Spotlight The Real New York (Vorschau)

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10 2014

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EDITORIAL | October 2014

A few years ago, on a visit to New York,

my sister and I found ourselves wandering —

a little lost — through the streets of Manhattan.

On a corner close to Washington Square,

Inez Sharp, editor-in-chief

we came across a wonderful bookshop, its

shelves stacked with rare and interesting paperbacks. A few steps further

along, we found a vintage-clothes shop packed with bargains from the 1950s

and 60s. Discoveries like these make journeys especially memorable and are

the reason we have chosen an insider tour of New York City as this month’s

travel focus. The feature begins on page 14.

Have you ever read poetry in English? Well-written verse, with its wonderful

rhythms and various themes, can be highly pleasurable. English language

expert Michael Swan, famous for his reference book Practical English Usage,

a volume that helped me through years of teaching, has also published two

collections of verse. He spoke

to Spotlight about his love of

poetry and has kindly allowed

us to print four of his poems.

Get lyrical with us on page 30.

How long will it be before we

see driverless cars? Not long,

if you believe the experts. Tests

with driverless cars will start in

Britain in January 2015. Find

out about the advantages and

challenges of this technology

in our story “A future with driverless

cars” on page 22.

Getting to know

the real New York

Immer die

passenden

Worte finden

ISBN 978-3-589-01561-0

Grund- und Aufbauwortschatz

nach Themen

Die 4.000 häufigsten Wörter aus

der aktuellen Alltagssprache,

thematisch gegliedert und unterteilt

in Grund- und Aufbauwortschatz.

ISBN 978-3-589-01876-5

Sprach-Reiseführer

Für den nächsten Familienurlaub!

Erste Wortschatzübungen und viel

Wissenswertes für Kinder und

Eltern. Buch mit Audio-CD.

i.sharp@spotlight-verlag.de

Spotlight 10|14

Gorgeous New York:

the Flatiron Building

Titelfoto: Huber; Foto Editorial: F1 online

Außerdem für Englisch:

Weitere Sprachkurse, diverse

Grammatiken, Verblexikon,

Themen- und Bildwörterbuch.

Lextra – so lernt man Sprachen heute.

Mehr Infos unter www.lextra.de

CONTENTS | October 2014

14

Inside New York City

Our correspondent asks New Yorkers for spe cial

insider tips on visiting “the city that never sleeps”.

29

Easy English

Enjoy Green Light, the booklet specially written for

learners at the A2 level.

6 People

Names and faces from around the world

8 A Day in My Life

A mountain rescue expert from Ireland

10 World View

What’s news and what’s hot

13 Britain Today

Colin Beaven on how nothing lasts forever

22 Society

Britain becomes a pioneer of driverless cars

24 Food

Delicious Native American specialities

26 I Ask Myself

Amy Argetsinger on leaving a baby in the car

36 Around Oz

Peter Flynn on why October is different

38 Debate

Does Canada still need public broadcasting?

40 History

Exploring Australia nearly 200 years ago

42 Press Gallery

A look at the English-language media

44 Arts

Films, apps, books, culture and a short story

66 The Lighter Side

Jokes and cartoons

67 American Life

Ginger Kuenzel on small-town experiences

68 Feedback & Next Month

Your letters to Spotlight and upcoming topics

70 My Life in English

Multitalented musician Oliver Gies

Fotos: iStock; Schapowalow; Stockbyte

THE SPOTLIGHT FAMILY

Spotlight plus Spotlight Audio

Every month, you can explore

This monthly 60-minute CD/download

and practise the language and

brings the world of Spotlight

grammar of Spotlight with the

to your ears. Enjoy interviews and

exercise booklet plus.

travel stories and try the exercises.

Find out more at:

Find out more on page 64 and at:

www.spotlight-online.de/plus

www.spotlight-online.de/audio

4

Spotlight 10|14

30

Poetry, please!

Reading poetry can be a fun way to explore a

language. Poet Michael Swan shows you how.

Eight

extra

pages

Grammar to go!

Eight pull-out pages on the most important basic

grammar rules in English, with tips and examples.

IN THIS MAGAZINE: 14 LANGUAGE PAGES

50 Vocabulary

Words that have to do with “green” energy

52 Travel Talk

A trip to the Everglades in Florida

53 Language Cards

Pull out and practise

55 Everyday English

Words and phrases for talking about books

57 The Grammar Page

Using the third conditional

58 Peggy’s Place: The Soap

Visit Spotlight’s very own London pub

OUR LANGUAGE LEVELS

The levels of difficulty in Spotlight magazine correspond roughly to

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:

A2 B1 – B2 C1 – C2

To find your level, visit Sprachtest.de

59 English at Work

Ken Taylor answers your questions

60 Spoken English

Ways to talk about success and failure

61 Word Builder

A focus on the words in Spotlight

62 Perfectionists Only!

Nuances of English

63 Crossword

Find the words and win a prize

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH WITH SPOTLIGHT PRODUCTS

Spotlight Audio: hear texts and interviews on our CD or

download. See www.spotlight-online.de/hoeren

Spotlight plus: 24 pages of language exercises related to the

magazine. See www.spotlight-online.de/ueben

Spotlight in the classroom: free of charge to teachers who

subscribe to Spotlight. See www.spotlight-online.de/teachers

Readers’ service: abo@spotlight-verlag.de · www.spotlight-online.de

Tel.: +49 (0)89 / 85681-16 · Fax: +49 (0)89 / 85681-159

www.SprachenShop.de: order products

from our online shop (see page 48).

Spotlight

in the classroom

Teachers: if you use Spotlight in

your lessons, this six-page supplement

will provide great ideas

for classroom activities based on

the magazine. Free for all teachers

who subscribe to Spotlight.

www.spotlight-online.de

Spotlight Online will help you to improve

your English every day. Try our language

exercises or read about current events

and fascinating places to visit.

Subscribers will also find a list of all the

glossed vocabulary from each issue of

the magazine.

10|14 Spotlight 5

PEOPLE | Names and Faces

The dancer

Who exactly is… Xander

Parish?

ballet [(bÄleI]

council housing [(kaUns&l )haUzIN] UK

graduation [)grÄdZu(eIS&n]

nothing but [(nVTIN bVt]

onstage [)Qn(steIdZ]

raise [reIz]

secretary of state [)sekrEtEri Ev (steIt]

spoof [spu:f] ifml.

state benefit [(steIt )benIfIt]

Ballett

Xander Parish was an eightyear-old

Yorkshire schoolboy

when he saw his seven-yearold

sister Demelza performing in a

school show. “Turning to my mum, I

asked why I wasn’t on the stage, too,”

Parish told Dance Magazine. Demelza

had been dancing since she was

three, but as a boy, Parish was more

interested in cricket. He applied to

the Royal Ballet School, however,

and was accepted in 1998, aged 11.

He soon began to love and respect

the art of ballet, but after graduation

in 2005, when he was taken into the

Royal Ballet, he found himself “at

the bottom of a large company”.

One day, Parish was noticed by

a guest teacher, the Russian ballet

master Yuri Fateyev. Six months later,

Fateyev became director of the

Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg

and offered the young man a place

in the world-famous company. Parish

wasn’t sure if he was good enough

to dance in the footsteps of former

Mariinsky stars: great artists such

as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

But Fateyev insisted, saying

that the company needed tall

boys who were willing to work hard.

Parish moved to St Petersburg

in 2010, the first British person to

dance with a Russian ballet troupe.

He began in the corps de ballet, but

Fateyev believed in letting dancers

learn onstage, and it wasn’t long before

Parish was dancing small solo

roles. And when the Mariinsky Ballet

visited Britain this summer, he

performed the main roles in great

works such as Swan Lake and Romeo

and Juliet. Parish told The Independent:

“It’s a big honour for anybody

— and for a Brit it’s something really

special.” It’s certainly a long way

from practising cricket in a Yorkshire

garden.

Sozialwohnung

hier: Abschlussprüfung

bloß, nur

auf der Bühne

hier: großziehen

hier: (Kabinetts)Minister(in)

Parodie, Veräppelung

Sozialhilfe

In the news

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen’s new

film is a spy spoof set in the English

town of Grimsby. When the film — also

called Grimsby — was announced,

people living in the town were delighted.

Jody Douglass, a local businessman,

told The

Grimsby Telegraph : it

“ will do nothing but

good for the area”.

But The Guardian

reports that some

locals are not happy

with Cohen’s portrait

of their town as “a terrible and dirty

place to live”, and they are angry that

“this is the way the world will get [its]

first and maybe only look at Grimsby”.

The New Zealand Herald recently

reported that the October edition of

the comic magazine Marvel will show

Thor, the god of thunder, as a woman.

According to Marvel

editor Wil Moss,

“it’s time to update”

the words on Thor’s

hammer, where “he”

is written. As Moss

explains: “This is

not She-Thor. This is

not Lady Thor. This

is Thor.” But a Marvel spokesperson

made clear: “This is a publishing-only

initiative.” The gods alone know what

will happen in the movie.

In July, Stephen Crabb became

the new Secretary of State for Wales (or

Welsh Secretary). Crabb says he is inspired

by his mother. “I happen to have

been raised by a single mother who

raised three sons on her own in council

housing in West Wales,” Crabb told The

South Wales Evening Post.

He described his childhood

as “loving” and his mother

as someone who relied

on state benefits, but who

also was able to

“start her journey

of a working life”

when she had

the opportunity.

6

Spotlight 10|14

Out of the ordinary

When American Jeremiah Heaton’s daughter Emily, aged

seven, asked whether she’d ever be “a real princess”, Heaton began

researching and found an area called Bir Tawil: 800 square miles of

unclaimed (and empty) desert between Egypt and Sudan. He flew to

Africa, travelled 14 hours and planted a flag in the territory, which

his children have called “the Kingdom of North Sudan”. Heaton told

The Guardian: “It has been unclaimed for around 100 years. I just

followed the same process as many others have done: planted our

flag and claimed it.” Heaton wants to improve food production and

create digital freedom in the new kingdom. “Lofty goals,” as he says,

but he believes they can be achieved.

Modern scientific farming methods can be controversial, so it’s

good to know that traditional ways of keeping foods safe are effective.

Mark Roy is a farmer in Washington state. He found that

spraying his crops with chemicals to keep off small “nuisance” birds

changed the taste of the fruit. Another option was netting, but that

cost a lot and didn’t protect all of the crops. So Roy decided to call

in Falcon Force, a company that uses birds of prey, such as peregrine

falcons, to stop starlings and finches from eating the cherries. Roy

told The Seattle Times : “It’s a very sustainable way to try to live with

nature and protect the harvest.” So everybody’s happy now — except,

perhaps, some of the smaller birds.

“The answer to all requests for free tickets for this match has

been neigh,” said Waratah boss Jason Allen. The Waratahs

are an Australian rugby team. Talking to The Canberra Times,

Allen was describing his decision to make the mascot of a rival

team, the Brumbies, “buy a ticket like everyone else” for a

match and sit with the other visitors. The mascot is Brumby

Jack, a human-horse who normally trots up and down the side

of the playing field, encouraging his team. Brumby fans started

an online petition to get their mascot down on the field, but Allen

said that no animals are allowed in the stadium, “and that

includes horses”. “It’s all a bit of horseplay,” he said.

The newcomer

• Name: Holliday Grainger

• Age: 26

• Profession: actor

• Background: from the city of Manchester

in the UK.

• Where you’ve seen her: Grainger

began acting at the age of six and

has worked almost continuously

since then. Her biggest role so

far has been as Lucrezia Borgia in

the TV series The Borgias, which

was released in 2011. The series

was created by the Oscar-winning

screenwriter Neil Jordan and

starred Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander

VI, the father of Lucrezia.

• Where you can see her: She recently

took the part of Bonnie Parker

in a Bonnie & Clyde mini-series on TV and

will appear in two films in the coming year:

Posh, a drama about an exclusive club for students

at an Oxford college, and Cinderella, a

fantasy film directed by Kenneth Branagh

and shot in various locations in England.

Fotos: Corbis; ddp images; Splash; Ullstein; WENN

bird of prey [)b§:d Ev (preI]

claim sth. [kleIm]

finch [fIntS]

horseplay [(hO:spleI]

human-horse [)hju:mEn (hO:s]

lofty [(lQfti]

neigh [neI]

netting [(netIN]

nuisance: ~ birds [(nju:s&ns]

peregrine falcon [)perEgrIn (fO:lkEn]

starling [(stA:lIN]

sustainable [sE(steInEb&l]

unclaimed [)Vn(kleImd]

Raubvogel,

Greifvogel

auf etw. Anspruch

erheben

Fink

Unfug, Alberei

Mensch, der als

Pferd verkleidet ist

erhaben

Wiehern (klingt wie

“nay”: nein)

hier: Anbringen von

Netzen

hier: lästige oder

schädliche Vögel

Wanderfalke

Star

nachhaltig,

zukunftsfähig

unbeansprucht

PSSCHT!

GEHEIMREZEPT

AUSLAND!

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Verbessern Sie nicht nur Ihre Grammatik

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während dieser Zeit zudem unvergessliche

Auslandserfahrungen.

Finden Sie das Programm ganz nach

Ihrem Geschmack unter:

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0211 688 57 0

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089 23 11 90 10

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BROSCHÜRE

BESTELLEN

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/spotlight

Texts by EVE LUCAS

Internationale Sprachschulen


A DAY IN MY LIFE | Ireland

Mountain man

Help when you need it:

Piaras Kelly is part of the Kerry

Mountain Rescue Team

Sein Wunsch, mal etwas anderes als nur Pubs von innen zu sehen, führte dazu, dass dieser Ire

Bergführer und Teil eines Elite-Bergrettungsteams wurde. JOHN STANLEY berichtet.

My name is Piaras Kelly, and I’ve recently turned

40. I became involved in mountaineering about

20 years ago, because I wanted a change from

spending my time in the pub. I started by going hillwalking

every month or so. That quickly turned into every

week, and then into more serious mountaineering and

rock climbing. Now, I’m out on the hills almost every day,

either as a guide and climbing instructor, or as a member

of the all-voluntary Kerry Mountain Rescue Team.

I joined the team about seven years ago. At that time,

I lived in East County Cork. That’s quite a distance from

the County Kerry mountains, which are on the Atlantic

coast in the south-west of Ireland. I could have joined another

team much closer to where I lived, but I wanted to

be in the Kerry Mountain Rescue. For me, they were exceptional,

because they are dealing with Ireland’s biggest

and steepest mountains, some of which are more than

1,000 metres high.

I’ve since moved to County Kerry with my wife, Catherine,

and our five-year-old daughter. Catherine is also

involved in mountain rescue as the training officer with

the Search and Rescue Dogs Association of Ireland.

We live at the foot of Ireland’s

highest mountain,

Corrán Tuathail, in the

MacGillycuddy’s Reeks

range. Now, I’m one

of the members

of the team closest

to the action whenever

there’s a call-out.

8 Spotlight 10|14

There are 35 members in the team, and they come

from all walks of life — graphic designers, engineers,

electricians, nurses and more. Last year, we were called

out 34 times, mainly to assist walkers who were lost or in

trouble on the Reeks. We helped 55 people on those callouts.

There can be serious neck and back injuries, broken

limbs, or simply minor grazes and shock. Unfortunately,

there was also one fatality.

I’m the team’s assistant training officer as well. So

between training and call-outs, which can typically take

many, many hours, it is a big commitment. But whenever

I’m out in the mountains, I don’t see it as time taken out

of my life. I consider it to be time added to it. It’s a joy

to be in Kerry Mountain Rescue, and I feel privileged to

be one of the team. We’re also part of the 999 / 112 rescue

services, and we work very closely with the coastguard

helicopter. We also cover a wide area of wild mountains

in Kerry and West Cork, together with other local rescue

teams.

all-voluntary [)O:l (vQlEntEri]

commitment [kE(mItmEnt]

cover [(kVvE]

from all walks of life

[frEm (O:l )wO:ks Ev )laIf]

graze [greIz]

limb [lIm]

mountaineering [)maUntI(nIErIN]

range [reIndZ]

since [sIns]

training officer [(treInIN )QfIsE]

rein ehrenamtlich

Verpflichtung

abdecken

hier: aus allen Berufen

Schramme

Körperglied

Bergsteigen

hier: Bergkette

hier: seither, inzwischen

Trainingsleiter(in)

Fotos: iStock; Valerie O’Sullivan; John Stanley

INFO TO GO

Many people who come to these mountains underestimate

how wild they are. The weather in Kerry can

change quickly, too, and you can get lost very easily. We

do have sheep trails you can follow, but these are nothing

like the dry stone paths you find in Scotland and Wales.

So here, it is important that people who go up into the

hills have a map and really know how to use it. It’s also

essential to be prepared for the weather.

Most of my working days are taken up running my

company, Kerry Climbing, and guiding. I love seeing

people’s faces when we’re out. It reminds me of how I

felt when I started. These days, many people spend day

after day behind a desk, and you cannot get any sense of

wildness or excitement from that. But up in the Kerry

mountains, you feel more on the edge. It’s great to see

how much fun my clients have had when they’re coming

down off the hills at the end of a fantastic day.

MacGillycuddy’s Reeks

In Irish, the name for MacGillycuddy’s Reeks

is Na Cruacha Dubha, which means “the

black stacks”, a reference to the type of rock

formation that is found there. MacGillycuddy,

however, comes from the name of the local

family, Mac Giolla Mochuda, which owned this

part of County Kerry. Eleven of the mountains

in the range are more than 900 metres high,

with three taller than 1,000 metres. At

1,038 metres, the very tallest of these

is called Corrán Tuathail in Irish and

Carrauntoohil in English. No special

equipment is needed to climb it,

but people say that crowding on the

mountain has made its paths a bit

more dangerous these days.

cliff [klIf]

irritable [(IrItEb&l]

run [rVn]

stack [stÄk]

trail [treI&l]

Felsvorsprung, Steilwand

gereizt

hier: führen, leiten

Haufen, Stapel

Trampelpfad

fatality

A fatality is a formal word meaning “death”. It is used in

official reports and in the news to refer to deaths resulting

from accidents, natural disasters (such as floods), disease

or war. The formal word “casualty” means a person

who has been injured or killed in such a situation. The

expression “death toll” means “the number of people

who have died”. Compare the following sentences, which

contain examples of how these words are used:

a) Newspapers report that the death toll from Israeli

attacks on Gaza is increasing.

b) The US Department of Transportation is making a study

of highway fatalities caused by drunk drivers.

c) She never knew her father. He was a casualty of the

Vietnam War.

on the edge

Piaras Kelly says: “But up in the Kerry mountains, you feel

more on the edge.” You may see the expression “living

on the edge”, which means “taking part in activities that

can involve an increased amount of risk”. Kelly could be

playing a little with words, because when you are up high

in the mountains, you can really be “on the edge” — on a

rock face or cliff. On the other hand, if you are “on edge”,

you are irritable and nervous. Which expressions using

“edge” belong in the following sentences?

a) Bill likes to drive really fast. He likes to ________.

b) She is completely ________ today. Perhaps she didn’t

get enough sleep.

c) I love paragliding. It makes me feel as if I’m ________.

Training is an important part of the team’s routine

Answers

on the edge: a) live on the edge; b) on edge; c) on the edge / living on the edge


WORLD VIEW | News in Brief

The season changes

in Dorset, England

It’s a good month for…

autumn colours

BRITAIN Autumn brings cooler weather,

shorter days and the chance to enjoy the new season’s

beauty. Magnificent arboreal displays of golds, oranges

and reds are what attract people to Sherborne Castle in

Dorset, south-west England, for the Autumn Colours

Weekend. Held this year on 25 and 26 October, the event

encourages visitors to tour the estate’s beautiful gardens,

while nature completes its work. “England’s greatest gardener”,

Capability Brown, laid out some of the grounds

in 1753, a treat for fans of English landscape design.

Farming tobacco: a way of life for some Ugandans

Tobacco: not all bad?

UGANDA It is well known that smoking causes

illness. But tobacco also allows many people to make a living. In Uganda,

members of parliament concerned with the adverse effects of cigarettes

have been trying to pass a law banning tobacco. The country’s

farmers, who can earn far more money from tobacco than from other

crops, like maize, see things differently.


Sherborne New Castle, the estate’s main building, welcomes

visitors to tour the 16th-century Tudor mansion.

Built in 1594 by Elizabethan explorer Sir Walter Raleigh,

the house passed to the Digby family in 1617 and underwent

a major expansion. The ruins of a 12th-century castle

on the estate may be visited, too. In November, Sherborne

closes for a winter break and opens again in April.

For more information, see www.sherbornecastle.com

nachteilig, schädlich

Baum-

hier: Anbaupflanze

Anwesen, Landgut

trotzdem

großartig, herrlich

Mais

Herrenhaus

Speiseröhre

Vergnügen, Leckerbissen

unterzogen werden

adverse [(Ädv§:s]

arboreal [A:(bO:riEl]

crop [krQp]

estate [I(steIt]

even so [)i:v&n (sEU]

magnificent [mÄg(nIfIsEnt]

maize [meIz] UK

mansion [(mÄnS&n]

oesophagus [i(sQfEgEs]

treat [tri:t]

undergo [)VndE(gEU]

“This is my future,” Fred Okippi told The Guardian, pointing to

his five acres of tobacco plants. Okippi is one of about 75,000 tobacco

farmers in this East African country. “If the government wants to ban

tobacco use, then we are going to suffer. Where are we going to get

money to educate our children?”

Uganda benefits from the plant in other ways, too. Nearly $40 million

in taxes were collected from the sales of tobacco products in the

country in 2011, making it one of the top ways for the government to

raise money. Even so, it is ministers from within the regime who are

pushing for change.

“Tobacco kills,” said Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi of the Ugandan health

ministry. “We want to make it extremely hard for people to find or

smoke a cigarette. At the Uganda Cancer Institute, we followed the

history of most patients diagnosed with lung cancer, cancer of the

mouth, throat and oesophagus, and found they had been smoking.”

Fotos: A1PIX/YPT; iStock; dpa/Picture Alliance; Getty Images; Library of Congress

Registering for the draft;

here, American men sign

on during World War I

The wrong

century?

UNITED STATES Computers don’t make mistakes — people do. This

explains why US military conscription notices were recently sent to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania

men born between 1893 and 1897. Worried relatives contacted the Selective Service

System (SSS), which sent the notices telling the men to register for the US draft — or possibly

pay a fine or go to prison. “We were just totally dumbfounded,” Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston,

Pennsylvania, told Fox News. He received the letter that had been sent to his late grandfather.

The SSS apologized for the error, which was caused by a data transfer from the Pennsylvania

transport department. An employee had forgotten to limit birth data to the 20th century.

A spokesman said that Pennsylvania used only a two-digit number for the year of birth. People

born in 1893 and 1993, for example, had the same code.

Although the draft has not been used in the US since the Vietnam War, US males aged

between 18 and 25 are still required to register with the SSS.

Sprachen lernen

– einfach

beim Lesen!

aspire to [E(spaIE tE]

bouncer [(baUnsE]

conscription [kEn(skrIpS&n]

doorman [(dO:mEn]

draft [US drÄft]

dumbfounded [dVm(faUndId]

fine [faIn]

late [leIt]

selective service [US sE)lektIv (s§:vEs]

two-digit [(tu: )dIdZIt]

wrestling [(res&lIN]

anstreben, erstreben

Türsteher(in), Rausschmeißer(in)

Einberufung

Türsteher(in)

Einberufung

sprachlos, verblüfft

Geldstrafe, Bußgeld

hier: verstorben

Wehrdienst

zweistellig

Ringen

NEU

The right moves

INDIA What is the best training for work as a doorman? Two villages

in India appear to have the answer.

Located to the south of Delhi, the twin settlements of Asola and Fatehpur

Beri are famous for their love of kushti, or traditional Indian wrestling. The

wrestlers, usually in their 20s or early 30s, train in special sports clubs for eight

to ten hours a day in order to be the best at their sport. They eat carefully and

avoid alcohol. Few are able to earn a living from wrestling, however, so many

of them move to the capital city to work as doormen in clubs and bars or as

bodyguards. Life as a bouncer there is, of course, very different from life in

the village and the ideals of becoming a champion wrestler. As India Today

reports, “a career as bouncers was not what most of them had aspired to”.

A very old

sport: Indian

wrestling

272 S. · € 7,80 · ISBN 978-3-15-019891-9

Ein bewegender Coming-of-Age-Roman

vor dem Hintergrund des Angriffs auf

Pearl Harbour und dem Kriegseintritt der

USA in den Zweiten Weltkrieg.

Reclams

Rote Reihe

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im Original, mit praktischen

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lieferbar!

Bestellen Sie kostenlos das aktuelle

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»»» werbung@reclam.de

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www.reclam.de

WORLD VIEW | News in Brief

BRITAIN War is a sad fact of human

existence. Now, experts from the British Museum

in London have evidence of what is believed to be

the world’s oldest large-scale armed conflict. The human

remains from it, thought to be 13,000 years old,

come from Jebel Sahaba in Northern Sudan.

The skeletons were first discovered by US anthropologist

Dr Fred Wendorf in the 1960s, prior to the

building of the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile.

The Independent reports that new technology allows

scientists to see bone damage caused by flint arrowheads.

Of the 61 bodies discovered, “at least 45 per cent of them died

of inflicted wounds,” says the British Museum, “making this the earliest

evidence for intercommunal violence in the archaeological record.”

The reason for the conflict may have been climate change. With Ice

Age glaciers covering Europe and North America at the time, various

tribes migrated to the warmer Nile region. Experts think that limited resources

led to battles over land, food and water. Some of the Jebel Sahaba

remains may be seen in the British Museum’s Early Egypt gallery.

The bones tell the sad story

of an ancient war

An old war

arrowhead [(ÄrEUhed]

Aswan High Dam [Äs)wA:n )haI (dÄm]

brainchild [(breIntSaI&ld]

Egypt [(i:dZIpt]

flint [flInt]

glacier [(glÄsiE]

human remains [)hju:mEn ri(meInz]

inflict [In(flIkt]

inspire [US In(spaI&r]

large-scale [)lA:dZ (skeI&l]

prior to [(praIE tE]

reminder [US ri(maInd&r]

rotating [US (roUteItIN]

scent [sent]

take-out meal [(teIk aUt )mi:&l] N. Am.

text message [(tekst )mesIdZ]

tribe [traIb]

Pfeilspitze

Assuan-Staudamm

Erfindung

Ägypten

Feuerstein

Gletscher

menschliche Überreste

beibringen, zufügen

hier: verbreiten, einflößen

ausgedehnt

vor

Erinnerung

drehbar, sich drehend

Geruch

Mitnahmemahlzeit

SMS

Stamm

WHAT’S HOT

Family robot

UNITED STATES

Some robots inspire fear in people,

but not Jibo. Jibo may be the first robot

you ever own.

Jibo acts as a personal assistant.

It sits on a table and tells you the

content of text messages you’ve received,

gives you reminders about

the day’s events, reads a book to

your child, welcomes you home from

work, and even asks you if you would

like it to order a take-out meal — all in

a sweet, friendly voice. The only mobile

thing about the robot is its rotating

head, a function that allows the

user to move freely around the room

while having a video chat via the robot

with family or friends.

Jibo is the brainchild of the famous

social robotics researcher Dr.

Cynthia Breazeal. “What if technology

could make you feel closer to the

ones you love? ... That’s what Jibo’s

about,” she says in a video. For more

information, see www.myjibo.com

Jibo and

its maker,

Dr Cynthia

Breazeal

Movies get an

extra dimension

UNITED STATES If 3D cinema isn’t enough

for you, why not try something extra? The Regal Cinema in downtown

Los Angeles has become the first US multiplex to open a 4D auditorium.

Movies are shown in 3D with added features such as rain, wind,

Spotlight 7|14

Get ready for the next

big thing in movies

and fog, as well as moving seats and even smell. The 4D effects are

closely synchronized with the on-screen action. The new technology,

known as 4DX, has been developed by South Korean firm CJ 4DPlex,

which is part of the CJ Group, the company behind the largest cinema

chain in Asia. First used in Seoul in 2009, 4DX has expanded into 23

other countries across the globe. More than 14,000 4DX seats are now

available in 91 different auditoriums.

Talking to The Los Angeles Times, Byung Hwan Choi, CEO of

CJ 4DPlex, promised audiences “a moviegoing experience never before

seen in the US.” With a selection of more than 1,000 possible

scents, 4DX also provides an excellent opportunity for audiences to

say, “That smelled like a really good movie.”

By JULIAN EARWAKER and CLAUDINE WEBER-HOF

Fotos: British Museum; PR

Britain Today | COLIN BEAVEN

Foto: Stockbyte

What’s the

name on the

card?

Nothing lasts forever. Everything

has its limits. The food

we buy at the supermarket

comes with a use-by date, after which

we shouldn’t eat it. Tickets for the car

park tell you what time they expire,

after which you can’t use them. Our

credit cards expire, our passports expire.

And in the end, we expire —

because the word also means “die”.

Yes, you can use the same word

for bits of plastic or scraps of paper

that are no longer any use and also

for the end of someone’s life. It’s true

that “expired” is a rather formal way

to say that someone has died, but

that makes me shudder all the more

when I use my credit card to buy

things over the phone.

“What’s the name on the card?”

they ask. That is not unreasonable. It’s

the next question I find scary: “Expiry

date?” Do they mean the card’s or

mine? After all, if anyone knows our

use-by dates, it’s probably the banks

and credit card companies. Banks are

so powerful, and in more paranoid

moments, I can imagine they’d enjoy

deciding when to end their customers’

lives — like the Fates in Greek

and Roman mythology.

Worse still: let’s say your credit

card expires in one year’s time. The

date October 2015 is presented on

the card as “10 ... 15”. But be careful

how you say it over the phone.

Ten fifteen? It sounds as if you

mean a quarter past ten this evening,

or tomorrow morning at the latest.

I was going to use my card to book

next year’s summer holiday. It hardly

seems worth it now.

Of course, one shouldn’t panic.

The statistics tell a different story;

Everything has its limits

Früher oder später hat alles ein Ende. Nur – wann genau ist das

und wer bestimmt es? Ein Ab laufdatum, wie das auf unserer

Kreditkarte, kann ungeahnte Tücken in sich bergen.

British men can expect to live to be

around 79 and women to 83. Life

expectancy is going up every year.

But that brings problems, too. Britain’s

health system is under increasing

pressure, partly because the population’s

growing, and partly because

the older generation is now the even

older generation.

Using the National Health Service

(NHS) is basically free, but

experts are saying that it can’t cope

with demand, and they wonder how

long this can continue. A report earlier

this year by Lord Warner and

Jack O’Sullivan said that the NHS

will soon need billions it doesn’t have

— at least £30 billion a year within

ten years.

Governments have tried all sorts

of reforms to make money go further.

Now officials in the county of Staffordshire

have said they’ll let private

companies try to win contracts to

provide health care, even for cancer.

More private companies active in

the NHS? Many people on the political

left here won’t like that. They

take the view that health care should

be motivated by

idealism and not billion [(bIljEn]

by profit. Others blunt [blVnt]

seem to think

that the one demand [di(mA:nd]

doesn’t exclude expire [Ik(spaIE]

the other.

handy [(hÄndi]

The worry

is that there are

only two solutions:

either you

pay more, or you

reduce the demands

you make

on the service.

Does that mean

that we’ll soon

need to have our

car park [(kA: pA:k] UK

health care [(helT keE]

last [lA:st]

National Health Service

[)nÄS&nEl (helT )s§:vIs] UK

official [E(fIS&l]

scary [(skeEri]

scrap [skrÄp]

shudder [(SVdE]

surgery [(s§:dZEri] UK

the Fates [DE (feIts]

unreasonable [Vn(ri:z&nEb&l]

credit cards handy when we ring the

surgery for an appointment with the

doctor?

“Name on the card?” they’ll say.

Then: “Expiry date?”

“Ten fifteen.”

“I see. Look, this may seem rather

blunt, but is there really any point in

giving you an appointment? Time’s

money, you know. We wouldn’t want

to waste either.”

“Perhaps it means ten fifteen p.m.,

not a.m. If I’m still here this evening,

would that make a difference?”

“I’m sorry. We close at half past

five.”

Colin Beaven is a freelance writer who

lives and works in Southampton on the south

coast of England.

Milliarde(n)

schonungslos offen, unverblümt

Parkplatz, Parkhaus

Nachfrage

auslaufen, ungültig werden

griffbereit

medizinische Versorgung

dauern, währen

staatlicher Gesundheitsdienst

Beamter, Beamtin

unheimlich, beängstigend

Fetzen, Stückchen

(zurück)schaudern

Arztpraxis

die Schicksalsgöttinnen

unsinnig, unangemessen


TRAVEL | United States

Inside

Travel tips for the

greatest city on Earth

New York

Welche Insider-Tipps verraten die meisten New Yorker nur Freunden und Verwandten?

ALEX KINGSBURY war in Big Apple, um das herauszufinden.

So much to see

and do: the city that

never sleeps

When you are one in a million in New York,” goes

the old saying, “there are eight more people just

like you.” It’s a city that is at once impersonal

and welcoming, crowded and lonely, ephemeral and constant.

The locals are famous for their gruffness, yet the

Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor calls out a sincere

welcome to the world’s poor, huddled masses.

It’s impossible to cover the entire city in a single article.

But I did find many long-time New Yorkers prepared

to part with a tip or two on what they find most compelling

about the city — the kind of information they share

only with friends who come to visit.

appreciate [E(pri:SieIt]

compelling [kEm(pelIN]

ephemeral [I(fem&rEl]

exhausting [Ig(zO:stIN]

gruffness [(grVfnEs]

hiss [hIs]

huddled [(hVd&ld]

on: be ~ [A:n]

part with sth. [(pA:rt wIT]

surrender: ~ oneself [sE(rend&r]

würdigen, schätzen

verlockend, fesselnd

kurzlebig

anstrengend, ermüdend

Barschheit, Schroffheit

Zischen

zusammengedrängt

eingeschaltet sein, an sein

sich trennen von etw.

hier: sich ganz darauf einlassen

I used to live in New York City and have been

back countless times since then to work and play.

It’s true what they say: you can’t real ly appreciate

a city until you’ve moved away. That’s the

feeling I get as my train pulls into Penn Station,

and the doors open with a hiss.

As any visitor will tell you, New York has its

own smell, sound, and rhythm, which may

take a bit of getting used to. It feels like

a place that is always on, that can be in

equal parts refreshing and exhausting. If

you’re willing to surrender yourself to

that rhythm, however, it can be a wonderful

place to explore.

Because the city is so large, just

getting from one place to another can

mean quite a bit of travel. On the other

hand, New York is a city that is just

asking to be walked. The interior of the

United States may be designed around

the highway system and the automobile,

but Gotham City is designed for

sneakers.

14

Spotlight 10|14

Fotos: Getty Images; iStock; Schapowalow

To get to know New York City

means leaving Manhattan. “If

you’ve never been to New York,

spend a day riding the subway,”

says Nate Collins, an officer in

the New York City Police Department.

“Ride the iron horse for an

afternoon — take a line from beginning

to end, and get out a few

times along the way. Then pick a

different line the next day. You’ll

see it all.”

That’s a good way to explore

a city that tourists — and many

New Yorkers themselves — regard

as only the island of Manhattan. People who call it

home know New York simply as “the City,” but it is

made up of a total of five boroughs: Manhattan, yes, but

also the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.

Everyone has Times Square at the top of his or her

list, and a trip to NYC wouldn’t be complete without an

elevator ride up the Empire State Building. But if you

visit only the guide books’ top suggestions for Manhattan,

“you’ll miss out on the ethnic food in Queens and the

small shops and restaurants in Brooklyn,” says Karen Stephens,

a writer and artist who divides her time between

Mexico City and New York. “It’s worth getting beyond

Manhattan, which has become crowded and expensive.”

beyond [bi(A:nd]

borough [(b§:oU]

head north [hed (nO:rT]

late [leIt]

make inroads

[meIk (InroUdz]

pastime [(pÄstaIm]

regard as [ri(gA:rd Ez]

soccer [(sA:k&r]

subway [(sVbweI] N. Am.

jenseits, außerhalb

Stadtbezirk, Stadtviertel

Richtung Norden fahren

hier: verstorben

vordringen; hier: sich verbreiten

Freizeitbeschäftigung, Zeitvertreib

betrachten als

Fußball

U-Bahn

America loves baseball: New York

Yankees’ star player Derek Jeter

and Yankee Stadium

Head north from Manhattan

Island, and you’ll find what

is holy ground for many Americans,

even those who live outside the city. The Bronx

might not be the richest borough nor the most attractive,

but it’s one of the most famous because of Yankee

Stadium, home to the New York Yankees, one of the

city’s two baseball teams, as well as the city’s professional

soccer team, New York City FC. “A

baseball club is part of the chemistry

of the city,” said Michael

Burke, the late president of

the Yankees. “A game

isn’t just an athletic

contest. It’s a picnic,

a kind of town meeting.”

Other sports,

like soccer, may have

made inroads into

this in the past

few years, but

baseball is still

the national

pastime.



One of the Beaux

Arts buildings in

Astor Court at

the Bronx Zoo

Indonesian langur

monkeys living in

“JungleWorld” at

the Bronx Zoo

While you’re in the Bronx, check out the Bronx Zoo,

one of the largest in the world. With 265 acres of land,

it is home to 6,000 animals and more than 650 species.

Noah would have been proud. “Whenever I need to relax

and let my brain go, I head to the zoo,” says Neal

Hoyt-Davis, a chef who lives in Queens. “Walk around

there for a few hours, and you’ll realize that you’ve spent

half your time people-watching.”

People-watching is serious business in his home borough,

as well. Queens feels like one of the most diverse

places on the planet. In 1970, only about 20 percent of

the population were foreign-born. Today, more than two

million people live in Queens, and half are immigrants.

When people talk about the United States being a “melting

pot” of cultures, Queens is living, breathing proof of

that. The constant influx of people from other countries

has made the small-business economy incredibly vibrant,

even if the average income of residents is still well below

that of Brooklyn or Manhattan.

A CLOSER LOOK

The more than 3,000-kilometer-long Rio Grande — “big

river,” in Spanish — starts in the Rocky Mountains of

Colorado, passes through New Mexico, then enters Texas

to form part of the border between the United States

and Mexico. If people use the expression “south of the

Rio Grande,” they often mean simply “Mexico,” but

the taxi driver in this article uses it to refer to the whole

of Latin America.

Ahmed Said emigrated here from Egypt 30 years ago

and now drives a taxi in Queens. “In the past month,

I’ve driven someone from every country south of the Rio

Grande,” he says, as we wait at a stoplight on Northern

Boulevard, the main route through the borough. “An

hour ago, I drove someone from the airport who came

from Indonesia. He was living in the Ecuadorian part of

Queens. That’s the way this place is.”

Said drops me off in the borough of Brooklyn, which

is also diverse, but better known today for the tensions

surrounding its economic diversity. “I like to say that it

is a harmoniously diverse neighborhood. It’s got a great

Afro-punk vibe to it, and then it’s got gentrifiers who are

moving in,” says newspaper reporter Tim Donnelly. We’re

standing in Fort Greene Park, and he’s explaining how

the old brownstone buildings have been bought up by

developers and sold off at twice the price. When young,

rich people move into New York neighborhoods, it’s often

at the expense of the older, poorer, long-time residents,

who are forced to move elsewhere when the cost of living

increases to more than they can pay. “Wealth may have

increased in the community here, but it has stayed true to

its roots,” Donnelly says.

acre [(eIk&r] Morgen (ca. 4047 m 2 )

at the expense of

auf Kosten von, zu Lasten von

[)Et Di Ik(spens Ev]

brownstone building Sandsteingebäude

[(braUnstoUn )bIldIN] N. Am.

check sth. out [tSek (AUt] hier: sich etw. ansehen

diverse [dE(v§:s]

vielfältig, bunt gemischt

drop sb. off [drA:p (O:f] jmdn. absetzen

gentrifier [(dZentrIfaI&r] in etwa: Gentrifizierer(in),

(Leute, die durch aufwändige

Renovierungsarbeiten ihrer Häuser

einen Stadtteil aufwerten)

influx [(InflVks]

Zustrom

resident [(rezIdEnt]

Anwohner(in), Bewohner(in)

stoplight [(stA:plaIt] N. Am. Ampelanlage

tension [(tenS&n]

Spannung

vibe [vaIb] ifml.

Atmosphäre

vibrant [(vaIbrEnt]

lebendig, dynamisch

Fotos: Getty Images; images.de; A. Kingsbury; Photos.com

16

Spotlight 10|14

Prepare yourself: in this shop, you could become a superhero

A CLOSER LOOK

Dave Eggers (born 1970) is an American writer and

philanthropist. He was studying journalism in the early

1990s when both of his parents died of cancer. In his

bestselling book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering

Genius, Eggers wrote about his experience of having to

leave university to help raise his eight-year-old brother.

Since then, he has started his own publishing house,

McSweeney’s, and worked on literacy projects such as

826 National, with locations in eight US cities.

That might be so, but the pressures on Brooklyn are

growing. This summer, rents in Manhattan averaged more

than $3,400. The average rent in Brooklyn was around 10

percent less. If you can afford the rent, Brooklyn is the

hippest place to call your home. How hip? Well, at the

heart of one of the trendiest neighborhoods, Park Slope,

sits the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company. It’s a

store that sells costumes for would-be masked avengers.

You can buy spandex body suits and disguises. Of course,

there’s a wind tunnel to test your cape before you buy it.

I asked the masked manager whether having a superhero

supply store is a sign of a neighborhood’s coolness. Perhaps

not, she says with a smile. “But consider this: There

are enough weirdos in Brooklyn for the store to have

stayed open for more than a decade.”

What’s the store’s real secret? It’s literally a front for a

creative-writing non-profit organization called 826NYC

that helps kids. Behind the shelves of invisible paint and

grappling hooks is a classroom. It’s the brainchild of writer

Dave Eggers, and the profits from the costume shop

go to pay for its good works.

A typical street in the

popular Brooklyn

neighborhood of Park Slope

avenger [E(vendZ&r]

brainchild [(breIntSaI&ld] ifml.

disguise [dIs(gaIz]

grappling hook [(grÄp&lIN hUk]

hip [hIp] ifml.

invisible [In(vIzEb&l]

literacy project

[(lItErEsi )prA:dZekt]

literally [(lItErEli]

publishing house [(pVblISIN haUs]

raise [reIz]

spandex [(spÄndeks]

staggering [(stÄgErIN]

weirdo [(wIrdoU] ifml.

Rächer(in)

hier: Idee

Verkleidung

Enterhaken

angesagt, cool

unsichtbar

Bildungsprojekt

buchstäblich

Buchverlag

großziehen

Elastan

erstaunlich, überwältigend

Spinner(in), Verrückte(r)



Go north from Park

Slope, and the skyline of

Lower Manhattan starts to become

visible above the roofs

of the brownstones. “The

only place that a first-time

tourist to New York needs to

see is the Brooklyn Bridge.

Start on the Brooklyn side

— maybe first with pizza at

Juliana’s,” says Beth Brown,

who works as a policy analyst

for a nonprofit organization.

“The bridge can be crowded

with pedestrians, but this is

the view people come to see.

When you get to Manhattan,

stop at City Hall Park at the

foot of the bridge.”

Walking the Brooklyn

Bridge is a must for most

New Yorkers as well as tourists.

The bridge over the East

River was one of the modern

wonders of the world when it

was finished in 1883. Pedestrians

can cross on a wooden

floor suspended one level

above the traffic. From here,

they have a great view of

Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan,

depending on the direction

in which they’re moving.

The advice from locals:

“Stay in the walking lane;

it’s clearly marked: The southern lane is for walking; the

northern lane is for biking,” says Richard Whitaker, a

The Brooklyn Bridge: a must-see for visitors

Close to the Brooklyn Bridge: Juliana’s pizza restaurant

On Staten Island: the Children’s Museum at Snug Harbor

bike messenger who often

takes the trains to avoid the

crowds of walkers between

the boroughs. “Sometimes,

I wish I had a cattle prod to

move along all the out-oftowners.”

Fantastic vistas of the

city can be enjoyed from

the Staten Island Ferry as

well. “You get to sail past

the Statue of Liberty with a

beautiful view of downtown

Manhattan. You can buy

beers, and the summer heat

takes a backseat, because a

cool breeze blows over the

harbor,” says movie-set designer

Isaac Gobaeff. The

ferry runs every day of the

year, 24 hours per day. Best

of all, it’s free.

Staten Island is the smallest

of the five boroughs, and

one where tourists rarely

get past the ferry terminal.

That’s a shame, says Jose

Ortiz, who has lived there

for the past ten years. He enjoys

taking his two children

to the Snug Harbor Cultural

Center and Botanical

Garden. Once a home for

retired sailors, the center is

now an art museum with

manicured gardens. “Culture and sunshine in the same

visit,” Ortiz says. “Can’t beat it.”

cattle prod [(kÄt&l prA:d]

ferry terminal [(feri )t§:m&nEl]

messenger [(mes&ndZ&r]

move along [mu:v E(lO:N]

Viehstock (oft elektrisch)

Fährhafen

Kurier(in)

hier: antreiben

once [wVns]

pedestrian [pE(destriEn]

suspended [sE(spendId]

take a backseat [)teIk E )bÄk(si:t]

früher einmal

Fußgänger(in)

hier: hängend

aus dem Rampenlicht treten

One way to enjoy views of the city

— on the Staten Island Ferry

In the middle of it all: the High Line park in the Meatpacking District

Looking for an unusual place to eat? Ortiz recommends

Chinar on the Island. It has a mix of Russian and

Mediterranean cuisine, plus a dance floor. Strange combination?

As they say: “Only in New York.”

The city is full of strange things — or at least things

that were once strange when they first came to New York.

Now, they’re being imitated in other places. The past few

decades of urban renewal in other cities have provided

many opportunities for New York to test the limits of what

makes a good tourist attraction. The High Line is one of

its most successful experiments. It’s a one-mile-long park

created on top of an abandoned elevated railroad track.

Walk around the Lower West Side of Manhattan, and you

might not realize that the rusting girders reaching above

the sidewalk support one of the city’s highlights.

“It’s an unusual example of using existing structures

to generate urban renewal,” says Nance McCarthey, an

executive who works near the High Line. “The design and

layout are definitely cool, and it gives you an interesting

vantage point to see the streets on the west side of Chelsea

and the Meatpacking District, including murals and

street art.”

A trip to many of these neighborhoods two decades

ago, especially parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx, would

have meant a journey into dangerous areas of the city. It

seems unimaginable today, but in 1990, there were 2,245

murders in New York. Last year, there were 333. It’s still

tragic, but that’s the lowest number in the city’s recorded

history. What this means for locals — and tourists — is

that parts of the city once culturally isolated are coming

back to life.

Consider Harlem:

The center of black

culture in the city, the

neighborhood is now

so safe that gentrification

is a real worry. But

if you’re looking for the

real Harlem, check out

the American Legion

Post 398. The American

Legion is a society

of US military veterans.

Their clubhouses

can be found in almost

every town and city in

the country. People also

come to Post 398 to eat

Southern specialties

like fried chicken and

cornbread.

Jam sessions are

best on Sunday afternoon,

but seating is

very limited. “Don’t

tell them about Post

398,” says an old friend

of mine, who asked not

to be named. “Then

more people will come,

and the lines are long

enough already.”

Harlem street art: boxer Muhammad Ali

An aerial view of Harlem; one of the trains

of the New York subway system

Fotos: Corbis; F1 online; Getty Images; iStock; laif

abandoned [E(bÄndEnd]

cornbread [kO:rnbred]

elevated [(elIveItEd]

executive [Ig(zekjEtIv]

girder [(g§:d&r]

mural [(mjUrEl]

renewal [ri(nu:El]

sidewalk [(saIdwO:k] N. Am.

vantage point [(vÄntIdZ pOInt]

verlassen, stillgelegt

Maisbrot

erhöht

Führungskraft, leitende(r)

Angestellte(r)

Tragebalken

Wandbild, Wandgemälde

Erneuerung

Fußweg, Gehsteig

Aussichtspunkt


An art installation in the roof garden of

the Metropolitan Museum of Art

gorgeous

[(gO:rdZEs]

lack [lÄk]

speakeasy

[(spi:k)i:zi]

US ifml.

umwerfend, wunderschön

nicht haben, mangeln,

fehlen

Flüsterkneipe (illegale

Kneipe während der

Alkoholprohibition)

Exploring Midtown: Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler Building

The city is so enormous and its

highlights so numerous that you

could spend weeks looking for “insider

tips.” But the classics aren’t to

be missed either. “When my friends

come to New York, I always make

sure I take them to the Roof Garden

Café and Martini Bar at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art,” says

Beth Brown. “The roof offers views

of Manhattan and Central Park, and

the bar serves great cocktails that you

can enjoy as you take in the art and

the scenery.”

Want to visit a cocktail bar that’s

like a speakeasy from Prohibition-era

Gotham? Then try the Campbell

Apartment in Grand Central Terminal.

Once a wealthy businessman’s

private office, it’s now a chic cocktail

lounge where New Yorkers take outof-town

guests to impress them. It’s

the kind of place that still has a dress

code.

What it lacks in exclusivity, the

famous bar at 230 Fifth makes up

for in panoramas. It sits on top of

a skyscraper near the Flatiron Building

and Madison Square Park. The

open-air rooftop terrace is gorgeous

in the summer and has outdoor

heaters and blankets in the winter.

20

Spotlight 10|14

At Campbell Apartment: good drinks and a great atmosphere

IF YOU GO

Take a detour or two from downtown Manhattan, and

you’ll see parts of this great city that you won’t find on

your friends’ Facebook pages. Then again, old favorites

aren’t a waste of time either. “Most New Yorkers complain

that Times Square is crowded and touristy, but I think it

represents New York in a grand way,” says Julie Gordon,

style and entertainment editor with the popular magazine

AM New York. “Huge skyscrapers, giant billboards,

tons of people, hustle and bustle: It’s fast, it’s crowded,

it’s exciting, it’s dirty, and it’s New York. Times Square

represents all that’s fast-paced and frenetic in the city. It

reminds you that you are one of millions in New York.”

billboard [(bIlbO:rd]

detour [(di:tUr]

hustle and bustle [)hVs&l End (bVs&l]

shore [SO:r]

volunteer [)vA:lEn(tI&r]

Reklametafel

Umweg

geschäftiges Treiben

Ufer, Strand

Freiwillige(r)

Enjoy the view: the Empire

State Building seen from

the roof terrace of 230 Fifth

Staying in New York City

To get a good deal staying in a privately owned room or

apartment in New York City, try https://www.airbnb.de

The Bronx

Yankee Stadium is at One East 161st Street in the South

Bronx. For information on tours, see

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com

Bronx Zoo is at 2300 Southern Boulevard. Tickets cost

$16.95 for adults and $12.95 for children older than two.

See http://bronxzoo.com

Brooklyn

Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company is at 372 5th

Avenue. The shop is usually open seven days a week, but

call ahead to make sure, as it is managed by volunteers of

the nonprofit organization 826NYC;

tel. 001 718-499 9884. See www.superherosupplies.com

and www.826nyc.org/about/donate

Juliana’s restaurant is located at 19 Old Fulton Street;

tel. 001 718-596 6700. See http://julianaspizza.com

Staten Island

Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden is

close to the ferry, on the north shore of Staten Island.

For information on the various cultural institutions and

tickets, see http://snug-harbor.org

Chinar on the Island is at 283 Sand Lane;

tel. 001 718-390 5305.

See http://chinarontheisland.com

Manhattan

The Empire State Building (25 West 29th Street) is open

daily from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Visit the official website to

order tickets in advance. www.esbnyc.com

For information on the Roof Garden Café and Martini Bar

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue),

see the “Dining at the Met” rubric at

www.metmuseum.org

Campbell Apartment is at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue in a

corner of Grand Central Terminal; tel. 001 212-953 0409.

See the “Dining” section listed under

www.grandcentralterminal.com

The bar called 230 Fifth is located at 230 Fifth Avenue

(at the corner of 27th Street); tel. 001 212-725 4300.

See www.230-fifth.com

American Legion Post 398 is at 248 West 132nd Street in

Harlem; tel. 001 212-283 9701.

See http://colchasyoungharlempost398.com

More information

See www.nycgo.com

Fotos: Bridgeman; F1 online; Huber; iStock; laif


SOCIETY | Britain

A future with

driverless cars

Der britische Gewerbeminister hat Änderungen

des Straßenverkehrsrechts sowie eine

£10 Millionen-Finanzspritze zur Entwicklung

fahrerloser Autos angekündigt.

Ein Bericht von SAMUEL GIBBS

The UK wants to encourage the development of driverless

cars, it was announced earlier this year, with

a multimillion-pound research fund and a review of

the relevant laws relating to road safety. Business minister

Vince Cable said a £10 million fund will be made available

for driverless-car research in the UK, paid for by both

the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

and the Department for Transport (DFT).

“The excellence of our scientists and engineers has established

the UK as pioneers in the development of driverless

vehicles through pilot projects,” Cable said at the

end of July. “Today’s announcement will see driverless cars

take to our streets in less than six months, putting us at the

forefront of this transformational technology and opening

up new opportunities for our economy and society.”

The DFT will also begin a review of the laws governing

road use, including the Highway Code and the Road

Safety Act, to allow the testing of driverless cars on public

roads, Cable said while visiting the technology and engineering

company Mira in Nuneaton, central England.

Two types of testing will be reviewed for public roads:

fully autonomous cars without a driver, and cars with a

qualified driver who could take control at any time. This

would be similar to laws in the US, where driverless cars

have been tested on public roads since 2011 in some

states. The review process will close with a report presented

to government by the end of 2014, a spokesperson

for DFT told The Guardian.

The £10 million fund will be supervised by the UK’s

innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board. Interested

local research institutions will be able to apply for

funding by submitting a business case, paired with a local

city or authority, describing why driverless cars are a realistic

transport solution in their area.

Three cities will be selected to hold trials, starting in

January 2015, with each test lasting between 18 and 36

months. The deadline for research applications will be

1 October 2014. The fund was first announced by the

finance minister, George Osborne, last December as part

of the national infrastructure plan.

forefront [(fO:frVnt]

Highway Code [)haIweI (kEUd] UK

Road Safety Act

[rEUd (seIfti Äkt] UK

Technology Strategy Board

[tek)nQlEdZi (strÄtEdZi bO:d] UK

Spitze

Straßenverkehrsordnung

Straßenverkehrssicherheitsgesetz

Stelle für Technologiestrategie

Fotos: Alamy; Volkswagen AG

22

Spotlight 10|14

A CLOSER LOOK

Britain’s Automobile Association (the AA), like ADAC

in Germany and AAA in the United States, is a drivers’

association that sells insurance and roadside assistance

cover, as well as a variety of other products. One of its

best-known services is its hotel ratings system. The AA

was started in Britain in 1905 as a motorists’ lobby to

help drivers find ways of avoiding police speed traps.

There were 100 members in 1905; today, its membership

is in the millions.

The Google driverless car hit the headlines in May

this year, when the search giant announced a brand-new

bespoke prototype design. The UK has various groups

already working on driverless-car technology, including

engineers at the University of Oxford and the Mira company,

which provides autonomous vehicle technology to

the military and which has been testing driverless cars on

an 850-acre site in the Midlands.

“Today’s announcement takes us closer to seeing fully

autonomous vehicles on our roads, but it will take some

time for them to become commonplace,” said Edmund

King, president of the Automobile Association (AA).

“Cars are becoming more automated with the introduction

of assistance systems to aid parking; keeping a

safe distance from the car in front; and lane departure

warning systems,” said David Bruce, director of AA Cars.

“However, there is a big leap of faith needed by drivers

from embracing assistance systems to accepting the fully

automated car. Two-thirds of AA members still enjoy

driving too much to want a fully automated car.”

“Driverless cars have a huge potential to transform the

UK’s transport network — they could improve safety, reduce

congestion and lower emissions, particularly CO 2

,”

said the transport minister, Claire Perry, who committed

to the regulatory review of road law.

“Britain is brilliantly placed to lead the world in driverless

technology,” said the science minister, Greg Clark.

“It combines our strengths in cars, satellites, big data and

urban design; with huge potential benefits for future jobs

and for the consumer.”

Testing of driverless cars on public roads is expected to

begin in 2015, although the DFT could not provide any

information on timing beyond report submission to the

government by the end of 2014.

One of the driverless

cars from the engineering

company Mira

“This competition for funding has the potential to

establish the UK as the global hub for the development

and testing of driverless vehicles in real-world urban environments,

helping to deepen our understanding of the

impact on road users and wider society,” said Iain Gray,

chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board.

“The ability to test driverless cars at scale, when married

to the UK’s unique strengths in transport technologies

and urban planning, will also attract further investment,

helping to establish new design and manufacturing

supply chains, driving forward UK economic growth,”

Gray said.

Dr Geoff Davis, chief commercial and technical officer

of Mira, said he welcomed the news.

“Our 10 years of experience developing driverless-car

solutions, with successful applications in defence and

security as well as cooperative systems in road transport

applications, means we are already working on a number

of projects that explore the potential of connected and

cooperative driverless cars,” Davis said.

© Guardian News & Media 2014

High-tech cars are

being tested

acre [(eIkE] Morgen (ca. 4047 m 2 )

application [)ÄplI(keIS&n]

Anwendung

at scale [Et (skeI&l]

hier: unter echten Bedingungen

bespoke [bi(spEUk] UK

maßgeschneidert, nach Maß

chief executive

Hauptgeschäftsführer(in)

[tSi:f Ig(zekjUtIv]

commit to sth. [kE(mIt tE]

sich für etw. engagieren, sich

zu etw. verpflichten

commonplace [(kQmEnpleIs] alltäglich, normal

congestion [kEn(dZestSEn] Stau, Verkehrsbelastung

cover [(kVvEr] UK

Deckung

drive sth. forward

etw. vorantreiben

[draIv (fO:wEd]

embrace sth. [Im(breIs]

etw. annehmen

hub [hVb]

Zentrum, Knotenpunkt

lane departure warning system Spur(halte)assistent

[)leIn di)pA:tSE (wO:nIN )sIstEm]

leap of faith [)li:p Ev (feIT] Vertrauensvorschuss

lower [(lEUE]

reduzieren

married to [(mÄrid tE]

hier: in Verbindung mit

regulatory review

behördliche Überprüfung

[regju)leItEri ri(vju:]

roadside assistance

Pannendienst

[)rEUdsaId E(sIstEns]


FOOD | Native American Cooking

Native delights

Chef John Sharpe and his

restaurant at La Posada

Hotel in Arizona; Hopi

hummus with piki bread

Blauer Mais und Churro-Lamm – ein britischer Koch entdeckt die Kochzutaten

der Ureinwohner Arizonas neu und kreiert eine ganz eigene traditionell orientierte Küche.

Von INEZ SHARP

British-born chef John Sharpe runs The Turquoise

Room Restaurant at La Posada Hotel in Winslow,

Arizona. The menu contains many dishes typical of

the south-western US, such as barbecue chicken and tortillas,

but also foods traditionally eaten by the local Navajo

and Hopi peoples. Sharpe has long dedicated himself

to using local produce, but reviving the fare of the native

tribes of northern Arizona is also a mission that is close to

his heart. Here, he talks to Spotlight about his passion for

understanding and sourcing these traditional foods.

Spotlight: Where did your interest in local foods begin?

John Sharpe: I think that comes from my childhood.

I grew up in the north of England after the Second

World War. Back then, we had chickens at home, and

we grew all of our own vegetables, too. My family were

coal miners, and growing your own food was a part of

life in County Durham in those days. There was nothing

much to buy in the stores or at the markets.

Spotlight: You’ve worked as a chef all over Europe and

now for many years in the US. How did you become

interested in the food of Native Americans?

Sharpe: In the 1990s, I had a restaurant called the Topaz

Cafe at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California.

Most of the collections in the museum have to do with

indigenous peoples. The curator, Dr Paul Apodaca, an

expert in Native American tribes, invited me to attend

a bird-calling powwow out in the Californian desert.

There were foods at the powwow that I had never seen

before, and I remember thinking: here I am, a European

chef; I have gone through all the fusion cuisines

of Asia, the Middle East, France and Japan. I am in

America now. Perhaps I should start looking inward.

So that’s what I did. In the summer of 1993, with

Paul’s help, I decided to do Native American feasts in

the gardens of the Bowers Museum. At the first feast, I

think we had 36 people. By 1999, we were doing five

feasts each summer with up to 300 guests. So that really

got me involved in Native American food.

Spotlight: Then, in 2000, you moved to northern Arizona

to open The Turquoise Room in Winslow — deep

in the heart of Navajo and Hopi country. What produce

did you discover here?

fare [feE]

feast [fi:st]

fusion cuisine

[)fju:Z&n kwI(zi:n]

indigenous peoples

[In)dIdZEnEs (pi:p&lz]

hier: Kost, Verpflegung

Festessen

Fusionsküche (Kombination unterschiedlicher

Esskulturen und Kochkünste)

Naturvölker, indigene Völker

look inward [lUk (InwEd]

native tribe [)neItIv (traIb]

peoples [(pi:p&lz]

produce [(prQdju:s]

revive [ri(vaIv]

source sth. [sO:s]

innehalten

Ureinwohnerstamm

Völker

Erzeugnisse

wiederaufleben lassen

etw. beziehen

Fotos: The Turquoise Room

24

Spotlight 10|14

Sharpe: Churro lamb would be one — it’s among the

most unique foods I’ve ever tasted. This breed of sheep

came to the Americas with the Spanish in the 1500s,

along with a number of other breeds, but this one

survived the sparsity of vegetation and dryness of the

landscape and became part of Navajo folklore. In fact,

there’s a Navajo phrase which means “sheep is life”.

Spotlight: What makes Churro lamb special to you as a

chef?

Sharpe: It’s very small and scrawny lamb — we believe

it originated in the Pyrenees — and it matures late,

at around 18 months. The strong taste of the lanolin

that comes when lamb becomes mutton doesn’t

occur until the Churro is

well over a year old. Also,

in most other breeds, the

strong-tasting oil lies between

the meat tissues, but

in the Churro, it’s around

the organs. So the meat

tends to be sweeter and less

pungent.

Spotlight: Who breeds the

lambs these days and how

did you create a supply of

meat?

Sharpe: Well, it was tricky

to begin with. They certainly

didn’t welcome

me here with open arms,

and there were only small

flocks of these sheep being

raised in remote areas on

local reservations. Then

Dr Gary Nabhan, a wellknown

so ciologist and anthropologist

in this region,

came to the restaurant one

night. He was quite taken

by what I was doing, and

he organized a meeting of shepherds in a place called

Leupp. From that point, it was a slow process of gaining

the shepherds’ trust. I had to make sure they were

paid fairly for their produce, for example. Now, I have

a number of shepherds supplying me with meat: two

Navajo ladies who are also weavers and have their own

A CLOSER LOOK

Traditional piki bread is made by the Hopi peoples using

blue corn. The corn is first ground to a powder, then

mixed with water and the ashes of local trees. Then it is

spread out very thinly on a heated stone, covered with

oil and baked. When it is finished, it is rolled or folded

and is ready to eat.

flocks, and three men and another shepherd in New

Mexico. So that food source has grown into a staple on

my lunch and dinner menu every day, 365 days a year.

Spotlight: You also serve some

very special bread. Can you tell

us about that?

Sharpe: That’s right, the piki

bread. It started through a

traditional Hopi feast that I attended.

It was part of a workshop

on agriculture and food in

a Hopi village, Kykotsmovi. I

made the dishes using all-Hopi

ingredients, but with what you

might call my own “twist”. The

A south-western speciality: sweetcorn tamales

feast was very well received, and

I began working with the ladies

from the Kykotsmovi school

kitchen — we began cooking

one day a week at the local elder

centre. All these ladies, being

very traditional Hopi, made

their own piki bread. As with

the shepherds, they slowly came

to trust me.

Now, many years later, I have

probably close to a dozen women

who make piki bread for me,

so that I can have it on the menu

A meat dish served at The Turquoise Room

every day in the restaurant. You

know, the people in this region have a great cultural

diversity, and they have been feeding themselves for

thousands of years from this incredibly inhospitable

landscape. So when I came here, I looked at what I

could incorporate into this restaurant to make it truly

reflect the region.

blue corn [blu: (kO:n]

breed [bri:d]

diversity [daI(v§:sEti]

elder centre [(eldE )sentE]

flock [flQk]

grind [graInd]

inhospitable [)InhQ(spItEb&l]

mature [mE(tSUE]

blauer Mais

Rasse

Vielfalt

Seniorenzentrum

Herde

mahlen

unwirtlich, ungastlich

heranreifen, auswachsen

mutton [(mVt&n]

pungent [(pVndZEnt]

scrawny [(skrO:ni]

shepherd [(SepEd]

sparsity: ~ of vegetation [(spA:sEti]

staple [(steIp&l]

tissue [(tISu:]

weaver [(wi:vE]

Hammel

streng, penetrant

dürr

Schafhirte, Schafhirtin

spärlicher Pflanzenbewuchs

Hauptnahrungsmittel

Gewebe

Weber(in)


AMY ARGETSINGER | I Ask Myself

Would you ever

forget your baby?

We go

about our

routines as if

we were on

autopilot

Es passiert immer wieder: Eltern vergessen ihr Baby im Auto.

Die Folgen können tödlich sein.

I

can’t imagine that I could ever,

ever, ever leave my baby in the

car. How could I, when her health

and safety is so rarely removed from

the forefront of my brain? For the

first six months, my concern took

over my dreams. Night after night,

I would find myself half awake, my

hands turning over the bedsheets in

an irrational search for her, as if I had

lost her in my sleep — when in fact,

she was safely dozing in her crib.

A tragedy waiting to happen?

I would never lose my baby in the

bedsheets, of course, but if I did, even

my unconscious mind was ready to

rescue her, it seemed. So how could

my fully-awake self, traveling around

town, ever forget her in a car? How

could any parent?

Yet every year, a couple dozen babies

across the US die because their

parents accidentally leave them in a

car. Even mildly warm temperatures

outdoors can quickly create saunalike

heat in a sealed car. It is a brutal

death, akin to being cooked alive.

Authorities are torn over how to deal

with parents who accidentally kill

their children this way. Some choose

to try them in a criminal court, sending

many of these parents to prison

(see Spotlight 8/12, page 38). Others

reason that there is no point in

punishing them: These parents have

suffered enough.

Deaths of this kind started to

happen in significant numbers about

20 years ago, ironically as a result of

well-meaning safety measures. Researchers

determined that small children

are far more likely to survive

car accidents in seats that are not

only in the back — now a legal requirement

in most states — but also

facing backwards, which means that

parents can’t even see their children

from the driver’s seat.

A colleague of mine wrote a story

on the topic five years ago that won

the Pulitzer Prize, US journalism’s

highest honor. In the story, a scientist

explained that when we go about

our daily routines — think of the

morning race to get showered and

dressed, followed by the commute to

work — we are steered by a base part

of our animal brain, as if on autopilot.

Confronted by an unexpected

change in the routine, we continue

to trudge ahead as we did the day before

and the day before that.

accidentally [)ÄksI(dent&li]

akin [E(kIn]

bedsheets [(bedSi:ts]

commute [kE(mju:t]

crib [krIb] N. Am.

criminal court [)krImIn&l (kO:rt]

diaper [(daIp&r] N. Am.

doze [doUz]

forefront [(fO:rfrVnt]

lately [(leItli]

reason [(ri:z&n]

sealed [si:&ld]

torn: be ~ [tO:rn]

trudge [trVdZ]

try sb. [traI]

It’s not as though parents have

forgotten that the baby is in the car.

They simply don’t remember that

they didn’t take him or her out this

time. As one safety expert explained:

“The parent in his or her mind has

dropped off the baby at day care and

thinks the baby is happy, and well

taken care of. Once that’s in your

brain, there is no reason to worry or

check on the baby for the rest of the

day.” I think about the times that I

forgot to lock the door at night. Yes,

maybe I can see how it happens.

Lately, researchers have introduced

techniques to prevent this

problem: weight sensors for car seats,

for example. But the simplest tricks

might work best. Keep a diaper bag

or toy on the front seat to remind

you of the child in the back. Or leave

your cell phone in the back with

your child. Because even if Americans

think they would never, ever

forget their baby, they would truly

never go far without their phones.

Amy Argetsinger is a co-author of

“The Reliable Source,” a column in

The Washington Post about personalities.

aus Versehen, unabsichtlich

ähnlich

Betttücher, Laken, Bettwäsche

Arbeitsweg, Pendelstrecke

Babybett, Babywiege

Strafgericht

Windel

schlummern

vorderste Reihe, Spitze

kürzlich, neulich

hier: argumentieren

verschlossen

hin- und hergerissen sein

trotten, stapfen

jmdn. anklagen, jmdn. vor Gericht stellen

Foto: View Stock

26

Spotlight 10|14

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GET STARTED NOW!

Spotlight’s easy-English booklet

Einfaches Englisch

für Alltagssituationen

Green Light

LANGUAGE | Poems

Poetry,

please!

Wer braucht schon Gedichte?

Spotlight-Redakteurin JOANNA WESTCOMBE hat sich mit

dem Grammatikexperten und Dichter Michael Swan darüber

unterhalten, wie Gedichte uns eine neue Sicht auf die Welt

geben und gleichzeitig unterhaltsam sein können.

When did you last read or listen

to a poem? For many

people, poetry is not part

of everyday life. This is ironic, as

poetry can summarize so well what it

means to be human, to have parents,

partners and children, to grow old

and die. According to Britain’s Poet

Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, poems

can provide new ways of seeing. She

calls them “moments in language”

that can celebrate, explore and transform

the good and the sad things in

our lives.

Michael Swan is best known for

his books on teaching and learning

English, such as Practical English Usage.

Many readers will be surprised

to know that he is also a published

poet. Spotlight editor Joanna Westcombe

heard him recite a number of

his poems earlier this year. We hope

you will enjoy reading his thoughts

on poetry and language in the interview

on the following pages, as well

as four of his poems, which Michael

Swan has also kindly recorded for us

(see page 34).

Poet Laureate [)pEUIt (lO:riEt]

recite sth. [ri(saIt]

Hofdichter(in)

etw. vortragen


Linguist and poet:

Michael Swan

The collections:

Michael Swan’s

poetry

Fotos: iStock; PR

Michael Swan works

in English language

teaching and applied

linguistics. His poetry

has also been published

widely and has

won a number of prizes,

as have his translations

of Rainer Maria

Rilke. His two collections,

When They Come

for You and The Shapes

of Things, are available

through his website:

www.mikeswan.co.uk

You are famous for

your work in English

language teaching. Can

you remember how

you became a poet?

I’ve been attracted by poetry for as long as I can remember.

I wasn’t able to write much when I was young (though I

wanted to), because for me poetry is about how I see myself

and the world, and for a long time I didn’t really have

a clear view of either of those things. When I did start

getting things clearer I began writing a lot and found it

very helpful personally. It was therapeutic for me to bring

out some of the strange stuff that was locked in my head,

to find ways of expressing it and to discover that it made

sense to other people.

Is there something special about poets that makes

them different from other people?

Poets vary so much, and poetry is so many different

things, that it’s hard to make any useful generalizations.

Perhaps one thing that poets have in common is that, like

most kinds of artist, they are concerned with “shaping” on

two levels. First of all, they have their own very personal

ways of looking at the world: they see shapes, patterns or

connections that other people may not see. And secondly,

they communicate these perceptions by creating shapes in

their chosen medium — language. So personal vision and

applied linguistics

[E)plaId lIN(gwIstIks]

craft [krA:ft]

crow [krEU]

curlew [(k§:lju:]

deliberately [di(lIbErEtli]

heather [(heDE]

matter [(mÄtE]

meadow [(medEU]

pattern [(pÄt&n]

perception [pE(sepS&n]

angewandte Sprachwissenschaft

Handwerk, Kunst

Krähe

Brachvogel

absichtlich, bewusst

Heide(kraut)

wichtig sein, Bedeutung haben

Wiese

Muster

Wahrnehmung

technical craft are both important. A key point for me is

that a poem needs to say something that matters about

the shape of our confusing world, and to say it in a new

way, not just paint a pretty picture or repeat an everyday

sentiment for the thousandth time.

Can you talk about where your poems come from?

I don’t deliberately look for “inspiration” (whatever that is

exactly). Certainly I never sit down and try to find something

to write about. The way I experience it is that, from

time to time, poems come along and, so to speak, ask to

be written. When that happens, I do my best to express

what I feel the poem wants to say. Often I don’t know

exactly what that is until I’ve finished, and look back to

see what I’ve written. And I don’t always know what the

real starting point for the poem is: sometimes it seems

to come from nowhere; sometimes it begins with just a

phrase or an image that comes into my head; sometimes

it arises from something I have on my mind. The poem

“Bridge” came while I was thinking about certain situations

when I’ve found it impossible to decide between

two courses of action:

Bridge

Such a short little bridge

and you in the middle.

One step forward,

and you are on the mountain

with the heather

the clear streams

the cry of the curlew,

and no way back.

One step back,

and you are in the meadow

with the gentle animals

the young trees

the sweet grass,

and the gate closed.

And you stand there.

Night comes,

and the next day

and the day after,

and still you stand there,

till the black crows arrive.


LANGUAGE | Poems

What goes on inside you when you are writing

poetry?

It’s hard to say. There are experiences that you can’t talk

about while they’re happening, and that you can’t remember

clearly once they’re over. For me, poetry is one of

these. Mostly I write quickly, in a special state of mind

that I can’t recapture afterwards. But some poets I know

work quite differently: they write slowly and carefully,

with much more conscious attention to what they are

doing.

You’ve been writing poetry for many years. What

themes do you keep returning to?

I don’t generally write nature poetry or other kinds of lyric

poetry. I’m mostly interested in trying to make sense of

our deeply confusing world:

Everything is joined

Pick a blackberry,

and you are walking up steps

into a square

where your childhood

paused for a second.

Buy a newspaper,

and you are in a cafe

facing the door,

your cup half-empty, forgotten,

as your head spins with love.

Pick up the cup,

and you are playing the violin

very badly

in a dusty cellar.

How can you think of any one person,

or glance at your shoes,

or take a breath, even?

From a book

That child,

they said,

always has his head buried

in a book.

True enough.

I learnt many things from books.

Rock-climbing, for instance,

though the rocks,

it became clear later,

had not read the same book.

Similar issues arose

in the swimming-pool

and on the dance floor.

Love was a particular problem.

The text

was in an unknown language,

though the book

had many attractive illustrations.

And life.

Quite useless, this one,

and the last page missing.

Problems with communication are a recurrent theme.

I rarely express personal feelings directly; they’re usually

implied by the content of the poem, which is often a kind

of story. I frequently use humour, but mostly for quite

serious purposes, such as in the poem “From a book”:

blackberry [(blÄkbEri]

conscious [(kQnSEs]

glance [glA:ns]

imply [Im(plaI]

recapture [ri:(kÄptSE]

recurrent [ri(kVrEnt]

spin [spIn]

state of mind [)steIt Ev (maInd]

Brombeere

bewusst

(flüchtig) blicken

beinhalten, einschließen

etw. wieder heraufbeschwören

wiederkehrend

sich (schnell) drehen

Gemütsverfassung,

Bewusstseinszustand

32

Spotlight 10|14

Rainer Maria

Rilke (left); Wilfred

Owen (below)

Do you think that your work with the English

language and language teaching has influenced your

poetry (or the other way round)?

The two activities really come off different batteries, but

they certainly have things in common. In both areas I aim

for clarity, simplicity, economy and interest. In poetry I

like to use very ordinary language — I dislike writing that

is deliberately “poetic”, and I get irritated by obscurity.

(I’m not saying these things are bad; they just don’t work

for me.) A lot of my poetry seems very simple on the surface;

but the simplicity can be deceptive.

Sometimes the two sides fight. Here’s the poet laughing

at the language specialist:

The linguist

“Please forgive me,”

he said in Welsh

“for not speaking your language well.”

They cheered him to the echo.

“Excuse my ignorance

of your subtle and elegant idiom,”

he said in Japanese

to the welcoming committee.

They were lost in admiration.

“I am embarrassed

at my poor command of Icelandic,”

he confessed

to deafening applause.

“Be so good

as to make allowances

for my lack of fluency.”

The Manchurian delegation

was spellbound.

“Please forgive me,”

he said to his wife

“for my frequent absences.”

She did not appear to understand.

Many people

would

say poetry

in a foreign

language is

difficult.

Not necessarily:

it depends

on the poem.

In any language

there are poems that

are perfectly easy for foreign

readers, and others that are

difficult even for native speakers.

Compare Goethe’s “Über allen

Gipfeln ...” with one of Rilke’s Duineser Elegien,

or a typical piece by Wendy Cope with one by T. S. Eliot.

Do you have some personal favourites among other

poets?

Among modern (more or less) English-speaking poets, I

like Wilfred Owen (the great poet of the First World

War), Dylan Thomas (when I can understand him),

Stevie Smith, some of Ted Hughes (especially his

sequence Crow), Wendy Cope, and the “American

Laureate” Billy Collins. But the poet whose work I

like most of all is Polish: the Nobel Prize winner

Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012). I

want to write like

her when I grow

up. Who else?

Villon, Brassens,

Holub, Sorescu,

Rilke (when I can

understand him),

and that wonderful

crazy German

poet Christian

Morgenstern.

Is there a poem germinating in your

head at the moment?

Several, but they’re not doing much

right now. Perhaps they need watering.

Fotos: amana images; iStock; Polka Dot

absence [(ÄbsEns]

admiration [)ÄdmE(reIS&n]

allowance [E(laUEns]

battery [(bÄtri]

cheer sb. [tSIE]

clarity [(klÄrEti]

command [kE(mA:nd]

confess [kEn(fes]

deafening [(def&nIN]

deceptive [di(septIv]

Abwesenheit

Bewunderung

hier: Zugeständnis

hier: (Energie-)Quelle

jmdm. zujubeln

Klarheit, Deutlichkeit

hier: Beherrschung

gestehen, beichten

ohrenbetäubend

trügerisch

embarrassed [Im(bÄrEst]

fluency [(flu:Ensi]

germinate [(dZ§:mIneIt]

lack [lÄk]

obscurity [Eb(skjUErEti]

spellbound [(spelbaUnd]

subtle [(sVt&l]

surface [(s§:fIs]

verlegen, peinlich berührt

hier: fließende Beherrschung

(auf)keimen; hier: im Werden

begriffen sein

Mangel

Unverständlichkeit, Unklarheit,

Dunkel

fasziniert, hingerissen

fein, subtil

Oberfläche


LANGUAGE | Poems

If you could write the perfect poem,

in what form would it be, and what

would it be about?

The rhythm and sound patterns would

be simple in appearance, but in reality

deeply complex and totally satisfying.

In ten lines, the poem would sum up,

completely and with great beauty, the

whole of human experience; no one would ever need to

write a poem again. Its message would be so profound

that it would change everyone’s lives. Poverty and unhappiness

would disappear, and there would be no more

wars. I’m working on it.

You also translate poetry. Can you tell us some of the

challenges?

It varies. If the ideas are straightforward, and the original

poem is in a relatively free form, it may be quite easy to

find a reasonable equivalent. It’s much harder when the

effect of the original depends on formal qualities such as

a complicated rhythmic pattern or a strict rhyme scheme,

or when there are culture-specific references. In those

cases you find yourself juggling rhyme, rhythm and sense,

and something always gets lost. Rilke is usually badly

trans lated into English because

the translators concentrate on the

meaning at the expense of the

sound — but rhythmic flow and

sound patterning are central to

the effect of Rilke’s verse.

THE POET’S VOICE

You can listen to Michael Swan reading the poems

“Everything is joined” and “The linguist” at

www.spotlight-online.de/audio. On Spotlight Audio, he reads

“Bridge” and “From a book”. Here’s how to make the most of a

poet’s voice:

• Find somewhere quiet to listen. The connection between

the poet and you, the listener, will be enhanced if you are relaxed

and in a peaceful environment.

• Listen first. If you can, listen before you follow the text in

writing. It will help you concentrate better on the quality of

the poet or speaker’s voice, and the flow of the poem will not

be interrupted. Try closing your eyes as you listen.

• Don’t worry about understanding and meaning. As you

listen, simply allow the sounds and words to enter your head.

Replay the recording a few times in this way.

• Listen again with the text. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Try “shadow reading” — speaking the words of the poem, and

trying to follow the rhythm and tone of the speaker.

enhanced [In(hA:nst]

juggle [(dZVg&l]

profound [prE(faUnd]

reference [(ref&rEns]

straightforward [)streIt(fO:wEd]

verse [v§:s]

verbessert, verstärkt

hier: versuchen, unter einen

Hut zu bringen

tiefgründig

Bezug, Verweis

einfach, unkompliziert

hier: Dichtung, Poesie

34

Spotlight 10|14

Where could a learner of English start with poetry?

A good starting point is an anthology, where you can find very different kinds

of poem by very different poets, so you just turn the pages, stopping at poems

that catch your interest and passing over those that seem uninteresting or difficult.

Two wonderful collections are Staying Alive and Being Alive, edited by

Neil Astley and published by Bloodaxe.

How would you like to be remembered: as a grammarian, as a poet, or as

something else?

Hold it! It sounds as if you’re making notes for my obituary. I’m planning

to die peacefully at the age of 120, and there’s a long way to go. In any case,

I don’t consider myself as “a grammarian” or as “a poet” or as an example of

some other fill-in-the-blank category. Like anyone else, I’m just a person who

is and does a lot of things. For me, these include working with grammar (as

one part of my professional activity), and writing poetry, but I don’t feel these

define what I am, any more than the fact that I like walking in the mountains,

listening to Scottish folk music, drinking malt whisky and reading thrillers.

How will I be remembered? With affection, I hope, by the people I’ve been

close to.

*

If you enjoyed reading and listening to these poems, why not pay The Poetry

Archive a visit? This is an ever growing audio library of poetry, where many

poets read their own work. One of the first poets to be recorded was a former

Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in 1890. Where there is no such

recording, the poems are read by modern-day poets or actors. The aim of the

site is to make poetry accessible to everyone — part of the site is devoted to

children’s poetry, for example. As well as the poems, you’ll find lots of information

about studying poetry, a glossary of terms and high-quality lesson

ideas for teachers. www.poetryarchive.org

affection [E(fekS&n]

devoted [di(vEUtId]

fill-in-the-blank [)fIl In DE (blÄNk]

obituary [E(bItSuEri]

Zuneigung, Liebe

gewidmet

hier: x-beliebig

Nachruf

Fotos: Hemera; iStock

INFO

“Bridge” and “From a book” are taken from

The Shapes of Things and are reproduced by permission

of Oversteps Books: www.overstepsbooks.com

“Everything is joined” is taken from When They Come

for You, reproduced by permission of Frogmore Press:

www.frogmorepress.co.uk

27. Internationale Messe für

Sprachen und Kulturen

21. – 22. November 2014

10:00 – 18:00 Uhr

RHWK • Friedrichstraße 176 – 179 • 10117 Berlin

Veranstalter

www.expolingua.com


PETER FLYNN | Around Oz

October is different

Der Oktober ist ein Monat ohne Glanz und Gloria, er hat

kaum Feiertage und ist auch sonst unauffällig.

Thank

goodness

October lasts

only a

month

October is a motherless month.

Nobody loves it. It’s an inbetween

time.

In the northern hemisphere,

summer is over and Christmas is

about the only thing to look forward

to, unless you like sub-zero temperatures.

Here, in the Antipodes, this

is a nothing time. We’d like to think

winter has passed, but the truth is

we’ll have more rain, cold weather

and even late snow in spring before

the sun shines through.

For our schoolkids and university

students, this is a difficult month.

Final assignments will be due in the

coming weeks, and then it’s exam

time before the study year closes.

No, there’s nothing glamorous

about October. Nobody wants to

own the month (unlike July, named

after Julius Caesar, or August after

Emperor Augustus), nor does it signify

anything special. October just

stands for number eight in the old

Roman calendar, the way September

stands for “seven”, November “nine”

and December “ten”. Maybe the

Romans just ran out of imagination

after starting the year so well with

Janus, the god of beginnings.

Really, I can’t think of anything

special that happens in the world in

October. There’s no Christmas or

solstice. Not even the Oktoberfest

is really in October, as we all know.

Let’s change the name to Fest des

Septembers, when it always begins.

Sure, the Day of German Unity

is celebrated on 3 October, but the

fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November

1989 — when I was still living

in Germany — is for me a far more

symbolic day. I distinctly remember

my young German wife sitting on

the couch crying tears of relief and

joy back then.

Halloween is really a November

holiday, too; it just gets into October

on the very last day. Halloween

derives from an old Celtic festival

in honour of the dead. It was then

morphed by Roman Catholics into

a “hallowed” day for all the saints

whom nobody could name or remember.

And guess what? All Saints’

Day is on 1 November. It sounds as

if someone was just feeling sorry for

poor old October.

October is really a pretty grey

month, when bad things can happen.

The world’s worst stock market

collapses occurred in October: first

in 1929 — leading to the Great Depression

— and then Black Monday

in 1987. Lehman Brothers officially

went bankrupt in mid-September

2008, but by October, the fallout

had become known as the global

financial crisis. Large parts of the

world are still paying for that.

Could the role of October just be

an in-between-main-seasons thing?

Well, March doesn’t have those problems,

even though it takes its name

from Mars, the god of war. In the

north, spring is in the air; down under,

March marks the end of the heat

before a slow cooling into autumn.

The Easter holidays are just around

the corner. Believe it or not, there’s

even an international Day of Happiness

in March.

No, October is different. So if

you are feeling a bit sad, you really

can blame it on October. Thank

goodness it lasts only a month.

Peter Flynn is a public-relations consultant

and social commentator who lives in Perth,

Western Australia.

Day of German Unity

[)deI Ev )dZ§:mEn (ju:nEti]

derive from sth. [di(raIv frEm]

distinctly [dI(stINktli]

fallout [(fO:laUt]

final assignment [)faIn&l E(saInmEnt]

hallowed [(hÄlEUd]

in-between [)In bi(twi:n]

in the Antipodes [)In Di Än(tIpEdi:z]

last [lA:st]

morph [mO:f]

relief [ri(li:f]

signify [(sIgnIfaI]

solstice [(sQlstIs]

stock market [(stQk )mA:kIt]

thank goodness [TÄNk (gUdnEs]

unless [En(les]

Tag der Deutschen Einheit

von etw. abstammen

deutlich

hier: negative Auswirkungen

Abschlussarbeit

geheiligt

zwischendrin, Zwischen-

hier: in Australien und Neuseeland

dauern, währen

umwandeln

Erleichterung

bedeuten

Sonnenwende

Aktienmarkt, Börse

Gott sei Dank!

außer, es sei denn

Spring can still be cold in Australia

Foto: iStock

36

Spotlight 10|14

Mehr Sprache können Sie

nirgendwo shoppen.

Kompetent. Persönlich. Individuell.

Alles, was Sie wirklich brauchen, um eine Sprache zu lernen:

Bücher und DVDs in Originalsprache, Lernsoftware und vieles mehr.

Klicken und Produktvielfalt entdecken:

www.sprachenshop.de

DEBATE | Canada

The future of

public broadcasting

Harte Zeiten für den kanadischen öffentlichen Sender CBC: Budgetkürzungen in Kombination mit

harter Konkurrenz von gewerblichen Sendern und dem Internet. Lohnt es sich da noch, ihn weiter

zu finanzieren?

In today’s digital world, public broadcasting is looking

rather old-fashioned. Anyone searching for the latest

news or entertainment has only to go online to find

a limitless supply of both — and mostly free of charge.

This means that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

(CBC), which gets the majority of its funding from taxpayers,

is under pressure to justify its existence.

Essentially, public broadcasting exists to inform, educate

and entertain citizens. The CBC and its French division,

Radio Canada, have fulfilled this honourable role

for nearly eight decades. Recently, however, the broadcaster

has gone through depressing times. Government

cuts and the loss of important ice hockey broadcasting

rights have left a CAN$ 130 million hole in its budget.

As a result, there will be a 20 per cent reduction of

staff over the next five years. News programmes will be

cut, documentary production reduced and the CBC’s use

of real estate will be halved. Official statements from the

broadcaster focus on positive aspects, especially a greater

emphasis on digital and mobile services. However, company

morale is at an all-time low. Is this the beginning

of the end for the national broadcaster? It’s a polarizing

issue. On the one hand, opponents see the CBC as an

earnest [(§:nIst]

free of charge [)fri: Ev (tSA:dZ]

gravitas [(grÄvItÄs]

gruel [(gru:El]

investigative journalism

[In)vestIgEtIv (dZ§:nE)lIzEm]

matter [(mÄtE]

no matter [nEU (mÄtE]

public broadcasting

[)pVblIk (brO:dkA:stIN]

real estate [(rIEl I)steIt] N. Am.

staff [stA:f]

taxpayer [(tÄks)peIE]

unifying force [)ju:nIfaIIN (fO:s]

unintentionally [)VnIn(tenS&nEli]

viewer [(vju:E]

viewing figures [(vju:IN )fIgEz]

watch out for sb. [wQtS (aUt fE]

ernst, ernsthaft

gebührenfrei

Würde, Bedeutsamkeit

Haferschleim

Enthüllungsjournalismus

Angelegenheit

ganz gleich, ganz egal

öffentliches Fernsehen,

öffentlicher Rundfunk

Grundstücks- und Hausbesitz

Personal

Steuerzahler(in)

vereinigende Kraft

ungewollt, versehentlich

Zuschauer(in)

Einschaltquoten

sich vor jmdm. vorsehen

Under pressure: public

broadcasting in Canada

elitist anachronism with little to offer modern audiences

— the people who are paying for its existence. On the

other hand, many Canadians have a great sense of loyalty

towards the public broadcaster and value the quality

of its news and investigative journalism units. They also

point to CBC’s focus on Canadian content as a unifying

force in that huge nation. Commenting in The Globe and

Mail, one CBC employee remarked: “The CBC makes us

a community. No matter where you go in Canada, you

are in the neighbourhood.”

At a time when viewing figures are decreasing, the

CBC needs its supporters more than ever. But Globe and

Mail columnist John Doyle says it needs to watch out for

“sincere people” who would unintentionally have it move

backwards with earnest calls for more serious content.

Such people would have commercial channels provide the

glamour, while the CBC provides “the gruel that’s good

for you”. “No, thanks,” Doyle says. The broadcaster needs

gravitas and populism.

Public or private, these are tough times for the industry

in general. In the era of Netflix and Apple TV, all are

fighting for their future. In many ways, the CBC may have

everything to play for — if it is smart. And that means not

being afraid to be different. After all, in these fast-moving

times, it will not only be a matter of informing, educating

and entertaining, but also surprising viewers.

Fotos: Getty Images; L. Mallinder

38

Spotlight 10|14

Listen to George, Sarah, Michelle and Philip

Lorraine Mallinder asked people in Montreal:

Is there still a need for public broadcasting?

George Barker, 43,

chef

In this day [and age], when

people go on the internet on

to YouTube for their news

and entertainment, I really

don’t see any need for public

broadcasting. In fact, I think

CBC is a complete waste of

taxpayers’ money.

Sarah Cousineau-Wild,

25, student

Public broadcasting more

and more today is absolutely

important. More than ever ...

we need to get the straight

facts from people ... we trust,

which are programmes paid

for by the people for the

people.

Michelle Palmer, 28,

teacher

If I’m paying for something, I

definitely want to see things

that affect my life and my

society, and that’s not really

what’s reflected on CBC.

It’s a very watered-down,

bubblegum-type version of

the Canadian experience.

Philip Henry, 68,

retiree

The CBC should focus on

more of the arts and cultural

programming and leave the

sort of regular ... populist

programming for private

networks, because I think

they’re trying to do both,

and it’s not working.

Gilles-Daniel Adams, 43,

systems engineer

CBC is more interested in

ratings than in providing a

good public service. It should

be more about learning and

giving information on new

laws and current events.

With its current format, it

shouldn’t be publicly funded.

Jacqueline Heaton, 55,

teacher

Not only is it necessary,

it’s also very interesting. It

gives a wide-ranging global

perspective, which I haven’t

found elsewhere. It’s varied

and engaging, and CBC radio

offers a wide selection of

music, like classical and jazz.

Zoe Preston, 30,

costume assistant

I listen to CBC radio, and

often it’s just reruns that I’ve

heard before. I feel that we

are a nation, but sometimes

CBC’s focus is extremely

broad. It’d be nice to feel

that you’re listening to some

relatively local content.

Richard Nakashima, 56,

security guard

I think so, because we need

to continue broadcasting

Canadian content. It keeps

the land unified. We’re

culturally different from any

other country, so it’s very

important for our future that

we preserve our culture.

chef [Sef]

Koch, Köchin

rerun [(ri:rVn]

Wiederholung

content [(kQntent]

Inhalt(e)

retiree [ri)taIE(ri:]

Rentner(in)

engaging [In(geIdZIN]

einnehmend, fesselnd

security guard [sI(kjUErEti gA:d]

Sicherheitsbedienstete(r)

preserve [pri(z§:v]

erhalten, schützen

straight [streIt]

ehrlich, unverfälscht

rating [(reItIN]

Einschaltquote

wide-ranging [)waId (reIndZIN]

breit gefächert


HISTORY | 190 Years Ago

Into the

unknown

Vor 200 Jahren war Australien noch unberührte Wildnis.

Expeditionen ins Landesinnere sollten beweisen, dass es dort für

Europäer neues Siedlungsland gab. Von MIKE PILEWSKI

Gateway to exploration: the Blue Mountains behind Sydney

The 900-kilometre journey

from Sydney to Melbourne

takes only about nine hours

today. But the first time anyone

made it, it took 11 weeks.

Melbourne did not exist when

Hamilton Hume, William Hovell

and six other men set off 190 years

ago this month. There was only a

large bay on Australia’s southern

coast, which ships had just begun

to explore. What lay between this

bay and the distant colony to the

north-east was unknown to any

European. A chain of mountains

made the interior of the continent

seem impossible to reach.

Sooner or later, though, it would have to be reached.

Sydney, established in 1788 as the first European colony

in Australia, was expanding rapidly, and with it the need

for farmland and grazing land. In 1813, a seven-man team

Gebüsch, Gestrüpp

Weideland

aufteilen

Grünland, Weideland

Ebene

aufbrechen

Gutachter(in), Landvermesser(in)

Acker-

enorm, riesig

brush [brVS]

grazing land [(greIzIN lÄnd]

parcel out [)pA:s&l (aUt]

pasture land [(pA:stSE lÄnd]

plain [pleIn]

set off [set (Qf]

surveyor [sE(veIE]

tillage [(tIlIdZ]

vast [vA:st]

Hume’s expedition (lower

route) and that of another in 1829

led by Gregory Blaxland climbed the Blue

Mountains behind Sydney, cutting a path

through the brush and reaching the plains

beyond in three weeks. Walking through

grass nearly a metre high, the men found

a vast area that was unexpectedly cool and

wet. Some of it was forested and populated

by kangaroos. A surveyor sent out by colonial governor

Lachlan Macquarie to confirm the expedition’s findings

said the land was “equal to every demand which this colony

may have for an extension of tillage and pasture lands

for a century to come”.

The land was parcelled out liberally, however, and

only 11 years would pass before the next governor of New

South Wales, Thomas Brisbane, requested another expedition

in search of more land for farms and pastures.

Twenty-seven-year-old Hamilton Hume, born in Australia

of Welsh colonists, was asked to lead the new expedition.

Since his boyhood, he’d been exploring parts of

New South Wales. Unable to convince the government

to pay for the journey, Hume accepted financial support

Fotos: Bridgeman; DIAgentur/Elke Stolt; Mauritius

40

Spotlight 10|14

and equipment from a former navy captain, William

Hovell, who wanted to join him on the mission. Hume

and Hovell each chose three convicts to assist them; these

were promised a governor’s pardon upon their return.

Brisbane wanted them to go west, to present-day Adelaide,

but Hume and Hovell felt it was more realistic to

go south-west, to a point near what is now Melbourne.

On 2 October 1824, they departed from Hume’s

house in Appin, 75 kilometres south of Sydney, and travelled

another 200 kilometres to Hume’s station, north

of present-day Canberra. This was the furthest point of

Western civilization.

Crossing hills and grassland, the men made notes

about the good quality of the soil. But on 19 October,

after they entered a forest, the land became “broken, irregular

and precipitous”. To cross the turbulent Murrumbidgee

River, they took the wheels off one of their carts

and covered it with a tarpaulin in order to use it as a raft.

On the other side of the river, the terrain was rocky and

steep. Unable to find a route across the mountains, Hume

and Hovell got into an intense argument. They divided

their equipment, but having only one frying pan, fought

over it until they broke it in half, one taking the handle

and the other the rest of the pan. Hovell and Hume set off

in opposite directions, but when Hovell reached the edge

of a cliff, he had to turn round and rejoin Hume.

With more mountains ahead, the men left their carts

behind and hid some of their supplies. After a few days,

they reached a relatively flat, elevated area of forest, full

of wombat holes; this gave way to swampland. Crossing

countless streams and rivers, they encountered large

numbers of kangaroos and increasing numbers of native

people. “They were several times hailed, but could not,

although they replied, be induced to approach,” the men

wrote in their journal on 4 November.

Weeks of mountainous terrain followed, until on 20

November — after another argument between Hume and

Hovell — the expedition crossed the Murray River in an

improvised boat.

The mountains on the other side were full of stony

ground and thick forest. “The hoofs of the horses are sadly

broken, and the feet of the cattle are so swollen that

they are at present unfit for travelling,” was the report

for 8 December. Tall grass with sharp blades, called “cutting

grass”, made it painful for the men to continue as

Modern times: Hume and Hovell’s

route is now the Hume Highway

well. Unable even to see what lay ahead, they named the

mountain they were on “Mount Disappointment”.

The rest of the route was, fortunately, downhill and

easy. The terrain expanded into broad plains with good

soil and plenty of rivers and streams. On 16 December,

the men reached the sea. Aborigines there told them that

Europeans had been seen in the area before, confirming

that this was the spot the expedition had aimed to reach.

With the potential for settlement now beyond doubt,

further expeditions were organized. Settlers and squatters

followed immediately, and Britain officially claimed all of

Australia for itself.

The land was, of course, not uninhabited. Hume and

Hovell had frequently encountered Aboriginal huts, footprints,

fires and the people themselves. Often it was the

presence of Aborigines that gave the explorers clues about

where they could go.

While those encounters had been peaceful, the arrival

of settlers in the hinterland quickly led to brutal conflicts.

By 1845, most of the Aborigines had been killed or displaced.

Settlers arrived in greater and greater numbers,

many of them coming by boat from Tasmania to the area

around Melbourne.

By the time Victoria became a separate colony from

New South Wales in 1851, Melbourne had a population

of 23,000, with another 50,000 people — and six million

sheep — living in the hinterland of Victoria.

Today, the route taken by Hume and Hovell is easy to

follow. It is, generally speaking, the route of the four-lane

highway that connects Sydney and Melbourne. Mount

Disappointment, which had brought Hume and Hovell

almost to breaking point, is now a popular destination

for hikers.

cart [kA:t]

cliff [klIf]

convict [(kQnvIkt]

displace [dIs(pleIs]

elevated [(elIveItId]

hail sb. [heI&l]

hiker [(haIkE]

induce: ~ sb. to do sth.

[In(dju:s]

journal [(dZ§:n&l]

pardon [(pA:d&n]

precipitous [pri(sIpItEs]

raft [rA:ft]

squatter [(skwQtE]

station [(steIS&n] Aus.

swampland [(swQmplÄnd]

tarpaulin [tA:(pO:lIn]

to breaking point

[tE (breIkIN pOInt]

uninhabited

[)VnIn(hÄbItId]

wombat [(wQmbÄt]

Wagen, Karren

Felswand

Sträfling

vertreiben, verdrängen

hoch gelegen

jmdn. grüßen, jmdm. zujubeln

Wanderer, Wanderin

jmdn. bewegen, etw. zu tun,

jmdn. zu etwas bringen

Tagebuch, Protokoll

hier: Begnadigung

abschüssig

Floß

Landbesetzer(in)

hier: große Ranch, Farm

Sumpf(gebiet)

Wagenplane

bis zur Grenze der Belastbarkeit

unbewohnt

Beutelratte


PRESS GALLERY | Comment

Work less, live better

Weniger arbeiten zu müssen, macht uns wahrscheinlich glücklicher und gesünder, was wiederum

unsere Lebenserwartung steigern könnte.

People in the Swedish city of Gothenburg enjoying their free time

In 1930, [British economist] John Maynard Keynes predicted

that employees would toil for only 15 hours and

then face the challenge of “how to use freedom from

pressing economic cares”. The long-predicted “leisured

society” has yet to arrive for the UK workforce, but further

reshaping of the working week is highly likely and to

be welcomed, not least because while unemployment can

be deadly, work may also make us sick. ...

[In July], John Ashton, president of the UK Faculty

of Public Health, called for a four-day week to combat

a rising tide of stress and the lack of time to recuperate

properly.

Professor Lynda Gratton of

the London Business School

has spent five years considering

the future of work in conjunction

with 21 global companies,

including Nokia, BT, Save the

Children and Singapore’s ministry

of manpower. One manifestation

of the difficulties that

young people today face in securing

work ... is that increasingly,

they value the quality of

their lives and time for themselves

as much if not more

than status and high pay...

The global work place is a

contradictory universe; progress

is uneven. In some parts,

the horrific conditions of the

British Industrial Revolution

continue while in the Swedish

city of Gothenburg a one-year

experiment is underway in

which some of its employees

enjoy a six-hour day to see how

their performance compares with those on the standard

eight hours, on the basis that fewer hours may prove more

productive and enhance creativity.

“Time’s arrow is broken,” wrote [US sociologist] Richard

Sennett in The Corrosion of Character. “It has no trajectory

in a continually re-engineered, short-term ... political

economy.” Out of austerity and necessity, however,

it’s just possible that such pessimism may be challenged.

We may yet be forced to reshape work and, in the process,

revalue what is among the most precious of all commodities

— our free time.

© Guardian News & Media 2014

austerity [O:(sterEti]

combat [(kQmbÄt]

commodity [kE(mQdEti]

contradictory [)kQntrE(dIktEri]

enhance [In(hA:ns]

in conjunction with

[In kEn(dZVNkS&n wID]

leisured [(leZEd]

manpower [(mÄn)paUE]

Einschränkung, Entsagung

bekämpfen

Ware, Gut

widersprüchlich

verbessern, erhöhen

zusammen mit

müßig

Arbeitskraft

precious [(preSEs]

pressing [(presIN]

recuperate [ri(kju:pEreIt]

secure [sI(kjUE]

tide [taId]

toil [tOI&l]

trajectory [trE(dZektEri]

uneven [Vn(i:v&n]

workforce [(w§:kfO:s]

kostbar, wertvoll

brennend, bedrängend, akut

sich erholen

sichern, erhalten

Woge, Trend

schuften

Flugbahn

ungleichmäßig, ruckartig

Arbeitnehmerschaft

Foto: Ullstein

42

Spotlight 10|14

Listen to more news items on Replay

INFO TO GO

underway

Be careful with the word underway. It looks very similar

to German unterwegs, but the two are in fact an example

of false friends. A false friend is a word in one language

that looks and/or sounds like a word in another

language, but which has a very different meaning. (See

page 53 each month for further examples.)

In the article, we learn that “a one-year experiment is

underway” in Sweden. It is not unterwegs; if it were, you

would have to imagine that an experiment is driving

around Sweden from place to place. “Underway” means

“in progress”, “being conducted”, “being carried out”,

“being performed” or “taking place”. Unterwegs can be

translated as “on the road” or “travelling”.

Translate the following sentences.

1. Die Operation zur Entfernung seines Tumors wird

gerade durchgeführt.

2. Es finden gerade Gespräche zur Lösung des Konflikts

zwischen Arbeitgebern und der Gewerkschaft statt.

Answers: 1. The operation is underway to remove his tumour.

2. Talks are underway to resolve the dispute between employers and the

union. (Other answers are possible.)

IN THE HEADLINES Maclean’s

This headline referred to an article about the Canadian navy.

Its destroyers and supply ships are more than 40 years old

and in need of repairs, at a time when the Canadian government

is reducing spending for the military. To gaze at

something is to look at it for a long time — which is what

the three-page article does. The text explains that the Canadian

navy has been engaged in anti-smuggling missions in

the Arabian Sea and the Caribbean, work that is rarely mentioned

in the press. The headline uses a play on words with

“navel” — that’s the small hollow on the front of your belly

(Nabel). The phrase “navel-gazing” means “focusing too

long on one’s own problems”.

Caribbean [)kÄrE(bi:En]

destroyer [di(strOIE]

engaged: be ~ in sth.

[In(geIdZd]

gaze at sth. [(geIz Et]

supply ship [sE(plaI SIp]

Karibik

Zerstörer

mit etw. beschäftigt sein, an etw.

beteiligt sein

den Blick auf etw. heften

Mutterschiff, Versorgungsschiff

Klasse

Unterricht!

Vielfalt für Ihr Klassenzimmer!

Exklusiv für Lehrer: Begleitmaterial, Kopiervorlagen

und Tipps in der Unterrichtsbeilage.

Gratis

zum

Lehrer-

Abo!


+49 (0)89/8 56 81-150 www.spotlight-verlag.de/lehrerzimmer

ARTS | What’s New

Films | Drama

What do you believe?

Brendan Gleeson

and Chris O’Dowd

A question of faith

Films | Western

Revenge is a popular theme in westerns.

Exploring this topic with great

and sometimes brutal intensity,

The Salvation, directed by Kristian

Levring, is the story of two brothers.

Jon (Mads Mikkelsen) and Peter (Mikael

Persbrandt) are Danish soldiers who

leave Denmark in the 1860s to build a

new life in America’s Wild West. When

Jon’s wife and son join them there, they find that lawlessness

has become normality. Filmed with wide-angle shots of a seemingly

golden landscape and close-ups of the people struggling

to make a new home there, Levring shows people as makers of

history. Mikkelsen brings light to the screen in an unusual role,

but times were dark, and so is this film. Starts 9 October.

Set in the beautiful area around Sligo in western

Ireland, Irish director John Michael McDonagh’s

Calvary follows life in a Roman Catholic community

during Holy Week — the week before Easter Sunday.

Brendan Gleeson (who also acted in McDonagh’s

The Guard ) stars as Father Lavelle, a priest who receives a

death threat while hearing confession.

Lavelle cannot see who exactly is threatening him and

has just seven days to find out the identity of the man on

the other side of the grille. His community is not large,

and the people all know each other. So Lavelle begins talking

to those who might have a reason to hate the Church

and its representatives. With acting of great humour and

humility by Gleeson, McDonagh’s film explores deadly

sins such as pride and greed as natural aspects of the human

character that are a little out of control. As the days

pass, Lavelle begins to ask himself about his own sins and

what he might have done differently. Reflecting on the

grand themes of sin and forgiveness against a background

of wonderful, dramatic scenery, McDonagh’s carefully

composed story is a study of both 21st-century faith and

its institutions. Starts 23 October.

DVDs | Drama

The year is 1977, and Australian

Robyn Davidson, played

by Mia Wasikowska (right), has

had enough of her busy urban

life. Desperate for solitude, the

27-year-old leaves her city existence behind her to travel from

the centre of Australia to the west coast. On this 2,700-kilometre,

nine-month journey, her only companions are four camels and

a dog. But when National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan

(Adam Driver) arrives, wanting to take pictures of her on her

journey, an unusual relationship develops between the two.

Based on a true story, Tracks features a strong performance

from Wasikowska as the complex and uncompromising Davidson,

as well as incredible images of the Australian outback.

Tracks is available on DVD and Blue Ray from 28 October.

close-up [(klEUs Vp]

confession [kEn(feS&n]

deadly sin [)dedli (sIn]

faith [feIT]

greed [gri:d]

grille [grIl]

Großaufnahme

Beichte

Todsünde

Glaube

Geiz, Habgier

vergitterter Teil der Trennwand eines

Beichtstuhls

humility [hju(mIlEti] Demut, Bescheidenheit

pride [praId] Stolz; hier: Hochmut ( p. 61)

revenge [ri(vendZ] Rache

seemingly [(si:mINli] dem Anschein nach

solitude [(sQlEtju:d] Einsamkeit

wide-angle shot

[)waId )ÄNg&l (SQt]

Weitwinkelaufnahme

Fotos: PR; Richard Avedon Foundation

44

Spotlight 10|14

Apps | Science

Podcasts | Travel

The Elements costs €12.99, but you get a lot for your money.

Developed by science writer Theodore Gray, this app shows

the 118 elements that currently make up the periodic table

or, in Gray’s words, “everything you can drop on your foot ...

everything tangible”. Hydrogen, lithium or silver: each element

is presented as a 3D image (if its structure is known) along with

properties such as atomic weight and boiling point. For each element,

there is also a short essay with background information

— often humorously presented. Did you know that shorts made

of silver protect “against electromagnetic fields, if that were a

problem”? The Elements is well-designed, informative and entertaining,

even — or perhaps especially — for non-scientists.

Culture close by | Exhibitions

Since July 2005, Chris Christensen has been presenting his podcast

Amateur Traveler. In that time, he has covered more

than 400 destinations around the world, from the Palestinian

West Bank to Alaska. Christensen often gives a broad background

on the location and then suggests both unusual and lastingly

interesting places to see. On a trip to Flanders, Belgium, he

includes some First World

War history, but also visits

Brussels and gives tips on

museums. Christensen

has a comfortable and informal

style of presentation.

The format of these

free podcasts can also

include interviews and

music relevant to the destination.

More than 300

episodes are available in iTunes. For additional information and

more on Christensen’s travels, go to http://amateurtraveler.

com/tag/travel-podcast

Many of us link the name

of American photographer

Richard Avedon

(1923–2004) to fashion

photography. But in an

age when fashion began

to influence identity, his

work went far beyond

the catwalk. Avedon

studied photography in

New York before starting Marilyn Monroe in 1957

out as an advertising photographer and working for

magazines such as Life, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

During the 1960s, he also began taking portrait photographs,

often of people from protest movements or

rural communities. The exhibition Richard Avedon:

Murals and Portraits, showing until 9 November

in Munich’s Brandhorst Museum, includes many of

these extraordinary portraits as well as three largescale

murals that Avedon created from 1969 to 1971.

For details, go to www.museum-brandhorst.de

Andy by Avedon: artist Andy Warhol

and members of The Factory in 1969

advertising photographer Werbefotograf(in)

[(ÄdvEtaIzIN fE)tQgrEfE]

both ... and... [bEUT End] sowohl ... als auch ...

catwalk [(kÄtwO:k]

Laufsteg

essay [(eseI]

Aufsatz, Abhandlung

far beyond sth. [)fA: bi(jQnd] weit über etw. hinaus

large-scale [)lA:dZ (skeI&l]

lastingly [(lA:stINli]

mural [(mjUErEl]

rural community

[)rUErEl kE(mju:nEti]

tangible [(tÄndZEb&l]

großformatig

nachhaltig, dauerhaft

Wandgemälde, Wandmalerei

Dorfgemeinschaft,

Landgemeinde

greifbar, konkret

Reviews by OWEN CONNORS and EVE LUCAS

10|14 Spotlight

45

ARTS | Short Story and Books

The mountain railway

In Wales auf dem Land ist eine Frau sehr glücklich bei ihrem Ferienjob, ein Mann hingegen

sehr unglücklich bei seiner täglichen Arbeit. Die beiden begegnen sich auf unerwartete Weise.

Von NIGEL MARSH

Julie blew hard on the whistle and slowly opened the

throttle until the big, red steam locomotive began to

pull on the ten coaches attached behind.

The engine started slowly, picking up the weight of

each coach until the whole train was moving out of the

little station.

The coaches were filled with holidaymakers enjoying

a journey through the Welsh mountains in the late summer

sunshine. The original railway had been closed many

years before, but in recent times, volunteers had been rebuilding

it bit by bit.

Julie was driving today, using all her care to give the

passengers a smooth ride. She had spent every holiday for

the past ten years working on the railway. Yesterday, she

had sat at a desk in a windowless call centre in Birmingham,

answering questions from customers about fridges,

cookers and freezers. And now, here she was, under a blue

sky, and around her, fields and mountains.

Once out of the station, the train thundered along

the narrow track with steam flying from the funnel of the

engine.

A mile away, farmer Sam Evans was driving his green

tractor across a field. He was thinking about sick cows

and low milk prices and how to pay for tractor parts. Not

that he wanted to be rich: he just wanted to survive. His

family had been running this farm for more than a hundred

years.

He stopped to let himself through a gate into the next

field, taking care to close the gate again before he drove

on. Sam had been up before 5 a.m. for morning milking.

He wouldn’t be finished until after 11.30 p.m. “And for

what? It’s killing me,” he told the empty field.

As the train made its way through the hills and valleys

between Porthmadog and Caernarfon, there were many

places where roads, footpaths and farm tracks crossed the

line. Even though this was a newly reopened stretch of the

railway, Julie knew the exact location of every crossing,

and at each one, she would blow the whistle to warn of

the train’s approach.

Sam Evans drove his tractor across the next field. He

was thinking about bank managers and high interest

rates. He was thinking about arguments with his wife and

his father. The mountains towered over him, and he felt

their weight pushing down on him.

Sam’s tractor was a John Deere 2355, built in Mannheim

in 1997. Not quite six metres long, it weighed a

little under three tonnes.

Julie’s locomotive was a Garratt NGG16, built in

Manchester in 1958 for South African Railways. Nearly

15 metres long, it weighed 62 tonnes.

Julie blew the whistle as her train came to a level crossing.

When it passed, a little boy waved to her from a waiting

car.

The tractor slowly crossed another field.

The train rattled across an iron bridge and into a bend.

The tractor moved towards a gate.

As the train came round the long curve, Julie saw the

little, green tractor moving towards the crossing. It would

stop in a moment or two. The driver would jump out,

ready to open the gate once the train had safely passed.

approach [E(prEUtS]

argument [(A:gjumEnt]

bend [bend]

engine [(endZIn]

funnel [(fVn&l]

interest rate [(IntrEst reIt]

Herannahen

hier: Streit

Kurve

hier: Lokomotive

Schornstein

Zinssatz

level crossing [)lev&l (krQsIN]

rattle [(rÄt&l]

throttle [(TrQt&l]

thunder along [)TVndE E(lQN]

volunteer [)vQlEn(tIE]

whistle [(wIs&l]

höhengleicher Bahnübergang

rattern, rumpeln

Drossel, Gaspedal

entlangdonnern

Freiwillige(r)

Pfeife

Fotos: iStock; Wavebreak Media

46

Spotlight 10|14

Short Story

Sam was deep in thought. Maybe it was time to make

a change. When you find at the end of the year you’ve lost

money again, it must be time to think about alternatives.

He drove the tractor towards the gate he had opened earlier

that morning. He hadn’t closed this one. There were

no cows or sheep in this field or the next. He stared ahead,

thinking of what he would do if he sold the farm. What

would his father think? What would his wife say? The

nose of the tractor rose up slightly as it moved on to the

railway track.

Julie’s heart leapt into her mouth, and she pulled the

emergency brake, bracing herself for the impact.

The train began its long screech to a halt, and Sam

looked round at the terrible noise. He stared in horror at

the engine. His mouth opened wide. His arms and legs

froze. Black smoke filled the air, and as the engine roared

in his ears, the two machines slid past each other.

When the train stopped many long seconds later,

Julie slowly opened her eyes. She climbed down from the

engine and ran past the carriages of stunned passengers.

The tractor stood in one piece in the next field, its driver

leaning out of his cab. It seemed he was being sick.

“That was close,” thought Julie. “Well, no harm done,”

she called to the passengers in a shaky voice. “Best be on

our way.”

Sam sat back in his cab, his eyes closed and his hands

trembling. “Yes. It’s definitely time for a change,” he told

himself.

Books | Novel

Every year, thousands of

books compete for our attention

(and money) as the

market meets culture to

define “bestselling” at October’s

Frankfurt Book Fair.

Taking an unusual approach

to “tell-all” bestseller writing,

American author Chris

Pavone’s The Accident

looks at the lives of two men

whose involvement in an

accident during their student

days follows them into middle age. As one of these men

decides to run for political office, the other finds that he can

no longer live with the past. He constructs an elaborate plan

to eliminate himself, and writes a book about it. With a special

branch of America’s secret services looking over every shoulder,

events twist and turn themselves to a dramatic conclusion.

Faber & Faber, €12.80.

Books | Easy reader

Are you planning a trip to

the UK? Do you enjoy reading

about English culture?

Or are you looking for a

present for an Anglophile

friend? In all cases, the

Macmillan Cultural

Reader: England is for

you. Discover more about

the Lake District, Sir Winston

Churchill and the history of

cricket in England, and learn

some popular sayings. Short

interviews with people about their daily lives and their memories

of great events bring the book to life. This easy reader at

pre-intermediate level not only offers you pages of interesting

stories and facts, it also comes with comprehension questions,

grammar and vocabulary exercises, explanations of difficult

words and an additional CD, so that you can listen to the text, too.

Macmillan, €10.99.

be sick [bi (sIk]

brace oneself [(breIs wVn)self]

branch [brA:ntS]

cab [kÄb]

carriage [(kÄrIdZ] UK

comprehension

[)kQmprI(henS&n]

elaborate [i(lÄbErEt]

eliminate [i(lImIneIt]

Reviews by EVE LUCAS

hier: sich übergeben

sich wappnen, sich auf etw.

gefasst machen

Filiale; Abteilung

Führerhaus

Waggon

Verständnis

ausgeklügelt, raffiniert

beseitigen;

hier: umbringen

freeze [fri:z]

hier: erstarren

impact [(ImpÄkt]

Aufprall

leap [li:p]

springen, hüpfen

roar [rO:] dröhnen ( p. 61)

run for [(rVn fE]

kandidieren

screech: ~ to a halt [skri:tS] mit kreischenden Bremsen zum

Stehen kommen

shaky [(SeIki]

zittrig

stunned [stVnd]

benommen

tremble [(tremb&l]

zittern



SPRACHCOMPUTER

WÖRTERBÜCHER

LERNKRIMIS

LEX:TRA LERNKRIMIS – NIVEAU B1/B2

Alle vier Krimis sind illustriert und enthalten

viele Worterklärungen, landeskundliche Informationen,

Rätsel und Aufgaben. Die jeweils

beiliegende MP3-Audio-CD macht sie

zum kurzweiligen Hörerlebnis.

ZEIT EDITION LANGENSCHEIDT

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LANGUAGE | Vocabulary

Sources of energy

In contrast to energy from fossil fuels, “green” energy comes from natural sources that are never

completely used up. ANNA HOCHSIEDER presents language to talk about this subject.

1

2

3

4

5

9

8

7

6

10

11

12

13

1. offshore wind farm

2. wind turbine

3. solar panel

4. hydroelectric power

station

5. geyser [(gi:zE]

6. nuclear power

station

7. pylon [(paIlEn]

8. biogas plant

9. maize [meIz] UK, corn N. Am.

10. oil well

11. oil platform

12. gas pipeline

13. coal mine

Fighting climate change

Fossil fuels are a major cause of global warming.

Non-renewable fuels such as coal emit carbon dioxide

when they are burned, destroying the ozone layer that

protects us from the sun’s rays. So we need to find sustainable,

“green” methods of producing energy.

The sun itself is a powerful natural source of energy.

There are many ways to harness solar energy. In hot

regions, solar water heaters can be installed on roofs.

Solar panels covering the roofs of houses as well as huge

areas of land are now a common sight. Energy-efficient

buildings are oriented towards the sun. They are not

only well insulated, but have a low carbon footprint.

Wind power is another natural source of energy. It has

a less problematic effect on the environment than

hydropower, which requires building dams that spoil

the landscape. Wind turbines take up relatively little

space and can even be located out of sight in offshore

wind farms. Other new technologies include the use of

geothermal heat, biogas and even geysers.

We can all conserve energy by buying products that

consume little electricity, by not leaving electronics on

stand-by and by using public transport to save petrol.

Illustrationen: Bernhard Förth

50

Spotlight 10|14

Möchten Sie noch mehr Tipps und Übungen?

Abonnieren Sie Spotlight plus! www.spotlight-online.de/ueben

Practice

Now try the exercises below to practise talking about green energy.

1. Match the expressions on the left to their definitions on the right.

a) Global warming...

b) Carbon dioxide...

c) Climate change...

d) The environment...

e) A carbon footprint...

a

b

c

d

e

1. is the amount of carbon dioxide someone or something produces.

2. is the increase in temperature of the earth’s atmosphere.

3. is the natural world in which we live.

4. is the change that is taking place in the earth’s weather.

5. is the gas that is produced when carbon is burned.

2. Complete the following sentences with words from the opposite page.

a) A hydroelectric power station uses the power of

____________________ to produce electricity.

b) Offshore wind farms are areas in the sea where there

are a lot of ____________________.

c) ____________________ panels use the sun’s energy to

produce hot water and electricity.

d) Biogas can be produced from plants such as

____________________.

e) ____________________ is produced by splitting the

central part of atoms.

f) When ____________________ are burned, carbon

dioxide is emitted.

3. Consume or conserve? Underline the correct option.

a) Take showers instead of baths to consume / conserve water.

b) Our fridge consumes / conserves far too much electricity.

c) We don’t consume / conserve much gas, but our gas bill has

gone up by 20 per cent.

d) Underground cables are being installed to consume / conserve

the beauty of the landscape.

4. Complete the sentences below by filling in the missing letters.

a) E _ e r _ y - e _ f _ c _ _ n t electrical goods such as washing machines do

not use much energy.

b) If a method of producing energy is s _ s _ _ _ n _ _ _ e, it does not harm

the environment.

c) If a resource is n _ _ - r _ _ _ w _ _ _ e, it exists in limited amounts and

cannot be replaced.

d) If a building is w _ _ _ i _ s _ _ _ _ _ d, it is protected with a material that

prevents heat or cold from passing through.

The text on the opposite page contains

a lot of collocations — words

that are often used together. Always

make a note of interesting collocations

you discover, for example:

• emit carbon dioxide

(Kohlendioxid ausstoßen)

• harness solar energy

(Sonnenenergie nutzbar machen)

• a common sight

(ein alltäglicher Anblick)

Tips

Answers

1. a–2; b–5 (carbon dioxide [)kA:bEn daI(QksaId]: Kohlendioxid; carbon: Kohlenstoff ); c–4; d–3; e–1 (carbon footprint:

CO 2 -Fußabdruck, CO 2 -Bilanz )

2. a) water; b) wind turbines; c) Solar; d) maize / corn; e) Nuclear power; f) fossil fuels (fossile Brennstoffe; emit: ausstoßen)

3. a) conserve; b) consumes; c) consume; d) conserve

4. a) Energy-efficient; b) sustainable (umweltverträglich); c) non-renewable; d) well insulated

At

www.spotlight-online.de/teachers/picture-it

you’ll find translations and the complete Vocabulary archive.


LANGUAGE | Travel Talk

Arriving

Walking the trail

Canoeing


The Everglades

See some exotic wildlife and

enjoy a subtropical climate with

RITA FORBES.

Hello! Welcome to Everglades National Park.

Hi! Can we pick up some informational brochures?

Of course. You can take any you like. And here’s

a map... We’re here, at the Ernest Coe Visitor

Center. You might like to start by just driving

through the park. The Main Park Road will take

you to the Flamingo Visitor Center, on the south

side. It’s a 76-mile round trip, and there are several

good spots where you can stop along the way. I’d

recommend the Anhinga Trail. There’s always a lot

of wildlife there, and it’s only four miles away.

It says here in the brochure that the Native Americans

called this place Pa-hay-Okee. That means

“grassy waters.”

What a perfect description. Oh, look! Look! It’s an

alligator!

Wow! It’s perfectly still. If I hadn’t seen its eyes

blink, I’d think it was just a submerged log. I’m a

little worried now. Do you think we’re really safe

on the elevated boardwalk?

I’m sure we are. Hey, is that an ibis?

I think so. But look over here! Quick! I see a baby

alligator!

The mangroves are really beautiful, aren’t they?

Yes, it’s such a romantic atmosphere. Except for

the mosquitoes and the no-see-ums, that is. Could

you hand me the insect repellent, please? I don’t

want to get eaten alive.

Here you go.

There’s a chickee. Wouldn’t it be fun to sleep there?

Maybe we can do that next time. I’m happy with

a day-long trip for now. You know, if we paddle

quietly, we might see a manatee.

• Everglades National Park, on the southernmost

tip of Florida, has an area of about 1.5 million acres

(more than 6,000 square kilometers). It has a subtropical

climate and contains swamplands (Sumpfgebiet),

marshes (Moor, Sumpf), and rivers.

• The five visitor centers in the Everglades are open

365 days a year.

• The Anhinga Trail is very popular. The trail (Wanderweg)

is paved (befestigt) and just 0.8 miles (1.3 km)

long. Even so, many birds and animals can be seen

from it. The trail is named for the anhinga, a longnecked

diving bird found in Florida and some other

Southern states.

• The wildlife in the Everglades includes the rare

Florida panther and hundreds of species of birds.

• The Everglades are well known for the many American

alligators living there. They can grow up to 15

feet (4.5 m) long. There is also a smaller population

of American crocodiles. This is the only place in the

world where both alligators and crocodiles live.

• An elevated boardwalk is a raised path made out

of wooden boards.

• The white ibis [(aIbIs] is the most common wading

bird (Watvogel, Stelzvogel) in the Everglades. The

tips of its wings are gray or black, and it has a long,

curved beak (Schnabel).

• Mangroves are trees with large, tangled (ineinander

verschlungen) roots and can tolerate salt water. They

grow only in warm areas near the equator.

• No-see-ums is an informal name for very small

flying insects that bite people and animals.

• Chickees are raised wooden platforms where

campers can sleep above the water. You need a

permit to camp in the Everglades.

• Manatees, also called “sea cows,” are large, gentle

animals that live in warm waters.

blink [blINk]

brochure [broU(SU&r]

insect repellent [(Insekt ri)pelEnt]

log [lO:g]

Native Americans

[)neItIv E(merIkEnz]

spot [spA:t]

submerged [sEb(m§:dZd]

Tips

blinzeln

Broschüre

Insektenschutzmittel

Holzblock

amerikanische Ureinwohner

Stelle

unter Wasser liegend

Fotos: iStock

Cards | LANGUAGE

NEW WORDS

GLOBAL ENGLISH

phablet

The next phone I buy is going to be a phablet.

What would a non-British speaker say?

British speaker: “John’s behaviour in public is so bizarre

sometimes, I worry that he might get sectioned.”

Spotlight 10|14

Spotlight 10|14

(IN)FORMAL ENGLISH

Make these idiomatic statements sound

more formal:

1. John’s new Jaguar is the cat’s whiskers.

2. What’s happened? You look like something the cat

brought in.

Translate:

TRANSLATION

1. Eine schöne Umgebung war mir schon immer sehr

wichtig.

2. Ein neuer Dudelsack wird ihn einige Monatsgehälter

kosten.

Spotlight 10|14

Spotlight 10|14

PRONUNCIATION

IDIOM MAGIC

Read these words aloud:

combat

combination

comfort

company

complemental

complexity

component

comrade

Ching Yee Smithback

be left holding the bag

Spotlight 10|14 Spotlight 10|14

Austrennung an der Perforierung

FALSE FRIENDS

whimper / Wimper

Translate the following sentences:

1. I could hear the child whimpering next door.

2. Sie hatte die längsten Wimpern, die ich je gesehen

hatte.

GRAMMAR

In which of the sentences below can “into” be

replaced by “in”?

1. I jumped into the lake.

2. She came into the house.

3. He walked into the office.

4. I put my hand into my pocket.


LANGUAGE | Cards

GLOBAL ENGLISH

Non-British speaker: “..., I worry that he might get

committed.”

The verb “commit” is used to mean “send (someone) to

a psychiatric [)saIki(ÄtrIk] hospital for confinement”

(jmdn. in eine psychiatrische Klinik einweisen). The British

also use the verb “section”, in reference to a section

(Absatz) of a mental health act.

NEW WORDS

Phablet is a blend (Mischung) of the words “phone” and

“tablet (computer)”. This electronic device (elektronisches

Gerät) is a larger-than-normal smartphone with all the

functions of a tablet computer.

Spotlight 10|14

Spotlight 10|14

TRANSLATION

1. Pleasant surroundings have always been important

to me.

2. New bagpipes are going to cost him several months’

salary.

The nouns “surroundings” and “bagpipes” are two

classic examples of a plurale tantum, a noun that

has no singular form. Other examples are “trousers”,

“spectacles” (glasses) and “clothes”.

Spotlight 10|14

(IN)FORMAL ENGLISH

1. John’s new Jaguar is a wonderful car.

2. You look really dirty / untidy.

There are many informal phrases containing a reference

(Bezug, Verweis) to cats. In North American English, a

person or thing that is excellent can be called “the cat’s

meow” or “the cat’s pajamas”.

Spotlight 10|14

IDIOM MAGIC

When you are left with an unwanted responsibility —

typically without warning — you are said to be left

holding the bag. This is the North American version of

the idiom. In British English, you would “be left holding

the baby”.

“The others had all gone, so when the time came to pay

the bill, I was left holding the bag.”

[(kQmbÄt]

[(kVmfEt]

[)kQmplI(ment&l]

[kEm(pEUnEnt]

PRONUNCIATION

[)kQmbI(neIS&n]

[(kVmpEni]

[kEm(pleksEti]

[(kQmreId]

The prefix com- is pronounced [kEm] when unstressed,

but [)kQm] when it carries secondary stress. With main

stress, it is normally pronounced [(kQm]. There are

exceptions: in “comfort” and “company” it is [(kVm].


GRAMMAR

1. I jumped in the lake.

4. I put my hand in my pocket.

Some verbs describing movement, such as “jump” and

“put”, are also used with “in” when the focus is more on a

movement with an end (in a place) than the movement

itself. This use of “in” is less typical with the verbs

“come”, “go”, “run” and “walk”.

FALSE FRIENDS

1. Nebenan konnte ich das Kind wimmern hören.

2. She had the longest (eye)lashes I had ever seen.

People might “whimper” when they are frightened,

unhappy or in pain. (If it were a dog, not a person, one

would say winseln in German.)


LANGUAGE | Everyday English

Books

Listen to dialogues 1 and 2

This month, DAGMAR TAYLOR looks at the

words and phrases people use when they talk

about books.

1. A big reader 2. Choosing books

Susan and Amanda are talking about what to buy

as a present for a friend’s 50th birthday.

Amanda and Susan want to find out more about

the gift idea for Clive.

Fotos: iStock

Amanda: I’ve had an idea about what to get Clive for

his birthday.

Susan: Oh, good! What?

Amanda: Well, you know what a big reader he is,

don’t you?

Susan: Yes! Seriously, how does he get through so

many books?

Amanda: He reads when he’s travelling on business,

and he travels a lot. But anyway, I’ve found

this book subscription service. They send

you a book a month, so I was thinking we

Susan:

could get him a year’s subscription.

That sounds like a great idea. What kind of

books do they send?

Amanda: That’s up to you. You can choose between

paperback and hardback and then between

fiction and non-fiction, but they also have

mixed packages.

Susan: And how much does it cost?

Amanda: I think it’s about £110 for a year.

• Someone who reads a lot can be referred to

informally as a big reader.

• Seriously is used to add earnestness (Ernsthaftigkeit)

to the statement that follows, especially when the

speaker wants to express surprise.

• If someone gets through a lot of books, he or she

reads many books.

• Suggestions are often made carefully, so that other

people do not feel forced to agree. I was thinking we

could... is one way to begin a suggestion.

• To say that something is another person’s choice, say

that’s up to you or “it’s up to you”.

• Paperbacks have soft paper covers. Hardbacks

(US also: hardcover) have thicker, stiff covers and

generally cost more than the paperback version.

• Literature that describes imaginary (erfunden) events

and people is called fiction. Non-fiction books are

about facts, actual events or real people.

subscription [sEb(skrIpS&n]

Abonnement

Tips

Susan: What about the genre? Clive won’t be happy

if all he receives is a pile of chick lit.

Amanda: (laughs) Let’s check the website. I’m sure

you can choose the genre, too.

Susan: I’ve got my tablet here. What’s the address?

Amanda: It’s www.theamazingbookclub.co.uk

Susan: Ooh! It looks nice. Do the books come

wrapped like that?

Amanda: Yes, they do. Ah, now I remember. With the

Bespoke Book Club, you can choose three

types of novel. Look!

Susan: Hmm! I’d say contemporary fiction would

be good, then mystery / thriller and also

modern classics. What do you think?

Amanda: I’m not sure. He’s probably read most of them.

Susan: Well, how about historical fiction, then?

Amanda: Yes, that sounds better.

• Chick lit (ifml.) is a genre that deals with issues of

modern womanhood (Frausein), often humorously

and light-heartedly (unbeschwert).

• Tablet is short for “tablet computer”.

• A novel is a story that is long enough to fill a whole

book. The characters and events in it are usually

imaginary.

• I’d say is short for “I would say”. Use this expression

when you want to give your opinion.

• Books in the mystery / thriller (you say “mystery

slash thriller”) genre typically involve crime or

espionage and have an exciting plot (Handlung).

• A classic is a book written many years ago that has

been highly acclaimed (umjubeln, feiern) because of

its quality. A modern classic is also highly praised

(loben), but readers today can still relate to its story

and characters. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee,

for example, belongs to this category.

bespoke [bi(spEUk] UK maßgeschneidert, nach Maß

pile [paI&l]

Haufen

wrap [rÄp] einpacken ( p. 61)

Tips


LANGUAGE | Everyday English

3. Talking of books... 4. So many books, so little time!

Amanda and Susan are talking about

their own reading preferences.

Amanda: Have you read anything good recently?

Susan: Yes, I have, actually. I’ve just finished Love,

Nina by Nina Stibbe. It was great.

Amanda: Is that the one about the nanny who writes

to her sister describing her experiences?

Susan: Yes, that’s the one. It was so funny! I

couldn’t put it down.

Amanda: Hmm! I’m more into crime and mystery

novels. At the moment, I’m reading Heartstone

by C. J. Sansom. It’s part of this historical

mystery series set in the reign of

Henry VIII.

Susan: Sounds interesting. Are you enjoying it?

Amanda: Yes, a lot. But I get so engrossed, and I stay

up late reading. Then I’m tired the next day.

Amanda has finished ordering Clive’s book club

subscription.

Amanda: That’s that! I hope Clive likes all the books.

Susan: I might subscribe, too. I don’t feel very up

to date when it comes to literature.

Amanda: When’s your birthday?

Susan: (laughs) Not for ages. How do you pick the

books you read?

Amanda: Sometimes, friends or colleagues recommend

or lend books to me. And I listen to

A Good Read on Radio 4. I’ve bought several

books I heard about on the programme.

Susan: Really? What time is it on?

Amanda: Tuesday afternoons at 4.30. But there’s also

a podcast you can download.

Susan: Oh, OK. It’s just finding the time, isn’t it?

Amanda: Yes. I think we need jobs like Clive’s.

• Use the present perfect to ask what someone has

done recently: Have you read...?

• To make sure that you are thinking of the same thing

someone is talking about, ask: Is that the one...?

• When people say they can’t put a book down, they

find it so interesting that they can’t stop reading.

• If you find a different type of book, film or music

more interesting, you can say I’m more into... (ifml.)

• When the action or events of a book are set in a

certain time or place, you can say they happen then

or there.

• If you are engrossed in something, all your attention

is absorbed by that one thing.

Tips

• That’s that! (ifml.) is often used to say that you’ve

made your decision and it cannot be changed.

• Not for ages (ifml.) means “not for a very long time”.

• We lend things to people, but when we need something,

we “borrow it from” somebody.

• Amanda means BBC Radio 4, a British radio station

with a wide variety of programmes. You can listen to

it at: www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

• Programme means something that people watch on

TV or listen to on the radio.

• The easiest way to ask what time a particular

programme will be broadcast (senden, übertragen) is:

What time is it on?

Tips

nanny [(nÄni]

reign [reIn]

Kindermädchen

Regierungszeit

pick [pIk]

up to date [)Vp tE (deIt]

aussuchen

auf dem neuesten Stand

EXERCISES

1. What do the words in bold refer to?

a) And how much is it? ______________

b) He’s probably read most of them. ______________

c) Is that the one about the nanny? ______________

d) What time is it on? ______________

3. What did they say?

a) You can choose between paperback or h _______.

b) You can choose three types of n _______.

c) It’s part of this historical mystery s _______.

d) I don’t feel very up to date when it comes to l ______.

2. True or false?

4. Add the missing word.

a) Clive reads when he’s travelling on business. ______

b) Clive likes reading chick lit. ______

c) Susan is reading Heartstone at the moment. ______

d) Amanda sometimes borrows books from friends or

colleagues. ______

a) I’ve found this book subscription service _______ the

internet.

b) How _______ historical fiction?

c) I’m more _______ crime and mystery novels.

d) And I listen _______ A Good Read on Radio 4.

Foto: Hemera

56

Spotlight 10|14

Answers: 1. a) a year’s subscription of books; b) modern classics; c) the book; d) the radio programme A Good Read;

2. a) true; b) false; c) false (Amanda is reading it.); d) true; 3. a) hardback; b) novel; c) series; d) literature; 4. a) on; b) about; c) into; d) to

The Grammar Page | LANGUAGE

Using the

third conditional

ADRIAN DOFF presents and explains this key point of grammar

with notes on a short dialogue.

Bill and Mike are waiting on a station platform.

EXERCISE

Bill: The train’s late again. It’s so annoying!

Mike: Oh, I like the train being late.

Bill: You like it? Why?

Mike: Because that was how I met my wife.

Bill: How’s that?

Mike: Well, I arrived a few minutes late at the station one

day. But luckily, the train was about 10 minutes

late. If it had been on time, I would have missed it. 1

Bill: So what happened then?

Mike: Well, there was a woman on the train, and we started

talking. Then I asked her out, and a year later, we

got married. If I’d missed the train, I wouldn’t have

met her. 2 I wouldn’t have got married if the train

hadn’t been late. 3 That’s why I like trains being late.

Bill: Well, I don’t like it. Anyway, here’s the train now.

Mike: Choose your seat carefully. You could be lucky.

Complete the sentences below by writing

the verbs in bold in their correct form.

a) If they’d taken out travel insurance, they would

_________ (get) their money back.

b) I wouldn’t have bought Gucci shoes if they _________

(not / be) half price in the sale.

c) I would _________ (bring) you a souvenir if I’d had

room in my suitcase.

d) I would _________ (give) the waiter a tip if he hadn’t

been so rude.

e) I would have sent you a postcard if I _________

(known) your address.

f) If we’d had some eggs, I could _________ (make) an

omelette.

g) She might _________ (win) the race if she’d trained

harder.

h) If they’d offered him more money, he wouldn’t

_________ (leave) the job.

Answers: a) have got (take out insurance: eine Versicherung abschließen);

b) hadn’t been; c) have brought; d) have given (tip: Trinkgeld ); e) had known;

f) have made; g) have won; h) have left

1 This is the past — or third — conditional (if + past perfect

tense, ... would have + past participle). It is used to

imagine something unreal in the past: the train was, in

fact, not on time, so Mike didn’t miss it.

2 Here’s another example of the past conditional. This

time, the contraction ’d is used instead of the full form

had, and would is in the negative: wouldn’t. Again, Mike

is imagining the opposite of what happened: in fact, he

didn’t miss the train, and he did meet his future wife.

3 In this example, the “would” part of the sentence comes

first: ... wouldn’t ... if ... hadn’t. Mike could also say: “If

the train hadn’t been late, I wouldn’t have got married.”

Remember!

There are two parts to the past, or third, conditional:

1. If + past perfect tense...:

• If I’d known it was your birthday...

2. ...would(n’t) have + past participle:

• ... I would have bought you a present.

The two parts can also be positioned the other way

round:

• I would have bought you a present if I’d known it

was your birthday.

The third conditional always refers to the past:

• If I’d known it was your birthday, I would have

bought you a present. (= I didn’t know it was your

birthday, so I didn’t buy you a present.)

Beyond the basics

In past conditional sentences, we can also use could

or might instead of “would”:

• If I’d known you were here, we could have met for a

drink.

(= It would have been possible.)

• If we’d taken a taxi, we might not have missed the

flight.

(= Perhaps we wouldn’t have missed it.)


LANGUAGE | The Soap

Phil & Peggy

Decision time?

Just how much choice do people want at

Peggy’s Place? By INEZ SHARP

FOCUS

Peggy: The woman at the corner table has been looking

at the menu for at least 20 minutes.

Phil: I wouldn’t complain. She’s already gulped down one

glass of wine, and now she’s on her second, so she is

spending money.

George: You do have quite a big choice of dishes.

Phil: Well, it’s all about keeping the customer happy.

George: I’m not sure about offering people too much

choice.

Peggy: How do you mean?

George: When I’m at work, I watch people standing

around in the aisles dithering for ages over different

types of butter and yogurt.

Phil: But the longer they spend in the shop, the more they

spend, and that’s good, surely.

George: Yeah, but you should see how angry they get if

we don’t have exactly the product they’re looking for.

Peggy: I know. It’s the same when we take something off

the menu. People get really upset.

George: Exactly, and it’s not as if there’s nothing else on

offer. I was reading a consumer report from the US.

Do you know that in 1975, the average supermarket

sold something like 9,000 products? Today, it’s closer

to 50,000. And it won’t be much different here.

Phil: I like having a choice. Take the cheese counter at

your shop. I could stand there for hours drooling.

Helen: Who’s drooling over what?

Peggy: Never mind, Helen. What’ll it be?

Helen: I’ll just have an orange juice. I’m on the late shift.

George: You could also have apple juice, pineapple juice,

mango, grape, cranberry, banana or apricot juice.

Peggy: I’m not sure we have apricot or banana juice.

Phil: I think George is trying to make a point.

Helen: Actually, the grape juice sounds good. It isn’t

fizzy, is it?

Peggy: I’m afraid it is.

This month, Phil describes how one of the guests has

gulped down her wine. This means to swallow food

or drink quickly and loudly. Later, he says he could

stand in front of the cheese display at the shop where

George works drooling — or allowing saliva to run out

of his mouth — because the cheese looks and smells

so delicious. When Helen orders a drink, she asks if it

is fizzy — if there are bubbles of gas in it. These types

of words that sound like the action they describe are

called onomatopoeic in English.

Helen

George

Sean

I like having a choice

Jane

Helen: Hmm, then perhaps I will have the orange juice.

George: See what I mean?

Helen: I have no idea what you’re talking about, but the

reason I came in was to talk to Aamir.

Phil: He’s taken a couple of days off. Gone hiking. He

says sometimes he needs a rest from London. Can I

help you?

Helen: That depends. How good’s your Pashto?

Phil: It’s been better. Don’t get the chance to practise it

much.

Helen: Ha, ha! I’ve got a patient from Afghanistan, and

her English isn’t very fluent. I thought Aamir could

translate for me.

Peggy: What’s wrong with her?

Helen: She’s got epilepsy, and we want to tell her about

the side effects of the different kinds of medication.

Phil: Now that’s one area where choice is a good thing.

Helen: Yes, but people don’t all want to know what they’re

taking. They just want it to work.

Phil: Personally, I like the idea of an informed choice.

Peggy: Hello, Jane! You look a bit stressed.

Jane: Simone’s been invited to a Halloween party, and

we’ve just been trying to find a costume. My daughter

has tried on, I swear, about 50 different ones. Is she

going to be a witch, a devil, a cat, Dracula...?

George: Now some people would say that’s a good thing,

Jane. Your daughter likes to make an informed choice.

Jane: Have I missed something?

aisle [aI&l]

cheese counter [(tSi:z )kaUntE]

day off [deI (Qf]

dither: ~ over sth. [(dIDE]

for ages [fE (eIdZIz]

hike [haIk]

make a point [)meIk E (pOInt]

onomatopoeic [)QnEUmÄtE(pi:Ik]

Pashto [(pVStEU]

pineapple [(paInÄp&l]

saliva [sE(laIvE]

side effect [(saId E)fekt]

take sth. off [teIk (Qf]

upset: get ~ [)Vp(set]

Gang

Käsetheke

freier Tag

mit etw. zaudern

ewig lange

wandern

hier: auf etw. hinweisen

lautmalerisch

Paschtu, paschtunische

Sprache

Ananas

Speichel

Nebenwirkung

etw. entfernen, streichen

sich aufregen

58

Spotlight 10|14

English at Work | LANGUAGE

Dear Ken: What is the correct

way to word a reminder?

Dear Ken

What is the best way to word a reminder? I’ve heard that

starting with a subject line “outstanding amount” is a bit

too direct. Should such e-mails begin with small talk?

Many thanks for your help.

Sabine T.

Dear Sabine

Thank you for your e-mail. The idea of a reminder is, of

course, to ensure that your customers pay their debts.

The way you write a reminder depends on several factors:

• how well you know the person you are reminding

• how important the future business relationship is

• how much money is involved

• whether you have already sent any reminders.

If you have sent numerous reminders, and future business

is not an important factor, you may want to threaten legal

action. With a loyal customer who is experiencing cashflow

problems, you might be more understanding.

In both cases, however, you could use the same basic

structure to get your message across, and simply vary

the tone. Here’s a structure you could use, based on a

situation between the two extremes I mentioned above.

1. Your position

Explain the reason for your reminder. Within the first

paragraph, your reader ought to understand the situation:

Dear Mr Ford

Invoice 3576/14

On 26 August, you ordered 50 office desks and chairs from our

company for your new premises. You paid a deposit of 25 per

cent of the total price. The furniture was delivered on 22 September.

The balance was to be paid by 30 September.

Send your questions

about business English

by e-mail with “Dear

Ken” in the subject line to

language@spotlight-verlag.de

Each month, I answer two questions

Spotlight readers have sent in. If one of

them is your question, you’ll receive a

copy of my book: Fifty Ways to Improve

Your Business English. So don’t forget to

add your mailing address!

2. Problem

Separate the reason for the reminder from the background

description. It will have more impact on the reader:

It is now 9 October, and we have not received the promised

payment or any reply to a previous reminder sent to you on

2 October.

3. Proposal

What do you want the customer to do?

Please pay the outstanding balance by 15 October. You will

then not incur any further costs.

4. Practicalities

What further action should the other person take?

If there are any problems concerning this payment, please

contact us as soon as possible.

5. Politeness

Always end with a few polite words:

You have always paid our invoices promptly, so we are sure

that you will deal with the present problem equally effectively.

Good luck in getting your invoices paid.

Ken

Dear Ken

Sometimes, a caller wants to talk to a colleague after

speaking to me. What should I say when I hand him or

her over?

Regards

Lutz N.

Dear Lutz

You can use any of the following phrases:

• I’ll transfer you / connect you / put you through to...

Then politely ask the caller to wait. Use one of these

phrases:

• Just a moment. / Stay on the line. / Hold the line, please.

That should work.

All the best

Ken

balance [(bÄlEns]

hier: Restbetrag

cash-flow problems

Zahlungsschwierigkeiten

[(kÄS flEU )prQblEmz]

debt [det]

Schuld, Zahlungsverpflichtung

deposit [di(pQzIt] Anzahlung ( p. 61)

impact [(ImpÄkt]

Wirkung

incur [In(k§:]

hier: verursachen

invoice [(InvOIs]

Rechnung

legal action [)li:g&l (ÄkS&n] gerichtliche Schritte

outstanding [aUt(stÄndIN] ausstehend, offen

premises [(premIsIz]

Geschäftsräume

reminder [ri(maIndE]

Mahnung, Zahlungserinnerung

subject line [(sVbdZekt laIn] Betreffzeile

Ken Taylor is a communication skills consultant. Follow his “Hot Tips”

on Twitter @DearKen101. You can buy his book Dear Ken... 101 answers

to your questions about business English from


LANGUAGE | Spoken English

We’re getting there

This month, ADRIAN DOFF looks at different

ways of speaking about success, failure and

progress.

Foto: iStock

60

Success

The verb phrase succeed in doing something is often used

to talk about success:

• The furniture company succeeded in winning several

major contracts.

We can also succeed in things we don’t want:

• I tried talking to her, but I only succeeded in making her

more angry.

Manage to has a similar meaning. It is used to talk about

succeeding after making an effort:

• We finally managed to turn off the hot water. (= It took a

long time, but in the end, we were able to do it.)

The noun related to “succeed” is success, and the adjective

is successful:

• The party was a great success. It went on till 4 a.m.

• How was the conference? I hope your presentation was

successful.

In conversation, the verb make it is also used to mean “be

successful”, as in the Rolling Stones song:

• “You can make it if you try.”

“Make it” is often used to talk about success in a person’s

life or career:

• She was very ambitious, but she never quite made it.

(= reached the top)

A film, song or book that is successful or popular can be

described as a hit:

• Their new song is a number-one hit. (= no. 1 in the charts)

Other things can also be a hit:

• It was a great dinner party. Your lasagne was an absolute

hit. (= Everyone liked it.)

Failure

The opposites of “succeed” and “success” are fail (verb) and

failure (noun). A person or a thing can be a failure:

• He started up a bike-hire company, but it was a complete

failure. (= It didn’t succeed.)

• I can’t find a job. It makes me feel a bit of a failure.

(= someone who hasn’t succeeded)

The opposite of a hit is a flop:

• The film cost $500 million, but it was a complete flop.

(= It wasn’t successful.)

• The party was a bit of a flop. By 10.30 p.m., everyone had

gone home.

Spotlight 10|14

An idea that won’t succeed is a non-starter. (= It has no

chance of success.):

• They tried to open an English cake shop in Vienna. The

idea was a complete non-starter.

Progress

If you’re gradually (allmählich) succeeding or getting better,

you are making progress. Progress can be good, rapid,

steady (stetig, beständig) or slow:

• She’s not brilliant at English, but she’s making steady

progress. (= getting better all the time)

Here are some other ways to talk about progress:

make headway = make progress in a difficult area

• He’s trying to learn Russian, but he’s not making much

headway. (= His progress is very slow.)

get there = achieve your aims

• Software programming is very hard to understand, but

I’m slowly getting there. (= managing to understand it)

get nowhere = make no progress

• I tried to explain the situation to him, but I’m afraid I got

nowhere. (= I failed to make him understand.)

get on (with) = make good progress

• We’re getting on quite well with the flat. We’ve painted

two rooms already.

• How are you getting on with your homework? (= How

much have you done?)

Choose the correct words in bold to complete

the following sentences.

a) They say that in business, you need to get / make it

by the time you’re 40.

b) How are you getting on / off with the new house?

c) Everyone loved her new dress. It was an absolute

hit / flop.

d) They’re making good progress / success with the

ring road. It will be finished in 2016.

e) The garden needs a lot of work, but I’m slowly

going / getting there.

f) Her idea of living in India for a year is a complete

no-starter / non-starter.

g) I hope you have a succeeding / successful trip to

London.

h) He’s managed / succeeded to pass his driving test.

Answers: a) make; b) on; c) hit; d) progress (ring road: Umgehungsstraße); e) getting; f) non-starter; g) successful; h) managed

EXERCISE

Word Builder | LANGUAGE

Build your vocabulary

JOANNA WESTCOMBE presents useful words and phrases from this issue of Spotlight and

their collocations. The words may also have other meanings that are not listed here.

deposit [di(pQzIt] noun p. 59

pride [praId] noun p. 44

the first payment made for something expensive

a feeling that you are better or more important than

Anzahlung

other people

At last! We’ve put down a deposit on the

perfect flat.

The rest of the money to be paid is called the balance.

Stolz; Hochmut

When he lost the contract, it was mostly his

male pride that suffered.

Sometimes, you just have to swallow your pride.

roar [rO:] verb p. 47

(for example, of an engine) make a loud, deep sound

dröhnen

At the summer festival, the music roared as

the rain poured down.

See the extra notes below on how to use roar.

wrap [rÄp] verb p. 55

cover sth. completely, often in paper

einpacken

Can you wrap the cheese and put it in the

fridge, please?

Often, we wrap things up: “I wrapped up her present.”

entire [In(taIE] adjective p. 70

including everyone or every part of something

keep sb. on his / her toes

[)ki:p Qn )hIz / )h§: (tEUz] phrase p. 67

gesamt, ganz, komplett

I’ve just spent the entire evening trying to

install an update on my laptop.

Notice the stress on the second syllable: [In(taIE].

make people concentrate and prepared for the

unexpected

jmdn. auf Trab halten

I test my students regularly to keep them on

their toes.

How to use the verb roar

Check your dictionary for more phrases with toes.

Foto: iStock

The roar that the farmer heard in the short story on

page 46 came from a train’s engine. But other things

roar, too. Lions and certain wild animals were roaring

a long time before engines made any sound. And when

people get angry, they may roar at each other.

You can roar with laughter and roar your appreciation

(Anerkennung) of something. From the verb and noun

roar, we have the adjective roaring. On a cold day, it’s

pleasant to sit in front of a roaring fire.

If British people talk enthusiastically about a play or a

party, they might call it a roaring success. If you’re in

the engine business, and your sales are good, you can

say that you do a roaring trade in engines.

Things that roar are energetic and exciting, and so

were the 1920s, which is why this period is sometimes

known as the Roaring Twenties.

Complete the following sentences with words

from this page in their correct form.

a) Well, you know what they say: ___________ comes

before a fall.

b) We’d love to buy a house, but we can’t afford the

___________.

c) From here, you can hear the waterfall ___________

down on to the rocks below.

d) The ___________ village came out to watch as the

cyclists rode past on the Tour de France.

e) There’s no point in ___________ the bottle. He’ll drink

it straightaway.

f) Her home-made cider is always a roaring ___________

at parties.

OVER TO YOU!

Answers: a) pride; b) deposit; c) roaring; d) entire; e) wrapping; f) success

10|14 Spotlight

61

LANGUAGE | Perfectionists Only!

WILL O’RYAN explains developments in the English language and examines some of

the finer points of grammar.

The new

neediness

Speakers of English have long been

known for a tendency to express

themselves indirectly for fear of offending

(beleidigen, verletzen) someone.

This is probably also the underlying

cause of a new trend that has

been observed in recent years, particularly

in North American English:

an avoidance of the imperative. In

fact, some have even suggested that

the imperative construction is on its

way out of the language.

A few years ago, American writer

and language commentator Ben

Yagoda identified a popular new

sentence structure he calls “the kindergarten

imperative”. In place of

the traditional imperative, “Please +

infinitive”, we now have “I need you

to + infinitive”. This usage seems to

come from the speech of parents or

other adults when they are talking to

children. Today, one hears this construction

all the time, particularly

in the speech of figures of authority,

such as security personnel at airports:

“I need you to take your shoes off.”

Speaking of air travel, it seems

that some of the first people to start

using the kindergarten imperative

were flight attendants. To dress it up

(verbrämen, schönreden) even more,

they’ll add “go ahead” and “for me”:

“I need you to go ahead and return

your seat to its upright position for

me.” Beyond this specific construction,

“need to” has largely displaced

(verdrängen) the other verbs of obligation

or requirement: “have to”

“must” and “should”. So today, we

often hear “You need to...” where

once “You should...” was typical. It’s

popular in the first person: “I need

to go now”, for example, instead of

“I have to go now”.

-ity versus -ness

Grammar

Here, we will look at two suffixes: -ness and -ity. Both can be attached to

adjectives to form nouns with the general meaning “quality / state of being

[adjective]”, but they are greatly contrasted in their behaviour.

Let us focus first on -ity. Many -ity nouns entered English as loanwords from

French. The stem of the noun can, therefore, differ noticeably from the free

adjective: precocious (frühreif) — precocity, humble (bescheiden) — humility.

-ity nouns often have the stress on the syllable immediately before the suffix:

a) noble [(nEUb&l] nobility [nEU(bIlEti]

eccentric [Ik(sentrIk] eccentricity [)eksen(trIsEti]

The vowel (Vokal) of the stressed syllable is often changed from long to short:

b) verbose [v§:(bEUs] (wortreich) verbosity [v§:(bQsEti]

chaste [tSeIst] (keusch) chastity [(tSÄstEti]

The suffix -ity is subject to certain restrictions: it cannot be attached to

adjectives ending in one of the native Germanic suffixes (-ed, -ful, -ish, -less,

-ly). It is most typically added to adjectives of Romance origin, particularly

when they contain a Romance suffix, such as -ous. The -ous of the adjective

may also be missing in the noun: simultaneous [)sIm&l(teIniEs] — simultaneity

[)sIm<E(neIEti], continuous — continuity. In some cases, the spelling is

-ety ; for example, various — variety. The semantic relationship between

adjective and noun can also be less transparent than simply “quality / state of

being [adjective]”. While “variety” and “curiosity” both have the base reading,

there is also a further, concrete (countable) reading, as in (c):

c) How many varieties of fish are there in that lake? (variety = type)

I admired her dress, but only as a curiosity. (curiosity = sth. unusual)

On all three levels, phonological, morphological and semantic, -ity nouns are

not always transparent or predictable. In contrast, the suffix -ness is quite

straightforward: there is no change in the pronunciation or form of the base

adjective, and the semantics are entirely predictable. Moreover, it can be

attached to virtually any adjective and even to other word classes:

d) exactness oneness nothingness

There is one case in which -ity and -ness compete: many -ity nouns have

an adjective base ending in -able / -ible, such as avoidability, compatibility.

Here, -ity can be considered a freely productive suffix of present-day English.

Sustainability (Nachhaltigkeit) is a relatively recent example. Nonetheless,

in many cases, only the -ness noun exists: charitableness, reasonableness.

Speakers often prefer the -ity to the -ness noun, but there are plenty of cases

where both are used side by side. And when the adjective is used in a new or

informal (umgangssprachlich) sense, -ness has priority: “impossibleness” to

refer to a person’s behaviour rather than “impossibility”.

Complete these sentences with a nominalization of “monstrous”.

1. I simply cannot believe the ______________________ of his crimes.

2. That’s not a work of art, it’s a ______________________ .

Fotos: iStock

62

Spotlight 10|14

Answers: 1. “monstrosity” and “monstrousness” are both possible; 2. monstrosity

Crossword | LANGUAGE

Exploring Australia

The words in this puzzle are taken from the History article about

the Hume-Hovell expedition. You may wish to refer to pages 40–41.

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9

12 13

17

19

Competition!

10 11

14 15 16

20 21 22 23

27

Across

24 25

26

1. From one side to the other: “We sailed ______ the lake.”

4. To go behind someone else.

6. Past tense of “lie”: “We didn’t know what ______ ahead.”

7. To look for someone or something.

10. A round metal container with a handle, used for cooking.

12. Going somewhere on foot.

14. Up to a certain time.

17. Areas of land where food is grown.

18. Not many.

19. A male adult.

20. In the direction of: “We went ______ Sydney.”

21. Those people: “Did you go with ______?”

24. Not young.

25. To be: “Who ______ that?”

26. Raised: “They stood on an ______ platform.”

27. A primitive flat boat without sides.

How to take part

Form a single word from the letters in the coloured

squares. Send it on a postcard to:

Redaktion Spotlight, “October Prize Puzzle”,

Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg, Deutsch land.

Or go to www.spotlight-online.de/crossword

Ten winners will be chosen from the entries we receive

by 20 October 2014. Each will receive the CD and app

Audiotraining Aufbau Englisch by courtesy of Pons.

The answer to our August puzzle was redwoods.

18

Mike Pilewski

Solution to puzzle 9/14:

WELCOME

E Q U A L L Y A N O

P I R N O

I N F L U E N C E

W A S E S I

I O L D R G A M E

T E H I

H O S P I T A L I T Y T

F S D C H

F L Y O A L I K E

E U F U R

R B A T H T U B S

I E H

B E T T E R R E G R E T

Down

1. Every part, or everyone.

2. Belonging to.

3. To perceive something.

4. “We were gone ______ two months.”

5. At what time?

7. Large boats that carry passengers or goods.

8. A strong disagreement.

9. To keep going.

11. A word of comparison: “You’re ______ tall as I am.”

13. Big.

15. “Don’t turn ______. Turn right.”

16. At this time.

17. At a greater distance.

19. Created.

22. To own or possess.

23. Past tense of “do”.

Congratulations to:

Ute Weiss (Schopfloch)

Inge Hübner (Hersbruck)

Christa Wiechert (Schwanewede)

Sylke Strüber (Neuruppin)

Ferdinand Babiak (Gummersbach)

Friederike Hegelau (Friedrichshafen)

Gerhard Wittmann (Lieboch, Austria)

Karin Resak (Ottendorf-Okrilla)

Marianne Ammann (CH-Jenins)

Gabrielle Kalke Hinterbuchner (Salzburg, Austria)


AUDIO | October 2014

Spotlight

AUDIO

Activate your English!

Each month, SPOTLIGHT AUDIO brings you 60 minutes of texts, dialogues, interviews,

news reports and language exercises related to the current issue of Spotlight magazine.

Improve your listening skills and activate your English with the help of native speakers

from around the world.

Wherever

you see this

symbol at the start of

an article in the magazine,

you will find the text

and/or the related

interview or language

exercises on

Spotlight Audio.

Fotos: Corbis; Getty Images; J. Hutchins; iStock

Spotlight Audio is presented by Rita Forbes and

David Creedon. Among the highlights are:

• A special focus. Spotlight Audio is built around

themes found in the magazine. In the October issue

of Spotlight Audio, the special focus is on New York

City. We discover the best way to cross the Brooklyn

Bridge, enjoy the Staten Island Ferry, get some insider

tips and learn the special words NYC natives use.

• Authentic and current content. In the Replay

section, Spotlight Audio looks at news and recent

events from around the world. This section features

listening exercises with the voices of people who’ve

been in the news, including quotes from politicians,

journalists and business people.

• A variety of English accents. You’ll hear native

speakers from the US (Travel), Ireland (A Day in My

Life), Canada (Debate) and a number of regional

accents from around Britain. Interviews and reports

allow you to hear a wide range of voices from different

parts of the English-speaking world.

Choose your listening format

Spotlight Audio is available either as a download

or as a CD.

Find out more about how to subscribe to Spotlight Audio at:

• aboshop.spotlight-verlag.de/de/spotlight-hoeren

• www.spotlight-online.de/products/audio-cd

• www.sprachenshop.de/spotlight-audio


This month’s

audio content

Below is a complete list

of the tracks on October’s

Spotlight Audio.

The page numbers refer to

those in the current issue of

Spotlight magazine.

1. Introduction

2. World View: It’s a good month for...

autumn colours (text: p. 10)

3. A Day in My Life: Mountain rescue expert

Piaras Kelly (interview: pp. 8–9)

4. Britain Today: Everything has its limits

(text: p. 13)

5. Travel: Inside New York

(excerpt: pp. 14–21)

6. Travel: A native New Yorker

(interview: pp. 14–21)

7. Travel: What they say in NYC (pp. 14–21)

8. Everyday English: Books

(dialogues: pp. 55–56)

9. Food: Traditional Native American

cooking (interview: pp. 24–25)

10. American Life: Small is beautiful

(text: p. 67)

11. Replay: International news, with language

explanations

12. Replay: The Dark Net

13. Replay: The Monkey Selfie

14. Language: Poetry, please! (pp. 30–35)

15. Language: Enjoying poetry (pp. 30–35)

16. Debate: Does Canada still need public

broadcasting? (interviews: pp. 38–39)

17. English at Work: Putting a caller through

(p. 59)

18. Peggy’s Place: Decision time? (text: p. 58)

19. Short Story: The mountain railway

(text: pp. 46–47)

20. Conclusion

World View (track 2)

Travel (tracks 5–7)

Language (tracks 14–15)

Debate (track 16)

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THE LIGHTER SIDE | Wit and Wisdom

Be careful when a naked person offers

you a shirt.

Maya Angelou (1928–2014), American writer

Dentist’s bill

A man phones his dentist when he receives a huge bill from

her. “I’m shocked,” he says. “This is three times what you

normally charge.”

“Yes, I know,” says the dentist. “But you screamed so much,

you scared away two other patients.”

© Bulls

Good image

Peanuts

The Argyle Sweater

A job making mirrors is something I could really see myself

doing.

Fast food

My sister bet me I couldn’t build a car out of spaghetti.

You should have seen her face when I drove pasta.

bet sb. [bet]

capture [(kÄptSE]

charge [tSA:dZ]

light bulb [(laIt bVlb]

pasta [(pÄstE]

see oneself doing sth.

[(si: wVn)self )du:IN]

surprise twist

[sE)praIz (twIst]

torture [(tO:tSE]

mit jmdm. eine Wette eingehen

gefangen nehmen

verlangen

Glühbirne

Nudeln; Wortspiel mit „past her”

sich vorstellen können, etw. zu tun

überraschende Wendung, Drehung

foltern

Writers

• Jerry meets an old friend he hasn’t seen for years. The

friend asks Jerry what he’s doing nowadays. “I’m doing

what I’ve always wanted to do,” says Jerry. “I’m a writer.”

“That’s great!” the friend replies. “Have you sold anything

yet?” “Sure,” says Jerry. “I’ve sold my house, my car

— nearly all my stuff.”

• What does a crime writer do when he changes a light bulb?

He likes to give it a surprise twist at the end.

Spies like us

Three spies are captured. The first spy is French, the second

one is German and the third is Italian. Soldiers enter their

cell, take out the French spy, sit him down on a chair in the

next room and tie his hands behind him. They torture him

for two hours before he answers all their questions. The

soldiers throw the French spy back into the cell and bring

out the German. They tie his hands, too, and torture him for

four hours before he tells them what they want to know.

Next, they bring out the Italian. They tie his hands behind

his back and begin to torture him. Four hours go by, and the

Italian hasn’t said a word, then eight hours and 16 hours.

After 24 hours, the soldiers give up and take him back to his

cell. The German and French spies are impressed and ask

him how he managed not to talk. The Italian spy responds,

“I wanted to, but I couldn’t move my hands.”

© Bulls

66

Spotlight 10|14

In a small

town, you can

start and end your

life at the same

place

American Life | GINGER KUENZEL

Small is beautiful

Das Leben in einer kleinen Stadt hat viele Vorzüge, aber ein

paar davon sind so skurril, dass man sich nur wundern kann,

wenn man davon hört.

Foto: iStock

There’s a lot to like about living

in a small town. For example,

one could easily get through

an entire lifetime here in Hague

without ever having to parallel park.

Of course, there are lots of other

things that make small-town life so

wonderful. What I always tell people

about Hague is: “Hard to get there,

harder to leave.” And here are a few

of the reasons — in no particular

order.

When I cut my finger with a

knife recently, I had to make a trip

to the emergency room in the next

town. The receptionist there asked

me if I had ever been to that hospital

before. I thought for a moment, and

then said, “I was born here. Does

that count?” Only in a small town

are you likely to go back, decades

later, to the hospital where you were

born. And since they’ve now replaced

the original hospital building with a

senior living center, it’s even possible

for me to start and end my life at the

same place.

My hairdresser, Bridget, is also in

the next town. She comes from a big

family, and her parents come from

big families, so she’s related to nearly

everyone — in several towns in the

area — either by blood or by marriage.

The fact that there have been

lots of failed marriages and subsequent

remarriages expands her pool

of relatives even further. The result is

that Bridget’s hair salon is the ideal

place to hear all the gossip about

everyone.

Since I’m not related, maybe

she doesn’t tell tales about me after

I leave. But then again, how can I

be sure? That’s why I often wear a

T-shirt that says “Careful, or you

might end up in my novel” when I

go to see Bridget. I like to keep her

on her toes and wondering who’s going

to talk about whom first.

It was very wise of my parents

to give me a name that nobody else

in Hague had. Last summer, I was

at the Hague Market checkout. As

I was leaving, Jim, the owner, said,

“See you later, Ginger.” Suddenly,

someone else in line said: “Ginger?

I think we might have rented your

house back in the ’90s!” It turned out

to be true. We had only had contact

by phone back then. We had never

met. What a pleasant surprise to

meet finally.

There are a million other reasons

to love living in a small town. When

my well pump broke recently, lots of

people offered to help out — either

by letting me use their shower or by

dropping off containers of water at

my house. And although having no

water might seem like a very big

problem, it’s obviously just an inconvenience

compared to more serious

problems, such as a fire or medical

Ginger Kuenzel is a freelance writer who lived in Munich for 20 years.

She now calls a small town in upstate New York home.

emergency, or the death of a loved

one. In those cases, too, people here

pull together and offer the kind of

comfort and support that can come

only from those who know you well.

One disadvantage about living

here is that I can’t simply dash to the

store looking like a wreck, because

I’m sure to run into lots of people

I know. Of course, they don’t care

nearly as much as I do that I have

coffee stains on my shirt and bags

under my eyes. That’s not the kind of

thing that counts here.

Maybe one day, I’ll be paying for

my coffee at the Hague Market and

someone will say, “Hey, is this the

Hague I read about in Spotlight?”

Small towns: great places

checkout [(tSekaUt]

Kasse

comfort [(kVmf&rt]

Trost

dash [dÄS]

flitzen

drop sth. off [drA:p (O:f]

etw. vorbeibringen

failed [feI&ld]

gescheitert

gossip [(gA:sEp]

Klatsch

inconvenience [)InkEn(vi:niEns]

Unannehmlichkeit

keep sb. on his/her toes [)ki:p A:n hIz/h§: (toUz] jmdn. auf Trab halten ( p. 61)

likely: be ~ to do sth. [(laIkli]

etw. wahrscheinlich tun

parallel park [)pÄrElel (pA:rk]

parallel zum Gehsteig einparken

(meist rückwärts)

senior living center [)si:nj&r (lIvIN )sent&r]

Seniorenresidenz

stain [steIn]

Fleck

subsequent [(sVbsIkwEnt]

nachfolgend, später

turn out [t§:n (aUt]

sich erweisen

well pump [(wel pVmp]

Brunnenpumpe


FEEDBACK | Readers’ Views

Write to:

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Please include your postal

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We may edit letters for

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Kompliment!

Von Ihrer vielseitigen und vielgestaltigen Sprachzeitschrift

erhalte ich jedes Mal wertvolle Einblicke in die englischsprachige

Welt. Ich danke Ihnen für den bewunderungswürdigen

Einsatz des ganzen Redaktionsteams. Gerne

werde ich Spotlight weiterempfehlen.

Hans Martin Baumann, Winterthur, Switzerland

Before? Really?

Spotlight 4/14: Travel — “On tour in London”. In dem

Bericht über die Harry-Potter-Tour durch London heißt

es: “Slowly, the screen lifts, and we find ourselves standing

before the actual doors.” Ich habe “before” noch nie

als adverbiale Bestimmung des Ortes gehört. Können Sie

mich bitte aufklären?

Brigitta Hansen, by e-mail

Other readers have also questioned this use of the word “before”.

It is correct, although it is more commonly found in

old-fashioned or poetic contexts. Today, it is most often used

in situations in which someone is standing in front of something

impressive or someone who commands respect (“We

stood before the queen.”)

The Editor

Anne Kuhberger, a pupil from Wallerstein, Bavaria, was our intern

for one week in August. During her stay with us, Anne learned

about the various aspects of writing, editing and production that

go into making this magazine each month.

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68

Spotlight 10|14

FREE NEXT MONTH

November 2014 | NEXT MONTH

A special extra section

that gives you the vocabulary boost you need. Improve your word power!

Features

US English versus

UK English — what’s

the difference?

Pants. In US English, they’re a

piece of clothing that covers

your legs. In British English,

they’re underwear. These

two forms of English contain

many differences. We tell

you what they are and what’s

special about them.

A very personal

guide to the

island of Jersey

Meet author Claus Beling: he

writes murder mysteries set

on Jersey, one of the Channel

Islands. Join us for a personal

tour of his favourite beaches

and hiking trails while also

learning about Jersey’s fascinating

culture.

To cook or not to cook?

A look at the

raw-food movement

Fans of the raw-food movement say

that preparing meals without the

use of heat is a healthy way to live.

Find out more about how you can

eat eggs, vegetables, meat and much

more — all uncooked.

Language

Vocabulary Everyday English Spoken English

Fotos: Polka Dot; Digital Vision; Getty Images; Photos.com; Hemera; Wavebreak Media

Say “cheese”! We present two pages

with pictures plus the words and

expressions that you need to talk

about photography.

What do people normally say to a

colleague who is leaving? Join the

party and learn about the type of

conversations that take place.

Just a moment: how do you check

that you’ve understood what

someone has said? Learn the right

questions to make sure you “get it”.

Spotlight 11/14 is on sale from

29 October

10|14 Spotlight

69

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | My Life in English

As a musician, what

makes English important

to you?

English is the language of

popular music. Having

said that, I write songs

almost exclusively in

German — but I communicate

in English with

musicians from other

countries.

When was your first English lesson, and what can you

remember about it?

It was in the fifth class. Our teacher predicted that for

the rest of our lives, we would never forget that the word

Kiste means “box” in English. I’m not at the end of my

life yet, but I think he was probably right.

Who is your favourite English-language musician? Why?

I like the English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran a lot at

the moment. My all-time favourites are Sting, Billy Joel

and Paul Simon. When truth and poetry meet without

ending up in kitschy platitudes and the entire thing is

brilliantly connected with music — then I raise my hat.

What song do you most like to sing in English?

Sorry, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.

Which person from the English-speaking world would

you most like to meet?

Nick Park, the film-maker behind Wallace and Gromit,

is welcome to invite me for a tour through Aardman

studios.

If you could be any place in the English-speaking world

right now, where would it be?

I was in California in January, and it was 26 °C.

I wouldn’t mind experiencing that more often.

Oliver Gies

Er ist Komponist, Dirigent und Songschreiber. Aber am besten kennt

man ihn als Teil der A-cappella-Band Maybebop. Hier sinniert Oliver

Gies über die Bedeutung des Englischen in seinem Leben.

Which is your favourite city in the English-speaking

world and why?

London is fascinating to me — not beautiful, but interesting.

There is something to discover on every corner.

What was your best or funniest experience in English?

I’m always shy about speaking, because I don’t think my

English is very good. So, I was very uncommunicative

at the beginning of Maybebop’s US trip earlier this year.

Then I realized two things: first, native speakers are

happy if you can simply make yourself understood, no

matter how basic your language is. And second, every

taxi driver in Washington, DC, spoke considerably

worse than I did.

What is your favourite English word and why?

“Well, ...” It gives me time to think of the words I need.

Which phrase do you use most in English?

“What is the English word for...?”

Which English word is hardest for you to pronounce?

“Squirrel.”

Which person from the English-speaking world would

you choose to be stuck with on a desert island?

Comedian Steve Carell, because he’s so funny and sad

at the same time; actress Zoe Saldana, because she’s so

beautiful; and actor Chuck Norris, because he knows

how to survive under inhospitable circumstances.

What do you do to improve your English — if anything?

I have an English dictionary and an app to practise

vocabulary. Whenever I see a new English word, I look

for the translation and add it to my app. And sometimes,

I even practise the words.

What would be your motto in English?

Shit happens. Enjoy the ride anyway.

circumstances [(s§:kEmstÄnsIz]

considerably [kEn(sIdErEb&li]

desert [(dezEt]

entire [In(taIE]

Umstände, Bedingungen

beträchtlich, deutlich

hier: verlassen, einsam

gesamt, ganz, komplett

( p. 61)

inhospitable [)InhQ(spItEb&l]

mind [maInd]

no matter [)nEU (mÄtE]

predict [pri(dIkt]

squirrel [(skwIrEl]

unwirtlich, menschenfeindlich

etw. dagegen haben

ganz egal, unabhängig davon

vorhersagen

Eichhörnchen

Foto: Sven Sindt

70

Spotlight 10|14

Schon gehört?

Der Audio-Trainer mit Hörverständnis-Übungen

in Ihrer Lieblingssprache. Als CD oder Download.

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*auf alle Neubestellungen im Aktionszeitraum 13.08. – 31.10.2014

Green Light

10 2014

ENGLISCH LEICHT GEMACHT

Grammar

Practise

using the

past tense

Vocabulary

Learn the

words you

need at

Halloween

Culture

Find out

who the

Archers are

GREEN LIGHT | News

This month...

Was beschäftigt die englischsprachige

Welt im Oktober? VANESSA CLARK spürt

die heißen Storys für Sie auf.

Sweets for my sweet

Society In the Midwestern and Northeastern

states of the US, the third Saturday in

October is called “Sweetest Day”. It’s a day

when people give candy to their friends,

family and lovers.

Who started Sweetest Day? The candy

industry, of course. The first Sweetest Day

was in 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio. A group of

candy-makers gave 20,000 boxes of sweets

to poor children, hospital patients and old

people. They wanted to begin a new tradition

— and to sell more of their products.

Ed

loves

penguins

1969

45 years ago

UK On 5 October 1969, the BBC showed a new

TV comedy series: Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

It was the start of a revolution in comedy.

This year, the Pythons reunited for a one-off

show. The first 14,500 tickets were sold out in

less than a minute.

Music The hottest

tickets in London this

month are for Ed

Sheeran’s four nights at the

O 2

Arena. Fans want to hear his

big hits, “Lego House” and “The

A Team”, as well as newer songs

from his album X (pronounced “multiply”).

X is one of the biggest albums of

2014 on both sides of the Atlantic.

In his concerts, Sheeran stands alone on

stage. He plays his guitar and sings — that’s

all. There are no other musicians. There’s no

band, and there are no dancers. He recently

tweeted: “If I ever have any backup dancers,

I want the penguins from Madagascar.” Ed

and dancing penguins — who wouldn’t

want to see that?

backup dancer

[(bÄkVp )dA:nsE]

lover [(lVvE]

multiply [(mVltIplaI]

one-off [)wVn (Qf]

UK ifml.

pronounce [prE(naUns]

reunite [)ri:ju(naIt]

sell out [sel (aUt]

Hintergrundtänzer(in)

Geliebte(r)

multiplizieren

einmalig

aussprechen

wieder zusammenkommen

ausverkaufen

Fotos: Corbis; iStock; PR; Illustrationen: B. Förth

2

Spotlight 10|14

Halloween

8 pictures | GREEN LIGHT

STEPHANIE SHELLABEAR presents words for the things you might see on

31 October.

1

8

2

7

3

6

4

Write the words

next to the pictures.

1. ghost [gEUst]

2. witch [wItS]

3. bat [bÄt]

4. pumpkin

[(pVmpkIn]

5. vampire

[(vÄmpaIE]

6. haunted house

[)hO:ntId (haUs]

7. spider [(spaIdE]

8. cobweb

[(kQbweb]

Answers

a) pumpkin; b) spider; c) cobweb;

d) ghost; e) witch; f) vampire

5

Complete the story using words from the list.

I love Halloween. I buy the biggest orange (a) __________

I can find. Into it, I cut a face with big eyes and long teeth,

and then I put a light inside. A little black (b) __________ has

been busy and made a (c) __________ over my front door.

How perfect! When the children arrive at my house, one is

dressed as a (d) __________ — all in white. One is dressed as

a (e) __________, with a tall black hat. The third child has big,

white teeth with blood on them; he’s a (f) __________. All

together, they shout: “Trick or treat!”

Trick or treat — in German Süßes oder Saures — is what

children shout when they go from house to house in their

costumes at Halloween. It means: we will play a trick on you (do

something bad) if you don’t give us a treat (something sweet).

Tips


GREEN LIGHT | Grammar elements

The past simple

STEPHANIE SHELLABEAR presents basic grammar. Here, she explains the

use of regular and irregular verbs in the past simple tense.

The past simple tense is used to talk about finished actions and past facts.

For regular verbs, the past simple is formed by adding -ed to the infinitive:

• He played with the dogs.

• They watched a DVD together.

Not all verbs in the past simple are formed by adding -ed. There are other types of regular

verbs. Look at the examples below:

verbs ending in add examples

-e -d loved, liked, hoped

consonant + -y change -y to -i, add -ed tried, carried, cried

one vowel (Vokal) + one consonant double the last letter, add -ed stopped, planned

1. Write the correct past simple form of the following verbs.

a) arrive ______________________

b) shout ______________________

c) fit ______________________

d) touch ______________________

e) hurry ______________________

f) reply ______________________

There are many irregular verbs. The past simple forms of these verbs are different from the

infinitive. It is best to learn them one by one. You already know many of them; for example:

infinitive

buy

drink

eat

give

go

tell

past simple

bought

drank

ate

gave

went

told

Answers: 1. a) arrived; b) shouted; c) fitted

((an)passen, montieren); d) touched (berühren);

e) hurried; f) replied (antworten);

2. a) gave; b) bought; c) told; d) went

2. Complete these sentences with the past

simple form of the verbs in bold.

a) My mum _________ (give) my old bike to my

little sister.

b) We _________ (buy) some flowers for our

neighbour.

c) The teacher ________________ (tell) them to

be quiet.

d) David ________________ (go) to university in

York.

Fotos: iStock

4

Spotlight 10|14

An extra hour

It’s Sunday morning. Donna is in the kitchen making coffee

when Andrew comes in. By DAGMAR TAYLOR

The Greens | GREEN LIGHT

Donna: Hi! You were up early. Where did

you go?

Andrew: I went to the shop to get a paper

and some milk. Guess what we forgot to

do last night.

Donna: I don’t know. What?

Andrew: Put the clocks back. The shop

wasn’t even open when I got there.

Donna: So what did you do?

Andrew: I had a nice chat with Bob from

next door. He and Betty forgot to

change their clocks, too. He says hello,

by the way.

Donna: Aw, that’s nice. We should have

them round to see the wedding photos.

Andrew: Yes, we should. I’m pretty sure

Betty’s dying to see them.

Donna: What about today? We’re not doing

anything, are we?

Andrew: No, we’re not, but can I have my

breakfast first, please?

Donna: Of course you can, dear. Coffee?

• Here, up means “out of bed”.

• People talk about a / the paper when

they mean the newspaper: “Have you

read the paper?”

• When you want someone to try to give

an answer to your question, you begin

with Guess what...

• In the EU, the clocks go back one hour

at 3 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.

People talk about putting the clocks

back or “changing the clocks”.

• When you have someone round, you

invite someone into your home, usually

for tea or coffee, or for dinner.

• If someone is dying to do something

(ifml.), he or she wants to do it very much.

Tips

by the way [)baI DE (weI]

say hello [seI hE(lEU]

wedding [(wedIN]

Find the missing words.

a) You ______ up early.

b) Where ______ you go?

c) I ______ to get the paper.

d) I ______ a nice chat with Bob.

übrigens

jmdm. schöne

Grüße ausrichten

Hochzeit

Donna

Andrew

Listen to the dialogue at

www.spotlight-online.de/products/green-light

Answers: a) were / got; b) did; c) went; d) had

GREEN LIGHT | Get writing

Inviting yourself

VANESSA CLARK helps you to write letters, e-mails and more in English.

This month: how to invite yourself to stay with a friend.

I’m coming to Liverpool!

To...

CC...

Subject:

k.bunton@scousemail.net

I’m coming to Liverpool!

Hi Kiera

How are you? I hope you remember me, your former colleague from Switzerland.

You very kindly said I could come and stay with you next time I’m in Liverpool.

I’m coming to Liverpool next month, and I’d love to see you. Do you still have your spare room?

Would it be OK to stay with you for a few days? If it isn’t convenient, I can go to a hotel. No problem.

Love

Trudi

• The words very kindly (freundlicherweise) are quite

polite, as in these examples: “You very kindly invited

me” or “You very kindly offered...”

• A spare room is an extra bedroom for guests.

• To check, ask: Would it be OK to...? or “Is it OK if I...?”

• If you’re not sure how long you want to stay, you can

say, “a couple of days” (ein paar Tage), “a short visit” or

a few days.

Tips

Fotos: Alamy; iStock

Use it!

Highlight the key words and phrases that you would use if

you needed to write an e-mail like this yourself .

convenient [kEn(vi:niEnt]

former [(fO:mE]

Switzerland [(swItsElEnd]

passend, gelegen

früher, ehemalig

Schweiz

6

Spotlight 10|14

Culture corner | GREEN LIGHT

I like... The Archers

Jeden Monat stellt ein Redakteur

etwas Besonderes aus der

englischsprachigen Welt vor.

Diesen Monat präsentiert

Chefredakteurin INEZ SHARP ihre

Lieblingsradiosendung.

What it is

Every weekday and on Sundays, five million

Brits listen to BBC Radio 4’s 15-minute drama,

The Archers. At the heart of the programme

is the Archer family. Called an “everyday story

of country folk”, the action takes place in the

fictional village of Ambridge. When the show

started in 1950, the focus was on farming life,

but the stories have expanded to cover topics

such as drugs and crime. A lot of the actors

have been with the series for many years —

the actor Norman Painting played Phil Archer

for 59 years.

Fun facts

• Many of the actors in the series have

other jobs. Felicity Finch, who plays

Ruth Archer, is also a reporter for the

BBC.

• The tempo of the theme tune has been

used to teach doctors in England the

rhythm needed for cardiopulmonary

resuscitation.

• Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is one of

many famous people who have been

in the series.

Why I like it

I have listened to The Archers for so long that

David and Ruth Archer sound as familiar to

me as my own family. When I moved to the

Far East in 1989, I could not listen to the

programme. In shock, I called the BBC World

Service. The nice lady on the phone told me:

“There isn’t much interest in Ambridge in

Asia.” When I came back to Europe, I was so

happy I created my own dance to the famous

theme tune. Does that sound as if I’m not

interested in the lives of the country folk of

Ambridge? I am, of course, but a lot of what

happens is like comforting background noise,

so if I miss something important, I can ask

one of my English friends. They all listen, too.

create [kri(eIt]

crime [kraIm]

expand [Ik(spÄnd]

familiar [fE(mIliE]

fictional [(fIkS&nEl]

take place [teIk (pleIs]

theme tune [(Ti:m tju:n]

topic [(tQpIk]

erschaffen,

kreieren

Verbrechen

weiterentwickeln

bekannt, vertraut

fiktiv, frei erfunden

stattfinden

Titelmelodie

Thema

background [(bÄkgraUnd]

cardiopulmonary

resuscitation

[)kA:diEU)pVlmEnEri

ri)sVsI(teIS&n]

comforting [(kVmfEtIN]

country folk [(kVntri fEUk]

Hintergrund

Herz-Lungen-

Wiederbelebung

beruhigend,

tröstlich

Landleute, Landbevölkerung

GREEN LIGHT | Notes and numbers

Decimals

English-speaking people write and read out

(vorlesen) decimal numbers with a point,

not a comma. The numbers after the point

are said separately (einzeln):

89.12 = “eighty-nine point one two”

2.5 = “two point five”

0.33 = “zero point three three”

Your notes

Use this space for your own notes.

Write these numbers as you would

say them.

one point three

a) 1.3 _________________________________

b) 3.142 ________________________________

_____________________________________

c) 9.67 _______________________________

_____________________________________

d) 12.5 _______________________________

_____________________________________

e) 75.99 _______________________________

______________________________________

Get to the point

When someone is talking and you find it

difficult to follow that person because it is

not clear what he or she wants to say, the

person is not getting to the point:

• What a long story. I wish she would get

to the point.

Answers: b) three point one four two; c) nine point six

seven; d) twelve point five; e) seventy-five point nine nine

Fotos: Hemera; iStock

IMPRESSUM

Herausgeber und Verlagsleiter: Dr. Wolfgang Stock

Chefredakteurin: Inez Sharp

Stellvertretende Chefredakteurin: Claudine Weber-Hof

Chefin vom Dienst: Susanne Pfeifer

Autoren: Vanessa Clark, Stephanie Shellabear,

Dagmar Taylor

Redaktion: Owen Connors, Anja Giese,

Peter Green, Reinhild Luk, Michael Pilewski (Online),

Michele Tilgner, Joanna Westcombe

Bildredaktion: Sarah Gough (Leitung), Thorsten Mansch

Gestaltung: Marion Sauer/Johannes Reiner

www.vor-zeichen.de

Anzeigenleitung: Axel Zettler

Marketingleitung: Holger Hofmann

Produktionsleitung: Ingrid Sturm

Vertriebsleitung: Monika Wohlgemuth

Verlag und Redaktion: Spotlight Verlag GmbH

Postanschrift: Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg, Deutschland

Telefon +49(0)89/8 56 81-0, Fax +49(0)89/8 56 81-105

Internet: www.spotlight-online.de

Litho: Mohn Media Mohndruck GmbH, 33311 Gütersloh

Druck: Medienhaus Ortmeier, 48369 Saerbeck

© 2014 Spotlight Verlag, auch für alle genannten Autoren,

Fotografen und Mitarbeiter.

UNSER SPRACHNIVEAU: Das Sprachniveau in Green Light entspricht ungefähr Stufe A2 des

Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmens für Sprachen.

Spotlight

10 2014

Grammar to go 2!

DAGMAR TAYLOR hat für Sie die wichtigsten grundlegenden Grammatikregeln zum

Heraustrennen und Aufbewahren zusammengestellt.

On the following pages, which you can pull out and keep, we have collected some of the most important grammar rules

of the English language and added tips on how to remember them. With tables, explanations and examples, we help

you to understand these rules and get your grammar right.

ARTICLES

There are two articles in English — the definite article the and the indefinite article a / an.

a

an

before consonants and u [ju:] before vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

car

apple

cat

elephant

dog

ice cube

house

orange

university

umbrella

With “the”

When the person you are talking to knows which thing or

things you mean, use the:

Where’s the cake?

It’s on the table in the dining room.

A / an

A or an is used when “one” is meant:

Can you get an onion when you go to the supermarket?

Yes. Shall I get a bottle of wine, too?

When talking about jobs

or professions in English,

use a / an:

Is Jane an architect?

- No, she’s a biologist.

Without “the”

To talk about things in general, the is not used before

uncountable nouns or plural nouns:

Paul loves Italian food.

Yes, but he doesn’t like artichokes.

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns (C) can be counted and have plural forms. Uncountable nouns (U) do not have plural forms.

countable

loaf of bread (Brotlaib), slice of bread (Brotscheibe)

apple, banana, kiwi

chair, cupboard, table

piece of information

coin, dollar, note

bottle of water, glass of water, litre of water

uncountable

bread

fruit

furniture

information

money

water

Fotos: Thinkstock

Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable, depending on the situation:

It’s so hot. I’d really like an ice cream. (C)

Would you like a coffee? I’m having one. (C)

Me, too. Let’s go to Luca’s. They have the best ice No, thanks. I’m afraid coffee gives me a

cream in town. (U)

headache. (U)


MUCH, MANY AND A LOT

Much is used with uncountable nouns. Many is used with plural nouns.

much

many

How much money have you got? Will there be many children at the party?

Not much.

Yes. Too many, I expect.

I spent too much yesterday. I hope there won’t be many noisy boys.

In informal English, much and many are mostly used

in questions and negative clauses. In affirmative

clauses

, other words are often used, especially

a lot (of) and lots (of). These phrases can be used with

both countable and uncountable nouns:

Look! There are lots and lots of balloons.

I told you this party would be a lot of fun.

Much and many sound natural in affirmative clauses

when they come after as, so or too:

I can’t believe Marcus has bought a horse. It cost

as much as my car.

I know. He spent far too much on it. But that’s how

Marcus is. He spends too much on so many things he

doesn’t need.

IRREGULAR PLURAL FORMS

To make most nouns plural, simply add -s (cat — cats; car — cars). However, not all plural forms are made with -s.

general rule singular plural

noun ends in -f or -fe

change to -ves

shelf

knife

shelves

knives

noun ends in -s, -sh, -ch, -x

add -es

bus

dish

watch

box

buses

dishes

watches

boxes

noun ends in consonant and -y

remove -y, add -ies

baby

dictionary

babies

dictionaries

The plural of some nouns is irregular.

singular

child

fish

foot

man

mouse

person

sheep

tooth

woman

plural

children

fish

feet

men

mice

people

sheep

teeth

women

Some nouns that

end in -o take -s to form the

plural, others take -es:

zoo — zoos

tomato — tomatoes

Some can take either -s or -es:

volcanos or volcanoes

Some words are always used in their plural form — mainly things that have two parts joined together, such as

glasses (Brille), jeans, pyjamas, scissors, shorts, tights (Strumpfhose) and trousers:

I can’t read that. The print is too small.

I’ve got the scissors. Do you need them?

I think you need new glasses.

No thanks. I used a knife instead.

2

Spotlight 10|14

SOME AND ANY

To talk about indefinite quantities, some is used in affirmative sentences .

Any is used in negative sentences and in most questions .

some any

The same rules apply to someone, anyone, somebody, anybody, something and anything:

I think you’ve got something on

your shirt.

Oh, dear! It’s curry. There’s some

on my trousers, too.

Was it good? I hope there’s some

left.

I need something to clean it off

with.

It looks as if there isn’t any paper

in the printer.

You’re right. There doesn’t seem

to be any on the shelf.

I’ve looked in the cupboard, and

there isn’t anything there.

Typical. Just when you need

help, there isn’t anybody here.

Hello! Can anyone hear me? Is

anybody

there?

Is there anything I can help you

with?

Why can I never find anything in

my own kitchen?

Why doesn’t anyone listen to

me when I’m talking?

Offers and requests

Some is used in questions when the speaker offers something and expects the answer “yes”:

Would you like some cake with your coffee?

We also use some when we ask for something specific:

Can I borrow some of your books?

The rules are the same for someone, somebody and something:

Would you like something to drink?

Yes, please. Will someone come and take our order, or should we order at the bar?

PREPOSITIONS AND TIME — AT, IN, ON

The table below shows you when to use at, in and on when talking about time.

at in on

times, weekend, festivals part of day, longer period of time particular day

at three o’clock in the evening on Tuesday

at lunchtime in April on Christmas Day

at the weekend (UK) in spring on my birthday

at Easter in 1976 on Monday morning

I get up at six o’clock.

Even at the weekend?

(Note that North Americans say “on the weekend”.)

I wish my interview wasn’t so early in the morning.

When is it? On Monday?

No. It’s on the 19th.

No prepositions

At, in and on are not normally used before expressions of time with next, this, that, last, one, any, each, every,

some or all:

The new club is great. I danced all night.

So will you be going next week, too?

Yes. I hope I can go there every week.


PREPOSITIONS AND PLACE — AT, IN, ON

At, in and on are used not only when talking about time, but also to say where something is located.

at

on

in

at in on

at the back in the room on the wall

at the station in the building on the floor

at the top (of the page) in a town on the front page

at the end (of the book) in a photo on the ground floor

At is used to talk about the position of something at a

certain point:

• She’s sitting at her desk.

At is used with larger buildings or places that have many

different areas:

• Kevin works at the airport.

At is also used to describe a group activity at a certain

location, like a concert, a match or a party:

• Sorry that I didn’t call back. I was at a concert last night.

In is used for the position of things inside large areas:

• Sheila lives in London.

On is used to talk about the position of an object on a

surface (Oberfläche):

• The book is on the table.

CONTRACTIONS

Contractions (short forms) are used in natural spoken English and in informal writing, such as e-mails and letters to

friends and colleagues you know well.

The verb “be”

The following contractions are used with the verb be; for example, in the present simple or present continuous:

be

I am I’m I’m not

you, we, they are you’re, we’re, they’re you, we, they aren’t

he, she, it is he’s, she’s, it’s he, she, it isn’t

I’m hungry, Mum.

You’re late. And why aren’t you wearing

your coat?

It’s at Paul’s house. Isn’t dinner ready?

The verb “have”

We use short forms of the verb have in the present perfect (’ve). Here, ’s is the contraction of has:

have

I, you, we, they have ’ve haven’t

he, she, it has ’s hasn’t

It’s been (has been) a few months since Steve left. He hasn’t phoned.

I haven’t heard from him either, but to be honest, I’ve been too busy

to call him.

“had”, “will” and “would”

’d is the contraction of would, as well as had when used in the past perfect.

’ll is the contraction of will:

had, will, would

I, you, he, she, it, we, they had ’d hadn’t

I, you, he, she, it, we, they will ’ll won’t

I, you, he, she, it, we, they would ’d wouldn’t

I’d (I would) like to leave early today, if possible.

Oh! I didn’t realize Sue’d (Sue had) left more orders on my desk.

Don’t worry. I’ll help you with them tomorrow if you’re

too busy.

Other contractions

Some of these short forms are also used after question words (what, where, who, etc.) and that, there and here:

Where’s Kyle?

I don’t know, but here’s Marvin.

4

Spotlight 10|14

THIS, THAT, THESE AND THOSE

This, that, these and those are used with nouns — people or things.

near far

singular this that

plural these those

On the telephone, this

is used to say who is

calling:

- This is Julie. Could

I speak to Mark,

please?

This (singular) and these (plural) are used to talk about people and things that are close

to the speaker and for situations that the speaker is in at the moment:

Helen, this is John. He wrote the book you’re holding.

Really? This one? Could you sign it for me, please?

I love these shoes. They’re so comfortable.

They’re nice. This handbag would match them nicely.

That (singular) and those (plural) are used to talk about people, things and situations that are more distant:

Who’s that over there?

The man with the beard? That’s Barry.

But what are those children in the corner doing to that poor cat?

POSSESSIVE FORMS

Possessive forms give us information about the owner of something.

possessive (+ noun)

possessive (no noun)

my

mine

your

yours

his

his

her

hers

its –

our

ours

your

yours

their

theirs

Note that there is no

apostrophe [E(pQstrEfi]

in the possessive its:

- His dog can‘t

remember where its

bone is hidden.

My, your, his, etc. are used before nouns to say to whom something belongs.

Mine, yours, his, etc. are used without a following noun:

I’ve got my coat. Where’s yours?

I think mine is in the kitchen... Yes. Here it is.

Judy and Simon haven’t sold their house yet.

They haven’t? We’ve just sold ours.

Possessives, not articles, are used to talk about possessions and parts of the body:

Harry broke his arm yesterday. (not: the arm)

We say a friend of mine, not: a friend of me:

This is my friend Julius.

Julius, you’re Tim’s friend, aren’t you? Welcome! Any friend of his is a friend of mine.


REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Reflexive pronouns are used when the same person or thing is the subject and the object of the sentence:

• He (subject) talks to himself (object) all the time.

singular

plural

myself

ourselves

yourself

yourselves

himself, herself, itself

themselves

Some verbs are reflexive in German, but not in English:

Some verbs, such as burn, cut,

enjoy and hurt take a reflexive

pronoun:

• Enjoy yourselves at football

camp — and try not to hurt

yourselves.

verb

concentrate (sich konzentrieren)

decide (sich entscheiden)

feel (sich fühlen)

get dressed (sich anziehen)

get ready (sich fertig machen)

hurry (sich beeilen)

lie down (sich hinlegen)

meet (sich treffen)

shave (sich rasieren)

sit down (sich setzen)

example

Please be quiet. I can’t concentrate.

She can’t decide what she likes best.

I’m afraid she doesn’t feel well.

Can you get dressed, please?

He always takes so long to get ready.

We’re late. We have to hurry.

She’s going to lie down for an hour.

We’ll meet in Hamburg.

Why haven’t you shaved today?

Would you sit down, please?

The expression by myself /

yourself, etc. means “alone”:

• He walked to school all by

himself.

Notice the difference between

themselves and each other:

• The children were looking at

themselves in the mirror. Then

they looked at each other and

laughed.

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

Adjectives give us more information about nouns. Adverbs tell us more about verbs.

A lot of adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of the adjective:

adjective

adverb

attractive

attractively

bad

badly

careful

carefully

careless

carelessly

quick

quickly

quiet

quietly

slow

slowly

Please drive slowly.

Don’t worry. I always drive carefully.

Fast, hard and late are both adjectives and adverbs:

Jill’s a really fast runner. (adjective)

Yes, and she’s running as fast as she can. (adverb)

Good is an adjective, and the adverb is well:

Xavier’s English is good.

Yes. He speaks it really well.

Adjectives, not adverbs, are used after verbs that describe

changes, like be, become, get, go, grow and seem:

I keep forgetting things. I’m going grey. I’m getting old.

Well, to me, you seem as young as ever.

Adjectives are also used after verbs that describe how somebody

or something looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells.

This is because the subject, not the verb, is being described:

Something smells good.

Yes, and this tastes fantastic. Try some.

Many adjectives end in -ing and -ed. The -ing adjective is

used to describe a thing, such as a book or a film. The -ed

adjective is used to describe how someone feels:

That book was so interesting.

Tell me more. I’m really interested.

What a boring presentation!

I agree. I’ve never been so bored.

If a person is boring, he or she makes you feel bored:

David is so boring. All he talks about is politics.

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COMPARATIVES

To form a comparative adjective, -er is added to the end of an adjective or more / less is placed in front of it:

general rule adjective comparative

Add -er to short adjectives. fast faster

Double the consonant and add big

bigger

-er to adjectives ending in one

vowel and one consonant.

Change -y to -ier with adjectives dirty

dirtier

that end in -y.

Use more / less with adjectives

of more than two syllables.

expensive

more expensive

Flynn is taller than his father.

And Susie’s already bigger than me.

The fish here is cheaper than at the market.

It might be less expensive, but is it fresh?

Her cleaning lady is more expensive than mine.

But her house is dirtier.

His new wife is more understanding than his

ex-wife.

Yes, and she’s prettier, too.

A few adjectives have irregular comparative forms:

good — better

bad — worse

far — further / farther

The weather was better today.

But we walked further yesterday.

Before comparatives, you can use much, a lot, a bit,

a little, slightly (= a little):

The girls’ football team is much better than the boys’.

Yes, but their team morale is a bit lower.

SUPERLATIVES

To form a superlative adjective, -est is added to the end of an adjective or the most / the least is

placed before the adjective:

adjective

dirty

long

small

beautiful

expensive

intelligent

superlative

the dirtiest

the longest

the smallest

the most beautiful

the most expensive

the most intelligent

Nouns with superlatives normally have the article the:

I think this cheese is the most delicious I’ve ever tasted.

Maybe. But I think it must be the smelliest as well.

Some important adjectives are irregular:

good — the best

bad — the worst

far — the farthest / the furthest


ADVERBS AND WORD ORDER

Generally, adverbs can be placed in three different positions.

But not all adverbs can be placed in all of these positions:

Initial position

Mid-position

before the verb

Mid-position

after the first

End position

auxiliary verb (Hilfsverb)

Suddenly, Walter got up.

I sometimes play golf at

He doesn’t always behave

Walter got up suddenly.

the weekend.

like this.

Sometimes, I have bad

Jackie always calls on my

She has never been a

She finished her drink

dreams.

birthday.

team player.

quickly.

Adverbs of indefinite time and frequency (often, recently,

sometimes) can go in mid-position or end position:

• Kevin often comes here. / Kevin comes here often.

Adverbs that are used to say how well something is done

(well, badly) are put in end position:

• I don’t play the piano well.

Adverbs that tell us how something is done (slowly,

quickly, happily) can go in mid- or end position:

• Kate slowly opened the present. / Kate opened the

present slowly.

It’s unusual to put an adverb between the verb and its

object. Don’t say: I play sometimes golf.

SO AND SUCH

So and such are used to make the meaning of an adjective or adverb stronger.

so

such

This book is so good! It’s such a good book!

So comes before an adjective or an adverb without

a noun:

Robert is so good-looking.

And he plays the piano so beautifully, too.

So is also used before much, many, few and little:

I can’t believe the new sports centre will cost so

much.

Especially when so few people will use it after the

championships end.

They were expecting so many people to visit the fair,

but hardly anyone came.

Yes, but with so little advertising, what do you expect?

Such comes before a noun, or before an

adjective + noun:

That talent show is such nonsense.

But it’s often such good fun.

Such comes before a / an:

Crime stories are such a waste of time.

How can you say that? P. D. James is such an

excellent writer.

INFO

• For more information and exercises on grammar in English, see The Grammar Page every month

in Spotlight magazine.

• See page 57 in this month’s magazine for explanations of and exercises on using the third conditional.

• See The Grammar Page in next month’s magazine for more information on using gerunds.

• Spotlight plus contains several pages of grammar exercises every month.

More information can be found at www.spotlight-online.de/ueben

• A new language exercise is added to the archive every week at www.spotlight-online.de/language

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