THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES

Edmund de Waal about The Hare with amber eyes, posted with vodpod

Edmund de Waal is the writer of the fascinating book „THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES“

in which tries not only to explain of how the netsukes (very small objects made by Japanese craftsmen) came into the Ephrussi family

but he also writes about the identity of his family, about loss or about  survival of stories.

This is the link to a Hot Potatoes drag & drop exercise which you can correct online.http://www.langedi49.ch/EPHRUSSI.htm

In this video he starts speaking about the netsukes and their story. The object he is holding in his hand is quite heavy, made of ivory,

it’s a well fed or fat hare with self-satisfied amber eyes. It’s from the 1^9th century Japan or Kyoto. This little carving used to be hanging

from a belt.

The writer thinks of going back to when he was 17 years old and when he was being apprenticed as a potter and to the first time he

went off to Japan, to pottery villages and  finally turning up at his great uncle Iggie’s, an elderly Jewish gentleman in Tokyo. There

were books everywhere and there was also a vitrine which lit up and which was full up of  264 ridiculous little netsukes. In the

course of many years Iggie tells Edmund the story  of these tiny things and how they brought him to Tokyo. By the years Edmund

gets more and more involved with Japan.

The Mosquito Coast/Exercises

I’ve read the above mentioned book by Paul Theroux.  and then written the following  summary about it. You can listen to the text which I’ve divided into five parts.

In class we read excerpts of the book and watched the film.

The story which is narrated from the point of view of Charlie, Allie’s oldest son, and which has given me goose pimples, was published in 1981. It starts with father or Allie Fox

complaining about the  rottenness of America. Everything about that country seems to be awful. The Americans are said to just eat junk, sell junk or buy junk and it seems to

be full up of criminal millionaires and the moral sneaks  which seem to include the politicians and the schools. Last but not least there are all the savages who have come to America

to find paradise. While Allie is complaining in this way his is driving with his son Charlie in front of Tiny Polski’s mansion house. Mr Polski is his employer and is in the asparagus

business.

ALLIE/The Mosquito Coast 1

Pirates of Silicon Valley

1st collector for Pirates of the Silicon Valley
Follow my videos on vodpod

This is the link to the whole film:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIC5wxT_zOU

For more exercises see at the bottom of this site.

You can also download the film with torrent (http://torrentz.eu/319e4a1d7c40a943633f9101a1af0e843b77f3d8) on your computer and then download the subtitles as well. 

To watch the film with subtitles is, of course, much easier. (Subtitles are free.)

The Pirates of Silicon Valley-summary

This highly interesting video informs us about the breathtaking steps

made by Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steve Anthony Ballmer and others in order to make a dent in the Universe or to create a new consciousness as Steve Jobs says.

Computers are the big passion for this group of young people and, as we know, Bill Gates is now the richest man in the world.

As the video is quite long, I’ve tried to summarize it and you can maybe only watch it in parts, according to your interests.

At approx. 3.20 minutes

Steve Jobs is standing on a stage in Boston with Bill Gates (big brother) in his rear, where he says that the competition between him and Bill is over and that the world will become a better place. This speech seems weird. (This scene refers to the end of the story.)

FISH EXTINCTION

The words in bold letters are desribed at the end of this text.

You have certainly heard about the drammatic situtaion as far as the emptying of oceans is concerned. It’s alsmost unbelievable but once thriving populations of deep sea fish have been driven to the brink of extinction, because of the expanding fisheries.

Various species of sea fish are at such low levels that they qualifiy for the World Conservation Union’s  list. More and more associations, among them GREENPEACE or polititians ask urgently for  internationally protected reserves to place vast areas of the deep seas out of bounds to fisheries. The trawlers ( fishing nets that is dragged along the seabottom)especially should be checked and pirates arrested. Unfortunately, many, many fish end in their nets without being wanted and die without being eaten. They are called the by-catch fish. These  slow growing fish which reach a length of more than a metre long and live more than 6o years and some become sexually mature only after 30 years. So you can imagine how important it is not to eliminate this kind of fish. It seems that this by-catch fish have also become much smaller in the past 15 years.

a)On the brink of extinction means to be at risk of being extinct.

b) to be out of bounds to fisheries means that fishing is prohibited in that place.

c)Unfortunately wants to say that you wish something was not true.

Click on this link FISHEXTINCTIONand you can do an exercise dragging the word from the right and drop on the left side.

Some  of  the endangered fish species which we shouldn’t eat are:

cod/ – North Sea/il ;merluzzo/der Kabeljau;

sharks/ in the North Atlantic/ i squali/die Haie;

Chinook salmon– Pacific Nothwest / il salmone/der Lachs;

steelhead trout/ la trota-California/ die Stahlkopf Forelle;

swordfish/il pesce spada/der Schwertfisch;

bluefin Tuna- Atlantic/il tonno da pinna blu/der Blauschwanztunfisch;

Metkong Giant Catfish/il pesce gatto/der Wels;

Russian Sturgeon/il storione/der Stör;

skate/razza/der Rochen; (on the above foto)

and last but not least don’t forget the little seahorse, which is also on this red list.

Fish parts:

By the way, fish have fins to steer while travellling in the water, gills to breathe with, guts which you take out after having killed the fish, fishbones

you can’t eat, because they would choke you and eggs, of course.

If you click on the following link you can see many more fish species in danger of extinction

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/feb/19/endangered.sharks#/?picture=349300137&index=13

Fish extinction, posted with vodpod

-How can pirates or overfishing be stopped?

-How often do you eat fish?

-Is fish a popular food in your country?

-What kind of fish do people eat in your country?

-Do you intend to reduce fish consumption?

Please stop eating shark-fin soup, because the flavour seems to come from the broth and not the fins! Each year up to 73 million sharks are killed for these fins

which are sliced into noodle-like strips and added mainly for texture!

FISH-WORKHEEET

Please check out also on my homepage blog/E (www.langedi49.che) about Chile’s Salmonfarm eco-horror!

Great Expectations

GREAT EXPECTATIONS BY CHARLES DICKENS- 1860-61

Due to the fact that we’ve read Mr. Pip (see summary) by Lloyd Jones, we also tackled Great Expectations, whose main character is Pip, an orphan, who lives

with his sister and Joe Gargery, the blacksmith. Whereas Joe is a very gentle man, who loves Pip as well as his work, his sister , wife of Joe, often is on a

rampage and smacks her brother. After her death Joe marries Biddy, who gives Pip some good advice.

At the beginning of the story Pip is at the dark churchyard where his parents are buried.

Suddenly a man appears and forces Pip to bring him a file  to open his chains and vittles (food). The boy succeeds in stealing the much

appreciated pork pie ,which his sister prepared for Christmas, and  gives it to the hungry man. Magwitch, the ex-prisoner, manages to escape

from the police and  to flee to Australia, where he is able to make a fortune.

Pip and his family celebrate Christmas when uncle Pumblechook says that the rich Mrs Havishan is looking for a boy to play with her adopted daughter Estella.

When Pip goes to the house he is terribly humiliated by Estella because of being just a common labour boy. Despite this he starts loving Estella. Mrs. Havisham

manipulates her into breaking men’s hearts because her heart was broken, when she was a young bride.

Soon after Mr Jagger, a lawyer from London arrives and tells Pip and his family that there is a benefactor who wants to pay so that Pip may become a gentleman.Pip goes to London and his life changes completely. He turnes into a real snob and is ashamed of Joe who has always helped him . Despite this, when Pip falls very badly ill Joe goes to London to take care of him.

Pip hasn’t given up hope that Estella will love him the way he loves her and it is a big shock, when she decides to marry Drummle, an idle, proud and suspicious man.

There is another shock for Pip when he realizes that his benefactor is not Mrs Havisham, as he thought, but the ex-prisoner, Magwitch, who has now come back to England and is persecuted by the second prisoner who  escaped with him and who is, as it turns out the famous ex-bridegroom of Mrs. Havisham.  Pip loses all the money and goes abroad with his friend Herbert and works very hard.

We also learn that Mr. Jaggers is not only cold-hearted but also has a soft core, otherwise he probably wouldn’t , for example, have helped Estella’s mother!

Charles Dickens changed his first unhappy ending in a happy one.

My question: In what sense did the book “Great Expectations” help the children on the island Bougainville in 1991?

 

The following link  leads you to short, but very interesting descriptions of the most important characters.There are also images relating to the story and even gives you the possibility to watch some imovies http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0214760/biddy.html produced by students.

Vulkane und Umgebung

Alle sprechen wir in diesen Monaten vom Eyjafjallajökull Gletscher unter dem sich ein Vulkan befindet, weil durch ihn einerseits wunderschöne Fotos gemacht werden können, oder aber auch, weil dieser Vulkanausbruch uns viele Schwierigkeiten bereitet. Vielleicht habt ihr in letzter Zeit sogar selbst erfahren, dass euer Flug annulliert worden ist und ihr stundenlang, ja sogar tagelang am Flughafen habt ausharren müssen. Da ich nun selbst keine Fotos vom Eyjafjallajökull besitze, möchte ich diesen Beitrag über einige andere Vulkane oder Feuerspeier machen.

Meine erste Frage dazu lautet:

Wie heisst denn der berühmteste Vulkan in Japan?…………………..Die Antwort steht auf der Darstellung gleich hier unten.

Als ich in Tokyo war, sagte mir ein amerikanischer Tourist, dass er schon 50 Mal dort gewesen war und den Fuji-Berg, so heisst der Berg nämlich, noch nie gesehen hatte, weil es nie so klar gewesen war. Es war also ein Glück für mich, diesen vom Fernsehturm der Hauptstadt zu sehen.

Der Fujiyama ist mit 3’776 m der höchste und meist gefeierte Berg in Japan. Er ist ein ruhender Vulkan und hat eine wunderschöne Kegelform. Gesamthaft gibt es in Japan aber drei heilige Berge.

Auf dem Gipfel ist ein Krater, 500 m im Umfang und 220 tief. Dieser Krater ist das Heiligtum des Berges und wird als solches verehrt. Man kann den Vulkan auch besteigen.Der Berg liegt in der Nähe der pazifischen Küste, westlich von Tokyo und er ist von 5 Seen umgeben.

Wir waren auf dem Ashi/Hakonesee, auf dem wir eine Schifffahrt gemacht haben. Hakone selbst gehört zu den beliebtesten Ferienorte in Japan. Im  Owakudani Tal  (Tal des grossen Knochens)gibt es viele schwefelhaltige Quellen, die ihr auf dem Foto sehen könnt. Eigentlich reist man ja in diese Gegend wegen des Berges, aber es lohnt sich auch dahin zu gehen, wenn man etwas für Gerüche übrig hat, es riecht nämlich ganz stark nach faulen Eiern, was von Schwefel kommt. Mit dem Zug ist es ungefähr eine Stunde bis nach Hakone selbst und Nagoya, einer der grössten Industriestädte mit über 2 Millionen Menschen, ist auch nicht so weit entfernt. Kyoto, die ehemalige Kaiserstadt liegt auch nicht weit entfernt.

Natürlich gibt es auch in Italien Vulkane, wie zum Beispiel der Vulcano, der Ätna oder der Stromboli. Letzterer, der wie Vulcano zu den 7 Äolischen Inseln gehört, ist seit ungefähr 20’000 Jahren immer aktiv.Diese Inseln sind übrigens nördlich von Sizilien.

Komplettiert diese kleinen Sätze.

Der Stromboli ist ……………

Bei Sonnenuntergang auf d…….. Stromboli.

Das Dorf Stromboli ist im V…………… und der Vulkan im H…………

Wenn man ….. ist, kann man abends mit einer Gruppe auf den Stromboli steigen.

Es ist aber recht anstrengend. Für diejenigen, die das “Spiel” von unten geniessen wollen, können mit einem…………. aufs Meer hinausfahren und von dort aus dem

Treiben zusehen. Auf Stromobli gibt es zwei …………….., Stromboli und Ginostra, die durch die “Sciara del Fuoco”  oder Feuerstrasse getrennt sind. Hier sieht man manchmal

………….. oder Felsenstücke herunterpurzeln.

STROMBOLI ist vielleicht auch durch den gleichnamigen Film von Roberto Rossellini mit Ingrid Bergmann in der Hauptrolle ………………. geworden.

Mögliche Antworten: aktiv/dem/Vordergrund/Hintergrund/fit/Boot/Orte/Lava/weltberühmt.

Wenn ihr auf den folgenden Link klickt,VULKANE könnt ihr auch eine Übung zum obigen Artikel machen und diese sofort selbst korrigieren.

Im Video hier unten könnt ihr hören, wie der Berg (Stromboli) atmet, spricht oder seine Geräusche macht. Ich fand das ganz ergreifend! (Es ist aber keine technisches Meisterwerk, aber authentisch)

Könnt ihr etwas dazu sagen?

more about “Vulkane“, posted with vodpod

Shanghai/EXPO

THE BIGGEST EXPO OF ALL TIMES HAS OPENED ITS DOORS AND FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS YOU WILL HAVE THE OPORTUNITY TO VISIT IT!

DEUTSCH. SIEHE UNTEN

First of all some photos and questions about Shanghai and then further down there is a video and questions concerning this big event.

1-5

P6-8

On photo number  ………. you can see the very famous  high speed train “The Maglev” which runs up to 431 km/h and the metro station on photo number ……….

The skyscrapers are on photo number…..

Photo number ………. gives you an idea about the traffic in Shanghai.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is on photo number ……… Its height is 468 m and it was built in 1994. The building has 14 floors. It is in Pudong, the financial center of Shanghai.

The famous Nanjing Street ,which takes ist name from  China’s old capital city, is on photo number…….

On photo number …… you are at the BUND and the building with the lotus shaped top is famous.

Last but not least photo number …….was taken in Shanghai’s Old City.

For one photo there is no question. For which one?

Answer: Photo number  two//three/four/eight/seven/six/five

Pyramids/Pyramiden

(Fotos F.Ramsauer)
(Deutsch siehe unten)

(The 3 great Pyramids on the Plain of Gizah and the Sphinx.)

In the following video a British archeologist explains his theories about the mysteries

of how, at least, the Cheops pyramid  may have been built, approximately 4000 thousand years ago!

Here some vocabulary explanations.

You stand in awe in front of them.	Si sta davanti a loro con grande rispetto.
overpower	sopraffare
mere  /figure sth. out	semplici /risolvere-capire
aliens	extraterrestri
to be baffled	rimanere perplesso
astounding /narrow	sorprendente/stretto
It’s mind boggling ,it’s weird.	è inconcepibile; è strano
They are shimmering in the desert.	Luccicano nel deserto.
Huge rocks on top of each other.	Enormi blocchi di ssasso, uno sopra l’altro
The right-angled triangle derives from Pythagoras	L’angolo retto che si conosce da Pythagoras,.
a string with a weight on the end	piombino
skyscrapers	grattacieli
tripping over	inciampare
accurate	preciso
measure out	misurare
grid	griglia
disjuncted	disgiunto
hole	bucco
accuracy counts	precisione conta
polished walls	pareti puliti/lisci
great step	grande scalino
a crammed journey	un escursione di poco spazio
burial chamber/tomb	posto di sepoltura/tomba
inlaid	intarsiato
unstable ladder	una scala instabile
to be stuck	rimanere bloccato

more about “The egyptian pyramids“, posted with vodpod

Die Ebene von Gizeh befindet sich in unmittelbarer Nähe von Kairo und nicht  in der Wüste. Wir spürten die Stadt gleich hinter unseren Rücken.

Aber als die Pyramiden vor über  4’000 Jahren gebaut wurden, war der Ort ideal für die Errichtung von Bauwerken, weil er auch westlich des Nils ist, sozusagen am Ort des Sonnenunterganges. Er erfüllte alle notwendigen religiösen Bedingungen für eine Nekropole.

Die Sphinx befindet sich etwa 500 Meter östlich der Chefren-Pyramide. Sie wurde aus Kalkstein der Ebene gemeisselt. Der Körper ist der eines hockenden Löwen, das Symbol königlicher Macht, aber der Kopf ist menschlich. Das Gesicht entspricht wahrscheinlich dem des Pharaonen Chefren.

Hier ein kleines Quiz bezüglich des Pyramidenbaus. Ihr könnt also versuchen, die Satzteile auf der rechten Seite, die ihr als richtig erachtet, neben die Satzteile auf der linken Seite zu ziehen. PYRAMIDEN

Schafe/Biodiversity Year

For English scroll down the page

Scheren – die reinste Tortur

Ich empfehle euch den folgendenText über die Schafe im Textfeld der unten stehenden Webseite einzufügen, um dann, je nach Bedürfnis, die Adjektive, Verben oder vielleicht die Präpsotionen zu üben. Lest ihn jedoch zuerst!

(Inserite il seguente testo su pecore o biodiversity year in inglese nella finestra del sito qui sotto e cercate di allenarvi su nomi, verbi, preposizioni ed altro.)

http://vsac.cele.nottingham.ac.uk/~ccztk/mfl/pos_standalone_general.php

Die Schafe werden in jedem Frühjahr geschoren, nachdem sie die Lämmer bekommen haben, also gerade zu der Zeit, in der sie normalerweise ihr Winterfell abwerfen würden. Das richtige Timing ist hier entscheidend: Schert man zu spät, verliert man Wolle. In dieser Eile sterben viele Schafe an der Witterung, weil sie zu früh geschoren wurden.

Die Scherer werden gewöhnlich nach Menge bezahlt, nicht nach Stunden. Daher sind sie motiviert, so schnell wie möglich zu arbeiten, ohne Rücksicht auf die Schafe. Die Tiere sollen bei diesem Vorgang grausam geschlagen und geschnitten werden. Es gibt aber auch Schafzüchter, denen die Schafe am Herzen liegen, wie im Fall, den wir gesehen haben!

Sagt etwas über diese Bilder/Say something about these photos.

Die armen Schafe in Australien

In Australien gibt es mehr als 100 Millionen Schafe und das Land produziert 30 Prozent des gesamten Wollaufkommens weltweit. Die Herden bestehen normalerweise aus Tausenden von Schafen, was es praktisch unmöglich macht, einem Tier individuelle Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken oder den Bedürfnissen eines Einzelnen nachzukommen.

Die Merinoschafe sind am meisten verbreitet . Sie wurden speziell gezüchtet, so dass sie faltige Haut bekamen, was noch mehr Wolle pro Tier bedeutet. Dieses unnatürliche Übermaß an Wolle führt dazu, dass Tiere während der heißen Monate an Überhitzung sterben, und in den Falten sammeln sich außerdem Urin und Feuchtigkeit. Da es dann feucht ist legen Fliegen ihre Eier in den Hautfalten ab, und die ausgeschlüpften Larven können die Schafe bei lebendigem Leibe auffressen. Um nun einen solchen “Fliegenbefall” zu verhindern, nehmen die australischen Farmer eine barbarische Operation an den Schafen vor. Dabei werden den Lämmern bei vollem Bewusstsein und ohne Betäubung riesige Fleischstreifen hinten von den Beinen und im Bereich des Schwanzes weggeschnitten. Man will so eine glatte, vernarbte Fläche erhalten, auf der sich keine Fliegen ansiedeln und Eier ablegen, jedoch werden die offenen blutigen Wunden oft noch vor dem Abheilen von Fliegen befallen.

Ich empfehle euch den Text über die Schafe im Textfeld der unten stehenden Webseite einzufügen, um dann, je nach Bedürfnis, die Adjektive, Verben oder vielleicht die Präpsotionen zu üben.

http://vsac.cele.nottingham.ac.uk/~ccztk/mfl/pos_standalone_general.php

Zum Wortschatz:

die Herde	la mandria
unmöglich	impossibile
die Aufmerksamkeit	attenzione
das Bedürfnis	la necessità
einem Bedürfnis nachkommen	dare seguito ad un bisogno
verbreitet sein	essere diffuso
züchten	allevare
scheren	tosare
das Uebermass	l’esagerazione
die Ueberhitzung	il surriscaldamento
die Falte/die Falten	la ruga/le rughe
die Feuchtigkeit	l’umidità
Eier ablegen	deporre le uova
ausschlüpfen	sgusciare
bei Bewusstsein sein	essere cosciente
ohne Betäubung	senza anestesia
ansiedeln	ambientare
die blutige Wunde	la ferita che sanguina
auffressen	mangiare per animali
bei lebendigem Leib	vivi

Biodiversity year

From the following video we learn that the Association”Pro Specie Rara”  saved the special sheep from extinction. The breed is low in maintenance but not well suited for intensive farming. It seems that quite a few varieties of livestock went lost in the 60s and 70s because people lost sight of the cultural values of the old breeds.If one concentrates only on a few breeds the whole biodiversity of different varieties gets lost and  as a consequence the animals lose many characteristics and are less well prepared for climate change. Pro Specie Rara discovered the breed of „copper throat goat“ in 2006 in Ticino. They hadn’t known that it existed. They found the animal 5 days before being slaughtered. Now, there exist 69 of these copper throat goats.Breeders have to be very careful when they choose a couple because of inbreed or because they have to see which couple breeds most successfully.

There is also shown an exhibition which displays bugs and animals you might find on an organic farm. On orgnic fields there are more animal species.

The Swiss are ready to pay more for healthy food prodoucts and promote environmental protection.

What should customers avoid or play a role in:

-        Products made with palm oil from  rainforest destruction.

-        Choosing what kind of house they want.

-        Which products they buy in general.

-        Where they travel to.

-        See that reservations don’t degrade because of pollution, nutrients in the soil, farming and pressure in the public.

more about “Biodiversity Year – swissinfo“, posted with vodpod

Can fun change behaviour?

How do you usually get rid of your rubbish? Do you throw it into the rubbish bin or onto the road?

Could some kind of fun make your behaviour change?

Do you usually walk up the stairs or do you take an elevator or the sliding scales?

Would you more easily go on foot if you had the possibility to walk on some kind of piano keys?

more about “The deepest dustbin“, posted with vodpod

more about “a funny way to make people walk up th…“, posted with vodpod