SPOTLIGHT TRAVEL Romantic Ireland LANGUAGE Read to succeed FOOD New York-style pizza Dezember 2011

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WIN
Titel_SP_12-11_final 31.10.11 11:58 Seite 1

reading

AT
with easy

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your

I
English

P
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TO
Das Magazin für Englisch

I R E L AN
Dezember 2011

D !
www.spotlight-online.de
Spotlight
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3_Editorial_12_11_b 31.10.11 14:29 Seite 3

EDITORIAL | December 2011

Elektronische Wörterbücher
mit professionellen Inhalten.
Bis zu 211 fundierte Nachschlagewerke be-

Your holiday währter Verlagspartner, die auf die Bedürfnisse

von Schülern und Lehrern zugeschnitten sind:

reading begins Das zeichnet die elektronischen Wörterbücher

der EX-word-Serie aus.
right here
Dear Spotlight reader,
A rule for writers says there should be only
one idea in a paragraph. Well, I’m not sure if I
can keep to that here, because I have such a
lot to share with you. Let’s see how much I can
Inez Sharp, editor-in-chief pack in. Our travel feature takes us to a roman-
tic castle in southern Ireland (pictured below), where Julian Earwaker enjoys
some real Irish hospitality. And, if you are looking for a special Christmas pres-
ent, why not enter our exclusive competition to win three nights at exactly that
castle? Find details of how to take part on page 35.

Are you sitting comfortably? This is the season to relax with a book.
Of course, as a Spotlight reader, you’ll have chosen a book in English. If you are
looking for something good to read, why not get some tips from our language
L
feature? In “Read and succeed”, which begins on page 14, language editor
Joanna Westcombe explains the concept of graded readers. These are stories
specially written or adapted to suit different learner levels. Choose the right
level for yourself, and reading will be both fun and a useful learning experience. Colo
our
Disp
isplay
Thanks to all of you who took part in our New York quiz in September.
We are proud to announce that the winner is Karin Lender. All the Spotlight
team wish Ms Lender a wonderful trip to New York. There are more prizes to
be won in January for those of you who take part in our readers’ survey. In the
Das EX-word EW-G6100C
meantime, we would like to wish you happy holidays.
für Lehrer mit
21 Wörterbüchern.

Your next holiday?

Waterford Castle in
i.sharp@spotlight-verlag.de southern Ireland
Titelfoto: Getty Images; Foto Editorial: aspectphotography.net

Das EX-word EW-G550C

für Schüler mit
9 Wörterbüchern.

NEU
ight
Jetzt im Spotl
Online-Shop

Mit Spanisch
Spotlight 12|11
1
Gerätespezifische Zusammen-
stellung der Buchinhalte
www.ex-word.de
4_5_Content_12_11_VZ_neu 31.10.11 14:30 Seite 4

CONTENTS | December 2011

This month’s topics

6 People
Names and faces from around the world

8 A Day in My Life
A woman with a flair for colour

10 World View
What’s news and what’s hot

13 Britain Today
Colin Beaven on the song “Last Christmas”

22 Food
A tasty pizza tour of New York City

24 Index 2011
An entire year of Spotlight

28 I Ask Myself
Amy Argetsinger on an outing by the first lady
26 Music in medicine
In Britain, 90 per cent of surgeons listen to music in
36 Around Oz the operating theatre. Jon Henley of Britain’s Guardian
Peter Flynn on bush fires newspaper explores how music helps both the doctors
and their patients.
38 Debate
Should Britain sell arms to the Middle East?

40 History
Walt Disney, an American master of fantasy
WIN
a trip to
42 Press Gallery Ireland
A look at the English-language media

44 Arts
Books, films and music, plus a short story

66 The Lighter Side

Jokes and cartoons

67 American Life
Ginger Kuenzel on America’s wild side

68 Feedback & Impressum

Your letters to Spotlight — and our responses

69 Next Month 30 A great castle getaway

What’s coming next month in Spotlight Retreat to a historic hideaway in Ireland — a wonder-
ful way to experience the quiet charm and warm hos-
70 Talking Point pitality of the land. Julian Earwaker takes us to
John Riach on how English brings us together Waterford Castle for good food and a relaxing holiday.

4 Spotlight 12|11
4_5_Content_12_11_VZ_neu 31.10.11 14:30 Seite 5

In this magazine: 16 language pages

48 Vocabulary
Let’s play a game!

50 The Grammar Page

Intransitive two-word verbs

51 Everyday English
Going to a Christmas market

53 Language Cards
Pull out and practise

55 Travel Talk
A visit to Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city

56 Peggy’s Place
The latest from a London pub

37 Travelogs
57 English at Work
Ken Taylor answers your questions
Cardiff, the capital of Wales, is a place where past and
present meet. Travel through time with a tour of historic 58 Spoken English
mines that powered the Industrial Revolution, and visit Jeeps aren’t cheap: [S], [Z], [tS] and [dZ]
modern monuments. Rita Forbes takes you there.
59 Word Builder
A focus on the words in Spotlight

61 Crossword
Find the words and win a prize

62 Perfectionists Only!
Nuances of English

OUR LANGUAGE LEVELS

The levels of difficulty in Spotlight magazine correspond roughly to
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
A2 B1–B2 C1–C2
To find your level, visit Sprachtest.de

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH WITH SPOTLIGHT PRODUCTS

Fotos: aspectphotography.net; R. Forbes; iStockphoto; laif

Spotlight Audio: hear texts and interviews on our CD or

download. See www.spotlight-online.de/hoeren
Spotlight plus: 24 pages of language exercises related
to the magazine. See www.spotlight-online.de/ueben
Spotlight Online: more information at
www.spotlight-online.de

14 Read to succeed
Time to enjoy books in English! We show you how to
combine the simple joy of reading with improving your
language skills. An expert explains how to use “graded
readers” — to make learning fun and effective.
Spotlight in the Classroom: free of charge
to teachers who subscribe to Spotlight.
See www.spotlight-online.de/teachers
Readers’ service
abo@spotlight-verlag.de · www.spotlight-online.de
Tel.: +49 (0)89 / 85681-16 · Fax: +49 (0)89 / 85681-159
www.SprachenShop.de: order products
from our online shop (see page 46).

12|11 Spotlight 5
6_7_People_12_11 31.10.11 14:31 Seite 6
PEOPLE | Names and Faces
M any people associate South
African politics with the
unifying influence of Nel-
son Mandela and his leadership of the
African National Congress. The rise
of Julius Malema, president of the
ANC Youth League, may change that.
Born into a poor family, Malema
has worked in political groups from a
young age. Despite having only a
high-school diploma, he was elected
to the top position in the powerful
ANCYL in 2008. His election was
In the news
When a New York art gallery recently
showed works by the singer Bob Dylan,
experts suggested that some of the singer’s
paintings had been copied directly from fa-
mous photographs. One painting is identi-
cal to a picture by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
The copying itself is not the problem, says
Rolling Stone magazine. Dylan should not
have described his artworks as taken from
“first-hand” experience, though.
6 Spotlight 12|11
Who exactly is...
Julius
Malema?
considered controversial, but he was
re-elected to the post this year.
The controversy has been intensi-
fied by his recent politics, such as his
campaign to nationalize South Af-
rica’s mines and to take farms from
white people without compensation.
This has made him popular with many
poor blacks, but not with the ANC.
The business community is unhappy,
too, as Malema’s campaign is seen as
partly responsible for a 70 per cent
drop in foreign investment.
British actress Joanna Lumley is deter-
mined to help the Gurkhas. These Nepalese
soldiers have fought for the British for 200
years, but they have had no right to live in
Britain. In 2001, Lumley campaigned to
change this (see Spotlight 7/09). Now, as
Gurkha families have settled in the UK, com-
plaints have come from locals. Lumley is
firm. She told The Daily Telegraph: “We
have a duty to make good on our promises.”
The maverick politician has also
been openly supporting Zimbabwe’s
president, Robert Mugabe. Like Mu-
gabe, Malema enjoys a glamorous
lifestyle. His business activities are
now being looked into by South
African revenue services.
ANC leaders meeting this month
to decide who will represent the party
in future may want to consider the
words of Fiona Forde, author of a bi-
ography of Malema. She told The
Guardian, “I think he is a demagogue.”
Didier Drogba, who comes from Ivory
Coast, has been known to lose his temper
when he plays football for Chelsea. As a
member of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission set up to investigate the re-
cent elections in Ivory Coast, he’ll have to
be more patient. According to Reuters,
Drogba accepted the challenge, saying: “To
say sorry is not easy. I think that is the most
challenging game of our life.”
6_7_People_12_11 31.10.11 14:31 Seite 7

Out of the ordinary

When a map in the new edition of The Times Atlas of the World
showed a huge loss of ice cover in Greenland, climate specialists
questioned whether the map was correct. Dr Graham Cogley
of Trent University in Canada told The Toronto Star : “The atlas esti-
mate is at least 10 times too large.” As it turns out, the map in ques-
tion is indeed incorrect. The publishers apologized for the error.

Not afraid of showing the truth: Nicola Roxon
The Australian health minister, Nicola Roxon, is debating the use
of photos of dying people and sick babies on cigarette packets.
Roxon said she expected tobacco companies to take legal action,
but she told ABC News that she was not “scared off” by this. The
minister hopes that Australia will go ahead with the plans, encour-
aging other countries to follow its example.
Remember when?
Terry Anderson, the last US hostage held in Lebanon,
_______ freed 20 years ago, on 4 December 1991. After six
and a half years as a prisoner, Anderson was taken first
to Germany and then to the US to meet his six-year-old
daughter, whom he had _______ seen. Nearly 100 hostages
were _______ in Lebanon between 1982 and 1992 in an at-
tempt to influence Western policies in the Middle East.
Anderson was kidnapped in March 1985 while he was
head of the Associated Press bureau in Beirut. He spent
his time as a hostage reading and listening _______ the BBC.
He later sued Iran for its support _______ the militant
Islamists who had kidnapped him, and he received mil-
lions of _______ as compensation.
Answers: was; never; taken; to; of; dollars
Happy birthday!

At least one person has been watching the sky carefully this au-
tumn. Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma, may be the only per-
son ever to have been hit by space junk: a small piece of a satellite
fell on to her shoulder in 1997. When parts of another satellite re-
cently fell to earth, Williams wasn’t taking any chances. If space junk
was coming down anywhere near Tulsa, she told the Boston Herald,
she would be staying indoors.
compensation Entschädigung
[)kQmpEn(seIS&n]
diploma [dI(plEUmE] Abschluss
Fotos: Action Press; AP Photo/dapd; W. Claxton; Getty Images; K. Turning
M ost of us spend our 30th birthday thinking about
the time ahead. When Britney Spears celebrates
hers on 2 December, she’ll be looking back, too. Raised in
the American South, Spears still prays before every per-
formance. She recently told Glamour magazine that she
believes “God has a plan for everyone” — in her case, a
very public one. She released her best-selling debut
album when she was 19. The Observer commented that:
“Whilst other little girls were put-
ting posters on their walls, Brit-
ney was wanting to be the

firm [f§:m] standhaft poster on the wall.”

hostage [(hQstIdZ] Geisel The years that followed
Ivory Coast [)aIvEri (kEUst] Elfenbeinküste brought two marriages, two
legal action [)li:g&l (ÄkS&n] gerichtliches Vorgehen children, some wild behav-
make good on sth. halten (➝ p. 59) iour and seven albums that
[meIk (gUd Qn]
maverick [(mÄvErIk] einzelgängerisch
have made her, as Entertain-
release sth. [ri(li:s] etw. herausbringen ment Weekly put it, “an
revenue services Finanzamt American institution”.
[(revEnju: )s§:vIsIz] Now that she is ma-
space junk [(speIs dZVNk] Weltraummüll ture enough to be sexy
take chances [teIk (tSA:nsIz] Risiken eingehen
onstage without causing
Truth and Reconciliation Wahrheits- und
Commission [)tru:T End Versöhnungskommission controversy, the public
)rekEnsIli(eIS&n kE)mIS&n] will be watching to
unifying [(ju:nIfaIIN] einigend see how her singing
whilst [waI&lst] während talent develops.
All grown up?
Britney Spears
08-09_Day in my life_12_11_neu_VZ 28.10.11 11:01 Seite 8

A DAY IN MY LIFE | United States

A life in
color
Leidenschaft Sticken:
INEZ SHARP sprach mit der
Besitzerin eines Stickereiladens
in Florida über ihren Alltag und
treue Kunden.

Creative creature:
Julie Pischke gives
shape to her ideas

M
y name is Julie Pischke. I own a shop selling As soon as I get lunch, my store fills up. I have the
needlepoint products in Key West, Florida. Murphy’s Law of lunch. Once my sandwich is delivered,
When I was young, I really fought against having my phone will ring, and people will come in to buy. If things
a career in needlepoint, because that’s what my mother are slow and I want more business, I just need to order
did. But once I’d accepted the idea, it turned out to be the lunch. A customer will come in and spend up to an hour
perfect choice. I have a faithful, 40-year following of peo- talking to me, getting ideas, and putting together the threads
ple who come here to buy designs that they can stitch at she wants — but that’s normal.
home. They’ll come in and say things like: “Oh, I remem-
ber when you designed for your mother’s store. Do you
remember that card-table cover you created?”
My home and shop are in the same building, which is
a great arrangement. When my children were small, I
could always be here. My husband recently had a severe
accident and now needs a lot of care, so I can be here at
the house for him, too.
My business has two seasons. The winter season is from
December until May. The shop stays open from ten to
five, Tuesday to Friday — with a sip-and-stitch session by
the pool on Thursdays — and on Saturday from ten to
two. In the summer, I have time off to design new lines.
Then I have the peace and quiet to look at all of my
needlepoint designs, which are based on paintings that I
do. I may stay up till two o’clock in the morning working
on a new idea, and I can do that because I don’t have to
worry about opening the shop. I also do some traveling
and look after my internet business. So it’s not a bad gig.
Pick your canvas
8 Spotlight 12|11 (top of picture), then
stitch it using yarns
08-09_Day in my life_12_11_neu_VZ 28.10.11 11:02 Seite 9

INFO TO GO

My favorite products are the big tapestry bags I began needlepoint

designing in 1990. I love playing with linen fibers, sock Needlepoint is a type of embroidery.
yarns, wools, and silks to create different effects. What’s Silk, wool, or cotton threads are
important to me is that the design — whether it’s a hobo stitched through a stiff canvas, with different colors
bag, a tote bag, or a carpetbag — becomes the owner used to make patterns. Needlepoint is often created
who is stitching it. So when someone buys a canvas and using tent stitch, which has a regular, 45-degree
the yarn to stitch onto it, I take in their coloring and what angle. The stitching usually covers all of the cloth.
type of clothing they wear, and match the fiber and yarn Another type of embroidery is free embroidery, used
to that. To me, that is good design. I know my to decorate small areas of cloth. Many people think
products when I see them. It’s nice walking of tapestry as a type of embroidery, but in a real
through an airport and watching my bags go by. tapestry, the design is woven into the cloth,
not stitched on afterwards.
This is probably going to sound a little
bizarre, but I usually spend my evenings doing Murphy’s Law
my own stitching. Once a week I play cards with “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”: that’s
my girlfriends, and sometimes I go to the movies. But Murphy’s Law. Its origins are not completely clear, but
often I leave my store at about nine in the evening and go it is usually attributed to the American aerospace en-
upstairs, get a bite to eat, and sit in front of the television gineer Edward A. Murphy (1918–90). He is said
to do my needlepoint or work on designs. to have created the “law” — a term
First I draw my design on paper. I love the old paper often used in the sciences — when a
grocery bags. I cut them open, so they are big, and draw machine he was working on failed to
on them. Then, once I have my masters done, two painters function. Which of these sentences is not
duplicate my designs on canvas. So an example of Murphy’s Law?
every one of them is hand-painted. a) You pack very carefully for your trip,
I should probably have a better but still forget to take your passport.
work-life balance, but the evenings b) In April, John takes the winter tires off
are my only downtime. That’s when his car. A week later, there is a big snow-
I have the chance to review the day. storm.
By the time the 11 o’clock news c) Alice and James are the perfect couple: they
comes on, my stuff goes in the bag, are always late. They even arrived late to
and I go to bed. The next day, I get their own wedding!
up, have breakfast, go downstairs,
and it’s showtime once again. •
hobo bag, tote bag, carpetbag
become sb. [bi(kVm] hier: jmdm. stehen Do you know your way around bag
canvas [(kÄnvEs] Leinen, Leinwand shapes (see Spotlight 1/10)? You
card-table cover Kartentischdecke know what a rucksack is, and a brief-
[(kA:rd )teIb&l )kVv&r] case in which you carry things to
downtime [(daUntaIm] Freizeit, Erholung
work. But what about the three types
embroidery [Im(brOIdEri] Stickerei
faithful [(feITf&l] treu
of bag mentioned by Julie Pischke?
following [(fA:loUIN] Anhängerschaft; Can you match each bag with its
hier: Kundenstamm description?
gig [gIg] ifml. Job
grocery bag [(groUsEri )bÄg] Einkaufstüte a) hobo a ➯ 1. a large bag with two short
have time off [hÄv )taIm (O:f] frei haben
bag handles often used as a
linen fiber [(lInIn faIb&r] Leinenfaser
b) tote b ➯ suitcase for short journeys
master [(mÄst&r] Vorlage
severe [sI(vI&r] schlimm bag 2. a handbag usually shaped
sip-and-stitch session Stickkränzchen c) carpet- c ➯ like a half moon
Fotos: J: Pischke; iStockphoto

[)sIp End (stItS )seS&n] bag 3. a medium-size bag often

(sip [sIp] nippen)
used for shopping
sock yarn [(sA:k jA:rn] Sockenwolle
stitch [stItS] sticken
tapestry bag [(tÄpIstri )bÄg] Gobelintasche bags: a–2; b–3; c–1
thread [Tred] Garn (→ p. 59) Murphy’s Law: c) is not an example of Murphy’s Law
Answers
10_12_World View_12_11 04.11.11 10:19 Seite 10

WORLD VIEW | News in Brief

It’s a good
month to enter...

the Great
Christmas
Pudding Race
BRITAIN No British Christmas would be com-
plete without a Christmas pudding. This rich, cake-like
dessert, made with spices, dried fruit and alcohol, is tradi-
tionally set on fire before being served. This scene will be
familiar to anyone who remembers the Cratchit family’s
dinner in Charles Dickens’s classic story A Christmas Carol.
On 3 December, Londoners gather in Covent Garden
for a less traditional celebration of this treat. For the Great
Christmas Pudding Race, teams of six people run through
an obstacle course while balancing a Christmas pudding
on a tray. They might dress as Santa Claus, or even as a
Christmas pudding, and they complete tasks such as dec-
orating a Christmas tree during the race. Near the end,
those watching the race spray them with whipped cream.
It’s a wild event that enthusiasts say could have origi-
nated only in England. But it’s not just about laughs. The
race benefits cancer research, for which it has collected
nearly £1 million since 1980. The event is free to watch
and good fun for the family. For details or to enter your
own team, visit www.xmaspuddingrace.org.uk

benefit [(benIfIt] zugute kommen spice [spaIs] Gewürz

enthusiast [In(Tju:ziÄst] Liebhaber(in) task [tA:sk] Aufgabe
obstacle course [(QbstEk&l kO:s] Hindernislauf tray [treI] Tablett
property [(prQpEti] Eigentum treat [tri:t] (besondere) Leckerei
sensitive to [(sensEtIv tE] empfindlich auf turn down [t§:n (daUn] ablehnen
socialized medicine staatliches Gesundheits- whipped cream Schlagsahne
[)sEUSElaIzd (meds&n] system [wIpt (kri:m]

Money for nothing? make the band members rich — quickly. Some estimate that
Teaparty.com may be worth more than $1 million.
CANADA It’s been years since a Canadian rock band But selling isn’t an easy decision for the band, which is currently
called The Tea Party have had a hit. But recent politics in the US may on a reunion tour. Its own politics compli-
change their luck. The band’s website, cate the decision.
Teaparty.com, has become a hot “As Canadians, we’re somewhat sensi-
property in the past two years. tive to all the [Tea Party’s] criticism of so-
The reason is the rise of the cialized medicine,” bassist Stuart
Tea Party, a conservative move- Chatwood told BusinessWeek. But it would
ment in the US associated with be hard to turn down a good offer. “We’ve
politicians like Sarah Palin and Rick got families,” Chatwood said.
Perry. Selling the domain name could
Just rock and roll: this Tea
Party is not about politics
10 Spotlight 12|11
10_12_World View_12_11 31.10.11 14:33 Seite 11

Fighting for more

AUSTRALIA While barring women from certain jobs seems unthinkable in Sprachen lernen
most fields, it is normal in parts of the military. The discrimination is usually based on whether
women meet the physical qualifications needed for a specific job (see Spotlight 12/10).
The Age reports that this is changing in Australia. While 93 per cent of Defence Force po-
– einfach
sitions are currently open to women, the remaining seven per cent will be made available dur-
ing the next five years, including high-status positions in the infantry and special forces.
beim Lesen!
“In the future, your role in the Defence Force will be determined by your ability, not on
the basis of your sex,” Defence Minister Stephen Smith said. As always, applicants will need
to have “the right physical, psychological and mental attributes to be able to do that job”.
While Australia is not the first
country to take this step — Canada,
New Zealand and Israel have “non-
discriminatory” policies for front-line
positions — it is still a radical transi-
tion. Australian culture is often re-
garded as macho. Smith called it “a
significant and major cultural change”.

Female soldiers in Australia:

soon they’ll be able to do more

Neu
alleviate [E(li:vieIt] verringern, erleichtern
applicant [(ÄplIkEnt] Bewerber(in)
attribute [(ÄtrIbju:t] Eigenschaft
bar sb. from doing sth. jmdn. von etw. ausschließen
[)bA: frEm (du:IN]
better off: be ~ [US )bet&r (O:f] es besser haben
companion [kEm(pÄnjEn] Kamerad(in)
Defence Force [di(fens fO:s] Aus. Streitkräfte
defence minister [di(fens )mInIstE] Verteidigungsminister(in)
Billy Elliot
saliva [sE(laIvE] Speichel
Screenplay by Lee Hall
144 S. · UB 19818 · € 4,60

The value of a best friend Reclams Rote Reihe

UNITED STATES Parents may worry that their children’s
friends will become — or already are — a bad influence on them. Science
shows, however, that young people are much better off when their best friends Englische und amerikanische Literatur
are with them in difficult situations. in der Originalfassung.
Fotos: AFP/Getty Images; Intertopics; Pixland

A study by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center asked 100 chil- Mit praktischen Übersetzungshilfen.
dren between 10 and 12 years of age to keep a record of their feelings — and Zum reclam-typischen Preis.
their companions — throughout the day. The children’s saliva was also tested
for the stress hormone cortisol. The results
Ein Verzeichnis der Roten Reihe mit Informa-
clearly showed that stress was alleviated tionen zu jedem Titel können Sie im Info-Pool
more by the presence of a child’s best auf www.reclam.de herunterladen.
friend than that of any other person,
including family members. Experts
think that the findings of the study www.reclam.de
could well be relevant to adults, too.
“One of the interesting things
about these findings is that it’s not
just any friend — it’s the best
friend,” Dr. Ryan Adams, the
study’s main author told The
Daily Mail. Viel mehr als
Klassiker in Gelb.
10_12_World View_12_11 31.10.11 14:33 Seite 12

WORLD VIEW | News in Brief

Mosquito, be gone!

WHAT’S HOT
A good life for
ISRAEL Why hasn’t anyone tried this before? That is the re-
action received by two scientists in Israel who hoped to find an inexpensive, small dogs
safe way to reduce the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes. Their plan:
Poisoned food: simply to poison the mosquitoes’ food. BRITAIN Running, jump-
the end of While egg-laying female mosquitoes need blood as ing, rolling on the ground: is there
mosquitoes? a source of iron and protein, mosquitoes get their nu- anything more joyful than an ani-
trition primarily from the nectar of flowers or the juice mal at play? Dogs are no exception
of fruit. The scientists, from Hebrew University in — except, of course, those that have
Jerusalem, have made a poisonous spent their lives in handbags.
cocktail that has proved highly effective The Dogs’ Trust charity says the
in killing off mosquitoes — and at a low cost. number of “handbag dogs” being
In tests in West Africa, plants near mosquito breed- given up by their owners has in-
ing areas were sprayed with a mixture of fermented fruit creased dramatically. Why? Celebri-
juice, dye and boric acid, which is harmless to humans. ties such as Paris Hilton have
After a few days, more than 90 per cent of the mosquitoes were decided they no longer want them,
dead. The New York Times reports that the strategy has been effective in reducing and so their fans do the same, leav-
the numbers of older females, the mosquitoes most likely to spread diseases ing the dogs at shelters. There it is
like malaria or dengue fever among humans. Two questions remain to be an- discovered that many cannot even
swered: will the method work in wetter areas with many sources of nectar, and walk properly. One such miniature
how often will one have to spray? The scientists are optimistic. chihuahua “hardly knew how to use
her legs”, The Telegraph reports.
boric acid [)bO:rIk (ÄsId] Borsäure “Although they are bred as com-
breed [bri:d] züchten panions, they don’t ask to be
breeding area [(bri:dIN )eEriE] Brutgebiet kept in handbags,” said
buffer [(bVfE] Puffer Southampton shelter
companion [kEm(pÄnjEn] Gefährte, Begleiter manager Lara Alford.
Dogs’ Trust charity gemeinnützige Vereinigung zum Schutz
[(dQgz trVst )tSÄrEti] und zur Vermittlung streunender Hunde
“Lack of exer-
dye [daI] Farbstoff cise can cause
exercise [(eksEsaIz] hier: Bewegung poor bone
nightmarish [(naItmeErIS] albtraumhaft development.”
nutrition [nju(trIS&n] Nahrung
prime forest [praIm (fQrIst] Urwald Cute: but hand-
resident [(rezIdEnt] Einwohner(in) bag dogs are
neither happy
shanty town [(SÄnti taUn] Barackenstadt, Slum
nor healthy
shelter [(SeltE] Tierheim

New neighbours
INDIA You’re walking home late. It’s dark and quiet.
Somehow you have the feeling you’re being followed, maybe even
by one of your nearest neighbours — a big cat.
This nightmarish scenario has been
a housing complex just metres from the edge of the park. “People
are frightened. There are guys who work late shifts and call-centre
workers who feel threatened when they come home at night.”
It’s not just people who suffer from the situation. The invasion
of the park by humans is creating a stressful situation for wildlife
as well.
Fotos: Action Press; AP Photo/dapd; iStockphoto

playing out in Mumbai. The population “The slums are spreading into
of India’s largest city has nearly doubled prime forest land, so it’s a situation
in the past 20 years, with roughly half of man has created,” Geeta Seshamani, co-
the city’s residents living in slums. More founder of Wildlife SOS, told The Aus-
and more of the shanty towns are grow- tralian. “The buffer between the park
ing closer to the border of Sanjay Gandhi and the city has disappeared, so it is
National Park — home to wild leopards. not the leopard’s fault. He has just
“The leopards took a dog on Tues- found himself in the same place as a lot
day,” said Nancy Nagwekar, who lives in of people.”

A leopard attack in an
12 Spotlight 12|11 Indian village
13_Britain Today_12_11 28.10.11 11:03 Seite 13

Britain Today | COLIN BEAVEN

“ You gave me your heart, but

I’d prefer a diamond

”
A message from the heart
Worum geht es in George Michaels Lied “Last Christmas” wirklich? Und was
sollen wir zu Weihnachten verschenken, wenn nicht unser Herz?

W hen you go off to do your

Christmas shopping, you
can guarantee that sooner
or later you’ll be listening to that song
by George Michael — the one about
last Christmas.
The shops can’t go five minutes
without playing it. “Last Christmas,
I gave you my heart, but the very next
day, you gave it away.” I must have
heard this song a thousand times, but
what’s it really about? I’ve never given
it much thought.
Perhaps it’s about a really long
game of cards. Card games are popu-
lar at Christmas; the singer here was
no doubt playing poker, or more
probably bridge, and had an unusual
hand — lots of spades, clubs and
diamonds, but only one heart.
And when he passed this heart to
his partner in the game he was play-
ing, this person used the card when
he shouldn’t have done. But is that
really enough to make you so cross
you have to write a song about it?
Well, some people take their card
games very seriously.
No? OK, here’s a different explana-
tion. It may be a song about that age-
old problem of what you do with your
unwanted Christmas presents. You
give someone a present, and she takes
it to the charity shop to give it away as
soon as the holiday’s over: “I got a
heart for Christmas. If I have to have
a present that sounds like a playing
card, I’d prefer a diamond, thank you.”
Hearts are certainly an unusual
Christmas present, and choosing to
Foto: iStockphoto
Still not convinced I’ve got the
right interpretation? Well, perhaps it
was simply another way of trying to
lose weight. It’s the same thing every
Christmas: we eat too much. We eat
too much anyway — they tell us that
half of British males will be obese by
2030 — but at Christmas, it’s all
much worse.
Even Father Christmas has a
problem. Again, there’s a song about
this — this time one that you some-
times hear children singing, to the
melody of “Frère Jacques”:
“Father Christmas, Father Christmas:
He got stuck, he got stuck,
Coming down the chimney,
coming down the chimney.
What bad luck! What bad luck!”
Well, a heart weighs about a third
of a kilo — so when you give one
away, it’s a step in the right direction.
Actually, though, it may not be
such a bad idea to give someone your
heart at Christmas. Not your real
heart, of course — I’m talking
metaphorically.
They always say that Christmas is
for children, and a recent report from
UNICEF tells us that children in
charity [(tSÄrEti]
chimney [(tSImni]
clubs [klVbz]
cross [krQs]
diamonds [(daIEmEndz]
Frère Jacques [)frer& (Zak&] Fr.
goods [gUdz]
hand [hÄnd]
lack [lÄk]
make up for sth. [meIk (Vp fO:]
obese [EU(bi:s]
Britain are un-
happier than
they are in
other coun-
tries. Why? Be-
cause, it seems,
parents don’t
have enough
time to spend
with them.
They buy them lots of things, but
material goods don’t make up for the
lack of time that is spent together as
a family.
British parents ought to take this
report to heart this year. You can just
imagine the happy smiles on their
children’s faces when mum and dad
tell them on Christmas morning:
“No Christmas presents this year,
kids. We’re giving you quality time
instead. We’re all going to spend the
whole day together as a family —
with Uncle Fred, Auntie Lizzie and,
of course, Granny and Grandad. Now,
how about a nice game of cards?”
That’s when it’s time to start
singing “Last Christmas” — with an
extra bit at the beginning: “How long
does it last, Christmas?” •
wohltätige Organisation
Schornstein
hier: Kreuz
ärgerlich
hier: Karo
Bruder Jakob
Ware
hier: (Kartenspiel) Blatt (→ p. 59)
Mangel
etw. ausgleichen, wettmachen
fettleibig

give one away seems a missed oppor-

quality time [(kwQlEti )taIm] gemeinsame Zeit
tunity. If George Michael had given
spades [speIdz] hier: Pik
away his lungs or his voice box, we voice box [(vOIs bQks] Kehlkopf
could all do our shopping in peace.
12|11 Spotlight 13
14-18_21_Book clubs_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:37 Seite 14

LANGUAGE | Reading

Read and
succeed

Lesen macht glücklich und kann beim

Sprachenlernen viel bringen. Wie Sie sich
das Lesen im Englischen erleichtern können, zeigt
JOANNA WESTCOMBE. Dazu befragt sie auch eine
Herausgeberin von sogenannten Readers.

14 Spotlight 12|11
14-18_21_Book clubs_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:37 Seite 15

W hat are you reading at the moment? Spotlight, of

course! Yes, but what book are you reading? Your
answer might be “a thriller”, “an autobiographi-
cal novel”, “the latest Henning Mankell” or “a biography
of...”. Or perhaps you are “between books” at the moment.
Whatever your response, we’re sure you have something
on your bedside table to read for pleasure or relaxation.
But if we ask, “What are you reading in English?”, what
would you reply then? “Texts in a coursebook”, “An article
to prepare for my next lesson”, “Well, I read something on
the internet yesterday”?
Over the past ten years or so, research has shown the
multiple benefits of doing lots of reading — for general un-
derstanding and enjoyment — in the language you are
learning. Experts call this “extensive reading”. If you read a Read and become
lot, you’ll know its power and the joy it can bring, but of
course, reading in a language that you are learning is very
a better reader
different from reading in your mother tongue. So, on the If you keep the level easy, you can stop thinking about
next few pages, you’ll find background information and tips learning English and start interacting with the story and
on this kind of reading. We also talk to author and editor its characters as you do in your own language, asking ques-
Jennifer Bassett about graded readers — stories specially tions such as: “Why did she do that?” and “What’s going
tailored to the English learner. Lastly, we look at some of to happen next?” You’ll start reading fluently, in phrases
the ways in which you can share what you’ve been reading. rather than single words, and deducing new words from
So, read on! the context rather than stopping each time you meet one.
Fluent readers in any language don’t let an unknown word

Why read? get in the way of a good story.

Reading in a foreign language will improve your vocabu-

lary and your understanding of how the language works. Read and set
And the more you read, the better your reading skills will your brain free
become. Here are three main reasons for reading.
When you read a good story, it’s an active process. You’re
Read and learn constantly using your imagination to fill in the gaps —
physical descriptions, journeys taken and characters’ lives.
Language researchers agree that if you read, you will learn Reading can help you create a new world in your head.
new words. However, you can process new words in a Leave your own world and you’ll relax. Relax, and your
text only if you know 98 per cent of the rest — about brain will be free to learn.
50 known words to one unknown word. This means that It’s no wonder that when teachers and researchers come
to improve your vocabulary through reading, it is impor- together to discuss extensive reading, they call it “the magic
tant that you choose something easy to read — slightly carpet of language learning”.
below your language level (see page 21).
Of course, you won’t learn a word by seeing it once. If
you enter the world of a story, though, certain elements
above all [E)bVv (O:l] vor allem, besonders
will repeat themselves: in a crime story, “murderer”, “vic- benefit [(benIfIt] Vorteil
tim”, “crime scene”, for example; and in a love story, words crime scene [(kraIm si:n] Tatort
to do with the heart and emotions. The combination of deduce [di(dju:s] ableiten
narrative and dialogue in a typical story also shows you gap [gÄp] Lücke
how tenses are used naturally, and how spoken language magic carpet fliegender Teppich
Fotos: Hemera; Photodisc

[)mÄdZIk (kA:pIt]
differs from written language.
narrative [(nÄrEtIv] Erzählung
Above all, the new language that you learn as a reader process [(prEUses] verarbeiten (➝ p. 59)
is “yours”. It’s not what your teacher told you to learn, but tailor sth. to sb. etw. auf jmdn. zuschneiden
your own personal discovery, which means you’ll probably [(teIlE tE]
remember it better.

12|11 Spotlight 15
14-18_21_Book clubs_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:37 Seite 16
LANGUAGE | Reading
Seven steps for stories
Authors write for you, the reader. They invent characters,
write descriptions, create dialogue and build suspense for
your fascination and enjoyment. So it is important that
you see yourself as a reader, not a language learner. The
number-one rule is to read things that are easy for you.
Choose the stories you want to read — not the ones you
think you should read — on topics that appeal to you, and
stop if you are not enjoying the book. Once you’ve chosen
your book, follow these steps:
Read the story, not the foreign language. At first,
this may mean forcing yourself to move your eyes over the
text. Try to pause at commas and full stops, not after single
words. If you get even a vague sense of a story, that’s an
important step on your way to becoming a fluent reader.
Try to ignore the hard words. Keep reading
phrase by phrase, and you’ll notice your brain beginning
to work — piecing together the meaning from the bits you
understand, and matching what you’re reading with what
you already know or expect of the story.
Reread a line or paragraph sometimes — you’ve cer-
tainly done this in your own language, too. You’ll probably
find that the story becomes clearer, and that you under-
stand much more on a second reading.
Joanna Westcombe talked to Jennifer Bassett, series editor of the Oxford Bookworms
Library, about books for language learners which are known as “graded readers”.
What are graded readers and where can I find them?
Graded readers are texts for learners of English. The stories
are written in graded language accessible to learners from
elementary level through to advanced. Most of the big
English-as-a-foreign-language publishers offer at least one
series of readers. You can find out about these from their
websites.
It’s your choice:
graded readers
have something
16 Spotlight 12|11
for everyone
Refer to the German version of the book if
you have one. Treat yourself to a few paragraphs of it or
the beginning of a chapter from time to time. It may help
to reconnect you with the story.
Listen to an audiobook of the story in English.
You might start by listening to just the first chapter before
you begin to read the book. This will help to set up the
story and give you a sense of the sounds and phrasing of
narrative and dialogue in English. It might also help you
pronounce characters’ names correctly — think of
Hermione [h§:(maIEni] in the Harry Potter novels. Listen
while you read; alternate between the book and the audio,
or listen to a chapter you have just read. Be careful, though:
if you have already enjoyed the audio to the end, and espe-
cially if you have watched a film version of the book, it
may be difficult to sit down to read the same thing again.
Use a dictionary if you really need to, but only once
you’ve put the book itself down. You’ll often find that you
are able to guess the meaning of a word, or that it is not
important to the story.
Tell somebody about the book when you fin-
ish it. Talking about a book helps you remember the story
(and its language), and the other person will be impressed
that you’ve read a book in English. An especially powerful
way of sharing a book is to join a book club (see page 21).
Are graded readers written specially for learners of
English?
Some are original stories; others are retold stories. These
are adaptations of existing novels or short stories. The real-
ly important test for a graded reader, though, is not where
the story came from, but how good the storytelling is: does
it hold your attention and make you want to find out what
happens next?
Some people might think these sound like books
for helping children learn to read. Is that the case?
There’s a huge range of graded readers for all ages. You’ll
find all the genres — detective stories, thrillers, true stories,
love stories, science fiction... There are adaptations of mod-
ern fiction, as well as of literary classics. In the Oxford
Bookworms Library, we have World Stories — adaptations
of short stories by writers from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean
— wherever people are writing creatively in English. Sto-
ries like these give us insights into other cultures and ex-
periences, and offer a taste of different forms of English.
14-18_21_Book clubs_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:37 Seite 17

Can you say more about the grading of vocabulary and grammar?
Most graded reader series follow a list of vocabulary and grammatical structures
at each level. This reflects the general language progression used in coursebooks.
But vocabulary and grammar are only a small part of grading. The way that
grammatical forms and vocabulary combine in a text can make all the differ-
ence to your understanding. As an example:
“The first thing she did was look at the date on the letter.”
This sentence describes a simple action, with easy vocabulary, but readers
at lower levels would probably struggle to unpack the meaning of the three
verbs “did was look” and might lose the flow of the story.

How is this type of reading better than learning with a coursebook?

This is the really exciting thing about extensive reading. Learning language
through a coursebook is like banking. It is conscious learning, in which you ac-
quire bits of new language — a word here, a new verb tense there, a handful
of phrasal verbs — and you deposit them in your memory “bank”. You might
have a lot of useful bits of language, but nothing to link them up.
Graded reading provides an opportunity for unconscious learning. If you
read at a level that is comfortable for you, you can concentrate on meaning,
not on language, and your brain can begin to reach a global understanding of
a longer text. When this process begins to happen, all kinds of good things
follow: your reading speed and reading fluency increase; and as your speed in-
creases, reading becomes easier, so you enjoy it more and you do more of it.

acquire [E(kwaIE] erarbeiten

adaptation [)ÄdÄp(teIS&n] Bearbeitung
alternate [(O:ltEneIt] wechseln
appeal to sb. [E(pi:&l tE] jmdm. gefallen, jmdm. zusagen
chapter [(tSÄptE] Kapitel
conscious [(kQnSEs] bewusst
deposit [di(pQzIt] ablegen
graded [(greIdId] an Ihr Niveau angepasst
phrasing [(freIzIN] Ausdrucksweise, Stil
progression [prEU(greS&n] Verlauf, Fortschritt
publisher [(pVblISE] Verlag
Foto: Brand X Pictures

range [reIndZ] Bandbreite

suspense [sE(spens] Spannung
treat oneself to sth. [(tri:t wVn)self tE] sich etw. gönnen
vague [veIg] vage
14-18_21_Book clubs_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:37 Seite 18

LANGUAGE | Reading

I can answer some compre-

hension questions on it”? Of
course not! I’m afraid that all
publishers of graded readers
provide an enormous amount
of excess baggage. The best
way to follow up on your
reading is to respond to it by
answering questions like
“Which character in the story
would you like to sit next to
on a long flight and why?”
and “What advice would you
give the hero when he...?”

What should learners do when they finish a book?

Share the experience, whether it was a good one or a bad
one. It’s perfectly OK not to like a book. These days, there
are many ways of sharing your reading experiences online,
in a Facebook group or through social cataloguing sites:
there’s a growing community of Bookworms readers on
www.librarything.com, for example. Talking about books
face-to-face is probably the most productive thing to do,
though, and it’s fun (see page 21).

What is the future likely to hold for graded readers

and extensive reading?
Graded readers can already be found digitally, as apps for
smartphones, as e-books in digital libraries and to down-
load to computers or hand-held devices. It doesn’t matter
What about reading stories in the original English? if you read from a book or
If you’re learning to play the piano, you don’t begin by try- a screen, as long as you
ing to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Reading original read, and read often. It will
texts can become an exercise in decoding them and focus- be interesting to see if nar-
ing entirely on the language. It may also involve hard work rative texts get shorter in
with a dictionary. Again, this is the “banking” system of the future. We are told that
learning. It’s not reading. attention spans are shrink-
In extensive reading, you should read at a comfortable ing as the young “digital
level, which means meeting no more than one or two un- natives” begin to replace
known items on a page. Ask yourself three questions: “Can “analogue oldies” like me.
I read it without a dictionary?” “Am I reading it quickly?” Yes, I love books, and yes,
“Do I understand almost everything?” I also have a Kindle.
Reading at the right language level is crucial, because
the goal of extensive reading is to become a competent
reader. This can happen only if you read lots and lots of
text — and this in turn can happen only if the reading
matter is comprehensible. comprehensible verständlich
[)kQmprI(hensEb&l]
Some graded readers include extra material such crucial [(kru:S&l] entscheidend
as comprehension questions or vocabulary tests. decode [di:(kEUd] entschlüsseln, übersetzen
Foto: Brand X Pictures

What do you think of these? excess baggage Übergepäck

[Ik)ses (bÄgIdZ]
I hate comprehension questions — and vocabulary tests! hand-held device Handgerät, Palmtop
If you’re reading a really good thriller, do you say to your- [)hÄnd held di(vaIs]
self, “Oh, I can’t wait to get to the end of this story so that
18 Spotlight 12|11 continued on page 21
winter_beihefter_spotlight_12-11 28.10.11 11:33 Seite 1

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14-18_21_Book clubs_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:37 Seite 21

BOOK CLUBS
You are an author and series editor for Bookworms,
and you are passionate about stories and story- STEPHANIE SHELLABEAR
telling. Is this your dream job? introduces you to the
Yes, it is! Of course there are good days and bad writing wonderful world of
days — when the narrative structure just won’t come out book clubs.
right; or when I’ve rewritten a dialogue for the seventeenth
time, and the characters still sound as if they’re sleepwalk-
ing. But then, after months of work, I finally have a brand-
new Bookworm in my hand that is ready for the wide
B ook clubs have become
more and more popular in
the English-speaking world
world and which will provide — I hope — a story that over the last ten years or so. A
will both engage you as a reader and empower you as a book club is a group of people
language learner. who agree to read the same
book and then to meet on a Books for book clubs:
Jennifer Bassett has set date — at the house of one they help you to read
been reading, writing and of the members or at a cafe, and then also talk
thinking about stories for for example — to talk about about various topics
learners of English for the book, its plot and the characters. The Jane Austen Book
more than 20 years. In Club by Karen Joy Fowler is a novel about such a group that has
addition to her work as also been made into a film. Publishers love the idea of book
series editor for Oxford clubs, of course, and you may have noticed a new section at
Bookworms and other col- the back of some English novels, containing questions and
lections, she has written background information to inspire discussion at book-club
or retold about 40 graded- meetings.
reader stories, several of How can joining a book club help you improve your
which have won awards. English? Well, all the members get the opportunity to say
what they liked most about the book — or what they didn’t
like — and to talk about characters with whom they could
identify. After all, we all have our personal preferences
It’s never too late to start reading. When when it comes to content, style, era, author and so on. It’s
you put down this issue of Spotlight, why not pick up a all about meeting up, socializing, communicating and ex-
story in English? You can look forward to the enjoyment pressing your opinion — the things that learners usually
of a good story and the feeling of success that finishing a want and need to do in English.
book can bring. Send us an e-mail at language@spotlight If you feel uncomfortable talking in English with a group
-verlag.de to let us know what you’re reading, what you’ve of friends, why not simply agree to read a book in English, but
read or what you would recommend to other Spotlight talk about it in German? You may find that, once you start to
readers. We’re sure you’ll have a success story to tell. • discuss parts of the book and read out sections of the text to
make your point, you automatically switch to English. By start-
ing in your mother tongue, you can create a familiar atmos-
MORE INFORMATION phere in which speaking English with non-English friends
Listen to German members of the Spotlight team talk slowly becomes easier and more enjoyable. Alternatively, you
about graded readers they have recently read, and find could invite people to join your book club with whom you nor-
useful links at www.spotlight-online.de mally speak English anyway.
If you decide to set up your own book club, a variety of
Find out your language level at www.sprachtest.de websites exists that can give you ideas for getting people to-
gether, suggest books to read, and help you structure a book-
Get tips on how to start a book club at club meeting. See the information on the left for details.
www.oup-bookworms.com/reading-circles.cfm
and www.litlovers.com/start-a-book-club
after all [)A:ftE (O:l] schließlich
Buy readers at empower [Im(paUE] stärken, befähigen
engage [In(geIdZ] hier: fesseln
plot [plQt] Handlung
Watch Jennifer Bassett in action at series editor [(sIEri:z )edItE] Herausgeber(in) einer Reihe
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCZ2vhmwidA socialize [(sEUSElaIz] Kontakte knüpfen

12|11 Spotlight 21
22-23_Food_12_11_neu 28.10.11 11:03 Seite 22

FOOD | Pizza

W
A sl
h e n and other toppings,

ork
Donald then baked very hot,
Tr u m p giving it a mildly blis-
took Sarah Palin out tered edge. The finished
to eat earlier this year, pie is about 18 inches
it made a lot of people (45 cm) across. When sold

wY
mad — or, at least, sad. by the slice, it is usually cut
Why? The rich man with
the famous hair bought
ice
pizza for Alaska’s former gov-
into eight large pieces.
The recipe is similar to that
of the big, crunchy pizza pre-
ernor at a mediocre chain res- ferred in Naples, the city in south-
taurant in Manhattan. On The ern Italy where most of New York’s
Daily Show, comedian Jon Stewart

Ne
first pizza bakers were born. Another
of
summed up the reaction: “For f*ck’s kind found in New York is a thick, soft
sake, it’s New York City! I hate to use pizza with lots of sauce. Baked in a rec-
this term this close to Ground Zero, tangular shape and cut into squares, it is
but we’re a bit of a pizza mecca.” sold as “Sicilian” slices.
New Yorkers are passionate about Now that we have some background,
pizza. Everyone has a favorite pizza place, Scott walks us over to Lombardi’s on Spring
even if it is just a hole-in-the-wall. Scott Mit Street. The restaurant in Little Italy opened in
Wiener shares this passion, but with a differ- CLAUDIA 1905. It was the first pizzeria in New York —
ence: he has turned his culinary interest into a HELLMANN and, so it is claimed, America. We follow Scott
business, taking people from one pizza hot spot lernen wir New to the kitchen, where we watch the pizza pies fly
to the next. I joined Scott and a dozen others in and out of a huge brick oven, which reaches
Yorks berühmte
for a three-hour walk through Little Italy and temperatures of 900 degrees Fahrenheit (480 de-
Greenwich Village, his popular crosstown tour. Pizza kennen. grees Celsius) or more.
New York-style pizza, Scott tells us, comes Wer könnte sie “The pizzas have to be rotated almost con-
from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where nicht lieben? stantly,” Scott says, “and they are in there for
numerous Italian immigrants settled, starting in three and a half minutes, maximum.”
the late 19th century. Many worked as bakers, We sit down at Lombardi’s for our first slice.
and some started making “tomato pies” from their left- “The point of a New York pizza is to pick it up with your
over dough, allowing them to get more use out of ovens hands,” Scott explains. To demonstrate, he takes out a slice
already hot from baking bread. The pies, which we know of pizza made of felt. After a few laughs, we follow his in-
as “pizza pies,” were sold by the slice as cheap snacks to structions: place your index finger in the middle of the
workers, who ate them with their hands. Not much has crust. Then fold up the sides of the slice to achieve what
changed — except that today, pizza is anything but a side Scott calls “the simple architecture of a reverse Roman
business. arch.” When a slice is as big as it is at Lombardi’s, getting
The classic New York pizza is made from bread-flour the floppy tip into your mouth can be a challenge. Using
dough that is hand-tossed into a round shape. The thin our guide’s technique, though, it’s easy to see why pizza is
dough base is covered with a light layer of tomato sauce the perfect street food. When the last member of our
Pizza is the perfect street food: Mayor Michael Bloomberg (center) demonstrates the eating technique, and tourists try to learn it

22 Spotlight 12|11
22-23_Food_12_11_neu 28.10.11 11:03 Seite 23

Taking pizza to
the next level:
guide Scott Wiener

group puts away his utensils to pick up his slice, Scott Lombardi’s in the 1920s be-
smiles. “It’s always special watching that first fold,” he says. fore opening his own pizze-
(Trump, he says, added insult to injury during his date ria. It’s a rustic place, where
with Palin by eating pizza with a fork. Sacrilege!) generations of customers
Lombardi’s pizza (pictured below) is delicious: it has a have scratched their names
thin, crispy crust, mild tomato sauce — made from un- into the wood paneling next
cooked tomatoes only — blotches of fresh mozzarella, and to the tables. When the pizza
fresh basil. This is the pizza style of New York in the early comes out of the brick oven,
1900s. Today’s New York pizza is made using cooked toma- the mozzarella is still bub-
toes, low-moisture mozzarella, and dried oregano instead bling, and the thin crust is
of fresh basil. The difference becomes clear when we test slightly charred. The sauce is
our next slice — at Joe’s Pizza on Carmine Street in Green- sweet, thanks to the overripe
wich Village. Pino “Joe” Pozzuoli from Naples opened his tomatoes used to make it.
restaurant in 1975. Today, this little pizzeria with its gas As with all good things,
oven is a typical place for getting a “slice to go.” our pizza walk must come to an end. I thank Scott for the
Scott has called ahead, so two pies are waiting for us. tour, but it’s not over — not for me. I continue on my
The slices are huge. The sauce tastes zesty and sweet, and own with a trip on the subway to L&B Spumoni Gardens
the crust is thin and crispy. The mozzarella has melted into in Brooklyn for an unusual Sicilian slice (the sauce is put
one beautiful layer of cheese. At Joe’s, you can sit down on top of the mozzarella), and to wait in a long line at that
inside, or continue enjoying your pie in the park in Father famous pizza temple, Grimaldi’s. (It’s worth it!) Later on,
Demo Square, as we do. Pizza al fresco: it doesn’t get more I even eat a surprisingly good “dollar slice” at 2 Brothers
authentic than this! Pizza near Times Square. As they say in New York, when
A few blocks away is the last stop on the tour: John’s pizza’s good, it’s really good — and when it’s bad, it’s still
Pizzeria of Bleecker Street. Founder John Sasso worked at pretty good. •
add insult to injury etw. noch schlimmer machen For f*ck’s sake! Verdammt nochmal!
[Äd )InsVlt tu (IndZEri] [f&r fVks (seIk] vulg.
(insult Beleidigung) index finger [(Indeks )fINg&r] Zeigefinger
blister [(blIst&r] Blasen werfen layer [(leI&r] Schicht
block [blA:k] US Straße leftover [(leftoUv&r] übrig; -reste
blotch [blA:tS] Klecks low-moisture [loU (mOIstS&r] trockene(r)
bread flour [(bred flaU&r] Brotmehl mad [mÄd] US verärgert
brick [brIk] Ziegel mediocre [)mi:d(oUk&r] mittelmäßig
by the slice stückweise pie [paI] Pastete; hier etwa: Fladen
[baI DE (slaIs] rectangular [rek(tÄNgjEl&r] rechteckig
charred [tSA:rd] verkohlt reverse Roman arch umgekehrter römischer
crispy [(krIspi] knusprig [ri)v§:s )roUmEn (A:rtS] Rundbogen
crunchy [(krVntSi] knusprig rotate [(roUteIt] drehen
dough [doU] Teig (→ p. 59) topping [(tA:pIN] Belag
edge [edZ] Rand toss [tO:s] werfen, schleudern
felt [felt] Filz wood paneling [(wUd )pÄn&lIN] Holztäfelung
floppy [(flA:pi] weich zesty [(zesti] pikant

For more information on Scott’s Pizza Tours,

see www.scottspizzatours.com
Fotos: C. Hellmann; iStockphoto; laif; Mauritius

Restaurants visited on the tour:

• Lombardi’s Pizza, 32 Spring Street;
tel. (001) 212-941 7994
www.firstpizza.com
• Joe’s Pizza, 7 Carmine Street;
tel. (001) 212-366 1182
www.joespizzanyc.com
• John’s Pizzeria of Bleecker
Street, 278 Bleecker Street;
tel. (001) 212-243 1680
www.johnsbrickovenpizza.com
24_25_Index_12_11 31.10.11 14:38 Seite 24

INDEX | 2011

The best of Spotlight

Die wichtigsten Artikel des letzten Jahres hier im Überblick zum Nachschlagen und Nachlesen.
COLUMNS
American Life
The town dump 1/11
A housing deal 2/11
An unusual book 3/11
A memorable cruise 4/11
Tears of a politician 5/11
Life in a small town 6/11
Vacation angst 7/11
A young girl’s courage 8/11
Winning the lottery 9/11
The hunting season 10/11
Barack Obama 11/11
Unwanted animals 12/11
Around Oz
Australia’s strong
economy 1/11
The joys of school 2/11
Chronic unemployment 3/11
Getting a tattoo 4/11
Bashing the banks 5/11
Australia’s Irish ancestry 6/11
Australia’s national
airline 7/11
Companies dislike online
celebrities 8/11
Race in Australia 9/11
A year of nostalgia 10/11
Homeless in Australia 11/11
Dangers of the outback 12/11
Britain Today
Tigers in Britain 1/11
Questions of
unemployment 2/11
Actor Reiner Sprachklang
calling? 3/11
Being Kate Middleton 4/11
Britain’s “Big Society” 5/11
How crime pays less 6/11
Fine British driving 7/11
Being misunderstood 8/11
Looking back over
30 years 9/11
British entertainment 10/11
Train travel 11/11
“Last Christmas” 12/11
I Ask Myself
The housewife trend 1/11
An 89-year-old star 2/11
Hollywood’s hunters 3/11
Beauty competitions 4/11
A fearless reporter 5/11
Surviving success 6/11
Three Cups of Tea 7/11
Who killed bin Laden? 8/11
Strange men in power 9/11
Amy Winehouse 10/11
Dominique Strauss-
Kahn 11/11
Shopping as politics 12/11
Talking Point
The paperless
dictionary 1/11
English food 2/11
Extreme political
rhetoric 3/11
The word “dear” 4/11
Famous names 5/11
The language of
catastrophe 6/11
The wild English
language 7/11
Car talk 8/11
How English went global 9/11
Love, not marriage 10/11
The maths of English 11/11
The power of music 12/11
ARTICLES
A Day in My Life
Polo player (US) 1/11
Irish aid worker (Africa) 2/11
Business executive
(India) 3/11
Film extra
(New Zealand) 4/11
Animal trainer (US) 5/11
Hairdresser (Australia) 6/11
TV commentator (US) 7/11
Conservationist (UK) 8/11
Klingon (Canada) 9/11
Florist (Wales) 10/11
Firefighter (Australia) 11/11
Shop owner (US) 12/11
Business
Electric cars 4/11
Debate
Baby drop-offs (Canada) 1/11
Job equality (S. Africa) 2/11
Prisoners voting (UK) 3/11
The tone of politics (US) 4/11
Disasters (Australia) 5/11
Britain’s coalition
government (UK) 6/11
Language laws (Canada) 7/11
Privacy and the press
(Ireland) 8/11
Language-learning
(Spotlight staff) 9/11
Veils (Australia) 10/11
Social networks (US) 11/11
Arms exports (UK) 12/11

LANGUAGE SECTION 30 business-English tips 9/11 Fashion 8/11 Adverbs 1: adverbs of

English at Work
Giving a speech 1/11
“If” clauses 2/11
Conference calls 3/11
Understanding native
speakers 4/11
Goal, objective, target,
aim 5/11
Keeping meetings on
track 6/11
Continuous and simple
forms 7/11
Addressing colleagues 8/11
Structuring lists 10/11
E-mail greetings 11/11
Past continuous vs past
simple 12/11
Everyday English
Shopping during the
sales 1/11
New neighbours 2/11
At the supermarket 3/11
Gardening 4/11
Exams 5/11
The weekend 6/11
At a barbecue 7/11
Back to school 9/11 manner 6/11
Halloween 10/11 Adverbs 2: adverbs and
Traffic 11/11 adjectives 7/11
Christmas markets 12/11 Adverbs 3: comment
adverbs 8/11
The Grammar Page Two-word verbs 1: usage 9/11
Verbs and infinitives 1/11 Two-word verbs 2:
Gerunds 2/11 meanings 10/11
Reported speech 1: Three-word verbs 11/11
statements 3/11 Intransitive two-word
Reported speech 2: verbs 12/11
questions 4/11
Reported speech 3: Spoken English
requests 5/11 Non-standard grammar 1/11

1/11 2/11 3/11 4/11 5/11 6/11

24 Spotlight 12|11
24_25_Index_12_11 31.10.11 14:38 Seite 25
Environment
Climate change in Africa 3/11
Food
British wine (UK) 1/11
Chocolate (US) 2/11
Eating insects (US) 3/11
Wedding cakes (UK) 4/11
Mexican food (US) 5/11
Healthy eating (UK) 6/11
Cocktails (UK, US) 7/11
Waters of Bath (UK) 8/11
Wild plants (UK) 9/11
Doughnuts (US) 10/11
Cheddar cheese (UK) 11/11
Pizza (US) 12/11
History
Rudyard Kipling
(died 1936) 1/11
Nellie Melba, Australia’s
superstar (died 1931) 2/11
The shooting of Ronald
Reagan (1981) 3/11
Sierra Leone (independent
since 1961) 4/11
Bob Marley (died 1981) 5/11
Attack of the Vikings!
(London, AD 836) 6/11
The king of satire
(William Makepeace
Thackeray,
born 1811) 7/11
Question tags 2/11
Short idiomatic
responses 3/11
“Fine” and similar
words 4/11
Popular clichés 5/11
Pronouncing the verb
“to be” 6/11
The word “half” 7/11
Names and titles 8/11
Phrases for past time 9/11
The word “anything” 10/11
Questions as answers 11/11
The pronunciation of
[S], [tS], [Z], [dZ] 12/11
7/11 8/11
Cecil B. de Mille and the
Hollywood epic
(born 1881) 8/11
Then... and now (1981,
2011) 9/11
George Blake, double agent
(prison escape 1966) 10/11
Explorer Edward John Eyre
(died 1901) 11/11
Walt Disney, visionary
(born 1901) 12/11
Language
The language of
description 1/11
Collocations 2/11
Test your grammar 3/11
The King James Bible 4/11
Writing better e-mails 5/11
Summer reading 6/11
Learning English:
What’s new in the
classroom? 7/11
Test your listening
skills 8/11
The future of English 9/11
Using numbers 10/11
Literature
Crime writer Louise
Penny 11/11
Readers and book
clubs 12/11
Travel Talk
Budget air travel 1/11
Phone bookings 2/11
Cancellations 3/11
Directions 4/11
House-swapping 5/11
The Glyndebourne
opera festival 6/11
Takeaway food 7/11
Naturist holidays 8/11
Bed and breakfast 9/11
Couchsurfing 10/11
Hen parties and
stag nights 11/11
Edinburgh 12/11
9/11
Science
Should the smallpox virus be
destroyed? 5/11
Short Story
An offer too good to
refuse? 1/11
Tiger, tiger... 2/11
Missing in March
(booklet) 3/11
Tony meets the general 4/11
The house of my heart 5/11
Alien appetites 6/11
On Countisbury Hill 7/11
Five things — or six? 8/11
Up on the roof 9/11
The elephant’s bottom 10/11
Bye, bye, baby 11/11
Focus on Marjorie 12/11
Society
Courage in Afghanistan 2/11
Anger management 6/11
The human cost of
consumerism 7/11
Michelle Obama talks to
girls 8/11
Tourism for the blind 9/11
Forced marriages 10/11
The abuse of prescription
drugs 11/11
Music in the operating
theatre 12/11
Vocabulary
At the spa 1/11
Lingerie and under-
wear 2/11
At the train station 3/11
At the swimming
pool 4/11
Horse riding 5/11
Food containers 6/11
At the airport 7/11
At the zoo 8/11
At the library 9/11
At the fairground 10/11
The toolbox 11/11
Games 12/11
10/11 11/11
Travel
Australian art tour 1/11
Texas border
country 2/11
The Yorkshire Dales 3/11
Miami 4/11
Adirondack Park 5/11
Mazes in Britain 6/11
Namibia 7/11
Western Canada
by rail 8/11
New York City 9/11
Hawaii 10/11
Ghosts of London 11/11
A castle in Ireland 12/11
TRAVELOGS
Hemingway’s Venice 1/11
Medieval Wales 2/11
British Shanghai 3/11
Civil War sites in
Maryland 4/11
Atlantic Canada 5/11
Belize 6/11
A Shaker village 7/11
Roman Britain 8/11
Agatha Christie 9/11
St Catherine’s and
Mount Sinai 10/11
Georgetown
(Washington, DC) 11/11
Cardiff 12/11
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12/11
12|11 Spotlight 25
26_27_News Story_12_11 28.10.11 11:04 Seite 26
SOCIETY | Medicine
Musical
healing
Chirurgen, die während der Operation Musik hören, sind laut einer neuen Studie entspannter
und arbeiten besser. Aber welcher Klang ist am besten — Beethoven, die Black-Eyed Peas oder
Black Sabbath? JON HENLEY wollte wissen, was Ärzte dazu sagen.
I t was, says my friend Charlie, “one of the stranger mo-
ments in my life”: the middle of the night in an operat-
ing theatre in an east London hospital towards the end
of a difficult and stressful birth. It was Charlie and his part-
ner’s first baby. The boy’s umbilical cord was wrapped
around him, and it was a tense moment for everyone.
“So there we were,” says Charlie, “brought in for a Cae-
sarean. I was next to my partner, doing my best to comfort
her, when someone says, ‘What shall we have tonight,
then?’ and puts on some thumping house music. It was
3 a.m. and to be honest, I didn’t have the energy to object.
They all did their jobs extremely well; I’ve no complaints.
But our eldest son was born to the sound of some hardcore
Ibiza club hit. Very surreal.”
Most of us probably imagine operating theatres as tem-
ples to surgery, their tense silence broken only by the
rhythmic beeping of a monitor, the hum of a ventilator,
or the occasional bark of the surgeon asking a nurse for an
instrument. In fact, they’re more likely to be filled with
the strains of Bach, the Black-Eyed Peas, even Black Sab-
bath. Most surgeons, it seems, listen to music while they
work, and research suggests it’s good for their work.
A survey this year showed that 90 per cent of surgeons
in Britain put music on the theatre’s sound system during
operations, with half the respondents favouring uptempo
26 Spotlight 12|11
A calming influence:
music is good for
patients and doctors
rock, 17 per cent pop music and 11 per cent classical. Plastic
surgeons play the most music, it appears; ear, nose and
throat specialists the least. Most of them said music con-
tributed to creating a “harmonious and calm atmosphere”;
a third, slightly alarmingly, added that it helped stop them
getting bored.
Can music really have this effect? As Rahul Parikh, a
San Francisco doctor, points out in a recent column on
the subject for Salon.com, the links between music and
medicine are many and ancient. The Greek god of healing,
Apollo, was often portrayed with a lyre. Many distin-
guished doctors have also been skilled musicians. In The
Emperor of All Maladies, a remarkable book on cancer, the
author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, explains that music and
medicine often “go hand in hand. Both push manual skill
to the limit; both mature with practice; both depend on
immediacy, precision and opposable thumbs.”
A 1994 study from the Journal of the American Medical
Association looked at 50 male surgeons aged from 31 to 61
who habitually listened to music while they worked. It
measured their heart rate, blood pressure, response times
and accuracy during a complex and stressful subtraction
task. The volunteers had to complete the task listening first
to music they had chosen themselves, and then to Pachel-
bel’s Canon in D, the famously soothing chamber piece
26_27_News Story_12_11 28.10.11 11:04 Seite 27

familiar from a thousand weddings. The researchers,

from the psychology department at the State Univer-
sity of New York at Buffalo, found that when listen-
ing to self-selected music, the surgeons displayed
rock-steady vital signs and did the maths faster and
more accurately than when they were listening to
Pachelbel. But they also found that listening to
Pachelbel was better than not listening to any music
at all. Listening to music, especially music of a sur-
geon’s own choosing, seems to have led to decreased
stress and increased performance.
So what do surgeons like? Ben Challacombe, 38,
a consultant urologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Na- Part of the medical team: a harpist in a Texas hospital
tional Health Service Foundation Trust in London,
says that for background music during a case, he favours during an operation: Queen’s “Another One Bites the
a mix of “old favourites and more contemporary stuff”. Dust”; The Stones’s “Let It Bleed”; “Don’t Fear the Reaper”
During the operation itself, he wants “familiar, reassuring by the Blue Öyster Cult; and “Take My Breath Away”
tunes — interesting, not elevator music, but not distract- from Top Gun. No point in tempting fate, is there? •
ing either. So — this is going to sound horribly cheesy —
it might be a Dire Straits album or Elton John.” Then in © Guardian News & Media 2011
the final phase, “we like something more contemporary and
more upbeat: Killers, Kings of Leon, Coldplay, maybe”. anaesthetic [)ÄnEs(TetIk] Narkosemittel
Music can also serve a practical purpose, Challacombe anxiety [ÄN(zaIEti] Angst
says: he uses six five-minute tracks to give him important audio cue [(O:diEU )kju:] hörbares Signal
audio cues during delicate robotic kidney surgery, when beep [bi:p] piepen
bite the dust [)baIt DE (dVst] ifml. krepieren
“you basically have a maximum 30-minute window to re-
Caesarean [sI(zeEriEn] Kaiserschnitt
move a cancerous tumour from a kidney. The traditional chamber piece [(tSeImbE )pi:s] Kammermusikstück
way is for someone to call out the time, but that’s distract- cheesy [(tSi:zi] kitschig
ing and quite stressful. With the music, I know where I delicate [(delIkEt] schwierig
am without that.” discord [(dIskO:d] Uneinigkeit
It’s well known that listening to music can help pa- distract [dI(strÄkt] ablenken
tients. Several studies suggest patients who listen to sooth- headphones [(hedfEUnz] Kopfhörer
ing music through headphones while being put to sleep hum [hVm] Summen
immediacy [I(mi:diEsi] Unmittelbarkeit
and during surgery require less anaesthetic — up to 50 per
kidney [(kIdni] Niere
cent less in some cases — and recover more quickly after- lyre [(laIE] Leier
wards. One 2008 study found that melodic music actually mature [mE(tSUE] reifen, sich entwickeln
decreased the activity of individual neurons in the brain. opposable thumbs opponierbare Daumen
“There’s no question: music reduces anxiety before sur- [E)pEUzEb&l (TVmz]
gery,” says Zeev Kain, an anaesthetist at Yale University, Reaper: Grim ~ [)grIm (ri:pE] Sensenmann
reassuring [)ri:E(SO:rIN] beruhigend
who has done research on the subject. “It will decrease the
recover [ri(kVvE] sich erholen
amount of pain or anxiety medication a patient needs.” response time [ri(spQns taIm] Reaktionszeit
There has even been research — though not very con- rock-steady [)rQk (stedi] unveränderlich
clusive — into the best kind of music for surgeons to listen soothing [(su:DIN] beruhigend
to. A study from 1976 found that rock was pretty good. strains [streInz] Melodie, Klang
But a Surgical Endoscopy paper last year suggested that all surgery [(s§:dZEri] Chirurgie
things being equal, calming classical music was probably tempt fate [tempt (feIt] das Schicksal herausfordern
tense [tens] angespannt
better than hard rock or heavy metal. According to Surgical
thumping [(TVmpIN] wummernd
Innovation, hip-hop, reggae and other more energizing ultimately [(VltImEtli] letztlich
genres can be helpful, too. umbilical cord Nabelschnur
Ultimately, the results probably have more to do with [Vm(bIlIk&l )kO:d]
personal preferences. Most surgeons do seem to accept, uptempo rock schnelle Rockmusik
[Vp)tempEU (rQk]
though, that they have to be reasonable about volume. At
ventilator [(ventIleItE] Beatmungsgerät
the first sign of discord in the team, or a potential problem volume [(vQlju:m] Lautstärke
Fotos: laif

with the surgery, the music is turned off. And there’s a volunteer [)vQlEn(tIE] Freiwillige(r)
short list of songs that no one would ever dream of playing
12|11 Spotlight 27
28_I ask myself_12_11 28.10.11 11:05 Seite 28
AMY ARGETSINGER | I Ask Myself
Is it a shopping
trip — or is it
politics?
In den Medien erscheint ein volksnahes Foto der First Lady: Ist das Zufall oder schon Politik?
O ne day this fall, a photo of
Michelle Obama shopping at
a low-cost department store
appeared on the internet and in
newspapers across the country. She
wore a simple T-shirt and pants in-
stead of designer clothes. A ball cap
and sunglasses hid her face. A week
earlier, Michelle had been criticized
for wearing $42,000 diamond
bracelets. But at the discount store
Target, pushing a shopping cart and
carrying her own bags, she looked
like any middle-class woman.
“ The first lady is allowed
to act as a private citizen.
She can go out without
alerting the media
”
Most Americans looked at the
photo and thought, “Wow! The first
lady is just like us.” But when I
looked at that same image, I thought:
“Hmm! Now, how did they get that
photo?” Only a journalist would
think that way.
In the age of mass media, most
people are so used to seeing extraor-
dinary pictures of virtually every news
event that they never stop to notice
what they don’t see in the photos: the
photographer. They don’t know how
much planning it took for the pho-
tographer to get the shot. But we do.
And there’s no such thing as a simple
snapshot of the first lady, just as
there’s no such thing as a simple
shopping trip for her.
Of course, it’s not unknown for
first ladies to go shopping. Usually
they have assistants to do it for them
to avoid activating the massive secu-
rity entourage required for a trip out-
28 Spotlight 12|11
side the White House gates. But they
want to go shopping themselves, too.
Every president and first lady misses
the freedom of his or her old life. We
often heard about Hillary Clinton or
Laura Bush sneaking out to a store
with only a small, discreet posse of
bodyguards.
It’s unusual, though, to see a
photo of the first lady doing such a
normal thing. The president can’t
venture outside the White House
without taking a cohort of reporters
along. His daily schedule is virtually
a matter of public record. But the
first lady is allowed to act as a private
citizen. She can go out without alert-
ing the media. A tipster may tell us
he or she has seen Michelle Obama
at a restaurant with friends. But when
we ask the White House who those
friends were, her aides say, politely,
that it’s none of our business.
Still, when Michelle Obama went
to Target — to buy treats for the fam-
ily dog, we were later told — an As-
sociated Press (AP) news photog-
rapher was somehow there to capture
aide [eId]
alert [E(l§:t]
a matter of public record
[E )mÄt&r Ev )pVblIk (rek&rd]
ball cap [(bO:l kÄp]
cohort [(koUhO:rt]
diamond bracelet [)daImEnd (breIslEt]
down-to-earth [)daUn tu (§:T]
entourage [)A:ntu(rA:Z]
posse [(pA:si]
shot [SA:t]
sneak out [sni:k (aUt]
tipster [(tIpst&r]
treat [tri:t]
venture out(side) [)ventS&r (aUt]
virtually [(v§:tSuEli]
the charming scene. Did the White
House tell the photographer where
she was going? Officials wouldn’t say.
The photographer said only that he’d
learned of the shopping trip through
his “sources.” With all the security
governing the Obama family’s move-
ments, it’s almost certain that his
sources were in the White House.
So the question becomes one of
journalistic ethics. Did the AP — in
accepting a tip from the White
House to take a photo of Michelle
Obama that presented her in a down-
to-earth light that helps her husband
politically — collaborate in a bit of
image-building? I’m not comfortable
with what the AP might have done.
But I’m also not comfortable think-
ing about what would have happened
if the White House had called me
with the tip about Michelle Obama
shopping at Target. Propaganda? Per-
haps — but also a great photo. •
Amy Argetsinger is a co-author of “The
Reliable Source,” a column about personal-
ities in The Washington Post.
persönliche(r) Berater(in)
hier: informieren
ein öffentlicher Sachverhalt
Baseballkappe
Gruppe
diamantenes Armband
unkompliziert, bodenständig
Begleitung
Gruppe
Aufnahme
sich hinausschleichen
Informant(in)
Leckerli
sich hinauswagen
praktisch (→ p. 59)
 Advertorial
FOTO-STORY präsentiert von Exklusiv
für -Leser:

20 € Gutschein*
AT THE TOURIST OFFICE Gutschein-Code: SPOTLIGHT-11
Einlösbar unter www.dalango.de/gutschein

ENGLISCH BUSINESS ENGLISCH SPANISCH ITALIENISCH FRANZÖSISCH

Well, feel free to ask, if you

have any questions...
Hello, there! Can I
help you at all? Oh, no; we’re fine,
thanks. We’re just I fancy seeing some
looking at the Are there any nice old
churches here? old buildings.
leaflets.

There are some Yes, some of the

lovely old buildings You can get
smaller villages are there by steam
in the town centre delightful. And, if you’re
and in the villages train. It goes from
keen on history, you the train museum
outside the town. must visit the castle. to the castle.

www.dalango.de ist das interaktive

Oh, that sounds fun,
doesn’t it, Ellen? We
could do that this
afternoon, couldn’t we?
So, what are we waiting
for? Next stop, the train
museum, and we’ll take
OK, why not? the steam train to the
castle!
Sprachtraining des Spotlight Verlags.
Mit Videos, Übungen, Grammatik und
Wörterbuch können Sie ganz leicht Ihre
Kenntnisse in Englisch verbessern.
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29_Fotostory_SP_12-11.indd 1 31.10.11 10:20

30_34_Ireland_12_11_neu VZ 28.10.11 11:06 Seite 30

TRAVEL | Ireland

A winter
wonderland
Gibt es im Winter einen besseren Rückzugsort als eine
romantische Burg auf einer kleinen Insel? JULIAN EARWAKER
erlebte Geschichte und Gastfreundschaft auf Waterford Castle
im Süden Irlands.

T he weather looks less than romantic as we step off the plane at Dublin

Airport. The sky is dark, and the rain is pouring down. It doesn’t really
matter, though, because my girlfriend and I are soon in our hire car,
driving south. We’re on our way to Little Island near Waterford to enjoy a
weekend together in an idyllic Irish castle hideaway.
First, however, there’s a special stop: Macreddin Village in County Wicklow.
Hidden in a quiet valley about a 90-minute drive from Dublin, there’s been a
settlement here since at least the fifth century. In the late 1990s, the village
was reinvented as a food destination and is now home to Ireland’s only certified
organic restaurant: the Strawberry Tree at the Brooklodge, a hotel known, too,
for the luxurious Wells Spa. The area also boasts numerous artisan and organic
food producers.
Given the choice, I’d rather have a good meal than a massage. In the name
of research, however, I decide to try both. First, the food: inside, the Strawberry
Tree restaurant is stylish, with dark flock wallpaper, wall lights and a mirrored
ceiling. The menu includes starters of marinated oyster mushroom salad and
lemon risotto, followed by St Tola goat’s cheese and local smoked wild salmon.
The food and wine are excellent and
leave us both full enough to need a
postprandial walk. The rain has
stopped, and it’s a mild, cloudy night
as we wander across the lawns and on
to a small, wooden bridge over a
stream. Nearby is an old chapel. It’s
easy to see why this is a paradise for
weddings.

Seasons change: a wedding party

at the castle in spring

artisan [)A:tI(zÄn] handwerklich, traditionell

boast [bEUst] sich rühmen (➝ p. 59)
certified organic [)s§:tIfaId O:(gÄnIk] kontrolliert biologisch
flock wallpaper [)flQk (wO:lpeIpE] Vliestapete
hideaway [(haIdE)weI] Refugium
Fotos: aspectphotography.net

lawn [lO:n] Rasen

oyster mushroom [(OIstE )mVSrUm] Austernpilz
postprandial [)pEUst(prÄndiEl] fml./hum. Verdauungs-
pour [pO:] schütten
salmon [(sÄmEn] Lachs
starter [(stA:tE] UK Vorspeise

30 Spotlight 12|11
30_34_Ireland_12_11_neu VZ 28.10.11 11:06 Seite 31

Waterford Castle covered in

a blanket of fresh snow
30_34_Ireland_12_11_neu VZ 28.10.11 11:06 Seite 32

TRAVEL | Ireland

After breakfast the next morning, I

leave my girlfriend reading a newspaper
and head for the spa to have a massage.
As the masseuse’s fingers begin to work
at the knots in my muscles, she reminds
me that Wicklow is known as the “gar-
den of Ireland”. She has just returned to
the “sunny south-east” after many years
in New York and is pleased to be back
home.
I spend half an hour in the re-
laxation area, and then it’s time
to leave. By mid-afternoon,
we’ve reached the ferry ter-
minal a few kilometres A grand fireplace and a warm Irish welcome:
south of Waterford. We Waterford Castle combines comfort with history, as seen in
details such as the monk’s head (left) over the entrance
join a small queue of cars
waiting to cross the King’s Like the island itself, Waterford Castle is small and per-
Channel of the River Suir. fectly proportioned: a 15th-century tower tastefully en-
Through the mist in front of larged in the 19th century. It’s built of solid stone, with
us, covered with trees, is our is- turrets and gargoyles, heavy wooden doors and ivy climb-
land escape. ing up the outside. The entrance hall is huge, with antique
furniture and ornaments, tapestries hung
high on the walls, and a great fireplace. A
stone monk’s head, dating back to the sixth
century, is a reminder that the first proper
settlement on the island was a monastery.
It’s a timeless and welcoming environment.
We celebrate our arrival with afternoon
tea: a selection of finger sandwiches, cakes
and, of course, traditional Irish scones. Tea
is served in the Fitzgerald Room, a com-
fortable bar named after the family that
lived in the castle for more than eight cen-
turies. The first Fitzgerald here, Maurice,
took part in the Norman invasion of Ire-
land in 1169. He was captured and held
prisoner on the island, but later returned
to make it his home.
Although popular with tourists and lo-
Crossing on the car ferry to Little Island in the River Suir
cals, Waterford Castle definitely feels like
Creating the way Ireland tastes today:
Michael Quinn, a top chef and
part of the country’s culinary scene
Fotos: Julian Earwaker; aspectphotography.net

escape [I(skeIp] hier: Rückzugsort

gargoyle [(gA:gOI&l] Wasserspeier
ivy [(aIvi] Efeu
knot [nQt] hier: Verhärtung
mist [mIst] Nebel
monastery [(mQnEstEri] Kloster
scone [skQn] Teegebäck
tapestry [(tÄpIstri] Wandteppich
turret [(tVrIt] Türmchen

32 Spotlight 12|11
30_34_Ireland_12_11_neu VZ 28.10.11 11:06 Seite 33

Clay-pigeon shooting:
Mick Cleere shows you how

a hideaway. “It used to be that the food is to our liking. “Ireland has a huge potential
very private,” says Joanna for food,” he says. “Ordinary people are now more con-
Hannick, sales and marketing scious of what they eat and more conscious of where it
manager at the hotel. “A lot comes from.”
of Irish people didn’t even The next morning we’re out on the croquet lawn, not
know it existed. It really was with croquet mallets, however, but with something rather
one of Ireland’s best-kept se- more dangerous in hand. “Pull!” I call to Mick Cleere, who
crets.” It’s also very popular manages the island’s wildlife and golf-course greens. He
for weddings and honey- clicks a button, and two orange discs fly through the air. I
moons, she points out. In raise my gun, look
fact, the night before we ar- along the sights
rived, the whole castle was and gently pull the
booked for a large wedding trigger. BANG!
party. “For the day of the The gun jumps
wedding, they had their own back against my
castle on their own island,” says Hannick. shoulder, and the
No wedding would be complete without good food, orange clay pi-
of course, and Waterford Castle owes much of its recent geons fly un-
success to its head chef, Michael Quinn, one of Ireland’s harmed through
best-known cooks. Soft-spoken, but passionate about the air. “That’s
food, Quinn grew up in Waterford and was trained by “an OK,” says Cleere.
old lady in County Cork”. He then moved to find work “Just relax. Here!”
in London, France and America before returning home. He shows me how
Ireland has a long history of emigration, but its repu- to stand, how to
tation for fine food is a more recent development. Quinn improve my grip,
explains that it is based on doing things simply. He defines and suddenly I
traditional Irish cuisine as “homely cooking”, using pota- begin to see the The author in a sporting mood
toes, turnips, beef, milk and brown soda bread. Quinn in- discs more clearly
cludes a broad variety of food from the area, too, which and manage to hit most of them. Then it’s my girlfriend’s
makes it more exciting. “The philosophy here is very much turn. “It’s lovely here in the mornings and evenings,” says
about quality local food. I’d say maybe 85 per cent of the Cleere as we watch her. “You see all sorts of wildlife: deer,
food that we have comes from within a 40-mile (65-km) badgers, foxes and lots of shorebirds.”
radius of the castle,” says Quinn, who personally visits his
producers. “And we cook the food simply. I don’t mess
around too much, because the flavour is there — that’s the A CLOSER LOOK
most important thing.”
We are both too full from our afternoon tea to eat a When competitions for shooting real pigeons became
restaurant meal that evening. Instead, we choose simple illegal in Britain in 1921, clay-pigeon (Tontaube) shoot-
bar fare: a mixed leaf salad with broad beans, chanterelles, ing came into fashion. The targets are typically in the
cress, wild garlic and orange. Served with a selection of shape of flat discs that are thrown into the air by a ma-
Irish soda breads, it is light and delicious. Although we are chine called a trap. The weapon used to hit them is a
eating in the bar, the table is still laid with crisp white shotgun. Variations on the sport, also known as “clay-
linen. Like everything at Waterford Castle, the atmosphere target shooting”, are included in the Olympic Games.
is formal but friendly. Quinn himself comes out to check

badger [(bÄdZE] Dachs honeymoon [(hVnimu:n] Flitterwochen

chanterelle [)SQntE(rel] Pfifferling laid [leId] hier: gedeckt
conscious: be ~ of sth. sich etw. bewusst sein linen [(lInIn] (Tisch)Wäsche
[(kQnSEs] mallet [(mÄlIt] hier: Schläger
crisp [krIsp] frisch, gestärkt mess around [mes E(raUnd] herumbasteln
deer [dIE] Reh party [(pA:ti] hier: Gesellschaft
fare [feE] Kost shorebird [(SO:b§:d] Ufervogel
green [gri:n] hier: Rasen soda bread [(sEUdE bred] Sodabrot
grip [grIp] Griff trigger [(trIgE] Auslöser
homely [(hEUmli] einfach, gemütlich turnip [(t§:nIp] Steckrübe

12|11 Spotlight 33
30_34_Ireland_12_11_neu VZ 28.10.11 11:06 Seite 34

TRAVEL | Ireland

After the clay-pigeon shooting, my girlfriend and I set minutes, yet

off on the nature trail to find out whether there’s any it feels as if
wildlife not scared away by the noise. We walk through we’re travel-
woodland until we reach the shores of the River Suir. Here ling to an-
we can look in one direction towards the castle, and in the other land.
other across the river, towards Waterford. It’s a tidal, salt- It’s almost
water environment: half-river, half-sea. Except for dark when we
a heron and some oystercatchers, we don’t see arrive at the Walking out in good company in the
much wildlife. No matter; with the warm, snug castle grounds
fresh air and the sunlight dancing castle. Inside, we are told that last year the island had one
across the water, it’s enough to enjoy of the heaviest falls of snow for 40 years. “It was absolutely
each other’s company. magical. It looked like a winter wonderland,” says Han-
We decide to spend the afternoon nick. “When it gets dark, we light the fires, and there are
exploring the city of Waterford and the lots of candles around the place. It’s very special.”
surrounding area. On our drive to the Before supper we have a treat: an in-room massage for
ferry, we pass golfers on their way to us both and a facial for my girlfriend. It puts us perfectly
enjoy the 18-hole course that occupies about in the mood for a romantic supper, which is served in the
a third of the 125-hectare island. After a walk grand Munster Room. A pianist plays in one corner,
around town, we drive along the coast to adding music to an atmosphere filled with laughter and
Dunmore East, where families are enjoying easy conversation: the famous Irish “craic”. Later, when we
the sandy beach, where fishing boats fill the return to our room, we find that the bed has been turned
harbour, and the black-and-white finger down and that candles and chocolates have been provided.
of Hook Head lighthouse can be seen in Fresh towels have been laid out, too, and have been inter-
the distance. It’s a beautiful area, but we have twined like two swans’ necks into a heart shape. It seems
to get back. The ferry crossing takes only three wrong to move them apart. •
craic [krÄk] Ir. geselliges Beisammensein snug [snVg] gemütlich (→ p. 59)
facial [(feIS&l] Gesichtsbehandlung tidal [(taId&l] den Gezeiten unterworfen
heron [(herEn] Fischreiher treat [tri:t] besonderes Vergnügen
intertwined [)IntE(twaInd] ineinander verschlungen turn down [t§:n (daUn] aufdecken
set off [set (Qf] losgehen woodland [(wUdlEnd] Wald

IF YOU GO... Where to stay

Macreddin Village near Aughrim is about a 90-km drive
Getting there south of Dublin. Brooklodge has rooms from €50 per
There are regular flights with RyanAir and Aer Lingus to night, and dinner at the Strawberry Tree starts at €62.
Dublin. A basic hire car from Sixt costs from around €50 www.brooklodge.com
for a long weekend. www.sixt.ie Waterford Castle is just south of the city of Waterford. It
is reached by a free private ferry, which operates all year,
24 hours a day. Rooms start at about €80 per person, and
0 50 km dinner in the Munster Room costs from €62.
Fotos: Julian Earwaker; aspectphotography.net; Karte: Nic Murphy

Ireland www.waterfordcastle.com
Ireland Belfast What to do
Explore the area around Waterford: see world-famous
crystal glassware being created at the House of Waterford
Crystal; open March to December.
N www.waterfordvisitorcentre.com
Galway Dublin Marking the entrance to Waterford Harbour, Hook Head
North lighthouse is the oldest operating lighthouse in the British
Atlantic Macreddin Village
Limerick Isles and one of the oldest in the world.
River Suir Waterford 0 5 km www.hookheritage.ie
Killarney Waterford Little Island and
Waterford Castle
More information
Cork
Dunmore East Visit www.entdeckeirland.de
Hook Head lighthouse
35_gewinnspiel_12_11_b2 28.10.11 11:07 Seite 1

The trip to Waterford Castle

for two people includes:
WIN
• Three nights at Waterford Cas-
tle Hotel (including breakfast)
and one evening meal for two
A TRIP FOR TWO TO
• A round-trip flight to Dublin for
each person from Berlin, Düs-
WATERFORD CASTLE
seldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg,
Munich or Stuttgart ...or one of 20 other prizes!
• Not included in the prize: air-
port transfers and transporta-
tion from Dublin to Waterford
Castle (see the hire-car recom-
1st prize: Spotlight magazine and Tourism Ireland are
offering you and a person of your choice the chance to fly to Ireland and stay
mendation in the “If you go”
section on page 34) at romantic Waterford Castle, a historic hotel on its own island in lovely south-
• The value of this trip is approx- east Ireland. The prize includes flights for two, three nights at the hotel in-
imately €1,000. cluding breakfast, and a romantic dinner for two.
For more about travelling to Ireland, see www.entdeckeirland.de

Teilnahmebedingungen
• Die Reise nach Irland kann innerhalb eines
Jahres nach Benachrichtigung angetreten
werden. Das Datum der Reise richtet sich nach
Verfügbarkeit von Flug- und Hotelkapazitäten
und ist nach Absprache mit dem Waterford Cas-
tle und Tourism Ireland festzulegen. Feiertage
in Deutschland und Irland sind ausgeschlossen.
• Mitarbeiter der Spotlight Verlag GmbH und
Tourism Ireland sowie jeweils deren Angehörige
Fotos: aspectphotography.net
Other prizes:
10 copies of Contemporary Irish Short Stories from
Reclam. This 184-page collection of short stories intro-
duces you to some of the finest authors from the
“Emerald Isle”, such as Maeve Kelly and John McGahern.
All stories are in English, with the definitions of difficult
words on each page. www.reclam.de
10 six-month subscriptions to dalango, the interac-
tive online portal for language learning from Spotlight
Verlag. Improve your English with videos that combine
everyday situations, city tours and common topics of

sind von der Teilnahme ausgeschlossen.

• Eine Barauszahlung der Preise sowie der
conversation. www.dalango.de
Rechtsweg sind ausgeschlossen.
• Teilnahmeschluss ist der 31. Dezember 2011.
• Bitte nur eine Einsendung pro Person.
• Gewinner werden in der März-Ausgabe von
Spotlight veröffentlicht.
To enter:
Answer our quiz questions about Ireland at
www.spotlight-online.de/ireland by 31 December 2011.

12|11 Spotlight 35
36_Around Oz_12_11 28.10.11 11:08 Seite 36
PETER FLYNN | Around Oz
The real dangers
of the outback
Das australische Outback ist nicht ungefährlich.
In der heißen Jahreszeit erreichen die Buschfeuer
häufig sogar die Vorstädte.
M y German
visitors, two
21-year-old
men, were a little
nervous when they
left Perth a few weeks
ago to drive across
Australia. The shock-
ing stories of Aus-
tralia’s outback killers
can do that.
One night 10
years ago, British
tourist Peter Falconio and his girl-
friend, Joanne Lees, were driving
south from Darwin when drug run-
ner Bradley Murdoch conned them
into stopping their car. Lees heard a
shot before she was forced into the
back of the murderer’s truck. She es-
caped unharmed, but her boyfriend’s
body was never found.
Twenty years ago, Ivan Milat, a
psychopath, would offer hitchhikers
a lift in his truck before taking them
into the bush, where they were bru-
tally stabbed or used for shooting
practice. Three of his victims were
young Germans whose bodies were
arsonist [(A:s&nIst]
con sb. into doing sth. [kQn]
crackle [(krÄk&l]
drug runner [(drVg )rVnE]
embers [(embEz]
gum tree [(gVm tri:]
hitchhiker [(hItShaIkE]
ignite [Ig(naIt]
lift: offer sb. a ~ [lIft]
molten [(mEUltEn]
sizzle [(sIz&l]
social misfit [)sEUS&l (mIsfIt]
stab sb. [stÄb]
vapour [(veIpE]
36 Spotlight 12|11
found in Belanglo State Forest, south
of Sydney. Their sleeping bags were
discovered at Milat’s home.
My visitors, though, were a little
more worried about natural dangers.
Their trip across some of the most
isolated parts of the country took
place at the start of the summer bush-
fire season. To show them the danger,
I took some green leaves from a gum
tree in my suburban backyard and set
them on fire with a cigarette lighter.
The eucalyptus oil sizzled and crack-
led in the cool air, but in the middle
of a heatwave, its vapours can be car-
ried by strong, dry winds right across
the top of a forest.
Burning leaves and embers can be
blown many kilometres ahead of a
fire to ignite a new front. At the same
time, the fire races along the forest
floor with a heat intensity similar to
that of molten lava.
In the 20th century, about 500
people were killed by bush fires. In
“ I told my visitors to
believe that ‘where there’s
smoke, there’s fire’
Brandstifter(in)
jmdn. austricksen
knistern
” then report a bush fire in order to
Drogenschmuggler(in)
Glut
Eukalyptusbaum
Anhalter(in)
anzünden
jmdn. mitnehmen
flüssig
brutzeln
Außenseiter(in)
auf jmdn. einstechen
hier: ätherisches Öl
the 21st century, more than 200 have
already died. The worst of these fires
— and they can extend for hundreds
of kilometres — are burned into the
national psyche with names such as
the Ash Wednesday or Black Satur-
day fires. They can be on the edge of
cities, around small country towns or,
in the case of Canberra in 2003, they
can enter the suburbs and destroy
500 homes.
The Canberra fire was started by
lightning, but half of the 50,000 bush
fires — some big and some small —
that we have in Australia every year
are suspicious or are known to have
been started deliberately (see Spotlight
6/10).
Relatively little is known about
bush-fire arsonists. They are likely to
be social misfits who are maybe try-
ing to show their power. Some are ex-
cited by the sight and sound of fires,
sirens and fire trucks. Even firefight-
ers have been known to light and
make themselves “heroes”.
My advice to my travelling friends
was to believe the old idiom that
“where there’s smoke, there’s fire”. I
also told them to seek local advice
about whether to stay awhile or drive
on, and to listen to emergency news
updates on the radio.
Hell, why am I worried? They’ve
Foto: iStockphoto
probably reached the east coast al-
ready and are camping safely by a
beach somewhere, getting ready for
the hottest Christmas of their lives. •
37_TL_Traeger_12_11_zDr 04.11.11 10:14 Seite 37

DISCOVER
Spotlight’s travel booklet!
This month...

ERLESENE REISEZIELE
AUF ENGLISCH
Foto: Alamy

Travelogs
38_39_Debate_12_11 28.10.11 11:09 Seite 38
DEBATE | Britain
Made in Britain?
Der Nahe Osten ist eine der instabilsten Regionen der Welt. Er ist auch ein großer Absatzmarkt
für britische Waffen. Ist das ein Widerspruch für Demokratie und Menschenrechte?
B ritain is one of the world’s largest exporters of arms
and military equipment. From 2000 to 2009, UK
defence exports had a value of around £55 billion
— second only to that of the US. This year and last, nations
that Britain considered “key” defence and security markets
included Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait.
It all sounds rather ominous, but the arms industry
provides jobs, of course. Britain’s biggest military exporter
is BAE Systems. Based in London, the company employs
more than 110,000 people; it made a profit of £1.1 billion
last year. According to the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, however, the government gives
£700 million in subsidies to the arms trade every year.
Since the “Arab Spring” began in Tunisia in December
2010, pro-democracy campaigns have spread across the
Middle East. Dictatorships have fallen in Egypt and Libya,
while protests and violence continue in Yemen, Bahrain,
Syria, Jordan and elsewhere. Although Britain has wel-
comed the movement towards democracy, it has continued
to export arms and military equipment to brutal regimes
that have poor human-rights records.
Can selling arms ever be compatible with supporting
democracy in this region? The British public doesn’t think
so. Evidence presented to the Foreign Affairs Committee
last year showed that nearly 70 per cent of British people
38 Spotlight 12|11
Weapons on display:
a man walks past a poster
at a military show
believe that the UK should sell arms only to democracies
and countries with a good human-rights record. In addi-
tion, 21 per cent completely oppose all arms exports and
14 per cent strongly disapprove of the arms trade in gen-
eral. Similarly, a survey carried out for The Sunday Times
in February — just as the anti-Gaddafi protests began —
found that although the British public supported trade
with Libya, about 75 per cent believed that it was wrong
for British companies to sell arms to that country.
All British exports are governed by the Export Control
Organisation (ECO). In the 12 months ending in Sep-
tember 2010, the ECO approved £215 million worth of
export licences for “controlled” products — including riot
control gear and tear gas — to companies exporting to
Libya. In the same period, Britain exported military equip-
ment, arms, crowd-control and anti-riot gear to Bahrain,
Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Al-
geria. Once arms are in a country, it is impossible to reg-
Fotos: AFP/Getty Images; J. Earwaker
ulate what happens to them or to whom they are sold next.
With the Middle East subject to more scrutiny than
ever, the British government recently revoked arms export
licences to Syria and Bahrain. As long as pro-democracy
protesters in the Middle East take to the streets, however,
it’s possible that British military equipment will be used
against them. •
38_39_Debate_12_11 28.10.11 11:09 Seite 39
Julian Earwaker asked people in Chelmsford, England:
Is it right for Britain to sell arms to the Middle East?
Alan Parsons, 69,
retired
The immediate thoughts
would be “no”, but having
said that, if we don’t,
other people will. And it’s
a useful way of getting
money into the country.
We’re an import and
export world anyway.
Bob Gear, 52, local
government officer
It can be immoral to
profit from selling arms
that you know are going
to be used to kill people.
We’ve been guilty in the
past of selling arms
to the wrong people,
haven’t we?
AK (Avtomat Kalashnikov): ~ -47
[eI (keI]
billion [(bIljEn]
council officer [(kaUns&l )QfIsE]
defence exports
[di(fens )ekspO:ts]
disapprove of sth.
[)dIsE(pru:v Ev]
every Tom, Dick and Harry
[)evri )tAm )dIk End (hÄri]
export licence [(ekspO:t )laIs&ns]
Foreign Affairs Committee
[)fQrEn E(feEz kE)mIti]
Lin Wells, 59,
retired
You would think it isn’t
morally correct. But then
at times, countries have to
defend [themselves], don’t
they? So I suppose it
depends on the circum-
stances, and I just think
that it’s a minefield, really.
Tarrah Kihn, 19,
student
In our current economic
circumstances, I’d say
“yes”. We can’t control
what they’re doing. All we
can control is how much
we sell them. If it’s not us,
they’re going to buy them
from someone else.
Kalaschnikow
(russ. Sturmgewehr)
Milliarde(n)
Gemeinderatsangestellte(r)
Rüstungsexporte
etw. ablehnen
Hinz und Kunz
Ausfuhrbescheinigung
Ausschuss für auswärtige
Angelegenheiten
Carl Spaul, 45,
support worker
No. We’re feeding the
beast. Those guys don’t al-
ways keep them for them-
selves anyway. They sell
them on, and before you
know it, you’ve got every
Tom, Dick and Harry run-
ning around with an AK.
Peter Stymes, 51,
council officer
Once you sell something,
you can’t put conditions
on what people will do
with it. But it’s a difficult
situation, because obvi-
ously it is a big industry in
this country, and it does
employ a lot of people.
gear [gIE]
human-rights record
[)hju:mEn (raIts )rekO:d]
minefield [(maInfi:&ld]
revoke [ri(vEUk]
riot control
[(raIEt kEn)trEUl]
scrutiny [(skru:tIni]
subsidy [(sVbsEdi]
take to the streets
[)teIk tE DE (stri:ts]
UAE (United Arab Emirates)
[)ju: ei (i:]
Listen to Alan, Lin,
Carl and Tamara
Tamara Burton, 59,
journalist
I know that there are jobs
involved in the arms trade,
but I think there could be
other ways of making jobs
for people, rather than
making arms for regimes
that shouldn’t really be
getting them from us.
Joan Smart, 76,
retired
I don’t think it’s right for
Britain to sell any arms
to anybody or to any
country. I’m totally
against the sale of arms
to anybody. I’m sure there
are better ways we can
earn money.
Ausrüstung
Menschenrechtsbilanz
hier: Pulverfass
widerrufen
Aufstandsbekämpfung
Überprüfung
Subvention
auf die Straße gehen
VAE (Vereinigte Arabische
Emirate)
12|11 Spotlight 39
40_41_History_12_11 28.10.11 11:10 Seite 40

HISTORY | 110 Years Ago

Walt Disney, visionary

Das Leben des Schöpfers von Mickey Mouse war und ist vielen eine Inspiration.
MIKE PILEWSKI erinnert an Walt Disneys nur teilweise umgesetzte Ideen.
Groundbreaking: Disney and

T his month sees the anniversary of both the birth and

death of one of America’s greatest cultural pioneers,
Walt Disney. The time between his birth 110 years
ago on December 5, 1901, and his death 45 years ago on
December 15, 1966, is when animated cartoons, motion
too formal and suggested
the character be called
Mickey instead.
The first full-length
motion picture with
his partners created the first
modern cartoon
in 1928

pictures and theme parks were developed as entertainment sound had just played in
— largely based on Disney’s ideas. theaters. Iwerks and
Walter Elias Disney grew up in Chicago and in Kansas Disney saw the poten-
City, Missouri. A correspondence course gave him his first tial of sound and
instruction in cartooning before he was able to take formal made Mickey Mouse
classes in art and design. Working in a commercial art stu- the star of Steamboat
dio, he then met artist Ub Iwerks, who, next to Disney’s Willie (1928), the
own brother Roy, was to become his main collaborator. first modern car-
From the mid-1920s, Iwerks did the drawings, Roy Disney toon (see Spot-
made the business decisions, and Walt was light 11/08). A
the creative director. musical sound-
The trio knew how to use an oppor- track runs
tunity. They saw the immense popular- through the
ity of cartoon figure Felix the Cat and entire seven-
realized the public had an appetite for minute animation. Dis-
the humorous adventures of other ney’s innovation was in getting the
animals. Iwerks and Disney sound and pictures to match up precisely, so that
first drew a similar cat, Mickey could dance around in time to the music.
whom they named Two major insights laid the groundwork for Disney’s
Julius. In 1927, future success. The first was the realization that “talking
the two anima- pictures” were here to stay; the studio that
tors went to produced Felix the
work for a Cat chose not to in-
different vest in sound,
studio, and that was
so they the end of
had to Felix. The sec-
change ond was that
t h e Disney had now
character. learned from his
They made experience with
Julius’s ears Julius and Oswald
longer and called to retain the
him Oswald the Lucky copyright to
Rabbit. The following all of his cre-
year, they again changed ations. Walt
studios, so they made Os- and Roy formed
wald’s ears round and gave him Walt Disney Pro-
clothes and a different tail. He was ductions in 1929.
now a cheerful, energetic mouse The artist and his
named Mortimer. Walt Disney’s creation: Disney
wife, Lillian, said the name sounded and Mickey in 1930

40 Spotlight 12|11
40_41_History_12_11 28.10.11 11:10 Seite 41

Epcot: now a
pavilion at Walt
Disney World
During the Great Depression, Dis-
ney cartoons kept Americans enter-
tained, and with the growing popularity
of the movies, Iwerks was able to hire a
staff of animators. By 1937, they had
made the first feature-length cartoon,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In
1940, they created another artistic milestone by synchro- Because EPCOT Center was to be a model for other
nizing music and action again in Fantasia. cities, Disney wanted visitors to go through it on their way
All this perfectionism had its price, however. It took a to the park’s other attraction, the Magic Kingdom. But he
thousand people to animate Fantasia, and the film lost failed to convince his board of directors. The board
money. Overworked and underpaid, Disney’s employees thought that visitors would come to Disney World to have
went on strike in 1941. The strike ended only when Dis- fun, not to be educated.
ney agreed to recognize their union. Disney could not un- When Disney, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer in
derstand their frustration and insisted that communists 1966, the board changed his plans, making the Magic
must have been responsible for the protest. Kingdom the main attraction and EPCOT (now written
During World War II, the Disney studio made films for Epcot) an area of exhibits about science, the environment,
the US military and government. In order to keep the busi- and corporate innovation.
ness profitable, however, the company soon developed a In the 45 years since then, the Disney empire has
franchise. The first move was to make live-action documen- grown far beyond anything “Uncle Walt” could have ima-
taries and television series. The second was to build a gi- gined during his lifetime. In addition to his numerous an-
gantic theme park based on fantasy, nostalgia, and cartoons. imation classics, his ability to entertain children of all ages
Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955. — and to make money in the process — remains an
There was only one way to top this, and that was to inspiration. •
create a second theme park and make it much bigger. A
larger land area would make it possible to build and oper- animated cartoon Zeichentrickfilm
ate hotels and restaurants within the park. [)ÄnImeItEd kA:r(tu:n]
Central Florida was an attractive location and one that appliance [E(plaIEns] Haushaltsgerät
board of directors Vorstand
was largely undeveloped at the time — but if anyone heard [)bO:rd Ev dE(rekt&rz]
that Disney was interested in buying the land, the price cancer [(kÄns&r] Krebs
would have skyrocketed. So Disney formed hundreds of copyright [(kA:piraIt] Urheberrecht
fake companies that began to buy the land piece by piece. corporate [(kO:rpErEt] Firmen-
By the time the news got out, he had almost all the land correspondence course Fernstudium
[)kO:rE(spA:ndEns kO:rs]
he wanted for his grand project, Disney World.
dwarf [dwO:rf] Zwerg
The central attraction was to be an Experimental Pro- fake [feIk] falsch, erfunden
totype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT Center) — a feature-length [(fi:tS&r )leNT] in Spielfilmlänge
planned city, circular in shape, that would revolutionize Great Depression Weltwirtschaftskrise
the way people live and work. For its 20,000 residents, [)greIt di(preS&n]
EPCOT would eliminate the usual urban problems of dirt, groundwork [(graUndw§:k] Grundstein
match up [mÄtS (Vp] zusammenpassen
traffic, and crime.
milestone: create a ~ neue Maßstäbe setzen
As in Disneyland, supplies would be brought in and [(maI&lstoUn]
garbage carried away on underground roads, so as not to motion picture [)moUS&n (pIktS&r] Spielfilm
be seen. On the surface, people would move around on rabbit [(rÄbEt] Kaninchen
foot or in publicly operated electric vehicles (“People- resident [(rezIdEnt] Einwohner(in)
Movers”). At the center would be the business and com- retain [ri(teIn] behalten
skyrocket [(skaI)rA:kEt] in die Höhe schießen
mercial areas with a ring of apartment buildings, and a
Snow White [)snoU (waIt] Schneewittchen
ring of parks around them, beyond which would lie neigh-
Fotos: Benjamin D. Esham, Interfoto

so as [(soU Ez] damit

borhoods of individual houses. staff [stÄf] Personal
Disney’s plan was for all residents to be employed surface [(s§:fEs] Oberfläche
(mostly by him), eliminating any motivation for crime. tenant [(tenEnt] Mieter(in)
All the housing was to be rented, not bought. Appliances theater [(Ti:Et&r] US hier: Kino
would be modular and uniform so that they could be time [taIm] hier: Takt
uniform [(ju:nIfO:rm] gleicher Bauart
replaced and upgraded easily — at no extra cost to the
union [(ju:njEn] Gewerkschaft
tenants.
12|11 Spotlight 41
42_43_Press Gallery_12_11 31.10.11 14:41 Seite 42

PRESS GALLERY | Comment

The world versus the bankers

THE GUARDIAN

What would Jesus say?

A protester in London
finds fitting words

In mehreren Börsenvierteln wird protestiert: Meanwhile, pay for others has been stagnant for a whole
Wie weit wird die Schere zwischen Arm und generation in the US, and then latterly — for the best part
Reich noch auseinandergehen? of a decade now — in Britain as well. ...
There have often been oligarchs in history, but rarely

T he Occupy Wall Street movement that inspired the

London protest [at St Paul’s Cathedral] is hailed by
The New York Times and the Financial Times as a wake-up
call about inequality. President Obama hears an echo of
the “frustrations of ordinary Americans”. ...
As in the old cartoon where a top-hatted capitalist atop
a ladder urges less flashy fellows below him to step down
a rung, the attitude of the great mass of people to shared
sacrifice will depend on whether or not it threatens to sink
them below the waterline. In the years running up to the
great recession, the slice of the pie accruing to the top 1%
had widened into a wedge that signified a new gilded age.
accrue to [E(kru: tE] zukommen
atop [E(tQp] auf
dub [dVb] nennen
fellow [(felEU] Kerl
flashy [(flÄSi] schick
can so many among them have made money not from in-
vesting in some tangible venture, but from dealing in
money itself. There is a sense of the City as a cultural is-
land, in which there is no sense of the value of anything
or anyone beyond price or earnings. ...
[I]t is a problem for the likes of Citigroup — profits
up 74% [in the third quarter of 2011] — that ... those the
protesters dub “the other 99%” have no real idea of what
they do, save for a general suspicion that they are
up to no good. The St Paul’s campers have chosen a po-
litically promising moment for driving the moneylenders
out of the temple.
save for [(seIv fE] abgesehen von
tangible [(tÄndZEb&l] konkret
the best part of [)best (pA:t Ev] fast
the City [DE (sIti] UK Londoner Börsen- und
Bankenviertel
Fotos: AFP/Getty Images; Hemera

gilded age [(gIldId eIdZ] Zeit der Wirtschaftsblüte in den the likes of [DE (laIks Ev] (Firmen) wie
USA Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts top-hatted [tQp (hÄtId] mit Zylinder
hail [heI&l] feiern urge [§:dZ] auffordern
latterly [(lÄtEli] neuerdings venture [(ventSE] Unternehmen
rung [rVN] Sprosse wake-up call [(weIk Vp )kO:l] Alarmzeichen
sacrifice [(sÄkrIfaIs] Opfer, Verzicht wedge [wedZ] Keil; hier: Ausschnitt

42 Spotlight 12|11
42_43_Press Gallery_12_11 31.10.11 14:41 Seite 43

Listen to more news

items in Replay

INFO TO GO
up to no good

If someone is described as up to no good, it means that he

or she is doing something bad. A similar phrase is “up to
something”, meaning doing something wrong or secretive.
Which of the expressions in bold below describe people who
are “up to no good”?

a) Brian had been misbehaving and earned a reprimand

from his teacher.
b) The employee has been praised for his exemplary
behaviour.
c) If you ask me, she has definitely committed a match [mÄtS] Streichholz
mischief [(mIstSIf] Unfug
misdemeanour.
misdemeanour Vergehen, Delikt
d) We were surprised to find our children fooling around [)mIsdi(mi:nE]
with matches. reprimand Verweis
[(reprimA:nd]
e) His son is always involved in some kind of mischief.
Answers: a), c), d) and e)

on track
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44_45_Arts_Short Story_12_11_neu 04.11.11 10:04 Seite 44
ARTS | What’s New
Films
Music
T he British tradition of performing pantomimes occurs
mainly in the time around Christmas and the New Year, when
families can go out together and enjoy a very silly look at famous
fairy tales. Song, dance, bad jokes and often some famous actors
are all part of the experience. From Peter Pan in London to
Aladdin in York, there’s something
for everyone, and the audience
is encouraged to join in. So
choose your favourite and
warm your hearts during
the cold time of year
by checking out these
stage performances at
www.pantoworld.co.uk
A great night out:
two characters from
a pantomime
44 Spotlight 12|11
Passion
and pain
N ew versions of literary classics face the
challenge of combining an old and
much-loved book with a new interpre-
tation — so congratulations to the young
American director Cary Fukunaga. His version
of Jane Eyre, based on the 19th-century novel
by Charlotte Brontë, keeps all that’s good in the
book and adds a little extra by bringing together
a Gothic, romantic atmosphere with quietly re-
alistic passion. The story follows the life of Jane,
an orphan who becomes a governess and is sent
to look after a child in a lonely country house.
She finds herself falling in love with its owner,
Mr Rochester, and things seem to be heading
towards a happy ending when a secret from
Rochester’s past changes everything.
Fukunaga has chosen two very talented
young actors. Mia Wasikowska’s Jane is a young
woman whose difficult childhood has made her
strong yet kind. Michael Fassbender as the
older Rochester is not just a seducer, but a sad
man surprised to find love when he thought all
chance of happiness gone. Judi Dench is per-
fect as the housekeeper. This magical film starts
on 1 December.
Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender
play Jane and Mr Rochester
Exhibitions
A rtist Grayson Perry is famous
for his provocative ceramics
(right) and his love of cross-
dressing: in 2003, he accepted
the Turner Prize dressed as a
woman. In The Tomb of the
Unknown Craftsman, an
exhibition currently showing at
the British Museum in London,
this unusual artist has put his
own famous creations next to ob-
jects taken from two thousand
years of craftsmanship. This very
individual attitude to the history
of handmade objects can be ob-
served until 19 February.
www.britishmuseum.org
Reviews by EVE LUCAS
44_45_Arts_Short Story_12_11_neu 28.10.11 11:11 Seite 45

Short Story | ARTS

Focus on Marjorie
JESSIE OPAL erzählt von dem Tag, an dem Marjorie plötzlich alles klarer sah.

S he woke up to a bright, new world. Overnight, the

sights and sounds around her had somehow shifted,
turning toward one single point of focus: Marjorie.
As she walked to the bus stop, each leaf nodding on the
trees seemed to have its own individual shade of green.
dren who settled safely in their seats just as the bus took
off again with a lurch. The bus driver’s eyes, reflected in
the mirror, were kindly.
She walked into the office with a spring in her step. Be-
fore turning on her computer, she opened the window and
Robins and sparrows looked down at her as they sang their leaned out to look down at the street below. Businessmen
morning songs. “Look at me,” they seemed to say. walked purposefully along the road, mothers chatted as
People, too, had changed. Normally, strangers’ eyes they pushed strollers along, and a group of children daw-
were unreadable, hiding secrets. But not on this day. From dled, obviously in no hurry to arrive at school. Smiling,
bright blue eyes to deep brown ones, they all seemed ready she looked up, her gaze falling on the building across the
to share their inner thoughts with her. As she waited in street. A man in the office opposite hers was hanging up
line for her morning coffee, she studied the faces of an his jacket; then he turned towards her as he picked up a
elderly couple sitting near the window. Many years of good cup of coffee. Marjorie had been aware of this man in the
humor — love, even — were plainly written in their laugh past. He usually arrived at the same time as she did, and
lines. She felt a smile come to her own face. sometimes when he opened or closed the window in the
Her bus ride to work was much more than the usual course of the day, a ray of reflected light would shine into
boring series of starts and stops. First, she looked up at the her office for a moment. But never before had she noticed
soft, blue sky, then out at the countryside rushing past. that behind his thin wire-framed glasses, he had warm
Traffic signs had always been purely functional objects. laugh lines.
Now each one added an extra bit of color to the landscape Aaron looked out the window at the woman across the
— red, yellow, blue. street. She was often on his bus, and he saw her from time
Finally, she turned her attention to the inside of the to time in the café around the corner at lunchtime. But
bus and found just as many bits of beauty there. The she’d never really looked at him
woman sitting in front of her had the most exquisite ear- — until today. He’d
rings, long and beaded. A man got on with two small chil- thought she was perhaps a
little shy. Today, though,
adjust [E(dZVst] einstellen; hier: zurechtrücken she was looking straight
beaded [(bi:dId] mit Perlen at him. Opening the
craftsmanship Handwerkskunst
[(krA:ftsmEnSIp] window, he smiled at her
cross-dressing [)krQs (dresIN] Transvestismus and gave a little wave.
dawdle [(dO:d&l] trödeln Surprised, Marjorie hes-
elderly [US (eld&rli] älter itated, then slowly smiled
fairy tale [(feEri teI&l] Märchen back. She reached up to ad-
gaze [geIz] Blick just her new glasses. They had
governess [(gVv&nEs] Kinderfräulein
been waiting in a small package
lurch [l§:tS] Ruck
optometrist Optiker(in)
in the mailbox since the
[US A:p(tA:mEtrIst] N. Am. night before. “You’ve
Foto: Alamy; British Museum; iStockphoto; Tobis Film

orphan [(O:f&n] Waise needed these for a

plainly [(pleInli] deutlich, klar long time,” the
purposefully [(p§:pEsf&li] zielstrebig optometrist had
ray [reI] Strahl
told her. And
robin [US (rA:bEn] Rotkehlchen
seducer [sI(dju:sE] Verführer(in)
perhaps he was
sparrow [US (spÄroU] Spatz right. Strange
stroller [US (stroUl&r] N. Am. Kinderwagen what a difference
wire-framed mit Drahtgestell two lightweight
[US (waI&r )freImd] lenses and a plas-
with a spring in one’s step mit federnden Schritten
[US wIT E (sprIN In wVnz )step] (→ p. 59) tic frame could
make. •
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48_49_Vocabulary_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:43 Seite 48

LANGUAGE | Vocabulary

11 12
10
14
6 13
2 3 4 5
7
1

18
15

17
16

Let’s play a game

Long, dark winter evenings are the perfect time for board and card games such as chess,
Scrabble and bridge. ANNA HOCHSIEDER introduces all the necessary language.

Gin rummy: a card game for two players 1. chessmen, chess pieces
You need a standard deck of 52 playing cards, a pen and a piece of paper. 2. king
The idea is to score more points than your opponent. Each card is worth 3. queen
a certain number of points. The aim is to form sets of cards of the same 4. bishop
rank, such as three or four sevens, or runs of the same suit, e.g. jack, 5. knight
queen, king and ace of spades. The cards are shuffled. Each player is 6. castle, rook
dealt ten cards. The remaining cards are placed face down to form the 7. pawn [pO:n]
stock pile. Taking turns, the players draw a new card and, on the same 8. chessboard
turn, discard a card from their hand, placing it face up on the discard pile. 9. playing cards
10. ace of diamonds [(daIEmEndz]
Ludo: a board game for two to four players
Illustration: Bernhard Förth; Fotos: Thinkstock

11. jack/knave [neIv] of clubs

12. queen of hearts
You need a ludo board, four counters of the same colour per player, and
13. joker
a dice. The object of the game is to be the first player to reach the finish
with all four counters. The players place their four counters in the start 14. ten of spades
area and take turns throwing the dice. The counters are moved in a 15. draughts [drA:fts] (UK ), checkers
clockwise direction, as many squares forward as the number on the dice. 16. ludo (UK )
If a player lands on a square already occupied by an opponent, the op- 17. game piece, counter
ponent’s counter is captured or taken and returned to the start. 18. die, dice

48 Spotlight 12|11
48_49_Vocabulary_12_11_neu 31.10.11 14:43 Seite 49
Practice
Try these exercises to practise the language
of board and card games.
1. Choose the correct sentence ending below.
a) If people take turns doing something,
1. they do it one after another.
b) If a player captures a counter,
1. he or she gets the counter.
c) With a jack of spades and a jack of hearts,
1. you have cards of the same rank.
d) If you lay a card face up on the table,
1. no player can see its face.
2. In each line, which two verbs are nor-
mally used with the noun on the right?
a) roll | shuffle | throw the dice
b) shuffle | deal | score the cards
c) capture | draw | discard a card
d) land on | deal | move forward a square
e) score | win | roll points
f) capture | move | draw a counter
3. Complete the chess rules below, using
words from the opposite page. You
will need seven nouns and one verb.
In chess, the (a) __________________ of the game is to
“checkmate” your (b) __________________’s king. A
(c) __________________ can also “resign” (give up) if
his / her position is hopeless, or a game can end in
a draw (or stalemate), with neither player winning.
Each player has 16 (d) __________________, eight
of which are (e) __________________. White always
moves first. If one player’s piece lands on a
(f) __________________ already occupied by the other
player, the first player (g) __________________ or takes
the opponent’s piece and puts his/her own piece
in its place. Each chess piece moves in a different
way. The king can move in any (h) __________________,
but only one square at a time.
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2. they do it at the same time.
2. he or she loses the counter.
2. you have cards of the same suit.
2. all the players can see its face.
4. Write the name of the card
next to the picture.
a) seven of __________________
b) ____________________________
c) ____________________________
d) ____________________________
While most people today use dice as a singular noun,
the correct form used to be one die, two dice:
• You need a dice, pencil and paper to play this game.
To roll the dice means the same as to throw the dice.
For more practice, think of a simple game and write
down the rules in English. Note that the passive form is
often used for explaining rules:
• Discarded cards are placed face up on the discard pile.
• Pieces are moved forward in an anticlockwise direction.
4. a) hearts; b) jack / knave of spades; c) queen of diamonds; d) ace of clubs
e) pawns; f) square; g) captures [(kÄptSEz]; h) direction
3. a) object/aim; b) opponent [E(pEUnEnt]; c) player; d) (chess) pieces (chessmen);
e) score, win; f) capture, move
2. a) roll, throw; b) shuffle, deal; c) draw, discard; d) land on, move forward;
Answers: 1. a–1; b–1; c–1; d–2
12|11 Spotlight 49
50_Grammar_12_11 28.10.11 11:11 Seite 50

LANGUAGE | The Grammar Page

Intransitive two-word verbs

Every month in this section, ROBERT PARR uses notes
on a short dialogue to present and explain a key point
of grammar.

1. The two-word verbs Debbie is talking to her boyfriend, Alex, on the phone. 3. The meaning of a
highlighted in this They had arranged to meet some friends in a pub. two-word verb is
dialogue are insepara- not always obvious.
ble and intransitive. Debbie: Why didn’t you turn up 1 this evening? We were Stop by means to
Intransitive verbs all waiting for you. visit a person or
cannot be followed by Alex: Sorry. I was too tired, and I’ve got to get up 2 place for a short time
a direct object. really early tomorrow. while on the way to
Debbie: I know, but you could at least have stopped by 3 another place.
2. Intransitive verbs can for half an hour.
be followed by other Alex: Sorry, Deb. I sent you a text, though. Didn’t you 4. Two-word verbs like
parts of speech: “I got get it? run out are common
up early this morn- Debbie: No, my phone was off because the battery had in informal English.
ing”, “I set off feeling run out .4 You don’t have to use
tired.” Alex: Oh, I see. Sorry about that. them, but you need
Debbie: I was worried about you. You said you’d come. to understand them.
Alex: I said I was sorry, Deb.

Remember!
A good monolingual dictionary will give you detailed
information about intransitive two-word verbs — a
type of phrasal verb. For example, in the Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary they are listed like
this:
PHR V get up — to stand up after sitting, lying,
etc.
If you see a two-word verb without sb. (somebody)
or sth. (something) after it, you know that it is
intransitive.
Beyond the basics
In American English, stop by is often transitive:
• I stopped by his office.
Many intransitive two-word verbs have more than
one meaning. In the dialogue above, turn up means
“to arrive”, but it can also mean “to be found after
being lost”:
• Don’t worry about your purse. It’ll turn up sooner
or later.
The separable, transitive two-word verb turn sth. up
has further meanings:
• Can you turn up the volume, please?
Exercise
Replace the words in bold with the correct form of
the intransitive two-word verbs from the box.
break out | stand out | step down
stick around | touch down | wear off
a) When the war started, they lost contact.
____________________________
b) I really hope that the side effects of the drug will
disappear soon. ____________________________
c) The colour really is clearly noticeable against that
white wall. ____________________________
d) Isn’t it time she resigned and let somebody else do
the job? ____________________________
e) The plane landed at 7 p.m. ___________________________
f) Do you mind if we stay here for a little longer?
____________________________
For more information and exercises on multi-word verbs, see
The Grammar Page in Spotlight 9/11, 10/11 and 11/11.
e) touched down; f) stick around
Answers: a) broke out; b) wear off; c) stands out; d) stepped down;

50 Spotlight 12|11
51_52_Everyday English_12_11 28.10.11 11:12 Seite 51

Everyday English | LANGUAGE

At a Christmas
market
This month, DAGMAR TAYLOR focuses on the
words and phrases people use when they talk
about visiting a Christmas market.

1. To market
It’s Saturday morning. Carol and Noel are making
plans.
Carol: Noel, do you know what I’d like to do today?
Noel: What’s that?
Carol: I really fancy going to the Christmas market in
Bath. My colleague was telling me about it. He
said it’s just like a Christmas market in Austria
or Germany, with Glühwein and sausages and
everything. And there are lots of stalls selling
all sorts of things. We could make a start on the
Christmas shopping.
Noel: Yeah, OK. Shall we go sort of late afternoon?
Carol: Good idea. That way, we’ll see the Christmas
lights when it gets dark — and we can have
something to eat there.
Noel: And some mulled wine.
Carol: Of course! But it’s probably a good idea to do
the shopping first.
• The UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath is in the
south-west of England. It is famous for its baths,
developed by the Romans (Spotlight 8/11).
• The German word Glühwein is pronounced [(glu:vaIn]
in the UK. Its English name is mulled wine.
• ...and everything (ifml.) is often used in spoken Eng-
lish to mean “and so on” or “and other similar things”.
• By Christmas shopping, Carol means the presents
she would like to buy for friends and family.
• Sort of (ifml.) can be used to describe something in an
imprecise way. It is also used as a softener. Softeners
are often used in spoken English to give sentences an
informal and polite tone.
• Most British towns put up Christmas lights to deco-
rate the main shopping areas. The lights are often
switched on as early as the beginning of November.
Fotos: Alamy; iStockphoto
Listen to
dialogues 1 and 2
2. Let the shopping begin!
Carol and Noel have arrived at the Christmas
market.
Carol: Brrr! It’s cold! Do you think it’s going to snow?
Noel: That would be perfect! It’s not a bad setting for
a Christmas market, is it? Between the abbey
and the Roman Baths. And listen! I can hear
carol singers.
Carol: It’s so Christmassy!
Noel: Mmm! All the smells are making me hungry.
Carol: Let’s do the shopping before we eat. I’d like to
get a wreath for the front door and some dec-
orations. And we could get your dad a nice bot-
tle of liqueur — look, there’s the stall over
there.
Noel: Well, why don’t you get the decorations and I’ll
get the liqueur. We can meet back at the Glüh-
wein stall if we lose each other.
Carol: OK. See you in a bit!
• A carol is a traditional song or hymn sung at Christ-
mas time. Groups of carol singers often sing outdoors
or go from door to door to collect money for charity
(wohltätige Zwecke).
• An informal adjective to describe something typical
of Christmas is Christmassy [(krIsmEsi].
• A liqueur [lI(kjUE, US lI(k§:] is a strong, sweet alco-
holic drink. In North America, “liquor” [(lIk&r] is any
strong alcoholic drink.
• Each other is used to show that each member of a
group does sth. for or to the others in the group.
•

fancy [(fÄnsi] UK Lust haben auf Here, a bit is an informal way of saying “a little while”.
stall [stO:l] Bude
abbey [(Äbi] Abtei
setting [(setIN] Kulisse (→ p. 59)
wreath [ri:T] Kranz

12|11 Spotlight 51
51_52_Everyday English_12_11 28.10.11 11:12 Seite 52

LANGUAGE | Everyday English

3. Where’s Carol? 4. Together again

Noel is waiting for Carol at the Glühwein stall. Carol has found Noel.

Seller: Hi, there! What can I get you? Noel: There you are! Where have you been?
Noel: I’ll have a Glühwein, please. Carol: Sorry, but I found so many presents for people.
Seller: Mit Schuss? That’s with a shot of brandy. I couldn’t stop. I got a scented candle for Jo,
Noel: Tempting! OK. I’m waiting for my girlfriend. and a handmade Christmas stocking for Brian,
She’s lost in the crowd somewhere. It’s heaving and...
today! Noel: That’s great, but aren’t you hungry?
Seller: I know. I’ve never seen it so busy. The market’s Carol: I’m starving! And my feet are freezing. Have
become really popular. you had anything?
Noel: I wasn’t expecting it to be so big. How many Noel: No. I was waiting for you. I did have a Glüh-
stalls are there? wein — well, two — just to warm me up. They
Seller: I think there are about 130 this year. Here you went down a treat!
are: one Glühwein mit Schuss. Can I interest you Carol: I bet they did. So what do you want to eat?
in a mince pie, or a slice of Stollen? Noel: Anything at this point.
Noel: No. That’s all, thanks. How much is that? Carol: Why don’t we have a sausage and some mulled
Seller: That’ll be £4, please. wine here and then go and have a good walk
around?
• When you say a place is heaving (UK), it means “full”:
“The town centre was heaving with tourists.” • A Christmas stocking is a long sock that children
• The phrase Can I interest you in...? is commonly used leave out on Christmas Eve to be filled with presents.
to persuade someone to buy something. • If something goes down a treat (UK), you enjoy it
• A mince pie is a typical Christmas treat, made with very much.
pastry and mincemeat. Mincemeat is made from dried • You can say I bet (ifml.) to show you understand how
fruit, sugar and spices (Gewürze). “Mince” can also mean someone is feeling.
finely chopped meat (N. Am.: ground beef, pork, etc.). • When Noel says “Anything at this point”, he means
• To let a salesperson know you don’t want to buy any- he is so hungry at this point in time that he will eat
thing else, you can say: That’s all, thanks. anything — it doesn’t matter what.

brandy [(brÄndi] Weinbrand freezing [(fri:zIN] eiskalt

tempting [(temptIN] verlockend (→ p. 59) scented candle Duftkerze
[)sentId (kÄnd&l]
starving: be ~ [(stA:vIN] Kohldampf haben
Exercises

1. Answer the questions.

a) Who told Carol about the market? ____________________
b) What does Carol say she wants to buy?
_____________________________________________________________________________
c) Where does Noel wait for Carol? ______________________
d) What did Carol buy? ___________________________________
2. What’s the missing preposition?
a) My colleague was telling me ______ it.
b) It’s not a bad setting ______ a Christmas market, is it?
c) She’s lost ______ the crowd somewhere.
d) I’ll eat anything ______ this point.
3. Replace the words in bold with those
used in the scenes.
a) At the market, they have Glühwein and sausages
and so on. _____________________________
b) OK. See you in a while. _____________________________
c) It’s really full here. _____________________________
d) I’m very hungry. _____________________________
4. Rearrange the letters to form words
from the dialogues.
a) d e l l m u e i n w __________________________
b) a c l o r e g i n r s s __________________________
Foto: iStockphoto

4. a) mulled wine; b) carol singers; c) mince pie; d) Christmas stocking

3. a) and everything; b) a bit; c) heaving; d) starving
2. a) about; b) for; c) in; d) at c) c e i m n e i p __________________________
c) at the Glühwein stall; d) a scented candle and a Christmas stocking
Answers: 1. a) her colleague; b) a wreath, decorations and liqueur;
d) a C h i m r s s t c g i k n o s t _________________________

52 Spotlight 12|11
53_54_Cards_12_11 28.10.11 11:12 Seite 53

Cards | LANGUAGE

NEW WORDS GLOBAL ENGLISH

quintastic What would a speaker of British

English say?
“Time seems to have no effect on him —
he’s quintastic.” Zimbabwean: “She has grown up in my eyes.
She’s a now-now girl.”

Spotlight 12|11 Spotlight 12|11

(IN)FORMAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Make this somewhat formal style sound Translate:
less formal:
1. Das Bild hing an der Wand.
“Unbeknownst to me, the hostilities had ceased.”
2. Er hängte das Bild an die andere Wand.

3. Er hat sich in seiner Zelle erhängt.

Spotlight 12|11 Spotlight 12|11

PRONUNCIATION IDIOM MAGIC

Ching Yee Smithback

Read these words out loud.

Pay particular attention to the
pronunciation of “s”.

also clumsy
inside observe
shirtsleeves Windsor

bore the pants off sb.

Spotlight 12|11 Spotlight 12|11

FALSE FRIENDS GRAMMAR

dates / Daten Complete the sentences with the correct
translation of the words in brackets:
Translate the following sentences:
1. _____________ (Der Arme) has no family nearby.
1. Are you sure you've got the dates right?
2. That was _____________ (das Interessante) about
2. Kannst du mir bitte schnell deine Daten mailen? the film.

Spotlight 12|11 Spotlight 12|11

53_54_Cards_12_11 28.10.11 11:13 Seite 54
LANGUAGE | Cards
GLOBAL ENGLISH
British English: “I saw her grow up. (Now) she’s a
modern young woman.”
The English of Zimbabwe, which is generally
similar to South African English, contains
expressions using structures that have been
transferred from local African languages.
Spotlight 12|11
TRANSLATION
1. The picture hung on the wall.
2. He hung the picture on the other wall.
3. He hanged himself in his cell.
German and English both have an irregular verb
and a regular verb here. The weak verb in English
(“hanged”) is used, however, only in the sense of
“kill by means of a rope around the neck”.
Spotlight 12|11
IDIOM MAGIC
When something is extremely boring, you can say
that it bores the pants off you. In German, one
says sich/jmdn. zu Tode langweilen.
“I almost fell asleep during that film. It absolutely
bored the pants off me.”
Spotlight 12|11
GRAMMAR
1. The poor man / thing has no family nearby.
2. That was the interesting thing about the film.
English does not nominalize singular adjectives.
“The poor”, for example, can have only plural
reference. Singular nominalized adjectives in
German need a noun in English. For abstract
concepts, “thing” is often the best choice.
Spotlight 12|11
NEW WORDS
Quintastic, a new adjective and noun, refers to
someone aged 50 or older who is still attractive
and successful. It is most typically used in
reference to famous people. “Quin-” is a prefix
from Latin quinque (“five”), and “-tastic” comes
from the last two syllables (Silbe) of “fantastic”.
Spotlight 12|11
(IN)FORMAL ENGLISH
Without my knowing, the fighting had
stopped.
One can also say “unbeknown”. Both are still used
by the older generation, but the archaic participle
“beknown” — which has, of course, the opposite
meaning — is no longer used in modern English.
“Hostilities” and “to cease” are frequently used in
the news.
Spotlight 12|11
PRONUNCIATION
[(O:lsEU] [(klVmzi]
[)In(saId] [Eb(z§:v]
[(S§:tsli:vz] [(wInzE]
When non-final “s” follows a voiceless (stimmlos)
consonant or [l], [n] or [r], it is normally
pronounced [s]. After other voiced (stimmhaft)
consonants it is usually pronounced [z].
Spotlight 12|11
FALSE FRIENDS
1. Bist du sicher, dass die Termine stimmen?
2. Can you please mail me your particulars
straight away?
English date (in this sense) corresponds to German
Datum, not Daten. The translation “particulars” for
Daten refers to someone’s personal details. In
reference to industrial products, for example, one
can translate Daten with “technical specifications”.
Spotlight 12|11
55_Travel Talk_12_11 28.10.11 11:13 Seite 55
A trip to Edinburgh
The Scottish capital is a great place to visit
all year round. ANNA HOCHSIEDER takes you
there.
Arriving at the guest house
Hello! Welcome to Edinburgh! You must be
Martina.
Yes, that’s right. Phew! It’s good to be here at last!
Did you have trouble finding us?
Well, I took the 86 from Waverley Station, as you
suggested, but then I got off at the wrong stop —
so I had to walk back quite a long way.
Oh, dear. Sorry about that. Anyway, let me show
you your room. It’s on the second floor.
At the tourist information office
I’d like some information on the Edinburgh Pass,
please. It’s for all the major attractions, right?
Most of them, yes. But not the castle, Holyrood
Palace or the Royal Yacht. If you want to visit those,
I would recommend the Royal Edinburgh Ticket.
You might want to take a look at these leaflets.
Thanks. Oh, and could you tell me how to get to
the John Knox House and to the Museum of
Childhood?
Yes. Let me give you a map. They’re both on the
Royal Mile, just a short walk from here.
In a pub
So, what do you think of Edinburgh?
It’s fantastic! I wish I could stay longer.
Won’t you be here for Hogmanay, then?
No, unfortunately not. I’ve heard it’s a huge thing
here in Edinburgh, though.
It certainly is. Apparently, it’s the biggest New
Fotos: iStockphoto
Year’s Eve party in the world — a hundred thou-
sand people holding hands and singing “Auld Lang
Syne”. It brings tears to my eyes every time!
Travel Talk | LANGUAGE
• Many non-native speakers have trouble pronouncing
Edinburgh correctly: [(edInbErE].
• By the 86, Martina means “bus number 86”.
• You get off (not “out of”) a bus. At the start of your
journey, you “get on” (not “into”) a bus.
• Remember that the second floor (zweiter Stock) in
British English corresponds to the “third floor” in Amer-
ican English. We say “on (not “in”) the ground/first/
second floor”.
• Many abstract nouns such as “information” are
uncountable. Ask for some information, not
“an information”.
• There are many different ways of introducing a
suggestion — for example, with the phrase: You might
want to... .
• To get to is an informal way of saying “to travel to”.
• The Royal Mile is the popular name for the six streets
leading from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace.
Many of Edinburgh’s tourist attractions are located
along the Royal Mile.
• Edinburgh’s Hogmanay lasts from 30 December to
2 January. Celebrations include a procession, a street
party, concerts, fireworks and an outdoor ceilidh
[(keIli], with traditional Scottish music and dancing.
• The adverb apparently is often used to introduce a
sentence when the speaker is passing on information
that he or she has heard.
• “Auld Lang Syne” [)O:ld )lÄN (zaIn] is sung in many
English-speaking countries at midnight on New Year’s
Eve. It is based on a poem by the Scottish national
poet, Robert Burns (1759–96).
Holyrood [(hQliru:d]
leaflet [(li:flEt] Broschüre (→ p. 59)
Phew! [fju:] Puh!
yacht [jQt]
12|11 Spotlight 55
56_Peggys Place_12_11 31.10.11 14:44 Seite 56

Helen Phil Peggy

LANGUAGE | Peggy’s Place

The spirit of George

Christmas Dusty
Phil and Peggy are planning a special evening.
By INEZ SHARP Jane
Eddy
Peggy: It looks really cold out there. Can you call Simone
and tell her to put on some warm boots?
Jane: I wasn’t cold on the way over here.
Peggy: Jane, love, we all know you’re prepared to freeze
in the name of fashion. Look at that skimpy outfit!
George: Hmm! Skimpy, but definitely attractive.
Jane: Hi, George! You see, Mum, some people appreciate
“ It’s a bit of a family tradition

forward to the service. ”

Peggy: It would be such a shame. I’ve really been looking

George: Yup. It is a pity to have everything spoilt by a

bunch of jobless louts.
my efforts to look stylish despite the weather. Phil: They’re not louts. I understand their grievances. I
George: Stylish wasn’t exactly what I meant... mean, if you look at the mess the country’s in...
Peggy: Look, Jane, how you dress is your business, but George: But they’ve got no agenda. It’s all very well to say
your daughter is another matter. The service lasts about capitalism doesn’t work, but what’s the alternative?
two hours, and you know how cold churches can be. Peggy: We’d better stay home. It’d be silly to take any risks.
Jane: You’re such an old fusspot, but this is the time of Jane: I’ll take Simone if you like. It could be fun — just
goodwill, and you won’t shut up until I’ve done it, so the two of us.
I’ll call Simone. Now, what do you want me to tell her? Phil: Why the sudden enthusiasm? I thought you just said
Peggy: She should wrap up and make sure she’s got some carol services were boring.
nice warm boots on. Now, George, what’ll it be? Jane: It won’t be boring if all of those protesters are there.
George: I’ll have a hot toddy. I’m chilled to the bone. I love that kind of atmosphere — when there are lots
Peggy: Sorry, George. Dusty’s run off his feet, and we’re of people around and you’re not quite sure what’s going
going to the carol service later, so there’s no time to to happen.
fix anything special. George: It’s not really in the spirit of Christmas, is it?
George: OK. Make it a whisky, then. Which carol service
Focus
are you going to?
Phil: The one at St Paul’s. A carol service is a popular Christmas tradition in English-
speaking countries. It is a church service held in the days
George: Hi, Phil! I didn’t see you lurking in the corner.
before Christmas during which special hymns known as car-
Phil: I’m just trying to work out the best way to get to the ols are sung and the Christmas story is told. Many of the
cathedral. I thought it might be fun to go by bus. We’ll services include a Nativity play, where the scenes at Bethle-
see some of the lights. hem are acted out by children.
Jane: The number 11 goes from Liverpool Street.
George: Why are you going all that way? There are loads
of carol services around here. agenda [E(dZendE] Programm
appreciate [E(pri:SieIt] zu schätzen wissen, mögen
Peggy: My dad used to take me up there when I was little,
bunch [bVntS] ifml. Haufen
and I took Jane a couple of times when she was a kid. chilled to the bone völlig durchgefroren
So it’s a bit of a family tradition. [)tSIld tE DE (bEUn]
Jane: I never thought it was that special — all that sitting fusspot [(fVspQt] ifml. Nörgler(in)
around and having to keep really quiet. grievance [(gri:v&ns] Klage, Beschwerde
George: Aren’t you worried about all the protesters? loads of [(lEUdz Ev] massenweise
lout [laUt] Rüpel
Phil: I thought they’d all gone home.
lurk [l§:k] sich verstecken, lauern
George: In the news they were saying that there’s going Nativity play [nE(tIvEti )pleI] Krippenspiel
to be a really big protest before the service, because run off one’s feet: be ~ vor Arbeit kein Bein mehr
that’s when they can get a lot of media attention. [)rVn Qf wVnz (fi:t] ifml auf den Boden bekommen
Peggy: Are you sure about that? service [(s§:vIs] Gottesdienst
George: I’m just telling you what I heard on the radio. skimpy [(skImpi] knapp
spoil [spOI&l] verderben
Peggy: What shall we do, Phil? I’d never forgive myself if
toddy [(tQdi] Grog
something happened to Simone. wrap up [rÄp (Vp] sich warm einpacken, anziehen
George: I’d stay home if I were you.

56 Spotlight 12|11
57_Dear Ken_12_11 28.10.11 11:14 Seite 57

English at Work | LANGUAGE

Dear Ken: I was wondering if

you could help me...
Dear Ken Send y
ou
In Spotlight 7/11, you explained when to use the present by e-m r questions
a a
simple and continuous forms. Now, my question is: line to il with “De bout busine
langu ar Ken ss
month age ” in th English
When should we use the past continuous form, and , I ans @spotligh e sub
ject
reade wer tw t-verla
when should we use the past simple? For example: rs o g.d
questio have sent in questions e. Each
• Chris was driving a German car, or n
Fifty W , you’ll rece
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• Chris drove a German car. So don
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et to a
I’m looking forward to your answer. dd you Business En k:
r mailin glish.
Regards g addr
ess!
Wolfram S.
Dear Ken
Dear Wolfram I regularly take part in telephone and video confer-
We use the past simple to talk about actions or situa- ences in English. Some colleagues talk too much, and
tions at a point in time in the past. For example: some never talk at all. In a large group, the discussions
• Chris took his car to the garage yesterday. can go on forever.
• I worked in the US some years ago. Is there a simple method that can keep the discussion
“Yesterday” and “some years ago” are signals that re- shorter but still involve everyone?
mind us to use the past simple. The past continuous Harald H.
(or progressive) form of a verb has three main uses:
1. It is used with the past simple to talk about what Dear Harald
was happening at a particular moment in the past: Yes. There is a simple method you can use. I call it the
• It was raining when I left the office. “three words” approach.
• I was looking at my notes when the phone rang. The chairperson asks everyone in the group to say
Note the difference between these two sentences: three words about the issue being discussed. In the fol-
• When I arrived, he was phoning John. lowing example, the discussion involves the purchase
(I arrived during the phone call.) of some new equipment.
• When I arrived, he phoned John. Chair: Let’s see where we are now. We’ll go around the
(He called John after I had arrived.) group, and everyone should say just three
2. It is used to show that you are talking about a tem- words to summarize what he or she thinks.
porary past situation: Ready? Let’s start with Mary.
• I was spending a day in York when I met Tom. Mary: Expensive, unreliable, unnecessary.
For a more permanent state of affairs, you should Chair: Thanks. Frank?
use the past simple, though: Frank: Wait two years.
• I worked in York for many years when I was single. Chair: OK. John?
3. We can make a request or suggestion sound more John: Don’t buy it.
polite by using a past continuous phrase, such as This approach gives you a clear idea of everyone’s
“I was wondering...” or “I was hoping...”: views. Everyone contributes, and you get a sense of
• I was wondering if we’d be able to meet today. whether there is a consensus in the meeting.
Certain verbs, called stative verbs, cannot be used Try it, and see if it works for you.
with the past continuous. Common examples are Best wishes
“like”, “see”, “hear”, “believe” and “remember”. Ken
These are the main rules for these two verb tenses.
Good luck with using them.
Ken approach [E(prEUtS] Ansatz
garage [(gÄrA:Z] Werkstatt (→ p. 59)
purchase [(p§:tSEs] Kauf
Ken Taylor is the director of Taylor Consultancy Ltd, an interna- state of affairs (Sach)Lage
tional communication skills consultancy in London. He regularly [)steit Ev E(feEz]
runs seminars in Germany.

12|11 Spotlight 57
58_Spoken English_12_11_neu 28.10.11 11:14 Seite 58

LANGUAGE | Spoken English

Jeeps aren’t cheap

Foto: iStockphoto
This month, ROBERT PARR considers the
subtle differences between four particular
sounds.
The sound [S] Hearing the difference
The consonant sound [S] is pronounced in the way that In many cases, it is important to hear the difference be-
English speakers would tell somebody to be quiet: “shh”. tween two individual sounds. Changing the sound creates
The sound can come at the beginning, in the middle, or at a different word and a different meaning. The following
the end of a word and is often written as “sh”: pairs of words begin with the sounds [S] and [tS]:
• fashion [(fÄS&n] • sheet [Si:t] is not cheat [tSi:t]
• push [pUS] • sherry [(Seri] is not cherry [(tSeri]
• shy [SaI] • she’s [Si:z] is not cheese [tSi:z]
• shoe [Su:] is not chew [tSu:]
Notice that some words which begin with the letter “s” —
not “sh”— are also pronounced [S]: These pairs of words begin with the sounds [tS] and [dZ]:
• sugar [(SUgE] • chain [tSeIn] is not Jane [dZeIn]
• sure [SO:] • chin [tSIn] is not gin [dZIn]
• choke [tSEUk] (ersticken) is not joke [dZEUk]
There are also other spellings of the [S] sound: • chore [tSO:] (Arbeit, Aufgabe) is not jaw [dZO:] (Kiefer)
• ocean [(EUS&n]
• tension [(tenS&n] (Spannung)
Exercise
The sound [Z]
The sound [Z] is the voiced (stimmhaft) equivalent of 1. Which of these words does not include [S]?
[S], but is less common. It normally occurs in words in a) ambitious
which the letter “s” is followed by “-ion”, “-ual” and “-ure”: b) delicious
• explosion [Ik(splEUZ&n] c) question
• pleasure [(pleZE] d) machine
• usual [(ju:ZuEl]
2. Which word does not include [Z]?
The sound [tS] a) beige
The consonant sound [tS] can come at the start, in the b) casual
middle, or at the end of a word. It is often written as “ch”: c) tissue
• chip [tSIp] d) vision
• kitchen [(kItSEn]
• rich [rItS] 3. Which word does not include [tS]?
a) chalet
Notice that “t” can sometimes be pronounced [tS]: b) natural
• future [(fju:tSE] c) chess
• question [(kwestSEn] d) fetch

[tS] is written as “c” in the word “cello” [(tSelEU]. 4. How is the “g” pronounced in these words?
a) guess
The sound [dZ] b) gentle
The sound [dZ] is the voiced equivalent of [tS] and can c) ghost
come at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a d) gnome
word. There are several spellings of the sound:
• bridge [brIdZ] 4. guess [ges]; gentle [(dZent&l]; ghost [gEUst]; gnome [nEUm]: Zwerg
• joke [dZEUk] 3–a chalet [(SÄleI], (chess: Schach);

• page [peIdZ]
Answers: 1–c; 2–c tissue [(tISu:]: Taschentuch, (casual: zwanglos);

58 Spotlight 12|11
59_60_Word Builder_12_11_VZ 31.10.11 14:45 Seite 59

Word Builder | LANGUAGE

Build your vocabulary

On these two pages, we present useful words and phrases from this issue of Spotlight for
you to cut out and keep. The words may also have other meanings that are not listed here.
Turn the page for further information and exercises.

Nouns
coincidence two things that Zufall p. 70 Our meeting at the cinema last night
[kEU(InsIdens] happen by chance at was pure coincidence.
the same time or in
the same way
dough a mixture for making Teig p. 22 She put the dough on a table by the
[dEU] bread or pastry window to let it rise in the sun.
garage a place where cars Werkstatt p. 57 My car has to go into the garage tomor-
[(gÄrA:Z] are repaired or sold row. Can you pick me up from work?
hand a set of cards a (Kartenspiel) Blatt p. 13 I had some good cards by the end,
[hÄnd] player holds in a even though I was dealt a terrible hand
card game at the start.
leaflet a flyer Broschüre p. 55 The dentists gave me a leaflet about
[(li:flEt] their care plan for children.
setting a place and its Kulisse p. 51 Look! Wouldn’t this be the perfect set-
[(setIN] atmosphere ting for the wedding?
thread a long, thin fibre Garn p. 8 My aunt can do anything with a needle
[Tred] used for sewing or and thread. Look at this wall hanging
weaving she made last year.

Verbs
boast possess, be proud sich einer Sache p. 30 This French restaurant boasts award-
[bEUst] of sth. rühmen winning cuisine with exclusively local
ingredients.
hibernate sleep through the Winterschlaf halten p. 67 Animals that hibernate have to fatten
[(haIbEneIt] wintertime themselves up in the autumn.
process deal officially with a verarbeiten p. 15 Your order is currently being processed,
[(prEUses] document and we will contact you shortly.

Adjectives and adverbs

snug warm, comfortable gemütlich p. 34 The couple had a quiet conversation in
[snVg] and protected a snug little corner of the cafe.
tempting attractive, inviting verlockend p. 52 The hotel pool looks so tempting.
[(temptIN] Have we got time for a quick swim?
virtually almost or praktisch p. 28 There is virtually no way for me to
[(v§:tSuEli] very nearly finish on time.

Phrases
make good on sth. keep a promise, halten p. 6 The government must now make good
[meIk (gUd Qn] carry out on its plan to get rid of plastic shop-
ping bags.
with a spring in one’s full of energy, happy mit federnden p. 45 I think Dad’s getting better. He’s got a
step [sprIN] Schritten spring in his step these days.

12|11 Spotlight 59
59_60_Word Builder_12_11_VZ 31.10.11 14:45 Seite 60
LANGUAGE | Word Builder
In more detail
thread
This word can be used metaphorically to describe a
connecting idea, and it exists in several phrases. Unlike
in German, though, the thread is not a red one. A set of
discussions may have a common thread running
through them, and when writing, an author might
draw or pull together the different threads of a
story. If these are too complicated, you might lose the
thread. In internet chat rooms, you can follow a
message thread on a subject that interests you. If a
state of affairs is hanging by a thread, it is in danger
of failing. If, on the other hand, you start something
again that has been interrupted or has fallen apart, you
pick up the threads.
• After the floods, the community is picking up the
threads of its old life.
process
We have all waited for something to be processed, be
it an application, a booking, a cheque, an order or a
request. There are many adverbs that collocate with
process — especially in its passive form — and they
often suggest an efficient action. Something can be
correctly, securely or successfully processed. It can
be processed promptly or quickly, automatically,
digitally or electronically. The verb process, how-
ever, may also be used by companies and organiza-
tions to hide from its customers and clients everything
from minor disorganization to chaos. Look behind the
verb at your own risk — just as you would behind the
food items processed cheese and processed meat.
Over to you!
virtually
The adverb virtually is used for emphasis and is espe-
cially common in spoken English. It is a slightly more
formal, businesslike synonym of practically. Here are
some common phrases and collocations:
• Virtually everyone I meet comments on my new
glasses.
• The two products are virtually the same.
• He virtually admitted stealing the information.
• It was virtually impossible to tell the twins apart.
• The environmental awareness in this company is
virtually non-existent.
• The author’s work is virtually unknown abroad.
Answers: a) process; b) virtually; c) thread; d) snug; e) leaflet; f) spring; g) tempting
60 Spotlight 12|11
snug
The adjective snug is a synonym of cosy. It’s a good
word to use to describe comfortable things and places
in winter. You’ll often find it close to the word warm:
• My room is snug and warm.
A related meaning of snug is “tight-fitting”. A jacket
that fits you well or is perhaps a little tight is a snug fit.
In the same way, a lid, for example, can fit snugly on to
its container.
In British English, a particular, small, comfortable room
in a pub or house is sometimes known as the snug.
From snug we have the equally cosy verb to snuggle.
You can get comfortable by snuggling up to some-
body, or snuggling down into your bed — perhaps
with Spotlight or a good book. The aim of all this snug-
gling is that you will be as snug as a bug in a rug.
leaflet
A piglet is a little pig, and a booklet is a little book. A
leaflet is also a little leaf, but more usually, leaflet
refers to one or a few pieces of paper used for advertis-
ing or giving information. A similar word is pamphlet,
although this is rather old-fashioned. It is used more
often in political or religious contexts, for example.
A brochure tends to contain coloured pictures and
look more like a magazine. As such, the word has a
narrower meaning than the German Broschüre. A
prospectus is usually an official document giving in-
formation about a school or a business. Leaflets, like
“flyers”, tend to be given away free to lots of people.
This often unwelcome method of distribution is some-
times known as leafleting.
Complete the sentences below using
words from page 59.
a) How long will it take to _____________ my payment?
b) The strike brought the city ___________ to a standstill.
c) The film was so complicated that I lost the
_____________ straightaway.
d) I spent the evening warm and ___________ on the sofa.
e) You can pick up a _____________ at the tourist informa-
tion office.
Illustration: iStockphoto
f) The good news really put a ______________ in her step.
g) Those cakes look very _____________, but I mustn’t!
61_Crossword_12_11 31.10.11 14:46 Seite 61

Crossword | LANGUAGE

1 2 3
Pizza time
4
Across
5 6 7 2. What Americans call a queue: “There was a long
______ to get into Grimaldi’s.”
8 9 3. Towards the top.
4. A red vegetable used in the sauce for a pizza.
6. To stop: “We wished dinner would never ______.”
8. Showing pockets of air beneath the surface.
10 11 11. The state of being unlike something else:
“What’s the ______ between Neapolitan- and
12 Sicilian-style pizza?”
12. Indefinite article.
13 14 13. Referring to food and cooking.
15. Indicating an alternative.
15 16 17. Wealthy.
19. Turns into.
17 18
21. One, ______, three.
23. “It’s ______ idea. We had it together.”
19 20
24. Use one’s eyes.
21 22 23
Down

Mike Pilewski
24
1. A very small restaurant is a hole in the ______.
2. Many.
3. “What ingredients are ______ to make pizza?”
The words in this puzzle have to do with New York pizza. You may 4. Put the cheese on ______ of the sauce.
wish to refer to the article in our Food section on pages 22–23. 5. Children, their parents and their grandparents
belong to different ______ (age groups).
7. Twelve of something make a ______.
Competition! 8.
9.
“One ______ one, they sold all the pizzas.”
All of the people.
Form a single word from the letters in the 10. A flat sheet or section of something, placed on
coloured squares. Send that word on a postcard other such sections.
to: Redaktion Spotlight, Kennwort “December 11. A mixture of flour and water.
Prize Puzzle”, Postfach 1565, 82144 Planegg, 14. Your ______ finger is next to your thumb.
Deutschland. Ten winners will be chosen at ran- 16. 365 days (or 366 in 2012).
18. The pie is usually cut ______ eight pieces.
dom from the entries we have received by
20. Therefore.
12 December 2011. Each winner will be sent a 22. “The pizzas flew in and out ______ the oven.”
copy of James Joyce’s Dubliners: A Selection
L M E A N W H I L E
by courtesy of Reclam. A M V U M Solution
The answer for October 2011 was islands. P
T
T W
E
O
L
M
B L O
A
G
S
T to puzzle 11/11:
Congratulations to: Ursel Schmitt (Lingen), Katinka Gerth (Berlin), O R V I F H
FICTION
P E R C E P T I O N E
Christine Rinderer (Bludenz, Austria), Tina Wolf (Heppenheim), I T A M
S B E G A N T I M E
Waltraut Wichmann (Buchholz), Manfred Herz (Hann. Münden), E L A I U
Frank Sommer (Gechingen), Christel Gerling (Berlin), Brigitte T H E I R H U M O U R
I D O P N D
Krause-Sigle (Bonn) and Sabine Schäfer (Barsbüttel). M Y E E
I N S P E C T O R

Spotlight: Der Jahrgang 2010 Ihnen fehlt noch ein Jahrgang Ihres Magazins, Ihres Übungsheftes oder Ihrer Audio-CD?
Bestellen Sie ihn doch direkt bei uns in Kombination mit dem praktischen Sammelordner
oder der Sammelbox. Schön, wenn endlich alles komplett ist!

+ Die Jahrgänge: Bestellen Sie den Jahrgang Ihrer Wahl. Wir liefern gerne, solange der Vorrat
reicht.

+ Der Sammelordner: Die ideale Aufbewahrung für einen Jahrgang. Die Hefte werden in zwölf
Metallstäbe eingehängt und können dann wie ein Buch gelesen werden.

+ Die Sammelbox: Für den schnellen Zugriff. Das stabile Aufbewahrungssystem kann Jahr für
Jahr erweitert werden.

Bestellen Sie am besten gleich unter

www.spotlight-verlag.de/shop
62_63_Perfectionists_12_11 31.10.11 14:47 Seite 62
LANGUAGE | Perfectionists Only!
Every month, language expert WILL O’RYAN explains past and present developments in the
English language and examines some of the finer points of grammar.
English then and now:
Nahum Tate
“Thus spake the Seraph, and forthwith
Appear’d a shining Throng
Of Angels praising God, and thus
Addresst their joyful Song;
All Glory be to God on high,
And to the Earth be Peace;
Good-will, henceforth, from Heav’n to men,
Begin and never cease.”
These are the final lines of the popular Christmas carol
“While Shepherds (Hirten) Watched their Flocks by
Night”, the text of which was first published by the Irish
poet (and English poet laureate) Nahum Tate (1652–
1715) in 1700. At the time, it was the only Christmas
hymn officially authorized by the Church of England.
The carol contains many of the classic motifs of later tra-
ditional Christmas carols, such as shepherds watching
over their flocks (Herden), the baby Jesus lying in a
manger (Krippe); throngs (related to German Drang,
Gedränge) of angels, “God on high” and “goodwill to
men”. In the extract above, one sees several features of
17th- and 18th-century English, such as “spake” (older
form of “spoke”) and the subjunctive “Glory be to God”
(also the uninflected “begin” and “cease”). The adverbs
“forthwith” (unverzüglich) and “henceforth” (fortan)
seem old-fashioned and/or formal today. We also see
some older printing conventions, such as the spelling
“addresst” and the capitalization of many of the nouns.
Many English native speakers would be able to whistle
the tune to which this carol is usually set — but there
are different versions in Britain and the US.
62 Spotlight 12|11
Back to
the roots
Surely, most of us are hop-
ing for a white Christmas,
which makes this an ideal
time to follow the word
snow back to its roots. In
Old English, it was snaw,
which comes from Proto-
Germanic snaiwaz, as does
German Schnee, of course.
This, in turn, goes back
to a Proto-Indo-European
root sniegwh- / snoigwho, which is also the source of, for
example, Old Irish snechta, Russian snieg and Lithuanian
sniegas. The s- was lost in some languages, so it is also the
root of Welsh nyf, Greek nipha and Latin nix (genitive:
nivis). This means that “snow” and Schnee have the same
source as the corresponding words in today’s Romance lan-
guages — in French neige, Spanish nieve and Italian neve.
“Snow” these days is found in new compounds referring
to blizzards (snowstorms), and just before Christmas 2008,
“Snowmageddon” appeared on the scene. It assumed al-
most official status when President Obama used it in early
2010 to refer to snowstorms around Washington. Other,
similar new terms are “Snowpocalypse” and “snownami”.
Sobriquets
Nicknames (Spitznamen) may simply be short forms of full
names: Timothy becomes Tim, and Samantha or Samuel
Foto: Digital Vision; iStockphoto
turns into Sam. Another kind of nickname may highlight
a key characteristic: William Shakespeare is known as “the
Bard of Avon”, for example, which names both his profes-
sion (bard = poet) and his birthplace. Napoleon was “the
Little Corporal” and Ronald Reagan “the Great Commu-
nicator”. This type of nickname is known properly as a
sobriquet. Places can also have sobriquets: Aus-
tralia is “the Land Down Under”, and Ireland
is “the Emerald Isle”, while the US state
of Montana is “Big Sky Country”. Al-
most any city with a number of
canals likes to be known as “the
Venice of...” — Stockholm, Hamburg
and Birmingham (England) all claim to
be “the Venice of the North”. Some places
have several sobriquets. Chicago, for example,
is “the Windy City”, “the Second City” and “the
City of Big Shoulders”.
62_63_Perfectionists_12_11 31.10.11 14:47 Seite 63

Business Spotlight präsentiert:

Grammar
BusinessWord
Die neue App für iPhone, iPad,
More indirect objects iPod touch und Android
Last month, we looked at various alternations of “verb + indirect object +
direct object” and “verb + direct object + prepositional object”, and we as-
signed the verbs to different categories, depending on which structures
they allow. For example, “owe” allows both patterns, whereas “charge” al-
lows only the former and “mention” only the latter, as can be seen in (a):

a) I owed the bank £15,000. I owed £15,000 to the bank.

They charged me €10. They charged €10 to me.
I mentioned him the problem. I mentioned the problem to him.

Here, we will focus on the configuration with an indirect and a direct object
and the question of whether the two are obligatory or not. Generally speak-
ing, the indirect object is not obligatory. It can normally be omitted (weg-
gelassen) without the sentence becoming ungrammatical:

b) I owed £15,000.
The printer charged €10.

The clearest exception to this is the verb “wish”, which requires an indirect
object. One cannot, for example, omit “you” in the example “I wish you a
nice holiday”. This leads to a mistake typically made by native speakers of
German, since the verb wünschen can appear with a direct object alone: Erweitern Sie
c) Ich wünsche einen schönen Urlaub.
I wish a nice holiday. Ihren Englisch-
Wortschatz!
With some verbs, both objects are omissible, as can be seen in (d):

d) He charged me $500. He charged $500. He charged me.

She taught me English. She taught English. She taught me.
G Pro Tag ein neuer Begriff
Other verbs belonging to this group are “bet”, “envy”, “excuse”, “show” and G mit Audio-Datei für das
“tell”. The examples of (d) on the right-hand side are the most interesting. Aussprache-Training
Traditional grammars are unclear as to how to refer to this “me”. Is it still
called an indirect object when it stands alone? The only important thing is
G mit englischer Erklärung und
to realize that these “me”s have the same semantic role as the “me”s of the englischem Beispielsatz
first examples. The verbs “fine” and “tip” are interesting exceptions in that G Übersetzung ins Deutsche
only the direct object is omissible:

e) The court fined her €20. The court fined €20. The court fined her.
He tipped the waiter $5. He tipped $5. He tipped the waiter.
Gratis!
In the case of “fine”, all native speakers would reject the second example as
ungrammatical. But some speakers might accept “He tipped $5”, and even Basisversion mit
more would accept the question “How much do you normally tip in Ger-
7-Tage-Archiv
many?” without an expressed indirect object.

Which of these sentences is ungrammatical?

1. I’ve already told him.
nur €1,59!
2. They wished lots of success for our new project.
Vollversion mit
Answer: Sentence 2 is ungrammatical (They wished us lots of success...). 365-Tage-Archiv

www.business-spotlight.de/wordapp
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66_Lighter Side_12_11 28.10.11 11:15 Seite 66

THE LIGHTER SIDE | Wit and Wisdom

Alike
THE NEW YORKER

Q: What do Alexander the Great and

Winnie-the-Pooh have in common?
A: Their middle name.

Curtains
Salesman: “Hello! How can I help you?”
Fred: “I need some curtains for my
computer.”
Salesman: “Er, computers don’t need
curtains, sir.”
Fred: “Mine does. I have Windows.”
The New Yorker Collection/

Wisdom
www.cartoonbank.com

• Knowledge is knowing a tomato is

© Victoria Roberts/

a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a

fruit salad.
• The early bird gets the worm, but
the second mouse gets the cheese.
• To steal ideas from one person is
plagiarism. To steal from many is
A bright idea research.
A man walks into a doctor’s office and says, “Please help me. I
think I’m a moth.”
“You certainly need help,” the doctor answers, “but that sounds
like a problem for a psychologist. I’m a neurologist. Why did
you come to my office?”
“ If you want to know
what God thinks of money,
just look at the people

”
“Well, your light was on.” He gave it to.

Fun on the farm

Q: Where do cows go on a Saturday night? Dorothy Parker
A: To the moo-vies. (1893–1967), American writer

curtain [(k§:t&n] Vorhang

History Dark Ages [(dA:k )eIdZIz] das finstere Mittelalter
knight [naIt] Ritter; hier: Anspielung auf
Q: Why were earlier times called the Dark Ages?
“night”
A: Because there were so many knights! moth [mQT] Motte
wisdom [(wIzdEm] Weisheit
PEANUTS

66 Spotlight 12|11
67_American Life_12_11_neu 28.10.11 12:12 Seite 67
It’s a wild, wild life
Selbst für Tierfreunde hört der Spaß auf, wenn Stinktiere auf das Grundstück
kommen. Höchste Zeit, den örtlichen Trapper kennenzulernen.
W “
hen I moved to the Adiron-
dacks last year, I knew I’d
be sharing my property
with wildlife: squirrels, raccoons, and
others, some of which I didn’t really
want to know about — such as
skunks. But a skunk is not something
to be ignored. So, when I discovered
one living beside my house, everyone
told me: “Call Jim, the trapper.”
Jim came in his pickup truck with
a license plate reading “COYOTE.”
When I showed him the hole where
I thought the skunk was living, he
looked skeptical. It might be difficult
to trap, he told me, since this wasn’t
the hole’s only entry (or exit). But he
set up the trap, a metal cage that
catches the animal without hurting it.
He built a kind of a tunnel out-
side the hole so the skunk would
smell the bait and be led right into
bait [beIt]
felt [felt]
hatter [(hÄt&r]
hibernate [(haIb&rneIt]
license plate [(laIsens )pleIt] US
mercury [(m§:kjEri]
No trespassing [noU (trespEsIN]
nuisance [(nu:s&ns]
raccoon [rÄ(ku:n]
sable [(seIb&l]
skunk [skVNk]
smart [smA:rt] US
Foto: iStockphoto
squirrel [(skwIrEl]
top hat [)tA:p (hÄt]
trapper [(trap&r]
American Life | GINGER KUENZEL
Ever seen a dog hangin’
out the car window, tongue
out and ears blown
back by the wind? That’s me
”
when I’m trapping
the trap. For one side of the tunnel,
he used a metal sign that read “No
trespassing.” “Do you think that’s
smart, using a ‘No trespassing’ sign?”
I asked. “We want the skunk to go
into the cage, right?” Jim looked at
me. “Skunks can’t actually read,” he
said. He must think I’m a complete
idiot, I thought. Lucky for me, he
likes a joke as much as I do.
I had never met a trapper before,
so I started asking questions. He
seemed pleased that I was interested.
Jim said he had been trapping since
he was a kid. “Ever seen a dog hangin’
out the car window, tongue out and
ears blown back by the wind? Is there
any happier being than that? That’s
me when I’m trapping.” It gets him
up and out on cold winter mornings,
he said. “I used to hunt. But when
you hunt, you might wake up, look
at the thermometer, and decide to go
back to sleep. With trapping, you
have to be out there every day, check-
ing your traps. It wouldn’t be humane
to leave the animals in the traps any
longer than necessary.”
Köder
Filz
Hutmacher(in)
Winterschlaf halten (→ p. 59)
Nummernschild
Quecksilber
Betreten verboten
Belästigung; hier: Schädling
Waschbär
Zobelpelz
Stinktier
schlau
Eichhörnchen
Zylinder
Fallensteller(in)
Jim explained
that there are two
kinds of trapping
licenses: one for
nuisance trapping,
and another for com-
mercial trapping. “I
guess all skunk trap-
ping is nuisance trap-
ping,” I said. “They’re
certainly a big nui-
sance. And you don’t
see many women
rushing to buy skunk
coats.” But this
wasn’t always so, Jim
told me. Skunk used
to be sold as Alaskan
sable and was a
prized fur — until the early 1950s,
when the courts decided that people
needed to be informed if something
had skunk parts in it. That put a
quick end to the skunk trade.
We then moved on to the topic of
beaver, of which we also have plenty.
Every schoolchild here knows that
the early American settlers kept busy
trapping beaver. I never really
thought too much about what they
did with it. But, of course, Jim knew.
They sent it to Europe, where it was
turned into felt for hats, including
the popular top hat. When these hats
went out of fashion in the 19th cen-
tury, it was good news for the beavers.
It was also good for the hatters, many
of whom had become mad over time,
poisoned by the mercury used to
make felt. That’s why we have the
idiom “mad as a hatter.”
Who would have thought that
meeting with Jim would be so educa-
tional? But you want to know if we
caught the skunk. Well, no. I did
learn that skunks hibernate, so I’m
not going to worry about it — until
spring! Then I’ll invite Jim back. I still
have so much to learn. •
12|11 Spotlight 67
68_Feedback_12_11 04.11.11 10:56 Seite 68

FEEDBACK | Readers’ Views KUNDENSERVICE

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Gegründet 1981

light 8/11] has given me an idea. You could print a short HERAUSGEBER UND VERLAGSLEITER:
Dr. Wolfgang Stock
CHEFREDAKTEURIN: Inez Sharp
story and invite readers to write the ending themselves. STELLVERTRETENDE CHEFREDAKTEURIN:
Claudine Weber-Hof
Choose the best three, print them, and have readers vote CHEFIN VOM DIENST: Susanne Pfeifer
for the best one. The winner gets a prize. REDAKTION: Rita Forbes (Text, Audio),
Joanna Westcombe (Sprache)
Martina Angela Kutta, Hamburg MITARBEITER IM REDAKTIONSBEREICH:
Charlotte Bracker, Dr. Karl Brehmer, Elisabeth Erpf,
Peter Green, Reinhild Luk, Dr. Robert Parr,
Stephanie Shellabear, Dagmar Taylor
Names, please! ONLINE-REDAKTION:
Michael Pilewski (Online-Redakteur),
Spotlight 9/11 — Editorial. The photo of the Spotlight Kirstie Crail, Dagmar Taylor (Sprache)
BILDREDAKTION: Sarah Gough (Leitung),
team is very nice, but it’s a pity that you didn’t include the Thorsten Mansch, Angela Sandweger
GESTALTUNG: Marion Sauer/Johannes Reiner,
names of those pictured. I was able to recognize a few Büro Vor-Zeichen, München
AUTOREN: Greg Ardé (South Africa), Amy Argetsinger
members of the team, but not everyone. (US), Colin Beaven (UK), Vanessa Clark (UK), Julie Collins
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Peter Flynn (Australia), Brian Gauvin (US),
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Education confusion VERLAG UND REDAKTION:
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the school system is being changed yet again. The new Hausanschrift: Fraunhoferstraße 22,
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Dr. Wolfgang Stock,
sure that many readers are just as confused as I am about Dr. Michael Brockhaus
VERTRIEBSLEITUNG:
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LESERSERVICE:
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KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT:
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ISSN 0944-1972
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Kasernenstraße 67, 40213 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 (0)211/8 87-2315; Fax +49 (0)211/8 87 97-2315
E-Mail: patrick.priesmann@iqm.de
Nielsen 1, 5, 6, 7
iq media marketing gmbh,
Brandstwiete 1, (Neuer Duvenhof), 20457 Hamburg
Tel. +49 (0)40/3 01 83-210, Fax +49 (0)40/ 3 01 83-283
E-Mail: matthias.meissner@iqm.de
Nielsen 2
iq media marketing gmbh,
Kasernenstraße 67, 40213 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 (0)211/8 87-2056, Fax +49 (0)211/8 87 97-2056
E-Mail: klaus.barth@iqm.de
Nielsen 3a
iq media marketing gmbh,
Eschersheimer Landstraße 50, 60322 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 (0)69/24 24-4500, Fax +49 (0)69/ 24 24-59-4500
E-Mail: thomas.wolter@iqm.de
Nielsen 3b, 4
iq media marketing gmbh,
Nymphenburger Straße 14, 80335 München
Tel. +49 (0)89/54 59 07-18, Fax +49 (0)89/54 59 07-24
E-Mail: joerg.boensch@iqm.de
Sales Lifestyle
iq media marketing gmbh,
Kasernenstraße 67, 40213 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 (0)211/8 87-3582; Fax +49 (0)211/8 87-97-3582
E-Mail: christian.gericke@iqm.de
Benelux, Skandinavien
iq media marketing gmbh,
Kasernenstraße 67, 40213 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 (0)211/8 87-1332; Fax +49 (0)211/8 87 97-1332
E-Mail: neil.frankland@iqm.de
Österreich
Service proxymedia e.U.,
Wiesengasse 3, 2801 Katzelsdorf
Tel. +43 (0)2662/367 55; Fax +43 (0)125-330-333-989
E-Mail: michael.schachinger@proxymedia.at
Schweiz
Top Media Sales GmbH, Chamerstrasse 56, 6300 Zug
Tel. +41 (0)41/7 10 57 01; Fax +41 (0)41/7 10 57 03
E-Mail: walter.vonsiebenthal@topmediasales.ch
Großbritannien, Irland
Advance International Media, Peter Mason, First Floor,
30 St John's Lane, EC1M 4NB London,
Tel. +44 (0) 207/253 0888, Fax: +44 (0) 207/205 0761,
E-Mail: peter@advance.uk.com
ANZEIGENPREISLISTE: Es gilt die Anzeigenpreisliste
Nr. 27 ab Ausgabe 1/11.
IVW-Meldung 3. Quartal 2011:
75.159 verbreitete Exemplare Spotlight
69_Next month_12_11_a 31.10.11 14:48 Seite 69

s
Tell u ou January 2011 | NEXT MONTH
y
Travel whatnk!
thi ht’s
otlig
A Scottish in Sp s’ survey
er
read t month
nex

tradition
If you have ever worn a kilt — or maybe
secretly wanted to — join our correspon-
dent Eve Lucas as she travels to Scotland
to create her own family tartan. From
design to production, it’s a once-in-a-
lifetime experience that teaches her lots
about tradition and leaves her with more
than just memories.

Language

Speak two
languages?
Being bilingual seems like an advantage.
But what exactly does it mean to be flu-
ent in two languages? Are there any dis-
advantages to speaking a second
language fluently? Can adults become
bilingual or only children? We bring you
up to date on this fascinating topic.

Food
British food
in Germany
Bacon sandwiches, Sunday roasts, fish
and chips, scones, cream teas — what the
British consider their very own “comfort
food” is now a hot culinary trend in
Berlin. New cafes have been opening in
the German capital and other cities to
serve those who cannot get enough of
British food. Surprised? We’re not!
Fotos: Alamy; Hemera; iStockphoto

Language section • Travel Talk: a language course abroad • Vocabulary: the joys of baking
• Everyday English: getting online • Spoken English: using “let”

Spotlight 1/12 is on sale from 14 December

12|11 Spotlight 69
70_Talking Point_12_11 28.10.11 11:16 Seite 70
JOHN RIACH | Talking Point
A window to the world
Musik bringt die Menschen näher zusammen. Englisch hat als internationale Sprache der Musik
wesentlich zum Abbau von Vorurteilen beigetragen.
T he earliest memories I have of
my German wife are of her
beautiful English accent and a
room full of pictures of the Bee Gees.
The two impressions share an impor-
tant connection. A deep love of Irish
and Scottish folk music had given my
wife a lifelong fascination with British
culture, while countless hours of lis-
tening to the brothers Gibb had per-
fected her pronunciation and given
her a large vocabulary.
Listening to music does not re-
quire advanced linguistic skills. Any-
one can follow a melody and sing
along. And so music was the key that
gave millions of people, like my wife,
access to another language and
culture. My wife’s most treasured pos-
session in the late 70s was a cassette
player that allowed her to start and
stop a piece of music at exactly the
right spot. Songs were her window to
the world of English.
Music has a way of countering
stereotypes, as it stays ahead of polit-
ical and social developments. Elvis
Presley’s military stint in Germany,
for example, helped make an occupy-
ing power seem more human and
“ ‘Music Television’
arrived 30 years ago,
helping to spread English
”
around the world
coincidence [kEU(InsIdens]
conquest [(kQNkwest]
counter [(kaUntE]
divine [dI(vaIn]
reverse [ri(v§:s]
running scared: be ~ [)rVnIN (skeEd]
song lyrics [(sQN )lIrIks]
square [skweE] dated ifml.
stave off [steIv (Qf]
stint [stInt]
treasured [(treZEd]
Waterloo [)wO:tE(lu:]
70 Spotlight 12|11
attractive. The Beatles’ and Rolling
Stones’ conquest of America helped
to change Americans’ general dislike
of most things British. And the pop-
ularity of reggae music in Britain
showed a different side of the Jamai-
can immigrants.
Music took on a much bigger role
with the arrival of “Music Television”
— MTV — 30 years ago, in 1981.
Suddenly, there weren’t just song
lyrics, but visuals that spoke to a
growing youth audience on cable TV.
Is it any coincidence that more young
people around the world have been
speaking English as a second lan-
guage since then?
After a time, of course, the inter-
net and more interactive forms of
communication began to compete
with MTV for viewers’ attention. In
1999, MTV attempted to stave off
the erosion of its popularity by start-
ing an advertising campaign in New
York. The aim was to influence how
young people use language, so it took
Zufall (→ p. 59)
Eroberung
entgegenwirken
göttlich
aufheben
in Panik geraten, von Angst getrieben sein
Liedtext(e)
langweilig
abwenden
Einsatz
geschätzt
Anspielung auf die Niederlage Napoleons
common words and gave them a new
meaning. “Round” meant “cool”, as
the opposite of “square”. “February”
meant “out of style, unwanted”, as it’s
the year’s coldest month. Of course,
none of these definitions survived.
Music, not advertising, is what people
pay attention to.
Other experiments have gone on
in the Eurovision Song Contest. A
rule requiring competing countries to
sing in one of their official languages
was introduced in 1966 — after a
Swedish group had performed in
English the year before. That decision
was reversed in the early 70s, and an-
other Swedish group, ABBA, fa-
mously won with its 1974 hit
“Waterloo”. A real cultural Waterloo
was experienced when an official
protest was presented to the French
parliament in 2008, because the
French entry, “Divine”, was being
sung in English.
To use the title of the 2011 win-
ning entry, there is no reason to be
“running scared”. The group from
Azerbaijan that sang this song in Eng-
lish realized that the world has come
a long way since the days of the Bee
Gees. English is no longer just a win-
dow to the English-speaking world.
It is a global language — and music
has helped to make it that. •
Illustration: iStockphoto
John Riach was born in Scotland and spent
his childhood and youth in Canada. He is
the author of Teaching Professional English:
Key Words That Make a Difference.
Praemien_ab_10-11 01.09.11 09:42 Seite 5

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Anzeige_Sprachtest 28.10.11 11:17 Seite 1

M
persö it
Empf nlichen
ehlu
von d ngen
en
Frem
dspra
chenp
rofis

Der KOSTENLOSE Sprachtest

Nach Europa-Standard
Mit Schnelltest
Für sechs Sprachen
www.sprachtest.de
01_cover_12_11_b 25.10.11 16:43 Seite 1

Travelogs
Spotlight

Erlesene Reiseziele
auf Englisch

11
12/20

Weekend
in Wales
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 2
TRAVELOGS | Introduction
Weekend
in Wales
Im Süden von Wales lässt sich Altes
und Neues entdecken. RITA FORBES
besichtigte die Burg von Cardiff
und ließ sich in einem Käfig in die
Minenvergangenheit der Waliser
hinabbringen.
C ardiff, the capital of Wales, lies to the
west of the Severn Estuary at the
meeting point of three rivers, the
Taff, Ely and Rhymney. This geographical
advantage has defined Cardiff’s 2,000 years
of history and was the reason why the Ro-
mans settled here around AD 55, using the
rivers to control local tribes and trade with
them. The name “Cardiff” most likely
means “fort on the Taff ”.
Later, the Vikings and Normans fol-
lowed, and the Normans built a massive
keep on the site of an old Roman fort to
protect the town. Its future seemed secure.
In the 15th century, however, Cardiff suf-
fered almost complete destruction at the
hands of the Welsh prince Owen Glendower
and his army. For four centuries it remained a
quiet backwater — only to rise to spectacular
economic importance in the 19th century.
The huge coal reserves of South Wales,
mined to keep the great wheel of British in-
dustry turning, began to be shipped through
The River Taff flows by
the Millennium Stadium
in Cardiff’s centre
Old next to new:
Cardiff Castle,
glass and steel
Cardiff’s port. For a time, it was the world’s
biggest coal-exporting port and home to
people of more than 40 nationalities, from
Norwegian to Somali.
Today, Cardiff is a city of contrasts. At
its heart is a huge grey castle with an impres-
sive Norman keep, as well as the metal-
ribbed Millennium Stadium (built for the
Rugby World Cup in 1999) which stands
nearby.
The contrasts are not just architectural,
though. In this place, where the people are
welcoming and every sentence spoken
sounds like a song, the shadows of a past
built on the dirt and hard labour of coal-
mining are never far away.
The locals are proud to show their history
— entry to national museums in Wales is free
— and happy to celebrate the present: the
first events of the 2012 Olympics will be held
in the Millennium Stadium. No wonder
National Geographic included Cardiff in its
list of the top-ten travel destinations of 2011.
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 3

Local tradition: Brains

beer is brewed in Cardiff

Day one
9 a.m.
What better place
to begin my week-
end exploration of
A miner at work
Cardiff than at its castle,
in South Wales
right in the middle of the city?
From 1766 to 1947, the castle grounds
Big Pit: a working mine
belonged to the Bute family. It was the sec-
until 1980, now a museum
ond marquess of Bute who began opening
docks at Cardiff Bay, in 1839. His son, the
third marquess, engaged the architect
William Burges to restore the castle in 1868,
creating the impressive neo-Gothic look
that greets me today. The Bute family en-
joyed their castle apartments until the mid-
dle of the 20th century. But in 1947, the
fifth marquess gave the castle to the city —
on condition that anyone living or working
in Cardiff be allowed free entry.

10 a.m.
I climb up to the keep, a stone structure that
dates back to the 12th century. There’s a
spectacular panoramic view from the top,
and I look down on to the castle grounds
and most of the city beyond. Out to the
south is the Millennium Stadium, its white
supports looking surprisingly modern next after room is full of extravagant paintings
to the neo-Gothic architecture in the fore- and decorations. I imagine the third mar-
ground. To the west, I can see down into quess’s children, playing with their toys
Bute Park, with its more than 2,000 trees. within nursery walls painted with scenes
Fotos: Alamy; R. Forbes

from popular fairy tales.

10.30 a.m. When the guide points to a fireplace
On a guided tour of the rooms in the castle, with coal in it, my thoughts turn to other
I squeeze through narrow doorways and go children. Welsh coal, which made the for-
up and down spiral stone staircases. Room tune of the Bute family and cemented

AD (Anno Domini) [)eI (di] n. Chr. keep [ki:p] hier: Burgfried

backwater [(bÄk)wO:tE] Stauwasser; hier: marquess [(mA:kwIs] Marquis
Provinznest metal-ribbed [(met&l rIbd] aus Metallstreben
cement [sE(ment] festigen mine [maIn] abbauen (➝ p. 8)
estuary [(estjUri] Mündung nursery [(n§:s&ri] Kinderzimmer
fairy tale [(feEri teI&l] Märchen squeeze [skwi:z] sich quetschen (➝ p. 8)
fortune [(fO:tSEn] Vermögen (➝ p. 8) tribe [trAIb] Volksstamm (➝ p. 8)

12|11 Spotlight 3
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 4

A view across the bay: millions of tonnes of coal were shipped from Cardiff’s docks

Cardiff’s important role in the Industrial 2.30 p.m.

Revolution, came at a high price. Until re-
forms were made in the 1840s, children
were expected to begin working in the mines
of South Wales at the age of five. I hope to
learn more about the lives of working-class
folks at my next stop: Big Pit National Coal
Museum.
1 p.m.
Big Pit is a 45-minute bus ride from nearby
Newport. On the way there, I watch as the
countryside gets hillier. There are groups of
sleepy sheep in green fields. It’s a peaceful,
idyllic setting, and I’m glad to feel the fresh
country air. As we arrive at Big Pit, though,
I’m reminded that there is another world
below this one. A tall structure of red metal
reaches into the sky: the winding house,
which powers the cages that carried thou-
sands of men, women and children into the
mines and brought millions of tonnes of
coal to the surface.
I’ve signed up for the free underground tour,
led by a former miner. Waiting for the tour
to begin, I sit on a wooden bench in a long
room where electrical equipment was once
repaired. A group of elderly Welsh people is
ahead of me. As they wait to be taken down
below, they sing a traditional song — quietly
and in perfect harmony. The sound is gentle
and a little sad.
2.45 p.m.
It’s my turn to go down, 90 metres below
the earth’s surface. I’m given a helmet with
a light attached, and am instructed to strap
on a heavy belt. It holds a “self-rescuer” —
in other words, a gas mask to protect against
carbon monoxide should something go
wrong. It can keep you alive for one hour.
I guess you hope help comes fast!
My group crowds into the cage, and we
are lowered at the relatively gentle rate of
seven feet per second. When coal was being

cage [keIdZ] Käfig (➝ p. 8) drizzle [(drIz&l] Nieselregen (➝ p. 8)

carbon monoxide Kohlenmonoxid folks [fEUks] ifml. Leute
[)kA:bEn mE(nQksaId] laverbread [(lA:vEbred] Fladen aus Meeresalgen
chip [tSIp] hacken, klopfen nasty [(nA:sti] eklig (➝ p. 8)
coalface [(kEUlfeIs] (Kohlen)Abbaufront ring [rIN] hier: umringen
construction worker Bauarbeiter(in) strap [strÄp] anschnallen (➝ p. 8)
[kEn(strVkS&n )w§:kE] tarry [(tA:ri] teerartig
counter [(kaUntE] Theke winding house Förderhaus
dragon [(drÄgEn] Drache [(waIndIN haUs]

4 Spotlight 12|11
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 5
Cardiff Market:
friendly locals with
robust accents
mined here, the workers travelled 32 feet per
second in this same cage. “They would drop
you like a stone,” our guide, Glyn, says. No
time to waste: the coalface was waiting.
As Glyn guides us through a coal-black
labyrinth, I imagine working in a mine like
this in the 19th century, bent over for 12
hours a day, six days a week, chipping out
the “black gold”. Glyn’s stories about chil-
dren’s work in the mines really touch my
heart. Young children were given the task of
opening and closing doors — sometimes in
absolute darkness, without even a can-
dle. To make sure they didn’t run away,
some were tied to their doors with a
string.
4 p.m.
After just 50 minutes in the mine,
it’s a relief to come back up to the sur-
face. The sun is bright in my eyes as I step
Fotos: Alamy; R. Forbes
outside. I return to my hotel in a thought-
ful mood.
Wildlife in stone: one of
the 15 creatures on Cardiff’s
famous Animal Wall
TRAVELOGS | Cardiff
Day two
8.30 a.m.
The sun is out, and an overnight drizzle has
washed the streets of Cardiff clean. I walk
down St Mary Street, which is lined with
Welsh flags. On both sides, proud red drag-
ons wave majestically in the breeze. Soon,
I’m standing before a long building with a
glass-and-metal roof: Cardiff Market.
The market is full of locals. All around
me, people with beautiful, melodic Welsh ac-
cents are greeting each other. I climb the stairs
to the balcony, which rings the entire interior.
Construction workers are eating breakfast at
the Bull Terrier Café, sitting at wooden
counters which face out into the market.
I decide to join them and sit down at the
counter with eggs, toast, thick bacon and
laverbread. I’ve been looking forward to get-
ting a taste of this traditional Welsh delicacy,
but somehow I’d expected it to be a bit more
bread-like. I take a bite. It has a tarry con-
sistency and taste. I get a few mouthfuls
down and decide that’s enough. There’s still
quite a lot of laverbread on my plate when I
take it back to the counter. “You didn’t like
the laver, eh?” the waitress asks. I try to be
diplomatic. “Well, it was interesting,” I say.
Then, with real curiosity, I ask, “Do you like
it?” She makes a face. “I won’t even try it!
Looks nasty!”
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 6

The Workmen’s Institute

TRAVELOGS | Cardiff at St Fagans Museum

from 1890, is topped with 15

stone animals. A leopard seems
to be climbing out of the wall,
ready to jump. I step out of its
way and turn in to the gates of
Bute Park.
I see an ancient-looking
stone ring commemorating the
National Eisteddfod, a celebra-
tion of Welsh literature and

Fotos: Alamy; R. Forbes; Karte: Nic Murphy

music, which has been held in
Cardiff a number of times. I
walk into the circle and climb
on to the stone slab in the mid-
dle. Closing my eyes, I take a
deep breath. History — with
11 a.m. all its joy and pain and beauty — seems very
St Fagans National History Museum offers near. As I open my eyes to present-day
insight into more Welsh traditions. It’s about Wales, I can still sense the magic.
four miles from the city centre.
I’ve already seen the miners’ working en-
vironment. Now, at the museum’s mining
village, I am able to see where they lived.
One small boarding house could hold eight
transient lodgers who took turns sleeping.
The upper storey has a trapdoor built into
the floor. The curator explains why. “Where
do you think a man is most likely to die?”
he asks. “In bed. And it is very difficult to
get a body down one of these staircases.” The
staircase is incredibly narrow, taking up the Which way?
least possible amount of space. The trap A signpost in Bute Park
doors — called “coffin drops” — made it
easier to get rid of the body of a lodger.
I step into the Workmen’s Institute, bank holiday gesetzlicher Feiertag
where the miners could go for relaxation and [bÄnk (hQlEdeI] UK (➝ p. 8)
entertainment. As I walk around a billiard boarding house Pension
[(bO:dIN haUs]
table, I look at the framed photos lining the
coffin drop [(kQfIn drQp] Sargluke
walls. The miners must have been a musical commemorate gedenken
group: the photographs show bands and [kE(memEreIt]
even a “glee society”, which put on pan- glee society [(gli: sE)saIEti] Gesangsverein
tomimes and shows. lodger [(lodZE] Untermieter(in)
staircase [(steakeIs] Treppenhaus
5 p.m. stone slab [stEUn (slÄb] Steinplatte
storey [(stO:ri] Stockwerk
Back in the city, I turn on to Castle Street trapdoor [)trap(dO:] Falltür
and walk along Cardiff’s famous Animal whimsical [(wImzIk&l] skurril (➝ p. 8)
Wall. This whimsical barrier, which dates

6 Spotlight 12|11
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 7

0 10 km
Newport
Britain M4

Big Pit Museum

Getting there and around
St Fagans Cardiff
Most airlines fly direct to London, including Wales Museum
budget airline bmibaby. From there, you can
M5
either drive to Cardiff (about three hours) or
take the train (two hours).www.bmibaby.com

Where to stay
The Park Plaza Hotel offers luxury rooms in
the city centre starting at about £100.
Greyfriars Road; (0044) 2920-111 111.
www.parkplaza.com/Cardiff
Bute Park

Riv
What to see

er T
Cardiff Castle
Big Pit National Coal Museum is open from N

aff
9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with last admission
Castle St

Hig
at 4 p.m. Admission to the museum and a Cardiff Market

hS
guided underground tour are both free. In Millennium

t
Stadium
January, underground tours take place only at
0 200 m

St
weekends. Call to check opening times on

Ma
(0044) 1495-790 311.

ry S
www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit

Drive to Blaenafon and then follow the brown
tourism signs or take the number 30 bus from
Newport.
St Fagans National History Museum is open
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, including bank
holidays: (0044) 2920-573 500;
www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans
Admission is free; parking costs £3.50. Bus
services 32 and 322 run from Cardiff to the
museum.
t
Cardiff Central Railway Station
Cardiff Castle is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
November to February, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
March to October. Admission costs £11, or £14
for a guided tour. (0044) 2920-878 100.
www.cardiffcastle.com
For more information
See www.visitwales.de

Cardiff by night: the Pierhead Building on the

bay is known as “the Big Ben of Wales”

12|11 Spotlight 7
02-08_Travelogs_12_11_neu 25.10.11 16:46 Seite 8

TRAVELOGS | Word Builder

N Nouns

Ten of the best V Verbs

A Adjectives
Here we present ten useful terms from this issue of Travelogs.
The words may have other meanings that are not listed here.

N bank holiday public holiday gesetzlicher Feiertag p. 7 Have you planned to go

[bÄnk (hQlEdeI] anywhere on the bank holiday?
cage a structure made of Käfig p. 4 Do you think animals should live
[keIdZ] metal bars in cages?
drizzle light rain Nieselregen p. 5 Out of the window, she saw the
[(drIz&l] grey sky and constant drizzle.
fortune a large amount of Vermögen p. 3 My great-grandfather made his
[(fO:tSEn] money fortune with land in the 1880s.
tribe a group of people with Volksstamm p. 2 We have been observing a tribe
[trAIb] the same customs in the Amazon jungle.
V mine dig holes in the abbauen p. 2 Do you know where in the world
[maIn] ground to find coal, diamonds are mined?
silver, etc.
squeeze force (oneself) sich quetschen p. 3 The lift was nearly full, but I was
[skwi:z] through or into a still able to squeeze in.
small space
strap fasten in place using a anschnallen p. 4 He strapped snowshoes to his
[strÄp] strap (a strip of feet and began a long, winter
leather, plastic, etc.) walk.
A nasty very bad or eklig p. 5 That fish cannot be fresh.
[(nA:sti] unpleasant It smells nasty.
whimsical unusual in an amusing skurril p. 6 She has quite a whimsical sense
[(wImzIk&l] way of humour.
Foto: R. Forbes

Impressum Cardiff Castle’s

Herausgeber und Verlagsleiter:
Dr. Wolfgang Stock
Chefredakteurin: Inez Sharp
Stellvertretende Chefredakteurin:
Claudine Weber-Hof
Chefin vom Dienst: Susanne Pfeifer
Redaktion: Charlotte Bracker, Rita Forbes,
Peter Green, Reinhild Luk, Michael Pilewski
(Online), Stephanie Shellabear,
Joanna Westcombe
Bildredaktion: Sarah Gough (Leitung),
Thorsten Mansch
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www.vor-zeichen.de
Titelfoto: Hemera
clock tower
Produktionsleitung: Ingrid Sturm
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Anzeigenleitung: Axel Zettler
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