old technology, used in a new way.

But there’s no guarantee that appropriate technology will be appropriate. In fact, after some visiting engineers observed how labor-intensive and slow it was for the women of Guatemala to shell corn by hand, they designed a simple machine to do the work. Obviously, the work was made faster but after a few weeks, the women returned to the old method because they valued the time they spent hand-shelling: it enabled them to share news and chat.

4b - Reverse graffiti

A number of street artists around the world have started expressing themselves through a practice known as Reverse Graffiti. Artists find dirty surfaces and inscribe them with images or messages using cleaning brushes or pressure hoses; the image is made by cleaning away the dirt. All artists share a common aim: to draw attention to the pollution in our cities.

Brazilian artist Alexander Orion turned one of São Paulo’s transport tunnels into an amazing mural scraping away the dirt. The anti-pollution message of the reverse graffiti artists confuses city authorities since the main argument against graffiti is that it spoils the appearance of both types of property: public and private. Moose himself was ordered to “clean up his act” because people want to live in attractive neighborhoods. As for the Brazilian artist’s work, the authorities were annoyed but could find nothing to charge him with. They cleaned the tunnel, but just the parts Alexandre had already cleaned.

4c - Hip-hop planet

James McBride first heard rap at a party in Harlem and he thought it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever seen. He avoided rap music but in doing so he missed the most important cultural event in his lifetime. No American music has exploded across the world with such force since swing jazz.

Hip-hop began in the mid-1970s, in a bankrupt NYC. The bored kids of the South Bronx came up with a new entertainment. One guy, the DJ, played records on two turntables. Another guy served as master of ceremonies. The DJ learned to move the record back and forth under the needle to create a “scratch”, or to drop the needle on the turntable to create a “break”, over and over, to keep people dancing. Because of hip-hop, new dance styles were created and also the graffiti artists started to emphasize the I because the music was all about identity (I am the best).

Initially, hip-hop artists produced socially-conscious songs that described life on the other side of the tracks, where people are denied the same opportunities as the rich. These days most commercial rappers bring about their lives of crime. For those from poor backgrounds, the life of a successful rapper has become an aspiration. In poor urban communities around the globe, rap music is a universal expression of outrage at the injustice of the distribution of wealth.

This is why, after 26 years, the author has come to embrace this music.

5a - From reality to fantasy

There once was a sheik with big dreams. His land was a sleepy village occupied by pearl divers, fishermen, and traders. It was here that Sheik Rashid bin Saeed imagined creating a gateway to the world. But he couldn't afford it, so he asked a neighbor to lend him many millions of dollars. He made the creek wider, built roads, schools, and homes. He painted his dreams with words.

Then it was his son’s turn to carry on developing his father’s vision. He transformed Dubai into an air-conditioning fantasy world; no projects seemed to be too ambitious; he built the world’s tallest building, the largest motorway… In the last five years, it has attracted more tourists than India. But 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 looks on with a mixture of wonder and suspicion.

5c - Sustainable development

Kai Kensavaong will never again walk along the muddy lanes of Sop On, the village in southern Laos where she was born. Her old town now lies at the bottom of a reservoir of brown water created to feed a hydroelectric power plant, the first to be funded by the World Bank for over twenty years. The World Bank stopped financing hydroelectric dam projects in developing countries 20 years ago because of criticism that such projects were harming local communities and the environment. But Nam Theun 2 on the Mekong River that generates over 1,000 megawatts of electricity, is the showpiece of the bank’s new policy of supporting sustainable hydropower projects. For Laos, it is a part of a longer-term strategy to revitalize the economy.

In 2010 the dam brought 5.6 million in sales of electricity, and it is estimated that it will bring around 2 billion in the next 25 years to Laos, one of the most Asia’s poor countries, since most of the electricity will be exported to Thailand. The government has promised that this money will be spent on reducing poverty. 17 villages on the flooded area have now been rebuilt. According to the World Bank, 85 per cent of those resettled believe life is much better now, because they now have electricity.

But old criticisms have not gone away. Environmental and human rights groups warn that the dam will have a negative impact on water quality and fish. Ikuko Matsumoto says that people are happy but the real problem is how to restore sustainable livelihoods for communities who used to rely on natural resources. Activists also point out that there are a lot of villagers in riverside villages downstream from the dam whose lives will have to change because of the new river ecosystem; these people will have to deal with issues like flooding, decline of the fish population, and poor water quality. The World Bank says it is responsive to those problems. A large protected area has been established around the dam to safeguard flora and fauna, but it admits that rebuilding the lives of the villagers is not a short-term process.

6a - Staycations

Staycations don’t just mean staying in doing things around the house or just relaxing at home. They involve getting out more by taking day trips from your home to see local sights. Staycations became popular after the financial crisis of 2008; apart from the savings, let's not ignore the other benefits: you don’t have any of the problems associated with travel, such as packing, long drives, delays at airports…

Some staycationers who base themselves at home like to follow a set of rules, such as setting a start and end date, planning their activities ahead to create the feel of a traditional vacation. For example, a resident of New York City, Karen Ash decided not to go to Japan, but instead took a weeklong Japanese vacation in her own city. Her itinerary also involved joining in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, attending a taiko drumming concert, and watching Japanese soap operas on DVD. All without leaving NYC.

6c - Unusual places to stay

• Prison hotels: Built in 1905, Karosta Naval Jail in Latvia was originally home to mutinous Russian sailors. In 1970 it housed political prisoners. This is an opportunity to stay overnight on real prisoner’s benches and mattresses. This is more a reality jail experience than a hotel. For example, reception is a dark corridor where a former prison guard explains to you the rules.
• Period hotels: In this hotel, you can experience life in America’s Wild West. The rooms feature period Victorian furniture and downstairs the saloon has a true wild west feel. The cabins look extremely rustic and basic from the outside but inside they have large double beds and private bathrooms. During the weekend actors walk around in period costumes.
• Cave Hotels: Situated in Matera, during the Renaissance they developed into more sophisticated accommodations.