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LANGUAGE BEASTLY LANGUAGE SPEAKER DANIEL FRANCIS EXERCISES IN Work It Out! The English language has come up1 with its own inventive ways to describe the wide range2 of sounds animals produce. Many such words are onomatopoeic, attempting to imitate in simplified form the unique sound that an animal makes to communicate with another. PET SOUNDS Dogs and cats are the animals that humans feel closest to, and we often jump to conclusions about what they are trying to communicate! Dogs typically 'bark' (or 'go woof') perhaps to show joy3 or perhaps as a warning. They may also 'growl4' to show anger, or 'howl5', a long sad sound that they inherited from their ancestors, the wolves, who used it to communicate over long distances. Cats ' meow', a sound used to interact…

PEOPLE THE MUSIC OF THE MIND SPEAKER SARAH DAVISON EXERCISES IN Work It Out! Long before marrying John Lennon in 1969 and becoming, in the public mind at least, the woman who broke up1 the Beatles, Yoko Ono was already a renowned artist. Born into privilege in Tokyo in 1933, Ono was the daughter of an international banker and a musician. Before the age of ten, she had attended2 elite schools in Japan, been taken to the finest concerts and spent time in the United States. In 1945, she and her family lived through two atomic bombs dropped3 on Japan, which ended World War Two. Her life was drastically affected when she and her family found themselves exiled to the Japanese countryside, where food was scarce4. These experiences proved pivotal5 in…

SPEAKER SARAH DAVISON Every year, millions of people enjoy exploring the British countryside. The South Downs, Lake District and Peak District are among the most popular national parks. But few visitors realise that every part of the British landscape has been shaped1 by centuries of human activity. UNDER THREAT Alongside homes and businesses, roads and bridges, the landscape has been mined and quarried2, waterways3 rerouted, land reclaimed4, forests felled5 and vast areas farmed and grazed6. Apex predators7 such as wolves and bears have been hunted to extinction. It is estimated that in Europe more than 80 per cent of land is degraded and less than 30 per cent of rivers are healthy. According to assessments8, the state of biodiversity in the UK is poor, with Britain ranking at 189 out…

PLACES SCAN, READ & LISTEN 10 ADVANCED C1 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 steaming: fumante 2 azure: azzurre 3 to dip: immergersi 4 to burst: esplodere 5 yet another: ancora un'altra 6 outbursts: esplosioni 7 to ripple out: spargersi 8 looming: incombente 9 drop: calo 10 to spout: sgorgare 11 unwarranted: ingiustificata 12 to flock: affluire in gran numero 13 northern lights: aurora boreale 14 inn: pensione 15 family-run: conduzione familiare 16 to undermine: indebolire, danneggiare 17 to owe: dovere 18 to seek out: cercare 19 untamed: selvaggia 20 waterfalls: cascate 21 hot springs: sorgenti termali 22 to steer clear: stare alla larga 23 to ease: attenuarsi 24 somewhat: un po' 25 tricky: complicata The Blue Lagoon resort in the south of Iceland is a scenic network of steaming1 azure2 pools surrounded by dark rocks, where tourists dip3 in the geothermal water, have spa treatments and enjoy what the resort advertises as “a universe of radiant well-being.”…

SPEAKER MOLLY MALCOM SPEAK UP IN CLASS Plots1 and settings are important to any story, but they need compelling2 characters to truly resonate with3 readers. As the master of horror, Stephen King has crafted4 some of the most terrifying villains that haunt5 our nightmares. Among them are paranormal entities, demons and ghosts, but also ordinary men, women and even children who slide into madness6. 1. Jack Torrance – The Shining (1977) Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic, takes a job as caretaker7 of the Overlook Hotel while it is closed for the winter. The hotel is cursed8 and Torrance becomes increasingly unstable and violent towards his wife and son. Torrance was immortalised by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 movie adaptation. He sent chills down your spine9 with a phrase that was…

SPEAKERS SARAH DAVISON & DANIEL FRANCIS EXERCISE IN Work It Out! SCAN, READ & LISTEN 16 UPPER INTERMEDIATE B2 GLOSSARY 1 ruling classes: classi dirigenti 2 to yield: cedere 3 burgeoning: nascenti 4 country estate: tenuta in campagna 5 insurance clerk: impiegato di un'assicurazione 6 aware: consapevole 7 to bequeath: lasciare in eredità 8 to seek advice: chiedere consiglio 9 to warn: avvertire A quintessentially English novel about class and privilege, Howards End by E. M. Forster follows the fortunes of three contrasting but interconnected families. The novel is set in the early 20th century, a time of rapid industrialisation, mass urbanisation and the emergence of a capitalist class structure; a time when the old ruling classes1 were forced to yield2 power to the burgeoning3 middle classes. COUNTRY ESTATE The novel centres on Howards End, the country estate4…

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…

CULTURE SMOOTH FLOW OF INK SPEAKER SARAH DAVISON EXERCISES IN Work It Out! In an age of rapid, typed1 communication over digital devices2, there is something timeless and earnest3 about a fountain pen's4 flow of ink5 words on paper. Combining elegance, simplicity and technical precision, the Parker pen is one of the most popular items of stationery6 in the world. Its founder was George Safford Parker, an American entrepreneur who dedicated his life to the design and production of exemplary pens. His mission statement, used successfully in advertising campaigns, was: “It will always be possible to make a better pen.” FAULTY PENS Born in 1863 in Shullsburg, Wisconsin, Parker worked as a telegraphy instructor and sold fountain pens part-time for the John Holland Pens Company, but he spent much of his spare…

SPEAKER DANIEL FRANCIS EXERCISES IN Work It Out! James Cook was an 18th-century British explorer, cartographer and navigator who mapped the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia on three famous voyages between 1768 and 1779, radically changing western perceptions of world geography. He determined the boundaries1 of the habitable world and opened up new lands to European trade2 and colonisation. Cook was born on 27 October 1728, in a small village in Yorkshire. His father was a farm worker. Cook joined the merchant navy as a teenager and then the Royal Navy in 1755. He served in North America in the Seven Years' War, where he learnt to survey3 and chart4 coastal waters with great precision. TERRA INCOGNITA Cook's mapping fame reached the miralty, the government departt that administered the Royal…

INTERVIEW CURRENT AFFAIRS Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature can take care of itself. It's not about leaving nature to its own devices1, or releasing packs of real wolves2 into our cities, but about humans carefully intervening to recreate the conditions for nature to thrive3 in a healthy way for everyone. To find out more, Speak Up contacted expert Sara King. King is an ecologist who works as rewilding manager with the environmental charity4 Rewilding Britain. We began by asking her what exactly rewilding is and what it involves in practice. Sara King (English accent): It's definitely not about closing the gate and walking away5. [Our] ecosystems and our natural processes are so out of balance that if you did that in a lot…

SPEAKER DANIEL FRANCIS EXERCISES IN Work It Out! On two islands on a lake formed by the River Len stands Leeds Castle, a historical marvel, and a fun destination for all the family. Although the architecture is relatively new, mostly originating in the 19th century, the site of the castle has a history that dates back over a thousand years. A castle has stood there since 857, and over the centuries it has been used as a Norman stronghold1, a royal residence and a royal palace. MAZE AND GROTTO While Leeds is a city in the north of England, Leeds Castle is near the village of Leeds in the county of Kent in South East England. It has been open to the public since 1976 and offers a variety of…

SPEAKER SARAH DAVISON SCAN, READ & LISTEN 14 ADVANCED C1 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 to tidy up: ordinare 2 to trademark: registrare un marchio commerciale 3 to spark joy: suscitare gioia 4 to declutter: mettere in ordine 5 threshold: soglia 6 messy: disordinata 7 to strew: spargere 8 overwhelming: schiacciante 9 relatability: sentimento di connessione 10 betrayal: tradimento 11 to spread: propagare 12 core: centro, nucleo 13 to reprise: riprendere 14 stringent: rigoroso 15 to trigger: innescare 16 plush toys: peluches 17 to pile-up: accatastare, impilare 18 attainable: raggiungibile 19 to acknowledge: riconoscere 20 undented: essere intaccato Marie Kondo became a global home-organising phenomenon when she wrote The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up1 more than a decade ago. The book was published in more than thirty countries and her trademarked2 KonMari Method of tidying by categorising, ordering and only retaining objects that “spark joy3” catapulted her on to Time magazine's…

SPEAKER DANIEL FRANCIS More renowned for its seven-note bass guitar riff than its lyrics, The White Stripes' 2003 break-through 1 single Seven Nation Army was composed as an angry reaction to gossip2. At the time the Detroit-based duo of guitarist and vocalist Jack White and drummer Meg White was the subject of media scrutiny, with speculation as to whether the pair were married or were siblings3 (they were, in fact, divorced, but deliberately misled 4 journalists). Jack later told Rolling Stone magazine that inspiration for the song actually came from “a frustration of watching my friends spreading5 lies and the other person's reaction to it.” But he also said that “It's about me, Meg and the people we're dating6.” The song's protagonist has heard that there is someone spreading rumours about him,…

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.…

PLACES DEATH AT THE SUMMIT SPEAKER DANIEL FRANCIS SPEAK UP IN CLASS EXERCISES IN Work It Out! In 1953 New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first men to reach the summit1 of Mount Everest. At least that's what most people think. A hundred years ago in June 1924, British climbers2 George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine also made an attempt to reach the summit. Both men disappeared, but some believe they were on their way down3 from the top when they died. What exactly happened up there remains a mystery. CREDENTIALS George Mallory was a skilled and experienced climber and had taken part in two earlier British expeditions in the 1920s. Even in 1924, Mallory's team tried twice to reach the summit and failed. They were about…

SPEAKER SARAH DAVISON SPEAK UP IN CLASS SCAN, READ & LISTEN 06 LOWER INTERMEDIATE B1 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 to enable: permettere, consentire 2 accurately: con precisione 3 parrots: pappagalli 4 time-consuming: che richiede tempo 5 shapes: forme 6 non-profit organisation: organizzazione senza scopo di lucro 7 to aim: aspirare, mirare 8 sperm whales: capodogli 9 mole rats: ratti talpa 10 fruit bats: pipistrelli della frutta 11 hearing aid: apparecchio acustico 12 on the brink of: sul punto di For a long time, the idea of humans speaking with animals has been confined to fiction, with children's stories like Dr. Dolittle, The Jungle Book and The Chronicles of Narnia. In recent years, a special form of AI called machine learning has enabled1 apps such as Google Translate and Microsoft Translator to accurately2 and rapidly translate between different human languages. So far, nobody…

SPEAKERS DANIEL FRANCIS & MOLLY MALCOLM I'm glad you suggested this walk1. I feel more relaxed already! Yes, there's nothing like a hike through nature to unwind. Look, there are beavers2 over there! Oh, they're adorable! And busy at work, building a dam3. What an amazing sight4. They reintroduced them recently, to restore5 the wetlands. Really? Were there not many left, then? No, they were hunted6 almost to extinction, for their fur7. Poor things! Well, I'm glad they're back. I wonder what other creatures we'll spot today. I think there are deer8 around here somewhere. Lots of birdlife, too. Cool! We'll have to keep looking up. Let's see if we can catch a glimpse of any birds. Haha, we'll make a birdwatcher out of you yet! NOW LET'S REVIEW THE…

SPEAKER MOLLY MALCOLM SPEAK UP IN CLASS EXERCISES IN Work It Out! Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers of modern literature. Known as the Master of Horror, the American author has published more than 250 novels and short stories, many of which have been adapted for film and television. His best-known stories have become cultural references, such as his debut novel Carrie, published half a century ago this year, and his first bestseller The Shining. His unique blend1 of horror, suspense, science fiction and psychological drama has terrified generations of fans and inspired authors and filmmakers the world over. A COMPLETE EXPLORATION An overview2 of his work reveals recurring themes, characters and places, building a literary universe that becomes frighteningly familiar. A new reference book by Canadian…

SPEAKER MOLLY MALCOLM Jump off a tall building? Fall down the stairs? Be set on fire1? Sure, no problem! It's a normal day on the job for stuntwoman2 and stunt3 coordinator Jane Austin. Originally from Studio City in Los Angeles, California, Austin is the youngest of nine children and has five older brothers. As a child, she explains, she was “very, very athletic” and “the biggest tomboy4 you could imagine.” STUNT DOUBLE Austin began by doing a stunt for the US military drama Tour of Duty in 1987. Since then she has doubled for stars such as Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman, Geena Davis, Meryl Streep, Daryl Hannah and Jennifer Beals. She has worked as a stunt performer on music videos, films and TV shows, including popular shows like Law &…

FICTION A SHORT STORY SPEAKER MOLLY MALCOLM SCAN, READ & LISTEN 18 LOWER INTERMEDIATE B1 GLOSSARY 1 to glance: dare un'occhiata 2 his wife of fourteen years: sua moglie da quattordici anni 3 to nod: fare un cenno di assenso 4 to cheat: imbrogliare 5 to sigh: sospirare 6 to reflect on: riflettere su 7 live happily ever after: vivere per sempre felice 8 expenses: spese 9 duties: compiti 10 to allow: permettere 11 tailor: sarto 12 to mend: rammendare 13 all the rage: alla moda 14 to raise: alzare SHE HAD NEVER CHEATED ON HER HUSBAND AND SHE was certain he had never cheated on her. Their problem was… everything else. Marianne glanced1 at her phone. She'd put it on silent mode when she'd arrived at the villa on the Costa del Sol, anticipating the bombardment of texts and phone calls. It was…

To get one's act together' is to start organising one's life or affairs effectively. The idiom is usually used as an imperative: “Get your act together!”, and the assumption is that the current state of things or the current course of action has reached a point of being notably inefficient and undesirable. The exact origins of the idiom are unclear, although the use of the word 'act' suggests it may have arisen in the theatre or movie industry, where actors who were feeling nervous or making mistakes, perhaps, were told to 'get their act together'. The phrase came into everyday use in the mid-1900s and today can be applied to multiple situations. An individual can be told (as a last resort!) to: “Get your act together and find a job!”…