spotlight - 14 2020
TRANSCRIPT
14—20
14/2
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SOU
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AFR
ICA
The
Pan
oram
a Ro
ute
| S
OCI
ETY
Are
the
Ger
man
s do
ing
it b
ette
r? |
ICO
NIC
PRO
DU
CTS
The
Sin
ger s
ewin
g m
achi
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FO
OD
Bea
ver t
ails
ESSENTIAL ENGLISH QUIZ
Words and phrases you need now!
ENGLISCH
Are the Germans doing it better?
CANADIAN WINTER TREATBeaver tails — a hot pastry treat from the cold north
(Meet the Brits who say: Yes!)
EIN
FACH
BES
SER
EN
GLI
SCH
SOUTH AFRICAN ADVENTURE Waterfalls, wild animals and wide-open landscapes — join us on the Panorama Route
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Spotlight wünschtMerry Christmas!
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s: Yo
suke
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egaw
a, F
irmaf
otog
rafe
n/iS
tock
.com
; Fot
os: Y
osuk
e H
aseg
awa,
Firm
afot
ogra
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iSto
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m; G
ert K
raut
baue
r
EDITORIAL *Angebotsbedingungen unter www.berlitz.de/aktion © Berlitz Deutschland GmbH 2020
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INEZ SHARP, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF [email protected]
When I saw a review of the book Why the Germans Do it Better — Notes from a Grownup Country, by John Kampfner, the title chimed with something I had
felt for a long time about Germany, especially when compared to the UK. At heart, I am, and always will be, British. I was born and brought up in the British Isles and feel a strong affinity for the people and the culture. Sadly, though, there are Brits who like to den-igrate Germany — the country I have called home for more than 25 years — for reasons that don’t make much sense to me.
It turns out that Kampfner is not the only writer who has been considering the current state of German society and politics, and comparing it with the UK. Beginning on page 24, Spotlight author Stephen Arm-strong looks at five different books on the topic. Even if you don’t agree with everything in the article, I hope you will find it interesting and thought-provoking.
One day, we will all be able to travel again. When that happens, I will be booking a ticket to the Panora-ma Route in South Africa. Crashing water falls, ancient caves and encounters with curious kudus — find out more in our Travel feature, which begins on page 38.
affinity
, Wesensverwandt-schaft
ancient [(eInSEnt]
, uralt
cave
, Höhle
chime with sth. UK
, mit etw. übereinstim-men, im Einklang stehen
denigrate [(denIgreIt]
, schlechtmachen
encounter
, Begegnung
thought-provoking
, zum Nachdenken anregend
FROM THE EDITOR
Is it time to look to Germany?
CONTENTSSPOTLIGHT 20204
Foto
s: G
ood
Stoc
k, S
ham
s, F
irmap
hoto
grap
hen,
Yos
uke
Has
egaw
a/iS
tock
.co
m; 3
60B/
Shut
ters
tock
.com
; NAS
A/Jo
hnso
n Sp
ace
Cen
ter
6 In the Picture E Winter in Aspen
8 Names and News E M A
News and views from around the English-speaking world
10 Books and Films M
Our recommendations on what to read and watch
12 Press Gallery A Comment from the English-speaking world
13 Britain Today E Colin Beaven takes a humorous look at Britain and the Brits
14 Iconic Products E US The Singer sewing machine
16 The Supper Club A Canadian beaver tails: perfect for a winter’s day
18 A Day in My Life M + Meet Caroline Jackson, a wedding celebrant from Australia
29 Around Oz A Peter Flynn writes to us from down under
30 Peggy’s Place M Visit Spotlight’s very own London pub
32 Poetry Corner A + “The Christmas life” by Wendy Cope
34 Short Story M “A Christmas to remember”
36 The Lighter Side E Jokes and cartoons
37 American Life M US + Ginger Kuenzel about life in small-town America
CONTENTS
44 Eccentric Life M Mahabat Khanj, the lion prince of Junagadh
46 Feedback and Proverb M Your letters to Spotlight and a useful proverb
24
47–68 The language section
Are the Germans doing it better?
A
Recently, a number of books — by British authors — have appeared praising Germany and the Germans. We investigate this trend.
SHORT STORYCONTENTS SPOTLIGHT 2020 5
What we doEASY
Spotlight magazine helps you to improve your English and keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the English-speaking world.
This magazine has two parts. The first has news stories, travel reports, columns and interviews, with short exercises on some pages to test your progress. Part two is the language section, in which useful vocabulary and grammar are explained. Many of these pages include exercises.
Every text has been written or adapted to one of three language levels.
The levels are: EASY MEDIUM ADVANCED A2 B1–B2 C1–C2
These correspond to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The level is given at the top of the page. This text, for example, is Easy (see above). Choose texts at your level of English or try difficult ones that challenge you.
Difficult words are underlined and the German translations for these words are given in a list on each page. Words that are hard to pronounce come with phonetic symbols. If you want to know what an article is about, the German introduction can be helpful.
Better at English with SpotlightHere are some tips on how to use the magazine effectively:• Interesting and useful words and phrases are highlighted
in yellow and explained.• For every article you read, mark the words that are useful
to you. Write down five to ten words from every issue in a notebook and test yourself regularly.
• You’ll find recordings, for example from Everyday English and Britain Today, on the Spotlight Audio CD/download. Look for this symbol:
• Support your learning by doing exercises in our Spotlight plus booklet. Grammar, vocabulary and cultural extras are all covered in plus. Look for this symbol: +
This issueOn page 32, you’ll find “The Christmas life” by Wendy Cope. The poem is short and easy to learn by heart. Write it out and learn a verse a week. Then, by Christmas, you’ll have a wonderful poem to recite for your family and friends.
In our Society feature that begins on page 24, we report on writers and academics from Britain who think Germany has got a lot of things right in the past 70 years. If you had to write a book on what is good about Britain, list three things you would want to write about. And what would you call your book?
In Just Judi on page 52, our columnist lists 12 strange English words. Find out if there are German translations for these expressions.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Spotlight.
How to use Spotlight
South Africa M +38
Looking at Lives A
Kathryn Sullivan was the first American woman to walk in space and the first woman to dive to the deepest point in the ocean.
20
Some of South Africa’s loveliest natural sites and most impressive vistas are dotted along the Panorama Route. Take the trip with our author Brendan Peacock.
You can do all the exercises in this magazine online — just scan this QR-code.
GOOD TO KNOW6 SPOTLIGHT 2020
Winter in Aspen Ein in der High Society überaus beliebter Skiort war einmal ein bescheidenes Berg arbeiterstädtchen.
EASY AUDIO
The ski season in Aspen, Colo-rado, begins around late No-vember. This year, some skiers may stay away because of the
pandemic, but the rich and glamorous who visit the resort every year will probably be back.
Named after the aspen trees that grow in the area, the Rocky Mountain town is around 2,400 metres above sea
level on the Roaring Fork River. Aspen was established as a silver mining town in the 1880s. In 1893, an economic col-lapse across the US caused the mines in Aspen to close and the miners to leave.
In the 1940s, Austrian skier Friedl Pfeifer (1911–95) and US business-man Walter Paepcke (1896–1960) be-gan to market Aspen as a ski resort. In 1949, Paepcke’s wife, Elizabeth, set up
the Aspen Music Festival and School and, a year later, Paepcke established the Aspen Institute, an organization “committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society”.
The mix of culture and sport is still at the heart of life in Aspen today. With some of the highest property prices in the US, though, the culture and sport are not available to everyone.
aspen tree
, Zitterpappelcommitted: be ~ to sth.
, sich etw. verschrieben haben
equitable [ˈekwətəbəl]
, gerecht, gleichberechtigt
market
, vermarktensilver mining
, Silberbergbau
IN THE PICTURE
Foto
: im
ago/
Auro
ra P
hoto
s
SHORT STORY 7SPOTLIGHT 2020GOOD TO KNOW
GOOD TO KNOWSPOTLIGHT 20208
NAMES AND NEWS
MUSICWHO EXACLY IS… MASTER KG?MEDIUM
I t’s been a very special year for South African beats. All over the world,
people have been clubbing to the beautiful sound of disco-house song “Jerusalema”, making videos of them-selves dancing to it and singing their own versions of it, and it’s all thanks to one man: Master KG (pictured above).
Born Kgaogelo Moagi in Calais, a vil-lage in South Africa’s Limpopo province,
Moagi began making music when he was 13 and soon became known as Master KG. He released his first song, “Situation”, in 2016, and his first album, Skeleton Move, two years later.
But it was “Jerusalema” that made him a star. Released in 2019, it features South African singer Nomcebo Zikode and is in Khelobedu, a language spoken in Limpopo province. The song went
viral this summer — inspiring a global dance challenge and a cover by Niger- ian singer Burna Boy — and notched up more than 100 million views on YouTube.
Master KG (24) told Radio 702: “It is so wonderful to see the love from all over the world. I used to dream of such moments when I was still underground and starting to make music…”
GREEN TRANSPORT UP, UP AND AWAY!ADVANCED
“Oh, the humanity!” — famous words spoken by the American radio reporter Herbert Morrison, who witnessed the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, in which the airship burst into flames over New Jersey, killing 36 people.
Such disasters put an end to the airship industry for many years, but now it’s back, led by the UK and France, and it could revolutionize transport.
The new airships are safer and faster than those of the past and produce up to 75 per cent fewer emissions than aeroplanes. The world’s biggest airship, Airlander 10, built by the British manu-facturer Hybrid Air Vehicles, can carry up to 10 tons of freight or 90 passen-gers, travel at almost 150 km/h, and take off from and land on almost any flat surface — including water.
airship
, Luftschiff, Zeppelin
burst: ~ into flames
, in Flammen aufgehen
freight [freIt]
, Fracht
notch up ifml.
, erzielen
release
, herausbringen
witness
, Zeuge sein, mitansehen
SHORT STORYGOOD TO KNOW SPOTLIGHT 2020 9
If you got pregnant in Ireland in the 1900s and weren’t married, you could be sent to the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, where you would have to give up your baby and work unpaid for a year.
Since 2015, a special commission has been investigating the home and 13 other such institutions run by Catholic nuns. They’re said to have been places of cruelty for the thousands of unwed mothers and babies who lived there.
Now, Irish actor Cillian Murphy (above) is narrating a podcast for a digital exhib- ition by the Tuam Oral History Project. The podcast tells the stories of some of the survivors of the home, which was open from 1925 to 1961. An unmarked mass grave of babies and children was found there in 2017.
The podcast — at www.nuigalway.ie/tuam-oral-history/podcasts — has inter-views with people who were born in the home and with their families.
NOW TRY THIS!
Decide whether these sentences about the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home are true (T) or false (F).
T FA. Bon Secours was a place where married
women could give birth to their babies.B. The mothers were paid for their work at
the home.C. The Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home
is said to have been a place of cruelty.D. The podcast about the home has interviews
with nuns.
M
Prin
cess
Ann
e on
how
she
is se
en by th
e public. The Independent newspaper
“When I appear in public, people expect
me to neigh, grind my teeth, paw the ground and swish my tail —
none of which is easy.”
entrepreneur
, [)QntrEprE(n§:] Unternehmer(in)
grind one’s teeth
, mit den Zähnen knirschen
mass grave, Massengrab
neigh [neI] , wiehern
nun, Nonne
paw, hier: scharren
pregnant
, schwanger
swish, schlagen
unwed, unverheiratet
Answers A. false (It was a home for
unmarried mothers.) B. false (Mothers received
no money for their work.)
C. trueD. false (The podcast has
interviews with people born in the home and their families.)
Foto
s: p
ictu
re-a
llianc
e/AP
, em
pics
; Ins
tagr
am; D
enis
Mak
aren
ko, L
udov
ic F
arin
e/Sh
utte
rsto
ck.c
om
THE NEWCOMERA TEENAGE
ENTREPRENEUREASY
Name: Rylan KindnessAge: 19From: Brisbane, Queens-land, AustraliaBackground: A natural entrepreneur, Kindness bought his first company when he was 11 and later started a business, selling drinks at school.Famous because: When he was 15, Rylan set up the website parkingdealsaustralia.com.au, which now compares the cost of parking at car parks across Australia. The site works with 40 parking companies and each month helps tens of thousands of people to find parking at a good price.
SOCIETYWE SURVIVEDADVANCED
GOOD TO KNOWSPOTLIGHT 202010
BOOKS AND FILMS
REVIEW | NOVEL
REVIEW | STREAMING ONLINE
American novelist Jenny Offill’s latest novel, Weather, could be a deeply pessimis-
tic book. Its narrator is Lizzie, a librarian and part-time assistant to a futurologist. So, the climate is something she worries about.
She also keeps an increasingly worried eye on her husband, Ben, her recovering
addict brother and her son. How will rising seas and disappearing bees affect their
emotional weather? Offill captures Lizzie’s reflections on a fragmented world in short paragraphs, using a Twitter-style narrative.
Despite the gloom, each paragraph contains a small pearl of wisdom. Lizzie’s humour
and humanity shine through, encouraging us to believe that such companions make
life bearable. Granta Books, €16.70.
Known for his brilliant dialogues, director Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball), gives the anti-Vietnam war activists — who were put on trial in 1969 accused of causing riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago — plenty of dialogue to explain their motives and actions. The activists came from very different political backgrounds and ranged from middle-aged pacifists to smart young student leaders.
With actors such as Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance and Sacha Baron Cohen delivering Sorkin’s well-scripted speeches, we’re drawn into accepting and liking (not always likeable) men defending one anti-war ideal.
What we’re not given, though, is a guaran- tee that the American justice system can always be trusted. Justice in this movie is not about legal process — it’s about disrupting that process with courage and intelligence. But then maybe that’s Sorkin’s point.
The Trial of the Chicago 7, available on Netflix since late October, will feel familiar, at least in part, to fans of American courtroom dramas. From 12 Angry Men to Philadelphia, movies about the American justice system may show the system’s weaknesses, but they hesitate to portray it as failing.
This particular courtroom drama, however, steps away from that traditional narrative.
addict
, süchtig
courtroom drama
, Gerichtsdrama
disrupt
, stören, sprengen
eye: keep a worried ~ on sb./sth.
, jmdn./etw. sorgenvoll betrachten
gloom
, Düsterheit
goosebumps
, Gänsehaut
librarian [laI(breEriEn]
, Bibliothekar(in)
mate ifml.
, Kumpel, Freund
narrator
, Erzähler(in)
paragraph
, Absatz
pearl [pɜːl]
, Perle; ~ of wisdom , weiser Spruch
portray
, darstellen
punch
, schlagen (mit der Faust)
put sb. on trial
, jmdn. vor Gericht stellen
restorative justice
, wiedergutmachende Justiz
riot
, Aufstand, Unruhen
sentence
, Strafe
REVIEW | PODCAST Produced by BBC Radio 4, The Punch reflects on a single, terrible act. Jacob Dunne was 18 and on a night out with his mates in 2011 when he punched 28-year-old James Hodgkinson in the face. Hodgkinson died later in hospital. Dunne served 14 of a 30-month sentence and left prison with little sense of purpose. But then Hodgkin-son’s parents asked to see him. The meeting was a turning point. With encouragement, particular-ly from Hodgkinson’s mother, Dunne turned his life around and now works in restorative justice. Listening to his story will give you goosebumps.www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m000l0jr
Reviews by EVE LUCASMEDIUM
SHORT STORYGOOD TO KNOW SPOTLIGHT 2020 11
Foto
s: ©
Net
flix,
Inc
2020
, Pic
ture
Lux/
The
Hol
lyw
ood
Arch
ive/
Alam
y St
ock
Phot
o
angels on horseback
, mit Specksteifen umwickelte, gebratene Austern
heels: hot on the ~ of
, dicht auf den Fersen
recipe [(resEpi]
, (Koch)Rezept
tableware
, Geschirr
Yorkshire Christmas pie
, Pastete mit Wild und Geflügel
REVIEW | MINI-SERIESNow that people are spending more time at home, tidiness has become a topic of interest. Hot on the heels of organizational guru Marie Kondo comes a Netflix series dedicated to the Home Edit team of Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin. Based in Nashville, the duo believe that things that look pretty will stay tidy: from books to socks, objects are sorted, categorized … and arranged like a rainbow. Home Edit uses social media to spread its message. Its 1.5 million Instagram followers include Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow, who invited the team into their homes and their closets. The result — Netflix’s Get Organized with the Home Edit — offers entertainment, as well as a commen-tary on the American way of life.
REVIEW | COOKERY BOOK It looks as if Christmas 2020 might be rather quiet for many of us. One way to make it special is to try some of the recipes in the fabulously ex- travagant Das Offizielle Downton Abbey Weihnachts-Kochbuch. Now, there’s nothing to stop you making British classics such as angels on horseback or Yorkshire Christmas pie. The book has an informative introduction and great tips for serving food. The many beautiful photos will inspire you to get out your best tableware. Dorling Kindersley, €26.95. Reclam
www.reclam.de
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»Häufig gebrauchte Wendungen« oder »Meinungsäußerung«.
Mit Übersetzung und Beispielsatz.
SPRECHSITUATIONEN
GEZIELT TRAINIEREN F
NIVEAU B1–B2“A peer in favour of reform is like a turkey in favour of Christmas”
Violet Crawley (played by Maggie Smith), Dowager Countess of Grantham,
from the TV series Downton Abbey
PRESS GALLERYSPOTLIGHT 202012
Foto
s: V
erga
ni F
otog
rafia
, Yev
heni
i Kon
drat
iuk/
Shut
ters
tock
.com
The European parliament has not always had the best press. A peripatetic assembly with a messy remit and an … unen-
thused voter base has allowed critics to misrepresent … its deliberations. ... But things are looking up in Brussels (or is it Strasbourg?) because the parliament has reached an eminently sensible de-cision in the great battle over whether plant-based products can be labelled as burgers, sausages, escalopes and steaks.
... The parliament was addressing an attempt by the EU’s farmers to have terms such as burger and sausage banned when the contents were made of plant-based alternatives to meat. MEPs decisively rejected the move, delighting the environmental lobby, which argues that a switch away from meat is essential to make the food industry more sustainable.
… It was really a triumph for logic. Yes, a sausage is usually made of meat, but it doesn’t have to be. The term is synonymous with shape rather than content. Glamorgan sausages, made of cheese, leeks and breadcrumbs, are
a traditional Welsh delicacy, and no one challenges their appropriation of the term. Rice burgers are popular in Asia; vegan steaks are now part of the culinary landscape… . The terms usefully describe shape, texture and what the product is being substituted for. Farmers groups demanded that “veggie discs” and “veggie tubes” be used instead, but that would only sow confusion and needlessly reduce sales of plant-based products.
… Consumers need protection from over-enthusiastic marketing. The two sides should call a truce. Neither … farmers nor … environmentalists have a monopoly of wisdom. Many an alleg-edly meaty sausage is decidedly lacking in meat, and plenty of plant-based prod-ucts are heavily processed. Whether they are … carnivores or … vegans, con-sumers need to be encouraged to read the ingredients on packs to understand what they are eating and how their food has arrived on their plate. This is about nutrition, not politics.
© Guardian News & Media 2020
The Guardian’s view on “plant-based food”
allegedly [E(ledZIdli]
, angeblich
appropriation
, Aneignung
assembly
, Versammlung
breadcrumbs
, Semmelbrösel
call a truce [tru:s]
, einen Waffenstillstand ausrufen
carnivore [(kA:nIvO:]
, Fleischfresser
decisively
, entschieden
deliberation
, Beratung, Überlegung
escalope [(eskElQp]
, Schnitzel
leek
, Lauch, Porree
MEP (Member of the European Parliament)
, Mitglied des Europa-parlaments
nutrition [nju(trIS&n]
, Ernährung
peripatetic
, umherreisend, hier: weitschweifend
plant-based
, auf Pflanzenbasis
remit [(ri:mIt]
, Aufgabe, Auftrag
sow [sEU]
, säen
sustainable
, nachhaltig
texture [(tekstSE]
, Beschaffenheit, Struktur
unenthused [)VnIn(Tju:zd]
, nicht sehr begeistert
wisdom [(wIzdEm]
, Weisheit
Es gibt gute Gründe, warum wir weniger Fleisch essen sollten, nicht zuletzt der Umwelt zuliebe. Den Begriff Veggie Burger zu verbieten, wäre nicht sehr hilfreich. Auszüge aus einem Leitartikel des britischen Guardian.
ADVANCED
PRESS GALLERY
Can we call it a burger even if there‘s no meat in it?
SPOTLIGHT 2020BRITAIN TODAY 13
Foto
s: A
lexa
nder
Bed
rin, L
jupc
o, O
leks
ande
r Per
erpe
lyts
ia, 3
DSt
ock/
iSto
ck.c
om; p
rivat
In the days when airports were busy, Christmas was a time for international reunions. Friends and family waited for passengers to appear in the arrivals hall, trying to identify the person push-
ing the trolley when the door finally opened. It was all very feel-good, like the end of the film Love Actually.
With corona, such scenes may be limited to supermarkets this year. Expect to hear shouts of “Hooray!” from the crowds outside as shoppers come out with their overloaded trolleys. Not crowds of loved ones, but other shoppers queuing to get in, pleased to be one step closer to their own bags of Brussels sprouts and potatoes.
You can see why having your groceries deliv-ered is such a popular alternative. Will the deliv-ery vans be able to deal with the Christmas rush, though? A trip to the shops in person might be a better option. Better still, get someone else to do your shopping for you.
But not even that is foolproof, especially if you’re placing your order over the phone. “Four to five bananas” can sound like “45 bananas”. If you ask for three packets of crisps (balsamic vinegar and onion flavour), you may end up with three packets of oven chips, three bottles of balsamic vinegar and three bags of onions — this happened to one of my neighbours.
Before those happy airport reunions at the end of Love Actually, we see a school Christmas concert, with an enthusiastic performance of “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. The Mariah Carey song is a favourite at Christmas parties.
Some schools choose traditional Christmas carols for their concerts — the kind that are sung in church, such as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. Others prefer something that’s more fun and cheerful, like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, or Mariah Carey’s classic.
I went to two school Christmas concerts last year, one for each grandson. One school chose carols, the other a less serious programme. The
COLIN BEAVEN is a free-lance writer. He lives and works in Southampton on the south coast of England.
BRITAIN TODAY
Brussels sprout [)brVs&lz (spraUt]
, Rosenkohl
Christmas carol [)krIsmEs (kÄrEl]
, Weihnachtslied
crisps UK
, Kartoffelchips
embarrassment [Im(bÄrEsmEnt]
, Verlegenheit
fir tree [(f§: tri:]
, Tannenbaum
groceries
, Lebensmittel, Einkäufe
Hark! [hA:k]
, Hör! Hört!
oven chips [(Vv&n tSIps] UK
, Backofen-Pommes
reindeer
, Rentier
reunion [ri(ju:niEn]
, Treffen, Wiedersehens-treffen
rush
, Hektik, Trubel
spruce [spru:s]
, Fichte
swap
, austauschen
vinegar [(vInIgE]
, Essig
yew tree [(ju: tri:]
, Eibe
results were identical: at both concerts, the girls sang with equal enthusiasm, the boys with equal embarrassment.
There may be less singing this year. To compensate, people could swap shopping lists by singing them to each other over the phone. It would be a new form of social distancing: social “dis-tansinging”. And they’d have great fun rewriting their Christmas menus to use the mistakes that resulted — such as 45 different kinds of vegetables when they were expecting four to five.
Nice idea, but too risky. There’s no er-satz for writing out a shopping list and handing it over as if it were a letter to Father Christmas — the sort of letter in which children ask Santa to put lots of presents under the tree.
But what kind of tree? A fir tree? A spruce? Or something different for a change? A yew tree, perhaps: poison-ous but beautiful. Yes, I’ve definitely de cided. All I want for Christmas is yew.
A different ChristmasEASY AUDIO
WORD TO GO “Foolproof” describes something so simple and easy to understand that it can’t go wrong or be misused (narren
sicher, kinderleicht). Similar words: waterproof, soundproof, childproof
Dieses Jahr wird man an Weihnachten vermutlich weder reisen noch Verwandte
oder ein Konzert besuchen können. Unser Kolumnist sucht nach Alternativen.
SPOTLIGHT 2020 15LIFESTYLE
Foto
s: R
adu
Razv
an/S
hutte
rsto
ck.c
om; b
ocas
in/iS
tock
.com
Singer sewing machineSie läutete das Ende einer Ära des manuellen Nähens ein und ist seit dem 19. Jahrhundert
in ihrer Grundgestaltung nahezu unverändert geblieben. Von JULIAN EARWAKER
EASY US AUDIO
Isaac Merritt Singer was born in New York in 1811. He first worked as an actor, later as an inventor and businessman. Singer had 24 children with five different women. But today, he is remembered for
the sewing machine he patented in the US in 1851. It brought machine sewing into the homes of millions of Americans and changed people’s lives. While sewing a man’s shirt by hand could take up to 14 hours, using a sewing machine reduced the time to around one hour.
Singer based his product on his own ideas and those of other inventors who were developing prototypes for sewing machines at the time. American Elias Howe (1819–67) had already patented a machine with a so-called lockstitch system. This mechanism, still used in sewing machines today, has the eye at the sharp end of the needle and a shuttle under the fabric. Singer’s version used Howe’s lockstitch, but had a more practical design. Seeing that his idea had been adopted by Singer, Howe successfully demanded royalties from the Singer Manufacturing Company.
The company continued to adapt and improve their machines and are still in business today. The model shown opposite is from the early 20th century.
Singer’s company made him very rich. In 1871, he purchased an estate in Paignton, in south-west England, and built himself a new mansion there. The private residence, which he named Oldway Mansion, was completed shortly after Singer died, in 1875.
adapt
, anpassen
demand
, einfordern, verlangen
estate
, Anwesen
eye
, hier: Nadelöhr
fabric [(fÄbrIk] , Gewebe, Stoff
lockstitch
, Steppstich
mansion [(mÄnS&n]
, herrschaftlicher Wohnsitz
sewing machine
[(sEUIN mE)Si:n]
, Nähmaschine
shuttle
, hier: Schiffchen
ICONIC PRODUCTS
SPOTLIGHT 202016 LIFESTYLE
Foto
s: K
athr
in K
osch
itzki
all-purpose flour [flaUE]
, Haushaltsmehl
anymore: not ~ , heutzutage nicht mehr
beaver [(bi:vE] , Biber
bow [baʊ], Verbeugung
buck-toothed
, mit vorstehenden Zähnen
cheese curds
, Käsebruch
cinnamon [(sInEmEn]
, Zimt
deep-fry, frittieren
dough [dEU] , Teig
dunk, eintunken
eager [(i:gE]
, eifrig
foamy, schaumig
gnawing [(nO:IN], nagend; hier: quälend
gravy [(greIvi]
, Bratensoße
humble, bescheiden, einfach
knead [ni:d]
, kneten
lumberjack, Holzfäller
maple syrup [)meIp&l (sIrEp]
, Ahornsirup
mascot, Maskottchen
mind-boggling
, unvorstellbar
no mean feat
, eine beachtliche Leistung
point out
, auf etw. hinweisen
prompt, auslösen
reign [reIn] , herrschen
resemblance
, Ähnlichkeit
rodent, Nager, Nagetier
rolling pin, Nudelholz
schlepp [Slep]
, sich schleppen
semiaquatic[)semiE(kwÄtIk]
, teilweise im Wasser lebend
spit, Bratspieß
sprinkled, bestreut
yeast [ji:st]
, Hefe
THE SUPPER CLUB
Dieses typisch kanadische Gebäck ist die perfekte Nascherei an einem eiskalten Wintertag. Von LORRAINE MALLINDER
ADVANCED
Don’t worry, they’re not real! Not anymore, at least. Canadians may have en-joyed a filling portion of
barbecued beaver in the past, but not these days. The semiaquatic rodent is now safe from the spit and free to use its wide tail to steer a course through the waterways of lumberjack country.
The only beaver tails Canadians are eating these days are made of dough: deep fried and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon — or covered with chocolate or maple syrup. In fact, you can add almost anything you like. There’s even a version that’s served with another great Canadian dish: poutine — French fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy.
However you like to eat this dough-nut-like snack, they’re perfect for an afternoon’s skating on Ottawa’s Rideau Canal, a winter wonderland lined with kiosks selling beaver tails.
The snack occupies a central spot in Canadian history, mainly because the humble and hard-working beaver is effectively Canada’s national mascot. It represents the country’s colonial past, when tough pioneers schlepped through the wilderness in search of fur for fashion-conscious Europeans. You could say that this nation was built on beaver.
And yet, a few years back, there was some controversy over its symbolic status. Tired of being seen as a nation of “apologetic fur trappers”, some Canadians thought the polar bear might make a better mascot. This prompted lots of jokes: Maybe Canadians “don’t give a dam” — or have “gnawing fears” about the change. They should care, said defenders of the buck-toothed beaver, who, fortunate-ly, won the argument. “Bear tails” just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
Anyway, back to the snack. It’s prob-ably best kept quiet, but the dough is actually very German. It seems that Grant Hooker — the Canadian who trademarked the snack and set up BeaverTails Canada Inc. in the late 1970s, was inspired by his German grandmother’s recipe for Küchl. It was his daughter who pointed out the dessert’s resemblance to a beaver’s tail — and so began a legend.
There’s something very Canadian about it all. It’s said that if you lined up every beaver tail sold since the 1970s, it would stretch the length of Canada, uniting everyone from Cape Spear in Newfoundland to Mount Logan in Yukon. In a huge multicultural coun-try of mind-boggling contrasts, that’s no mean feat. The eager beaver can take a bow. Long may he reign!
Beaver tailsINFO TO GO
The author has combined the phrase “don’t give a damn” (egal) and the word “dam” (Damm) to create a word play related to beavers.
SHORT STORYLIFESTYLE SPOTLIGHT 2020 17
INGREDIENTS• 70 ml warm water• 2½ tsp active dry yeast• 125 ml milk, warmed• 2 tbsp butter, melted• 2 tbsp sugar• ½ tsp salt• ½ tsp vanilla• 1 egg• 300 g all-purpose flour,
plus extra for dusting• 1 litre vegetable oil for
deep-frying
Cinnamon Sugar Topping:• 130 g sugar• 1 tbsp cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONSCombine the water, milk, yeast and 1 tbsp sugar. Let stand for 10 mins until foamy. Add the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and egg. Add in flour until the dough comes together and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Knead by hand until the dough is smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Leave until it has doubled in size — about 1 hour. Put the dough on a floured surface and shape into 8 equal pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece of dough into an oval shape. If you like, cut a criss-cross pattern into the top. Cover and leave until the dough has doubled in size. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Heat about 2 inches of oil in a large, wide pot to 350 °F / 180 °C. Fry the doughnuts on each side for 30 to 60 seconds until golden brown. Dunk immediately in cinnamon sugar or top with lemon and sugar, jam or … maple syrup!
PEOPLESPOTLIGHT 202018
Foto
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s; sc
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tialfi
o,, n
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a_ph
, vau
vau,
dra
_sch
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mag
es/iS
tock
.com
; PM
axw
ellP
hoto
grap
hy, z
Stoc
k/Sh
utte
rsto
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m
My name is Caroline Jackson. I’m 71 years old, and I’m a marriage celebrant. I live in Tam-
borine Mountain in Queensland. I was born in London, and I’ve been living in Australia for 38 years. After I retired from my ice-cream-shop business, I went into marriage celebrancy. I had to do a course and prove that I was a fit and proper person. I can honestly say it’s the best job I’ve ever had — I get to meet the most beautiful people on the best day of their lives.
On Saturdays, couples come to see me. But first, I take my dog for a walk, have breakfast and make sure the house is tidy. When the couple arrive, we have a lot of paperwork to go through. Both parties need to complete and sign a notice of intent a maximum of 18 months and a minimum of one month before the ceremony date — forced or surprise marriages are forbidden in Australia. Once the paperwork has been started, the couple and I talk about the ceremony and how to make it fun.
In the afternoon, I go down to the venue and set everything up. Before we start the ceremony, I make sure that all the guests are there, my PA system is set up and the ceremony music is play-ing. Every wedding is different, because
bride
, Braut
fit and proper
, geeignet und integer
groomsman N. Am., Aus. , Trauzeuge
marriage celebrant [(mÄrIdZ )selEbrEnt]
, etwa: Standesbeamter, -beamtin
notice of intent
, Absichtserklärung
PA (public address) system
, Beschallungsanlage
tie the knot ifml.
, den Bund fürs Leben schließen
tops ifml.
, höchstens
torrent
, Sturzbach
turn up
, auftauchen
venue [(venju:]
, Veranstaltungsort
Sie richtet die feierliche Trauung aus und steht für alle Fragen des Brautpaars zur Verfügung. JULIE COLLINS sprach mit einer Standesbeamtin aus Australien.
MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS
each couple is different. In more than 11 years, I’ve never done two ceremonies the same way. I can do “hand-fasting”, where the couple’s hands are tied together in a knot. That’s how people used to get married, in the days before couples got married in churches. And that’s why it’s called “tying the knot”. After the ceremony, the couple have to sign a few more papers. I make sure everything’s set up for the photographer, who then takes over.
Since every wedding is different, it’s always interesting. I did one recently where one of the groomsmen collapsed into the bush with a great big thud. The ceremony had to stop, and we had to make sure that he was all right. Weather is anoth-er thing that’s interesting in Australia, because we go from one extreme to the next. A recent ceremony was brilliantly hot. We got through the ceremony, and then, all of a sudden, torrents of rain came down. The whole thing lasted ten min-utes, tops, and then the sun came out again — by which time everybody looked like they’d been in the swimming pool.
I once did a wedding on Kirra Beach — and we’re talking mid-summer in Australia, which is hot. Everybody was down on the beach, and all the chairs were set up. The bride was Brazilian, so we had a Brazilian band. Unfortunately, there was no shade, so all the guests were sitting there and waiting and waiting. The bride turned up an hour late.
At the end of the day, when I’ve finished my ceremonies, I go home, usually put my feet up, have a lovely cup of tea and relax. And then I look forward to the next day, when I have to get up and start all over again.
A DAY IN MY LIFE
A marriage celebrant– helping to tie the knot
SHORT STORYPEOPLE SPOTLIGHT 2020 19
Australian weather: can make a couple’s wedding day more exciting than expected
There may always be flowers and food, but to Jackson each ceremony is still unique
When the ceremony is over, Jackson goes home to relax
WORD TO GO “Thud” is an onomatopoeic word (Schallwort) that de-
scribes the sound of a solid object hitting the ground.
I can honestly say it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
Foto
s: X
XX
PEOPLESPOTLIGHT 202020
Lots to see: Kathy Sullivan looking at Earth from the space shuttle Challenger in 1984; (opposite, top right) Sullivan in 2014
SHORT STORYPEOPLE SPOTLIGHT 2020 21
The deepest known point of our planet is home to vibrantly colourful rocky outcrops, prawn-like crustaceans and animals called sea cucumbers. But you won’t be able to see them with-out artificial light, says 68-year-old scientist Dr Kathy Sullivan,
the first woman to visit it. It’s black and “serene”, she said. Known as the Challenger Deep, it is located within the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, 11 kilometres below sea level.
The bottom of the ocean The Challenger Deep was discovered between 1872 and 1876 by a team on board the scientific research ship HMS Challenger. Around 90 years later, in 1960, the first dive to the Challenger Deep (named after the ship) was made by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard on a submersible called Trieste.
More recently, on 8 May this year, the deep-sea vessel Limiting Factor travelled for four hours at about four kilometres per hour to reach the bottom of this underwater fissure. The two-person titanium craft, built
aerospace engineer [(eErEUspeIs]
, Raumfahrtingenieur(in)
craft
, Fahrzeug, Boot
crustacean [krV(steIS&n]
, Krustentier
fissure [(fISE]
, Spalt
Mariana Trench
, Marianengraben
outcrop
, Felsnase
prawn
, Garnele
sea cucumber
, Seegurke
serene
, ruhig
submersible [sEb(m§:sEb&l]
, Tauchboot
vessel
, Gefährt; hier: Schiff
vibrantly
, kraftvoll
Kathy Sullivan interessierte sich schon als Kind für die Raumfahrt – mit zwölf konnte sie fliegen. ANNE MULLEE berichtet über die bemerkens-werte Laufbahn der amerikanischen Astronautin und Taucherin.ADVANCED
BIOGRAPHY
Name: Kathryn SullivanKnown for: Being the first American woman to walk in space and the first woman to dive to the deepest point of the world’s oceans.
Early life: Born in New Jersey in 1951, Kathy developed an interest in space early on — perhaps because her father was an aerospace engineer.
Education: Sullivan studied earth sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz and got a PhD in geology from Dalhousie University in Canada.
LOOKING AT LIVES
“A girl can dream”
The research ship from which the submersible was launched
WORD TO GO We add “-like” to a noun
to say that the noun is similar to something.
For example, the coronavirus has flu-like
symptoms.
Foto
s: N
ASA/
John
son
Spac
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Bark
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Imag
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SPOTLIGHT 202022 PEOPLE
specifically for this mission, was piloted by explorer Victor Vescovo. He was joined by Sullivan. When it reached the ocean floor, the vessel spent 90 minutes or so floating about two metres above the seabed. Vescovo and Sullivan collected samples of water, marine life and sediment for later study, and ate lunch under the sea.
The sputnik baby This wasn’t Sullivan’s first adventure into the unknown. The scientist was an astronaut for NASA and, in 1984, became the first American woman to complete a spacewalk, during the Challenger space shuttle’s voyage — the spaceship was also named after HMS Challenger. If these two achievements weren’t enough, Sullivan was also part of the 1990 mission to launch the Hubble Space Telescope, the observational “eye on the universe” that circles the Earth while looking into deep space.
Sullivan describes herself as a “sputnik baby”. She grew up in the 1950s, the decade in which human beings reached into space, when the Soviet Union (on 4 October 1957) launched the first artificial satellite — Sputnik 1 — to orbit Earth. She remembers an early childhood mem-ory of being in her garden with her father and looking for the sputnik’s speck of light as it travelled across the night sky.
Sullivan’s parents supported her passionate interest in discovery and exploration. Magazines lying around at home, such as Life and Nation-al Geographic, showed fascinating images and articles from all over the world. Fascinated by maps, she spent hours daydreaming about what might be found in the thousands of places represented by those lines and dots. A really rich map, she says, contains multilayered stories.
When Kathy was six, the Sullivan family moved to California, where her father, a former air force pilot and an aerospace engineer, worked for a new aeronautics start-up company. Years later, the same company would make reaction control system thrusters for spacecraft.
The flying teen Throughout her childhood and teenage years, Kathy’s interest in the world, and how things work, continued to grow. The family regularly went flying — she was taught to fly by her father at the age of 12 — and she became her Marine Girl Scout group’s chief navigator during sailing trips. She found this easy because of the skills she had learned when flying.
Sullivan graduated from Taft Charter High School in Woodland Hills, California, in 1969. Languages were her strongest subjects, and when she began her BA degree at the University of California Santa Cruz, she was studying Russian.
As part of the course, Sullivan had to add two science subjects — an education strategy designed to “balance out” her studies. It was dur-ing one of these, marine biology, that she was bitten by the science bug. Visiting ocean tide pools for research opened her eyes to the ad-ventures scientists could go on. “I discovered that these guys go off in
bug: bitten by the ~
, von Leidenschaft gepackt werden
float
, (im Wasser) treiben
launch [lO:ntS]
, starten
marine life
, Meeresleben
seabed
, Meeresboden
speck of light
, Lichtpunkt
thruster
, Schubdüse
tide pool
, Gezeitentümpel
voyage [(vOIIdZ]
, ReiseA long way down: an artist’s impression of the Mariana Trench
SHORT STORY SPOTLIGHT 2020 23PEOPLE
great ships all across the world’s oceans. This sounded pretty good,” she told the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral His-tory Project in 2007.
But this wasn’t exactly the spark. Sullivan was unsure about a complete change in direction, from languages to science. Considering the career op-portunities of both, she saw that lan-guages might be limiting. If she were to work as a translator, she wouldn’t be “doing”. “You’re not the originator of ideas. You’re facilitating,” she ex-plained during her NASA Oral History interview. “The science side of things is all about originating ideas. Some-where in all of that conscious thought and vaguer subconscious processing, I realized I wanted to be one of the peo-ple who had the ideas. I want the ideas I have to matter, not just to be an aside.”
The travelling scientistThis was the turning point. Sullivan then studied general oceanography, eventually earning her bachelor’s de-gree in earth sciences. From there, she quickly developed an academic career with plenty of practical field experi-ence. While studying for her PhD in geology, she took part in research ex-peditions for the United States Geo-logical Survey, the Woods Hole Ocean-ographic Institution and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Canada. Her research included locations all over the planet, from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Newfoundland Basin and fault zones off the southern California coast.
It was when completing her PhD that Sullivan’s brother showed her a NASA advertisement for astronaut applications — the space agency was looking for women candidates. She hadn’t considered the idea before, but decided that a spacecraft was simply another type of research vessel. She was 25 years old, had no money and was fin-ishing her studies.
After a long wait, she was invited to Houston for a week of interviews and psychological testing. To cope with this strange experience, she and another candidate would go off to play squash.
When the week was over, she returned to Halifax’s Dalhousie University to complete her studies.
Months passed with no news from NASA. Then, finally, in January 1978, al-most a year after the week in Houston, Sullivan got the call that would add her name to history.
Among the 35 successful candi-dates for the space program were six women: Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Judith Resnik, Anna Lee Fisher and Sally Ride — all of whom would travel into space.
The astronautIt was six years before Sullivan final-ly journeyed into space, on 5 October 1984. She said the feeling of taking off was like “being in an earthquake and a fighter jet at the same time”. During the six-day mission, she became the first American woman to complete a spacewalk. From outside the shuttle, she finally saw the view she had been waiting for: “There, 140 miles (225 km) below me, was South America and the Caribbean Sea. I watched in awe as the distinctive Maracaibo Peninsula of Venezuela slid between my boots.”
During her career as an astronaut, Sullivan spent 532 hours in space. She retired from NASA in 1993 and began a series of academic and policy jobs, including a presidential appointment to the position of chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Passionate about the environment, she is now the United States’ co-chair of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an intergovern-mental body that is building a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to coordinate environmental intelligence for the needs of society.
Following her latest adventure, she hasn’t completely given up on the possibility of taking one more trip into space. “Why not?” she says. “Maybe a little stint on the moon. A girl can dream.”
aside
, Randbemerkung
awe [O:]
, Ehrfurcht
Caribbean Sea [)kÄrE(bi:En] , Karibik
distinctive
, unverkennbar
facilitate
, ermöglichen
fault zone [fO:lt]
, Verwerfungszone
intelligence
, hier: Informationen
matter
, von Bedeutung sein
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
, Mittelatlantischer Rücken
originator
, Urheber(in), Erfinder(in)
pretty
, hier: ziemlich
slide
, dahingleiten
stint
, hier: Aufenthalt
subconscious [)sVb(kQnSEs]
, unterbewusst
vague [veIg]
, ungenau, vage
“I wanted to be one of the people
who had the ideas. I want the ideas I
have to matter, not just to be an aside.”
Foto
s: D
OER
S/Sh
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, lus
hik/
iSto
ck.c
om
Deutschland wird in der britischen Fachliteratur nicht selten als vorbildlich betrachtet. STEPHEN ARMSTRONG findet heraus,
worauf dieser Trend beruht.
ADVANCED
Are the Germans doing it better?
SOCIETY
SOCIETY SPOTLIGHT 2020 25
Foto
s: G
oodS
tock
, Firm
afot
ogra
fen/
iSto
ck.c
om; 3
60B/
Shut
ters
tock
.com
; pic
ture
allia
nce
/ Brit
ta P
eder
sen/
dpa-
Zent
ralb
ild/d
pa; p
rivat
adaptable
, anpassungsfähig
art historian
, Kunsthistoriker(in)
atrophied [(ÄtrEfid]
, verkümmert
contradictory
, widersprüchlich
coronation
, Krönung
lecture
, Vortrag
pour
, hier: verschwenden
remembrance
, Erinnerung, Gedenken
theatre
, hier: Saal, Raum
trade union
, Gewerkschaft
In 2012, I went to a lecture at one of the British Museum’s lecture theatres by the art historian Neil MacGregor, who was then the mu-
seum’s director. The only object on display in the elegant, modern audito-rium — an obsidian mirror stolen from South America and once used by the alchemist John Dee (1527–1608/09) — was a symbol of England’s global ex-pansion under Queen Elizabeth I.
Chatting over drinks after the lec-ture, I asked MacGregor about Eng-land’s battle between modernity and tradition. Which side was winning? Tradition, he said sadly. “We poured our time and efforts into the corona-tion of Queen Elizabeth [II], restating the pomp of an empire that had ended and pretending nothing had changed.” MacGregor then said he was writing a book on Germany and couldn’t stay late. He began packing up his things and then turned to face me: “Britain forgets its past,” he said carefully. “Ger-many confronts it.”
Neil MacGregor — objects and inventions
The idea that Germany confronts its past is explored further by MacGregor in Germany: Memories of a Nation, pub-lished in 2014. In it, he mentions the Brandenburg Gate, the Holy Roman Empire, a sculpture by Tilman Riemen-schneider, Luther’s Bible, the Bauhaus, the Volkswagen Beetle, Kant, Goethe and totalitarianism to show that Ger-many has always been flexible, adapt-able, inventive and contradictory.
Memories of a Nation was the first of a number of books of a sort that I had seldom, if ever, seen before — in which British authors explain and praise mod-ern Germany for British readers. There has been at least one such book every year since 2014.
John Kampfner — mindset and Mittelstand
The latest of these is Why the Germans Do it Better (2020) by British journalist John Kampfner. At a recent talk at the Goethe- Institut in London, Kampfner was crit-icized for his book title — the Institut director Dr Katharina von Ruckte schell-Katte told the crowd that Kampfner was invited not “because of this title, but in spite of it”.
Kampfner agreed cheer fully. “My Ger-man interviewees,” he said, “tend to fall off their chairs: Das können Sie doch nicht sagen! But the Brits usually say: I see what you mean.”
Kampfner sings the praises of Ger-many’s Mittelstand, of its functional trade unions, the lively cultural land-scape, the culture of remembrance. At the same time, he is critical of the UK. In contrast to Germany, he says, “we are trapped by an atrophied polit-ical system.” According to Kampfner, the UK has forgotten to modernize.
There have been other books be-tween those by MacGregor and Kampf-ner, praising Germany and the Ger-mans and covering everything from the glory of Germany’s regional cuisine to the brilliance of its 1970s avant-garde music scene.
INFO TO GO The closest English equivalent to Mittelstand is the term small and medium-size enterprises
(SMEs). Kampfner says that what makes the Mittelstand stand
out in Germany are the number of companies that successfully produce a single or very small
range of products. While there are around 2,700 such
companies around the world — business leader Hermann Simon calls them “hidden champions” — about half of them are based
in Germany.
SOCIETYSPOTLIGHT 2020
Foto
s: H
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estiv
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rivat
; Goo
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; pho
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smos
/Shu
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.com
26
affectionately [E(fekS&nEtli]
, liebevoll
common ground
, gemeinsame Basis
give in
, nachgeben
impoverish sb.
, jmdn. in Armut stürzen
insane
, verrückt
obsessed
, besessen
reinvent
, neu erfinden
scream
, schreien
trope
, hier: Klischee
UKIP (UK Independent Party)unique [ju(ni:k]
, besonders
James Hawes — history and tradition
The most successful so far has been The Shortest History of Germany by James Hawes, which came out in 2017. Hawes lived in Vienna for a while as a boy. When he returned to the UK in the 1960s, he was shocked to find that most schoolboys were reading about the Second World War. “We, the British, are unique and pathologically obsessed with a war that ended 75 years ago. It’s insane that our press and comedians go on and on about this. We still think we won the war — false. We were on the winning side, but we can’t distinguish between the two. In fact in 1943, we were defeated, impov-erished and invaded by the Americans, our allies. Since then we’ve been a satel-lite of America.”
For Hawes, the greatest lesson the British can learn is the value of civilized bourgeois conservatism and a political system based on coalition, rational ar-gument and dealmaking between dif-ferent ideologies looking for common ground. “The English system is based on public schoolboys screaming at each other,” he sighs.
“Look at the difference in how Ger-man conservative culture has react-ed to populism. The whole of Europe should be grateful that the German CDU has behaved honourably and not given in, changed its narrative and formed a coalition with the AfD. The British Conservative party has become a version of UKIP out of terror and am-bition and they’ve thrown out dozens of lifelong conservatives to become the English national party.”
David Stubbs — music and machines
For David Stubbs, author of Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany (2014), the 1970s avant-garde is a symbol of why modern Germany is successful. Stubbs was inspired to become a music critic after listening to Kraftwerk as a teenager. Writing Future Days, he realized that experimen-tal German rock bands such as Can, Tangerine Dream, Neu! and Kraftwerk symbolized a generation reinventing its country.
“In the late 1960s, a generation of Germans were finding out about the war and saying to their parents: you never mentioned this!” he explains. “The music they were listening to was the cultural Marshall Plan of Anglo- American blues-based rock — groups who sounded like the Beatles play-ing to soldiers at West German bases. Kraftwerk and the other bands in-vented something new and German — affectionately called Krautrock in the UK. Lots of experimentation, elec-tronic innovation, no stress on the lead vocals, no leaders, very collective, the politics were implicit not explicit. Kraftwerk coolly rejected every rock ’n’ roll trope — and invented the whole of the 1980s.”
Stubbs compares this with Germa-ny’s belief in productivity and work-ing with machines. “Germany still has a balance between bosses and unions, working in tandem, not one against the other,” he argues. “If the mission of this music was to remind young West Germans of their own music, it failed. But it taught the UK a lot — and when
WORD TO GO “Krautrock” is
an English word used to describe
experimental German rock music from the
1960s and 1970s.
SOCIETYSPOTLIGHT 202028
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om; p
rivat
you think about Britpop being all about remembering how great the 60s were, you realize it’s rare to have musicians setting out to create and define the future. I think it shows that Germany represents an advance on what’s hap-pening in the UK. The British have a great deal to learn from that.”
Giles MacDonogh — reunification and regional identity
For most of the authors here, turning to Germany was a new topic. Mac Gregor was inspired by a long love affair with Germany, Kampfner developed a re-spect for the country while he was writing about it, Stubbs saw that Brit-ain might soon have a trauma of identi-ty with Brexit and that Germany could inspire a route to survival, while Hawes wanted to shake the British out of their complacency. For Giles MacDonogh — whose book On Germany came out in 2018 — it was different. The respected historian has been writing academic publications on German history since the 1980s. On Germany, however, is a more personal, emotional book.
“I gave myself the chance to be af-fectionate,” he explains. “It’s a memoir about me and Germany. I didn’t want to make it profound. It wasn’t meant to be a study of all subjects. It was to tack-le that trait I find in people, like Brexit voters, who dress up their jealousy of Germany with references to the war. They see Germans in bigger cars, drink-ing better wine and they feel inade-quate. This book hopefully gets across the beauty and complexity of Germany so they can stop being so beastly.”
On Germany tells the story of a coun-try reborn: from defeat in 1945 to the
fall of the Berlin Wall, painstaking re-unification and the republic’s return to the world stage as a European leader and economic colossus. But it’s also a celebration of the food and drink, the deep-rooted provincialism and the va-riety of German life.
“All of British life is focused on Lon-don,” MacDonogh argues. “We’ve lost the richness of our regional identity — our regional cuisines and dialects and arts and culture. Germany, conversely, doesn’t have a centre — everything is a region, even now. A German friend of mine says there are three Germanies: schnapps Germany, beer Germany and wine Germany. There’s different food, different attitudes, different religions and all wrapped in a strong sense of re-gional pride. … It means blanket state-ments about Germany don’t wash.”
“Let’s hope it’s not too late”Everything these writers and their books are saying are consistent with MacGregor’s final words to me in the British Museum on that evening in 2012 as he stepped out into the night, heading back home to type a few more pages of his book. “Britain’s greatest tragedy and its greatest error is that it failed to understand and engage with Germany after the war — it failed to realize Germany is a modern state, an engine of the future,” he smiled. “Just think how much fun the two countries could have had if we’d seen clearly then. Let’s hope it’s not too late now.”
attitude
, Haltung, Einstellung
beastly
, gemein
blanket
, pauschal
complacency
, Selbstzufriedenheit
conversely
, im Gegensatz dazu
painstaking
, detailliert
profound
, hintergründig
reunification [riːˌjuːnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən]
, Wiedervereinigung
tackle sth.
, etw. angehen
trait
, Eigenschaft, Charakter-zug
wash: don’t ~ ifml. , halten einer näheren Prüfung nicht stand, ziehen nicht
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phot
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lexk
ava,
Jam
ie F
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29SPOTLIGHT 2020AROUND OZ
From afar, it might seem as though Australia has done well during the pandemic, even considering the hundreds of deaths in aged care homes, especially during Victoria’s sec-
ond wave in mid-winter. But, more on that later.Travel restrictions between the six states and
the Northern Territory (with the notable excep-tion of Western Australia) are set to be lifted be-fore Christmas, just in time for the summer school holidays. Our crisis response has been managed by a “national cabinet” made up of the PM Scott Morrison and state premiers of various left and right governments, along with their respective chief medical officers.
There has been cooperation between the two tiers of government but also enormous divisions with regard to who can travel where and whether we are trying to suppress or eliminate the disease. While Morrison’s government has handed out billions in new “jobkeeper” and “jobseeker” pay-ments to stimulate the economy, the states have flexed their muscles on internal border controls.
The premier of WA Mark McGowan’s hard bor-der to the rest of Australia (“an island within an is-land”) has made him the most popular politician in the country. He has had approval ratings of well over 90 per cent. No wonder he took on the feder-al government (and a maverick mining magnate) to win a high court challenge about the constitu-tional legality of his hard stand that undoubtedly helped keep iron ore exports at record levels.
Other state premiers similarly pushed back against the PM, and even their state counterparts. Queensland effectively declared all residents of the populous southern states unwelcome dur-ing the busy winter and spring tourism seasons. Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews (“Dictator Dan” to the Murdoch press), imposed an almost total lockdown and evening curfew for months.
The federation is not broken completely, but it’s certainly fractured. More worrying, though, are
AROUND OZ
appalling
, furchtbar, erschütternd
billion
, Milliarde(n)
breach sth.
, gegen etw. verstoßen
curfew [(k§:fju:]
, Ausgangssperre
flex one’s muscles
, die Muskeln spielen lassen
from afar
, aus der Ferne
high court challenge
, Klage vor dem Obersten Gerichtshof
impose
, verhängen
iron ore
, Eisenerz
maverick
, eigenwillig
report card N. Am., Aus. , Zeugnis
respective
, entsprechend, jeweilig
suppress
, unterdrücken
tier [tIE]
, Rang, Lager
the inconsistencies in new laws that clearly breach civil liberties and sup-press activism. Victorians were brutal-ly arrested for going outside without a face mask, as were people in NSW for attending Black Lives Matter demon-strations, while in WA, up to 30,000 people could go to the football stadium with few public safety protocols.
But the truth is that the whole coun-try has lived in a fools’ paradise bubble because we stopped international trav-el back in March this year. Foreigners can’t get in and Australians can’t get out. At some point, our external and internal borders will have to open, and only then will we know if our seeming-ly great strategies worked.
Meanwhile, there’s the uncomfort-able question of how we let so many hundreds of aged care residents suffer appalling deaths in dysfunctional fa-cilities. There was already a royal com-mission inquiry underway into the mistreatment of the elderly by profit- driven providers. Covid death now forms part of the inquiry.
Pandemic report card
Auf den ersten Blick scheint Australien ganz gut durch die Pandemie zu kommen. Doch
unser Kolumnist erteilt der Corona-Politik seiner Regierung keine gute Note.
ADVANCED AUDIO
PETER FLYNN is a writer based in Perth, Western Australia.
SPOTLIGHT 2020 CHAPTERS AND VERSE
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Phil: What a year it’s been!Peggy: Yup, I suppose we should count our blessings. Neither of us have caught Covid, but I, for one, am suf-fering from restrictionitis. Phil: You’re right. Even if I understood all the rules and regulations, the atmosphere is claustrophobic and lonely at the same time. Peggy: It’s very weird and it’s driving people mad. This morning at the newsagent, the woman in front of me had a bit of a meltdown. Phil: Oops!Peggy: Yeah, Mr Singh couldn’t understand what she was asking for. He was ever so polite, but she just ripped off her mask and threw it at him and stormed out. Phil: Lucky we haven’t had any customers like that. Peggy: We haven’t had any customers, full stop! Phil: That’s not quite true. Peggy: You know what I mean. This place feels so ghostly. Phil: Good thing Sean moved in upstairs. He’s great company and he’s been such
In Peggy’s Place, Spotlights ganz eigenem Londoner Pub, wird der Weihnachtsbaum geschmückt.
Von INEZ SHARP
MEDIUM AUDIO
a help with the guidelines on Covid. Peggy: Where is he, by the way? He said he’d warm up that chicken for lunch.Phil: I saw him go out earlier. Now that you mention it, he was carrying a big bag and acting a bit furtive. Peggy: How do you mean “furtive”?Phil: I asked him where he was going and he just said, “never you mind”. Peggy: I suppose we could decorate the tree while we’re waiting for him to come back. Phil: OK, but do you really want to put it in front of the window? It makes the bar quite dark.Peggy: Phil, it’s winter! It’s always dark — and, anyway, I think it’s nice when you see the tree from outside. It looks so inviting with the fairy lights and the baubles. Phil: Right you are! Where’s the tinsel?Peggy: In that blue box on the counter.Phil: No, not in there, but look what I found!Peggy: That’s the fairy that Jane made the first year we all celebrated Christ-mas together. Phil: Makes me feel quite sentimental.
Peggy: Well, she’s coming round later with Simone. You can show it to her then. Phil: And here are the paper bells we all made a couple of years ago. Peggy: Aren’t they lovely? I remember Simone had glue all over her fingers, but a great big smile on her face when we were finished!Phil: I wonder where Sean is. I’m starting to get hungry.Peggy: Just help me hang up the bells and I’ll go and warm up the chicken myself. Phil: What’s that knocking sound?Peggy: There’s no knocking. You’re imagining things. Phil: No, listen!Peggy: You’re right! It’s com-ing from outside. Phil: Look!Peggy: Where? Phil: It’s Sean, and Helen, and George and Jane and Simone!Peggy: Quiet. They’re sing-ing for us.Sean, Helen, George, Jane, Simone: (singing) We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christ-mas...
Putting up the tree
PEGGY’S PLACE
“Where’s the tinsel?”
bauble [(bO:b&l] UK
, Weihnachtskugel
blessings: count one’s ~
, dankbar für das sein, was man hat
fairy
, hier: Weihnachtsengel
fairy lights UK
, Lichterkette
full stop UK , hier: punktum, basta
furtive
, heimlich, verstohlen
glue
, Klebstoff
I, for one
, ich jedenfalls
meltdown ifml. , Zusammenbruch, Krise
never you mind
, das geht dich gar nichts an
newsagent UK
, Zeitungshändler, Kiosk
restrictionitis
, Wortschöpfung aus „restriction“ und „-itis“ (Suffix für eine Krankheit)
tinsel
, Lametta
weird [wIEd] ifml. , seltsam, komisch
SPOTLIGHT 2020CHAPTERS AND VERSE 31
Peggy’s Place
HelenHelen, a regular at the pub, works as a
nurse and is currently single. She’s organized, punctual and sensible.
GeorgeGeorge, who’s Scottish,
has been coming to Peggy’s Place for years.
He has a business as an events manager. George is married to
Maggie and has a grown-up son, Ian.
JaneJane, Peggy’s daughter, is egocentric and lazy. She’s a single mother — she has a daughter,
Simone — but she’s not good at taking on
responsibility. Jane never stays in one job
for long.
SeanSean, from Ireland, is the chef at Peggy’s
Place. Sean is unconventional but a genius in the kitchen.
He’s also a bit hot-headed.
PhilPhil is in his 60s. He is
married to Peggy. Once a London cabbie, he now helps out at the pub. Phil can be a bit
grumpy but he’s a good person. Unfortunately,
he’s not much of a businessman.
PeggyPeggy is the owner of the pub. Now in her 60s, she is kind and
reliable, and loves the British royal family.
Peggy is happy in her second marriage, to
Phil.
cabbie ifml. , Taxifahrer(in)
chef
, Küchenchef(in)
grumpy
, mürrisch, grantig
sensible
, vernünftig
NOW TRY THIS!
Match these informal phrases used in the dialogue to their definitions.
now that you mention it | right you are | to have a bit of a meltdown
A. to become very angry or upsetB. to remember something because of what someone
else has saidC. to agree happily with what someone has said
M
AnswersA. to have a bit of a
meltdownB. now that you mention
itC. right you are
INFO TO GO TIME TO DECORATE
THE TREEChristmas trees in Britain often
have colourful decorations. These include baubles and tinsel. At the top of the tree, there might be a fairy and the tree will often be lit with fairy lights rather than
with candles.
CHAPTERS AND VERSESPOTLIGHT 202032
POETRY CORNER
ass
, hier: Esel
bud
, Knospe
candlestick
, Kerzenständer
hyacinth [(haIEsInT]
, Hyazinthe
ox
, Ochseshepherd boy [(SepEd bOI]
, Hirtenjunge
spruce [spru:s]
, Fichte
unfold
, sich entfalten
VANESSA CLARK gerät so langsam in Weihnachtsstimmung — und stellt ein Gedicht vor, das wunderbar dazu passt.
ADVANCED AUDIO PLUS
The Christmas lifeby Wendy Cope (born 1945)
Bring in a tree, a young Norwegian spruce,
Bring hyacinths that rooted in the cold.
Bring winter jasmine as its buds unfold —
Bring the Christmas life into this house.
~Bring red and green and gold, bring things that shine,
Bring candlesticks and music, food and wine.
Bring in your memories of Christmas past.
Bring in your tears for all that you have lost.
~Bring in the shepherd boy, the ox and ass,
Bring in the stillness of an icy night,
Bring in a birth, of hope and love and light.
Bring the Christmas life into this house. Fo
tos:
ddp
; Chr
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e G
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, qua
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SHORT STORYCHAPTERS AND VERSE SPOTLIGHT 2020 33
What’s it about?This poem gives us simple instructions to follow to ensure that we have a good Christmas. The first item on Cope’s list is the tree (a “Norwegian spruce”). She also wants winter flowers (“hyacinths” and “winter jasmine”), with their closed flow-ers (“buds”) promising new life. Next come the decorations (“things that shine”). Then she invites us to share our “memories of Christmas past”, and our sadness (“tears”). The last section has a more religious tone, with the shepherd boy and the animals (“ox and ass”) from the Bible story, per-haps as figures in a traditional crib scene.
Cope brings all her ideas together in the last two lines, combining “hope and love and light” in her Christmas wishes.
Christmas Eve
, Heiligabend
crib UK
, Krippe
item
, Artikel, Element
Good to knowWendy Cope was inspired to write this poem by an eight-year-old girl who said: “If you don’t have a real tree, you don’t bring the Christmas life into the house.” A plastic tree just isn’t the same, even if they’re now more popular than real trees in the UK. It’s interesting that Cope doesn’t mention presents anywhere in her poem.
If you liked this poem...Another poem that recommends a real tree is Bryan Teague’s “The Christmas tree”. He remembers: “On Christmas Eve my Dad would disappear / On a secret mission to the woods”. Teague’s magical childhood memories of decorating the freshly cut tree with candles and paper chains does not com-pare with the plastic tree he now has as an adult.
A NOTE FROM VANESSAIn my own home, it’s a family Christmas tradition that I read this poem as we decorate our tree, and every year, it makes me cry. My children take bets as to which line will start the tears — line eight is often the winner.
Foto
s: X
XX
CHAPTERS AND VERSE
memory. This meant that she could remember every single day of her life in precise detail since about the age of 11. She could remember exact conversations, what she’d eaten, what she’d been wearing, what the weather had been like, what had happened in her life and during big world events on any given day. Name any date in the last 40 years and she could tell you exactly what day of the week it had been and what she did on that day — as though it were yesterday.
Now, I’ll have to remember for two, she thought when they were given Stuart’s diagnosis.
Sometimes in the evening, over the course of their lives together, Stuart would look up from his newspaper and, with no context, throw a date at her. It was a game they played.
“28 October 1977,” he’d say. “Hmm, that was a Friday,” Julia would answer.
“I was 15. I ran to the record shop after school because the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks had come out that day. Tracey, Julie and I — we all went. There was a long queue outside and we were afraid the album was going to sell out! Julie had safety pins through her leather jacket, and my mother said to me, ‘All right, you may listen to punk, but if I ever see you dressed like a punk, I’ll give you a Mohawk myself.’ My hair! I loved my hair. I would never have risked it.” She could have told him even more details.
Julia had always known she was different. The past had been hyperpresent to her since she was 11, when her brain “snapped”, as she described it.
essence
, Wesen, Persönlichkeit
general medical practice
, Allgemeinarztpraxis
HSAM
, Hyperthymestisches Syndrom
Mohawk [(mEUhO:k]
, hier: Irokesenschnitt
safety pin
, Sicherheitsnadel
wheelchair
, Rollstuhl
SHORT STORY
34 SPOTLIGHT 2020
An American accent isn’t the only thing I’ve lost since my childhood, Julia thought as she was getting dressed for the day. This time of year — December,
Christmas — always made her somewhat thoughtful. This year, she felt particularly so. T. S. Eliot had been wrong when he wrote that April was the cruellest month. As she was leaving the flat to go Christmas shopping, her husband called out to her cheerfully from his wheelchair: “Radio, Paddington!”
She stopped when she heard him say it, as if someone had kicked her. Radio. Paddington. Nonsense! “Goodbye, my loves,” she called back to him and his carer.
As she left her home on Weymouth Street in Marylebone that December morning, she accepted that her husband’s dementia had now progressed to a new level — one at which his “Goodbye, dear!” came out instead as a complete-ly different phrase, as a happy, cheerful “Radio, Paddington!”
At least, she thought, the essence of Stuart, of his personality, is still there. I still have him, the love of my life, my husband for the past 33 years. I haven’t lost him completely. Not yet. This made her happy and sad at the same time. What we once had is no longer, but what we have now is more than what will be. Try to live in the present, she told herself. Have a happy Christmas.
Up until four years ago, her husband, Dr Stuart Urban, had had his general medical practice on Harley Street. It was then that he got his diagnosis. For his wife, it was more than the normal tragedy of a husband’s dementia; it was ironic, too. Julia Urban was a professor of neurology at London’s National Hospital — but she was also the subject of some of its research.
Julia was one of around 50 people in the world with HSAM: highly superior autobiographical
Weihnachten, das Fest der Freude, hat manchmal auch etwas Trauriges an sich. Von JUDITH GILBERT
MEDIUM AUDIO
A Christmas to remember
SPOTLIGHT 2020CHAPTERS AND VERSE 35
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Stoc
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Her father, an editor in New York, had been offered a job with Penguin in London. Julia didn’t want to leave New York, her school, her friends. London seemed worse than death. It was on the day her parents told her about the move that she began to remember things. She wanted to remember because she was afraid of what she would lose.
“I don’t do it,” she explains whenever people ask her about remembering. “I see it. I see a calendar in my head and I scroll really fast to the year, then the month, then the day. It’s very organized.”
In 2006, Stuart told her that he had been reading in a medical journal about the University of Cal-ifornia, Irvine’s research into this phenomenon. She thought, ‘That’s me! They’re describing me!”
Later that year, she and Stuart flew to the US. After a holiday at Big Sur, they drove to Irvine for a series of tests, and Julia was told she had HSAM.
“HSAM I am,” she had said at the time, thinking of the Sam-I-Am character in her favourite child-hood book, Green Eggs and Ham. It was Christmas 1967 when she got the book. It had been under their tree, wrapped with a red ribbon.
Then, three years later, on Christmas morning in 1970, at 6.23, before her parents were awake, she opened her presents. A beautiful shiny transistor radio was waiting for her. She put the batteries inside, turned it on and heard George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” fill the room. It was magical.
By now, Julia had walked past Broadcasting House and into Regent Street. All these memo-ries and dates were clear and present in her head. After her family had moved to England, in 1976, she made a plan to visit Savile Row to look at what had once been the Beatles’ Apple offices. And that was exactly what she did on 24 August — a sunny Tuesday.
She was almost there now, again, on Regent Street. If I turn right into Conduit Street and then
envelop [ɪnˈveləp]
, umhüllen, umschließen
phenomenon [fE(nQmInEn]
, Phänomen
retrace
, zurückverfolgen
stuffed animal
, Plüschtier
tag
, Etikett AnswersA. true (He’s a general
practitioner.) B. false (She was given only
a book.)C. false (They live in
Marylebone.)D. trueE. false (She just
didn’t understand it straightaway.)
left, I could retrace my footsteps on 24 August 1976, she thought. Her memory scrolled to that day: an American teenager new to London, which was not her home, but which was to be her home from now on — and the fear of losing her identity.
But today, instead of going to Savile Row, Julia stayed on Regent Street to go Christmas shop-ping. She went, as if on autopilot, to Hamleys, London’s great toy store. She had gone into Hamleys that day in August 1976, too. Feeling so alone, and scared, she had wandered through the store until she saw something that stole her heart: a little stuffed animal wearing a blue coat and red hat, with a tag that said: “Please look after this bear. Thank you.”
Suddenly, her world was a better place. Sudden-ly, she had felt safe. There was little Paddington Bear, in need of love and protection, and she was there to give it to him. The bear became hers, and he stayed with her through her years at university.
Now, so many years later, reliving every detail of that moment, she had found Paddington again. She gently picked up one of the many little bears and held it close to her.
Suddenly, the memories of all her Christmases — with her parents, and later, after they had died, with Stuart — became present again. She could hear the shiny radio playing and feel Paddington, then and now, close to her. The love of her parents and her husband enveloped her. She realized that Stuart’s memory was not as lost as she had feared, and she now understood what he had been trying to say to her that morning.
NOW TRY THIS!
How carefully did you read the story? Test yourself by de-ciding whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F).
T FA. Stuart is not a neurologist. B. In 1967, Julia was given a book, a radio and
a stuffed animal for Christmas. C. Julia and Stuart live in the district of Bayswater. D. When she was 15, Julia did not want her
mother to give her a punk haircut. E. Stuart’s greeting to his wife this morning was
nonsense.
M
36 SPOTLIGHT 2020 THE LIGHTER SIDE
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Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz
Compiled by Owen Connors
A rare setBob takes two stuffed dogs to a TV show that features interest-
ing antiques. “Oh!” exclaims the presenter.“This is a very rare set produced by the famous taxidermist Rowland Ward, who
operated in London during the second half of the 19th century. Do you have any idea what they would fetch if they were in
good condition?” Bob thinks hard about this. “Sticks?” he asks.
“I refuse to think of them as chin hairs. I think of them
as stray eyebrows.”Janette Barber (born 1953),
American television producer and writer
The Argyle Sweater
by Scott Hilburn
MARRIED THE LONGESTAt a wedding reception, the
DJ interviews the guests to find out who has been
married the longest. When the DJ finds the pair,
he asks, “What advice would you give to the newly
married couple?”The wife replies, “The three
most important words in a marriage are,
‘You’re probably right.’”Everyone then looks at her husband, who says, “She’s probably right.”
Slacking offMy boss came over to me at
lunch. “Where on earth have you been?” she said.
“I’ve been trying to find you all morning!”
I shrugged and replied, “Good employees are hard
to find!”
house: play ~
, Vater-Mutter- Kind spielen
nod
, nicken
reception
, Empfang
shrug
, mit den Schul-tern zucken
slack off
, hier: sich absetzen
stray
, verirrt
stuffed
, ausgestopft
taxidermist [(tÄksId§:mIst]
, Tierpräpara-tor(in)
THE LIGHTER SIDE
Playing houseA little girl and a little boy are at
kindergarten one day. The girl walks over to the boy and says, “Hey, Jacob, want to play house with me?”“Sure, Nicola!” the boy replies. “What do you want me to do?”The girl replies, “I want you to commu-nicate your feelings.”“Communicate my feelings?” asks the surprised Jacob. “I have no idea what that means.”The little girl nods and says, “That’s perfect. You can be the husband.”
INFO TO GOThe wordplay here is on
“fetch”. An antique could “fetch”, or be sold for, a
particular price. However, the word can also mean to
“go where something is and bring it back” — like a
dog does with a stick.
SPOTLIGHT 2020AMERICAN LIFE
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37
GINGER KUENZEL is a freelance writer who lived in Munich for 20 years. She now calls a small town in upstate New York home.
Since you’re a Spotlight reader, it’s probably safe to say that you’re interested in learning and staying up to date with new ideas. There are lots of ways to do this, of course, but one
of my favorites is by watching TED talks. The mission of this US media organization is to
spread ideas around the world to people from all walks of life because words and ideas can “change attitudes, lives, and, ultimately, the world.” In each talk, an expert speaks for 18 minutes or less on a specific topic. The goal is to make ideas accessible to the general public and to stimulate discussion. The public can do this either via the website or at events held throughout the world.
One popular talk, given by Sir Ken Robinson in 2006, is called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” He says that, while children in many parts of the world are educated in science, math, and the humanities, too little attention is paid to creativity. He talks about the choreographer Gillian Lynne, who, as a child, was told that her tendency to be fidgety was due to a learning disorder. Fortunately, a specialist recognized that there was nothing wrong with Lynne, but that she was a dancer, with a talent that needed to be encouraged. Sup-porting creativity is far better than educating children according to a one-size-fits-all model, says Robinson.
TED talks started life as a conference in 1984. The idea was to bring together interesting people from across the globe to share their knowledge and opinions.
The first conferences were by invitation only, with speakers from fields such as science, philos-ophy, music, business, and religion. Over time, the organizers realized that it would be much better to expand the community.
The advent of the internet made this possi-ble. Today, you can listen online to the talks that interest you. You can also sign up to receive an e-mail alert when a new TED talk becomes
AMERICAN LIFE
accessible [Ek(sesEb&l]
, zugänglich
advent [(Ädvent]
, Einführung
alert
, hier: Mitteilung
attitude
, Haltung, Einstellung
expertise [ˌeksp&rːˈtiːz]
, Fachwissen
fidgety
, zappelig
household name
, gängiger Begriff; bekannter Name
humanities
, Geisteswissenschaften
learning disorder
, Lernstörung
Pope Francis
, Papst Franziskus
sign up
, sich anmelden
via [(vaIE]
, über
walks of life: from all ~
, aus allen Gesellschafts-schichten
available on one of your chosen topics. Perhaps technology or design is your thing, or maybe your interest lies in environmental topics, social change, or personal growth — just a few of the categories available. Many of the speak-ers are well known, such as former US President Bill Clinton, designer and businessman Elon Musk, singer Bono, philanthropist Bill Gates, or Pope Francis. Others are perhaps not house-hold names, but have been chosen for their expertise and their ability to com-municate ideas clearly.
Take a look at the website (www.ted.com). You never know what might in-spire your own next great idea.
The next great idea
Unsere Kolumnistin ist vielseitig interessiert — und findet immer wieder spannende Denkanstöße
in ihrer persönlichen Lieblingsquelle.
MEDIUM US PLUS
Blue hour at the Blyde River Canyon
TRAVELSPOTLIGHT 202040
Foto
: Fra
nz M
arc
Frei
; Kar
te S
tefa
n El
sber
ger
If, unlike me, you’re looking for a shot of adrenaline, the Big Swing is one way to enjoy the view from a different angle. Alongside the top of the waterfall is a platform from which visitors, strapped into a sitting position, can drop themselves into the gorge — individually or as a pair — reaching a speed of 140 km/h within three seconds as they freefall for 70 metres before they begin to swing gently back and forth above the forest canopy. Crowds of visitors usually watch them from a viewing deck by the lift.
As I make my way along the boardwalk with other visitors, we hear the screams of those doing the freefall and look up to watch them swinging and whooping with joy overhead. A less extreme way to experience the dramatic transition from highveld to lowveld is to slide 130 metres across the gorge on the zip line. The almost constant buzz of the zip liners above me sounds like the call of some strange local bird.
Views and veldsDriving north from Graskop, a quick diversion onto the R534 takes me to one of the most popular sites on the Pan-orama Route: God’s Window. As the name implies, it offers an awe-inspiring vista from the edge of a cliff escarpment.
A walkway guides me to several different viewing pos- itions and through a rainforest at the north end of the walk. I consider leaving the walkway and wandering through rocky outcrops and vegetation to get a more complete experience of the area, but decide to play safe.
Standing at God’s Window and looking out over the seem-ingly endless forested landscape, stretching like a thick green carpet towards the border with Mozambique and the coast-line beyond, I see almost no marks of civilization to spoil the
angle
, (Blick)Winkel
awe-inspiring [(O:In)spaIErIN]
, beeindruckend, ehrfurchtgebie-tend
back and forth
, hin und her
boardwalk
, Holzsteg
bumpy
, bucklig
buzz
, Summen, Sirren
cave
, Höhle, Grotte
cavern
, Höhle
corner wedge
, Keilformation
diversion
, Umweg
due south [dju:] , genau nach Süden
eager: be ~ to do sth.
, darauf aus sein, erpicht sein etw. zu tun
escarpment
, Grabenbruch, steiler Abhang
forest canopy
, Baumkronen, Blätterdach
glass-fronted lift
, Aussichtsauf-zug
gorge
, Schlucht
gorge swing
, Gondel-Schau-kel über eine Schlucht
grassland plains
, Hochland, Savanne
hippo
, Nilpferd
imply
, andeuten
lowveld
, Flachland
outcrop
, Aufschluss
pristine
, unberührt
roost
, auf dem Ast rasten/schlafen
spoil
, verderben
strap
, festschnallen
stroll
, schlendern, spazieren
suspension bridge
, Hängebrücke
trail
, Weg, Pfad
treat
, besonderes Vergnügen
tumble
, stürzen
vast
, gewaltig, weitläufig
vista
, Aussicht, Panorama
whoop: ~ with joy
, vor Freude jauchzen
zip line
, Seilrutsche
The Drakensberg is a range of mountains which stretches from South Africa’s Western Cape prov-ince all the way up the east side of the country. Inland from these mountains is the highveld — a
vast area of grassland plains — while on the coastal side, the mountains are bordered with hills and tropical forests. This beautiful landscape, especially around the Northern Drak-ensberg, has made the area popular with visitors, who like to discover it by driving along the so-called Panorama Route.
It’s on this route that I would like to take you now, start-ing from the town of Sabie — the southernmost point — and driving along the 160 kilometres of this more or less circular route. Are you ready?
Handicaps and hipposYou may, like me, be eager to get onto the Panorama Route, but before we leave Sabie, there are two sights we should take in. First: the Sudwala Caves — a 40-minute drive due south. The caves have been there for about 240 million years, making them the oldest caves on Earth. In caverns both large and small, the temperature never goes above 17 °C. All around, there are strange rock formations: enormous stalactites dripping from the ceiling and bumpy stalagmites rising from the ground. In the 1860s, the caves were used by Somquba, the son of a Swazi king. Somquba and his warriors hid in the caves during a struggle for the throne of the Swazi kingdom. The caves are named after Somquba’s chief bodyguard, Sudwala.
Back in Sabie in the late afternoon, there’s a treat for golf players. The town has a beautiful and rather special golf course at the Sabie River Sun Resort. It’s a place where you can stroll down to the end of a fairway and find a waterhole filled with hippos. It’s best to go at sunset, to see not just the hippos, but also the many ibises as they glide to the branches where they’ll roost at night.
Swings and screamsTo make a start on the main attractions of the Panorama Route, I set out on a day’s driving tour from Sabie, heading north on the R532. The first site on my agenda is Mac Mac Falls, a 70-metre-high twin waterfall with hiking and walk-ing trails. You can swim in the pool below on a warm day — although, as I quickly discover, the water is quite cold! The waterfalls in this region are at their best during South Africa’s summer, as this is the rainy season for the north part of the country.
My next stop is Graskop, a small town at the top of an escarpment, and a pleasant area to explore on foot. It’s also home to the Graskop Gorge Lift Company, located in a corner wedge of canyon cliffs with a view across the gorge of a pristine waterfall tumbling into the forest below. The com-pany offers zip lines, a gorge swing and a suspension bridge over the dramatic landscape, as well as a glass-fronted lift to take visitors 60 metres down to the forest floor, where there’s a circular boardwalk through the trees.
Foto
: Chr
istia
n Bo
rkow
ski/i
Stoc
k.co
m
The Panorama Route — where landscapes and
cultures meet
TRAVELDie Panorama Route zählt wohl zu den spektakulärsten
Landstrichen in ganz Südafrika und hat nicht nur beeindru-ckende Naturerlebnisse zu bieten.
Von BRENDAN PEACOCK
MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS
SPOTLIGHT 2020TRAVEL 41
view. It’s easy to imagine that one has gone back in time to the days when ox wagons were the main form of trans-port in this area. I’m reminded of an adventure story I read as a boy — Jock of the Bushveld — which is set in this area. I think about how much life here has changed in less than a century. The de-ceptively beautiful lowveld landscape was once a potentially deadly challenge for travellers. Today, it’s a welcoming playground for tourists such as myself.
Back on the R532 and heading north again, I take quick detours to two water-falls: at Lisbon Falls, the water cascades down several rocky outcrops, while at nearby Berlin Falls, a single wall of water plunges almost uninterrupted into a pool below.
Earlier in the day, while on the Graskop Gorge boardwalk, I was dis-appointed to learn that the diversion, damming and consumption of the river water passing through this area as it flows eastward to the Indian Ocean had severely reduced what must once have been mighty waterfalls over the escarpment.
Round and roilingA few kilometres further along the Panorama Route are Bourke’s Luck Potholes. These geological formations at the south end of Blyde River Canyon are natural rock sculptures carved out of the landscape by the confluence of the Blyde and Treur rivers.
The route inside the site is an easily walkable 700 metres long. It includes spectacular bridges from which to look down at the “potholes” and a number of places where tourists can sit and even dip their feet into the water — which I do, allowing local fish to inspect my toes as possible food.
confluence
, Zusammenfluss
dam
, aufstauen
deceptively
, trügerisch
detour
, Umweg
diversion
, Umleitung
ox wagon
, Ochsenkarren
plunge
, stürzen
pothole
, Strudelloch
Stop for a snack: a street market on the Panorama Route
South Africa
Panorama Route
TRAVELSPOTLIGHT 202042
Foto
s: x
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxx
Magic Mpumalanga: view across the Blyde River Canyon
Crashing down: the Berlin Falls
Animal life: How do you do,
kudu?
SPOTLIGHT 2020 43TRAVEL
Foto
s: Sh
ams/
iSto
ck.co
m; C
hris
tian
B. /
Ala
my
Stoc
k Ph
oto;
Fra
nz M
arc
Frei
canter
, leicht galoppieren
cauldron
, Kessel
cliff face
, Felswand
dangle
, baumeln
fortune
, Vermögen
frantic
, wild, turbulent
gold rush
, Goldrausch
guardian rampart [(gA:diEn]
, Schutzwall
heritage site [(herItIdZ]
, Kulturerbe
infested
, verseucht, voll von
jostle
, sich drängeln
jut out
, herausragen
kudu
, Kuduantilope
peak
, Gipfel
preserve
, erhalten
prospector
, Goldsucher(in)
roil
, aufwühlen
scar
, Narbe
scattered
, verstreut
schism [(skIzEm]
, Spaltung
scour [(skaUE]
, spülen
size sb. up
, jmdn. mustern, kritisch betrachten
stake a claim
, einen Claim abstecken
stir
, anregen
thatched
, strohgedeckt
vantage point
, Aussichtspunkt
weathering
, Verwitterung
Caption
The potholes are actually very large — each of them many metres across — and it’s no surprise that local prospector Tom Bourke (1854–1938), after whom the site is named, thought gold may have been hidden in these deep pools as the river scoured away its own bed. Sadly for Bourke, there was no gold to be found and the only thing worth doing at this spot is to stare down into the cold green cauldrons of roiling water.
Back on the road, to the east of where I’m driv-ing along the R532, the amazing Blyde River Canyon opens up in front of me: a majestic 26 kilometres long and around 800 metres deep. The best-known sight is that of the breathtaking Three Rondavels rising out of the canyon wall. After Table Mountain, they’re one of the most photographed scenic attractions in South Africa. A rondavel is a traditional, African-style round hut with a thatched grass roof — and that’s exact-ly what these three rock formations look like after millennia of weathering.
Displayed on postcards and tourist marketing material wherever South African travel is adver-tised, the view from this site — with the Blyde River Dam far below framed by peaks of the escarpment — is one of the most memorable the country has to offer.
Tourists arrive regularly by the busload and are soon jostling for camera positions along the cliffs. Despite being almost constantly moved on by shouts of “Scuzi!” from Italian tourist photog- raphers, it’s not difficult to find a place to enjoy the vantage point.
Visitors braver than I am have taken pictures of themselves sitting on rock fingers jutting out from the cliff face, while dangling their legs over the 800-metre drop below, but I have no wish to go to such extremes just to get away from other tourists. The silence, broken only by the wind rushing up the cliff face, is calming. As I look down towards the dam below, surrounded by guardian ramparts of the escarpment, I feel as if I’m at a living display of prehistoric nature untouched by man. Sunsets at this location are special experiences as the golden light catches the rock faces across the canyon.
Museums and minesBeyond the Blyde River Dam and the Three Ron-davels, the road begins to bend westward and farther inland. Although they’re not as large as the Sudwala Caves, the Echo Caves, near where the R532 meets the R36, are well worth a visit before the road goes south towards the town of Ohrigstad. I decide to stop off for a coffee at
Crystal Springs, a popular holiday resort. It’s late afternoon, and as soon as I’ve finished my drink, I take a stroll along the edge of the resort. While walking around some rocky outcrops above a river, I find myself face to face with a large kudu — an imposing but gentle, giant antelope with the long, curving horns that have been the prize of many a hunter. We size each other up for a few seconds before he canters off into the bush.
My final stop is at Pilgrim’s Rest, a few kilo-metres along the R533. This small town is more or less a living museum and heritage site preserving the look and feel of the gold rush days of the late 1880s. It became the centre of the gold rush for a short time before richer deposits were discovered elsewhere on the highveld — most notably in Johannesburg — and this pioneer town developed quickly enough to be provided with electricity well before many of the larger settlements in South Africa at the time.
The hillsides around Pilgrim’s Rest bear the scars of mining activity, and the buildings in the town — now mostly occupied by shops and restaurants — stand as a reminder of the frantic rush to stake claims and make fortunes.
From Pilgrim’s Rest, I rejoin the R532 just west of Graskop, where I can complete the main loop of the Panorama Route to arrive back in Sabie.
There are few places that stir the imagination quite as much as the Panorama Route — scattered as it is with reminders of the various schisms between peoples, between man and nature and between the past and the present.
A GOOD READIn the 19th century, transport riders moved goods through Eastern Transvaal from Lourenco Marques (today, Maputo) on the Indian Ocean inland to gold-mining towns. This was a dangerous journey. Wild animals, rivers infested with crocodiles, malaria-carrying mosquitoes and tsetse flies bearing sleeping sickness were just some of the dangers.Jock of the Bushveld, by Sir Percy FitzPatrick, is one of South Africa’s most famous novels. Published in 1907, it describes FitzPatrick’s life as a transport rider with his Staffordshire bull terrier, Jock.
ECCENTRIC LIFESPOTLIGHT 202044
Foto
: The
Brit
ish
Libr
ary
M u h a m m a d M a h a b a t Khanji III Rasul Khanji was the last nawab of Junagadh (today part of
the Indian state of Gujarat). He ruled from 1911 until the end of the British Raj, in 1947.
Known as Mahabat Khanji, the nawab enjoyed an extravagant life-style. He loved animals and owned hundreds of dogs, and he liked to give his pets expensive birthday presents. Mahabat Khanji also held weddings for his dogs at which the “bride and groom” were dressed in brocade and wore gold bracelets.
The nawab, in fact, loved every kind of animal and was a committed conservationist who set up initia-tives to help protect local wildlife. In the 1920s and 1930s, those initiatives helped to ensure the survival of the Kathiawari desert war horse and a breed of local cattle. Mahabat Khanji is best known, however, for his efforts to preserve the Asiatic lion, which by the early 20th century was under threat of being hunted to extinction.
In 1920, Mahabat Khanji came of age and — since his three older brothers had already died — he also became the ruler of Junagadh. His lands included an
accession [Ek(seS&n]
, Übergang
bracelet [(breIslEt] , Armkette
breed
, Rasse
bride
, Braut
brocade [brE(keId]
, Brokat
cattle
, Rinder, Vieh
committed
, engagiert
ensure [In(SO:]
, sicherstellen
extinction
, Aussterben
groom
, Bräutigam
predominantly
, überwiegend
wildlife sanctuary [(sÄNktSuEri]
, geschützter Lebens-raum für Tiere
wings: wait in the ~
, in den Startlöchern stehen
wire-rimmed spectacles
, Brille mit Drahtgestell
ECCENTRIC LIFE
Der letzte einer Reihe von fürstlichen indischen Herrschern war vermutlich auch
einer der exzentrischsten. Von PAUL WHEATLEY
MEDIUM AUDIO
area called the Gir Forest, which was home to the few remaining Asiatic lions. British and Indian hunters saw the Asiatic lion as a trophy animal, but Mahabat Khanji re-fused their requests to hunt on his land. His refusal saved the lions from extinction — their habitat was preserved and the area is now a wildlife sanctuary.
Perhaps the nawab saw himself as one of a rare breed also facing extinction. In the 1930s, he visited India’s spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, at his ashram in Ahmedabad. In search of his own vision for the future of India, Mahabat Khanji asked Gandhi for inspiration. Gandhi, who liked to give away his old glasses to visitors, presented the nawab with a pair of his round, wire-rimmed spectacles, and told him that they were the “eyes” that had given him the vision to free India.
Gandhi’s words do not seem to have given Mahabat Khanji the illuminating insight he was hoping for. By 1947, with independence waiting in the wings, the nawab — like all of the country’s rulers — was being asked to choose between be-coming part of India or Pakistan.
Junagadh was predominantly Hindu, but Mahabat Khanji, a Muslim, chose to join Pakistan. After protests from the local Hindu population, the Indian army took over Junagadh, and the state’s accession
— the lion prince of JunagadhMahabat Khanji
SHORT STORYECCENTRIC LIFE SPOTLIGHT 2020 45
NOW TRY THIS!
Complete the text below with words from the list.
wildlife | sanctuary | extinction | conservationist
The nawab, who loved animals, is remembered today as a(n) (A) _______________. He knew that the Asiatic lion was under threat of (B) _________________, so he re-fused requests to hunt it. Today, the Gir Forest is an animal (C) ______________. Mahabat Khanji also helped ensure the survival of other (D) _______________, such as the Kathiawari desert war horse and a breed of local cattle.
M
AnswersA. conservationistB. extinctionC. sanctuaryD. wildlife
“Mahabat Khanji liked to give his dogs expensive
birthday presents.”
to India was confirmed through a referendum. The nawab went into ex-ile in Karachi, Pakistan, leaving behind most of his possessions but taking his dogs — and the glasses he had been given by Gandhi — with him. Mahabat Khanji died in Pakistan in 1959 at the age of 59.
There is a footnote to the spectacles Mahatma Gandhi gave to the nawab. They turned up at a US auction house in 2009 — part of a lot put up for sale by Talatsahid Khan Babi, Mahabat Khanji’s great-grandson. Among the other objects being auctioned were a pocket watch, letters, sandals, a bowl and a plate — all of which had once be-longed to Gandhi.
The lot was expected to bring in be-tween $20,000 and $30,000. In the end, the various items sold for $ 1.8 million.
item
, Artikel, Gegenstand
Born: 2 August 1900, Junagadh, British IndiaDied: 7 November 1959, Karachi, PakistanNationality: Indian, Pakistani
SPOTLIGHT 2020 PROVERB — FEEDBACK46
Niemand kann aus seiner Haut herausDie Katze lässt das Mausen nicht
ADVANCED
The proverb “A leopard can’t change its spots” means that people can’t change their true nature or charac-ter. It’s used as a warning not to trust someone who has behaved badly in the past.
The expression comes from the Bible: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accus-tomed to do evil.” It is an Old Tes-tament idea that our fundamental characters are fixed, like our physical
characteristics, and will be judged by God. It’s very different from the New Testament philosophy of self- improvement through God’s love.
You may also hear this variation of the phrase: “A tiger cannot change its stripes.”
Here’s another similar saying, often given as relationship advice: “Once a cheater, always a cheater” — or, to continue with the wild cat theme, should that perhaps be “Once a cheetah, always a cheetah”?
“My neighbour just won’t stop flirting with me.” “I don’t know why you’re surprised — a leopard can’t change its spots.”
A leopard can’t change its spots
by Vanessa Clark
Geschäftsführerin Malgorzata Schweizer
Chefredakteurin Inez Sharp (V.i.S.d.P.)
Verlag und RedaktionSpotlight Verlag GmbHKistlerhofstraße 17281379 Münchenwww.spotlight-online.de
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Bildredaktion Sarah Gough (Leitung)Judith Rothenbusch
Gestaltung Georg Lechner
Autoren Stephen Armstrong (UK), Colin Beaven (UK), Vanessa Clark (UK), Adrian Doff, Peter Flynn (Australia), Judith Gilbert (US), Ginger Kuenzel (US), Eve Lucas, Clare Maas, Anne Mullee (Ireland), Dagmar Taylor (UK), Ken Taylor (UK)
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cheater [(tSi:tE]
, Schwindler(in), Betrüger(in)
cheetah [(tSi:tE]
, Gepard
leopard [(lepEd]
, (wg. Aussprache)
proverb [(prQv§:b] , Sprichwort
ye archaic
, ihr
PROVERB FEEDBACK
Dear Ms Sharp, dear Mr Schofield,The Ms Winslow story in Spotlight 10/20 delighted me. Yet it contains a vocabulary issue that puzzles me.
Throughout the story, the night nurse, Carola, is referred to as “Sister Carola”, while her counterpart, Hamza, is called “Nurse Hamza”. I learned that the word “sister” is reserved for a head nurse only. Supposing that Carola and Hamza have the same status in the hospital hierarchy, I am wondering why Carola isn’t referred to as “Nurse Carola”. I would be grateful if you could explain the use of “sister” to me.
Bettina Krell, by e-mail
Dear Ms Krell I’m glad you enjoyed my story. I put quite a lot of research into it because one of my sons is actually a nurse and he told me what was plausible and what was not. Re-garding the job titles, you’re quite right about the difference in the UK between “nurse” and “sister”. I saw Sister Carola as older than Nurse Hamza and therefore more senior. I also just wanted to use the two different titles as I like them both. That’s the great thing about being an author. In my world, I can do what I want!
I hope that you will continue to enjoy my stories. Please write again if there is ever anything you would like to ask me. I love hearing from readers.
James Schofield, Spotlight author
LANG
UAG
E SECTIO
N
SHORT STORYTHE LANGUAGE PAGES SPOTLIGHT 2020 47
20 Sprachseiten48 THE RIGHT PHRASE AT
THE RIGHT TIME E M A
Test your communication skills
52 JUST JUDI M US
Judith Gilbert’s personal view on the English language
53 THE BASICS E +
A conversation in easy English
54 VOCABULARY M +
Learn the language of a different topic in each issue
56 THE GRAMMAR PAGES M +
Master key points of English grammar
58 EVERYDAY ENGLISH M +
Brush up on your conversational English
60 SPOKEN ENGLISH M +
Colourful idioms and useful phrases
62 ENGLISH AT WORK M +
Ken Taylor answers your questions
64 THE PUZZLE PAGES E M A
Find the words and win a prize
66 LOST IN TRANSLATION A
A fun look at challenging words
67 LANGUAGE CARDSPull out and practise
Over the next 20 pages, we give you the opportunity to learn about grammar and expand your vocabulary in an up-to-date context. We start off with a fun test that will give you a chance to find out how good your communication skills are at different levels.
Welcome to the language pages
LAN
GUA
GE
SEC
TIO
N
LANGUAGESPOTLIGHT 202048
The right phrase at the right time
Wer im Alltag fließend kommunizieren möchte, sollte mit den gängigsten Floskeln und Wendungen vertraut sein. VANESSA CLARKS Sprachtest verrät Ihnen, wie gut es um
Ihre englische Kommunikationsfähigkeit bestellt ist.
EASY MEDIUM ADVANCED
breed
, Rasse
bump into sb.
, jmdm. zufällig begegnen
fondness
, Schwäche
LANGUAGE
Do you always have the right words for all occasions? Do you know spontaneous-ly what to say in which situation? And are you confident about how to reply to
each question people might ask you? Our quick test will help you to find out how good your com-munication skills are.
We’ve divided the test up into different situa-tions and topics, with questions at three different language levels — A1/A2, B1/B2, C1/C2 — for each topic. If you’d like to know more about these levels, turn to page 51. You can test yourself at your own level or try all the questions. Circle the correct answers and see how well you do.
MEETING AND GREETING A1/A21. You meet an old friend.
What do you say?A. Nice to meet you. B. It’s good to see you again.C. Can I introduce myself? B1/B22. You see an old friend in the
street. What do you say?A. It’s a long time I haven’t
seen you!B. We didn’t see each other for
ages!C. I haven’t seen you for ages! C1/C23. You bump into your Eng-
lish teacher at a concert. What do you say?
A. Fancy seeing you here!B. I fancy seeing you here!C. I fancy you!
LIKES AND DISLIKES A1/A24. A friend asks you about
your hobbies. What do you say?
A. I can swim.B. I’m swimming.C. I enjoy swimming. B1/B25. You like black-and-white
movies. What do you say?A. I’m keen on old films.B. I’m loving old films.C. I’m in love with old films. C1/C26. You like only one breed of
dog. What do you say? A. I have a certain likeness to a
bulldog.B. I have a certain fondness for
bulldogs.C. I have a certain charm for
bulldogs.
MAKING ARRANGEMENTS A1/A27. You want to meet a client.
What do you say?A. Let’s meet at three o’clock.B. Let’s meet on three o’clock. C. Let’s meet in three o’clock. B1/B28. You’ve arranged to meet a
friend. What do you write in your text message?
A. Looking forward to see you.B. Looking forward to meet-
ing you.C. Looking forward to seeing
you. C1/C29. Your boss writes: “We must
get together for a catch-up.” What does she mean?
A. I need to speak to you because you’re behind with your work.
B. I’d like to meet up to see how things are going.
C. I have to postpone our next meeting. Fo
tos:
Eve
rett
Col
lect
ion/
Shut
ters
tock
.com
; Tom
Kel
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Arch
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iSto
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INVITATIONS A1/A210. You invite three friends to
dinner. Which of these re-plies shows that the person can come?
A. I’m busy.B. I already have plans.C. I’ve just put it in my calen-
dar. B1/B211. You want to pay for a
friend’s lunch. What do you say?
A. I’d like to invite you.B. Let me pay. It’s my treat. C. It’s your turn to pay. C1/C212. You want lots of people to
come to your birthday par-ty. Which of these phrases could you use?
A. The more the merrier.B. Two’s company, three’s a
crowd.C. Many hands make light
work.
THANKING PEOPLE A1/A213. You’ve received an invita-
tion to a wedding. What do you write in your reply?
A. Thank you for your grateful invitation.
B. Thank you for your kind invitation.
C. Thank you for your awful invitation.
B1/B214. A friend has helped you
through an emotionally difficult time. What do you say?
A. I really appreciate your support.
B. Your first aid was really helpful.
C. Thank you for your cooper-ation.
C1/C215. A grateful client gives you
a small but unexpected gift. What do you say?
A. I wouldn’t have expected this of you!
B. I wasn’t expecting any-thing, but it’s a very kind thought!
C. You shouldn’t have, but it’s the thought that counts!
GOOD WISHES A1/A216. A colleague is ill.
What do you say?A. Keep fit!B. Good health!C. Get well soon! B1/B217. A colleague gets a promo-
tion. What do you say?A. That’s a great news!B. You deserve it.C. I think you should have
got it. C1/C218. Your neighbours have had
their first baby. What do you write?
A. Hey, baby!B. Best wishes to the
happy couple.C. Wishing you all much
happiness.
INFO TO GO The noun “news” is uncountable. If you want to talk
about one particular Neuigkeit, you say “a piece of news”.
Answers1–B; 2–C; 3–A; 4–C; 5–A; 6–B; 7–A; 8–C; 9–B; 10–C; 11–B; 12–A; 13–B; 14–A; 15–B; 16–C; 17–B; 18–C
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LANGUAGE
housemate
, Mitbewohner(in)
paper tray
, Papierfach
vet
, Tierarzt
FOOD A1/A219. A colleague is opening his
lunchbox. What do you say?A. Good appetite!B. Enjoy your lunch!C. Mealtime! B1/B220. You’re eating a home-
cooked meal at a friend’s house. What do you say?
A. I’d love to have the recipe.B. Could you give the receipt?C. Where did you find the
prescription? C1/C221. You have dinner guests and
would like to offer everyone more dessert. What do you say?
A. Would you like any leftovers?B. Can you manage a second
helping?C. Have you had your just
desserts?
SUGGESTIONS A1/A222. You want to suggest having
a meal with a friend. What do you say?
A. Shall we have brunch together?
B. Will we have brunch together?
C. Why do we have brunch together?
B1/B223. A neighbour wants to get
rid of an old bike. What do you say?
A. Have you thought about sell it online?
B. What about try to sell it online?
C. Is it worth trying to sell it online?
C1/C224. You suddenly have a good
idea. What do you say?A. I think I’m having a brain-
storm.B. I think I’m a brainbox.C. I think I’ve just had a brain-
wave.
APPOINTMENTS A1/A225. You phone the hairdresser’s.
What do you say?A. I’d like to make an appoint-
ment, please.B. I want to do an appoint-
ment, please.C. Give me an appointment,
please. B1/B226. Your cat needs a vet’s
appointment. What do you say to your partner?
A. Could you remember me to call the vet?
B. Could you remind me to call the vet?
C. Could you reminder me to call the vet?
C1/C227. You phone the garage to
book your car in for a ser-vice. What do you say?
A. My car is due for a service soon.
B. My car’s service is falling soon.
C. My car’s service is expected soon.
TRANSPORT A1/A228. A friend asks: “How do you get
to work?” What do you say?A. I go with the bus. B. I go by bus. C. I get in the bus. B1/B229. Your housemate calls you
from the train and asks you to meet her at the station. What do you say?
A. Text me if you arrive.B. Call me again in case you
arrive.C. Let me know when you
arrive. C1/C230. A colleague is complaining
about the delays on his under-ground line. What do you say?
A. That line is notorious for delays.
B. That line is scandalous for delays.
C. That line is renowned for delays.
IN THE OFFICE A1/A231. It’s time for a coffee break.
What do you say to your team?
A. Who likes coffee?B. Who’d like a coffee?C. I’d like a coffee, please. B1/B232. The paper tray in the printer
is empty. What do you say?A. The paper is out.B. The paper is gone.C. We’ve run out of paper. C1/C233. A colleague makes a sexist
comment during a meeting. What do you say after-wards?
A. Your comments were inaudible.
B. Your comments were in appropriate.
C. Your comments were incomprehensible.
IN THE STREET A1/A234. You’re visiting a town and
need to go to the toilet. You stop someone in the street. What do you ask?
A. Can I use the toilet, please?B. Are there any public toilets
around here?C. Which toilets would you
recommend? B1/B235. A teenager stops you in the
street and says: “I’m looking for the skatepark.” What do you say?
A. Sorry, I don’t know the skatepark.
B. Sorry, I don’t know where is the skatepark.
C. Sorry, I don’t know where the skatepark is.
C1/C236. You’re showing a visitor
around your neighbour-hood. What do you say?
A. This area has seen signifi-cant gentrification.
B. This area has undergone extreme sanitization.
C. This area has been heavily invested.
INFO TO GOCareful: A “dessert”
[dɪˈzɜːt] is something sweet you eat at the end
of your meal. A “desert” [ˈdezət] is a waterless area of land covered in
sand.
Answers19–B; 20–A; 21–B; 22–A; 23–C; 24–C; 25–A; 26–B; 27–A; 28–B; 29–C; 30–A; 31–B; 32–C; 33–B; 34–B; 35–C; 36–A
Foto
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Arch
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APOLOGIZING A1/A237. You arrive late for work. What
do you say?A. Sorry I’m coming too late.
I sat in the traffic.B. Sorry I’m so late. I was traf-
ficked.C. Sorry I’m late. The traffic was
terrible. B1/B238. You have to apologize to your
party host for the red wine on the sofa. What do you say?
A. Sorry, I accidentally spilled my drink.
B. Sorry, I deliberately spilled my drink.
C. Sorry, I spilled my drink on purpose.
C1/C239. You can’t remember what
you wanted to say next. What can you say?
A. Sorry, my mind’s gone back.B. Sorry, my mind’s gone black.C. Sorry, my mind’s gone blank.
PHONING A1/A240. You want to give your name
over the phone. What do you say?
A. Hello, it’s… B. Hello, here is… C. Hello, I’m… on the phone. B1/B241. You missed a call, so you
phone the person back later. What do you say?
A. Sorry, I can’t talk now. B. I’m returning your call from
earlier.C. Sorry, you have a wrong num-
ber. C1/C242. A colleague says: “John is
phoning it in these days.” What does she mean?
A. John’s working from home.B. John’s always on his phone.C. John’s making the minimum
effort.
MONEY A1/A243. In a cafe, you find you don’t
have any money. What do you ask your friend?
A. Could you borrow me €10?B. Could I lend you €10?C. Could you lend me €10? B1/B244. You want to open a savings
account at the bank. What do you ask for?
A. I’d like to open a savings account with high interest.
B. I’d like to open a savings account with high fees.
C. I’d like to open a savings account with high charges.
C1/C245. You volunteer at a debt char-
ity. How do you explain its aims?
A. We help low-income families to run up large debts.
B. We offer invaluable support to people who are struggling financially.
C. We give priceless help to worthless people.
SAYING GOODBYE A1/A246. Your friend is going to a party.
What do you say?A. Have a good evening!B. Good evening!C. Good night! B1/B247. You want to leave a party.
What do you say?A. It’s time I go home.B. It’s time I went home.C. It’s time I’ll go home. C1/C248. You’re in a meeting and it’s
time to go home. What do you say?
A. We should disrupt this meet-ing.
B. We should put an end to this meeting.
C. We should draw this meeting to a close.
What do these letters mean?Here’s a short definition of the language levels according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
A: Basic users• can communicate about simple routine tasks that
require a simple exchange of information, for example shopping.
• can describe in simple terms aspects of their background, such as family, job, home.
• can understand and use familiar, everyday expressions.
B: Independent users• can deal with most situations while travelling in an
area where English is spoken.• can communicate on familiar matters at work or
during leisure activities.• can interact with a degree of fluency and
spontaneity that makes regular communication possible without a big effort by either person.
C: Proficient users• can understand with ease virtually everything
heard or read.• can express themselves spontaneously, very
fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.
• can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.
If you’d like to find out more about the CEFR, read our article “Do your level best” in Spotlight 11/18, which is available to subscribers in our download archive at www.spotlight-verlag.de/digitalarchiv
differentiate
, differenzieren
fluency
, fließende Beherr-schung
host
, Gastgeber
proficient [prE(fIS&nt]
, hier: fortge-schritten
savings account
, Sparkonto
subscriber
, Abonnent(in) Answers37–C; 38–A; 39–C; 40–A; 41–B; 42–C; 43–C; 44–A; 45–B; 46–A; 47–B; 48–C
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52
belt buckle
, Gürtelschnalle
cross
, Kreuzung, Mischung
eraser
, Radiergummi
fall short of sth.
, etw. nicht erreichen
indentation
, hier: Einbuchtung
nerdy ifml. , sonderlich, spleenig
powdered sugar N. Am. , Puderzucker
screw off
, abschrauben
shade
, Lampenschirm
shoelaces
, Schnürsenkel
sleeve
, hier: Manschette
weather vane
, Wetterhahn
weird [wI&rd] ifml. , sonderbar, komisch
wire cage
, Drahtgeflecht
zarf — the sleeve you put on your cup of coffee-to-go if the cup is too hot to hold
There are some weird and wonderful words for language phenomena, too. A contronym is a word that can also mean its opposite: “to weather” means “to get through something” (to weather a storm) but something that is “weathered” is “worn down”. “To sanction” something is “to allow” it, but it can also mean “to for-bid” it. “To screen” something can mean “to hide” it, or you can screen a movie, which actually means “to show” it. “To dust” something can mean “to remove dust” (from your shelves, for example) or “to apply dust” (powdered sugar to a cake, for example).
A palindrome is a word that is the same read forward and backward, such as: racecar, madam, refer, civic, radar, rotor, level, kayak.
A semordnilap is a word that makes a completely different word when spelled backwards, such as stressed → desserts, evil → live, god → dog, etc. (“Semordni-lap” is “palindromes” spelled backwards, by the way.)
Being fascinated by these words might seem a bit nerdy — but I’m a very happy word nerd!
JUDITH GILBERT is a writer, editor, translator, and photographer who divides her time between New York City and a small town in Bavaria.
Words for nerdsMEDIUM US
Manche englischen Wörter braucht man eher selten – aber sie sind einfach zu schön, um sie nicht zu kennen. Unsere Kolumnistin hat eine echte
Schwäche für solche Begriffe.
JUST JUDI
Today, I got a new shade for a lamp I have from my parents, from the late 1950s. In order to remove the old shade and put on the new one, I had to screw off the decora-
tive cap on top of the lamp. Then I looked at the new shade and thought: “This old cap might not actually fit over the new shade.”
Let me explain that the cap, which looks like a cross between a weather vane and a key, is by far the most attractive part of the lamp, so I didn’t want to part with it. So, I went online to research adaptors for lamp caps — and learned that there’s actually a word for lamp caps. They’re not “caps” at all: they’re “finials.” I was delighted! I was looking for a “finial”!
I love this about language. There are words for things you’d never think have a name of their own — objects so ordinary or trivial, you’d never think they’d deserve their own name. Here are some of my favorites:aglet — the plastic cap on shoelacesagraffe — the wire cage over the cork on a cham-
pagne bottlebarm — beer foam ferrule — the metal between the wood and the
eraser on a pencilfinial — see above; the cap that holds a lamp-
shade in placekeeper — the loop next to a belt buckle that holds
the belt in placepetrichor — the wonderful smell of the first rain
after a long period of dry weather punt — the indentation in the bottom of a wine
bottlespoffle — the foam cover on the end of a micro-
phonetittle — the dot on an “i” or a “j”ullage — the amount by which a container falls
short of being full (my editor says this is the most beautiful definition she’s ever read in the Oxford English Dictionary)
Look out for more weird and wonderful words from Judi in the
next issue.
Two nerdy words in one picture: barm on a spoffle
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IIllu
stra
tion:
Mar
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aake
A CONVERSATION WITH DAVE SHILLINGHere, we present interesting lives from around the English- speaking world. This time, we talk to Dave Shilling, a postal worker.
What do postmen and postwomen do?We collect the post from postboxes, we sort it, pack it into bags and then we deliver it.
What do you like about your job?The early starts. I start at 5.30 a.m., but I finish at 1 p.m.
What don’t you like about your job?A lot of people think postmen are lazy. They say we just throw the parcels into the garden or put a card through the door to say “Sorry you were out”, without knocking. That’s really unfair be-cause most of us do our jobs properly.
Have you ever been bitten by a dog?Just a small one. You quickly learn not to push the letters through the door with your fingers.
Is December your busiest month?Definitely. Christmas is really busy. We deliver millions of cards, and since we all do our Christmas shopping online these days, there are a lot of parcels to deliver as well.
Do you feel like Santa bringing the presents?Perhaps if our customers left a glass of whisky by the door, that would help.
adhesive
, klebend
flap
, Klappe
issue
, (her)ausgeben
parcel
, Paket
postage stamp [(pEUstIdZ stÄmp]
, Briefmarke
postal worker
, Postangestellte(r)
reign
, regieren
stamp
, stempeln, frankieren
these days
, heutzutage
Dave Shilling, postal worker
THE BASICS
FASCINATING FACTS….about the history of the postal service in England:
⋅ In 1680, William Dockwra establish-ed the Penny Post, a private postal service that collected and delivered letters in London for one penny. Each letter was stamped to show that the penny had been paid. That’s why we use the same word in English (“stamp”) for both Stempel and Briefmarke. ⋅ The world’s first prepaid, adhesive postage stamp — known as the “penny black” — was issued in the UK in May 1840, showing a profile of the young Queen Victoria. ⋅ The UK is the only country that doesn’t put its name on its stamps. ⋅ British postboxes are red and have the monogram of the reigning king or queen. The oldest boxes have “VR”, for Queen Victoria (“Victoria Regina”) on them. ⋅ A green postbox was introduced in 1859, but people hated it, so the design was soon stopped. A few rare green boxes still exist today.
In case you’re won-dering about Dave’s
comment about putting cards and
letters “through the door” — most English houses don’t have a letterbox on the wall but, instead, a flap in
the front door.
GOOD TO KNOW
Easy EnglishHere, you’ll find a conversation and interesting facts related to it —
at the A2 level of English. By VANESSA CLARK
EASY PLUS
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3
4
5
6
78
910
11
12
13
14
15
2
1
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A magical experience?A visit to Santa’s grotto is a magical experience for any family. Seeing the wonder in your child’s eyes as the little one is ushered into Santa’s cosy cabin by a friendly elf, and then lifted on to the dear old man’s knee — surely, a moment to treasure. Seriously? It can actually be one of the many ordeals of parenthood.
For one thing, you’re not at the North Pole but in a department store — queuing (standing in line N. Am.) for your pre-booked time slot. The queue leads through the toy department so that the children are tempted to put more things on their Christmas list, and exercise a little pester power on their frazzled parents. Then you’re herded into a log cabin covered with fake snow and festooned with decorations — for your allotted minutes with the big guy. The electric firelight is low so that his beard isn’t too ob-viously acrylic, but the air is stuffy and Santa is sweating in his polyester suit and padded stomach. By the way, no more sitting on his lap these days — for safeguarding reasons. Your child answers the “naughty or nice?” question and tells Santa what gifts he or she is hoping to receive. Santa hands over a “free” gift (included in the ticket price) from his two sacks of cheap, gender-specific toys. Then a quick photo (available to buy at the exit) and you’re out. If you get through it without a tantrum (from child or parent), well done! Merry Christmas!
You’ll find our Vocabulary archive at: www.spotlight-online.de/teachers/picture-it
allot
, zuteilen
cabin
, Hütte
cosy
, gemütlich
department store
, Kaufhaus
festoon
, schmücken
for one thing
, erstens, einerseits
frazzled
, erschöpft
gender-specific [)dZendE spE(sIfIk]
, geschlechterspezifisch
herd sb.
, jmdn. treiben
log cabin
, Blockhütte
naughty [(nO:ti]
, ungezogen
ordeal [O:(di:&l]
, Geduldsprobe, Quälerei
padded
, gepolstert
parenthood
, Elternschaft
pester power ifml. , Quengel-Potenzial
safeguarding
, Schutz-
stuffy
, muffig
tantrum [(tÄntrEm]
, Wutanfall
tempt [temt]
, verlocken
time slot
, Zeitfenster
treasure [(treZE]
, hier: in wertvoller Erinne-rung behalten
usher sb. [(VSE]
, jmdn. (an seinen Platz) führen
wonder
, hier: Staunen
In Santa’s grottoVANESSA CLARK presents the words you’ll need to know
when taking your children to visit Father Christmas.
MEDIUM PLUS
1 beard , Bart
2 decorations , Dekorationen
3 elf , Elfe
4 fake snow , Kunstschnee
5 fireplace , Kamin
6 gift, present , Geschenk
7 knee , Knie
8 lap , Schoß
9 log cabin , Holzhütte
10 reindeer , Rentier
11 sack , Sack
12 Santa suit, costume , Nikolauskostüm
13 sleigh, sled , Schlitten
14 stocking , Strumpf
15 string of lights , Lichterkette
A DIFFICULT QUESTION“How can Santa deliver all the gifts in one night?” A tricky question for a parent, but we have the answers: “It’s the magic of Christmas. His sleigh is pulled by flying reindeer. Mrs Claus organizes his schedule very efficiently. He has elves to help him. Now, stop asking questions — or Santa will hear you and not bring you anything.”
THE GRAMMAR PAGESSPOTLIGHT 2020
Decisions and intentionsADRIAN DOFF presents and explains this key
point of grammar with notes on a short dialogue.MEDIUM PLUS
THE GRAMMAR PAGES
hardly ever
, so gut wie nie
roast duck
, Entenbraten
Two colleagues, Paula and Rick, are in a restaurant, looking at the menu.
Do you know what you
want to eat? Ugh, it’s hard to decide. I think I’ll 1 have the fish. Or maybe I’ll 2 have pasta. No, I won’t 3 have pasta. I’ll have the chicken burger. That looks
good. And a salad to go with it... No, actually, I don’t think I’ll 4 have a salad — just the burger.
How about you?
Duck? I thought you were a vegetarian.
OK, what shall we 7 have to drink? Shall I 7
order some wine?
Well, I know what I’m going to 5 have.
I’m having 6 the roast duck. I’m really
hungry.
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No, my husband’s a vegetarian and so is my
daughter. We hardly ever have meat at home, so this is
my chance to eat some.
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Illust
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nen:
A-D
igit,
Krii
zzD
aPau
l, U
nito
ne V
ecto
r/iSt
ock.
com EXERCISE TO GO
Add one of the elements from the list to each of the sentences below to make them grammatically correct.
going | ’ll | ’m | shall
A. You look tired. I make you a cup of coffee.
B. We go to the cinema tonight?
C. I’m 25 next month. I’m to have a big party.
D. Sorry, I can’t see you this evening. I going out with a friend.
M
AnswersA. I’ll make you a
cup of coffee.B. Shall we go
to the cinema tonight?
C. I’m going to have a big party.
D. I’m going out with a friend.
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT
1 Rick decides to have the fish, so he says I think I’ll…. We use I’ll to take a decision or make a choice as we speak.
2 Before I’ll, we often say I think... or Maybe....
3 The negative of I’ll is I won’t. Here, Rick is deciding not to do some-thing.
4 I don’t think I’ll... means the same as I won’t.... (Rick could also say, “No, I won’t have a salad.”)
5 I’m going to expresses an inten-tion. Paula has already decided what to have — she isn’t deciding as she speaks.
6 Here, Paula uses the present con-tinuous to talk about something she has definitely decided. This is even more definite than “going to” — it’s already “arranged” in her mind.
7 We use shall to ask for a decision or to make a suggestion. Here, Rick is asking Paula to help him decide.
BEYOND THE BASICS
When deciding not to do some-
thing, we can use I won’t... or
I don’t think I’ll...:• I won’t call
you tonight. I’ll call you in the
morning.• I don’t think I’ll have any wine,
thanks. I’m driving.
If we want someone else to decide, we can
use shall:• What shall we do this evening?• Shall I reserve
a table? What do you think?
We use I’ll when spontaneously deciding to do something: ⋅ I’m thirsty. I think I’ll have a glass of water. ⋅ We haven’t got any beer. — OK, I’ll go and
get some.
We use going to when we have already decid-ed to do something — to express an intention: ⋅ When I get home, I’m going to have a
shower.
We use the present continuous when some-thing is already arranged or fixed: ⋅ We’re meeting on Friday evening.
(= We’ve fixed the date.) ⋅ I’m going to the shops. Do you want anything? (= I’m about to leave.)
THE RULES
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Tips ⋅ It’s just as well that... is another way of saying “It’s good that...”. ⋅ Here, pretty much (ifml.) means “almost”. ⋅ For is used here to say that something has been arranged for a particular time. Rosie is implying that her mother should arrive punctually. ⋅ I’m off now is an informal way of saying “I’m going now”. ⋅ A term (especially in the UK) is one of the three periods in the year during which classes are held in schools, universities, etc. ⋅ A prelim (short for “preliminary”) is an exam that serves as preparation for a more important exam that will follow. ⋅ Someone who has a strong work ethic believes that it is important to work hard. ⋅ When someone says I’m positive..., they are sure that something is correct or true. ⋅ If you do (really) well, you are successful. ⋅ An A is a mark that shows a student’s work is excellent. ⋅ Pupils who are having difficulties in certain subjects can visit support sessions to get extra help from teachers. ⋅ Revision is the process of preparing for an exam. ⋅ In some schools, Miss (UK ifml.) is used by children to address female teachers. “Sir” is used to address male teachers.
attitude
, Haltung, Einstellungdespondent
, niedergeschlagenstarve
, verhungern
At a parents’ eveningDAGMAR TAYLOR presents dialogues about going to a parents’ evening. Read them
carefully and look at our tips to brush up on your everyday English.
MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS
EVERYDAY ENGLISH
1. A BUSY EVENING AHEAD It’s Wednesday morning and Susan’s daughter, Rosie,
is getting ready to go to school.
2. HAPPY TO HELP Susan and Rosie are talking to Rosie’s maths teacher, Clare McGavin.
Rosie: Mum, remember that we’ve got to go to parents’ evening tonight.
Susan: It’s just as well that you re-minded me! What time does it start?
Rosie: I made appointments with all my teachers and the first one is at 5.40. And then they’re pretty much every ten minutes up to 7.30.
Susan: That sounds like a very busy
evening. Which teacher’s first?
Rosie: My maths teacher, Mrs McGavin. So, can you be at school for half five, please? I’ll come and meet you in the car park.
Susan: OK. Shall we get a pizza af-terwards? You’ll be starving.
Rosie: Sounds good. I’m off now. See you later, Mum. And don’t be late!
Clare: Hello. Nice to meet you. Take a seat, please.
Susan: Thank you.Clare: Right then, Rosie. How do
you feel the term’s gone so far?
Rosie: OK. I wasn’t very happy with my prelim result, though.
Clare: No, that was a bit disap-pointing. But you shouldn’t be too despondent. You have a great attitude to learning and a strong work
ethic, so I’m positive that you’ll do really well in the exam. I really think you have an excellent chance of getting an A next term. Keep coming along to the lunchtime support sessions to structure your revision. And you can always ask me to explain anything you don’t understand. I’m more than happy to help.
Rosie: Thank you, Miss.
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How do we use frequency expressions in conversational English? By ADRIAN DOFF
MEDIUM PLUS
SPOKEN ENGLISH
How often does it happen?
TALKING ABOUT FREQUENCY
One way to talk about frequency in English is to use an expression like once a day, three times a year or 50 times a second. So, your heart beats be-tween 60 and 100 times a minute; you probably clean your teeth twice (or perhaps three times) a day; the postman delivers your post once a day; and people who like to keep fit may go jogging three or four times a week. Instead of “times”, you can also use other nouns: ⋅ He’s a heavy smoker. He smokes more than 20
cigarettes a day. ⋅ She doesn’t earn much in her new job. They pay her only £10 an hour. ⋅ It’s easy to get to London from here. There are five trains a day.
Another way to talk about frequency is to use an expression like every day, every five minutes or every three years. So, some people go to the den-tist for a check-up every six months, but others go only every two years; babies (and their parents!) usually wake up every few hours during the night; and not many people have seen Halley’s Comet because it goes past the Earth only every 75 years: ⋅ This morning, my phone has been ringing
every two minutes. ⋅ The conference takes place every four years.
If something happens every two days, weeks, etc., we can also use the expression every other (day): ⋅ We buy milk every other day. (= Monday,
Wednesday, Friday, etc.) ⋅ I visit my grandmother every other Monday.
PHRASES TO REMEMBER
⋅ all the time, always ⋅ once a day/a month/a year ⋅ every day/five minutes/three years ⋅ every other day/week/month ⋅ often, generally, usually, normally, as a rule ⋅ sometimes, occasionally, (every) now and then, now and again, from time to time ⋅ seldom, rarely, hardly ever ⋅ once in a blue moon ⋅ never, never ever
If you don’t want to be precise, you can use a frequency adverb, such as often, usually, sometimes or never: ⋅ I never leave the house without
breakfast. ⋅ Usually, I have breakfast at seven o’clock.
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Tips ⋅ By the sound/look(s) of things... is an idiomatic way of saying “judging by the information we have now...”. ⋅ If you are keeping on top of things, you are managing to control or deal with a situation. ⋅ Marks (A–F in the UK) given in an exam or for a piece of schoolwork are known as grades. ⋅ A day that is packed is very busy, with many appointments.
3. YOU CAN BE PROUD Susan and Rosie have talked to all of Rosie’s teachers
and are about to leave the school.
Susan: Well, by the sound of things, you’re doing really well, Rosie. You can be proud of yourself.
Rosie: I know. I am. I’ve never worked this hard before and it’s kind of fun keeping on top of things and getting good grades.
Susan: I wish my teachers had of-fered to help me in the way
yours do. Are you going to go to the support sessions? It’ll mean that you have a really packed day, but I think it’s easier to revise in school with a teacher than at home on your own.
Rosie: I know. But, Mum, we have one more appointment...
Susan: We do?Rosie: Yes. Pizza!
M
How would a pupil address these teachers? Write the correct words on the lines provided.
EXERCISE TO GO
AnswersA. SirB. Miss
INFO TO GO“Half five” in informal
British English actually means “half
past five” and not “half past four”, as German speakers
might think.
B A
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EXERCISE TO GO
The expressions below are all used to say how often things happen. In each line, which one has a different meaning from the other three?
A. usually | generally | occasionally | as a rule
B. rarely | hardly ever | seldom | normally
C. from time to time | generally | now and then | occasionally
D. annually | every six months | twice a year | in June and December
M
AnswersA. occasionallyB. normallyC. generallyD. annually
GOOD TO KNOW
The idiomatic expression once in a blue moon means “almost never”. And if you can count
something on the fingers of one
hand, it happens very rarely:• I’ve almost
lost touch with my cousin. She sends me a text
message once in a blue moon.
• I can count on the fingers of one hand the number
of times she’s rung me.
frequency adverbs
To say that something almost never happens, you can use sel-dom or rarely, but both these words are quite formal. In con-versation, people usually say hardly ever: ⋅ We hardly ever go to the
cinema these days. Instead, we stream films at home.
Some other common frequency adverbs and phrases are generally, normally and as a rule — these all mean “usually” or “most of time”: ⋅ I generally have a cold shower before
breakfast. ⋅ As a rule, I drink coffee in the mornings.
All the time means “always” or “very often”: ⋅ My jogging app is brilliant.
I use it all the time. (= every time I go running)
Occasionally, (every) now and then, now and again and from time to time all mean “some-times but not very often”: ⋅ Jill doesn’t drink much
alcohol, but she occasionally has a glass of wine. ⋅ We meet for coffee every now and then, maybe twice a year. ⋅ It was mostly cloudy, but the sun came out now and again.
lose touch with sb.
, den Kontakt zu jmdm. verlieren
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DEAR KENI know that small talk is an important part of building a good business relationship. Do you have some tips about what subjects I should take up and what subjects are better to avoid?Best wishesKarl H.
DEAR KARLI agree that small talk helps build a positive platform on which you can then do business more easily.Traditionally, it is said that you should avoid talking about sex, politics and religion. Why? Because you might accidentally offend the other person. In some cultures, talking about money would come into that category, too.You can, of course, talk about these subjects with people you know well — but they are probably best avoided on a first meeting.My advice is that you try to find things that you have in common with the other person. The following topics could be suitable: ⋅ interests: cinema, theatre, music, hobbies,
sport, etc. ⋅ places: where you have lived or worked, where you were born / brought up, etc. ⋅ holidays: places or famous attractions you have visited, holiday activities you enjoy, etc. ⋅ people: friends and acquaintances you both know or work with ⋅ dislikes: agreeing on a common dislike is a powerful bond
Try these out next time you have the chance and see if they work for you.Kind regardsKen
DEAR KENI’ve only recently come across your advice in Spotlight 8/19 about making an “elevator pitch” and have also listened to the relevant section in Spotlight Audio. It was very interesting, and I tried to do the exercise you suggested — but I found it rather difficult to transfer the infor-mation to an academic context.You said we should use the word “you” in order to put the listener into the position of one of our customers. As I’m teaching social work, the only sentence I could think of was: “If you are ever in the need of help, you can turn to a social worker. You might come across one of my ex-students.” Do you think that would do the trick? Or would it be impolite, as I’m implying that the person I’m talking to might need the help of a social worker?Best regardsNicole P.
DEAR NICOLEThanks for your mail and your question.I understand your dilemma. The person you are addressing might well think that they will never have the need to contact a social worker and might be slightly offended by the implica-tion. So, instead of implying that they, person-ally, might need help in the future, you could suggest that they might come across someone else who does. For example, you could say: “In the future, you might meet someone who is in need of help and support. If you do, you should advise them to turn to a social worker. They could then come across one of my ex- students.”I hope this is of some help.All the bestKen
accidentally
, versehentlich
acquaintance [əˈkweɪntəns]
, Bekannte(r)
bond
, Verbundenheit
come across sth.
, auf etw. stoßen, etw. zufällig finden
common: have sth. in ~ with sb.
, etw. mit jmdm. gemein-sam haben
context
, Zusammenhang
elevator pitch
, Kurzpräsentation, 30-Sekunden-Präsenta-tion (fur die Dauer einer Fahrstuhlfahrt)
imply
, andeuten, unterstellen
offend
, verletzen, kränken
KEN TAYLOR is a communication consultant and author of 50 Ways to Improve Your Business English (Lulu Publishing).
ENGLISH AT WORK
Dear KenCommunication expert KEN TAYLOR answers your questions
about business English. Here, he looks at the finer points of presenting an “elevator pitch” and has advice on suitable topics for small talk.
MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS
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THE PUZZLE PAGESSPOTLIGHT 202064
Word search solution
Word snake solution:
ioligarchycrepubliccanarchylmonarchyofed
eralismncommunismudemocracy
WORD SEARCHThere are 12 words hidden in the puzzle below. All 12 are taken from the Society feature on pages 24–28. Find the English translations of the German words below.
WORD SNAKEIn the word snake below, we have hidden words relating to government. In between the words, you can find letters that can be rearranged to form the name of a local authority.
A local authority is a(n) __________________________.
oligarchyrepublicanarchymonarchyfederalismcommunismdemocracy
The hidden word is “council”.
anpassungsfähigbesessenbesondersdetailliertErinnerung, GedenkenHaltung, Einstellunghintergründigim Gegensatz dazuneu erfinden pauschalverrücktwidersprüchlich
THE PUZZLE PAGES
Space and societyBrain-teasers to challenge you. By OWEN CONNORS
EASY MEDIUM ADVANCED
A R E M E M B R A N C E CT A P R O F O U N D P A OT A Z W J E T T Q C A D NI N Z Y C D N T D I I A TT H A M I E E E G A N P RU G H T V U S L M D S T AD Q R N Q S X R N D T A DE S I I E Y F V K O A B IP E N S M C B Z Z K K L CR U B R H V U C K D I E TC O N V E R S E L Y N O OB L A N K E T E Z L G N RN B C V M H I N S A N E Y
AREMEMBRANCECTAPROFOUNDPAOTAZWJETTQCADNINZYCDNTDIIATTHAMIEEEGANPRUGHTVUSLMDSTADQRNQSXRNDTADESIIEYFVKOABIPENSMCBZZKKLCRUBRHVUCKDIETCONVERSELYNOOBLANKETEZLGNRNBCVMHINSANEY
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SHORT STORYTHE PUZZLE PAGES SPOTLIGHT 2020 65
Solution to crossword 13/20:anonymous
COMPETITION
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN
CROSSWORDThe words in this puzzle are taken from Looking at Lives. You may find it helpful to refer to the text on pages 20–23.
ACROSS
1. Hidden part of the mind. 6. Belonging to the sea. 7. Rising and falling of the sea. 8. Rest on a liquid. 10. Move smoothly. 12. In a way that is bright and strong. 13. Seafloor mountain system. 14. To a moderately high degree, fairly.
DOWN 1. Tiny piece. 2. Water vessel. 3. Small underwater vessel. 4. Calm and peaceful. 5. Creator, initiator. 8. Deep crack in a rock. 9. Protruding rock formation. 11. Long journey. 12. Imprecise, unclear.
Form a single word from the letters in the orange squares. Send it on a postcard to:
Redaktion Spotlight“Issue 14/20 Prize Puzzle”Kistlerhofstraße 17281379 München
Or take part by visiting www.spotlight-online.de/crossword, where you can also find the list of winners of our crossword competition in issue 12/20.
Five winners will be chosen from the entries we receive by 15 December 2020. Each winner will be sent a copy of Englisch – Übungsbuch Grammatik by courtesy of Hueber.
T I C K E T
I O W A G E
L N U
L L C E L E B R I T Y
U E I T
C A S I N O D E
K T L E G E N D
S T E R E O A E
A T M X S
T T B U H
P R O M I S E L O S E R
O R E E
M E A N Y D
1.
1. 2. 3. 4.
5.
6.
11.
8. 10.
7.
8. 9.
12.
12.
13.
14.
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66
VANESSA CLARK turns her attention to a particularly interesting word or expression
that could be a challenge to translate.
ADVANCED
USAGE The adjective bog-standard means “basic” or “ordinary”.
A “bog-standard” phone can be used to make calls and send texts but has no special features. “Bog-standard” op-tions for your phone contract are the ones you would expect, without any special offers or interesting deals.
Sometimes, “bog-standard” is all we want. A fancy phone or camera with lots of different features can be confusing and frustrating. A special offer can have complicated terms and conditions in the small print. In comparison, simple “bog-standard” is good.
“Bog-standard” can also be used negatively, meaning “nothing special”, “unexceptional” or “uninspired”. No artist wants to hear that their creative work is “bog-standard”, and no bride wants a “bog-standard” wedding day.
“Bog-standard” can often be translated as durchschnittlich or, more informally, as stinknormal or 08/15.
cable.co.uk, 11 October 2019This review compares different deals
on landline phones
bride
, Braut
facility [fE(sIlEti]
, Einrichtung
fancy
, ausgefallen, schick
landline phone
, Festnetztelefon
small print
, Kleingedrucktes
text
, SMS, Textnach-richt Answer
B
AEXERCISE TO GO
In which of these hotel reviews would “bog-standard” make sense?
A. “The Plaza is a __________ five-star hotel with amaz-ing facilities.”
B. “The Plaza is a __________ three-star hotel with a small restaurant.”
BACKGROUNDThe expression “bog-standard” is British English slang. Its origins are unclear.
One theory is that it comes from the word “box-standard”. A “box-standard product” is a basic product without any modifications — as it comes “out of the box”.
Another idea is that it is connect-ed to “bog”, which is British slang for “toilet”. This seems unlikely, how-ever, as it would be far too negative.
The expression first came into print in the 1980s, but was used in everyday speech earlier than that.
“Free weekends, free evenings and weekends and free anytime calls are your bog-standard options…”
LOST IN TRANSLATION
7/2017 Spotlight
LANGUAGE CARDS
New words Spotlight — 07 — 2016
Zeichnung:
Chi
ng Y
ee S
mith
back
birthday suit
➞ A
ustr
ennu
ng an
der
Per
forie
rung
Look at these sentences. What is the difference between the words in bold?
1. I spend less money on Easter presents than on birthday presents.
2. I gift fewer birthday cakes than Easter eggs. 3. Chrismukkah gets less attention in the media
than Thanksgiving. 4. Maybe that’s because fewer people celebrate it.
Gift / gift
Translate the following sentences:
1. Er untersucht die Wirkungen verschiedener Gifte.2. Sie hat ihren Bruder vergiftet. 3. He gave me a gift for Valentine’s Day.4. My aunt gifted us €100 on our wedding day.
ChrismukkahMany multi-faith households
celebrate Chrismukkah in December.
What is the meaning of the three informal words highlighted in bold?
We always give pressies to each other on b-days and at Xmas.
Translate into German:
1. You don’t need to dress up for Thanksgiving!
2. My son dressed up as a cowboy for the Mardi Gras parade.
3. They always dress up their laziness as coolness.
How would you pronounce the “r” in these words?
Christmasdress
paradepresent
What would a speaker of British English say?
Speaker of Canadian English:
Are you and your colleagues doing Kris Kringle this year?
New words Spotlight
(In)Formal English Spotlight
Pronunciation Spotlight
False friends Spotlight
Global English Spotlight
Translation Spotlight
Idiom magic Spotlight
Grammar Spotlight
LANGUAGE CARDS
Spotlight — 07 — 2016
False friends Spotlight
New words Spotlight
Grammar Spotlight
The term Chrismukkah combines the words “Christ-mas” and “Hanukkah”. It describes celebrations that in-clude traditional Christian and Jewish elements, such as a Christmas tree and a menorah. The idea is not new, but the word first came into English in the early 2000s.
British speaker: Are you and your colleagues doing Secret Santa this year?
In Canada, Kris Kringle describes the tradition of ex-changing presents at Christmastime without saying who they’re from. This is known as Secret Santa in the UK and US, where “Kris Kringle” is simply another name for “Father Christmas” or “Santa Claus”.
1. Du brauchst dich für Thanksgiving nicht schick anzuziehen!
2. Mein Sohn hat sich für den Karnevalsumzug als Cowboy verkleidet.
3. Sie verkaufen ihre Faulheit immer als Coolheit.
The phrasal verb dress up can mean “put on smart clothes”, “wear a costume” or “disguise something” — which are all translated into German differently.
If you are in your birthday suit, you are not wearing any clothes. It means the “outfit” you were wearing when you were born — in other words, nothing at all!
There are two words in English that correspond to the German word weniger. Less is used when the following noun is a mass noun and cannot be counted individual-ly. Fewer is used when the noun is countable.
We always give presents to each other on birthdays and at Christmas.
Pressies, b-days and Xmas are shortened versions of the words above. They are often used in spoken and informal written language.
(In)Formal English Spotlight
To pronounce the English [r] sound, curl your tongue upwards so the front part is raised highest and is close to the top of your mouth. Contrast this with the German pronunciation — when the back part of the tongue is raised.
1. He’s investigating the effects of various poisons.2. She poisoned her brother. 3. Er hat mir ein Geschenk zum Valentinstag gemacht.4. Meine Großmutter hat uns €100 zur Hochzeit geschenkt.
The German words Gift and vergiften mean “(to) poison”. In English, gift is a synonym for “present” or “to give a present”.
PronunciationIdiom magic Spotlight Spotlight
Global English Spotlight
Translation Spotlight
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Die nächste Ausgabe von Spotlighterscheint am 16.12.2020
NEXT ISSUE
You may not know when you are taking your next trip to London — see below right — but even if it’s only your eyes that are doing the travelling, our tour of west Lon-don takes you to some of the best restaurants, parks, museums and shops. With places covered ranging from Selfridges to Speakers’ Corner, this is classic London.
West London’s loveliest locations
The future of tourism It’s that time of year when we all start thinking about next year’s summer holidays. Except that nobody really knows yet what those holidays will look like. In these times of pandemic — and environmental challenges — what is the future of tourism? Spotlight investigates.
AUF 100 EXEMPLARE LIMITIERTES UNIKAT AUS MASSIVEM PINIENHOLZ
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Das unaufdringliche Design mit der schlichten Linienführung unterstreicht den authentischen Charakter dieses Möbelstücks. Ganz im Sinne der Manufakturen-Philosophie besitzt auch dieser Sekretär dank des einzigartigen Pinien-holzes eine besondere Ausstrahlung, die mit allen Stilrichtungen harmoniert und sich per-fekt in jede Umgebung integriert. Ohne Effekt- hascherei, aus erlesenem Holz und in Unika-ten gefertigt.
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farben lasiert
Bestellnummer: 32049
In Toledo, der hauseigenen Produktionsstätte, werden die Sekretäre in sorgfältiger Einzelfertigung durch versierte Handwerker mit langjähriger Erfahrung montiert. So erhält jedes Unikat durch das zeitlose Design und die Lebendig-keit des Pinienholzes seinen unnachahmlichen Charakter.
HOCHWERTIGES UNIKAT AUS SPANISCHER
HERSTELLUNG
3.190,00 €*
40177_ZSH_ANZ_Marktex_210x280_X4_OLWC_IMP 1 23.06.20 14:38