Spotlight

2 2016

Deutschland E 7,50|CH sfr 13,50|A·E ·I ·L · SK: E 8,50

EINFACH ENGLISCH

10 QUICK WINS
How you can improve your English with songs by Adele,
TV series like Homeland and programmes like BBC Newsnight

02

4 1 901 35 307504
Beim Kochen, beim Sport oder unterwegs...
auf 6 Seiten geben wir Ihnen Tipps, wie Sie schnell
und effektiv im Alltag Ihr Englisch verbessern können.
(siehe Seite 30)

London-born Adele is among

the world’s top musical artists.
She is known for such hits as
“Rolling in the Deep” and the
theme song to the James Bond
film Skyfall. Her new album, 25,
is a huge international success.
 EDITORIAL | February 2016

New and exciting

sides to Spotlight

was
r it in g class
tive-w ssay
A crea s hort e as
rit e a as sw wlea-s
aAskcredeattiv ow e-writin f o
gocl
ll w
c asgs e ay
lin
Where will this copy of Spotlight be in a ingwt-rit e g
h eritainshortyes sesxy
essa
onke
cas tadinto v e wn, roysahlt ort, elein-g
week? Will it being lying on your coffee table se:ni
i ligioetefoallowineg-inwel
artng
e thri e plrliz gine-n
co
m nctrai
Aent oerwy. Thero o ow se,id sex
for you to pick up when you have a quiet mo- d
e:yre tt
s ligio f ya
th y Goodya
n, lty!’l ya x nning
, s
t
m adskts
anen m i n g
nad: “Th ‘ M r
, ize-aw ”wing
.-’ni
in
ment? Or will you put it in your bag to read on traeite
nyys ry .ligioenppr gnprinzte said
Inez Sharp, editor-in-chief esdcsoam
an r e
se:n.: ‘“‘I’M m r e e
h !’ sadid
your way to work? No matter where you keep emyqeure netad ryy. TGod o !’
esthsa m yste “‘eg M y Gnt.’”ant.’”
this issue, one thing is certain: you will see its cover many times. With this in d n. ‘I’m :pr na gn
the qu anee read I’m pre
a y
mind, we have given you two Spotlight covers to enjoy this month — one on ess ueen. ‘
q
the front of the magazine and one on the back. Actually, on the front it’s one the
and a half covers, as you can see if you look to the left.

How do we best learn and remember things? If they are relevant to our
Titelfotos: Corbis; Getty Images; Foto Editorial: Mauritius

daily lives. Do you like to sing along when you hear Adele on the radio? Or
perhaps you cosy up on the sofa for an episode of Homeland, House of Cards
or Downton Abbey. There are exciting ways to improve your English all around ENGLISCH LERNEN IST EIN WITZ?
you. The article “10 tips for your English week” helps you to integrate such Ja, mit diesem Spiel, in dem die Spieler Witze,
Reime, Zungenbrecher und lustige Zitate zum
easy, practical learning strategies into your everyday life. Combined with read- Besten geben. Und da Spielen ja eine ernste
ing Spotlight, it makes for the perfect learning experience. See page 31. Angelegenheit ist, versuchen alle sich das
Lachen zu verkneifen, denn das gibt Extrapunkte.
Now flip this copy of Spotlight over so that you are looking at the back, and Für 3 – 8 Spieler ab 12 Jahren. Mit 400 Witzen,
enjoy a view across the Ethiopian highlands, the “roof of Africa”. Discover cool, Zungenbrechern und Reimen, 252 Kärtchen
mit 504 Vokabeln und 1 Spielanleitung mit
sunlit mountain ranges and ancient rock-cut churches — and meet colourful ausführlichem Vokabelteil.
Mursi warriors. “Ethiopia, land of dreams” begins on page 14.
In Zusammenarbeit mit:

Ethiopia’s holy places:

i.sharp@spotlight-verlag.de seeing is believing

JETZT BESTELLEN!
www.sprachenshop.de/spiele
oder im Buch- und Spielwarenhandel
3 19,95 (UVP)

Mehr Informationen auf

www.grubbemedia.de
CONTENTS 14 Magical Ethiopia 30 Better English now!

Ten tips for learning English — from Adele’s hit

music, for example — plus more fun strategies.

THIS MONTH
6 People
Names and faces from around the world
8 A Day in My Life
Explore Ireland with this man and his horses
10 World View
What’s news and what’s hot
13 Britain Today
Colin Beaven on refugees
26 I Ask Myself
Amy Argetsinger on Paris and Facebook
36 History
The Battle of Verdun, 100 years ago
Travel writer Jim Eagles takes us on a journey to 38 Around Oz
see the famous rock-cut churches of Ethiopia. Peter Flynn on finding free time
40 Food
What happened to traditional British food?

22 Oceans 42 Press Gallery

A look at the English-language media
44 Arts
Films, apps, books, culture and a short story
66 The Lighter Side
Jokes and cartoons
67 American Life
Ginger Kuenzel on making work more fun
68 Feedback & Impressum
Your letters to Spotlight
69 Next Month
What’s coming next month in Spotlight
70 My Life in English
Author Mathis Oberhof
There’s an enormous area of plastic in the Pacific
Ocean. Activists have a plan for cleaning it up.

4 Spotlight 2|16
 29 Easy English The Spotlight family

Spotlight plus
Every month, you can explore
and practise the language and
grammar of Spotlight  with the
exercise booklet plus.
Find out more at:
www.spotlight-online.de/plus

Spotlight Audio
This monthly 60-minute
CD/download brings the world of
Open doors with Green Light, the easy-English Spotlight  to your ears.
booklet specially written for learners at the A2 level. Enjoy interviews and travel stories
and try the exercises.
14 SPRACHSEITEN IN DIESEM HEFT Find out more at:
www.spotlight-online.de/audio
50 Vocabulary
Language for going to the petrol station
52 Travel Talk
Visiting an art gallery
Spotlight
in the classroom
53 Language Cards
Pull out and practise
Teachers: if you use Spotlight  in
your lessons, this six-page sup-
55 Everyday English plement will provide great ideas
Words and phrases for St Valentine’s Day for classroom activities based on
57 The Grammar Page the magazine. Free for all teachers
Past modals of deduction who subscribe to Spotlight.
58 Peggy’s Place
Visit Spotlight’s very own London pub
59 English at Work www.spotlight-online.de
Ken Taylor answers your questions Spotlight Online will help you to improve
60 Spoken English your English every day. Try our language
Using the word “up” exercises or read about current events
61 Word Builder and fascinating places to visit.
A focus on the words in Spotlight Subscribers will also find a list of all the
glossed vocabulary from each issue of
62 Lost in Translation the magazine.
Fotos: Bildagentur Huber; Getty Images; The Ocean Cleanup; Thinkstock

A fun look at interesting words

63 Crossword
Find the words and win a prize

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH WITH SPOTLIGHT PRODUCTS OUR LANGUAGE LEVELS

Spotlight Audio: hear texts and interviews on our CD or
download. See www.spotlight-online.de/hoeren
Spotlight plus: 24 pages of language exercises related to the
magazine. See www.spotlight-online.de/ueben
The levels of difficulty in Spotlight magazine correspond roughly to
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
A2

Spotlight in the classroom: free of charge to teachers who

subscribe to Spotlight. See www.spotlight-online.de/teachers B1 – B2

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

Tel.: +49 (0)89 / 85681-16 · Fax: +49 (0)89 / 85681-159 C1 – C2

www.SprachenShop.de: order products

from our online shop (see page 48). To find your level, visit Sprachtest.de

2|16 Spotlight 5
 PEOPLE | Names and Faces
The comedian

Soon he was getting big roles in big

Who exactly is… films, and he later wrote, directed
and acted in his own movies, too.

Chris Rock?
One of Rock’s most popular proj­
ects is a TV show he wrote and pro-
duced called Everybody Hates Chris.
It is based on his own schooldays and

T
his month, about 35 million people
in more than 200 countries will watch
one man host Hollywood’s premier
event. The man is Chris Rock, and the event
is the 88th Academy Awards. Rock, who also
hosted the Academy Awards in 2005, grew
up in a working-class family in Brooklyn, New
York. He was one of the few black students at his
school and was bullied as a result. He left school
at the age of 16 and, a few years later, started doing
stand-up comedy in New York.
Actor and comedian Eddie Murphy saw Rock per-
forming one night and became
his mentor. He even gave him his bully [(bUli]
first film role, in Beverly Hills Cop host [hEUst]
II. Then, in 1990, Rock got a job premier event [)premiE I(vent]
on the popular TV show Saturday seldom [(seldEm]
Night Live — and became a star.
was on TV from 2005 to 2009.
Rock, who is 51 this month, told
Rolling Stone that in the future, he
wants to explore “more universal,
deeper things” in his comedy. “Peo-
ple deal with emotions in music all
the time, but comedians are always
talking about what they see. We sel-
dom talk about what we feel. That’s
the next thing for me.” The Academy
Awards will take place on 28 Febru-
ary this year.
mobben
moderieren
hier: bedeutendste Veranstaltung
selten ( p. 61)

In the news

People in every part of the world play football. Recently, some of

them have been playing the sport with the English football star
David Beckham. Beckham, 40, has played seven games in
seven continents for a BBC documentary. He has travelled to some
of the most remote places in the world, including villages in Pap-
ua New Guinea, mountains
in Nepal, deserts in Djibouti
and the frozen continent of
Most photos you see of celebrities are altered to make them look Antarctica. Beckham began
more beautiful. When you see photos of Kate Winslet with and ended his journey at Old
L’Oréal products, though, you are seeing the real Kate Winslet. Trafford, the home stadium
The actress is against drastically altered photos, because she of Manchester United, where
says it makes young girls feel bad about their bodies. In 2003, he played his final game with
she complained when GQ magazine reduced the width of her leg other football stars. He told
“by about a third”, but in 2013, serious changes were again made, the BBC, “I’ve seen the trans-
when US Vogue airbrushed her face for a cover. Now Winslet, formational effect sport — in
40, has a “no photoshop” clause in her modelling contract with particular football — has on
L’Oréal. She told E! News, “It does feel important to me, because I people’s lives. This epic jour-
Fotos: action Press; Corbis; ddp images

think we have a responsibility to the younger generation of wom- ney will allow me to show
en... I would always want to be telling the truth about who I am.” the positive side of the game
I love.”
airbrush [(eEbrVS] retuschieren
altered [(O:ltEd] verändert; hier: bearbeitet documentary [)dQkju(mentEri] Dokumentarfilm
clause [klO:z] Klausel epic [(epIk] episch, unglaublich
width [wIdT] Breite remote [ri(mEUt] entfernt, abgelegen

6 Spotlight 2|16
 Happy birthday!

Dakota Fanning doesn’t remember a time

when she wasn’t famous. Fanning, who has
been in more than 50 films since the age of
seven, told The Guardian, “Being a known
person is pretty much all I’ve known. I
don’t remember much of a time when
The newcomer people didn’t know who I was. But you
grow up and think about things differ-
• Name: J acob Tremblay ently, and you realize how strange fame
• Age: 9 is. If I can achieve it, I don’t want anyone
• From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to know anything about me.”
• Known for: Tremblay is Hollywood’s new child star Fanning was born in Conyers, Geor-
sensation. gia, US, and started acting at the local
• Where you’ve seen him: In the 2013 film The Smurfs 2 arts centre. When her drama teacher
and in last year’s films Before I Wake and Room, which told her parents she was talented,
made him a star. the family moved to Los Angeles,
• Where you will see him: In three films this year — where Fanning began her career.
Shut In, Burn Your Maps and The Book of Henry. She worked on TV before she was
• Greatest ambition: To be in the 2019 film Star Wars: in the film that made her famous — I
Episode 9, which has the same director — Colin Trevor- Am Sam (2001). She won many awards
row — as The Book of Henry. Tremblay told reporters it for the role and is the youngest person ever to
is “extremely possible” that he will get a role in the film. be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
The actress, who will be 22 on 23 February,
has starred in many successful films since then,
including War of the Worlds, Charlotte’s Web and
award [E(wO:d] Auszeichnung, Preis the Twilight series. Since 2011, she has been
degree [di(gri:] Diplom, Abschluss working towards a degree in women’s studies
drama teacher [(drA:mE )ti:tSE] Schauspiellehrer(in) at New York University, but continues to act,
star [stA:] eine Hauptrolle spielen
too. You can see her in four films this year.

Out of the ordinary

How can a man go to jail for five commit [kE(mIt] begehen

years for trying to help a little girl? compassion Mitleid, Mitgefühl
[kEm(pÄS&n]
Rob Lawrie from Leeds in Eng-
guilty [(gIlti] schuldig
land went to the Jungle refugee camp
horrendous [hQ(rendEs] entsetzlich, grauenhaft
in Calais, France, to deliver a van full
jungle [(dZVNg&l] Dschungel
of clothes, sleeping bags and tents,
shelter [(SeltE] Unterschlupf, Unterkunft
and to build shelters. There, he met
a four-year-old girl from Afghanistan
called Bahar Ahmadi, and her father,
Reza. Reza asked Lawrie to take the
girl to Leeds, where her relatives live
legally. Lawrie said “yes”, but police
caught him at the border. A father of Die Alternative zur Sprachreise!
four and ex-soldier, Rob Lawrie told
The Independent: “I know I have com- 6 Tage lang in die
mitted a crime, but all I am guilty of is
compassion. I just couldn’t leave Ba-
englische Sprache
har to spend one more night in that eintauchen
horrendous place.”
… ohne Deutschland
Texts by TALITHA LINEHAN www.englischhausen.de zu verlassen!
 A DAY IN MY LIFE | Ireland

The charm of Killarney

Wie wär’s mit einer romantischen Tour im Pferdewagen durch Südwestirland?
JOHN STANLEY hat einen Mann getroffen, der das organisieren kann.

I
am Michael Tangney Junior, and I’m 26 years old.
My brother Paul, sister Laura and myself are the fifth
generation to run Killarney Jaunting Cars, which our
family founded more than 220 years ago.
The dictionary describes a “jaunt” as “a leisurely ex-
cursion taken for pleasure”. Since the early 1800s, horse-
drawn jaunting cars have taken visitors on tours through
what is now Killarney National Park, an area of moun-
tains and lakes here in the south-west of Ireland that in-
cludes the town of Killarney, County Kerry.
Traditionally, these vehicles were two-wheeled side-
cars, but today they have four wheels and carry at least
eight passengers. We’ve 12 cars of our own, and in busy
periods, we subcontract work to other “jarveys”, as the
drivers are known. We also offer cruises on the lakes of
Killarney in a glass-covered boat. On a busy day in the
summer, we might provide jaunts for up to 600 people.
Michael Tangney Junior with one of his valued colleagues
From March to October, we work seven days a week,
getting up around 6.30 a.m. Each jarvey is responsible farrier [(fÄriE] Hufschmied(in)
for feeding, brushing and harnessing his own horse, and jaunt [dZO:nt] Ausflug, Spritztour
getting ready for the first tours of the day around eight shoe [Su:] hier: Hufeisen
sidecar [(saIdkA:] Seitenwagen, Beiwagen
o’clock. The horses get new shoes about once a month.
subcontract [)sVbkEn(trÄkt] als Unterauftrag weitergeben
So three or four times a week, we need to be ready for the
farrier when he calls in around 7 a.m. We feed the horses Taking in Ireland’s
around 12 or 12.30, and again at the end of their working beauty on a jaunt through
day, around five or six o’clock. the countryside

8 Spotlight 2|16
 Info to go

    My sister, Laura, works full time in the office. When
the tours are finished, I still have various administrative
tasks. It’s also time to wash down the horses and put them
back in their stalls ready for the next day. We rotate them,
so that they work for two days and have two days off.
All our jaunting cars used to be built locally of wood.
Today, we bring in steel-framed wagonettes from Canada
and Poland. They look traditional, but need far less main-
tenance. Our harnesses also used to be made here, but
now we import them from the Amish in Pennsylvania.
Today, a lot of them are made of synthetic materials rather
than leather. That also cuts down on maintenance.
Killarney
A town of some 15,000 people in Ireland’s south-west,
Killarney belongs to County Kerry (see Spotlight 12/15,
pages 22–25) in the province of Munster. County Kerry
is famous for the Dingle Peninsula, a green spit of land
that extends into the wild Atlantic Ocean. Also of note
for visitors is Killarney National Park, a scenic region of
lakes and mountains. Its centrepiece is Muckross House,
a grand home built in 1843 by Anglo-Irish politician
Colonel Henry Arthur Herbert (1815–66) and his artist
wife, Mary Balfour Herbert (1817–93). The house is
located six kilometres from the town of Killarney. For
more information, see www.muckross-house.ie

We still breed a couple of horses every year, but we

buy most of them. Not all horses are suitable for our
work: they need a settled mind and a good heart. The
horses start pulling the jaunting cars when they’re around
three or four years old and work with us until they are 15
or 20. But they can live up to 35 years of age, so when
they retire, we send a lot of them to riding schools that Amish
work with children with disabilities such as autism. The The Amish are
horses are well suited to that line of work because of their best known in
quiet temperament. popular culture
We train them in the winter months. Every year, too, from the 1985 Holly-
we take part in promotional workshops for Irish tourism wood film Witness
in countries such as Germany, the UK and the US. That’s (Der einzige Zeuge), starring Harrison Ford. Amish
how we keep our relationships going with the tour ope­ communities can be found in several American states,
rators, and how we make sure that they get the itineraries especially Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, and in
they want as well. Our plans are usually made up to two the Canadian province of Ontario. The Amish share a
years ahead. We find ourselves using the internet more Christian faith that was influenced by the Swiss-born
and more to connect with our customers — it’s amazing: Anabaptist Jakob Ammann (1644–1712/30), hence the
a very old tradition in Killarney needs 21st-century tech- word “Amish”. They are known for their very traditional
nology to operate. way of life, which excludes most technology — even
the use of automobiles. The main form of transport
Anabaptist [)ÄnE(bÄptIst] Wiedertäufer(in) for Amish people is the horse and buggy, which makes
breed [bri:d] züchten them a good source of equipment for Irish jarveys.
centrepiece [(sentEpi:s] Herzstück, Hauptattraktion
disability [)dIse(bIlEti] Behinderung find oneself
faith [feIT] Glaube, Konfession The reflexive verb “to find oneself” means “to discover
harness [(hA:nIs] Pferdegeschirr
that one is in a surprising situation”. As Michael Tangney
hence [hens] daher
Jr says in the text on this page: “We find ourselves
itinerary [aI(tIn&rEri] Reiseroute
using the internet more and more to connect with
maintenance [(meIntEnEns] Wartung
our customers — it’s amazing: a very old tradition in
rotate [rEU(teIt] abwechseln, im Turnus wechseln
Killarney needs 21st-century technology to operate.”
scenic [(si:nIk] malerisch
settled [(set&ld] ruhig
Fotos: John Stanley; Alamy; Thinkstock

some [sVm] hier: etwa Try using “to find oneself” in the following
source [sO:s] Quelle sentences.
spit of land [)spIt Ev (lÄnd] Landzunge a) As Mary wasn’t used to skiing, she soon ________
wagonette [)wÄgE(net] offener gefederter Pferdewagen ________ stuck on an icy slope.
mit zwei gegenüberliegenden b) I lost my way and was surprised to ________ ________
Sitzbänken hinter dem Fahrersitz
having to ask a child for directions.
Answers: find oneself: a) found herself (slope: Abhang, Hang); b) find myself; c) At the end of his first yoga class, Paul ________
c) found himself (headstand: Kopfstand) ________ doing a headstand.

2|16 Spotlight 9
 WORLD VIEW | News in Brief

pancakes
A pancake race in

It’s a good month for Buckinghamshire, England

BRITAIN In New Orleans, it’s Mardi Gras: cially in Britain, organize “pancake races” in which peo-
“fat Tuesday” is a day of processions and eating, the last ple run a short distance while holding a pan and flipping
party before the start of Lent’s 40-day fast. But in Brit- a hot pancake several times. While Pancake Day is the
ain, Ireland, Canada and Australia, the day before Ash popular name for this celebration, on the church calen-
Wednesday is celebrated differently - by holding pan- dar it is called Shrove Tuesday. Shrove comes from the
cake races. word “shrive”, which means
Pancake Day, as it is called, falls on 9 February this to absolve. The day is con- flip [flIp] wenden
year. Although recipes vary, the typical English pancake sidered to be a time to reflect flour [(flaUE] Mehl
is very thin and made from flour, eggs, milk and salt. The on one’s sins, and to ask for Lent [lent] Fastenzeit
shrive [SraIv] beichten
mixture is cooked in a heated pan and the resulting pan- forgiveness before the start of
sin [sIn] Sünde
cakes are served immediately. Many communities, espe- the Easter season.

Unwanted visitors Oh dear! Canada

geese are here

UNITED STATES Want to play football in

front of the Capitol, or picnic by the Lincoln Memorial? Until re-
cently, any romantic idea of enjoying the grass of the National Mall
— a famous area of parkland between the great monuments of
Washington, DC — was considered highly impractical. Why? Goose
poop. The solution? Working dogs.
The showplace of the nation’s capital has, over the years, be-
come known as a hangout for Canada geese. Lovely as these pro-
tected animals are, the by-products of their visits have caused the
public lots of trouble — until recently. The CBC reports that the Na-
tional Park Service has hired a firm that uses Border collies to keep
the geese from getting comfortable on the mall’s lawns and paths.
Fotos: action press; Alamy; Getty Images

In the past, “you’d have to be pretty careful where you were

walking. You didn’t want to step in ... the goose doodee,” said Todd
Bethel, a programmer who crosses the mall on his way to work.
by-product [(baI )prA:dEkt] Nebenprodukt
The “Geese Police” program has been welcomed by the public,
goose poop [(gu:s pu:p] ifml. Gänsekacke
especially since one goose can produce three pounds (1.4 kg) of
hangout [(hÄNaUt] ifml. Treff
poop each day. Animal protection organizations have given the
pretty [(prIti] ifml. hier: ziemlich
strategy the green light, too. They say that while the dogs frighten showplace [(SoUpleIs] Schauplatz
the geese away, the birds are not being harmed.

10 Spotlight 2|16
 Michel Roux checks on
the unusual salad

A garden underground
BRITAIN People are calling it the world’s first under-
ground farm: a garden has been planted in a forgotten tunnel
close to Clapham North Tube station in south London. This unusu-
al green project is causing great excitement among fans of urban
redevelopment.
Using hydroponic techniques, lettuce has been planted in
a 2.5-acre area in the former bomb shelter. While the tunnel has
also recently been considered for use as part of the London Under-
ground system, for the moment, it is being left to its enthusiastic
farmers, Richard Ballard and Steven Dring. The former film stu- acre [(eIkE] Morgen (4.047 m2)
dent and his business consultant friend were able to make a deal bomb shelter [(bQm )SeltE] Luftschutzbunker
with the city that allows them to use the space for their business, hydroponic [)haIdrE(pQnIk] erdelos
called Growing Underground, at a very low price. pea shoot [(pi: Su:t] Erbsenspross
London cooks like Michel Roux Junior, who has two Michelin Tube [tju:b] UK Londoner Untergrundbahn
stars, are supporting the project and are buying the pea shoots urban redevelopment Stadtsanierung
[)§:bEn )ri:di(velEpmEnt]
and red amaranth produced in this innovative garden.

Beware the buyer acquire [E(kwaIE]

contrary [(kQntrEri]
erwerben
gegensätzlich,
entgegengesetzt
AUSTRALIA Should national interests be
head of cattle [)hed Ev (kÄt&l] Stück Vieh
allowed to get in the way of a real-estate deal? Australia is
real-estate [)rIEl I(steIt] Aus., N. Am. Immobilien-
saying “yes” to this question after a very big property sale
treasurer [(treZErE] Schatzmeister(in)
was blocked by a government decision.
works: be in the ˜ [w§:ks] in der Mache sein
This winter, Chinese and other foreign buyers tried to
acquire an area of land that the Financial Times described
as “three-quarters of the size of England” and containing
200,000 head of cattle. The problem? About half of the
property was designated off-limits by the authorities as
being too close to the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA),
a weapons testing site in South Australia. As a result, the
new government, under Prime Minister Malcolm Turn-
bull, decided to reject the attractive offers by foreign par-
ties to buy the land for as much as A$ 350 million.
Scott Morrison, Australia’s federal treasurer, said that
selling the more than 100,000-square-kilometre cattle
station to a foreign company “would be contrary to the
national interest”. He also stated that the decision had
nothing to do with any of the potential investors being
Chinese, an issue that has been a point of controversy
over the years (see Spotlight 10/15, page 36). A possible
partial sale of the area may now be in the works.

No sale: in Oz,
national security
comes first
 WORLD VIEW | News in Brief
Spaghetti religion
UNITED STATES
Why would a woman defend her
legal right to wear a colander on
her head in a US driver’s license
photo? The reason was to make
headlines for the Church of the
Flying Spaghetti Monster, of
course, which recently celebrated
its 10th anniversary.
“I don’t have a problem with
religion. What I have a problem
with is religion posing as science.
If there is a god and he’s intelli-
gent, then I would guess he has
a sense of humor.” With these
words, Bobby Henderson started
an internet sensation in the mid-
2000s. Henderson, who studied
physics at college, caused a con-
troversy with a letter to the Kansas
State Board of Education in which
Christian [(krIstSEn]
colander [(kVlEnd&r]
credit: give ˜ to sb. [(kredEt]
defend [di(fend]
parody [(pÄrEdi]
Pastafarianism [)pÄstE(feriEn)IzEm]
randomly [(rÄndEmli]
12 Spotlight 2|16
Not quite Michelangelo’s
Creation of Man
he parodied that state’s decision to
let Christian beliefs be taught as an
alternative to science in school.
Henderson’s humorous cri-
tique, also published on his web-
site and as a book, made fun of the
decision’s logic. If Christian beliefs
were to be offered to children as a
way of explaining evolution or the
creation of the world, said Hen-
derson, then any god — such as
the randomly imagined Flying
Spaghetti Monster — could just as
easily be given the credit.
As The Telegraph reports, this
argument, also called Pastafarian-
ism, from the words “pasta” and
“Rastafarianism,” became popular
with the international media and
liberal members of the public.
Conservatives were less amused.
christlich
Sieb
jmdm. Glauben schenken
wahren, schützen
parodieren
eine Religion bzw. Religionsparodie
wahllos, willkürlich
What’s hot
Chicken
served hot
BRITAIN When she heard
about the problems some chickens
were having, Nicola Congdon of Fal-
mouth, Cornwall, knew exactly what
to do.
Because the former battery birds
had been stressed, they had plucked
out some of their own feathers. As a
result, they were too cold in winter.
So Congdon started to knit. In a short
time, she had produced a number of
very small woolly jumpers. She tried
them on the birds, and they fitted.
“I don’t leave them on for more
than half an hour if I’m not up there
[with the chickens]. If I am up there,
I’ll leave them on for an hour or two
hours, depending on how long I’m up
there,” Congdon told the Daily Mail.
“They just stand there, and they do
everything they should be doing —
as a chicken would.”
Congdon now receives orders
for her chicken jumpers from people
around the world. Instead of pay-
ment, she asks her customers for
donations to a children’s charity in
South Africa.
Chickens stay warm in woolly jumpers
Fotos: Arne Niklas Jansson; Youtube Screenshot
charity [(tSÄrEti] Wohltätigkeits-
organisation
donation [dEU(neIS&n] Spende
pluck out [plVk (aUt] auszupfen
woolly jumper Wollpulli
[)wUli (dZVmpE] UK
Texts by
CLAUDINE WEBER-HOF

“Think of
the Pilgrim
Fathers back
in 1620”
Colin Beaven
is a freelance
writer who lives
and works in
Southampton
on the south
coast of England.
S
ome of Syria’s refugees have
been arriving in Britain re-
cently. It’s a minimal number
compared with those in Germany.
Another 20,000 are to come here
by 2020, but that’s all. The UK’s ap-
proach to the crisis has been mainly
to help with the costs of the camps
on Syria’s borders.
The few refugees who are being
accepted are brought here directly
by air. The first of the latest 20,000
landed in Glasgow some weeks ago.
It was raining. After meeting offi-
cials, they were taken to their final
destinations: towns, villages and is-
lands around Scotland.
Refugees who have reached Eu-
rope by sea or by land have no doubt
had much worse journeys, but what a
shock to come straight from a hot, dry
country to one that’s wet and chilly.
How do you prepare people for
such a contrast? In a television re-
port, I saw how one Canadian offi-
cial went about it. He had the job of
telling some Syrians that they’d be
living in Edmonton — or perhaps it
was Calgary.
“What’s the weather like?” was
one of the first questions they asked.
“It’s nice in summer,” he replied.
A good tactic: don’t mention the
winter. Think of the Pilgrim Fathers
back in 1620. Would they have sailed
on the Mayflower if they’d known
about the winters they would face
in New England? Actually, I dare say
they would have sailed. They wanted
religious freedom — and it’s not as if
they were sorry to say goodbye to the
Foto: AFP/Getty Images
weather in Britain.
Shakespeare describes it. There’s a
line in a song at the end of Twelfth
Night, written just a few years before
Britain Today | COLIN BEAVEN
A cold welcome
Wenn die syrischen Flüchtlinge, die in Großbritannien
ankommen, wissen wollen, was für ein Wetter sie erwartet,
sollten sie Shakespeare lesen.
the Mayflower’s departure: “The rain
it raineth every day.” He clearly had
strong feelings about it, for the line
comes up in every verse.
Shakespeare, who died 400 years
ago, is best known for his sonnets
and plays, but he also wrote really
good weather forecasts.
It’s not just the rain. The same
song has another line in every verse:
“With hey, ho, the wind and the
rain.” The wind can be even worse,
especially in winter. According to
one stereotype, the British are in-
separable from their umbrellas. But
that’s not true. With so much wind,
umbrellas don’t last five minutes.
Other English classics tell the
same story. Take Wuthering Heights,
Emily Brontë’s wonderful novel. It’s
so windy in the part of Yorkshire she
A better future in a colder place?
describes that the sound of branches
hitting the bedroom window gives If refugees arriving from Syria
one of the characters nightmares. can find a bit of religious and polit-
Is the weather any better in Scot- ical freedom here, though, the mis-
land? Let’s look at Shakespeare’s erable winters will no doubt seem a
Scottish play, Macbeth. This is how it price worth paying.
starts: “Act I, Scene 1.
A desert place. Thun- approach [E(prEUtS] Herangehensweise
der and lightning.” branch [brA:ntS] Zweig, Ast
Another accurate chilly [(tSIli] kühl, frostig
weather forecast. desert [(dezEt] abgelegen, einsam
Then the first I dare say [aI )deE (seI] ich wage zu behaupten
witch appears with inseparable [In(sepErEb&l] unzertrennlich
more detail: “When last [lA:st] hier: aushalten, überstehen
shall we three meet marvellous [(mA:vlEs] wundervoll, phantastisch
again? In thunder, miserable [(mIzErEb&l] elend, trübsinnig
nightmare [(naItmeE] Albtraum
lightning, or in rain?”
novel [(nQv&l] Roman
Marvellous! No
official [E(fIS&l] Beamter, -in
mention of wind.
raineth [reIneT] regnet
The Scots had bet- sonnet [(sQnIt]
Sonett
ter weather than the stereotype [(steriEtaIp] (Rollen-)Klischee
English 400 years thunder [(TVndE] Donner
ago. I’m not sure witch [wItS] Hexe
that’s still true.
2|16 Spotlight 13
 TRAVEL | Africa

Ethiopia, A journey begins: on the path to

see one of the rock-cut churches

land of dreams
Eine Reise zu den Wundern Äthiopiens ist ein einmaliges Erlebnis – Felsenkirchen,
grell bemalte Stammesmitglieder, ein Stierspringfest. JIM EAGLES berichtet.

M
y lungs are sucking in the thin mountain air as era equipment reaches over the brink, takes my wrist and
I fit my fingers into holds cut in the cliff face pulls me to safety.
by generations of Ethiopians who have climbed
up here to pray. I raise my right leg and try to find a brink [brINk] Rand, Kante
foothold — until the youngster who is helping me takes cliff face [(klIf feIs] Klippenwand
hold of my shoe and pushes the toe into the right place. foothold [(fUthEUld] Halt, fester Stand
Fotos: Corbis

suck in [sVk (In] einsaugen

One more effort and I’m near the top. The arm of the old
toe [tEU] Zehe
man who is carrying my backpack with its heavy cam-

The Tigray region: landscapes

of beauty and mystery
 “We’re here,” says our guide. “No more climbing.
That’s the church over there.”
Very happy to hear this, I look in the direction he’s
pointing and see, up against a cliff, the entrance to the
ancient Mariam Korkor, the Church of Mary. What real-
ly catches my attention from here in the rocky Gheralta
Mountains, though, is the perspective of the spectacular
landscape far below. It has taken us two hours to climb
800 metres almost straight up from the highlands of the
Tigray region in Ethiopia’s north to the top of this es-
carpment, and the view from here, at 2,400 metres, is
fantastic. This is no time for sightseeing, however. Our
climb may be over, but the final part of the journey still
requires concentration, since the track runs along the
edge of a cliff where a 400-metre fall is just one wrongly
placed footstep away.
common sense [)kQmEn (sens] gesunder Menschenverstand
escarpment [I(skA:pmEnt] Felswand, Steilhang
Later, those members of our group who had chosen
not to make the climb reported what they had heard from
the bus driver: every year, ten tourists die getting up to
Mariam Korkor. Maybe he was saying that just to make
them feel better about not going. But who knows? Al-
though I’m fit, by the time I’d climbed about a third of
the way to the top, I was working hard to get enough
oxygen into my lungs. The route, which had begun with a
climb up a river of big rocks running down a steep part of
the escarpment, had my heart racing in terror.
Common sense triumphed in the end, though. I
handed my pack to the old man — who had followed
me, hoping for just such a money-making opportunity
— and got his grandson as a bonus. With their help, I
made it past the river of rocks, managed to walk up the
dangerous tracks and climbed the rocky steps to the top.
2|16 Spotlight 15
TRAVEL | Africa

At Mariam Korkor, I am greeted by an aged monk

in yellow robes and a black hat who is holding a carved
wooden cross. He came here as a seven-year-old novice
and is now about 80. When I ask who uses the church,
our guide — who owns the farm at the start of the climb
— explains that he and 300 fellow villagers go up every
Sunday to attend Mass. The old monk nods.
With a wave of his arm, he invites us into his church.
From the outside, it looks tiny, but when we go through
the small door, it is unexpectedly large, with a huge nave
cut directly into the rock. There, by the light of candles
and the sun that shines through the door, the monk A pilgrim visiting the famous rock-cut Church of St George
shows us a holy book that looks centuries old as well as
wall paintings that are fading with age. attend Mass die Messe besuchen
[E)tend (mÄs]
carved [kA:vd] geschnitzt
fade [feId] verblassen
Ethiopia is famous for such rock-cut churches, but nave [neIv] Kirchenschiff, Hauptschiff
— though Mariam Korkor has the best view and scar- novice [(nQvIs] Novize, Novizin
iest access of any I saw — the finest examples are 400 robes [rEUbz] Gewand
kilometres further south in the holy city of Lalibela in
the Amhara region. Legend says that King Lalibela had a In Lalibela: the Church of St George and a narrow passageway
 Bet Medhane Alem, the Saviour of the World church

vision in which God asked him to build a new Jerusalem
for pilgrims, after the Muslim leader Saladin had captured
the old Jerusalem in 1187. Today, the 11 churches he or-
dered to be cut into the rock are Ethiopia’s main tourist
attraction, often described as the eighth wonder of the
ancient world.
The finest is Bet Giyorgis, the Church of St George,
carved 30 metres deep into a huge dome of red volcanic
rock. When I see it for the first time, I can hardly believe
my eyes. I walk round the edge of the deep pit in which
the church sits, watching the small figures of priests and
tourists below and thinking of the skill and effort required
to build it. Then I go down to the church itself.
It is much more elegant than Mariam Korkor. The
walls are smooth and decorated with finely carved shapes.
It’s hard to believe that Bet Giyorgis has really been cut
out of the rock and not built from blocks of stone. Little
wonder that locals say the builders were assisted by angels.
Ark of the Covenant Bundeslade
[)A:k Ev DE (kVvEnEnt]
canvas cover [(kÄnvEs )kVvE] Plane
Fotos: F1online; Huber; Mauritius; Thinkstock
Almost as impressive is a complex of churches stand-
ing nearby. They are linked by tunnels and are centred
on Bet Medhane Alem — House of the Saviour of the
World — which is the largest of the rock-cut churches.
This was built in the style of a Greek temple, with 36
pillars inside and out. Even with a giant canvas cover
that was put up by UNESCO to prevent water damage,
it looks majestic.
A fascinating mix
Christianity has long played an important role in this area
of East Africa. It became the official religion of this region
in the fourth century, giving rise to the Ethiopian Ortho-
dox Church. This church is said to possess the ­­Ark o­ f the
Covenant and the original stone tablets bearing the Ten
Commandments. The legendary Queen of Sheba is thought
to have ruled from the Kingdom of Aksum, the ancient
capital of which is the small city of Axum in the north of
Ethiopia today — a place that, like the monolithic rock-cut
churches in other parts of the country, is internationally

capture [(kÄptSE] erobern

claim [kleIm]
dome [dEUm]
pilgrim [(pIlgrIm]
pit [pIt]
rock-cut [(rQk kVt]
tablet [(tÄblEt]
Ten Commandments
[)ten kE(mA:ndmEnts]
beanspruchen, behaupten
famous for its UNESCO-protected sights. King Solomon
Kuppel of Israel and the Queen of Sheba created a royal family to
Pilger(in) which dictator Haile Selassie, who ruled Ethiopia from 1916
Grube, Vertiefung to 1974, claimed to belong. Today, it is estimated that about
aus Fels gehauen, Felsen-
40 per cent of the country’s population are Ethiopian Or-
Tafel
thodox, 30 per cent are Muslim, 20 per cent are Protestant,
Zehn Gebote
with the rest following traditional local systems of belief.

2|16 Spotlight 17
 Impressive: Mursi warriors
with their weapons

Wandering through the labyrinth of churches and
tunnels in the light that filters down from above, dis-
covering old frescoes, sleeping priests, praying pilgrims,
bright candles and the aroma of incense, I feel as though
I’ve discovered a mysterious underground world that has
remained unchanged for a thousand years. It’s a feeling I
have almost everywhere in Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa, the capital of this country, is a typical
third-world city. Its streets are filled with heavily laden
donkeys, old trucks and cars; but one also sees shiny lim-
ousines where modern buildings rise above shanty towns,
and luxury shops sit next to traditional markets.
Out in the countryside, though, life is almost biblical,
filled with scenes such as a farmer with his two oxen and
a wooden plough cutting a single line in the dark earth;
children with small sickles harvesting fat golden wheat; a
woman cooking traditional pancakes over an open fire;
or a family walking to market beside a donkey cart filled
with fruit and vegetables. These are images I am not soon
going to forget.
My bus shares the roads with impressively horned cat-
tle, packhorses led by wild-looking Ethiopian cowboys,
small boys with their goats, and parades of pilgrims carry-
ing the holy tabernacle from their church to a baptismal
ceremony at a nearby river.
It’s like driving in a time machine: the further south
we travel, the further back in time we seem to go. Yet, in
the far south, I find the villages of African tribes doing
their best to hold on to their traditional cultures in the
face of the modern world.

baptismal [bÄp(tIzmEl] Tauf-

cart [kA:t] Karren
cattle [(kÄt&l] Vieh, Rinder
donkey [(dQNki] Esel
goat [gEUt] Ziege
incense [(Insens] Weihrauch
plough [plaU] Pflug
shanty town [(SÄnti taUn] Barackenstadt
sickle [(sIk&l] Sichel
Fotos: Corbis; Huber

tribe [traIb] (Volks-)Stamm

Expressive: the art of

the Konso people

18 Spotlight 2|16
 One is the home of the Mursi people, whose
women make themselves more beautiful by plac-
ing huge carved plates into their lower lips. It is a
sad collection of huts where I’m met by dead-eyed
women who want to have their pictures taken for
the standard price of five birr, about 20 euro cents.
Almost as aggressive are the Karo — noted for their
body painting, some of which is indeed impressive
— and the Galeb, whom we reach in snake-like ca-
noes and whose village, consisting of huts of straw,
sticks and corrugated iron, is littered with rubbish.
More attractive are the very tidy villages of the
Konso. Our meeting with the clan chief, who is sit-
ting with his chickens and goats in his hut, reveals
a thoughtful man who talks about the tensions be-
tween traditional ways and the modern world. At
a pretty Ari village, I’m surprised to be greeted by
cheerful children singing “Old MacDonald Had a Brave: a Hamar man at the bull-jumping ceremony
Farm”. A young blacksmith in training shapes an iron
blacksmith [(blÄksmIT] Schmied(in)
knife in a primitive forge, a young woman makes a clay
bull-jumping [(bUl )dZVmpIN] Stierspringen-
platter, and an older woman creates a tasty drink. It’s a bit
clay platter [(kleI )plÄtE] Tonschüssel
of a shock to be told that only the week before the Ari and
corrugated iron [)kQrEgeItId (aIEn] Wellblech
the Mursi had been fighting. forge [fO:dZ] Schmiede
I wouldn’t be so surprised to hear that of the Hamar, littered [(lItEd] übersät, verschmutzt
who are very good-looking with shaved bodies, oiled skin, reveal [ri(vi:&l] zeigen, offenbaren,
coloured hair and attractive jewellery. They have the ap- enthüllen
pearance of a warrior race. I’m in the Hamar homeland for tension [(tenS&n] Spannung
a bull-jumping festival, a ceremony for a young man who warrior [(wQriE] Krieger-
wants to get married, for which we assemble in an area
Ethiopia’s south: on the way
from the town of Irgalem to
the town of Konso

2|16 Spotlight 19
A monk reading the Bible
at the church called
Bet Merkorios in Lalibela

of scrub and sand. The women gather together, their hair
shining with what looks like a mixture of red earth and
fat. Their leaders produce small horns with which they
send out loud calls to action. This starts the women jog-
ging in a circle, the bells on their legs jangling. The group
moves closer and closer together, until they all jump three
times into the air to complete the ritual. The horns are
then brought out once more, and it starts all over again.
Afterwards it’s the turn of the men, who have been
guarding a small herd of bulls. Two men take hold of a
bull, one by the tongue and a horn, the other seizing the
tail. They pull it into a field. Other men do the same, un-
til six bulls are standing side by side. The young man who
is to perform the ceremony comes out from the middle of
the herd, where he is standing naked. He jumps on to the
back of the first bull, then on to the next, and continues
to the end of the row, where he jumps to the ground.
If you go
Getting there
Emirates Airline has regular connections from Germany via
Dubai to Addis Ababa. See www.emirates.com
Tourists can buy visas for entry into the country when
they arrive at Bole International Airport in the capital city
of Addis Ababa. Right now, the cost of a visa is $50 for one
month, or $70 for up to three months. Payments must be
made in US dollars.
Getting around
Ethiopia is a relatively safe country to visit, and English
is widely spoken there. However, it is a very good idea
to make your travel plans through an experienced tour
operator.
There have been isolated problems with terrorists in
Ethiopia in recent years, and many government bodies,
including Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US
State Department, have warned travellers to do their best
to stay away from border areas, especially those near to
Eritrea, Somalia and South Sudan.
When to go
The best time to visit is from October to May, when the
weather is cool and dry.
Currency
The Ethiopian currency is the birr. Banknotes are used
for long periods of time and are usually quite dirty, so be
certain to wash your hands after touching them. Bank
machines and credit-card terminals are hard to find. That’s
why it’s a good idea to take US dollars with you in small
denominations.
Foto: Huber
Africa | TRAVEL
Then he’s back up again, running the other way. Once he
nearly falls. After six tries, the youngster is judged to have
shown his skill, and the ceremony comes to an end.
With big smiles on their faces, the Hamar bring the
bulls in and go home. It’s an extraordinary event to be
part of and, unlike many tourist experiences, it appears to
be authentic. Best of all, the locals seem happy to have a
few foreigners there to share the fun.
currency [(kVrEnsi] Währung
denomination [di)nQmI(neIS&n] hier: Stückelung
inoculation [I)nQkju(leIS&n] Schutzimpfung
jangle [(dZÄNg&l] klirren, klimpern
judged: be ˜ [(dZVdZd] beurteilt, eingestuft werden
scrub [skrVb] Gestrüpp, Busch
seize [si:z] ergreifen, packen
sheet [Si:t] Laken
Health
See your doctor about inoculations. Take malaria tablets
with you — which are especially important when visiting
the south of the country — as well as medicine to deal with
stomach problems. I did all of that, but during a whole
month spent travelling round Ethiopia, I was bitten only
once by a mosquito, and I had no stomach trouble.
For some travellers, the fact that many areas of the coun-
try lie at a great height above sea level can be a problem.
Addis Ababa, for example, is the among the highest capital
cities in the world at 2,300 metres. Anyone who experi-
ences difficulties at high altitudes should be aware of the
country’s partly mountainous geography.
For detailed information about the health considerations
of visiting Ethiopia, visit the website of the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC):
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/
ethiopia
Where to stay
A number of pleasant hotels have been built for tourists,
but there’s nothing wrong with most of the local accom-
modation. Even so, it’s not a bad idea to take a sheet or
sleeping bag, just in case.
More information
Bradt’s guide to Ethiopia is known to provide the best,
most reliable information for travellers to this wonderful
country. See www.bradtguides.com
For well-maintained background information on Ethiopia,
try the CIA World Factbook at:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
2|16 Spotlight 21
 ENVIRONMENT | Oceans

The world’s largest

ocean clean-up
Unmengen von Kunststoff verunreinigen den Pazifik. Bald sollen Testläufe starten, um mit einer
speziell dafür entwickelten Vorrichtung den pazifischen Müllhaufen abzutragen. Ein Bericht von
ARTHUR NESLEN

A
100-kilometre-long boom to clean up a huge area “We have to admit that there has been a market fail-
of plastic rubbish in the Pacific Ocean is one step ure,” she told The Guardian. “Nevertheless, we have to
closer to reality, after successful tests of a smaller create a market success that brings in new forms of chem-
prototype were carried out in the Netherlands last year. istry and technology.”
If further trials off the Dutch and Japanese coasts are
successful, the world’s largest-ever ocean clean-up ope­ array [E(reI] hier: Vorrichtung
ration will begin in 2020 using a gigantic V-shaped ar- boom [bu:m] Ausleger
ray. The so-called “Great Pacific garbage patch”, made up current [(kVrEnt] Strömung
largely of tiny pieces of plastic trapped by ocean currents, Great Pacific garbage patch Große Pazifische Müllhalde
[)greIt pE)sIfIk (gA:bIdZ pÄtS]
is estimated to be bigger than Texas, reaching anything
up to about 15 million km2. It is growing so fast that, ac-
cording to Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist of the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP), it is becoming visible
from outer space like the Great Wall of China.

22 Spotlight 2|16
 The Ocean Cleanup project aims
to achieve the technological part
with a floating barrier as long as the
extensive Kármán line. Sea currents
and winds will be used to push the
plastic passively into an elbow made
of vulcanized rubber, where it can be
concentrated for periodic collection
by ships. Subsea buoys at depths of
up to 30 metres would anchor it at
depths of as much as 4.5 kilometres.
Sea currents flowing beneath its
booms would allow fish to escape,
while cleaning up 42 per cent of the Ocean Cleanup founder and CEO Boyan Slat with ocean plastic
Pacific’s plastic soup. That, at least, is
the plan. “Everything is unknown, so everything is a potential problem,” said
Lourens Boot, the programme’s chief engineer, who has previously worked on
A design for a floating offshore oil and gas rigs. “The risk matrix is big; but one by one, we are tack-
barrier to clean up plastic ling those risks.” One of the biggest has been finance.
in the Pacific Ocean
Charles Moore, the racing-boat captain who discovered the floating area of
plastic in 1997, once said that the cost of a cleaning operation would “bankrupt
any country”. But about half of the scheme’s initial €30-million budget has now
been collected through online donations and wealthy sponsors. In the long term,
the project is meant to finance itself with a line of ocean plastic fashion wear.
“We’ve analysed the quality of the plastic, which was surprisingly good,”
said Boyan Slat, the 21-year-old founder of the project. “We did some tests,
and the material is very recyclable. Tens of companies — large corporations
— have shown an interest in buying up the plastic, and that is our holy grail:
funding the clean-up, using revenues created by the plastic we extract.”
Slat wears jeans made from ocean plastic, but he is an unlikely green hero.
A college dropout and self-described “supergeek”, he won a Guinness Book of
World Records entry when he was 13 for simultaneously launching 213 high-
ly pressurized rockets. Last year, he received the UN’s highest environmental
award from Ban Ki-moon and was voted one of the most promising entrepre-
neurs worldwide.
“It is a classic David and Goliath project that couldn’t have happened 20
years ago,” he says. “Without social media, it wouldn’t have gone viral. With-
out crowd funding, it wouldn’t have had any money; and without Skype, hun-
dreds of volunteers spread out across the globe wouldn’t have come together.”

anchor [(ÄNkE] verankern

buoy [bOI]
college dropout [)kQlIdZ (drQpaUt]
donation [dEU(neIS&n]
floating [(flEUtIN]
geek [gi:k]
holy grail [)hEUli (greI&l]
Kármán line [(kA:mEn laIn]
Fotos: The Ocean Cleanup
Boje, Tonne
Studienabbrecher(in)
Spende
schwimmend, treibend
Freak
der Heilige Gral
Kármán-Linie (gedachte Grenze in einer Höhe von
100 km über dem Meeresspiegel zur
Unterscheidung zwischen Luftfahrt und Raumfahrt)

revenue [(revEnju:] Ertrag, Einnahme

rig [rIg] Bohrinsel
risk matrix [(rIsk )meItrIks] Risikomatrix
scheme [ski:m] Projekt, Vorhaben
viral: go ˜ [(vaI&rEl] sich wie ein Virus ausbreiten

2|16 Spotlight 23
 ENVIRONMENT | Oceans

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration (NOAA) says it is encouraged by the attention be-
ing given to the Pacific’s pollution problem, but explains
that the technology is at an early stage. “There are a lot
of feasibility issues with new technology and with open
ocean clean-ups,” Asma Mahdi, a NOAA spokeswoman
told The Guardian.
Testing a barrier prototype in the waters near the Azores
Mahdi singled out the distribution of ocean debris
far below the visible garbage patch and the potential for
harming sea life caught in the project’s clean-up barrier.
“By skimming floating debris off the surface, we may
be doing more harm than good for marine surface dwell-
ers,” she said. “This includes the microscopic plankton
that form the base of the marine-food web and are re-
sponsible for nearly half of the oxygen production that
occurs on our planet.”
The project founder says that by focusing on the
ocean’s crest, they can remove a layer of rubbish that
would otherwise sink, without disturbing sea life.
“The current flows underneath the barriers, taking
away everything with neutral buoyancy — like plankton
and other fish — while the positively buoyant plastic, up
to a certain threshold, remains in front of it,” Slat said.
The first results of a research expedition to the Pacific
earlier this year show plastic concentrations there at least
10 times greater than expected, according to Slat.
“The previous studies estimated 10 kilos of plastic per
square kilometre, but we found it was in the hundreds
of kilos per square kilometre,” he
said.
The full study results will be
released this year, but the scale
of the threat to wildlife — and
to humans — is already known.
At least 100,000 sea mammals
and millions of seabirds and fish
are thought to die each year from
entanglement in the plastic or in-
gestion of microplastics. One re-
cent study estimated that around
90 per cent of the world’s seabirds
had eaten colourful plastic items
that they mistook for food.
For decades, used plastic bot-
tles, bags and stryrofoam cups
have been disintegrating at sea
under the UV rays of the sun,
releasing toxic chemicals such as
PCBs and DDT into the food
chain. A UNEP report to be
published this year estimates vol-
umes of plastic debris of around 10–100 items per square
kilometre in the English Channel, compared to four per
square metre in Indonesia and nearly a million per square
kilometre in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
“The concentrations are getting a bit scary,” McGlade
said. “From the surface to the sea floor, there is a hun-
dredfold increase [in plastics] accumulating, and it has
a smothering effect. It is hidden and has a tremendous
impact on oxygenation and a huge number of marine
ecosystems.”
This hidden cache of sea-floor trash will not be
touched by the ocean clean-up project — and neither will
microplastics smaller than five millimetres in diameter.
McGlade calls it the “biggest issue” with the project.

cache [kÄS] (geheimes) Lager marine-food web Nahrungsnetz des

crest [krest] Wellenkamm [mE)ri:n (fu:d web] Meeres
diameter [daI(ÄmItE] Durchmesser neutral buoyancy [)nju:trEl (bOIEnsi] neutrale Tarierung
dweller [(dwelE] Bewohner(in) oxygenation [)QksIdZE(neIS&n] Sauerstoffzufuhr
entanglement Verfangen, Verheddern single out [)sINg&l (aUt] herausgreifen
Fotos: The Ocean Cleanup

[In(tÄNg&lmEnt] skim [skIm] abtragen

feasibility [)fi:zE(bIlEti] Durchführbarkeits- smothering effect Stickeffekt
gyre [(dZaIE] Wirbel [)smVDErIN E(fekt]
ingestion [In(dZestSEn] Einnahme, Aufnahme styrofoam [(staI&rEfEUm] Styropor-
mammal [(mÄm&l] Säugetier threshold [(TreShEUld] Schwelle

24 Spotlight 2|16

Slat, a self-described “supergeek”, has won awards for his work
Slat says, however, that these microplastics represent
less than one per cent of the Pacific’s plastic pollution by
mass. Without rapid action at the surface of the sea, it
will grow very quickly. The floating area of garbage in the
North Pacific Subtropical Gyre circulates between eastern
Japan and the seas north of Hawaii and west of Califor-
nia. There, debris gathers in the space where warmer wa-
ters from the South Pacific meet cooler waters from the
Arctic, creating a spinning area of plastic.
It is a surreal and lonely place, says Slat, who trav-
elled there on the research expedition, a world away from
Marin (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands) in Wa-
geningen, where waves crash into one another around a
boom made especially for testing.
Every time a foghorn sounds, wave formations roll out
of a mechanical line under floodlights in a test designed to
imitate natural conditions.
“For sure, the tests have been successful,” Slat said.
“The goal was to simulate what would happen if we had a
very long barrier and we didn’t see any weird behaviour.”
“The real trick will happen once we go
deeper,” Boot added.
According to McGlade: “The problem is
that it is still a relatively small-scale test, but
it did withstand wind and wave conditions
such that we would be confident — maybe not
out in the widest open ocean, but certainly in
conditions around Europe — that it would be
effective.”
Slat argues that wave conditions in the mid
Pacific Ocean are actually less challenging than
in shallower coastal waters such as the English Channel,
where a lower wave steepness may be more likely to spill
water over the barrier.
UNEP wants to see a market mechanism that can set
industrial standards for the use of biodegradable plastics
because of the way that polythene, a thermoplastic poly­
mer found in plastic bags, rapidly disintegrates in sea­
water. While the UN group is an enthusiastic supporter of
Slat’s Pacific clean-up plans, McGlade stressed that they
should be seen only as a beginning.
“This example is one we want to encourage, but I’m
hoping that across the world, more and more innovative
ideas will come about,” she said.
For further information on the clean-up project, see
www.theoceancleanup.com
© Guardian News & Media 2015
biodegradable [)baIEUdi(greIdEb&l] biologisch abbaubar
shallow [(SÄlEU] flach, seicht
weird [wIEd] sonderbar, seltsam
Artist’s impression of what the technology will look like
 AMY ARGETSINGER | I Ask Myself
“Isn’t the point
that it could
have been us?”

How best to show

that we care about Paris? Amy Argetsinger is an
Die tödlichen Anschläge von Paris am 13. November editor for The ­Washington
Post, a leading daily
erschütterten die ganze Welt. newspaper in the US.

T
he awful news of the Novem-
ber terrorist attacks in Paris
came as a terrible shock for
many of us here in the United States.
But almost as soon as we began to
mourn the 130 victims, we were
made to feel very guilty about our
own emotions.
Where were our tears, some crit-
ics demanded, for the 43 people
killed by an Islamic State bombing
in Beirut just a day earlier or for the
148 students murdered at Kenya’s
Garissa University College by al-Qa-
eda allies last spring?
The implication, of course, was
that Americans care only about their
fellow Westerners — faces that look
like ours in countries that we have
visited. Personally, I could deny that
my reaction to Paris was dispropor-
tionate or narrow-minded. I was
traveling on the day of the Beirut at-
tacks and didn’t hear that news until
the larger death toll of Paris suddenly
took over the headlines.
As for Garissa — well, I did weep
for Garissa: So many young people
were brutally targeted. It was one
of the few moments in the past 14
years when I felt true despair about
this endless, entrenched global battle
with terrorism. Then again, I have
been to Kenya, and I am close friends
with several Kenyans. Perhaps it was
a personal connection for me after
typed “Vive la France!” and “Pray
for Paris.” They posted their vacation
photos of the Eiffel Tower and tinted
their profile images with the colors of
the French flag.
To some, declarations of this
kind seemed narcissistic, a way to
glom on to someone else’s tragedy
while presenting oneself as a sensitive
and caring global citizen. However,
A ceremony in the US on November 14
death toll [(deT toUl]
dine [daIn]
disproportionate [)dIsprE(pO:rS&nEt]
entrenched [In(trentSt]
exhortation [)egzO:r(teIS&n]
glom on to sth. [)glA:m (A:n tE] N. Am. ifml.
you can say this both of the people
­posting weepy messages about how
their long-ago honeymoon in Paris
gives them a connection to the tra­
gedy and of the people scolding them
for seeming to be not caring enough
about tragedies in the Middle East
and Africa.
A colleague of mine was on va-
cation in Paris on the night of the
attacks. She had dined the evening
­before in the neighborhood where
the terrorists later opened fire on
crowded restaurants. As she was called
up to write the big story for our news-
paper, she felt guilty about the way
her proximity to danger suddenly
gave her a measure of authority, a bit
of glamour. Even as she delivered the
news to her friends via Facebook, she
explained that she was not trying to
make it all about herself.
Still, she wrote later: “Isn’t the
point of terrorism that it could have
been us — or anyone in the wrong
place at the wrong time?” Perhaps it
is the perfect crime for the Facebook
world.
Anzahl der Opfer
essen
unverhältnismäßig
eingefahren, tief verwurzelt
Aufruf, Aufforderung
an etw. kleben
Foto: Chris Covatta/NBAE via Getty Images

grief [gri:f] Trauer

all, not a higher awareness. honeymoon [(hVnimu:n] Flitterwochen
So much public mourning now implication [)ImplI(keIS&n] Andeutung, stillschweigende Folgerung
takes place on social media. My mourn sb. [mO:rn] um jmdn. trauern
narrow-minded [)nÄroU (maIndId] engherzig, engstirnig
Facebook feed was filled with ex-
proximity [prA:k(sImEti] Nähe
hortations of grief. No one I know
scold [skoUld] beschimpfen
was acquainted with any of the Paris
tint [tInt] färben
victims, but many still claimed the
weep [wi:p] weinen
loss and declared solidarity. They

26 Spotlight 2|16
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durch!
Ihr Power-Paket für Englisch: Sprachmagazin,
Übungsheft und Audio-Trainer. Alles komplett!

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m o

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Get started now!
Spotlight ’s easy-English booklet

Einfaches Englisch
für Alltagssituationen

Green Light
 Quick Tips | LANGUAGE

10 tips for your

English week

VANESSA CLARK hat zehn Tipps

für Sie, wie Sie im Alltag stressfrei
Englisch lernen können.

Y
ou can find English just about everywhere nowa-
days — especially in pop culture. Take for instance
Adele’s latest hit “Hello”:

Hello, it’s me, I was wondering

If, after all these years, you’d like to meet to go over everything...

Have you ever listened to a song, watched a video or seen

something in English while you were out and about and
Sing like Adele?
wondered what the meaning was? We’ll show you how to Probably not, but
adapt everyday activities during a typical week, so that you can sing along
you can practise your English at the same time.
We’ve identified areas where you can read, write, speak
or listen to a little bit of English — or a lot of English.
It’s up to you. Read the tips, and choose which ones work
best for you.

adapt [E(dÄpt] anpassen, einrichten

up: be ˜ to sb. [Vp] von jmdm. abhängen

30 Spotlight 2|16
 AT HOME
Enjoying music
If you enjoy listening to music, why not use it as a way to
improve your English? Download lyrics online, and look
at the way words and phrases are used in your favourite
songs. Rock and pop songs especially use everyday words
and phrases. In the song on the opposite page, Adele uses
the multiword verb “to go over”, which means “to look at
something in a detailed way”. Did you know that?

If you’d like to make music with others, many larger towns

and cities have English-language choirs and orchestras.

Cooking dinner
Get your family and friends involved by cooking some- Useful phrases
thing new together and having a meal, with a “speak-­ • Could you lay (UK) / set (N. Am.) the table, please?
only-English” rule at the table. To make the experience • Dinner is served!
authentic, choose from one of the cooking tips below. • This is really tasty!
• You must give me the recipe.
For a true taste of America, try the recipes at www.­ • Could you pass the water, please?
foodnetwork.com. Their sections “Family Favorite Din- • Would you like some more wine / tea?
ners”, “Easy Weeknights” and “Fun Weekend Breakfasts”
offer recipes for simple, tasty meals.

Great British Chefs is an excellent, free cooking app. browse [braUz] durchstöbern, blättern
Chefs from top restaurants around the UK share their bun [bVn] Brötchen, Teilchen
recipes with you. You can choose the level of difficulty, choir [(kwaIE] Chor
the type of course and the kind of food when looking for culinary [(kVlInEri] kulinarisch
a recipe, or just browse through the images of culinary delight [di(laIt] Freude, Vergnügen
delights and let yourself be inspired. For those who are down under [)daUn (VndE] ifml. Australien und Neuseeland
fruited [(fru:tId] Frucht-
looking for something simpler, basic cooking tips are also
lyrics [(lIrIks] Songtext
available through video tutorials. This app offers its reci-
scone [skQn] Teegebäck
pes in both metric and standard measurements.
tart [tA:t] Torte, Tarte
tutorial [tju(tO:riEl] Lernprogramm
Go to www.australian.food.com to find fresh recipe ideas
from down under.

If you prefer baking, why not invite some friends round

for a traditional English teatime? The National Trust Book
of Tea-time Recipes by Jane Pettigrew offers recipes for
British breads, fruited buns, scones, muffins, tarts, flans,
biscuits and cakes.
Fotos: Getty Images; SHutterstock; Thinkstock

2|16 Spotlight 31
LANGUAGE | Quick Tips
AT HOME
In the evening
When we play board games, we talk, so it would be a
good opportunity to speak English. If you enjoy playing
Monopoly, backgammon, The Settlers of Catan, Risk,
etc. (or if you haven’t played them for years), why not
organize a games evening with friends?
Boggle is a fast-paced, competitive word game that will
help reinforce your reading and vocabulary skills. For
each game, a set of jumbled letters is used. To win, you
have to find as many words as you can from the letters
within a limited period of time. Compare your answers
with your teammates. Did you discover any new words?
Playing Scrabble is especially good for building your vo-
cabulary. Try to play with an English version of the game.
You can also play the Scrabble app — alone or with
friends.
For electronic games, it’s worth exploring the language
settings. Many games allow you to swap your language
preference to English.
Don’t forget card games like Go Fish either, most of
which don’t need much language to play. You’ll soon find
that you’re chatting while you’re playing.
Useful vocabulary
• hearts (Herz)
• clubs (Kreuz)
• diamonds (Karo)
• spades (Pik)
• jack (Bube)
• queen (Königin)
• king (König)
• ace (Ass)
Useful phrases
• Whose turn is it? (Wer ist dran?)
• Roll the dice! (würfeln)
• Go forward three.
• Miss a turn. (einmal aussetzen)
• I have a double six.
ON THE WAY TO WORK
In the car or on the bus
Why not make the time you spend commuting more en-
joyable? Here are some tips for your listening pleasure:
Here at Spotlight, we produce our own in-house audio
material. Spotlight Audio includes a variety of segments
each month. How about sweetenening your day by listen-
ing to the short-story segment? It takes just three to four
minutes. Or check out Spotlight express — an audio vo-
cabulary trainer consisting of 15-minute episodes. www.
spotlight-online.de/audio
You can also check out iTunes for free language-learning
podcasts, such as the English as a Second Language (ESL)
podcast or the 6 Minute English podcast from the BBC
World Service. If you prefer material made for native
speakers, we recommend This American Life, Radiolab
and The Moth — all free on iTunes.
The BBC has recently added a new title to the impressive
number of free podcasts it has on offer. Radio 4 in Four
is a weekly 20-minute podcast containing four short clips
from Radio 4. These bite-sized clips give you a variety of
listening opportunities — perfect for short bus or tram
journeys.
There are thousands of audiobooks available to download
or to buy on CD, including simple English ones for learn-
ers. Try classic and modern literature, science fiction, fan-
tasy, health or business for motivation. We recommend
Death Wish — an easy English crime thriller.
board game [(bO:d geIm] Brettspiel, Gesellschaftsspiel
commute [kE(mju:t] pendeln
competitive [kEm(petEtIv] konkurrenzbetont
fast-paced [(fA:st peIst] flott, temporeich
Go Fish [gEU (fIS] eine Art Quartett
jumbled [(dZVmb&ld] durcheinander geworfen,
ungeordnet
Fotos: Shutterstock
reinforce [)ri:In(fO:s] verstärken
swap [swQp] wechseln
teammate [(ti:mmeIt] Teamkamerad
AT WORK
Meeting in English
How about freshening up your business English? Try
holding your next informal meeting at work in English.
How did it go?
Have a look at the Spotlight pocket booket I love office
English. You’ll find tips on describing your job, talking
about work, e-mailing, telephoning and more. (link)
Subscribe to an e-mail service in English that sends you
a word, a quotation or a joke every day. Share what you
learn with your colleagues.
Write down your appointments and the notes you make
for yourself in English. Practise doing this both in hand-
written and electronic form, so that writing and typing in
English become natural to you.
Lastly, change your computer settings to English, so that
you constantly expose yourself to this language during the
working day.
OUT AND ABOUT
At the cinema
Watching a whole film in the original English version can
be a challenge the first time you do it. Choose a “light”
film — a romantic comedy or an action movie, where
you can probably understand the story even without the
words. It’s better not to choose thrillers or detective stories
with complex plots.
Before you go, watch a trailer (preview) online, so you
have a good idea of the basic story and the main char-
acters. Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com) and
IMDb (www.imdb.com) are good websites to visit for this.
Don’t worry if there are parts you don’t understand. Just
relax and focus on what you can understand. Subtitles can
be very helpful, but many learners find that they “hold
on” to them, just as a swimmer holds on to the side of a
pool. If you can “let go” of the subtitles (in other words,
try not to look at them, or choose a film without subti-
tles), it will be a bit more difficult at first, but you will
probably find that you can soon understand the dialogue
better and “swim” without help. If you’re still unsure, you
could even watch the film in German first and then see
it in English.
English-language TV is also an excellent option. Series
such as Homeland are available in German and English.
Expand your vocabulary and cultural insights by watch-
ing BBC TV, for example, using apps such as FilmOn.
expose: ˜ oneself to sth. [Ik(spEUz] sich etw. aussetzen
freshen up [)freS&n (Vp] auffrischen
plot [plQt] Handlung
quotation [kwEU(teIS&n] Zitat
rotten [(rQt&n] verfault
subscribe [sEb(skraIb] abonnieren
subtitle [(sVb)taIt&l] Untertitel
2|16 Spotlight 33
 LANGUAGE | Quick Tips

OUT AND ABOUT

Useful phrases
Going for a walk • What’s the score? (Wie steht das Spiel?)
Going for a walk and talking with a friend is a great way • Goal!
of de-stressing and a fine opportunity to engage with the • Good shot!
English language. Pick easy topics to talk about in Eng- • Unlucky!
lish, such as the weather or your surroundings. • To me!
• It’s your service.
If you’re alone, you can look at what you see around you.
Is there something for which you don’t know the English
word? Use your phone to take a photo of it, and look it up For something more relaxing, try your local Volkshoch-
at home. Go through the photos now and again to check schule. Some VHS offer yoga and relaxation classes in
your progress. English. There are lots of yoga and meditation videos as
well as podcasts online.
Like to go walking with a group of people? Then check
your local area for English-language walking groups. Are you an “armchair sportsperson”? Then search the
ca­­ble channels on TV for an English-language sports
programme and try watching a match with an English-­
Doing sport language commentary. You could even try watching a new
If you’re an active person, search for English-speaking sport from the English-speaking world, such as netball,
sport clubs in your area. If you can’t find one, why not rugby, American football or baseball.
start one yourself? Or simply ask your regular sports part-
ners if they would like to have a game in English one armchair [(A:mtSeE] Sessel-
evening. Before you play, make a list in your own lan- commentary [(kQmEntEri] Reportage, Bericht
guage of the most common phrases you use when play- engage with sth. [In(geIdZ wID] sich auf etw. einstellen; hier:
sich mit etw. beschäftigen
ing and use a translation app to find the English versions.
match fit [(mÄtS fIt] spielfit
Then your English will be “match fit”.
netball [(netbO:l] Netzball, Korbball
surroundings [sE(raUndINz] Umgebung

34 Spotlight X|16
 Sh
opp
(fo in g li
rm
y lo st
-t vely
ea hus
bag ban
-m s d) Hobbies
ilk
- fl (2
ow p ints Do you have a special hobby or interest — classic cars or
-n ers ) card-making, camper vans or crochet? Then read about it
oc for
risp me! in English.
sf
or Digital magazine subscriptions make it so easy for
you international readers to get their hands on a good vari-
ety of hobby publications. Go to www.magazine.co.uk
and look for the “digital subscriptions” section, or sim-
ply engage with people who share your hobbies online
for free. Perhaps you could use your own skills and ex-
perience to answer some questions on an online forum.

Going shopping
Next time you go to the supermarket, make your shop- Useful phrases
ping list in English. Don’t forget to include the words for • I had the same problem.
different packaging, such as “box”, “packet” and “jar”. • In my experience,...
• Have you tried...?
Alternatively, go on a pretend shopping spree to brush up • I hope that helps.
your vocabulary. It won’t cost you anything, and yet you’ll
come away with bags full of new words and phrases.

UK
Now it’s your turn
Check it out Choose one or more of these activities and make them
•O
 ffering thoughtful ideas in homeware, gifts and part of your weekly routine. You can write them down ei-
accessories, the National Trust is a quaint, typically ther in your diary, on your phone or on this page planner.
British shop. http://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk
•C
 hoose from thousands of products for your home
and garden at Homebase. www.homebase.co.uk
 aunt Books is a traditional bookshop with
•D
a unique concept. Books are arranged geo-
graphically, regardless of the nature of the work.
www.dauntbooks.co.uk

US •F
 ind toys made in the US out of 100 per cent
recycled plastic at Green Toys. www.greentoys.com
 owell’s Books has a wide selection of new,
•P
used and out-of-print books in many categories.
www.powells.com

card-making [(kA:d )meIkIN] (Gruß-)Kartenbasteln

crochet [(krEUSeI] Häkeln
engage with sb. [In(geIdZ wID] sich auf jmdn. einlassen,
hier: in Kontakt treten
jar [dZA:] Glas, Becher
pretend [pri(tend] ifml. vorgetäuscht
quaint [kweInt]
Fotos: Thinkstock; Shutterstock

regardless [ri(gA:dlEs]
shopping spree [(SQpIN spri:]
subscription [sEb(skrIpS&n]
unique [ju(ni:k]
yet [jet]
reizend, entzückend
ungeachtet, unabhängig
Einkaufsbummel,
Shoppingtour Now that you have planned a week full of activities, you
Abo simply need to do them. And here’s one last task for you:
einzigartig, einmalig e-mail us at language@spotlight-verlag.de and let us know
dennoch, trotzdem
how it goes.

2|16 Spotlight 35
 HISTORY | 100 Years Ago

36 Spotlight 2|16
 Europe

The Battle
of Verdun
Der Angriff der deutschen Wehrmacht auf
Verdun im Februar 1916 wurde zu einer der
längsten Schlachten in der Geschichte.
German General Erich von Falkenhayn believed an
attack on Verdun on 21 February 1916 would change
the course of the First World War. France saw the for-
tified town in its north-east as almost invincible, and
losing it would damage morale. Falkenhayn was cer-
tain that the French would defend it to the last man,
weakening their army in the process.
German progress, though, was slow, and when the
Allies attacked German troops at the Somme River
on 1 July, men had to be diverted there. The fighting
at Verdun ended in December, and the defeated Ger-
mans lost almost as many soldiers as the French. With
around 300,000 deaths, the Battle of Verdun was one
of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

divert [daI(v§:t] umleiten, umlenken ( p. 61)

fortified [(fO:tIfaId] befestigt
invincible [In(vInsEb&l] unbesiegbar
morale [mE(rA:l] Stimmung, Kampfgeist

Foto: Keystone/Gamma/Getty Images

Text by Toby Skingsley

2|16 Spotlight 37
 PETER FLYNN | Around Oz
The year in
long weekends
Unser Kolumnist möchte sich 2016 seine Urlaubstage so legen,
dass er vor und nach den Feiertagen so Freizeit hat wie möglich.
Start planning: your free time is important
T
o celebrate this being a leap
year, I have decided that Mon-
day, 29 February, will be a hol-
iday for me. That’s because I like long
weekends and because there are no
official public holidays this month.
The year started well, with New
Year’s Day falling on a Friday to
give me a three-day weekend. Then
there was Australia Day on Tuesday,
26 January, which, of course, meant
that I took the Monday off work to
create a long, long break.
Yep, I am going to dedicate the
2016 leap year to having lots of long
weekends. At the same time, I salute
the ancient Romans who worked out
that we needed to add a day to the
calendar every four years to stop our
seasons moving backwards.
Julius Caesar knew in 46 BC that
if we didn’t add that day, we would
lose almost six hours every year. Af-
ter 100 years, our calendar would be
off by approximately 24 days in re-
lation to the seasons. Within about
38 Spotlight 2|16
“My focus is
on identifying
some extra
free days”
Peter Flynn is a
public-relations
consultant and
social commen-
tator who lives
in Perth, Western
Australia.
700 years, we month make a long, long weekend
would have pushed as always. In April this year, Anzac
Christmas from Day, which honours those killed in
December to June wars, falls on a Monday. That will
and reversed the probably be my last long weekend
seasons. Smarter fishing trip before winter arrives.
still were a group May has the first Friday the 13th
of Spanish scholars of the year, which the Americans
in the 1200s who call “National Blame Someone Else
worked out that a Day”, while June gives us Western
solar year is slight- Australia Day on the first Monday of
ly shorter than 365 the month. There are no public holi-
days and six hours days in July, but it is my birthday on
— so that adding a 1 July, so I won’t be at work then.
calendar day every We’ve got the long Queen’s Birth-
four years would day holiday on Monday, 26 Septem-
add three days ber. There’s nothing official in Octo-
every 400 years. ber, but I’ll take Monday the 17th
That’s why our off work because it’s National Boss’s
modern Gregorian calendar, named Day. It falls on Sunday this year,
after Pope Gregory XIII, compen- but has been moved to the nearest
sates for this by making an exception working day. I’ll be taking the day
to the general rule with a leap year off work for the Melbourne Cup, too
every four years. The exception is — the first Tuesday in November —
that a year divisible by 100 will not and the day before to make another
be a leap year unless it is also exactly long, long weekend.
divisible by 400, meaning that 2000 Then it’s back to December and
was a leap year, but 2100 will not be. the Christmas holidays. In 2016,
I am more focused on the short- Christmas falls on a Sunday, but that
term, though, and identifying extra just means we push the public holi-
days for my long weekends. March day to Monday, and Boxing Day to
is looking pretty good. There’s a La- Tuesday. That’s another long, long
bour Day public holiday on Mon- weekend. Having sorted out the
day, 7 March, while Good Friday weekends, I might start planning
and Easter Monday at the end of the some annual holidays.
be off [bi QQf] hier: abweichen
Boxing Day [(bQksIN deI] Aus., UK 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag
dedicate [(dedIkeIt] widmen
Good Friday [)gUd (fraIdeI] Karfreitag
leap year [(li:p jIE] Schaltjahr ( p. 61)
salute [sE(lu:t] grüßen
scholar [(skQlE] Gelehrte(r)
Foto: iStock
work out [w§:k (aUt] berechnen
yep [jep] jepp, ja
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den Meister!
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Die Extra-Dosis Sprachtraining – flexibel & e≤zient!

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www.spotlight-online.de/plus-gratis
 FOOD | Britain

The truth about

tradition

Was versteht man eigentlich unter traditioneller britischer Küche? Haben Pies, Puddings
und Roasts ihren Platz an Fertig- und Abhol-Gerichte abgetreten? JULIAN EARWAKER berichtet,
was man heute in Großbritannien isst.

W
e British love our traditional dishes: fish and able in 17th-century Britain, and the first London curry
chips, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, ba- shop opened in 1809 — long before fish and chip shops
con butties, bangers and mash, Cornish pasties became popular. The British Empire was certainly a cat-
and full English breakfasts turn up regularly in surveys alyst in changing tastes, as was mass immigration at the
as favourite British foods. So, in theory, we are patriotic end of the Second World War.
and traditional about what we eat. The reality, though, is
quite different. Pasta and rice are more often found on banger [(bÄNE] UK ifml. Würstchen
our plates than potatoes. Stir-fry meals and curries are eat- butty [(bVti] UK ifml. Sandwich
en far more frequently than toad-in-the-hole or steak and Cornish pasty Pastete aus Cornwall
[)kO:nIS (pÄsti] UK
kidney pie. Spaghetti bolognese is Britain’s best-known
mash [mÄS] UK ifml. Kartoffelpüree
recipe. Italian is the most popular form of ready meal, and pastry [(peIstri] Teig, Pastete
Chinese is Britain’s favourite takeaway food. steak and kidney pie Rindfleisch-Nieren-Pastete
Traditionally, British cooking is based on cheese, [)steIk End )kIdni (paI] UK
bread, pastry and pies, stewed meat and boiled vegeta- stewed [stju:d] gedünstet, geschmort
Fotos: Alamy; laif

bles, but as a global trading nation, Britain has always stir-fry meal [)st§: fraI (mi:&l] Pfannengericht
imported flavours and food fashions. We like to think of toad-in-the-hole Bratwürstchen in Eierteig
[)tEUd In DE (hEUl] UK
Indian cuisine as a modern favourite, but curry was avail-

40 Spotlight 2|16
 Today, the British say their favourite dishes
are such things as cottage pie and steak,
spotted dick and apple crumble, but not
many people actually take the time to cook
them. Takeaways, ready meals and eating out
are the new tradition. UK consumers spend
twice as much as either the French or Ger- Which tradition
mans on ready meals. The favourite piece of is it going to be
British kitchen equipment is the microwave, — British
or Italian?
so it’s not surprising that tastes have changed.
Like its weather, Britain’s cuisine has not
always enjoyed the best reputation, especially when com-
pared to what was being served across the Channel in
France. In Virginia Woolf ’s 1927 novel To the Lighthouse,
the characters enjoy a French dish, while criticizing Eng-
lish cuisine: “What passes for cookery in England is an
abomination... It is putting cabbages in water. It is roast-
ing meat till it is like leather. It is cutting off the delicious
skins of vegetables.”
French influence on British cooking was strong in
the 17th century, when the monarchy was restored un-
der Charles II, and this continued into Victorian times.
James Woodforde (1740–1803), an English pastor, wrote
a diary for more than 40 years that included long lists of
gourmet meals: fish, soups, boiled beef, stewed mutton, the BBC radio programme The World at One, he said that
scallops, oysters, nuts and fruit. British chefs are now “connecting with their culture, their
Somewhere along the way to modern kitchens and history, their land, their farmers, their local suppliers”.
microwaves, the British lost their appetite for fine food. British food is finding its soul again. Restaurants are
Consumers fell in love with fast food, and restaurants lost busy. Pubs, once places that served mostly beer and only
touch with the home kitchen. snacks, have become drivers of good food. Traditional
“British cookery comes from a tradition of domestic dishes are served in pub carveries or have been reinvented
cooking,” says Jane Garmey, author of Great British Cook- by “gastropubs” using new spices and flavours. Venison,
ing: A Well-kept Secret. “At its best it is simple, plain and game and wild food — once at the heart of traditional
wholesome... Traditional recipes are usually neither sub- British cooking — are back on the menu.
tle nor elaborate.” Garmey believes that criticism of their National eating habits are often full of traditions
cuisine has made the British “defensive and self-conscious and habits that are hard to explain. Despite being more
on the subject”. health-conscious, Britons have cut back on vegetables and
It’s hard not to be sensitive, when the former French fruit since the 1970s. Meals are high in sugar and salt.
president Jacques Chirac was heard to say before the 2005 And while millions of British viewers enjoy the extrava-
G8 summit, “You cannot trust people who have such bad gance and inventiveness of TV programmes such as Bake
cuisine.” However, fellow countryman and TV chef Ray- Off, Master Chef and Ready, Steady, Cook, the number-
mond Blanc believes that British cuisine has recently en- one office lunch in the UK remains the traditional plain
joyed an “extraordinary outburst of creativity”. Talking on cheese sandwich.

abomination [E)bQmI(neIS&n] Abscheulichkeit plain [pleIn] gutbürgerlich

apple crumble [(Äp&l )krVmb&l] Apfelstreuselkuchen ready meal [)redi (mi:&l] UK Fertiggericht
cabbage [(kÄbIdZ] Kohl scallop [(skQlEp] Jakobsmuschel
carvery [(kA:vEri] UK Fleischbuffet self-conscious befangen, unsicher
cottage pie [)kQtIdZ (paI] UK mit Kartoffelbrei überbackenes [)self (kQnSEs]
Rindhackfleisch spotted dick Pudding mit Trockenfrüchten
elaborate [i(lÄbErEt] aufwändig [)spQtId (dIk] UK
game [geIm] Wild(fleisch) subtle [(sVt&l] fein, raffiniert
mutton [(mVt&n] Hammel(fleisch) supplier [sE(plaIE] Lieferant
outburst [(aUtb§:st] Ausbruch venison [(venIsEn] Reh, Hirsch
oyster [(OIstE] Auster wholesome [(hEUlsEm] gesund, bekömmlich

2|16 Spotlight 41
 PRESS GALLERY | Comment

Defeating Isis

French warplanes at an unnamed location in the Persian Gulf

Die Interventionen des Westens weisen in der letzten Zeit keine gute Erfolgsbilanz auf.
Die Welt muss sich vereint gegen eine Macht wenden, die alle anderen als Feind behandelt.

I
n April, carnage came to a university campus in Kenya.
In July, bombs poured blood on to the streets of Jos
in Nigeria. In November, there had already been mass
murder in Beirut, even before it arrived in Paris. The dis-
parate diners, drinkers and dancers of the 10th and 11th
arrondissements were deemed to be targets simply be-
cause they were all pursuing happiness in their own way.
Violent jihadism can threaten any society on earth that
stands against its vision of a humourless, lifeless homoge-
neity, where unbending obedience is continually enforced
by the sword.
The whole world has an interest in seeing off this ide-
ology, which creates a particular shared interest, too, in
seeing Islamic State collapse. By holding substantial terri-
tory in Iraq and Syria, Isis not only inspires ideologues...
It also provides a training ground where wide-eyed young-
sters can go to become battle-hardened soldiers; it is a real
place ... where logistics and bomb-making can be learned
as practical skills. The “destruction” of Isis, of which Pres-
ident Hollande spoke..., is thus a legitimate and urgent
objective. The doubt concerns whether Paris — or for
that matter Washington or London — has the means to
accomplish this aim without creating anew the conditions
in which Isis was incubated. Given the catalogue of failed
western interventions during this young century — from
Afghanistan to Iraq and on to Libya — it is hard to have
any confidence here. ...
Yet there are strategic and moral costs to inaction too.
Every possible means to tighten the existing oil and trade
embargoes on Isis must be deployed. Bankrupting this
... force ... is a necessary start. In the aftermath of Par-
is, there is rare unanimity that Isis stands in a class apart
from other adversaries. This might create an opening for
UN-sanctioned action. The difficulties are legion... But a
UN-backed process ... would be more likely to defeat Isis
without recreating the familiar problems of recent west-
ern intervention.
In Isis, the world faces a common enemy. It will not be
beaten without common resolve.
© Guardian News & Media 2015

accomplish [E(kVmplIS] erreichen, schaffen for that matter was das betrifft
[)fO: DÄt (mÄtE]
adversary [(ÄdvEsEri] Gegner(in), Widersacher(in)
ideologue [(aIdIElQg] Ideologe, Ideologin
battle-hardened kampferfahren
[(bÄt&l )hA:d&nd] legion [(li:dZEn] zahlreich
carnage [(kA:nIdZ] Blutvergießen, Gemetzel, Massaker pursue [pE(sju:] verfolgen, streben nach
common resolve gemeinsame see sth. off [)si: (Qf] etw. verabschieden
[)kQmEn ri(zQlv] Entschlossenheit substantial bedeutend, beträchtlich
deemed: be ˜ to be sth. als etw. erachtet werden, als etw. [sEb(stÄnS&l]
[di:md] gelten sword [sO:d] Schwert, Säbel
deploy [di(plOI] anwenden, einsetzen thus [DVs] demzufolge, folglich
Foto: Getty Images

diner [(daInE] Restaurantgast ( p. 61) unanimity [)ju:nE(nImEti] Einvernehmen

disparate [(dIspErEt] verschieden unbending obedience unbedingter Gehorsam
enforce sth. [In(fO:s] etw. durchsetzen, [Vn)bendIN E(bi:diEns]
etw. erzwingen wide-eyed [)waId (aId] naiv

42 Spotlight 2|16
 Listen to more news items on Replay

Info to go

aftermath
In the opinion piece on the facing page, the writers de-
scribe the situation in “the aftermath of Paris”. Could
they not just have written “after Paris”? Yes, but the
word “aftermath” has a very useful nuance: it means the
after-effects of something that has happened, espe-
cially when the event was unpleasant. One might guess
that the word “math” here means the calculations one
makes when thinking about what will come afterwards,
but that is not the case. “Math”, in this example, comes
from the word “mowing”, which is related etymological-
ly to its translation in German, Mahd. As a farming term,
“aftermath” means the new grass that grows after the
harvest. In other words, the consequences of an event
— its aftermath — are the issues that arise after it has
happened.
“The bonfire of the
vans of cheese”
IN THE HEADLINES The Economist
To a native speaker of English, this headline in The Economist
magazine is an obvious reference to The Bonfire of the Vani-
ties, a novel by Tom Wolfe about wealth and greed in 1980s
New York. The headline’s play on words relates perfectly to
the topic of the article that follows it: Moscow, The Econo-
mist reports, has given the OK to destroy all food coming
in from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia.
As a result, huge amounts of food are being destroyed. It is
a move that Tom Wolfe would have seen as just as childish
and two-dimensional as some of the characters in his novel.

mowing [(mEUIN] Mähen

The Bonfire of the Vanities Fegefeuer der Eitelkeiten

[DE )bQnfaIE Ev DE (vÄnEtiz]

Klasse
Unterricht!
Vielfalt für Ihr Klassenzimmer!
Exklusiv für Lehrer: Begleitmaterial, Kopiervorlagen und
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 ARTS | What’s New
Film previews | History

Carey Mulligan supported

by Helena Bonham Carter
and Meryl Streep in
Suffragette

Finding a voice
A
little over 100 years ago, women across the West-
ern world had no vote. Suffragette, a film directed
by Sarah Gavron, is the fictional story of one wom-
an’s fight to help secure the vote for women in Britain.
The year is 1912, and Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan)
works at a laundry in London. The hours are long, and
the boss (Geoff Bell) is nasty. One day, Watts’s friend
­Violet (Anne-Marie Duff) is asked to present the case for
women’s suffrage to minister David Lloyd George. Before
the meeting, though, Violet is beaten so badly that she
cannot even speak. So Maud is sent in her place. Up to
this point, Maud has not been politically active. However,
the meeting with the minister and her contact with active
suffragettes is a clarion call. Slowly, Maud finds her own
voice. It is strong and clear, but she soon realizes that the
price she must pay for joining the fight is high.
Film previews | Drama
The film Spotlight illuminates a topic
that was kept in the dark for far too long.
In the early 2000s, a team of journalists
called “Spotlight” at The Boston Globe
wrote about the abuse of children by
Roman Catholic priests. At first, the re-
porters thought they were writing a lo-
cal story, but then, victims from all over
the US began to contact the newspaper.
The Spotlight team uncovered abuse by priests across the coun-
try and a systematic cover-up of the situation by Catholic lead-
ers. The film, starring Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael
Keaton and Stanley Tucci, shows that when a few people join up
the dots, we can all see the bigger picture. Starts 25 February.
Carey Mulligan gives one of her strongest perform­
ances yet, supported by Duff and Helena Bonham Carter
as a feisty pharmacist. In addition, Meryl Streep makes a
short appearance as Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of
the suffragette movement. Women — and men — every-
where should see this film. Starts 4 February.
clarion call [(klÄriEn kO:l] Weckruf
feisty [(faIsti] ifml. lebhaft, temperamentvoll
laundry [(lO:ndri] Wäscherei
secure [sI(kjUE] erwirken, sichern
suffrage [(sVfrIdZ] Wahlrecht, Stimmrecht
yet [jet] bislang
DVDs | Adventure
On 7 August 1974, the people of Manhat-
tan saw an amazing free performance.
After six years of planning, Philippe
Petit, a French tightrope walker, set up
a wire cable between the roofs of the
Twin Towers. As people below watched
open-mouthed, Petit walked between
the towers on the 2.5 cm cable at a height of 417 metres. At one
point, he sat down and then even lay down. The performance
lasted 45 minutes. The Walk is a fictionalized version of the
story and is directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future,
Forrest Gump, Cast Away). The part of Petit is well acted by
­Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but the film really comes to life during the
visually stunning recreation of the stunt (made possible by com-
puter-generated imagery). Available from 22 February.
recreation [)ri:kri(eIS&n] hier: Inszenierung
stunning [(stVnIN] atemberaubend, umwerfend
Fotos: Thinkstock; PR

abuse [E(bju:z] Missbrauch tightrope walker Seiltänzer(in)

cover-up [(kVvEr Vp] Verschleierung, Vertuschung [(taItrEUp )wO:kE]
dots: join up the ˜ [dQts] einen Zusammenhang herstellen wire cable [(waIE )keIb&l] Drahtseil

44 Spotlight 2|16
Websites | Learning Podcasts | News

Following the news on the radio or TV in English can be difficult.

Curious.com is a learning website that offers thousands of
videos on topics ranging from crowd funding to dressmaking.
There is a seven-day free trial period when users can explore
the site and watch any videos of their choice. You can log on via
your e-mail or Facebook account. Then open one of eight areas
of knowledge such as mind + body, aesthetic or work and select
a topic that interests you. Under aesthetic, for example, you’ll
find videos on how to draw cartoon characters; and under work,
there are films on business writing. When the seven days are
over, you can subscribe on a monthly basis or for a whole year. If
you want to practise your English by reading curious facts, you
can go to the free Daily Curio blog at https://curious.com/curios
Even if there are pictures to help you understand, presenters
usually speak very quickly and often use specific words and
phrases related to the topics they are talking about (see Spot-
light 10/15, pp. 30–35, to learn useful
“newspeak” expressions). The free Voice
of America news podcast presents a
daily show in slow, simple US English that
covers recent news stories. The broad-
casting institution VOA was set up by the
American government in 1942 and offers
a lot of material — in addition to its pod-
cast — on the VOA website. The site has
news stories written at three different levels of English as well as
a special audio and video section with topics of general interest,
such as the history of the United States. You can find out more at
http://learningenglish.voanews.com

crowd funding [(kraUd )fVndIN] Schwarmfinanzierung broadcasting [(brO:dkA:stIN] Rundfunk-

dressmaking [(dres)meIkIN] Schneiderei cover sth. [(kVvE] über etw. berichten
ranging [(reIndZIN] reichend, sich erstreckend presenter [pri(zentE] Moderator(in)
subscribe [sEb(skraIb] abonnieren
trial period [(traIEl )pIEriEd] Probezeit

Culture close by | Language

There are eight German-American cultural institutes

across Germany — from Hamburg to Freiburg. While
each institute runs its own programme, the types of
event are often similar. For example, the institute in
Nuremberg has regular meetings for school pupils and
university students who want to practise their English
skills. The institutes in Nuremberg and Heidelberg also
present readings from children’s books every few weeks
for young people aged three and upwards. Many insti-
tutes host readings of popular English or German litera-
ture related to the US. Almost every German-American
cultural centre has a well-stocked library and organizes
events to promote language courses and present infor-
mation on studying in the United States. Find out more
at http://germany.usembassy.gov/germany/gaci.html

host [hEUst] veranstalten, ausrichten

run [rVn] hier: betreiben, durchführen
well-stocked [)wel (stQkt] gut bestückt

2|16 Spotlight 45
 ARTS | Short Story and Books
Olivia’s piano
Als ein junger Mann in eine neue Wohngegend zieht, entdeckt er eine Welt voller Musik.
Von JOHN BELL SMITHBACK
O
livia lived with her mother on one side of us, and
on the other side was a big house that seemed to
have a piano in every room. We’d moved in only
recently, and I was feeling completely uprooted. Then the
music began, and that’s how I met Olivia. She tapped on
the screen door and asked if she could sit on our back
steps to be closer to the music. Then she said, “You know
who that is playing, don’t you?” I didn’t know.
She told me his name, and I was so surprised I almost
knocked over my glass of lemonade.
“Really? He’s on television!” I exclaimed. “Everyone in
the world knows him.”
She nodded. “It’s his
mother’s house. He comes to
play for her.”
Almost every afternoon,
Olivia would sit with me on
the back steps to listen to
that famous man. He often
performed on different pi-
anos, the classics on a loud
one in the front room, and
jazz and modern pieces on a
piano at the back of the house. When he felt in the mood
to play light music, he went upstairs.
“Pianos are like violins. Each one makes its own mu-
sic,” Olivia informed me. “The loud one in the front
room is probably a Steinway. He plays Beethoven and
Bach on that. The one for Schubert and Chopin is prob-
ably a Baldwin. And that one now, the one he’s playing
upstairs, I think maybe that’s a Yamaha. He plays music
from the movies on that one.”
“Do you suppose there’s a candelabra on all of them?”
I asked.
She smiled and closed her eyes. Ever so softly she be-
gan singing along to “Moon River.”
“Do you play the piano?” I asked.
“In a way. But on mine, all you hear is ‘plink, plink,
plink.’ I play at it, not on it — mostly to make my mother
happy. She’s got Huntington’s.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and with no more music coming
from the house, Olivia stood up and went home.
When summer came to an end, so did our concerts.
The famous pianist returned to Hollywood, and I went
away to college. I was so busy studying that I didn’t have
any time to reflect on those musical afternoons until, just
after Christmas, a letter came from Olivia telling me that
46 Spotlight 2|16
her mother had died. “She’s at peace now,” she said, “and
when spring comes, I’ll give her a concert.”
I sent a card of condolence, returned to my books, and
waited for the ice to melt and the days to get warm again.
Then it was spring, and I’d hardly been back in the house
for an hour, my suitcase sitting on my bed unpacked,
when I heard the familiar knock on the back door.
“I know you’ve got a million things to do,” she said,
“but will you come with me to a concert tonight?”
“Sure. When?”
“Sometime after ten.”
It wasn’t all that warm when I walked next door to
meet her. She came down her front walk carrying a long
suitcase and smiled.
“Where are we going?”
“Just follow me,” she said, and she handed me the suit-
case to carry. It wasn’t exactly light.
Olivia talked a little about her mother, and how she
had encouraged her to play the piano since she was five.
When the famous piano player wasn’t in the neighbor-
hood to serenade them, Olivia amused her mother by
playing herself.
“Our piano was out of tune, but so was I. Moth-
er didn’t care. I don’t think she noticed.” She stopped.
“We’re here,” she said.
We were standing at the front gate of the municipal
cemetery, a place surrounded by a tall, wrought-iron
fence. It was as dark as pitch, and the gate was locked.
“Hand this to me when I get to the top,” she said,
pointing to the suitcase, and like a monkey, she began to
climb up the gate.
I held the case up to her and climbed up to join her.
We repeated the exercise going down the other side.
“You’ve been here before?” I asked, but she didn’t an-
swer me.
We walked down one path after another, and then up
a grassy knoll and stopped. “Here,” she said. “Take a seat.”
candelabra [)kÄndE(lA:brE] Kandelaber, Armleuchter
exclaim [Ik(skleIm] ausrufen
municipal cemetery städtischer Friedhof
[mju)nIsIp&l (semEteri]
out of tune [)aUt Ev (tu:n] verstimmt
pitch [pItS] Pech
Fotos: Thinkstock; PR
suppose [sE(poUz] vermuten, annehmen
uprooted [Vp(ru:tEd] entwurzelt
wrought-iron fence schmiedeeiserner Zaun
[)rO:t aI&rn (fens]
 Short Story

I sat on a granite gravestone and watched as she opened She seemed to accept my answer. “I do,” she said and
a couple of latches on the suitcase. She held it out and be- folded the organ back into its case again. We sat in silence,
gan to shake it. Bending down, she made adjustments of watching the lighted windows go dark one by one. Look-
some kind, then stood back. “I found it at a pawnshop, a ing down, the name on the gravestone could be clear-
portable organ,” she exclaimed. She leaned over the key- ly seen. Out of curiosity, I asked Olivia what her family
board, her feet pumping a mile a minute on the bellows, name was.
her fingers pulling out stops. In the cold darkness, the “I’m Olivia d’Orcaby,” she answered, and d’Orcaby
cemetery was filled with the sounds of Bach. The music was the name engraved on the stone I’d been sitting on.
bounced off the gravestones. Then she changed the tempo She leaned close, a smile on her face. “Thank you,”
and began to play music from Jesus Christ Superstar. she said. “I think you and I have made my mother really
The cemetery was in the middle of town. There were happy tonight, don’t you?”
houses on the other side of the fence, and as I listened to
Olivia, lights went on in the windows around us. Undis- adjustment [E(dZVstmEnt] Anpassung, Einstellung
turbed, she went right on playing. a mile a minute [E )maI&l E (mInEt] wie wild
“We’re waking people up,” I said. bellows [(beloUz] Blasebalg
“I know,” she laughed. “They probably think the bounce off [baUns (O:f] abprallen, reflektieren
ghosts are having a party.” curiosity [)kjUri(A:sEti] Neugier
At that moment, a spotlight began to flash around from engraved [In(greIvd] eingraviert
outside the gate. “I think it’s the police,” I said. grassy knoll [)grÄsi (noUl] Grashügel
gravestone [(greIvstoUn] Grabstein
The light came closer, and Olivia stopped playing.
latch [lÄtS] Schnappverschluss
“Do you believe in ghosts?” she asked.
pawnshop [(pO:nSA:p] Pfandhaus, Leihhaus
“My aunt does,” I answered.
portable organ [)pO:rtEb&l (O:rgEn] tragbare Orgel
pull out stops [)pUl aUt (stA:ps] Register ziehen
spotlight [(spA:tlaIt] Suchscheinwerfer
Books | Short stories

In his debut collection of short sto-

ries, We Don’t Know What Audiobooks | Poetry
We’re Doing, Thomas Morris
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died, but for him that’s no reason to stay at home alone and some, like those of Dorothy Parker, are crisp and clear. The book-
think about the past. Morris’s characters have no grand vision, let that comes with this CD box set includes background material
and they can’t usually see much beyond the moment and their on the collection as well as a short biography of every poet. All
own horizons. What meaning do their lives have? These stories these texts are in German. If you’d like to hear the voice of Ger-
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beyond sth. [bi(jQnd] über etw. hinaus
debut [(deIbju:] Erstlings- crackly [(krÄk&li] knisterig
fictional character [)fIkS&nEl (kÄrEktE] Romanfigur crisp [krIsp] klar, deutlich
seduce [sI(dju:s] verführen recite [ri(saIt] vortragen

2|16 Spotlight 47
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 LANGUAGE | Vocabulary

At the petrol station

Do you sometimes travel by car in English-speaking countries?
ANNA HOCHSIEDER introduces words and phrases you might need at a petrol station.

12

2
11
10
3
9 4

7
5
6

1. 
petrol station (UK), Fill her up, please!
gas station (N. Am.), filling station Most petrol stations are self-service. Please remember when filling up:
2. 
vacuum cleaner • Check the fuel gauge regularly. Don’t wait until the fuel warning
3. 
attendant light comes on.
4. 
windscreen (UK), windshield (N. Am.) • As you pull in to a filling station, choose a bay where the pumps are
bucket [(bVkIt]
5.  on the same side as your fuel tank.
squeegee [(skwi:dZi:]
6.  • Pull up to the pump and turn off the ignition.
tyre inflator [(taIE In)fleItE],
7. 
• Select the fuel type: “regular”, “premium” or “super unleaded”.
• Open the fuel tank flap and unscrew the filler cap.
air compressor (N. Am.)
• Insert the pump nozzle into the filler neck and press the handle. You
8. 
pump hose
may need to check the operating instructions on the petrol pump.
9. 
petrol pump (UK), gas pump (N. Am.) • The pump will usually click to signal that the fuel flow has stopped.
10. pump nozzle [(nQz&l] • Try not to breathe in the fumes.
Illustrationen: Bernhard Förth

11. volume display • Return the nozzle to its holster. Replace the filler cap.
12. cash display • Check the pump number and pay the cost.

www.spotlight-online.de/teachers/picture-it
Unter finden Sie Übersetzungen und das gesamte Vocabulary-Archiv.

50 Spotlight 2|16
Practice
Now try the following exercises to practise the
language you need to put petrol in your car. Tips

Sometimes, people refer to cars, boats and other large

1. Cross out one word on the right that is not
normally used with the word on the left.
a) petrol attendant | pump | tank | station
b) fuel flow | gauge | station | type
c) pump hose | instructions | nozzle | number
machines as “she” — thus (daher) the request in our head-
line to Fill her up, please!. You can also say fill up my
car, put petrol (N. Am.: gas) in my car or refuel.
The noun fuel describes a substance that produces heat
or energy when it is burned, such as petrol, gas, diesel,
coal or wood.

2. Choose the correct option to complete each of 3. Complete the following sentences with words
the sentences below. from the opposite page.

a) To find out how much petrol is in your tank, check
the fuel gauge / fuel warning light.
b) To see how much petrol you have pumped, check
the cash display / volume display.
c) Even when the pump is on the wrong side of your
car, you can refuel if the pump hose / pump
nozzle is long enough.
d) You may need to open the fuel-tank flap / filler
neck by means of a lever inside your car.
e) If you want a higher-quality petrol, choose regular
unleaded / super unleaded.
a) If you’re not sure how to fill up your car, read the
_______________ _______________ on the petrol
pump.
b) For drivers who want to wash their windscreen,
most petrol stations provide a(n) _______________ of
water, a cloth and a(n) _______________.
c) For drivers who want to check the tyre pressure
and put air in the tyres, petrol stations provide a(n)
_______________ _______________, or, in American
English, a(n) _______________ _______________.

Answers
1. a) attendant (the correct wording is “petrol/gas station attendant”);
b) station (gauge [geIdZ]: Tankanzeige) (the correct expression is “petrol/gas
station”); c) instructions (the correct expression is “operating instructions”)
2. a) fuel gauge; b) volume display (Füllmengenanzeige); c) pump hose;
d) fuel-tank flap (lever: Hebel); e) super unleaded [Vn(ledId] (super bleifrei)
3. a) operating instructions; b) bucket, squeegee; c) tyre inflator, air compressor

Möchten Sie noch mehr Tips und Übungen?

Every month, you can explore and practise the language and grammar of
Spotlight with the exercise booklet plus.

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

51
 LANGUAGE | Travel Talk

At an art gallery
Visit an exhibition in London with
DAGMAR TAYLOR.

What to see?

There’s so much to see and do in London.

I know. I don’t want to visit the usual tourist at-
tractions. I’d really like to see something different.
I got a Time Out magazine yesterday. Have you seen
it yet?
Yes, I’ve got it here. I was looking at it this morn- Tips
ing and saw that there’s an Eames exhibition at
the Barbican. That would be right up your street, • Time Out is a free weekly guide to what’s on.
wouldn’t it?
Totally. Can we go today? • Ray and Charles Eames were American designers who
are best known for their iconic (kultig) chairs.

On display • The Barbican Centre is a multi-arts venue (Veran-

Are we there yet? I’m freezing. It’s not exactly walk-
ing weather.
Don’t worry, it’s just round the next corner, I think.
We really should have taken a taxi.
That’s true. You know, I read that there are more
than 380 objects on display at this exhibition —
not just furniture. There are also paintings, draw-
ings, sculptures, photographs and quite a bit
more.
The Eames were a pretty amazing couple. Ah, it’s
not far now. I can see it.
Thank goodness!
staltungsort) in the City of London. You can see art
exhibitions and films there, as well as hearing music
and watching theatre and dance performances.
• If something is up your street (ifml.), it is the type of
thing you are interested in or enjoy doing.
• When a collection of objects has been arranged for
people to look at, it is on display.
• Sculptures are made of materials such as wood,
metal or stone and often — but not always — made to
represent a thing or a person.

• Photographs [(fEUtEgrA:f] are taken (not: made) by

What did you like best?
So what would you say was your favourite part of
the exhibition?
I really liked the installations and montages of vid-
eo and photographs. How about you?
Me, too. I think I’d like to get the catalogue. There
were so many interesting exhibits.
OK, let’s go to the shop, then. And afterwards I’d
like to check out that gin bar on level two. Would
you like to go along with me?
Absolutely! It would be nice to have a drink and
talk about all the fabulous art.
photographers [fE(tQgrEfE]. Note where the emphasis
falls in these words.
• Two people who are married or in a romantic
relationship are a couple.
• In an installation, the artist uses sound, movement or
space as well as objects to make a work of art that is
often temporary.
• A catalogue is a book that lists and describes all the
works of art and other objects that are on display in an
exhibition.

• An object that is shown in a museum or gallery is an

Foto: Alamy

check out [tSek (aUt] ausprobieren exhibit.

pretty [(prIti] ifml. hier: ziemlich

52 Spotlight 2|16
 Cards | LANGUAGE

Spotlight 2|16 Spotlight 2|16

New words Global English

greenwashing What would a speaker of British English say?

“The VW scandal followed a long campaign of North American: “By the evening, I had reached
greenwashing the company’s diesel models.” the end of my rope.”

Spotlight 2|16 Spotlight 2|16

(In)formal English Translation

Make these statements sound less informal: Translate:

1. A teacher of mine first turned me on to Hemingway
when I was 15.
2. Pictures of the young Alain Delon never failed to turn
her on.
1. At the age of 13, I already weighed about 11 stone.
2. My daughter weighed just over eight pounds at
birth.

Spotlight 2|16 Spotlight 2|16

Pronunciation Idiom magic

Ching Yee Smithback

The sequences of words “called Annie” and
“call Danny” are pronounced nearly the same.
Can you think of alternative sequences
pronounced like the examples below?

“known aim” __________________

“Mr Knight” __________________
“stopped aching” __________________
worn to a frazzle

Spotlight 2|16 Spotlight 2|16

False friends Grammar
Austrennung an der Perforierung

fabric / Fabrik Complete these sentences with the missing

prepositions.
Translate the following sentences:
1. I was already married ____ 25.
1. This dress is made of exquisite Italian fabric.
2. I got ____ the train in Bournemouth.
2. Die neue Fabrik befindet sich außerhalb der Stadt.
 LANGUAGE | Cards
Spotlight 2|16
Global English
British speaker: “By the evening, I had reached the end
of my tether.”
A “tether” [(teDE] (Haltestrick, Leine) is a rope or chain
to which you tie an animal. If you have no more
energy or patience for coping with something (mit etw.
fertigwerden), you are “at the end of your tether”
(sich nicht mehr zu helfen wissen). North American
speakers tend to use “rope” here in place of “tether”.
Spotlight 2|16
Translation
1. Mit 13 habe ich bereits etwa 70 Kilo gewogen.
2. Meine Tochter wog bei der Geburt knapp über 3,6 Kilo.
The British tend to speak of their weight in stone(s)
(one stone = 6.35 kg), whereas Americans always use
pounds. (An English pound is just 0.4536 kg, not 0.5 kg.)
Spotlight 2|16
Idiom magic
When you are extremely tired, you can say that you are
worn to a frazzle. (And when something is completely
burned, such as a field of grass after months without
rain, it is “burned / burnt to a frazzle”.)
“After that week-long conference of 18-hour days, we
were all worn to a frazzle.”
Spotlight 2|16
Grammar
1. I was already married at 25.
2. I got on the train in Bournemouth.
If you said “with” in the first sentence or “in” in the
second one, you have made a mistake typical of native
speakers of German.
Spotlight 2|16
New words
Greenwashing is what companies do when they market
themselves and their products as environmentally
friendly although they are, in fact, not so. The verb
“greenwash” is also used: “They’re trying to greenwash
their entire (gesamt) range of products.”
Spotlight 2|16
(In)formal English
1. A teacher of mine first got me interested in
Hemingway when I was 15.
2. Pictures of the young Alain Delon never failed to
arouse her.
When you turn someone on to something /
someone, you cause him or her to become interested
or involved in that thing or person. When something or
someone turns someone on, it excites or stimulates
that person, especially in a sexual sense.
Spotlight 2|16
Pronunciation
“no name” [)nEU (neIm]
“missed a night” [)mIst E (naIt]
“stop taking” [)stQp (teIkIN]
In connected speech, there are no pauses between
the words here, which makes it difficult or impossible
to hear the difference between the words of each
sequence. Only the context of the sentence brings
clarity.
Spotlight 2|16
False friends
1. Dieses Kleid ist aus erlesenem, italienischem Stoff /
Tuch.
2. The new factory / plant / mill is located outside of
town.
Both words go back to Latin fabrica (workshop).
The English word “fabric” is also used, less commonly,
to refer to the walls, floor and roof of a building.
 LANGUAGE | Everyday English
Roses are red...
This month, DAGMAR TAYLOR looks at the
words and phrases people use when they talk
about St Valentine’s Day.
1. Post
It’s St Valentine’s Day. Jeremy is at home with his
wife, Karen. They are talking about their teenage
daughter, Evie.
Jeremy: Why is Evie in such a bad mood?
Karen: Probably because she didn’t get a Valentine’s
card.
Jeremy: But the postman hasn’t been yet, has he?
Karen: He has. You got a bank statement and a cou-
ple of bills.
Jeremy: No love letters? No cards? Didn’t you send
Evie one?
Karen: Oh, honestly, Jeremy! She doesn’t want a card
from her parents.
Jeremy: But she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet, does
she?
Karen: No, but everyone likes to have an admirer.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that she’s
got a crush on a boy in the year above her at
school.
Tips
• You can be in a “good mood” or in a bad mood,
depending on the way you feel at a particular time.
• People in the UK usually exchange Valentine’s cards
with their partners, while in the US, it’s common to
include family and friends in the tradition.
• If you have an admirer, that person likes you and
finds you attractive.
• You can say you have a sneaking suspicion if you
believe that something may be true.
• If you have a crush on someone (ifml.), you have a
strong but temporary romantic feeling for him or her.
delivery van [di(lIvEri vÄn]
Fotos: Thinkstock
bank statement [(bÄNk )steItmEnt] Kontoauszug
2. For whom?
Jeremy, Karen and their daughter, Evie, are at
home. The doorbell rings.
Evie: (shouts) I’ll get it!
Karen: Who could that be?
Jeremy: No idea. I’m not expecting anyone, are you?
Karen: No. There’s a delivery van in front of the
house. Oh, maybe it’s those books I ordered.
That was fast.
Evie: Look, Mum! Flowers. For you!
Karen: For me? Who on earth would send me flow-
ers? Oh, red roses — they’re beautiful! Jere-
my? Are these from you, you old charmer?
Jeremy: I’m afraid not. I sort of forgot about Val-
entine’s Day. Is there a card?
Evie: Mum? Have you got a secret admirer?
Karen: That’s highly unlikely at my age. Are you sure
they’re not for you, Evie?
Tips
• Here, I’ll get it is another way of saying: “I’ll answer
the door.”
• Who on earth...? or “What on earth...?” are
expressions that show surprise.
• A charmer is a person who uses charm to influence
other people, usually for his or her own purposes.
• People often say that they sort of forgot (not just
“forgot”) about something (ifml.), to try to downplay a
situation.
• Flowers that are delivered often have a small card
attached with a message from the sender.
Lieferwagen
2|16 Spotlight 55
 LANGUAGE | Everyday English

3. The wrong order 4. Sweet

Jeremy, Karen and their daughter, Evie, are still It’s still St Valentine’s Day. Jeremy and Karen are in
wondering for whom the flowers are. the kitchen.

Ha! Maybe they’re for you, Dad. They’re

Evie:  Karen: 
Thank you for the roses. That was really
probably from that lady down the road who sweet of you.
always flirts with you. Jeremy: Do you think Evie liked them?
(laughs) This is ridiculous. Isn’t there a name
Karen:  Karen: Of course she did. She took them straight up
on them? to her room.
Evie: No. I just assumed they were for you, Mum, Jeremy: You both got something for Valentine’s Day.
because nobody’s going to send me flowers, is And all I got was a lousy bank statement.
he? Karen: And some bills. And the day’s not over yet.
Jeremy: Why not? You never know. There’s an envelope on the table. I think it
Karen: Jeremy, it was you, wasn’t it? Come on, own might be for you.
up, or I’m calling the florist’s. Jeremy: This red one? Maybe it’s from that nice lady
Jeremy: No... oh, all right! It was me. But they got the down the road.
order wrong. They were supposed to deliver Karen: Oh, stop it! What does it say?
two bouquets — one for each of you. (door- Jeremy: (clears throat) “Roses are red. Violets are
bell rings) blue. You’re the best dad. I love you!”
Evie: I’ll get it.

Tips
Tips
• Here, sweet means kind. It can also mean attractive,
• By lady down the road, Evie means a woman who but usually only to describe children or small things.
lives in the same street as she and her family do.
• Lousy can be used before a noun to show that you
• A negative question is often used when the speaker is feel annoyed or insulted (verletzt) because you do not
expecting a negative answer: Isn’t there a name on think that something is worth having.
them?
• Another way of saying something has not ended is to
• If you own up, you admit that you have done some- say it is not over.
thing.
• Roses are red... is probably one of the best known
• A florist’s is a shop that sells cut flowers as well as love poems. The last two lines are often changed.
plants for use inside the house.

• Supposed to is used to indicate that something is 2. Add the missing prepositions.

expected to be done.
assume [E(sju:m]
ridiculous [rI(dIkjUlEs]
EXERCISES
a) Why is Evie ____ such a bad mood?
b) I sort of forgot ____ Valentine’s Day.
annehmen, vermuten
lächerlich c) Isn’t there a name ____ them?
d) That was really sweet ____ you.

1. True or false?

a) The postman hasn’t been yet. ________ 3. What do the words in bold refer to?
b) Jeremy received roses from his neighbour. ________
a) Didn’t you send Evie one? ____________
c) The roses are from Jeremy. ________
b) I’ll get it! ____________
d) The envelope on the table is for Jeremy. ________
Foto: Thinkstock

c) But they got the order wrong. ____________

Answers: 1. a) false; b) false; c) true; d) true; 2. a) in; b) about; c) on; d) of;

d) She took them straight up to her room. ____________
3. a) a Valentine’s card; b) (answering) the doorbell; c) the florist’s; d) the roses

56 Spotlight 2|16
 The Grammar Page | LANGUAGE

Someone must have taken it:

past modals of deduction
ADRIAN DOFF presents and explains this key point
of grammar with notes on a short dialogue.

Nick and Liz are in a restaurant. The waiter has just
brought the bill.
I’ll pay for this. I’ll just get my jacket. (fetches his
Nick: 
jacket) Oh, no!
Liz: What’s the matter?
Nick: My wallet (Geldbeutel)! It’s not here.
Liz:  Then it must be1 in the car. You must have left 2 it
there.
Nick:  No, I can’t have left 3 it in the car. I remember I
put it in my jacket pocket.
Liz: Are you sure?
Nick:  Of course I’m sure. Someone must have taken 4 it.
The waiter — he took our jackets. He must have
stolen 4 it when we weren’t looking. (calls) Waiter!
Liz:  Shh! Calm down! You might have dropped 5 it
somewhere.
Nick:  How could I have dropped6 it? It was in my pocket.
Liz: (points) Look...
Nick: What?
Liz: It’s there, beside your plate.
Nick:  Oh, so it is. Thank God for that.
Waiter: Is there a problem, sir?
Nick:  Er — no, no. We just wanted to pay the bill.
Remember
To draw conclusions about the present, you can use a
modal verb + infinitive:
• She must live in London. (= I’m sure she lives there.)
• They may be asleep. (= Perhaps they’re asleep.)
1 Here, must is followed by the infinitive be. It refers to
the present. (= I’m sure it’s in the car.)
2 Here, must is followed by have + past participle.
It refers to the past. (= I’m sure you left it in the car.)
3 Can’t have has the opposite meaning to must have.
(= I’m sure I didn’t leave it in the car.)
4 More examples of must have + past participle to refer
to the past.
5 Here, might have + past participle is used to express
uncertainty about the past. (= Maybe you dropped it.)
Liz could also say “You could have dropped it” or
“You may have dropped it”.
6 A question using could have + past participle.
(= How was it possible?)
Beyond the basics
May, might and could all express uncertainty.
Might and could express slightly more uncertainty
than may:
• You may have left it in the car.
(= There’s a good chance that you did.)
• You might / could have left it in the car.
(= Perhaps you did, but it’s not so likely.)
In questions, we usually use could:
• How could you have lost your key? You didn’t go
out. (not: How might you have lost...)
EXERCISE

Correct the mistakes in the phrases in bold.

To make deductions about the past, use a modal verb
+ have + past participle (this is the perfect a) She’s not in the office. She must have go home.
infinitive): b) Look on the table. They might had left us a note.
• She must have lived in London.
c) Poor you! It must to have been a terrible experience.
(= I’m sure she lived there.)
• They may have been asleep. d) I’d love to go to Brazil. It must being a wonderful
(= Perhaps they were asleep.) country.
Fotos: Thinkstock

e) How I could have known it was your birthday? You

Answers: a) must have gone; b) might have left; c) must have been;
didn’t tell me.
d) must be; e) could I have known

2|16 Spotlight 57
 LANGUAGE | The Soap

Helen George Sean Jane Phil & Peggy

Dinner for three “Doesn’t he know the card’s from me?”

Valentine’s Day has everyone guessing. By INEZ SHARP

Helen: What made you do that? Jane: Let’s just say it’s about romance, but it’s sort of secret.
Peggy: I don’t know. I suppose I was feeling sentimental. Sean: Ooh! Another secret! I love secrets.
Helen: Will Phil appreciate it? Helen: Come on! You can share it with us. Did you get a
Peggy: I certainly hope so. Those things are really pricey. Valentine’s card, too?
Helen: I wouldn’t know. It’s not my thing. Jane: All right. If we’re playing a guessing game, you’re
Peggy: Don’t spoil it for me. getting warmer.
Sean: What’s Helen spoiling? Phil: You got two Valentine’s cards?
Peggy: Nothing. Just a gesture... Jane: No, but maybe this little cupid forgot to post the
Sean: Come on, Peggy! Tell me your little secret. one she was given.
Peggy: No! Helen: Spoiler alert!
Sean: Please, pretty please! Peggy: What! You didn’t post the card I gave you for Phil?
Peggy: OK, OK. I sent Phil a Valentine’s card. Jane: I’m so sorry, Mum!
Sean: Oh, is that all? That’s no secret. Phil: So the card isn’t from you?
Peggy: Did you know about this? Did Jane tell you? Peggy: Er... no.
Sean: No. I saw Phil earlier. He told me. He was so chuffed. Phil: And the invitation to a saucy rendezvous?
Peggy: Really? Peggy: Show us the card.
Helen: That’s sweet. Did he know who it was from? Sean: Hmm! I see lots of clues. Look! There’s a German
Sean: No, but he was making a list of possible candidates. flag in the corner of that heart, and it’s signed Agleh.
Peggy: What? Doesn’t he know the card’s from me? Helen: Agleh? Agleh?
Helen: I thought the point was that it was anonymous. Sean: That’s Helga written backwards.
Peggy: But I put in loads of clever things that only the Helen: There’s only one thing for it: Phil will have to go
two of us would understand. to this saucy rendezvous, won’t he?
Sean: Too clever for Phil, obviously. Peggy: Yes. It’s going to be a very saucy rendezvous — for
Helen: Hi, Phil! How are you today? three.
Phil: Pretty good.
Helen: Let me guess: you got a Valentine’s card, didn’t you? about: What’s it ˜? [E(baUt] Worum geht’s?
Phil: I certainly did. appreciate [E(pri:SieIt] würdigen, schätzen
Sean: So any idea who the sender was? chuffed [tSVft] UK ifml. froh, sehr zufrieden
clue [klu:] Hinweis, Anhaltspunkt
Phil: I’m almost certain it was a lady who is very close to
cupid [(kju:pId] Amor, Cupido
my heart.
gesture [(dZestSE] Geste
Helen: So?
guessing game [(gesIN geIm] Ratespiel
Phil: I’m not saying, but I can tell you that the card was
loads of [(lEUdz Ev] massenhaft
very racy. out of the blue aus heiterem Himmel
Peggy: Racy, huh? [)aUt Ev DE (blu:] ifml. ( p. 61)
Phil: Yes. Sometimes you think you know someone; and pretty [(prIti] ifml. hier: ziemlich
then suddenly, out of the blue: bam! They really sur- pretty please [)prIti (pli:z] bitte, bitte!
prise you. pricey [(praIsi] ifml. kostspielig
Peggy: How exactly would you define racy, Phil? racy [(reIsi] feurig, gewagt
Jane: Hi, Mum! saucy [(sO:si] UK ifml. anzüglich, gewagt
Peggy: Hi, Jane! I wasn’t expecting you. spoil [spOI&l] verderben
Jane: Mum, I need to talk to you. Do you have a moment? spoiler alert [)spOI&lE E(l§:t] Spielverderberalarm
suppose [sE(pEUz] annehmen, vermuten
Peggy: Right now? What’s it about?

58 Spotlight 2|16 Meet everyone at Peggy’s Place at www.spotlight-online.de/peggy

 English at Work | LANGUAGE

Dear Ken: What are Send your questions about

business English by e-mail with
“Dear Ken” in the subject line to

some good subjects language@spotlight-verlag.de

Each month, I answer two ques-
tions Spotlight readers have
for small talk? sent in. If one of them is your
question, you’ll receive a copy
of my book: Dear Ken... 101
answers to your questions about
Dear Ken business English. So don’t forget
I am not good at making small talk in English. When I to add your mailing address!
meet new people, I am never sure what to say. Can you
Ken Taylor is a communication skills consultant. Follow his “Hot Tips” on
please give me some useful tips on what subjects I can Twitter@DearKen101. He is the author of the book Dear Ken... 101 answers to your
talk about? questions about business English.
Regards
Mikael D.
Dear Ken
Dear Mikael I always thought that “double inverted commas” are used
Small talk is all about building a good relationship in German and that the British equivalent is ‘single in-
through agreement. That’s why many business meetings verted commas’. Having received e-mails from native
start with some small talk. The participants try to find speakers of English using double inverted commas, I am
subjects on which they can agree. I always look for areas not so sure any longer.
of shared experience. Are both ways correct? Also, what is the difference be-
For example, I try to find some friends or business ac- tween “double inverted commas” and ‘single inverted
quaintances whom we might have in common: commas’? Can you help, please?
If you’ve been to Arco headquarters, you may have met Thank you for your advice. I always enjoy reading your
their head of public relations, Mike Green — a really column and am interested in hearing what you have to
nice guy. say about this.
Mike! Oh, yes. I met him a couple of months ago. Best regards,
Or I might explore some common interests: Silke T.
I hope we finish on time this evening. I’ve got some
tickets for the theatre. Dear Silke
What are you going to see? There is a book called Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne
Another good subject for small talk is places and holidays Truss, which has become a modern “bible” of punctua-
in common: tion. According to her, the basic rule in British English
I was on Majorca for a week last month. is to use double quotation marks (inverted commas) for
Majorca? We love Majorca. Which part of the island speech, such as:
were you staying on? • Ruth said, “I read her book last year. I found it a very
Food and restaurants are another good subject: interesting read.”
I can really recommend Nico’s if you like Italian food. • Michael asked, “Why do zebras have stripes?”
They do some superb pasta dishes. Single quotation marks are used for quotations within
Sounds great. Nico’s? Where’s that? quotations, like this:
Listen for any clues your speaking partner might give you • Ken said, “Lynne Truss writes in her book: ‘Always use
and follow them up with questions. See if you can find double quotation marks for a quote.’ But she then goes
those shared experiences and common interests. Then on to say that she prefers single quotation marks for
small talk is very easy. quotations within quotations.”
All the best • Mary said, “Michael asked: ‘Why do zebras have stripes?’
Ken I told him horses have stripes, too, but they’re hard to see.
I don’t think he understood that I wasn’t serious.”
acquaintance [E(kweIntEns] Bekannte(r) Thank you for your letter. I hope this helps.
clue [klu:] Hinweis Best regards
participant [pA:(tIsIpEnt] Teilnehmer(in) Ken
shared experience gemeinsame Erfahrung
[)SeEd Ik(spIEriEns] inverted comma Anführungszeichen
superb [su(p§:b] hervorragend, ausgezeichnet [In)v§:tId (kQmE] UK

2|16 Spotlight 59
 LANGUAGE | Spoken English
What’s up?
This month, ADRIAN DOFF looks at ways of
using the word “up” in spoken English.
Here are some common expressions in English
conversation. What do you think the words in bold
mean? Match them to the meanings below.
a) Don’t worry. I expect it will turn up.
b) Wait a minute. I’m not up yet.
c) She’s certainly very upbeat about it.
d) Hey! What are you up to?
1. doing a If you’re up, you’re not in bed (= you’ve got up):
2. be found b • Where’s Sue? Is she up yet?
3. positive c If you’re upbeat, you’re positive:
4. out of bed d • We need to give an upbeat message about our new
The word “up” is very common in spoken English, especially
in multi-word verbs (or phrasal verbs).
Two-word verbs
Up can come after a verb to show movement or direction.
So if you’re in bed or lying down, you could decide to get
up. If a piece of paper is on the floor, you may pick it up.
And if you hear a noise, you might look up.
Sometimes, up has a more idiomatic meaning, or it can
simply emphasize the verb:
• We’ve used up all our money. There’s none left.
(= We’ve spent it all.)
• Hurry up! We’ll be late.
Some common two-word verbs with up:
bring up = introduce a topic
• I’d like to bring up the subject of working conditions at
the meeting.
hold up = delay
• Sorry, I’m late. The train was held up in Frankfurt.
look up = find in a reference book or online
• I’m not sure what this word means. I’ll have to look it up.
turn up = arrive or appear
• Don’t worry about your keys. I’m sure they’ll turn up
soon. (= You’ll find them.)
• He turned up half an hour late, as usual.
Three-word verbs
If you look up to someone, you think highly of him or her:
• She seems very ordinary, and yet lots of people look up
to her.
Answers: a–2; b–4; c–3; d–1; Exercise: a) hold; b) get; c) coming; d) to; e) with; f) upfront; g) keep
60 Spotlight 2|16
If you keep up with someone, you go at the same speed:
• Could you walk more slowly? I can’t keep up with you.
If you’re fed up with something, you no longer like it:
• I’m fed up with getting up at six every morning.
You can also get fed up with people:
• My brother never helps with anything. I’m getting really
fed up with him.
Other expressions with “up”
product.
If something or someone is up and coming, it is starting to
be successful or popular:
• There are so many up-and-coming young actors in
London.
If you’re upfront about something, you’re clear and open
about it:
• She’s very upfront about why she wants the job. She says
she needs the money.
If you’re up to something, it may mean you’re doing
something bad or out of the ordinary:
• Hey! What are you up to? Leave my laptop alone.
(= What are you doing?)
But the question What are you up to? can also simply
mean “Do you have any news?”:
• What are you up to these days? Still working hard?
EXERCISE
Choose the better word in bold.
a) We can talk later. I don’t want to catch / hold you up.
b) It’s 9.30. Time to get / stand up and have breakfast.
c) It’s an up and coming / going part of the city, so the
rents are getting higher.
d) He’s a very wise person. I’ve always looked up at /
to him.
e) I’m getting fed up from / with working in a cafe. It’s
such hard work.
f) I think you should be upbeat / upfront with her and
tell her what you think is wrong.
g) They’re much better skiers than I am. I can never
Foto: iStock
keep / hold up with them.

Build your vocabulary
Here are several useful words and phrases from this issue of Spotlight and their
collocations. The words may also have other meanings that are not listed here.
divert [daI(v§:t] verb p. 37
to change direction or to focus on a different purpose
umleiten, umlenken
If I may divert your attention over here for a
moment: we need to take care of this first.
“Merge” is an antonym of divert.
leap year [(li:p jIE] noun p. 38
a year with 366 days, which occurs every four years
Schaltjahr
In a leap year, February has 29 days.
The next leap year after 2016 will be 2020.
seldom [(seldEm] adverb p. 6
rarely
selten
I seldom have a minute to myself.
The word seldom is of old English and Germanic origin,
from a base meaning “strange” and “wonderful”.
How to use the expression out of the blue
Another way of saying out of the blue is out of a
clear blue sky. Both phrases refer to a sky without
clouds from which a sudden storm would not be
expected. The phrase out of the blue is used as an
adverb:
• T he warning came out of the blue and caused a mass
panic.
Out of the blue can also mean “from an unexpected
source” (Quelle):
• O ut of the blue, one of the politician’s strongest
supporters decided to run against her.
The phrase can also mean “at an unexpected time”:
• M y cat ran away several years ago. Then last night,
quite out of the blue, he came back again.
Foto: iStock
Answers
a) leap year; b) out of the blue; c) seldom; d) diners; e) deer; f) divert
Word Builder | LANGUAGE
deer [dIE] noun p. 67
a common woodland animal (see picture above)
Rotwild
I hit a deer on my way to work in the car.
L ike “fish” and “moose”, deer is an irregular noun.
Its singular and plural forms are the same.
diner [(daInE] noun p. 42
a patron of a restaurant
Restaurantgast
There are normally not many diners here on a
Monday morning.
A diner is a person who eats at a restaurant. In US English,
the word also refers to a small place to eat. The main
meal of the day is “dinner”, usually eaten in the evening.
out of the blue [)aUt Ev DE (blu:] ifml. phrase p. 58
unexpectedly
aus heiterem Himmel
She was such a good student. Then, out of
the blue, she decided to drop out.
See the extra notes below on how to use “out of the blue”.
OVER TO YOU!
Complete the following sentences with words
from this page in their correct form.
a) Do you know when the next ____________ will be?
I don’t have a calendar with me.
b) I thought I’d never see her again, when,
____________, I ran into her in the park.
c) Since his family lives so far away, he ____________
gets to see them.
d) This restaurant can hold up to two hundred
____________.
e) When is the best time to see ____________ in the
forest?
f) Why don’t we ____________ some money for our
new home?
2|16 Spotlight 61
 LANGUAGE | Lost in Translation

Every month, WILL O’RYAN turns his attention to a particularly interesting word or
expression that could be a challenge to translate.

Usage
“Binge-watching” spread all over the English-speaking world after 2012, when TV content
providers such as Netflix started offering entire series of a TV show all at once. Instead of
following the traditional rhythm of watching one episode a week, a binge-watcher will
sit down and view a whole season in a single marathon session. The term is also used
more generally to refer to any compulsive viewing of video-on-demand offerings. The
[(bIndZ )wQtSIN] British dictionary publisher Collins named “binge-watching” its Word of the Year 2015.
This is probably one of those terms that will simply be taken over in German, though
translations such as Komaglotzen and Serienmarathon have started to appear as well.

verb (gerund)

binge-watch(ing)
Background
The noun “binge”, meaning “a short period of intense
drinking of alcohol”, has been in the language since
the mid 19th century. It originally came from the
Northampton dialect. The phrase “go on a binge”
gave rise to a verb with the same meaning. “Binge”
is less commonly combined with other nouns, such
as “workout binge” or “guilt binge”, to refer to other
extended situations or activities of intense immersion
in something. “Binge-watching” was first recorded in
the US in 2003, and it was soon followed by the related
forms “binge-watch” and “binge watcher”.
Example
“What we’re doing: Devouring a month of TV
shows in a weekend. A Netflix survey pub-
lished last December found that 61 per cent of
about 1,500 online respondents say that they
binge-watch TV regularly (which was defined
as watching between two and six episodes of
the same TV show in one sitting).”
The Huffington Post, 4 September 2014

In which of these sentences would it make sense compulsive [kEm(pVlsIv] zwanghaft

to use the word “binge-watching”? content provider [(kQntent prE)vaIdE] Inhaltsanbieter(in)
devour [di(vaUE] verschlingen
a) “I really enjoy ____________ my son playing football respondent [ri(spQndEnt] Befragte(r)
with his team.” season [(si:z&n] Staffel
b) “After ____________ season two of Game of Thrones
last night, I was exhausted at work today.”
Answer: sentence (b) (exhausted: erschöpft)

62 Spotlight 2|16
 Crossword | LANGUAGE

All the world’s a stage The words in this puzzle are taken from the People section of
the magazine. You may wish to refer to the texts on pages 6–7.

1 2 3 4 5

Solution to puzzle 1/15:

INSECT
6 7

C O U R S E A B L E
H O K E
8
E C U L I N A R Y
9 10 F U N R I O A
11 F S D
H O P E B E Y O N D
12
I U L
13 14 D I G I T A L
E M B I T
P W O R M
15 16
P L A N E T I E
C Y S P R A Y
Owen Connors

17 18 B U T T E R T L

Across Down
2. A time that will come after the present.
5. A place where people live temporarily.
6.  Not long ago: “I received a letter from him ______.”
8. “That’s the way it is, so you’ll just have to ______ with it.”
9. Examine something to find out more about it.
11. Associated with a particular nearby area: “Our children go to
the ______ school.”
12. A line that divides two countries or areas.
13. The name of a famous fashion and lifestyle magazine.
15. A person in charge of a film who tells the actors and staff
what to do.
17. To introduce a show or television programme: “I wonder
who will ______ this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony.”
18. Disagreeing with somebody or something: “Are you for or
______ building a new stadium?”
A series of jobs that a person has during his or her life
1. 
in a particular field of work.
A shelter made of a large sheet of material fixed to
3. 
the ground with ropes and poles.
4. An actor’s part on the stage or in a film: “What ______
does she play?”
5. Activities that involve breaking the law.
7.  Famous people
8.  To take things to the person or people they’ve been
sent to: “Can you ______ this package by midday?”
10. Most important, famous or successful: “One of the
country’s ______ comedians.”
14. Something that takes place or happens: “Is it an im-
portant ______?”
16. A covered vehicle for transporting goods by road.

Competition

How to take part Congratulations to:

Form a single word from the letters in the coloured Ursulina Caviezel (Pitasch)
squares. Send it on a postcard to: Christa Hanefeld (Bremen)
Redaktion Spotlight, “February Prize Puzzle”, Ursula Bloch (Niestetal)
Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg, Deutsch­land. Christel Garling (Berlin)
Or go to www.spotlight-online.de/crossword Karin Resak (Ottendorf-Okrilla)
Margit Busch (Bad Salzuflen)
Ten winners will be chosen from the entries we receive Carolyn Echter (Mertesheim)
by 16 February 2016. Each winner will be sent a copy of Bernd Kreiling (Gießen)
Das große Hörtraining Englisch by courtesy of Pons. Mari Karmann (Bonn)
The answer to our December puzzle was maple. Hans Didra (Balingen)

2|16 Spotlight 63
 AUDIO | February 2016
Wherever
you see this

Spotlight
symbol at the start of
an article in the magazine,

AUDIO you will find the text

and/or the related
interview or language
exercises on

Activate your English! Spotlight Audio.

Each month, SPOTLIGHT AUDIO brings you around 60 minutes of texts, dialogues, interviews,
news reports and language exercises related to the current issue of Spotlight magazine.
Improve your listening skills with the help of native speakers from around the world.

This month’s
audio content
Below is a complete list of
all the tracks on the February This month’s
Spotlight Audio. Spotlight Audio
The page numbers refer to is presented by
those in the current Spotlight David Creedon.
magazine. Among the highlights are:

1. Introduction • 
Special focus. Spotlight Audio is built around
2. People: Who exactly is... Chris Rock? themes developed from and based on articles found
(text: p. 6) in the magazine. In the February issue of Spotlight
3. A Day in My Life: Michael Tangney Junior Audio, the special focus is on how to improve your
of Killarney Jaunting Cars (pp. 8–9) English in the easiest way each and every day.
4. Britain Today: A cold welcome We look at methods of adapting common activities to
(text: p. 13) help your language skills.
People (track 2) 5. Travel: Ethiopia, land of dreams
(text: pp. 14–21) • Original listening exercises. Throughout
6. Travel: Uncovering Ethiopia Spotlight Audio, there are challenging listening
(pp. 14–21) exercises based on the featured texts, dialogues and
7. Everyday English: Roses are red... interviews. Communication skills consultant Ken
(dialogues; pp. 55–56) Taylor gives advice on using English at work. We look
8. American Life: How to make work at words and phrases from a current news story in
a pleasure (text: p. 67) Replay, and we practise everyday language in Spoken
Travel (tracks 5–6) 9. Replay: International news, with language English.
explanations
10. Replay: Defeating Isis • 
A variety of English accents. You’ll hear native
(text: pp. 42–43) speakers from Ireland (A Day in My Life) and the
11. Replay: Words and phrases United States (American Life, Short Story), as well
(pp. 42–43) as a number of regional accents from Britain (Britain
Foto: ddp images; Mauritius; Thinkstock; Shutterstock

12. Language: 10 tips for your English week Today, Peggy’s Place). Through interviews and reports,
(pp. 30–35) you’ll also be exposed to a wide range of voices from
Everyday English (track 7) 13. English at Work: Small-talk skills around the English-speaking world.
(p. 59)
14. Peggy’s Place: Dinner for three Choose your listening
(text: p. 58) Spotlight Audio is available either as a download
15. Spoken English: Up and down or as a CD.
(p. 60) Find out more about how to subscribe to Spotlight Audio
16. Short Story: Olivia’s piano at:
(text: p. 46–47)
www.spotlight-verlag.de/audio-angebot
Language (track 12) 17. Conclusion

64 Spotlight 2|16
 SPRACHKURSE UND SPRACHFERIEN

offaehrte
DIALOG Lernen Sie Englisch
in Cornwall
sprachreisen Sprachreisen & Sprachkurse weltweit www.learnenglishincornwall.co.uk
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 THE LIGHTER SIDE | Wit and Wisdom

“Before you
marry a person,
you should
first make them
use a computer
with slow
internet to see
who they truly
are.”
© Bulls

Whitney Cummings
The Argyle Sweater (born 1982), American
comedian and actress

The genie of the lamp Out the window

Two workers are digging in the hot sun, when one of them
finds a beautiful old lamp in the ground.
“Hey, boss, look at this!” the man says.
His boss walks over and jokes: “Why don’t you rub it?
Maybe a genie will come out.” Just for fun, the worker rubs
the lamp, and suddenly a huge genie rises into the air.
The genie says, “You have freed me. Now each of you
gets one wish.”
The worker holding the lamp shouts out, “I hate my job!
I wish I were in Las Vegas with lots of money to spend.” The
genie waves his hand and — poof! — the man disappears.
The second worker picks up the lamp and says, “Sorry,
boss, but I hate this job, too. I wish I had a big house in the
Bahamas.” The genie waves his hand again and — poof! —
the second man disappears.
The genie turns to the boss. “And you?” he asks.
The boss picks up the lamp, spits on the ground and
says, “I want them both back here tomorrow morning.”
It is nearly the end of the day at school. Outside, the weath-
er has been lovely. The teacher says, “OK. Whoever can an-
swer my next question correctly can go home early.” Sud-
denly, a school bag sails through the air and flies straight
out of the window. “Who threw that?” the teacher shouts.
A little boy jumps up. “Me,” he says. “Bye, everybody! I’m
going swimming.”
Where wood comes from
A lumberjack applies for a job. At the interview, when he is
asked to talk about his work experience, he replies, “Well, I
worked for a few years in the Sahara Forest."
“The Sahara Forest?" the interviewer asks surprised.
"Don’t you mean the Sahara Desert?”
The lumberjack smiles and says, “Yeah, that’s what they
call it now.”

genie [(dZi:ni] hier: Flaschengeist All around the world

lumberjack [(lVmbEdZÄk] Holzfäller(in)
Ravi O’Li [)rÄvi (EU li] (Wortspiel mit der italienischen
Nudelspezialität Ravioli)
spit [spIt] spucken
I know a guy who’s a real “citizen of the world”. All four of his
grandparents are immigrants: one is from India, one is from
Ireland, one is from China and one is from Italy. The guy's
name is Ravi O’Li.

Peanuts
© Bulls

66 Spotlight 2|16

“I’ve learned
how to avoid
those deadly
conference calls”
Ginger Kuenzel
is a freelance
writer who lived
in Munich for 20
years. She now
calls a small town
in upstate New
York home.
S
ome people dream of having a
corner office. Not me. I work
from a cabin on a mountain
lake. It would be hard to beat my
workspace. My morning commute is
from my kitchen to my couch, coffee
cup in hand. As I wait for my lap-
top to start, my view is of the lake
— and, occasionally, a deer on the
path out front.
Before you turn green with envy
about this comfortable work envi-
ronment, however, I will admit that
there are some disadvantages. For
example, I can’t sit out on my deck
during a conference call. A motor-
boat racing by or birds squawking
overhead are a dead giveaway that
“someone” on the call is not sitting
in a cubicle like everyone else. I’ve
also learned some tricks: When peo-
ple ask where I’m calling from, I no
longer say, “From the shores of beau-
tiful Lake George.” I now say “New
York,” and let them picture me sit-
ting in a small office in Manhattan.
Perhaps the most important
thing I’ve learned, though, is how to
get out of those deadly conference
calls. It’s not that I have any prob-
lem with working, but I want to do
it in my own time. And that’s not at
1 p.m. on a spectacular, sunny day
— which is when clients invariably
want to schedule such calls. I prefer
to work early in the morning or in
the evening so that I can get out and
enjoy the day. After all, that’s why I
live here. But I’m not completely in-
flexible. On rainy days, I can make
Foto: Stockbyte
myself available at any time.
What’s the trick, then, to getting
clients to accept the fact that I’m not
American Life | GINGER KUENZEL
How to make
work a pleasure
Unsere Kolumnistin arbeitet von einer Hütte am See aus. Ihr
Ziel? Ihre Arbeit so zu gestalten, dass sie die schöne Umgebung
möglichst oft genießen kann.
always available for a call? I’ve devel-
Rule number one:
oped a list of reasons to explain why spend very little
they’ll have to reschedule the call or time on the phone
send me an e-mail instead. But in
case any of you find yourselves in
need of excuses — I mean reasons,
of course — I’m happy to share some
with you for the new year.
If you’re planning a hike, your
response to a request for a meeting
could be, “Sorry, but I have anoth- Here’s what you can say: “I’ve got a
er high-level meeting at that time.” lot to skim through this morning.
If you’ve been invited to go sailing, Can we hold the call later in the
tell the client, “I’ve got another com- day?” Naturally, the client will have
mitment, but I should be able to sail no idea that what you are skimming
through that and be available later in through is water. And if you just
the afternoon.” When the forecast want to hang out at the beach for
is for hot, sunny weather, and you the day, taking an occasional swim
don’t feel like working too hard that to cool off, you tell the client, “I’m
week, you can say, “I’m just trying to about to dive into something that
keep my head above water, so I won’t will probably take most of the day.”
be able to take on that project at the So, now that you have all the
moment.” right excuses, all you need to do is
Would you rather be out paddle- find an employer who will let you
boarding than stuck on some call? telecommute.
cabin [(kÄbIn] Hütte
commitment [kE(mItmEnt] Verpflichtung
commute [kE(mju:t] Arbeitsweg, Pendlerstrecke
cubicle [(kju:bIk&l] Zellenbüro
dead giveaway [)ded (gIvE)weI] verräterisches Zeichen
deck [dek] Veranda
deer [dI&r] Rotwild ( p. 61)
envy: turn green with ˜ [(envi] grün vor Neid werden
high-level [)haI (lev&l] auf hoher Ebene, hochrangig
hike [haIk] Wanderung
invariably [In(veriEbli] ausnahmslos
out front [aUt (frVnt] draußen
paddleboarding [(pÄd&l)bO:rdIN] SUP-Paddeln
shore [SO:r] Ufer
skim through sth. [skIm (Tru:]
etw. überfliegen, etw. durchgehen
squawk [skwO:k] krächzen
telecommute [(telEkE)mju:t] Telearbeit machen
2|16 Spotlight 67
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stag
© 2016 Spotlight Verlag, auch für alle genannten Nr. 32 ab Ausgabe 1/16.
Cambridge
Autoren, Fotografen und Mitarbeiter.
13 Sun.
16 Wed.
Bat h 14 Mon.
17 Tues.

or by e-mail at
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Im Spotlight Verlag erscheinen:
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68 Spotlight 2|16
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 March 2016 | NEXT MONTH

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how humour
works in English “No choice” eating —
Me: “Knock, knock!” the rise of one-dish
You: “Who’s there?”
Me: “Boo!”
restaurants
You: “Boo who?” You’re tired of reading long ­menus
Me: “You don’t have to when you eat out? It takes you
cry. It was just a joke.” forever to choose your meal, and
This month, we see how when your food arrives at the table,
humour is used as a everyone else’s looks better?
special form of commu- Stop this madness and book a table
nication in English. at a one-dish restaurant.

Language

Everyday English Vocabulary

Megan talks about her problems at You may need a dentist while travel-
home and finds that she’s not the ling abroad. But do you know what
only one. Learn the vocabulary you to say? We present the language you
need to talk about family tensions. need to talk about dental care.

to Christianity. See page 14.

of Africa that has a very old connection
Fotos: Thinkstock

Join us on a fascinating journey to a part

Discover Ethiopia

Spotlight 3/16 is on sale from 24 February 69

 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | My Life in English

Mathis Oberhof
Der Autor von „Refugees Welcome!“ macht mit seinem Buch Mut zur Integration.
Hier spricht er über seine Erfahrungen mit der englischen Sprache.

W hat makes English important to you?

As a seven-year-old, I needed English to get chew-
ing gum. US soldiers on their way to the barracks near
where I lived would often give me a lift home. Almost
every time they took me along, I would ask, “Please,
have you a chewing gum?” And almost every time, they
rewarded my brave efforts at communication with a
piece of gum.

Tell us about your first English lesson.

Since I had had a lot of practice talking to the US sol-
diers, by the time I had my first English lesson at the age
of 10, I knew more vocabulary than most of my class-
mates. They, too, spoke with a strong Franconian accent.
I remember that my English teacher was an exceptional different levels and opinions there are in the debate
woman: friendly, humorous and enthusiastic about the about immigration among Germans. I have seldom been
culture of the British Isles. The most exciting story from so happy to be able to speak English.
this first year of English was called Michael Prepares for
Scotland Yard. Which phrase do you use most in English?
“Where do you come from?” — so that I can start a
Who is your favourite English-language musician? conversation with refugees.
Five years after that first English lesson, I got into the
music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I planted What are your favourite English words?
my first passionate kiss on the lips of a lovely girl to the Respect! Empower! Include! These words could be found
sound of Norwegian Wood. It was beautiful and unfor- in every organizer office in Obama’s first presidential
gettable. As a child of the 1960s, I was also into Harry campaign in 2009. They have since become a motto for
Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and so on. social action. I find it interesting that both “empower”
and “include” are hard to translate into one equivalent
Which song could you sing a few lines of in English? word in German. And, of course, “Refugees welcome”,
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away... Oh, I not only because it communicates the message that
believe in yesterday.” refugees are welcome in our country, but also because,
language-wise, we are meeting refugees part of the way.
Which person from the English-speaking world (living or
dead) would you most like to meet? appeal [E(pi:&l] Aufruf, Appell
Harry Belafonte and Martin Luther King Jr. They both barracks [(bÄrEks] Kaserne
worked to end racial discrimination — one from the chop [tSQp] hacken
stage with his music, the other from the pulpit with his classmate [(klA:smeIt] Klassenkamerad(in)
burning appeals for non-violent opposition — and they empower [Im(paUE] stärken, befähigen
both spread hope for a better, more just world. exhausting [Ig(zO:stIN] anstrengend
Franconian [frÄN(kEUniEn] fränkisch
When did you use English before this questionnaire? just [dZVst] hier: gerecht
After three years of helping refugees, I recently did two lift: give sb. a ˜ [lIft] jmdn. mitnehmen,
jmdn. mitfahren lassen
and a half hours of simultaneous translating for three
Foto: Random House

passionate [(pÄS&nEt] leidenschaftlich

Syrian refugees at the Round Table Welcome to Wand­ plant [plA:nt] hier: aufdrücken
litz in mid-November 2015. I found it more exhausting pulpit [(pUlpIt] Kanzel
than chopping wood, but I also understood how incred- -wise [waIz] -mäßig
ibly important it was to explain to refugees how many

70 Spotlight 2|16
 a c h e k ö n n en S i e
Me h r S p r o p p en .
nirgendwo s h
s ö n li c h. Individ uell.
Kompe te n t. Pe r

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

Bücher und DVDs in Originalsprache, Lernsoftware und vieles mehr.
Klicken und Produktvielfalt entdecken:

www.sprachenshop.de
Spotlight
2 2016

Deutschland E 7,50|CH sfr 13,50|A·E ·I ·L · SK: E 8,50

EINFACH ENGLISCH

10 learning tips:
better English
every day

Fish and chips:

Britain’s popular
traditional foods

ETHIOPIA
Journey to the secret churches
of an ancient land

02

4 1 901 35 307504
Green Light
2 2016

ENGLISCH LEICHT GEMACHT

Grammar
Practise
using “like”
and “would
Vocabulary like”
The machines
we have at
home

Culture
Read about
Georgian
Dublin
 GREEN LIGHT | News

This month...
Was beschäftigt die englischsprachige Welt im Februar?
VANESSA CLARK spürt die heißen Storys für Sie auf.

A Maori festival
Festivals It’s summer in New Zealand, the food is cooked
and February is the time for the Kawhia in the ground and
Kai Festival. then served in Mao-
This festival brings the community to- ri baskets.
gether to share traditional and modern The event also
Maori culture. There’s music, entertainment includes traditional
and food (kai) from the land and the sea. tattooing. Maori de-
One popular style of cooking is hangi — signs have become
popular in tattoo studios around the world,
basket [(bA:skIt] Korb but if you want a “real” one, you now know
ground [graUnd] Boden, Erde where to go.

An experiment
in love
80 years ago 1936
Films The Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times
came out on 5 February 1936. It was the last ma-
Books American author jor silent film. Movies with sound, called “talk-
Susan Mallery loves love. ies”, had begun to be produced in 1927.
Her romances are warm,
funny, sexy, and there’s major [(meIdZE] bedeutend,
größer
always (or nearly al-
silent film [)saIlEnt (fIlm] Stummfilm
ways) a happy ending.
In her novel Mar-
ried for a Month (Ger-
man title: Weiter geht
es nach der Werbung),
two relationship ex-
perts organize a reality TV show
to find out which is more important in a
relationship: shared interests or “heat”.
Which of the experts will be right — and
will they find love during the experiment?

heat [hi:t] hier: Feuer,

Leidenschaft
novel [(nQv&l] Roman
relationship [ri(leIS&nSIp] Beziehungs-

2 Spotlight 2|16
 8 pictures | GREEN LIGHT

Home appliances
DAGMAR TAYLOR presents words for machines that help you do
housework.
1
8

4
6

Write the words next to the pictures. What is it?

1. cooker [(kUkE] (N. Am.: range [reIndZ]) a) You bake cake in it.
2. dishwasher [(dIS)wQSE] ____________________________
3. Hoover [(hu:vE] (N. Am.: vacuum [(vÄkjuEm]) b) You wash clothes in it.
4. freezer [(fri:zE]; deep freeze [)di:p (fri:z] ____________________________
5. fridge [frIdZ], UK, N. Am. ifml. (refrigerator) c) You dry clothes in it.
Fotos: http://adviso.co.nz; PR; Illustrationen: B. Förth

6. oven [(Vv&n] ____________________________

7. tumble dryer [)tVmb&l (draIE] d) You clean the floor with it.
(N. Am.: dryer [(draI&r]) ____________________________
8. washing machine [(wQSIN mE)Si:n] e) You wash dishes in it.
____________________________
Tips
We all use home appliances (Haushaltsgerät) to do housework — the work of keeping a
house clean and tidy, as well as cooking: • I’ll give you a call when I’ve finished the housework.

Answers: a) oven; b) washing machine; c) tumble dryer; d) Hoover; e) dishwasher

2|16 Spotlight 3
 GREEN LIGHT | Grammar elements

“Like” and “would like”

VANESSA CLARK presents basic grammar.
This month: “like” and “would like”

“I like…” “I’d like…”

When using the verb “like”, questions are
formed with do / does, and negatives
(Verneinung) are formed with don’t /
doesn’t:
• I like dogs.
• Do you like cats?
• He doesn’t like cats or dogs.
“Like” is often followed by the “-ing” verb
form:
• Do you like playing with your dog?
“I’d like” is the short form of “I would like”.
It’s a polite way to say “I want” and is useful
in cafes and restaurants, for example.
Questions are formed with “would” and
negatives with “wouldn’t”:
• I’d like a cup of tea.
• Would you like a drink?
• I wouldn’t like a cold drink now.
“Would like” is often followed by a verb in
the “to” form:
• I’d like to pay, please.

Choose the correct option in each sentence.

a) I like / I’d like another beer, please.

b) I’d like to go / going out tonight.
c) He doesn’t like / wouldn’t like his current job.
d) Would he like / Does he like to find a new job?
e) I’d like you to send / sending it by post, please.
f) Do you like / Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee?

Tips

“I’d like you to…”

“I’d like you to do it” is a polite way to say “Do it”. It’s a polite order (Befehl):
• I’d like you to give me my money back, please.

“Would you like me to…?”

“Would you like me to do it?” means “Shall I do it?”. It’s a way of offering help:
• Would you like me to drive you home?
Fotos: Thinkstock

Answers: a) I’d like (beer: Bier); b) to go; c) doesn’t like (current: aktuell); d) Would he like; e) to send; f) Would you like

4 Spotlight 2|16
 The Greens | GREEN LIGHT

What do you fancy?

It’s Valentine’s Day. By DAGMAR TAYLOR
Andrew: (shouts upstairs) Are you getting up
soon, Donna?
Donna: I’m just getting dressed. I’ll be
down in a minute.
Andrew: The bacon’s getting cold.
Donna: Here I am. You were up early.
Ooh, flowers! Are they for me?
Andrew: Happy Valentine’s Day, love!
Donna: Happy Valentine’s Day to you,
too! I made you a cake. Wait, I’ll get it.
Andrew: Aw, it’s in the shape of a heart.
That’s so sweet!
Donna: (laughs) I thought you’d like it. Are
we going out for dinner tonight?
Andrew: No, we’re staying in. I’m going to
cook. What do you fancy?
Donna: How about steak and a nice salad?
And cake for pudding.
Tips
• In the UK, love is a friendly way to
address someone.
• Something that contains (enthalten) a
lot of sugar is sweet, and someone who
is kind can also be referred to as sweet.
• If you fancy something (UK ifml.), you
want something or want to do some-
thing. If you fancy someone (UK ifml.),
you are attracted (hingezogen) to that
person.
• Pudding [(pUdIN] (UK) is the sweet dish
eaten at the end of a meal. In the US,
however, the word pudding refers to
one specific type of dessert.

bacon [(beIkEn] Schinkenspeck

How about...? Wie wär’s mit ...? Andrew
[(haU E)baUt]
shape [SeIp] Form Donna

True or false?
T F
a) Andrew made Donna a cake.
b) Donna got Andrew flowers.
c) Andrew is going to make dinner.
d) Donna wants cake for pudding.

Listen to the dialogue at

www.spotlight-online.de/products/green-light

Answers: a) false (Donna made Andrew a cake.);

b) false (Andrew got Donna flowers.); c) true; d) true
 GREEN LIGHT | Get to work
Taxi!
VANESSA CLARK helps you to use your English at work.
This month: calling a taxi for a visitor
Visitor: Excuse me. Do you have a timetable
for the airport bus?
Receptionist: Yes, but you’ve just missed it.
And the next one is in an hour.
Visitor: Oh, no!
Receptionist: Would you like me to call a
taxi for you?
Visitor: Thank you. Yes, that’s a good idea.
Receptionist: (on the phone) Hello! Yes,
it’s the reception desk at the Met-
ropolitan Hotel. Could you send
a taxi, please? Yes, straight away.
To the airport. Thank you. Bye!
(to the visitor) He’s on his way.
Visitor: That’s great. Thank you.
Receptionist: No problem. The fare to the
airport is usually about 40 euros.
Visitor: Thanks. I’ll go and wait at the front
of the hotel. Bye!
Use it!
Highlight the key words and phrases that
you could use in your job.
6 Spotlight 2|16
Tips
• To offer to do something for someone,
you can say Would you like me to
... for you? or “Shall I ... for you?”. For
more information on this, turn to page
4 of Green Light.
• In the US, a taxi is called a “cab”. This
word is also used in London, where the
taxis are traditional “black cabs”.
• If you want something quickly, say you
need it straight away or “as soon as
possible”.
• He’s on his way means that he’s
coming now. “I’m on my way” is a useful
phrase if you have a lot of appoint-
ments or meetings in your job.
• The fare is the price of a journey. It
can be for a taxi or for other transport:
“plane fare”, “train fare”, “bus fare”, etc.
 Culture corner | GREEN LIGHT

I like... Georgian Dublin

Jeden Monat stellt ein Redakteur etwas Besonderes
aus der englischsprachigen Welt vor. Diesen Monat
präsentiert Spotlight-Redakteur OWEN CONNORS seinen
Lieblingsarchitekturstil.

Why I like it
I grew up in Dublin during the 1980s, when
a lot of Georgian houses were in ruins. The
old buildings seemed so romantic — like
memories from long ago. I learned that many
of Ireland’s greatest artists and leaders had
lived in these houses. I began to look more
closely at the beautiful doors, the large
windows and the red or yellow brick fronts.
For me, this was — and still is — the most
beautiful architecture in the city. As a teacher
in Dublin, I was lucky to work in a Georgian
What it is town house. There was a real magic walking
Between 1714 and 1830, Great Britain and up those wide stairs or looking at the plaster
Ireland were ruled by four kings named designs on the high ceilings. It felt as if I were
George. When people talk about Georgian passing through history.
Dublin, they usually mean the buildings that
are still around from this time. There are five artwork [(A:tw§:k] Kunstwerk
Georgian squares in Dublin, two in the north brick [brIk] Ziegel-
of the city and three in the south. The town ceiling [(si:lIN] Zimmerdecke
houses on these squares were once owned by in ruins [In (ru:Inz] in Trümmern
rich and important members of Irish society. owned: be ˜ [(EUnd] sich im Besitz befinden
Over the years, they have been used for many plaster [(plA:stE] Gipsputz-
preserved [pri(z§:vd] erhalten
different things — from places of business to
rule [ru:l] regieren
homes for the poorest Dubliners.
restored [ri(stO:d] restauriert
-storey [(stO:ri] -stöckig

Interesting facts

• The three Georgian squares in the south
of the city are the best preserved. These
include Merrion Square, Fitzwilliam
Square and St Stephen’s Green. Merrion
Square is also home to the Irish parlia-
Fotos: Thinkstock
• See what life was really like in a Georgian
town house at 29 Lower Fitzwilliam
Street, Dublin. Today, the Georgian
House Museum is a restored four-storey
house with furnishings, decorations and

ment. It meets at Leinster House, another artworks dating from the period between
great Georgian building. 1790 and 1820.

2|16 Spotlight 7
 GREEN LIGHT | Letters and notes

Your notes
Use this space for your own notes.

The 12th letter of the aphabet, L, rhymes

with “bell” [bel]. The word “love” begins
with an l. On clothing labels (Etikett), L re-
fers to size and means “large”:
• Excuse me. Could I try this T-shirt on in
an L?

Match the abbreviations (a–d) to

what they stand for (1– 4). Then read
the sentences out loud.

a) LA stands for... a
b) LED stands for... b
c) l stands for... c
d) Ltd stands for... d

1. “Limited”.
2. “light-emitting diode”.
3. “Los Angeles”.
4. “litre(s)”.

LOL
In text messages and e-mails, LOL stands
for “laughing out loud”. The letters can
Fotos: iStock

be pronounced (ausgesprochen werden)

separately or as one word: “lol”.
Answers: a–3; b–2; c–4; d–1

IMPRESSUM
Herausgeber und Verlagsleiter: Rudolf Spindler
Chefredakteurin: Inez Sharp
Stellvertretende Chefredakteurin:
Claudine Weber-Hof
Chefin vom Dienst: Sabine Hübner-Pesce
Autoren: Vanessa Clark, Dagmar Taylor
Redaktion: Owen Connors, Anja Giese,
Peter Green, Michele Tilgner
Bildredaktion: Sarah Gough (Leitung),
Thorsten Mansch
Gestaltung: Marion Sauer/Johannes Reiner
www.vor-zeichen.de
Anzeigenleitung: Axel Zettler
Marketingleitung: Holger Hofmann
Produktionsleitung: Ingrid Sturm
Vertriebsleitung: Monika Wohlgemuth
Verlag und Redaktion: Spotlight Verlag GmbH
Postanschrift: Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg, Deutschland
Telefon +49(0)89/8 56 81-0, Fax +49(0)89/8 56 81-105
Internet: www.spotlight-online.de
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© 2016 Spotlight Verlag, auch für alle genannten Autoren,
Fotografen und Mitarbeiter.

UNSER SPRACHNIVEAU: Das Sprachniveau in Green Light entspricht ungefähr Stufe A2 des
Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmens für Sprachen.