Spotlight_Audio_2011-12_Booklet.pdf

Spotlight Audio

Das Hörmagazin

für Englisch

LANGUAGE

Read and

succeed

TRAVEL

Ireland

12/11 www.spotlight-online.de

Spotlight Audio 12/2011

Introduction

[1] Anne: Welcome to the December 2011 edi-

tion of Spotlight Audio. I’m Anne Alexander

Sieder from the United States...

David: ...and I’m David Creedon from Britain.

Join us now for a 60-minute expedition around

the English-speaking world — with stories, lan-

guage tips and exercises.

Anne: Our Language focus is all about the pur-

pose and the pleasure of reading. Find out why

it is important to read in English, and how it can

be easy and enjoyable.

David: Later, for our Travel section, we’ll go to a

romantic hideaway in the south-east of Ireland.

Anne: Remember that you can read along with

all the texts and interviews in your audio book-

let.

David: First, though, let’s look at some impor-

tant vocabulary. If you’re sensitive to some-

thing, you become angry or upset about it eas-

ily. Don’t confuse this word with “sensible”,

which means “reasonable”.

Anne: The phrasal verb “turn something down”

means to say no to it.

It’s been years since a Canadian rock band

called The Tea Party have had a hit. But recent

politics in the US may change their luck. The

band’s website, Teaparty.com, has become a

hot property in the past two years.

The reason is the rise of the Tea Party, a conser-

vative movement in the US associated with

politicians like Sarah Palin and Rick Perry. Sell-

ing the domain name could make the band

members rich — quickly. Some estimate that

Teaparty.com may be worth more than $1 mil-

lion.

But selling isn’t an easy decision for the band,

which is currently on a reunion tour. Its own

politics complicate the decision.

Bei uns entgeht Ihnen nichts!

World View

[2] Money for nothing?

Hier können Sie alle Audio-CDs, die Sie verpasst haben, bestellen:

www.spotlight-verlag.de/einzelausgaben/audio/spotlight

Anne: In 1990, three guys started a rock band

in Ontario, Canada. The name they chose for

their band may make them rich today. Listen to

a short text from Spotlight ’s World View section

to find out why.

hideaway

Refugium

property

Eigentum

8/10 California | 9/10 Finding a job | 10/10 Teatime | 11/10 Zanzibar | 12/10 Christmas English

“As Canadians, we’re somewhat sensitive to all

the [Tea Party’s] criticism of socialized medi-

cine,” bassist Stuart Chatwood told Business

Week . But it would be hard to turn down a good

offer. “We’ve got families,” Chatwood said.

Source: Spotlight 12/2011, page 10

draperies [and] wall color. When you are

through with this tapestry, you are living with

it. It’s home furnishing. It’s a down cushion; it’s

not something framed and on the wall. My

favorite, though, is the big tapestry bags I

designed in 1990 for travel. I really love being

able to use bags. I am a bag woman — I am

guilty! I am a bag woman. I can never have

enough.

I love playing with the knitting fibers: the linen

and the sock yarns and the wools and the silks.

So I paint my designs on large mesh so [it can]

accept those other fibers. So I like merging

those two mediums and then making a prod-

uct that you can use. That’s why I love doing

the hobo bag, tote bag, carpetbags: they’re

part of your life. And that changes. I have done

bags where I have done them in linen and

denim, because I am a big jean wearer. I have

done them where they have the silk and navy

blue and maybe crimson for people that have a

richer look. I try and take in somebody’s color-

ing. You know, you look at the person carrying

the bag: what’s their hair color, eye color? What

type of clothing do they wear? And then you

match that fiber and yarn to that. So when the

bag is finished, it’s their bag. Even though

they’ve worked on my canvas, it’s their bag.

See Spotlight 12/2011, pages 8–9

Britain Today

[4] A message from the heart

really enough to make you so cross you have to

write a song about it? Well, some people take

their card games very seriously.

No? OK, here’s a different explanation. It may

be a song about that age-old problem of what

you do with your unwanted Christmas pre-

sents. You give someone a present, and she

takes it to the charity shop to give it away as

Anne: Have you ever played a game of cards

with English speakers? It’s useful to know the

words for the four different suits, or groups, of

cards. The black cards are either spades or

clubs. Spades are shaped like a little leaf, while

clubs have a pattern of three balls with a stem.

David: The red cards are either diamonds or

hearts. And speaking of hearts, our Britain Today

column is called “A message from the heart”.

A Day in My Life

[3] Julie Pischke

canvas

Leinen, Leinwand

carpetbag

Reisetasche

charity

wohltätige Organisation

Anne: Let’s go to Florida now, for our A Day in

My Life section. Julie Pischke owns a needle-

point shop in Key West.

David: Pischke also designs her own needle-

point patterns for customers to stitch. Needle-

point, by the way, is a type of embroidery. Silk,

wool, or cotton threads are stitched through a

stiff canvas, with different colours used to

make patterns.

Anne: Spotlight ’s editor-in-chief, Inez Sharp,

visited Pischke’s shop. Here’s Pischke to tell us

about her philosophy of design.

crimson

purpurrot

cross

ärgerlich

cushion

Kissen

When you go off to do your Christmas shop-

ping, you can guarantee that sooner or later

you’ll be listening to that song by George

Michael — the one about last Christmas.

The shops can’t go five minutes without playing

it. “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the

very next day, you gave it away.” I must have

heard this song a thousand times, but what’s it

really about? I’ve never given it much thought.

Perhaps it’s about a really long game of cards.

Card games are popular at Christmas; the

singer here was no doubt playing poker, or

more probably bridge, and had an unusual

hand — lots of spades, clubs and diamonds,

but only one heart.

And when he passed this heart to his partner in

the game he was playing, this person used the

card when he shouldn’t have done. But is that

denim

Jeansstoff

down

hier: Daunen-

draperies

Vorhangstoff

embroidery

Stickerei, Stickstil

hand

hier: (Kartenspiel) Blatt

hobo bag

geräumige Tasche mit breiten

Schulterriemen

home furnishings

Heimtextilien

knitting fibers

Strickgarn

linen

Leinen

merge

vereinen

mesh

Gitterstoff

needlepoint

Gobelinstickerei

pattern

Muster

It is my artwork. I am not trying to do little

ornaments and small projects — even though I

do have customers who do that. I look at it as a

way of life in home furnishings. I mean, I’m

usually looking at: this is the living room [and] I

want, you know, cushions for across the sofa

and then a rug. So I’m taking in what are the

rich

hier: opulent

rug

kleiner Teppich

socialized medicine

staatliches Gesundheitssystem

sock yarn

Sockenwolle

stem

Stiel

stitch

sticken

tapestry

Gobelin

tote bag

Einkaufs-, Tragetasche

soon as the holiday’s over: “I got a heart for

Christmas. If I have to have a present that

sounds like a playing card, I’d prefer a dia-

mond, thank you.”

Hearts are certainly an unusual Christmas pre-

sent, and choosing to give one away seems a

missed opportunity. If George Michael had

given away his lungs or his voice box, we could

all do our shopping in peace.

Still not convinced I’ve got the right interpreta-

tion? Well, perhaps it was simply another way

of trying to lose weight. It’s the same thing

every Christmas: we eat too much. We eat too

much anyway — they tell us that half of British

males will be obese by 2030 — but at Christ-

mas, it’s all much worse.

Even Father Christmas has a problem. Again,

there’s a song about this — this time one that

you sometimes hear children singing, to the

melody of “ Frère Jacques ”:

“Father Christmas, Father Christmas:

He got stuck, he got stuck,

Coming down the chimney,

coming down the chimney.

What bad luck! What bad luck!”

Well, a heart weighs about a third of a kilo — so

when you give one away, it’s a step in the right

direction.

Actually, though, it may not be such a bad idea

to give someone your heart at Christmas. Not

your real heart, of course — I’m talking meta-

phorically.

They always say that Christmas is for children,

and a recent report from UNICEF tells us that

children in Britain are unhappier than they are

in other countries. Why? Because, it seems,

parents don’t have enough time to spend with

them. They buy them lots of things, but mate-

rial goods don’t make up for the lack of time

that is spent together as a family.

British parents ought to take this report to

heart this year. You can just imagine the happy

smiles on their children’s faces when mum and

dad tell them on Christmas morning: “No

Christmas presents this year, kids. We’re giving

you quality time instead. We’re all going to

spend the whole day together as a family —

with Uncle Fred, Auntie Lizzie and, of course,

Granny and Grandad. Now, how about a nice

game of cards?”

That’s when it’s time to start singing “Last

Christmas” — with an extra bit at the begin-

ning: “How long does it last, Christmas?”

Source: Spotlight 12/2011, page 13

Language

[5] Why read?

[6] Reading tips

David: There are a number of simple things you

can do to make reading in English easier.

Anne: For example, read the story, not the for-

eign language. Instead of focusing on grammar

and vocabulary, relax and enjoy the story line.

You’ll get more pleasure out of your time with

your book, and you’ll find yourself learning

new things without even trying.

David: Try to ignore the hard words. If you read

phrase by phrase, you’ll often find that you’re

able to piece together the meaning from the

bits that you already know.

Anne: Reread a line or paragraph from time to

time. We all need to do this sometimes, even if

we’re reading in our native language. Reading

something again helps us understand it better.

David: Consider referring to a German version

of the book. If you’ve got lost in the story, it can

help to read a few paragraphs or the beginning

of a chapter in German.

Anne: Abraham Lincoln once said that his

best friend is a man who can get him a book he

hasn’t yet read.

David: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A man is

known by the books he reads.”

Anne: We can probably all agree that reading is

worthwhile. But be honest: how much time do

you spend reading in English? It can be chal-

lenging, of course: you have to read more slow-

ly than in your native language, and you may

not understand all the words.

David: But reading in English is important. And

it doesn’t have to be a difficult task. In the fea-

ture on pages 14 to 21 of Spotlight , language

editor Joanna Westcombe explores both the

purpose and the pleasure of extensive reading

in English.

Anne: “Extensive reading” means reading a

long text, such as a novel, with the aim of gen-

eral understanding and enjoyment. It’s impor-

tant to read at the right level: if you know 98

per cent of the words on a page, you can easi-

ly learn and process the remaining two per

cent.

David: In the next track, we’ll give you some

reading tips. And then you can listen to part of

a short story written especially for English

learners.

chimney

Schornstein

Frère Jacques Fr.

Bruder Jakob

goods

Ware

lack

Mangel

make up for sth.

etw. ausgleichen,

wettmachen

obese

fettleibig

paragraph

Absatz

quality time

gemeinsame Zeit

voice box

Kehlkopf

Anne: Listen to an audiobook of the story in

English. You might listen to one chapter, and

then read the next, or listen and read at the

same time. This will help you to keep moving

through the story, and you’ll also learn how to

pronounce new words.

David: Use a dictionary if you need to — but only

very carefully! It’s best to wait until you’ve put

your book down before you open a dictionary.

Often you can guess the meaning of a word.

Anne: Tell somebody about the book when you

finish it. This will help you remember the story

and its language. You might enjoy reading the

same book as a friend and then discussing it, or

you could join a book club.

For more on books and reading,

see Spotlight 12/2011, pages 14–21

David: As you listen to the beginning of the

story “Made for each other”, pay attention to

the story itself rather than to any words you

may not know.

dream man,” she wrote. There was something

interesting about the letter. This one was spe-

cial, Graham felt. Susan was 25, attractive, and

— like him — she had a great sense of

humour. She liked dancing, going to the cine-

ma and having long talks. He did, too! Graham

read the letter again. He went to the mirror on

the wall and looked at himself. He did not look

like anyone’s “dream man,” he thought. Gra-

ham wasn’t very handsome. He wasn’t exactly

fat, but he wasn’t slim, either. He was just,

well, ordinary. Graham stopped looking at

himself. It made him sad. He wanted to write

to Susan himself, but there was the problem

of photos. You had to send a photo. What

could he do?

At that moment Alan came in. Alan wasn’t one

of Graham’s friends at the office. Actually, Gra-

ham didn’t exactly like Alan too much. Alan was

the office playboy. He was tall, slim and hand-

some and looked like a fashion model. Alan

wanted to give him a photo for the office files,

which Graham looked after. When Alan left,

Graham looked at the photo of Alan’s hand-

some face and he began to think.

Source: English Network Pocket Reader ,

from Langenscheidt’s “English Network” series,

ISBN 978-3-526-50505-1, €8.95

American Life

[8] It’s a wild, wild life

Anne: Can you describe a skunk, David?

David: Well, we don’t have them in Britain, but

it’s an animal that smells bad, isn’t it?

Anne: That’s a good start. Skunks are about the

size of a cat, and they’re black with two white

stripes down their back. They don’t smell bad

all the time — only when they feel threatened.

Skunks are native to North America — and

they’re the subject of Ginger Kuenzel’s Ameri-

can Life column this month.

Graham worked for the Happy Love marriage

bureau. Their adverts said, “Are you lonely? Are

you blue? Happy Love has a partner for you.”

Graham was very good at finding partners for

the people who wrote to Happy Love. He read

their letters very carefully and then wrote suit-

able ads for the newspapers. Graham was pop-

ular with the other people at the office. He was

friendly and helpful and his colleagues enjoyed

his great sense of humour. However, there was

one cloud in Graham’s life and none of the peo-

ple at the office knew about it. That was the

fact that he felt very lonely. Although he had

many positive qualities, Graham did not make

friends easily. And strangely, although he

worked for a marriage bureau, he found it diffi-

cult to meet girls. There were some pretty girls

in Graham’s office, but he never invited them

to a cinema or a restaurant. When he wanted to

say, “Would you like to go dancing tomorrow?”

or “Are you interested in going to see a film?”

he got very nervous and embarrassed. Finally,

he talked about something else. After work

Graham used to return to his empty flat and

think about his lonely life.

One day a letter arrived at the office. It was

from a girl called Susan. “I’m looking for my

When I moved to the Adirondacks last year, I

knew I’d be sharing my property with wildlife:

squirrels, raccoons, and others, some of which

I didn’t really want to know about — such as

skunks. But a skunk is not something to be

[7] “Made for each other” (excerpt)

David: One way to make reading in English eas-

ier and more enjoyable is to combine the print-

ed page with spoken words. You might listen to

just the first chapter of an audiobook, and then

continue reading from there. Or try listening

and reading at the same time.

Anne: We have an excerpt from a short story for

you to listen to here. It’s from Langenscheidt’s

English Network Pocket Reader . The 22 short

stories in this collection have been written at an

A2 to B1 level.

(Kontakt)Anzeige

advert

blue

hier: traurig

embarrassed

verlegen

file

Datei

handsome

gut aussehend

look after sth.

hier: etw. verwalten

marriage bureau

Ehevermittlung

( bureau

Büro, Amt)

ordinary

gewöhnlich

David: If you’d like to know if Graham finds love,

look for Langenscheidt’s English Network Pocket

Reader . It’s available at www.sprachenshop.de

raccoon

Waschbär

squirrel

Eichhörnchen

suitable

passend

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