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It’s one of the world’s most famous legends: a huge primate species that lives in the mountainous region of the northwestern United States and parts of western Canada. A similar creature has also been sighted1 in other remote areas of the world. MANY NAMES, ONE MYSTERY The name of the mysterious beast is Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, as it is also referred to. The nickname2 ‘Bigfoot’ was first used in a newspaper column in California in the late 1950s, which reported that giant footprints had been discovered at a local construction site3. The name Sasquatch means ‘wild men’ in the language of the Salish peoples, indigenous to the area. The elusive4 beast is comparable to the Yeti, an ape-like5 creature, also known as the Abominable Snowman, that allegedly6 inhabits the Himalayan…

Dream holiday for some, hellscape for others: Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas is the biggest passenger cruise ship to sail1 the oceans, and a controversial vessel2 in a controversial industry. While some see this floating hotel as an escape from daily chores3 (such as cooking or cleaning) or a way to dedicate one’s entire day to trying out all kinds of entertainment options, others regard4 it as an undesirably kitsch commercial aberration or simply excessively wasteful5. CARIBBEAN STOPS The new cruise ship, five times the size of the Titanic, will set sail6 in early 2024. Its itinerary will take it along the eastern and western Caribbean, docking7 in three countries: the United States, Honduras, on Roatán Island, and Mexico, at Costa Maya and Cozumel. It also stops at CocoCay,…

EXERCISES IN Work It Out! On a chilly1 day back in January, one of the most recognisable women in the world plunged into2 a surprised crowd of shoppers in Leeds’s Victorian market. The Princess of Wales obligingly3 fielded4 requests for selfies, including with a man so flustered5 by encountering royalty he could barely get the words out. (She reassured6 him gently that “We all get nervous”, though if she still does after more than a decade of this, it doesn’t show.) But after shaking some hands and chatting to traders7, she moved on to the University of Leeds for what was arguably8 the heart of the day. The princess, promoting her new project on how the first five years affect children’s life chances9, attended a lecture10 on child psychology and afterwards…

Born in 1948, the accomplished British author and screenwriter Ian McEwan has been prominent on the literary scene since his debut short story collection First Love, Last Rites back in 1975. His novel Amsterdam, about a euthanasia pact between two friends, won the Booker Prize in 1998. Atonement1, a love story set against a backdrop2 of the Second World War, was made into a film in 2007 which was nominated for various Oscars, winning one for Best Original Score3. TOPICAL THEMES Complex characters and compelling4 storytelling make McEwan’s work popular. He also broaches5 topical subject matter6 on scientific and technological themes. The novel Solar (2010), for example, explores climate change from the perspective of a depressed physicist, and in the more recent Machines Like Me (2019), McEwan imagines a dystopia run…

Mmm, these croissants are delicious,” said Tess. “I wish I knew the recipe.” She and her new neighbour, Bethany, were having brunch at a local café. “Well, you know,” said Bethany, a beautiful woman in her early thirties, “I used to bake1 all the time for my old neighbours, and I have a fantastic recipe for chocolate croissants. Actually, I’d been meaning to2 ask…” “Go on,” said Tess, encouragingly3. “Well, would it be okay if I used your kitchen to bake sometimes? I know it’s a strange request but Kevin doesn’t like it when I make a mess in the kitchen – even if I clean up4 afterwards.” “Of course you can use my kitchen, just as long as I get to sample5 your bakes,” she joked. “But why doesn’t…

ARTICOLI PER LIVELLI Tutti i nostri articoli hanno un codice di colore che indica il livello di difficoltà dell’inglese in base al Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. A2 PRE-INTERMEDIATE B1 LOWER INTERMEDIATE B2 UPPER INTERMEDIATE C1 ADVANCED C2 PROFICIENCY GLOSSARIO In ogni articolo troverai le parole più rilevanti affiancate da un numero del colore corrispondente al livello di difficoltà, oltre alla traduzione nel glossario correlato. Gin and tonic is arguably1 Britain’s favourite drink GLOSSARY 1 arguably: probabilmente 2 to skyrocket: andare alle stelle EXPLAINS Le frasi evidenziate in giallo sono quelle che hanno bisogno di approfondimenti, come nel caso di riferimenti storici o culturali, frasi fatte, proverbi o espressioni di slang. Troverai la spiegazione alla fine dell’articolo. SPEAK UP IN CLASS Ogni mese su Speak Up troverai anche degli esercizi pensati per gli…

TOP BRITS Elizabeth I was Queen of England from 1558 to 1603, a period subsequently called The Golden Age or the Elizabethan Age. This was a time when England became a major European power in politics, commerce and the arts. It was also a period of great danger at home and abroad, but Elizabeth’s mixture of courage, astuteness and majestic self-display1 inspired a powerful loyalty and unity from her subjects. MOTHER BEHEADED Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry had Boleyn executed before Elizabeth was three. Elizabeth’s own position was precarious for many years, but she finally came to the throne on 17 November 1558, aged twenty-five. A woman ruler2 in a patriarchal world, Elizabeth had to create a new model of governing,…

EXERCISES IN Work It Out! SCAN, READ & LISTEN 07 UPPER INTERMEDIATE B2 GLOSSARY 1 astonishing: sorprendente 2 ox: bue 3 touching: commovente 4 dairy farm: caseificio 5 to auction: vendere all’asta 6 bond: legame 7 juggling: giocoleria 8 catches: prendere, acchiappare 9 chickenpox: varicella 10 craft: destrezza 11 to show up: presentarsi 12 helmets: caschi 13 to crowd into: affollarsi 14 playground: parco giochi 15 to work out: fare esercizio 16 to pursue: inseguire 17 mockery: derisione 18 to give up: rinunciare A mong the astonishing1 variety of feats included in this book, some are exceptionally inspiring and surprising. Here are just a few of them. 1 Tommy: the tallest ox Tommy is a 6 foot 10 (just over 2 metres), 1,360kg thirteen-year-old Brown Swiss ox2. His story is extremely touching3: when he was only two days old, he was rescued by his now owner, Fred…

Borough Market offers a host1 of places to eat and drink. Besides indoor restaurants, bars, cafés and pubs, there are stalls selling street food, many around the Borough Market Kitchen, which is an outdoor, covered food court2. Here is a selection of the best. 1 Richard Haward Oysters For eight generations, the Haward family has been cultivating oysters in the River Blackwater, purifying them with sea water, which gives them a unique flavour. They can be enjoyed with a glass of chilled3 wine on its permanent stall on Stoney Street. 2 The Ginger Pig The Ginger4 Pig butcher’s5 specialise in the art of sausage making. The meat is sourced6 from small farmers who practise good animal husbandry7 and all sausages and burgers are made by hand. Its sausage rolls8 now…

EXERCISES IN Work It Out! For thousands of years, wolves were among the most prolific predators of the western United States. They roamed1 through the region, coexisting harmoniously with the Native American people, who revered2 them. Then, in the 1800s, European settlers3 arrived in the area. With agricultural development, much of the wolves’ natural habitat was destroyed. Settlers perceived them as a threat4 to their livestock5 and killed them along with other predators, such as bears and pumas (or mountain lions, as they are better known there.) ELIMINATION One of the areas in the western US historically populated by wolves was designated Yellowstone National Park in 1872, making it the first national park in the US. Stretching across6 the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, it became known for its…

www.speakup.it SPEAK UP PIÙ COMODO Il nuovo sito web di Speak presenta strumenti e risorse interattive per creare un’esperienza utente coinvolgente e dinamica. Le tecnologie all’avanguardia che abbiamo applicato e la moderna interfaccia permetteranno di esplorare nuovi modi divertenti per migliorare e praticare l’inglese con maggiore comodità. Scopri subito il nuovo sito e inizia esplorare la vasta gamma di articoli e risorse! TEST DI LIVELLO Verifica qual è il tuo livello di inglese con il nostro test gratuito e scopri i tuoi progressi con i nostri articoli classificati per difficoltà. ESERCIZI INTERATTIVI Leggi e ascolta gli articoli e controlla i tuoi progressi con l’inglese grazie ai nostri test interattivi. Super comodo! PRACTICAL ENGLISH Un ampio catalogo di lezioni di grammatica, consigli, e materiale scaricabile per imparare quando e dove vuoi.…

SCAN, READ & LISTEN 03 LOWER INTERMEDIATE B1 GLOSSARY 1 infamous: tristemente nota 2 to nickname: soprannominare 3 to open out onto: aprirsi verso 4 tides: maree 5 treacherous: traditrici 6 gannets: sule 7 inmates: detenuti 8 mobsters: mafiosi 9 laundry: lavanderia 10 escape-proof: a prova di fuga 11 nevertheless: nonostante 12 unaccounted for: non compreso 13 thick: fitta 14 fog: nebbia 15 to presume: ritenere 16 to sweep out: spazzare, travolgere 17 to dig: scavare 18 dummy: manichino 19 cover-up: occultamento 20 raft: zattera 21 raincoats: impermeabili 22 Netherlands: Paesi Bassi 23 waste: rifiuti 24 to rear: allevare 25 grave: tomba Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay is infamous1 for being a former maximum-security prison. Between 1934 and 1963 the federal penitentiary nicknamed2 “the Rock” was occupied by America’s most notorious criminals. The twenty-two-acre island is located two kilometres offthe coast of California. The bay opens out onto3 the Pacific Ocean and the…

The images are joltingly1 familiar, even after all these years. In one, reproduced with eerie2 accuracy in the new season of The Crown, Diana, the Princess of Wales sits on a diving board3 off the deck4 of a yacht, her long legs dangling5 above the water. In another, she embraces her new boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. And in a third, taken from a security camera, the couple rides in an elevator at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, en route to their car late one August night. We know too well what happened next. The sixth and final season of The Crown begins here, in 1997, on the cusp of6 one of the strangest and most bewildering7 periods in recent British history. That is when Diana (played here by Elizabeth Debicki) and…

I love doing my grocery shopping at the market. Me, too! And Borough Market is my favourite. So what’s on your list? I need meat, fish and vegetables. Fruit and veg for me. And perhaps a ready meal or two. OK, let’s start at the fishmonger’s. I’m a regular here. Oh, those plaice1 are a bargain! I’ll get a couple, too. Right, what’s next? Ah, there’s a good fruit & veg stall2. Let’s see, I need 3lbs of potatoes and some carrots, broccoli and onions. I’ll get some tomatoes and lettuce3 for tonight’s salad. And some of those lovely strawberries. Excellent! I just need to pick up4 a couple of steaks5 at the butcher’s and then I’m done. Right. Let’s go to Borough Market Kitchen for some street food. You…

The relationship between language and power is a close one. While complicated language was once used to confuse and intimidate, more recently, simpler language is assumed to be the key component in capturing voters. Political scientists, for example, have long believed that populists, from Donald Trump to Marine Le Pen, use easier language to appeal to ordinary people and distance themselves from elites. HOW SIMPLE IS IT However, a study published in Cambridge University Press in 2020 has come to an unexpected conclusion. It compared the language of right-wing populists active in recent years in the United States, France, United Kingdom and Italy to that of their main opponents. Approximately one million words from leaders’ speeches were analysed using a series of linguistic measures for evaluating simplicity that included sentence…

Fresh from his hugely1-successful collaborations as a musician with Daft Punk and as a producer with Madonna, American record producer, songwriter and rapper Pharrell Williams was asked to write a song for the animated film Despicable2 Me 2. After the movie’s producers rejected3 several4 versions, Pharrell says he asked himself “What does a good mood5 feel like?” The result was Happy and it became the biggest-selling single of 2014, winning two Grammys. It is the UK’s best-selling song of the 21st century (so far). Written completely in the present simple, the upbeat6 song opens with the singer warning7 listeners that some people might8 find it crazy that he is so happy. The chorus9 then kicks in10, consisting of four imperatives and if-clauses. In the second verse, Pharrell hears some bad news but…

Sometimes, the sort of people who end up as President or Prime Minister of a democratic country can shock you. At times like this, the expression to use in respect to those who voted for them is “Like turkeys / a turkey voting for Christmas”. The turkey is traditionally the centrepiece of the Christmas dinner table. A bird which looks forward to Christmas is therefore an ignorant or self-destructive one. The expression is a metaphor to describe a situation when people act in a way that seems harmful to their own interests. It was coined by a British politician in 1977: when responding to a proposed working pact between the Liberal Party, of which he was a member, and the Labour Party, which was facing removal from power, David Penhaligon…