Table of contents for N. 480 in Speak Up Italia

EXERCISES IN Work It Out! Pi, represented by the lowercase1 version of the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet π, is an irrational number used to measure2 circles. Also known as the Archimedes constant, pi is the number you get when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter, using the mathematical formula pi(π) = circumference / diameter. Pi is a mathematical constant, meaning that no matter how big or small the circle, pi is always the same. REAL-WORLD USES The first few digits of pi are 3.14, but pi is irrational because it has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point. While the calculation can be traced back3 thousands of years to the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, the earliest known use of the Greek letter…

One of the most important and innovative thinkers of the 19th century, Charles Babbage is considered to be the father of the computer. Almost two hundred years ago, this brilliant mathematician, inventor and mechanical engineer originated the concept of the digital programmable computer. Born on 26 December 1791, the son of a banker, Babbage was often unwell1 as a child and was educated at home. Largely self-taught2 in mathematics, he entered Cambridge University in 1810, where he discovered that he knew more than his tutors! THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE After leaving university, Babbage started to consider one of the major scientific problems of his time: printed mathematical tables, which were central to navigation, science, engineering and maths, were calculated by hand; mistakes were common and these could have disastrous consequences, especially…

Founded fifty years ago by the Council for British Archaeology, Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, England has become internationally famous as an example of living history. A resource for schools, it also frequently appears in documentaries and films. Its success has inspired similar projects in other parts of the British Isles. The Caithness Broch Project in the north of Scotland aims1 to transport visitors two thousand years into the past with its Big Broch Builds. Brochs are mysterious conical structures unique to Scotland. One aspect of the brochs which has fascinated archaeologists and architects alike2 is the incredibly sophisticated level of engineering, as well as the understanding of the materials, which enabled3 the Iron Age masons4 to build such massive towers in drystone. The archaeologists concluded that the only way…

A term that first appeared in a 2024 study in Forbes Health is recognisable to millions of us: ‘dating app fatigue’ refers to that significant percentage of dating app users who report feeling emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted by using dating platforms, such as Tinder, Grindr or Bumble. Dating apps have transformed how people connect, with millions still using them as a primary means1 to find romance. However, the disenchantment users feel begins early on with the feeling that what is on offer is not what you get. Increasingly, reports show that such apps encourage mainly casual encounters without genuine connection. A Pew Research Center survey2 reveals that 51 per cent of women in the US had negative experiences on dating apps, including instances of harassment3 or dishonesty. Many users…

The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has mesmerized1 a deeply polarized nation that shares a collective frustration over dealings2 with health insurance companies. On social media, some people have cheered3 for the gunman and expressed little remorse4 over the death of Thompson, fifty, a father of two boys from Maple Grove, Minnesota, with some painting him as the villain in a national health care crisis. And now that the identity of the suspect, Luigi Mangione, twenty-six, has been revealed and more photos of him have emerged, he is being defended or even applauded in some circles. That adulation reflects public anger5 over health care, said Nsikan Akpan, managing editor for Think Global Health, a publication that explores health issues at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The UnitedHealthcare killing and…

SCAN, READ & LISTEN 16 ADVANCED C1 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 seminal: influente 2 The Waste Land: La terra desolata 3 in the aftermath of: dopo i disastri di 4 playwright: drammaturgo 5 citizenship: cittadinanza 6 fellow: collega 7 to chime: suonare 8 to tune: sintonizzare 9 clairboyant: veggente 10 Theban prophet: profeta tebano 11 typist: dattilografa 12 acquaintance: conoscente 13 A Handful of Dust: Una manciata di polvere 14 oblique: indiretti 15 comfortless: pessimisti 16 to draw conclusions: trarre conclusioni 17 arrangement: disposizione Considered to be a seminal1 Modernist work, The Waste Land2 was written in the aftermath of3 the First World War by American-born poet, playwright4 and literary critic Thomas Stearns Eliot. A 434-line poem divided into five parts, it addresses themes of death, loss and confusion. While The Waste Land is intentionally hard to decipher, lines and expressions evoke visceral images that can be universally understood.…

Hello, everyone. So nice to meet you in person! Likewise! We’re happy to meet you and your team. So, first of all, thank you for inviting us to pitch for this job. Not at all! Your agency has an amazing reputation in this particular market. Oh, that’s good to hear! We put our heart and soul into each and every one of our projects, so it’s nice that it’s recognised. Well, we are very selective about the partners1 we work with and everyone we spoke to recommended we talk to you. Great! We know there are a lot of agencies in this sector, so we appreciate the opportunity to show you our credentials and give you an idea of how we work. We are eager2 to see what you can…

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…

The highlight of countless1 fairs, theme parks or riverbanks2 today, Ferris wheels3 have been relentlessly4 turning for more than a century now. They are the late-19th century5 product of a group of engineers, who applied their ingenuity6 and courage to the design of an enormous, technologically-innovative structure, which would make headlines7 worldwide. The Ferris wheel was named after the man who constructed one of the first for Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. ENGINEERING CHALLENGE In 1890, the architect Daniel Burnham received the important commission8 of managing the exposition in Chicago, organised to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival on the American continent. Burnham challenged9 engineers to create something that would rival the Eiffel Tower, which had amazed the world in the 1889 French Exposition in Paris. Many…

Is there anyone out there? Do aliens really exist? Will they communicate with us one day? These are some of the questions that the Arecibo message could help answer. Sent into space1 on 16 November 1974, the message was the first deliberate attempt2 to communicate with aliens. THIS IS WHO WE ARE The Arecibo message is so called3 because it was transmitted from the Arecibo Telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The event took place at a ceremony to celebrate the the observatory’s remodelling. Installed in the 1960s, the Arecibo Telescope has since been dismantled. The message was sent to Messier 13, a large cluster4 of stars relatively close to Earth. It contained some basic information about Earth and the human race that was transmitted via frequency-modulated radio…

SCAN, READ & LISTEN 08 PROFICIENCY C2 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 to rage: propagarsi 2 drought: siccità 3 wildfire: incendio boschivo 4 wedded: legato 5 fire crews: squadre di pompieri 6 blazes: fiamme 7 fuel load: carico di combustibile 8 to build up: accumularsi 9 to fan: accrescere 10 to gust: soffiare a raffiche 11 to feed: alimentare 12 bluntly: senza mezzi termini 13 landslides: frane 14 floods: inondazioni 15 rugged: accidentata 16 to scourge: flagellare 17 one thousand plus: più di mille 18 to soak: inzuppare, bagnare 19 parched: seccata, prosciugata 20 to blow in: piombare 21 to sweep: spazzare, travolgere 22 inland: verso l’interno 23 prone to: incline a, soggetto a 24 to set up: preparare 25 to blame: incolpare 26 councilwoman: consigliera comunale 27 due to: a causa di 28 staffing hours: orari di lavoro 29 to undermine: indebolire 30 to train: formarsi 31 unholy: nefasta 32 mingling: mescolanza 33 mild: moderati 34 to put out: spegnere 35 to put off: rimandare,…

EXERCISES IN Work It Out! On 27 September 1825, a steam-powered1 locomotive set off2 on twenty-six mile [41,8km] journey through County Durham, a major coal-producing3 region in the north-east of England. The inauguration of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a history-making event: for the first time, a steam-powered public railway could carry products (coal) and passengers, connecting collieries4 around Shildon with the market towns of Stockton and Darlington. Steam marked the advent5 of the modern railway network which spread rapidly across the country, transforming Britain’s landscape, economy and society. STRANGE STRUCTURES To celebrate the bicentennial of this important event, a year-long programme called Railway 200 is taking place across the UK. Railway 200 began on 1 January 2025 with an experience known as a ‘whistle off’, when historic…

EXERCISES IN Work It Out! SCAN, READ & LISTEN 14 LOWER INTERMEDIATE B1 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 prayers: preghiere 2 nursery rhymes: filastrocche 3 to go back: risalire 4 UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 5 to aim at: avere come scopo 6 to raise the profile: elevare il prestigio 7 CE: d. C (acronimo di Common Era)  8 spelling: ortografia 9 unstressed: non accentate, atone 10 stressed: accentate Poetry is everywhere and in every culture, from traditional ballads to political rap, from love poems to prayers1. We hear poetry, in the form of nursery rhymes2, when we’re babies. And repeating simple poems can help us acquire language at any age. The oldest known poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh, was composed almost four thousand years ago in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) but oral poetic traditions probably go back3…

SCAN, READ & LISTEN 17 UPPER INTERMEDIATE B2 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 to release: pubblicare 2 stream: fiume 3 vitriol: veleno 4 to draw on: attingere a 5 saying: detto 6 rolling stone: pietra smossa 7 to gather: fare 8 moss: muschio 9 muddy: infangato 10 chorus: ritornello 11 lofty: nobile 12 low: abbattuto 13 steady: continuo, ininterrotto 14 hatred: odio 15 to knock out: stendere 16 reluctant: riluttanti 17 to give in: cedere 18 bums: vagabondi 19 dime: dieci centesimi 20 idiom: frase idiomatica 21 beware: stare attento 22 to scrounge: scroccare 23 tramp: barbone 24 to stare into the vacuum: osservare il vuoto 25 deal: accordo 26 frowns: corrucciare il volto 27 jugglers: giocolieri 28 to pawn: impegnare 29 rags: stracci 30 to conceal: celare Released1 in July 1965, Like a Rolling Stone is a six-minute stream2 of vitriol3 written and performed by Bob Dylan. The title draws on4 the saying5 “A rolling stone6 gathers7 no moss8 ”,…

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.…

EXERCISES IN Work Out! On the dawn of the new millennium1, an eye-catching2 landmark3 was erected in London, a giant Ferris wheel4 called the London Eye was built on the south bank5 of the River Thames, next to County Hall and opposite6 Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It was meant to be a temporary structure to celebrate the inauguration of new era as a temporary structure. A quarter of a century later, it has become permanent and is one of the city’s most-visited tourist attractions. A WINNING DESIGN The London Eye was the result of a 1993 competition sponsored by the Architecture Foundation and newspaper The Sunday Times. No official winner was declared, but the design by husband-and-wife team Julia Barfield and David Marks of Marks Barfield Architects…

Any visitor to the north of Scotland will be struck1 by the strange ruined towers that dot2 the landscape. Known as ‘brochs’, these ancient conical structures are unique to Scotland, particularly the county of Caithness. For centuries, archeologists have tried to put together3 the clues that reveal their origins, their use and their significance. STRANGE STRUCTURES Brochs were built by the Caledonian tribes during the Iron Age, between 400 BCE4 and 100 CE5. They are arresting6 because of their size — the tallest remaining broch on the abandoned island of Mousa is 13.3 metres tall, making it the tallest prehistoric building in Britain. The towers were constructed with two concentric drystone7 walls, held together with long stone slabs8, and probably had roofs of wood or thatch9. Between the inner and…

In the last ten years, dating apps like Tinder1, Bumble2, Match Group and Grindr3 have become very popular. They have attracted tens of millions of users, all hoping to have a fun date, casually hook up4 with someone, or even find love. But by now many of us are suffering from dating app fatigue. This refers to a state of extreme emotional exhaustion as searching through enormous databases of potential partners on screen appears never-ending. Many people are abandoning dating apps altogether5 and returning to more traditional IRL (in-real-life) dating events. RISE AND FALL As a result, the world’s biggest dating apps have registered a decrease in the number and engagement6 of their users. At the same time, IRL dating events have been increasing in popularity. The ticketing platform Eventbrite…

The commercialisation of steam-powered1 transportation set the world in motion2. While steamships3 transformed maritime trade and made long-distance travel more reliable4 and accessible, steam locomotives enabled5 faster and more efficient movement of goods6 and people. This year marks the bicentenary of the first steam-powered public railway that made its carbon-fuelled7 debut in the north-east of England in 1825. The event is celebrated across Britain with a year-long programme of activities and exhibitions called Railway 200. To find out more, Speak Up contacted Alan Hyde, Railway 200’s head of marketing and communications. We began by asking him why it is such an important anniversary to commemorate. Alan Hyde (English accent): It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate an industry, a sector, that has changed the world forever. And I think it’s not…

Selecting just five poems from across English literary history is quite a challenge! Nevertheless, here are five that are often taught in British or American schools. These are poems about life’s big themes: love, death, solitude and struggle1. All the poets mentioned had a major cultural impact at the time they were writing, and all five poems below are still read and quoted2 today. The choice has been made with historical perspective, which is why three of the poets are white, male, and English. All the poems are from Britain or the US, even though the profile of people publishing poetry in the language is considerably more varied and people from around the globe have written world-changing poetry in English. There are many omissions: we could have gone all the…

SCAN, READ & LISTEN 18 ADVANCED C1 ↘ GLOSSARY 1 slippery: sfuggente 2 midwife: ostetrica 3 to wriggle: contorcersi 4 to slip out: sfuggire 5 carpet: tappeto 6 to tickle: fare il solletico 7 bullies: bulli, prepotenti 8 to beat up: picchiare 9 tackles: placcaggi 10 cheeky: impertinente 11 ready: rapide, pronte 12 bewildered: sbalordito, confuso 13 bartener: barista 14 courier: postina 15 ease: facilità, con disinvoltura 16 to get hold of: prendere 17 diners: commensali 18 to peer: guardare da vicino, scrutare 19 awkward: goffo 20 to summon: chiamare 21 to settle the bill: pagare il conto 22 eyebrows: sopracciglia 23 foolish: stupida 24 annoyed: infastidita 25 drawn: attratta 26 to slip away: sfuggire 27 I could stand it no longer: non potevo più sopportarlo 28 to hurry out: uscire in fretta 29 alley: vicolo, stretto 30 to outstrip: superare, sorpassare 31 to lift of your feet: sollevare da terra 32 to squirm: contorcersi 33 to trap: intrappolare 34 fist: pugno 35 to…