Tutto il necessario per l'esame "Abilità di Inglese scientifico" (proff. Galli, Coles, Barzotti), a.a. 2014-2015.

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

Directed by Ron Howard, “A Beautiful Mind” is a movie of 2001, based on the life of Nobel Price John Nash,

the mathematician who elaborated the theory of games. Movie begins with Nash entering to Princeton 7

University to study for a doctorate. He’s a very isolated and unsociable man, he’s got only a friend, his

roommate Charlie, because as he said “I don’t much like people and they don’t much like me”: but Charlie

is not a real person, it’s a John’s mind product. Moreover Nash begins to find patterns where no patterns

exist, as in newspapers, whose letters reveal him hidden events: John suffers from schizophrenia, has

some hallucinations and delusions. After Nash helped CIA agents to understand an hidden code, he

convinced himself to have a second confidential life in which understands CIA’s secrets and for this reason

he has to escape to CIAs’ hired assassins. John falls in love with Alicia, a female student, who will have

married in a short while. The illness yet will soon interfere with his private life: as John reveals to his wife-to-

be he lacks in some basic social skills that allows him to relate with others and to be social acceptable;

after the marriage above all the delusion of persecution of John will be severely endanger the couple

relationship.

Indeed their nuptial life will have disclosed as a nightmare, especially when Alicia learn about John’s illness

and in some heavy situations, as when John risked to kill his son because of hallucinations and when he

threatened to kill Alicia. The turning point is when John realized the Charlie, his niece and Percher are

three delusional characters and they don’t exist in the reality: they don’t get old! Now he can gradually

begin to trust his wife and other people: he refuses drugs and soon return to Princeton where he knows

some students interested in his theories and mix it up with them. Nash will return soon to teach in that

University, learning to cope with his illness and especially with delusional characters in his life, who begins

to ignore. A symbolic fact is when he asked a student if the person who’s looking for him out of the class is

real or not: his healing consists of learning to trust others.

PROF. BARZOTTI – I GRAFICI

Descrivere Il grafico in 150 parole circa e organizzare la descrizione in:

- INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH – describe the various parts of the graph and the title of the graph

- A GENERAL OBSERVATION – what is /are the main points that emerge from the graph

- SOME COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS

- SUMMING UP – conclusions to be drawn on.

USEFUL LANGUAGE

a) Contrasting facts and figures

- However

- On the other hand a inizio frase

- By contrast

- Whereas

- While a metà frase

b) Percentages, Proportions and Quantities

(Ninethy) percent (of) (of)*: nearly all people vs. nearly

- A high/low percentage (of) all of the population people è

Nine-tenths (of) Nove decimi di… generico, population è specifico.

- Nine out of ten

- The vast majority of

- A small minority of

- Most (of)

- Few (of)

- Nearly all (of)* [˭quasi tutti/e]

- Hardly any (of)* [˭quasi nessuno]

c) Talking about numbers as they get bigger or smaller 8

UP DOWN

To rise To fall

To increase To decrease

To go up To go down

To grow To shrink ( )

restringersi

To double To halve ( )

dimezzarsi

To expand To contract

d) Writing about information in a chart or a graph

- It can be seen that ……………………………………………………………..(96% of the prison

population are males.)

- It is clear that………………………………………………………………………(almost 30% of men work

over 45 hours a week.)

- It is easy to see that…………………………………………………………...(the number of people

increased.)

- The pie chart shows…………………………………………………………….(the main types of

employment.)

- The graphs provide information about………………………………..(total government spending.)

- From the graphs we can see………………………………………………..(travelling abroad is

becoming more popular.)

ESEMPIO:

CHIEDERSI, PASSO DOPO PASSO:

• WHAT KIND OF GRAPH IS IT?

• WHAT DO THE X AXIS AND Y AXIS SHOW?

• WHAT IS THE MAIN PIECE OF INFORMATION EMERGING FROM THE GRAPH?

• WHAT COMPARISONS CAN BE MADE? 9

The bar chart shows the number of male and female students studying Computer Science at a UK

university over three years. It also indicates whether they were home or international students. Compared

to the number of home students, the number of international students was significantly smaller. On the

other hand, there was clear statistical growth in the second group from 2010-2012. Furthermore, the

number of female home students eventually overtook the number of males from the same group, reaching

a high of 45 in 2012.

The year 2011 saw the most dramatic developments; the number of male home students fell from just

below 40 to 24 and the number of females rose from 32 to 44. There was also a significant increase in the

number of male students from overseas, rising from 20 in 2010 to 39 in 2012. Overall, we can see an

upward trend in the number of students at the university.

ESEMPIO 2:

INTRODUCTION: The graph shows the prevalence of mental disorders in the preceding 12 months, by

age group. The dark blue bar represents any 12 month disorder, the lightest blue bar represents anxiety

disorders, the light blue bar represents affective disorders (such as bipolar disorder) and finally the white

bar stands for substance use disorders. The vertical line shows the percentage of the population and the

horizontal line the different age groups.

GENERAL OBSERVATION: It appears from the graph that the 16-24 age group has the highest percentage

of any 12-month mental disorder, whereas the 34-44 and 45-54 age groups have the highest proportions

suffering from anxiety disorders. The proportions of those suffering from affective disorders are not so high,

the largest number is around 10%.

COMPARISONS / CONTRASTS: In 2007 the most commonly reported mental health disorders among 16-

24 year olds were anxiety disorders (15%), substance use disorders (13%) and affective disorders (6%).

The graph shows that more than one in four young people aged 16-24 years (26%) have a mental disorder,

including substance use disorders. This compared to approximately one in five (20%) in the general

population (State of Australia's Young People, 2009).

CONCLUSIONS: Therefore it would appear that the 16-24 age group has the highest 12-month mental

disorder overall, whereas both the 35-44 and 45-54 have the highest percentage of anxiety disorders which

could be due to age factors such as menopause or employment concerns.

HOW TO TALK ABOUT A VISU AL AID

Choosing the right visual aid 10

A flow chart is a diagram A pie chart displays the size A (vertical or horizontal) bar

showing the progress of material (taille) of each part as a chart is used to compare unlike

through the steps (étapes) of a percentage of a whole (un (different) items

manufacturing process tout).

(processus) or the succession of

operations in a complex activity

A line chart depicts changes A table is a convenient way A diagram is a drawing showing

over a period of time, showing to show large amount of data arrangements and situations,

data and trends (données, informations) in a such as networks (réseaux),

small space distribution, fluctuation ...

Presenting a graph

Introduction Topic Circumstances

This graph shows ... the results of our products ... over 10 years.

The diagram outlines ... rates of economic growth ... between 1990 and 1996.

This table lists ... the top ten agencies ... in the industrial world.

This pie chart represents the company's turnover ... for this year in our sector.

This line chart depicts ( the changes in sales ... over the past year.

or

demonstrate)…

This chart breaks down (ventile) ... the sales of each salesman ... during the past ten weeks.

The four basic trends (tendances) are :

upward movement : 

1* downward movement : 

2* no movement : 

3* change in direction :  or 

4*

Indicating upward movement : 

Upward movement

VERBS NOUNS

(to) increase (an) increase

(to) rise (rose, risen) (a) raise (US), a rise (UK)

(to) go/be up

(to) grow (a) growth

(to) reach a peak, (to) peak (a) peak 11

Indicating downward movement : 

Downward movement

Verb Noun

(to) decrease (a) decrease

(to) fall (off) (fall, fell, fallen) (a) fall

(to) plunge, to plummet (a) plunge

(to) drop (off) (a) drop

(to) go down (a) downswing

(to) decline (a) decline

(to) collapse (a) collapse (dramatic fall)

Indicating no movement : 

No movement

verbs noun

(to) remain stable

(to) stay constant

(to) stabilize stability

Indicating a change of direction :  or  ...

A change of direction

Verbs Noun

(to) level off/out, to flatten out (a) levelling-off

(to) stop falling/rising (a) change

(to) remain steady

(to) stop falling and start rising

(to) stop rising and start falling

INDICATING THE DEGREE OR THE SPEED OF CHANGE

5*

VERBO + AVVERBIO: ES. Sales increased dramatically from 1990 to 1992.

A LITTLE / A LOT

o AGGETTIVO + VERBO: ES. There was a dramatic increase in sales from

1990 to 1992. 12

DESCRIBING THE ELEMENTS OF A GRAPH

6*

INTERPRETING GRAPHS:

Verbi:

PLUMMET: precipitare INCREASE: aumentare

PEAK: raggiungere il picco SOAR: sollevarsi

ROCKET: schizzare alle stelle FLUCTUATE:

oscillare

LEVEL OUT: livellare DROP: diminuire

DECREASE: diminuire DECLINE: declinare

RISE: aumentare FALL: crollare

Aggettivi:

SLIGHTLY: lievemente STEADILY:

costantemente

RAPIDLY: rapidamente DRAMATICALLY:

drammaticamente

MODERATELY: moderatamente SHARPLY: bruscamente

SLOWLY: lentamente GRADUALLY:

gradualmente

Preposizioni: 13

AT To rise, To increase + by ; A rise + in, An increase

OF + of

IN To peak , To plummet, To drop + to

BY To start + at

TO

FROM

E per fare confronti e contrasti:

well over APP