PRATIC’ABLE N° 485 / All English. 4 pages centrales de quiz pour progresser en anglais Le passé simple, le passé continu / Vocabulaire : Les préparatifs de Noël. . Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 / 3,60 € La presse internationale en V.O. pour progresser en anglais GETTING INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT! THE ENCHANTED SEASON IS BIG BUSINESS THE FUTURE OF AMERICA’S “DREAMERS” MIAMI HERALD CULTURE ECONOMICS THE GUARDIAN THE NEW YORK TIMES LITTLE WOMEN BUT BIG BUZZ NYC BANS FOIE GRAS L 18896 - 485 H - F: 3,60 € - RD POLITICS édito sommaire N° 485 / Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 NIVEAU DE DIFFICULTÉ ET ÉQUIVALENCE CECRL (Cadre Européen Commun de Référence pour les langues) : facile A2-B1 moyen B2-C1 difficile C1-C2 Pour faciliter le repérage et la compréhension, les mots traduits sont surlignés dans tous les articles du magazine. Grand angle ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 On parle d'eux .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 SORAYA NIGITA RÉDACTRICE EN CHEF Season’s Greetings! Christmas: For parents, it is all about the children, the magic of street illuminations, shop window displays, and of course, a visit to Father Christmas and the traditional photo. However, this year, Harrods has decided that the visit is restricted to Gold store card holders only! For others, it is the perfect time to curl up and watch romantic comedies, and with their growing popularity, studios are rushing to satisfy the demand. If you plan on hibernating throughout the holiday period, take the opportunity to curl up with a great classic novel, such as Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which has a new adaptation in cinemas this December. B2-C1 À la une The Holiday Movie Craze .......................................... 6 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) What is it about Christmas films? A2-B1 B2-C1 Focus Harrods Limits Father Christmas to Big Spenders THE GUARDIAN (UK) ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 How much would you pay to visit Santa Claus? B2-C1 Société Youtube’s Pasta Grannies THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) .................................................. 12 The English woman documenting Italy’s forgotten recipes. A2-B1 Greta Thunberg Mural Watches over San Francisco THE GUARDIAN (UK) ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Climate change icon honoured in California. A2-B1 Finally, in this issue of Vocable you will find insights into some of the best Anglo Christmas traditions. Sur le vif ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... PRATIC’ABLE ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16 17 Vocabulaire, expressions et astuces pour parler comme un anglophone Happy Reading and Happy Holidays! Les préparatifs de Noël / Point de grammaire : Le passé simple, le passé continu / Soignez votre orthographe / Jeux de mots A2-B1 B2-C1 À 360° ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 21 Enjeux Supreme Court to Decide the Future of America’s “Dreamers” MIAMI HERALD (US) .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 The heavily debated Obama-era immigration policy. A2-B1 Foie gras is Banned by New York City .... 25 .................................................................................................................................................................... 26. THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) Big Apple says no to French delicacy. B2-C1 Rejoignez-nous sur et suivez-nous sur et sur Culture African American Art Quilts Find a Museum Home THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) A unique collection heads to California. BONUS Les échos C1-C2 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Little Women but Big Buzz 29 ................................................................... 30. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 THE GUARDIAN (UK) A much-anticipated movie adaptation. L’article est repris sur le CD ou les MP3 de conversation : Des interviews en V.O. pour améliorer votre compréhension Tous les articles du magazine sont lus par des anglophones sur le CD (ou les MP3) de lecture Retrouvez le reportage vidéo lié à l’ article sur vocable.fr Photo de couverture : iStock A2-B1 B2-C1 Zoom sur Découverte Don’t Fear the Writernator THE ECONOMIST (UK) .................................................................. 32. Will computers replace human writers? Les sorties ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Le dessin .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 35 L’actualité en images (Michael Bowles/REX) Grand angle ROYAUME-UNI FLYING HIGH New world speed record set for jet suit flying Brighton Pier The 1,760-foot Brighton Palace Pier, more commonly known as Brighton Pier, took 8 years to build and opened in 1899. The pier was once a popular theatre and entertainment venue. It is now more of an amusement park offering fairground rides that welcomes millions of visitors every year. foot = 30.48 cm; 1,760 feet = around 535 metres / commonly known as usually referred to as / once at one time, in the past / entertainment venue location for leisure activities, holiday events / fairground place with amusement attractions, rides and games / ride funfair attraction / to welcome here, to be visited by (tourists). 4 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 British inventor Richard Browning has broken his own jet suit world speed record with a blistering 85.06mph flyby at Brighton Pier. This real-life 'Iron Man' more than doubled his previous record of 32.02mph set in 2017 for the fastest speed in a body-controlled, jet enginepowered suit. Guinness World Records editor in chief Craig Glenday oversaw the attempt and confirmed the gravity-defying accomplishment. to break, broke, broken a record to beat a record formerly set / jet suit jet pack, rocket belt, or rocket pack is a device worn on the back which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air / speed measure of rapidity / blistering breathtaking, astonishing, astounding / mph = miles per hour (mile = 1.609km) / flyby flypast, flight made by an aircraft or spacecraft over a particular place in order to record details about it / Brighton Pier Palace Pier is a Grade II* listed pleasure pier in Brighton, England / to set, set, set to establish / body-controlled operated by the body / engine-powered motorised / editor in chief person in charge of a publication / to oversee, saw, seen to supervise / gravity-defying that defies the laws of gravity / accomplishment achievement, success. On parle d'eux… Retrouvez le fil d’infos sur www.vocable.fr Ceux qui font l'actu Fiona Hill (© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) When a whistleblower alleged that U.S. President Donald Trump had abused the power of the presidency by pressuring the president of the Ukraine to undertake actions intended to damage his political rival Joe Biden, the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, launched an impeachment inquiry in September 2019. Fiona Hill rose to public prominence in November when she testified at the Trump impeachment hearings. In her opening statement, she refuted a conspiracy theory adopted by Trump's supporters in Congress that it was the Ukraine, not Russia that had meddled in the 2016 U.S. elections, to support Democrats rather than Trump. She said this “fictional narrative” had been created and spread by the Russian security services to advance their interests. Hill was born in England, studied in Scotland and earned a Ph.D in Russian history at Harvard. She has extensive experience working in the field of intelligence and served as an intelligence analyst under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2006 to 2009. President Donald Trump appointed her as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs to his National Security Council in 2017. She resigned in July 2019. John Legend American R&B artist John Legend has pocketed the much-coveted PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive title. Legend is one of only 15 people in the world to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. These honour outstanding achievements in television, recording, film and theatre. Most notably, his song “Glory” from the soundtrack of the historical drama film Selma, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015. to pocket here, to be awarded, to receive / coveted greatly desired / alive living / to honour to pay hommage to / outstanding remarkable, exceptional / achievement accomplishment, success / recording activity of making records/music / most notably most particularly / soundtrack music which accompanies a film / drama serious dramatic film. The Vivienne This autumn BBC Three presented the very first UK version of RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the United States, the show has run for 11 seasons since 2009. By all accounts, the first season of the UK version has proven equally popular and has already been renewed for a second season. The show sees drag queen contestants compete in singing, acting and comedy challenges. The very first UK queen has been crowned and she is from Liverpool. Her name is The Vivienne, in honour of the iconic fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. (© AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) (© imageSPACE/Sipa USA) (© Chris Jepson/WENN.com) whistleblower informant exposing wrongdoing / to allege to accuse, claim / to undertake, took, taken to carry out, initiate / to be intended to to be designed to, have the objective of / to damage to discredit, compromise / House Speaker leader of the House of Representatives / impeachment act of formally accusing a government official of a serious offence which could result in removing them from power / inquiry investigation / to rise, rose, risen to prominence to become famous / to testify to attest, bear witness / hearing official session / statement declaration / to meddle in to interfere in / narrative version of the facts / to spread, spread, spread to disseminate / to advance here, to serve / to earn to obtain, achieve, here, to be awarded / extensive vast, important / intelligence information of military or political value; secret services / analyst expert, specialist / senior director highest ranking director / to resign to leave (a post), to quit. Floyd Mayweather Former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather says he is coming out of retirement in 2020. The 42-year-old made the announcement on his Instagram account. Mayweather, who was undefeated in his career with a record of 50-0, is considered one of boxing's all-time greats. He last came out of retirement in 2017. to come, came, come out to return from / retirement period of one’s life when one has finished working / undefeated never beaten / all-time ever, of all time / great here, famous, revered. very here, complete, absolute / Drag Race reality TV competition featuring drag queens / show TV programme, series / to run, ran, run here, to be on television / by all accounts apparently, evidently / contestant participant, competitor / comedy comic TV series / challenge difficult task / to crown to place a crown on, here, to celebrate as a winner / iconic emblematic, famous / fashion designer person who designs clothes. VOCABLEDu 12 au 25 décembre 2019 •5 À la une I Culture I ETATS-UNIS I B2-C1 1898 : The first Christmas movie and one of the first movies on any topic ever made was a short film entitled Santa Claus by British filmmaking pioneer George Albert Smith. Tom (Henry Golding) and Kate (Emilia Clarke) in Last Christmas, directed by Paul Feig (Universal) THE NEW YORK TIMES ASHLEY SPENCER THE HOLIDAY MOVIE CRAZE The festive film frenzy (craze trend, enthusiasm) Christmas movies are often considered cheesy, but they also contain key ingredients that many viewers enjoy. Year after year, the genre has become increasingly popular, so much so that channels such as Hallmark or Lifetime, known for their romantic comedies, are constantly finding news ways of telling Christmas tales and even offering special conventions and merchandise for fans. The New York Times asked industry experts to try and explain the holiday movie craze. 6 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Retrouvez plus de tests dans la newsletter Vocable www.vocable.fr/newsletter ADVANCED RECORDING Bibi Jacob is a British writer from London. Discover her thoughts on the Christmas movie craze on the Advanced recording. CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 (sur abonnement) “Christmas in Montana,” “Christmas in Louisiana,” “Christmas at Dollywood,” “Christmas at Graceland,” “Christmas Under the Stars” or “Christmas at the Plaza.” 2. While holiday movies have long been reli- able box-office staples — “Home Alone” was the top-grossing domestic movie of 1990 — and there are several new theatrical releases this season, recent years have seen an explosion of fresh content on cable and streaming services. It’s probably no surprise that Hallmark channels have increased their annual Christmas movie count by 20% since 2017, but Lifetime has more than quadrupled its output in the past two years and Netflix has doubled its in that same time. A NUMBERS GAME 3. How is it even possible that there’s room for so many movies from a single genre? Are we reaching peak Christmas? “No matter what the state of the economy, no matter what the state of chaos or stability, there is an extraordinary appetite for simple, cheesy, unsophisticated, easy-to-watch programming,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “And all the better if it’s wrapped up in the bunting and ribbons of Christmas.” 4. By the numbers, Hallmark is TV’s undis- puted Christmas king. This year Countdown to Christmas, the brand’s 24/7 holiday programming block, celebrates its 10th anniversary. It officially began in late October and runs through New Year’s Day with 24 new titles on the Hallmark Channel (and 16 more on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries), but past holiday W hen Bill Nighy sang “Christmas Is All Around” in “Love Actually” 16 years ago, he could have been discussing the state of holiday movies in 2019. Among this year’s nearly 100 new releases, viewers can choose to celebrate “Christmas in Rome,” 1. state situation, position / holiday movie Christmas film / among included in / release here, film / viewer spectator, person who watches sth. 2. while although, even if / reliable consistent, regular / staple basic product / top-grossing making the most money / theatrical cinema / content material, digital media, here, films / channel TV station / count total number / output production, programmes. 3. even yet / peak critical point at which sth becomes so popular a maximal saturation point is reached after which it starts to lose popularity / no matter regardless of... / cheesy (over)sentimental, kitsch / all the better it’s even better / to wrap up to package / bunting festive decoration / ribbon decorative narrow strip of material. 4. by the numbers in terms of figures / undisputed uncontested / programming block programming schedule / to run, ran, run through to continue until / originals have been playing to stellar ratings on Friday nights throughout the year. In 2018, the Hallmark Channel was the most-watched cable network for the entire fourth quarter among the key demographics of women 18 to 49 and 25 to 54, and outperformed broadcast networks on Saturday nights among all households during the Countdown to Christmas. “It’s almost our obligation to give people everything they want and need to celebrate this time of the year,” said Michelle Vicary, executive vice president of programming and publicity for the Hallmark networks. 5. Lifetime targets a similar audience with the It’s a Wonderful Lifetime lineup, which also premiered in late October, runs around the clock and will debut 30 films this year. Both brands’ films follow the same romance formula — often an overworked woman finds herself in a quaint, Christmas-loving town that also happens to be home to an eligible bachelor — but that consistency is considered an asset. 6. “They are purposely slightly predictable,” Meghan Hooper, senior vice president of original movies, coproductions and acquisitions at Lifetime Networks, said. “I think viewers know that the couple’s going to end up together in the end. You’re going to be satisfied after spending two hours of your time, and hopefully, you’re getting exactly what you came for.” The lesser-known UPtv also aims for comfort with stellar excellent / ratings popularity of a programme measured by the number of people watching / throughout during (all of) / cable network cable TV channel / quarter trimester / key demographics important target group of viewers / to outperform to do better than / broadcast network group of TV stations from the same centralized source (contrary to cable or satellite channels) / household home. 5. to target to have as an objective, to aim at / audience group of viewers / lineup selection of programmes / to premiere to show for the first time / to run, ran, run around the clock to televise 24 hours a day / to debut to show for the first time / brand trademark / overworked very tired from working too much / quaint charmingly old-fashioned / to be home to to be the place where sb lives / bachelor single man / consistency regularity, uniformity, formula / asset advantage. 6. purposely intentionally / slightly a little / to end up to find oneself (in the end) / hopefully with a bit of luck / lesser-known not very well-known / to aim to have as an objective. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 •7 >>> À la une I Culture I ETATS-UNIS I B2-C1 >>> its holiday movies, which this year include the cause they take up valuable real estate on a already working on its 2020 productions, had studio’s much smaller slate and because they cost more. “Last Christmas,” one of several new titles vying at the box office this season, was 7. But it’s not enough to just attract viewers. made for $30 million, about 10 times the budgHallmark and Lifetime have expanded their et of the average Hallmark movie. The romChristmas empires to offer merchandise like com, loosely inspired by the Wham! song, pairs holiday movie pajamas, wine totes, aprons and Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding underneath sherpa blankets. For Hallmark, there’s also a the twinkling Christmas lights of London. “The podcast and movie checklist app — and it’s general feeling that I’m picking up from people sponsoring the first-ever I talk to is one of just, ‘Oh, Christmas Con, a (sold-out) thank God, one of these three-day fan convention in movies that just looks Has the Edison, New Jersey, featuring nice and sweet and emoChristmas movie a nostalgia-inducing roster of tional,’” the director, Paul cable Christmas. Feig, said. “And I really do phenomenon feel that we’ll represent been pushed as BEYOND FICTION, A that for people. It’s fun to far as it can go? LIFESTYLE hope that you are going to 8. “It’s become something add something to the Not quite. even bigger than a programChristmas canon.” ming phenomenon,” Vicary said. “It’s become a lifestyle. It’s become, ‘How A MOTOR FOR GROWTH do I live like I’m in a Hallmark Christmas 10. Also due in theaters this season: the indie movie?’” One criticism of the Hallmark Christ- romances “A New Christmas” and “Feast of the mas aesthetic has been its lack of on-screen Seven Fishes,” and Blumhouse’s slasher “Black diversity, something Vicary said the channel Christmas” remake, in which sorority girls are was “catching up” on and prioritizing. Lifetime stalked before heading home for the holidays. and Netflix have outpaced it: roughly half of their new holiday movies feature a romantic 11. So, has the Christmas movie phenomenon lead of color. “It’s really important to us that the been pushed as far as it can go? Not quite — at movies we’re doing reflect the world that we least not on cable. With 232 Countdown to actually live in,” Hooper of Lifetime said. Both Christmas movies already produced and a cable brands are also adding Hanukkah-related reported 85 million-plus viewers last year, movies this year, Hallmark with “Double Hallmark’s ratings are soaring. As are LifeHoliday” and “Holiday Date,” and Lifetime with time’s: The channel recorded its strongest “Mistletoe & Menorahs.” month of growth in more than 17 years last December. Vicary said Hallmark, which is 9. Theatrical holiday releases haven’t proliferated the way TV titles have, presumably bemeta “A Christmas Movie Christmas” among 10 premiere titles. 7. merchandise promotional products / pajamas (US) = pyjamas (UK) / tote bag / apron protective garment worn over one’s clothes when cooking / blanket cover / checklist app application with a list of items which can be ticked when done / first-ever the very first / con = convention event, meeting / sold-out where all tickets are sold, with no places/seats left / to feature to include / to induce to provoke / roster list, catalogue. 8. lifestyle way of life / lack absence / on-screen in the film / to catch, caught, caught up to make up for lost time / to outpace to go faster than, to surpass / roughly approximately, about / lead main actor. 9. presumably probably / 8 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 to take, took, taken up to use up, to occupy / real estate property, here, space / slate list, here, offer / to vie to compete / rom-com romantic comedy / loosely not precisely, vaguely / to pair to bring together / underneath beneath, under / twinkling sparkling / to pick up to detect / canon collection of (literary) works. 10. due planned / theater cinema / indie independent film / feast banquet, large meal / slasher violent film genre / sorority university / to stalk to obsessively follow / to head home to go back to one’s parents / holidays vacation. 11. not quite not exactly / to soar to rise suddenly, to go up dramatically / no intention of backing off anytime soon. “I could be flip and say we’re going to do at least 41 movies next year, but in all honesty, I don’t have the number yet,” she said. “We’re not going backwards, for sure.” 12. Thompson, the pop culture expert, said the movies were a win for the channels even should viewership wane. “When we do reach a certain saturation point, when it doesn’t make economic sense to keep making these things in the double digits every season,” Thompson said, “they’re going to have the inventory to offer a service that does nothing but Christmas.” Although Hooper at Lifetime acknowledged that the idea of an all-Christmas spinoff platform had come up, she said it was not something currently under consideration. “But if you had asked me eight years ago if we’d be premiering Christmas movies in October,” she added, “I think I would have been surprised, as well.” l to back off to retreat and move away, to reduce the intensity of an activity / anytime soon in the near future / flip a little ironic, flippant / to go, went, gone backwards to reverse, to decrease. 12. win asset, advantage, gain / viewership number of people who watch a TV programme / to wane to decline / to make, made, made sense to be logical / in the double digits which can be counted in double figures (more than 10) / inventory catalogue, list, stock / although even if / to acknowledge to admit / spinoff by-product, derivative / to come, came, come up to be discussed / currently at present, at the moment. SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE Trois mots pour parler d’un film: Film [GB]: le support sur lequel les images, puis les sons, étaient enregistrés Movie [US] : vient de to move = l’ensemble des images qui bougent Flick : plus familier, le saut ultrarapide entre chaque image qui produit l'effet de mouvement (to flick through a photo album = feuilleter un album photo) Netflix : vient de la contraction de Internet + flix (flicks) facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 I Traditions Focus Holiday Spirit GOODWILL PRESENT Every year, since 1947, the people of Norway have gifted the people of London a Christmas tree to place in Trafalgar Square. They donate the tree in gratitude for Britain’s support for Norway during World War II. (SIPA) goodwill good relationship / present gift / to gift to offer (as a present) / to donate to give, offer / support solidarity, help. CHRISTMAS SOUNDTRACK “Jingle Bells” is a beloved Christmas song, but did you know it was originally written for Thanksgiving? The song was written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh”. It was supposed to be played in the composer’s Sunday school class during Thanksgiving. It was also the first song to be broadcast from space. soundtrack music / to jingle to ring / beloved loved, cherished / originally at first, initially / thanksgiving public holiday in the US on the fourth Thursday in November, originated by the Pilgrim Fathers to thank God for their first successful harvest / sleigh sled, sledge / Sunday school religious instruction for children on a Sunday / to broadcast, cast, cast to transmit. XMAS? Xmas is commonly used as a synonym for Christmas and is often considered informal. Although it looks like an edgy and relatively new way of abbreviating Christmas, the word «Christianity» was spelled «Xianity» as far back as 1100. «X”, or “Chi”, in Greek is the first letter of «Christ» and served as a symbolic stand-in. In 1551, the holiday was called «Xtemmas» but eventually shortened to «Xmas.» commonly ordinarily, generally / edgy trendy, alternative, innovative, cool / to spell, spelled or spelt, spelled or spelt to write / as far back as from / to serve as to work as / stand-in substitute / holiday day when people do not go to work or school / eventually finally / to shorten to make shorter. SANTA TRACKER Every year at Christmas time, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa Claus. It all started (SIPA) in 1955, with a misprint in a Sears ad which was supposed to feature a number children could call to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Instead, the number printed was the hotline to the Director of Operations for the U.S. Continental Air Defense. The Colonel ordered his staff to give children updates on Santa’s location and the tradition has carried on to this day. Santa (= Santa Claus) Father Christmas / tracker organisation that follows/monitors the progress of sth / time period / to track to follow / misprint printing error / Sears large mail order and retail distribution company in the U.S. / ad = advertisement (publicity) / to feature to include / hotline direct line / to order here, to ask, demand, request, tell / staff employees / update notification, new information, here, news / to carry on to continue. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 •9 À la une I Traditions I ROYAUME-UNI I B2-C1 1879 : The world's first Christmas grotto opened in Lewis's Bon Marche Department Store in Liverpool in 1879. It still exists and is celebrating its 140th year this Christmas. THE GUARDIAN RUPERT NEATE HARRODS LIMITS FATHER CHRISTMAS TO BIG SPENDERS Minimum spend threshold to visit Santa at Harrods In the 20th century, large shops or department stores started creating "caverns" in which an actor dressed up as Santa Claus would give gifts to children. These grottos often include characters like elves. This tradition started in Britain in 1879 and then extended in the 1890s to Australian and American department stores. Father Christmas has visited London’s very chic Harrods department store since 1955, but this year, only VIPs will be allowed to meet him. F ather Christmas promises to visit every well-behaved child on 24 December but it turns out that only the children of high-rolling parents are able to visit him in his Swarovski crystal-encrusted grotto in Harrods. The Knightsbridge department store has been accused of “behaving like the Grinch who stole Christmas” by restricting access to its Father Christmas to customers who have spent at least £2,000 in the 170-yearold shop. ents haven’t spent enough to qualify for a Green tier 2 or above Harrods Reward card. 2. Following anger from customers, some of whom have family traditions of visiting the grotto every year stretching back decades, Harrods has agreed to change its policy this year and allow in some children whose par- 4. 1. well-behaved with good manners, polite / to turn out to be the case that, transpire, seem that / high-rolling big spender, rich / to be able to here, to be authorised to / department store a big shop with many departments selling a variety of items / customer client / to spend, spent, spent to pay out / at least a minimum of. 2. to stretch back here to cover a period of time into the past / decade period of ten years / policy company procedure / to allow in to authorise, accept / 10 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 3. The store, which is owned by the billionaire Qatari royal family and made a £171m profit last year, has now agreed to allow 160 lowerspending families the chance to visit the grotto. The 160 will be slotted in among a total of 4,400 10-minute appointments with Santa. This means that wealthy families will get 96.4% of Father Christmas’s time. James Browne, 40, who has made an annual pilgrimage to the Harrods grotto since his 15-year-old son, Toby, was a baby, said: enough sufficiently / to qualify for to satisfy the criteria for, to be eligible for / tier level, category / above over, more / reward card loyalty card, store card. 3. to own to possess, be the proprietor of / billionaire very rich person who has (at least) a billion dollars / chance opportunity / to slot in to add / among between / appointment here, time-slot, visit / Santa (= Santa Claus) Father Christmas / wealthy rich. 4. pilgrimage journey to a place of religious or cultural importance / “Harrods is behaving like the Grinch who stole Christmas. They have lost the true meaning of Christmas and given into the commercialisation of the season. Visiting Father Christmas shouldn’t be reserved for those that are fortunate enough to frequent the store and spend thousands of pounds. “A visit to Father Christmas at a magical shop like Harrods should be for all,” said Browne, a marketing director from Worcester Park, southwest London. “I think the owners need to have a long hard look at the longer-term impact on their business for the 5. to give, gave, given into to surrender, yield / fortunate lucky, privileged. 5. to have, had, had a long hard look at to think hard about, reflect upon / facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Retrouvez plus de tests dans la newsletter Vocable www.vocable.fr/newsletter AVANCED RECORDING BONUS VIDEO Bibi Jacob believes in Santa Claus and tells us about her Christmas memories and her impressions of Harrods on the Advanced recording. CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 Discover the story behind a classic holiday treat, Christmas pudding, with a food historian. www.vocable.fr/videos-anglais this special experience, which we make every effort to facilitate. We care hugely about making a visit to the Grotto as magical as possible, and tickets are extremely limited due to the number of slots we can facilitate in-store. Unfortunately, we simply cannot meet the demand for places. 9. “The Harrods Christmas Grotto is offered by invitation only to Harrods Rewards customers in recognition of their loyal custom throughout the year. Due to demand, we invite Harrods Rewards customers who are Green tier 2 and above the opportunity to book tickets. “This year, Harrods wanted to offer all visitors to the store the chance win complimentary tickets to the Harrods Christmas Grotto. A ‘Wishing Well’ appeared … 10 winners per day were drawn from the Wishing Well; and the winners were each awarded one of the 160 booking slots.” l Exergue anglais. Exergue anglais request sth that is asked for / to facilitate to make happen / we care hugely about (+ ger.) we are devoted to / unfortunately regrettably / to meet, met, met here, to satisfy. Harrods Christmas Parade, Knightsbridge, London. (Julian Makey/REX) thousands of children who won’t grow up with a fond feeling for the store.” 6. Browne said the grotto visit tradition he had built with his wife, Helen, and three other children – Oliver, 13, Jacob, eight, and Matilda, five – had been ruined by Harrods’ greed. He said the store, which introduced a free grotto in 1955, has turned the charitable nature of Father Christmas into a money-making venture. 7. The department store now manages a team of 10 actors playing the role of Father Christmas, with three working in separate sections of the grotto at the same time. Tickets to see fond tender, pleasant, here, positive. 6. wife spouse / to ruin to destroy, damage, spoil / greed avarice / to introduce to establish / to turn into to transform into, here, to become / money-making for financial gain / venture commercial activity. Father Christmas cost £20 per child. Harrods will collect a minimum of £84,800 from operating the grotto in the five-and-a-half weeks until Christmas Eve if every slot is taken by families visiting with one child. Takings will be much greater from multichildren groups. The effective cost to Harrods of giving 160 tickets to less well-off families is £3,200. Visits include a secret gift from Father Christmas, which is understood to often be a small Harrods branded teddy bear. A spokeswoman for Harrods said: “Each year, we are overwhelmed by requests for 8. 7. to collect to receive, earn / operating running, offering visits to / Christmas Eve the night before Christmas / takings earnings, money earned / well-off wealthy, rich / gift present, souvenir object / [it] is understood to [...] be is believed to be / branded marked with a logo (here, the name of the shop). 8. spokeswoman representative / overwhelmed inundated / 9. to offer to make sth available, to propose / in recognition of in return for, to reward / loyal custom fidelity / throughout during all of, all through / to book to reserve / complimentary free of charge, gratis / wishing well traditionally, a well into which one drops a coin and makes a wish / to draw, drew, drawn to pull out / to be awarded to be granted, to receive. SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE Le Père Noël est connu en anglais sous le nom de Santa, Santa Claus ou Father Christmas. Le poème de l’Américain Clement Clarke Moore "A Visit from Saint Nicholas", qui commence par "'Twas the Night before Christmas ... ", décrit un bonhomme qui arrive sur son sleigh (traineau) tiré par des reindeers (rennes) et qui descend dans la cheminée pour laisser des toys (jouets) pour les enfants. Il s'appelle Saint Nicholas ou Saint Nick et aurait inspiré le personnage de Santa Claus. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 11 Société I Gastronomie I ROYAUME-UNI I C2 THE NEW YORK TIMES KIM SEVERSON YOUTUBE'S PASTA GRANNIES Italian 'nonnas' filmed demonstrating pasta making to preserve the tradition Vicky Bennison has worked in international development in Siberia, South Africa and Turkmenistan, but has always had a passion for food. She began writing about her culinary adventures as a globetrotter, and has even published critically acclaimed books on the subject. While doing research for a book on Italian cuisine, she realised that certain cooking skills were no longer being passed onto the younger generations and began to document the forgotten recipes of Italian grannies before they were lost forever. V icky Bennison, a 60-year-old British woman with a background in international development, never intended Pasta Grannies to become a minor YouTube hit or to make stars of Italian nonnas who couldn’t care less about their influencer status. She simply wanted to create a culinary Noah’s ark to capture a way of life before it disappears. “I keep thinking, ‘Don’t die before I get to you,’ ” she said. 2. Since Bennison began her project nearly five years ago, she has recorded more than 250 women (and a few men) doing what they do every day: rolling pizzoccheri from buckwheat flour to toss with Alpine cheese made only in Valtellina; twisting semolina dough into sagne ritorte to hold the horse-meat ragù popular in Puglia; marrying hand-torn strapponi with porcini mushrooms from a Tuscan forest. 1. background professional history, experience / to intend sth to to envisage that sth would / nonna grandmother / [they] couldn’t care less about (they) are not concerned about, don’t care about, don’t think of as important / Noah’s ark vessel in the Genesis flood narrative where God spares Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from a world-engulfing flood / to capture to collect and preserve / way of life here, way of making traditional pasta / to keep, kept, kept (+ ger.) to continue to, not stop / to get, got, got to here, to have the opportunity to meet, here, record. 2. nearly almost, practically / to record to film / a few some / to roll to turn over and over (here, until desired shape is achieved) / buckwheat flour Fagopyrum Esculentum, sarrasin flour / to toss to add, mix together / to twist to wind spirally, twine / semolina hard grains left after the milling of flour, used in puddings and in pasta / dough thick, malleable mixture of flour and liquid / into here, to make / to hold, held, held to contain / popular well-liked / hand-torn lit. torn apart by hand. 12 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 3. With 420,000 subscribers, the Pasta Gran- ders, are a soothing eddy of Old World expertise nies YouTube channel is nothing compared and heartfelt respect in the wild waters of with heavy hitters like Kabita’s Kitchen, an digital food media. There are no Tasty-esque Indian cooking channel that has 5.7 million quick cuts or performative tosses of sauteing subscribers. The Pasta Grannies Instagram food. If the camera lingers as the grannies page is relatively modest, too, with 181,000 fol- knead dough or cut bits of onion into a pot with lowers. Still, for Bennison, their plastic-handled nonwho considers monitoring na knives, it’s because page views and mastering there is something to The videos caught metrics a necessary evil, Videos are shot in the eye of YouTube learn. the numbers are a testahome kitchens and side executives, who ment to the modern apyards, with minimal stylpeal of a fading kitchen art ing and natural light. The greenlighted a as practiced by the last subtitles are utilitarian. No short documentary one measures anything, generation that had no on Pasta Grannies. but Bennison does her best choice but to make pasta by hand. “There wasn’t a to fill in the blanks with shop you could just pop instructive narration. around to when these women were younger,” she said. “And when there were, dry pasta was A MINIMALISTIC APPROACH a middle-class thing. You had to have an income 5. Bennison’s crew is small. She and a videogto buy it. They made pasta for survival.” rapher, Andrea Savorani Neri, shoot the images. Neri’s neighbor in Faenza, Livia De Gio4. The videos, which feature styles of pasta and vanni, is her granny finder and the ambassador sauce that often don’t extend past village bor- to the women and their families. “She is es3. subscriber person paying regularly to use a service / channel here, site on a major internet platform (here, YouTube) / heavy hitter here, site on a major internet platform with a very large following / still all the same, nevertheless / to monitor to track, follow, verify / to master to gain skill in sth / metrics data / necessary evil something unpleasant that must be accepted in order to achieve a particular result / testament evidence, proof / appeal attraction, interest / to fade to disappear slowly, be gradually forgotten / to pop around to to go to / dry here, packaged for later use (not fresh) / income revenue, money. 4. to feature to present / to extend past here, to be known outside of / border boundary, limit / soothing calming / eddy water in circular motion / expertise skills, expert knowledge / heartfelt sincere, profound / wild extravagant, exuberant / digital here, internet / Tasty-esque ref to the website Tasty featuring food videos and recipes / to linger to hang round, to spend a long time / to knead to manipulate, work with the hands (used for bread and pasta etc) / -handled with a handle made of... / to shoot, shot, shot to film / yard kitchen garden, terrace / styling hair and makeup, clothes etc / to fill in here, to add comments to / blank here, silence. 5. crew team / neighbor (US)= neighbour (GB) person living next door or nearby / facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Téléchargez l’appli Vocable offerte à nos abonnés ! www.vocable.fr/applimobile Rosa Turri makes pasta while Pasta Grannies creator Vicky Bennison, center, and Andrea Savorani record her, at Turri's home in Faenza, Italy. (Francesco Lastrucci/The New York Times) sential for closing the deal,” Bennison said. She first made about one video a month, posting them on YouTube as a way to organize the work and show publishers that the idea was worth investing in. “It was more of a hobby, really,” she said. Three years into it, she had about 5,000 subscribers. “I remember thinking how well I was doing.” 6. Then her videos started to show up on Face- book and food sites. In August 2018, Business Insider posted an article highlighting some of the rarer pastas, like stretchy Sardinian filindeu and intricate lorighittas, prepared by Cesaria, a 95-year-old woman from the Sardinian village of Morgongiori. The traffic came so fast that Bennison thought at first that her site had been hacked. Cesaria was getting millions of page views. “Everything went ballistic,” Bennison said. She went back later to show Cesaria her video and tell her how popular it had become. “She had no idea she was world famous. She just laughed her head off.” “With my book advance and my pension, I kind of just about break even,” she said. “As a business model, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.” l A MEASURED SUCCESS book advance sum of money received before a book is written / pension money paid by the government to a person who is retired / kind of sort of, more or less / to break, broke, broken even balance the accounts but gain no profit. 7. The videos caught the eye of YouTube execu- tives, who greenlighted a short documentary on Pasta Grannies for a series on the platform’s Spotlight channel, which highlights feel-good tales about people who use YouTube to further their passions. Although Bennison appreciates the attention, she said she increasingly finds herself “a slave to the YouTube algorithms.” But she needs the platform: YouTube ads pay about a third of the $800 or so it costs to make each video, which includes a cash appearance fee for each granny. So far, she isn’t paying herself. to laugh one’s head off to laugh uncontrollably. to close a deal to conclude an agreement / to be worth (+ ger.) to merit / into it later / about around / how well I was doing what a success it was. 6. to show up to appear / to highlight to draw attention to / stretchy elastic, long / intricate complex, delicate / traffic here, connections, website visitors / to hack to gain unauthorised access to data in a system or computer / to go, went, gone ballistic to soar, go up in number very suddenly and by a large amount / 7. to catch, caught, caught the eye of to attract the attention of / executive director, senior employee / to greenlight to give the go ahead to, agree to / feel-good producing a nice feeling, promoting optimism / tale story / to further to develop, promote / increasingly more and more / slave person who is owned by and who works for another / ad = advertisement (publicity) / or so about, approximately / fee sum of money / so far up to now / SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE to pop (faire un saut, passer rapidement) peut être suivi d'une variété de prépositions selon le contexte : pop (a)round to the shop (§ 3) pop over for dinner pop into the office to check the post pop by the office to pick up those documents pop round for a drink some time pop upstairs and fetch my cardigan pop downstairs and see who's knocking the door VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 13 Société I Ecologie I ETATS-UNIS I A2-B1 The 60-ft-tall mural of environmental activist Greta Thunberg in San Francisco. (cobreart/Cover Images) 14 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Une suggestion ? Ecrivez-nous sur monavis@vocable.fr ADVANCED RECORDING English author Bibi Jacob shares her feelings on young environmental activist Greta Thunberg on the Advanced recording. CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 (sur abonnement) THE GUARDIAN MARIO KORAN GRETA THUNBERG MURAL WATCHES OVER SAN FRANCISCO San Fran's fresco of Greta Thunberg Her name is everywhere, her face has become the symbol of a generation that is holding adults accountable for the world we live in. In one year, Greta Thunberg has become an icon, and like so many icons before her, she has become an inspiration for artists. S an Francisco, a city that prides itself on its eco-consciousness, now has a giant likeness of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg gazing upon its downtown, reminding residents to respect the planet. A TRIBUTE 2. The Argentinian muralist Andres Iglesias, who signs his art with the pseudonym Cobre, completed the project in the central Union Square neighborhood in November. Cobre also painted a revered mural of the comedian Robin Williams that has since been demolished. “Climate change is real,” Cobre told SFGate. “This girl Greta is awesome and she knows what she’s doing. I hope with this mural people will realize we have to take care of the world.” 3. The environmental not-for-profit group One Atmosphere reportedly reached out to Cobre after the mural of Williams was slated to come down and just as Cobre was searching for a building for 1. to pride oneself on to be very proud of / likeness resemblance, here, physical representation, image / activist militant / to gaze to look / downtown city centre. 2. muralist painter (of murals) / to complete to finish / neighborhood area, district / revered admired / mural large wall painting, fresco / comedian comic / awesome extraordinary / to take, took, taken care of to look after. 3. environmental ecological / not-for-profit not established with the objective of making a profit but helping a cause / reportedly apparently / to reach out to to contact / to slate to plan / to come, came, come down to be demolished, to be taken down / building construction / his next project. The organization was said to have supplied all the paint for the project. tions spanned an estimated 185 countries in one of the largest environmental protests in history. 4. It’s not the first time Thunberg has been im- 7. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood mortalized in street art. Earlier this year, the UK-based aerosol artist Jody Thomas painted a 50ft portrait of the teenager on the face of the historic Tobacco Factory in Bristol. “She’s very much in the limelight, very current, very contemporary and she’s obviously clearly leading a very, very important issue which affects all of us on the planet,” Thomas told the Huffington Post. THE FACE OF REBELLION 5. At 16, Thunberg has already reached the exalted status of Nobel peace prize nominee, leader of a movement to reclaim the planet for future generations, focus of Donald Trump’s mockery, and hero among progressives and young people. 6. In September, Thunberg became the face of a vast, coordinated strike to protest against government inaction on the climate crisis. Demonstra- with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” Thunberg said, addressing the United Nations Climate Action Summit. “My message is that we’ll be watching you,” she said. l to span here, to be present in / estimated around, approximately / protest public manifestation of protest. 7. to steal, stole, stolen to take without permission / childhood period of one’s life as a child, youth / empty insincere / yet however, despite this / lucky fortunate / to collapse to fall to the ground, to fail completely / fairy tale fictitious fantasy story for children / growth development / to dare to have the audacity to / to address to give a speech at / Climate Action Summit important conference with high-level leaders to discuss actions to tackle climate change / to watch to observe, to keep an eye on. to supply to provide. 4. aerosol spray can / foot ft = foot (one foot = 30.48 cm) 50 feet = 15.24 metres / face facade / factory place where goods are produced / to be in the limelight to be in the spotlight, to be the centre of media attention / current topical, present in the media now / to lead, led, led to be at the head of, to be the leader of / issue problem / to affect to impact. 5. exalted noble, high / nominee designated candidate / to reclaim to rescue, to restore / focus centre of interest, target, object / mockery derision / progressive person who is open to liberal new ideas and methods. 6. face symbol / strike cessation of work by employees to protest / demonstration public protest / SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE to reclaim Notez que « réclamer » ne se traduit pas par « to reclaim » qui a le sens de « reconquérir » ou « récupérer » comme dans cet article (§ 5) : "a movement to reclaim the planet for future generations" Mais par « to demand » ou to « call for ». VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 15 Retrouvez plus d’infos sur www.vocable.fr e Brèves d é t socié (Ray Tang/LNP/REX) le chiffre de la quinzaine (iStock) Holiday cheer Prince Andrew, 59, has become the first of the Queen’s children to withdraw from royal life. Because of his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Duke of York publicly disclosed his decision to retreat from some 200 charities and attendant royal duties. A string of benefactors withdrew their support this week following Prince Andrew’s interview regarding his links to Epstein. As a result, he will be stripped of his £249,000 taxpayer-funded salary. to withdraw, drew, drawn from to leave / convicted found guilty / sex offender sexual predator/trafficker / to disclose to announce / to retreat to leave / attendant accompanying / duty obligation / a string of a series, several / benefactor benevolent contributor / following in response to / to be stripped of to be deprived of / taxpayer-funded financed by taxes paid by citizens. Some companies are going the extra mile to make sure their customers have a Merry Christmas, and don’t spend it arguing with relatives. Toy manufacturer Mattel has released a new nonpartisan Uno deck with the red and blue cards removed in an effort to avoid sparking political discussions. In the US, red is symbolic of the conservative Republican Party, while blue represents the Democratic Party. cheer happiness, fun, gaiety / to go, went, gone the extra mile to do more than required / merry happy / to argue to quarrel, dispute / relative member of the family / toy manufacturer company that produces or manufactures goods / to release here, to make available, to put on the market / nonpartisan neutral, impartial, apolitical / deck pack (of cards) / to remove here, to filter out, extract / to spark to cause, provoke. Clipped wings The world’s first museum dedicated to vaginas and vulvas has opened its doors in London's Camden market, aiming to destigmatise this part of the female body and deconstruct myths that surround it. There were 2,000 visitors on the first day, and tickets have been sold out ever since. The museum became a reality thanks to a fundraising campaign that raised nearly £50,000 from more than 1,000 people. to be dedicated to to be devoted to / to aim to attempt, strive, have as a goal / to surround to be associated with / to be sold out to have all (tickets etc) sold / ever since since then / fundraising activity of collecting money for an organisation/cause / to raise here, to collect / nearly almost. 16 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 (Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com) (Claire Doherty/Sipa USA) A new museum After months of speculation, Victoria’s Secret executives confirmed that the 2019 fashion show was cancelled. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show launched in 1995 and saw supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Miranda Kerr walk the runway in elaborate lingerie, wings and sleepwear designs. It was first broadcast on television in 2001. In recent years, it had been criticised for being sexist, anti-feminist and out-of-touch. Ratings have also reportedly dropped. clipped cut / wing part of a bird/insect’s body it uses to fly / speculation conjecture / executive director, senior employee / runway catwalk, long stage that models walk on during a fashion show / elaborate here, complex, sophisticated / sleepwear pyjamas, night wear / design here, model / out-of-touch outmoded, old-fashioned, irrelevant to current issues / rating level of popularity and approval / reportedly according to certain sources / to drop to fall. www.vocable.fr PRATIC’ABLE Vocabulaire, expressions et astuces pour parler comme un Anglais… Les préparatifs de Noël En partenariat avec Cette page est réalisée par Talkisy, un organisme qui propose des cours d'anglais aux collégiens, lycéens et étudiants. Plus de renseignements sur www.talkisy.com Nativity scene crèche Snowman bonhomme de neige Snowflake flocon de neige Traditions Christmas carols chants traditionnels de Noël Christmas cards cartes de Noël Christmas crackers papillotes en papier au bruit de pétard Christmas presents cadeaux de Noël Christmas stocking chaussette de Noël Paper crown couronne en papier Father Christmas, Santa Claus Père Noël Reindeer renne Sleigh traineau Sleighbells grelots Fireplace cheminée Toys jouets Xmas contraction de Christmas Les tubes de Noël Voici notre Top List. A quel titre de chanson correspond les extraits de paroles suivants ? A. S leigh bells ring, are you listening? B. O h, the weather outside is frightful C. What a bright time, it’s the right time to rock the night away D. I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need E. H e sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake F. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know SOLUTIONS : 1B - 2C – 3D – 4E – 5F - 6A 1. L et It Snow Dean Martin 2. Jingle Bell Rock Bobby Helms 3. All I want for Christmas is You Mariah Carey 4. Santa Claus is coming to Town John Frederick Coots & Haven Gillespie 5. W hite Christmas Bing Crosby 6. W inter Wonderland Bernard & Smith Retrouvez cette fiche de vocabulaire lue sur le CD lecture et son commentaire sur la partie basique du CD conversation. CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 Bon à savoir Un Noël très traditionnel Le soir du 24, Christmas Eve, on joue en famille et on partage un repas informel. On peut chanter des Christmas Carols à l’église à minuit ou en passant de porte à porte pour collecter des dons pour des œuvres caritatives. Au matin du 25, Christmas Day, les enfants distribuent les cadeaux placés sous le sapin. Les Christmas stockings sont accrochés près de la cheminée. Le repas de midi est un festin : le célèbre Christmas Pudding, préparé plusieurs mois avant Noël, est servi flambé au brandy, décoré d’un brin de houx et accompagné de Brandy Butter. On déchire des Crackers pour récupérer petits cadeaux, blagues et couronnes en papier. Le Christmas Cake se déguste avec le thé dans l’après-midi. Le lendemain, Boxing Day, est férié. Testez-vous Ces 9 objets se trouvent-ils (A) sous le sapin, (B) sur le sapin ou (C) ailleurs ? Baubles - Crackers - Fairy lights - Garlands - Gifts Mince pies – Presents – Stockings - Toys SOLUTIONS : (A) Gifts - Presents – Toys (B) Baubles – Fairy lights – Garlands (C) Crackers – Mince Pies – Stockings Food Christmas cake gâteau glacé traditionnel aux fruits secs et confits Christmas pudding dessert à base de fruits confits et de graisse de bœuf Brandy cognac Brandy butter beurre au cognac Mince pie tartelette épicée aux fruits secs et confits Yule Log bûche de Noël Mulled wine vin chaud aromatisé Decorations Christmas tree sapin de Noël Tinsel guirlandes décoratives Baubles boules de Noël Fairy lights guirlandes lumineuses Wreath couronne (de feuilles, de houx…) Mistletoe gui Holly houx (ISTOCK) Vocabulaire clé Challenge : Talkisy vous invite à vous tester et à comparer vos résultats avec d’autres lecteurs de Vocable. Pour vous inscrire au Challenge, rendez-vous sur www.talkisy.com/challenge. Les jeux sont disponibles en téléchargeant une application gratuite pour ordinateur, tablette et smartphone. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 17 PRATIC’ABLE / Grammaire JOAN GREENWOOD Le passé simple et le passé continu Piqûre de rappel Le passé simple - s’emploie pour parler des faits qui ont eu lieu à un moment précis dans le passé, de durée très courte (une seconde) ou très longue (plusieurs années). - le verbe se termine généralement en “...ed” mais il y a des exceptions. Vous trouverez la liste des verbes irréguliers dans des livres de grammaire ou sur Internet. Le passé continu - s’emploie pour parler d’une action se déroulant dans le passé. - on utilise l’auxiliaire “was” ou “were” + le participe présent qui se termine en “...ing” 1 Complétez le texte avec le passé simple ou le passé continu en utilisant les verbes proposés. to visit to suggest to pick to decide to start to reach to see to lie to pick to fall to think to take to have to ring to call to explain to think to throw Two years ago, we .......................... some friends in the country and they .......................... we go blackberrying (looking for wild blackberries in the hedgerows). My friends .......................... berries on one side of the hedge and I .......................... to go into the field with my dog, Scottie, and pick from the other side. Suddenly Scottie .......................... barking and when I .......................... the spot where she 2 Donnez le participe passé de ces verbes. to dig to deal to draw to drive to eat to fall to fight to find to forgive to forbid to grow to know to leave to lose to ride to shake to show to spit to swim to wear was I .......................... a wooden box which .......................... half open. When I .......................... it up all sorts of tiny objects .......................... out. Nothing of any value I .......................... but there was a driving license with a name on it so I .......................... the box to the Police Station the next day. A few weeks later as I .......................... lunch, the phone .......................... and it was the owner of the box who .......................... up to thank me. She .......................... that two weeks before burglars had broken into their house and stolen, amongst other things, the box that had belonged to her grandmother. She .......................... they .......................... it away because they were disappointed that it did not contain anything of value. She, however, was delighted to get SOLUTIONS : dug, dealt, drew, drove, ate, fell, fought, found, forgave, forbade, grew, knew, left, lost, rode, shook, showed, spat, swam, wore back the items, which had so many memories for her and her Retrouvez beaucoup plus d'exercices de grammaire, d'orthographe et de culture générale sur notre site internet ! 18 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 family. SOLUTIONS : were visiting, suggested, went, were picking, decided, started, reached, saw, was lying, picked, fell, thought, took, was having, rang, was calling, explained, thought, threw s ur www.vocable.fr / Prononciation & Orthographe Retrouvez plus d’infos sur www.vocable.fr Soignez votre orthographe Le saviez-vous ? 1 T rouvez les 10 fautes d’orthographe (y compris la ponctuation). Bennisons crew is small. She and a videographer Andrea Savorani Neri shoot the images. If the camera lingers as the grannies needs “dough” (page 12 § 2) [‘ough’ prononcé comme ‘ow’ dans ‘know’] est, à la base, un dough or cut bits of union into a pot with there plastic-handled mélange d’une farine quelconque nonna knifes, it’s because there is something to learn. Videos are et d’eau, utilisé pour faire du pain, shoot in home kitchens and side yards, with minimal styling and des pâtes ou de la pâte à pizza. natral light. The subtitles are utilitarians. No one measures anything, but Bennison does her best to fill in the blanks with instruction narration. Mais “dough” est également un mot argotique pour de l’argent (fric, pognon). SOLUTIONS : Orthographe knead / onion / their / knives / shot / natural / utilitarian / instructive Ponctuation Bennison’s / virgule avant et après Andrea Savorani Neri 2 Tendez l’oreille Prononcez chaque mot en vert pour trouver l’intrus. Are you ready for Christmas ? The shops are bustling with activity. Snowflakes are made up of tiny crystals. Decorations glisten in the lights. An English tradition: kissing under the mistletoe. If you listen carefully you might hear Santa’s reindeer. SOLUTIONS : Le “t” ne se prononce pas, sauf dans ‘crystals’ sur www.vocable.fr Retrouvez Yves Cotten sur et-compagnie.blogspot.fr Retrouvez beaucoup plus d'exercices de grammaire, d'orthographe et de culture générale sur notre site internet ! VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 19 PRATIC’ABLE / Vocabulaire www.vocable.fr Jeux de mots 1 Bon à savoir L earn one word a day until Christmas with Vocable’s advent calendar ! Démêlez le vocabulaire pour remplir les blancs. HAPPY CHRISTMAS! and HAPPY NEW YEAR! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 DSCRA NIWRAGPP BRISBNO FIGT GATS YSOT FISGT ATSNA LUSAC SPERSNET CIMEN ESIP SHACRIMST AKEC LYOHL SHACRIMST RETE ULEY GLO TRAS GELAN GTONCKIS S H L GE I BLEUBAS YNVTAITI YAPL AROLSC DERINERE EMRYR RACECRSK ANSESO‘S S R E GG I T E N WFSNOKLAES WNOLABLSS SHIGLT TOMSILEET Day 1. Make a list of who you want to give .................... to. Day 2. Another word for your answer to Day 1. .................... Day 3. We are told to “Post early for Christmas”. Start writing your ............... now. Day 4. Choose some pretty .................... paper, coloured .................... and ..................... . Day 5. Decide which .................... Father Christmas will bring for your children. Day 6. Another name for Father Christmas. ................... . Day 7. Fancy doing some English cooking? Try making .................... . Day 8. You could also try making a .................... or a .................... . Day 9. Decorate your house with .................... (a plant with spiky leaves and red berries). Day 10. Hang up a bunch of .................... and remember to kiss your guests under it! Day 11. Go to the garden centre or supermarket to buy your ................... . Day 12. Have you got a .................... or an .................... to put at the top? Day 13. Make sure the .................... are working. You might need to get new bulbs. Day 14. Have you got enough .................... to decorate it? Day 15. Children in England will be taking part in the .................... in their schools. Day 16. And you will hear Christmas .................... being sung everywhere. Day 17. A synonym of “happy” often used at Christmas. .................... Day 18. Buy a box of .................... containing paper hats to decorate the dinner table. Day 19. Frozen crystals falling from the sky. .................... Day 20. You can have fun making one if we have a “white Christmas”. .................... Day 21. Or have fun throwing .................... at each other. Day 22. Father Christmas’ mode of transport. .................... Day 23. The animals that pull it. .................... Day 24. Get the children to hang up a .................... before going to bed. Day 25. Another way of saying “Happy Christmas and Happy New Year”. .................... Les Anglais échangent des cartes de vœux AVANT Noël plutôt que d’envoyer leurs vœux pour le Nouvel An. Ils en envoient beaucoup ... à la famille, aux amis, aux voisins ... achetées pour la plupart au profit des organisations caritatives. En général on n’écrit pas un texte très long; simplement: “Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year. Love to all the family”. ou bien “Merry Christmas and all the best for 2020!” Pour des cartes envoyées dans le monde professionnel, on emploie souvent l’expression donnée comme solution pour Day 25 dans l’exercice ci-contre. sur www.vocable.fr Retrouvez beaucoup plus d'exercices de grammaire, d'orthographe et de culture générale sur notre site internet ! SOLUTIONS : 1. presents, 2. gifts, 3. cards, 4. wrapping / ribbons / gift tags, 5. toys, 6. Santa Claus,7. mince pies 8. Christmas cake / Yule log, 9. holly, 10. mistletoe, 11. Christmas tree, 12. star /angel, 13. lights, 14. baubles, 15. nativity play, 16. carols, 17. merry, 18. crackers,19. snowflakes, 20. snowman, 21. snowballs, 22. sleigh, 23. reindeer, 24. stocking, 25. Season’s greetings. Ne manquez pas dans le prochain numéro la nouvelle page PRATIC’ABLE : Chez le coiffeur 20 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 À 360° Retrouvez plus d’infos sur www.vocable.fr Le tour du monde en V.O. For the first time in Vogue magazine’s history, an indigenous “muxe” will appear in December on the cover of its Mexican and British editions. Muxes are often described as Mexico’s third gender. The cover photo features Estrella Vazquez, a 37-year-old indigenous Zapotec muxe wearing a traditional huipil garment with colorful flowers and holding a pink fan in one hand. (Vogue) muxe person who is assigned male at birth, but who dresses and behaves in ways otherwise associated with women; they may be seen as a third gender / indigenous here native, original / cover front page of a newspaper/magazine / gender sex (identity as either male, female, both etc.) / to feature to present / Zapotec indigenous people of Mexico, mostly concentrated in the southern state of Oaxaca, / huipil traditional dress worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America / garment article of clothing / to hold, held, held here, to hold in the hand / fan hand-held folding apparatus, shaped like nearly a half circle, of thin material (paper, feathers) and waved to create movement of air. (iStock) Muxe pride Matchstick music Ukrainian Bogdan Senchukov wants to carve his way into the Guinness Records by making the world's biggest collection of musical instruments from matchsticks. 15 of his real-sized instruments, including two guitars, accordions, violin and drums, are played by a band of musicians which prides itself as the only “match music band” in Ukraine. He says the most challenging part of his work is that some parts require more than 10 hours of continuous work to avoid them losing their shape. matchstick stem of a match / to carve one’s way into to find a place in (to carve to cut, sculpt / real-sized actual size / drums percussion set / band (musical) group / to pride oneself as to claim with self-satisfaction / challenging difficult / to avoid to prevent / shape form. (iStock) A group of eighth graders from Quezon City in the Philippines, has found a way of turning a major nuisance into a useful material. As part of a research project, they gathered and air-dried dog faeces, then mixed them with cement powder and turned the excrement into bricks. Their solution could both rid city streets of dog poo and potentially lower construction costs. The students say their “bio bricks” are ideal for sidewalk pavements or small structures like backyard walls. waste refuse / eighth grader student in the 8th grade (aprox 13yrs old) / nuisance problem, source of irritation, annoyance / as part of within the framework of / to gather to collect, amass / faeces excrement / to rid, rid, rid to free sth of sth / poo excrement / sidewalk raised path at the side of a road where pedestrians walk / pavement surface at the side of the road for people to walk on / backyard area at the back of one’s house, garden. (iStock) Constructive waste Belgium’s boy wonder Laurent Simons, a child prodigy from Belgium may soon have a bachelor's degree at the tender age of nine. He is currently studying at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He then plans to work towards a PhD in electrical engineering and a degree in medicine. The young boy comes from a family of doctors but no one knows where his gift for soaking up knowledge comes from, although his mother has joked about eating a lot of fish during her pregnancy. The boy wonder apparently already knows what he wants to do when he grows up: develop artificial organs. boy wonder prodigy, genius / bachelor’s degree undergraduate degree / currently at present, at the moment / PhD = Doctor of Philosophy, doctorate / gift talent, ability / to soak up to absorb / knowledge information about and understanding of a subject, learning / to joke to make an amusing remark / pregnancy state of expecting a baby / to grow, grew, grown up to become an adult, mature. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 21 Enjeux I Politique I ETATS-UNIS I B2-C1 VIDEO BONUS The fate of America's more than 700,000 “Dreamers” now lies with the Supreme Court. PBS explores the history and stakes of the Obama-era executive order that protected a young generation of undocumented immigrants from deportation. www.vocable.fr/videos-anglais MIAMI HERALD FABIOLA SANTIAGO SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE THE FUTURE OF AMERICA'S "DREAMERS" The fate of America's "Dreamers" in the hands of the Supreme Court Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an American immigration policy that allows certain individuals, who are in the United States illegally after being brought to the country as children, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the US. It was implemented by the Obama administration in June 2012. Since 2017, President Donald Trump has vowed to terminate DACA. The case is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. O n Nov.12, the Supreme Court took up the case on whether the move by Trump to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by President Barack Obama in 2012 to allow young people brought as children to live and work here legally, was lawful. They had enjoyed a victory when lower courts rejected Trump’s claim that the program was unconstitutional, saying that his decision to end DACA was “arbitrary and 1. supreme court highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States / to take, took, taken up to begin to review / case affair / move decision / Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA) federal program created by Obama to give temporary protection to undocumented migrants who arrived in the US as children / lawful constitutional, legal / lower court tribunal of a lower jurisdiction / claim declaration, affirmation / review enquiry / SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE Notez que le pluriel de Attorney General (≈ Garde des Sceaux, ≈ Ministre de la justice [US], ≈ Procureur Général [GB] ) peut être : Attorneys General ou bien Attorney Generals. 22 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 capricious.” The review by the highest court in the land is widely seen as one of the most important cases this term and another test of Trump’s hard-line immigration policy. 2. It’s not that the Dreamers are a large immi- grant group. Of the estimated 700,000 who qualified for the program across the country, some 25,500 live in Florida, where the Republican leadership supports the president and his policies with zealotry. Given the high profile of Dreamer youth in the state, they could’ve stayed at least neutral, but the last two attorneys general, Pam Bondi and Ashley Moody, have expressed in writing to the Supreme Court their support of the Trump view that DACA is illegal. 3. Although he pledged “I love Dreamers,” Trump terminated DACA at a moment of heightened land country / widely generally, by many people / term period of time in office / hard-line firm, inflexible / policy plan of action adopted by a government, measure. 2. dreamer here, illegal immigrant who entered the US as a child / estimated approximately / to qualify for to be eligible for / across all over / leadership leaders of a group / to support to back, to approve / zealotry fanaticism / given due to, because of / high profile attracting much media attention / youth young people / Attorney General (US) most senior legal officer in a state / view opinion. 3. although even if / to pledge to promise / heightened intensified / anti-immigrant rhetoric when he was trying to use the Dreamers’ status as a bargaining chip to fund his border wall with Mexico. It was an unpopular tactic and the president didn’t get the billions he sought. These young people, educated in U.S. schools — and many of them top students and contributors in their communities — enjoy widespread support among Americans, polls show. 4. The permanent solution to their predicament could’ve been settled by Congress long ago, but divisive politics have kept a “clean” Dream Act bill from coming to fruition, even as Dreamers have prospered in places like Miami. But the Dreamers have become the proverbial political football everyone tosses around. Yet, no one scores a touchdown. bargaining chip leverage in a negotiation / to fund to finance / border frontier, boundary / billion = thousand million / to seek, sought, sought here, to try to obtain / top the best, successful / to enjoy to benefit from / widespread extensive / poll survey, study of public opinion. 4. predicament difficult situation / to settle to decide, to resolve / divisive controversial, causing division / politics political opinions / to keep, kept, kept sth from (+ger.) to prevent sth from (+ger.) / clean here, free from restrictions / bill proposed new law / to come, came, come to fruition to become reality, to be accomplished / proverbial commonly known, here, metaphorical / football American football, here, political football issue which is seized upon by political parties to score points and which is continually debated but left unresolved / sth everyone tosses around sth everyone throws around/ talks about / to score a touchdown to score points in a game of American football. facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Une suggestion ? Ecrivez-nous sur monavis@vocable.fr Los Angeles area DACA students and Dreamers rally in support of DACA. (Ted Soqui/SIPA USA) 5. A Dream Act that provides them with status and a path to citizenship has failed to pass Congress. In the latest political round, the Democratic, Nancy Pelosi-led House passed it, but it is still waiting to be heard in the Republican-controlled Senate. Through it all, the Dreamers have lived in limbo as lower courts have weighed in on DACA, not knowing whether they will be able to practice the professions they’ve trained for or whether one day they will be separated from their U.S.-born children. LIVING IN UNCERTAINTY 6. What’s riding on the Supreme Court review of DACA? For Dreamers, everything. “I unfortunately don’t feel that a conservative Supreme Court will make a decision that is in the best interest of DACA recipients,” Monica Lazaro, a Miami Dreamer working on a master’s degree at Harvard, told me. “Since I have been overwhelmed with work, I try to avoid thinking about my future — with or without DACA — because the uncertainty will not make things easier.” 7. Brought here from Honduras when she was 9 in 2002, Lazaro had always hoped — and worked toward, as one of the most eloquent young voices in South Florida — for a permanent solution that includes a path to citizenship. “I am deeply saddened that it all comes down to this,” 5. path route / citizenship obtaining American nationality, naturalisation / to pass to be voted in/be adopted by / round series of votes in an election / democratic here, of the Democrat party / through it all during all of this / limbo state of prolonged uncertainty / to weigh in on to intervene, to join in a discussion / to practice to do / to train to get an education, to learn skills. 6. to ride, rode, ridden on to depend on / recipient beneficiary / master’s degree university diploma after a Bachelor’s / overwhelmed inundated, submerged / to avoid to stop, to not do sth. 7. to bring, brought, brought to take / to work towards to make efforts with sth as an objective / deeply profoundly / saddened upset, distressed, sad / to come, came, come down to to amount to / Supporters of the DACA program rally in Portland, Oregon. (Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA) she said of the court case. “However, I do see a a journalist like me to write a story about their possible light at the end of this tunnel. Ending plight — and they were safe from deportation. DACA would create an urgency. Many DACA The Cuban rafters of the 1994 exodus were first recipients are homeowners, car owners/leasers, interdicted at sea and sent to the U.S. Naval business owners/associates and we are also Base in Guantánamo Bay, but after some nine taxpayers so I can’t imagine that an administra- months in limbo, they were processed and tion would deport such granted entry by Presiindividuals. From a condent Bill Clinton. “Many DACA recipients servative economic perare homeowners, car spective, it does not 9. But there isn’t much precedent for what make sense. They owners/ would have to come up Trump has done: He has leasers,business with an alternative soluintentionally harmed owners/associates and tion to DACA. “Now, for political gain a group we are also taxpayers” whether it’s a good one, of young people raised in this country as AmerI don’t know.” icans. He provided more 8. The court’s decision isn’t expected until the evidence of his intent again on Nov. 12 by tweetsummer of 2020. Some court watchers said ing a whopper of a lie about Dreamers, followed justices appeared inclined to give Trump a win. by another empty promise. But there’s historical precedent for Obama’s DACA. Other presidents from both political 10. “Many of the people in DACA, no longer very parties also have adjusted the status or granted young, are far from ‘angels.’ Some are very tough, entry to immigrant groups without congres- hardened criminals,” he wrote, in an obvious sional approval. Nicaraguans fleeing the U.S.- attempt to defame them and influence the court. backed contra war, for example, were welcomed “President Obama said he had no legal right to by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. All sign order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court that took was a policy directive from the White remedies with overturn, a deal will be made House to Miami’s immigration director. Or, for with Dems for them to stay!” l urgency urgent situation / homeowner proprietor of one’s own house / leaser person who rents sth / business owner person who has their own company / associate partner / taxpayer person who pays (income) tax / to deport to expel from a country / perspective point of view / to make, made, made sense to be logical / to come, came, come up with to think of, to propose. 8. to be expected to be planned / watcher follower (of events) / justice judge / to be inclined to to be apt to / to grant to give, to authorize / congressional from Congress / approval approbation, permission / to flee, fled, fled to escape, to run away from / US-backed supported by the US government / contra counter-revolutionary (in Nicaragua) / all it takes... all it requires... / plight condition of being in extreme danger and hardship / safe protected / deportation expulsion, extradition / rafter person travelling on a raft (type of simple boat), here, Balseros (Cuban emigrants who tried to reach the US by boat) / to interdict to impede / to process to deal with administratively. 9. to harm to damage, to be detrimental to / for...gain for... advantage / to be raised to be brought up / to provide to give / evidence proof / intent intention / whopper enormous / lie untruth, piece of false information / empty insincere. 10. tough violent, rough / hardened hard, impenitent / attempt effort / to defame to ruin sb’s reputation / order ordinance, directive of a court / to remedy to legally redress an error / overturn invalidation of a previous legal decision / to make, made, made a deal to negotiate an agreement / Dem = Democrat. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 23 OFFRE SPÉCIALE ENSEIGNANTS DÉCOUVREZ LA PLATEFORME ! NUMÉRIQUE S ANGLAI L O ESPAGN D N ALLEMA Le portail de ressources pour l'apprentissage des langues Un accès automatique au sein de votre établissement Licences pour Collèges et Lycées Magazine ☎ Audio Tests de niveau Contactez-nous pour profiter d’un essai gratuit 01 44 37 97 97 — vocablenumerique@vocable.fr Enjeux I Economie I ETATS-UNIS I A2-B1 VIDEO BONUS New York City lawmakers passed a bill that bans restaurants and grocery stores from selling foie gras, the fattened liver of a duck or goose considered a culinary delicacy for centuries. www.vocable.fr/videos-anglais THE NEW YORK TIMES JEFFERY C. MAYS / AMELIA NIERENBERG FOIE GRAS IS BANNED BY NEW YORK CITY Animal cruelty concerns over the production of foie gras Foie gras is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been especially fattened. A primarily French delicacy, it involves inserting a tube down the throat of male ducks or geese, to force-feed them two or three times daily. The objective is to make the bird’s liver swell up to 10 times its normal size. The practice of fattening birds, known as “gavage”, reportedly dates back to Ancient Egyptian times. The product and its means of production have become increasingly controversial and have, as a result, even been banned in several countries. T he New York City Council overwhelmingly passed legislation that will ban the sale of foie gras in the city, one of the country’s largest markets, beginning in 2022. New York City will join California in prohibiting the sale of foie gras, the fattened liver of a duck or goose, over animal cruelty concerns. inserted into a duck’s throat for a 20-day feeding regimen, swelling the liver to up to 10 times its normal size. The procedure can leave ducks too big to walk or even breathe before they are slaughtered, animal activists say. “New York is the mecca of dining in the world. How is it possible that New York doesn’t have foie gras?” said Marco Moreira, executive chef and owner of Tocqueville, an acclaimed French restaurant near Union Square. Carlina Rivera, a Manhattan councilwoman who sponsored the foie gras legislation said her bill “tackles the most inhumane process” in the commercial food industry. “This is one of t he most violent practices and it’s done for a purely luxury product,” she said. 2. 3. Most foie gras is produced through a process known as gavage; ducks are forcefed a fatty corn-based mixture that engorges their livers. The process requ i re s t ub e s to b e (iStock) 1. overwhelmingly by a massive majority / to pass to adopt, vote in / to ban to forbid, exclude / to prohibit to ban, forbid / fattened fed to increase fat level / liver organ (in animals and humans) that cleans the blood / duck water bird / goose bird like a large duck, with a long neck / concern preoccupation, worry. 2. mecca holy city, here, the best, most highly regarded / acclaimed celebrated, highly regarded, praised. 3. through by way of / process method, procedure, technique / force-fed to feed by force even when (here the duck) no longer hungry / fatty made up of fat, adipose / corn maize / 4. throat inner part of the neck / feeding act of giving food to animals / regimen here, regime, program / to swell, swelled, swelled or swollen to grow, increase in size considerably / to breathe to inhale and exhale to and from the lungs / to slaughter to kill. 4. councilwoman member of local government / to sponsor to support / to tackle to deal with, handle. Foie gras farmers say that the forced feedings are not cruel, and that the claims of torture are exaggerated. They say there is a bias against foie gras because it is a luxury product. The bill bars the sale of foie gras produced by “forcefeeding birds,” with each violation punishable by a $2,000 fine. But not all foie gras comes from ducks or geese that have been force-fed, and determining whether foie gras was illegally produced may present an enforcement challenge. 5. 6. The foie gras legislation was part of a package of anti-animal cruelty legislation. Other legislation in the package will prevent horse carriages from working on humid days, create a mayor’s office of animal welfare and prohibit the capture and transfer of wild birds like pigeons. l 5. claim here, accusation / bias prejudice / bill draft of a proposed law / to bar to forbid, interdict, prohibit / fine money paid as sanction / enforcement application of a law. 6. package group of measures / horse carriage transport using a horse / welfare well-being / wild living in natural habitat, undomesticated, untamed. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 25 Culture I Art I ETATS-UNIS I B2-C1 VIDEO BONUS Marion Coleman is a recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation's highest honor for folk and traditional arts. She shares the history and practice of African-American quilting. www.vocable.fr/videos-anglais NEW YORK TIMES PETER LIBBEY AFRICAN AMERICAN ART QUILTS FIND A MUSEUM HOME Significant collection of art quilts to be on display soon Quilting was borne out of necessity - before central heating, people needed to stay warm - but it also became an artform. The modern form of art quilting began in the United States in the 1980s: quilters started turning their ideas and experiences into images instead of relying on traditional patterns to make their creations. African-American traditions and innovations in the field rose to the forefront, in particular thanks to Eli Leon, a collector of African-American quilts, who organised a travelling exhibition in 1987 that introduced both historic and current quilters. A lmost 3,000 quilts by African American artists — including more than 500 by Rosie Lee Tompkins, a quilt maker whose formally inventive work has helped elevate the 1. quilt bed covering, bedspread / maker creator, designer, here, artist / formally in a serious manner, in the proper way / inventive original / SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE Dans les expressions comportant « to do » à l’infinitif, le « to » n’est pas systématique. • Sans « to » to make someone do something to let someone do something to have someone do something • Avec « to » : to ask/tell someone to do something to persuade/encourage someone to do something to get someone to do something • Au choix, avec ou sans : to help someone (to) do something (§ 1). 26 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 standing of the discipline in the art world — are heading to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive as a bequest by Eli Leon. Leon, who died last year, was a voracious collector and champion of African American quilting. 3. Leon’s collection will help introduce the public to African American quilt makers other than the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, whose work was showcased in a celebrated exhibition that Rinder helped bring to the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2002. (In his review for The Times, Michael Kimmelman called the show’s 60 quilts “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced.”) “Gee’s Bend, which a lot of people know about now, happily, that’s one small town in one state in the South,” Rinder said. “Eli’s collection is a broad overview of hundreds of other towns and the work that was made in them.” Despite Leon’s recognition of the quilts as substantial pieces of art, it has taken some time for the collection he assembled to be seen that way by others. “It’s hard to overestimate the importance and power of this gift,” Lawrence Rinder, the museum’s director and chief curator, said. “The scale of it and the depth of it is mind-blowing.” The bequest, which includes the pieces by Tompkins and works by more than 400 artists from across the country, will account for about 15% of the 2. art collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which is affiliated with the University of California. standing position, status / to head to to be on the way to / bequest legacy, gift, donation / voracious obsessive, here, prodigious / collector person who collects things / champion defender, advocate / quilting making a cover made from fabric pieces sewn together in a pattern or picture. 2. hard difficult / to overestimate here, to overstate, speak too highly of / gift present / chief curator exhibition or museum director / scale level, magnitude / depth profoundness, intensity, here, significance culturally, historically and artistically / mind-blowing incredible, astounding, fantastic / piece work (of art) / work oeuvre, artistic creation / from across from one end to the other / to account for to represent. 3. to introduce to to present to / to showcase to present, feature, display / celebrated much appreciated, well-received / exhibition public display of works of art / review article, critique / show here, public display of works of art / happily fortunately, luckily / broad general / overview global vision. facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Téléchargez l’appli Vocable offerte à nos abonnés ! www.vocable.fr/applimobile 4. The breadth of Leon’s collection and its em- Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, where Tompkins phasis on Tompkins’ quilts are closely linked. It and some of the other artists had roots, to conwas a chance encounter with Tompkins at a flea duct research on the tradition of African market in the Oakland, California, area in 1985 that convinced Leon, a psychotherSharon Risedorph via The New York Times. apist, to dedicate his life to collecting quilts by African American artists. 5. Tompkins, whose art he had fallen for so deeply, Leon traveled to 4. breadth scope, diversity / emphasis insistence, attention, priority / closely here, intimately / to link to connect, associate / chance not planned, happening by chance / flea market outdoor market with stands selling bric a brac / to dedicate to devote, focus on. 5. to fight, fought, fought to to battle to / to maintain to keep / privacy here, private life / to part with sth here, to let go of / true actual, real. 9. Jenny Hurth, the executor of Leon’s 10. Leon’s original plan, Hurth 6. Once he had persuaded her 7. To trace the lineage of the practitioners whose A TRANSFORMATIVE GIFT estate, said that he chose to leave his collection to the Berkeley museum because Rinder was among the first people in the art world to recognize the value of the quilts he had acquired. “He knew that if he left them in Larry’s hands, his idea that these were works of fine art would be carried forth in some way,” Hurth said. Rinder organized the first solo exhibition of Tompkins’ work at Berkeley in 1997 and included her work in the 2000 Whitney Biennial. real name was Effie Mae Howard, didn’t make herself easy to find. She had begun quilting seriously in her 40s and when her work started to attract attention, she used a pseudonym, fought hard to maintain her privacy and rarely parted with her pieces. Leon was one of the few to whom she revealed her true identity and sold her work regularly. Tompkins died in 2006 at age 70. to share her work, Leon was immediately taken by Tompkins’ daring designs and use of unconventional materials like velvet and fake fur. His passion for her quilts led him to buy as many as he could and also inspired him to seek out work by other African American quilt makers in the Bay Area. in shaping the history of art as we know it,” Rinder said when asked why this body of work hasn’t received more attention. The quilts in Leon’s collection, which were predominantly made by African American women, have been particularly affected by these prejudices, he said. American quilt making and collect pieces. His home back in Oakland eventually became so crowded with quilts that he built a two-story addition to accommodate them. In 1987, he organized a first exhibition of quilts from his collection at the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum. 8. Despite Leon’s recognition of the quilts as substantial pieces of art, it has taken some time for the collection he assembled to be seen that way by others. “I believe that sexism and racism, not to mention classism, have each played a role 6. to be taken by to be impressed with, fascinated by / daring audacious, bold / design artistic creation / material fabric, cloth / velvet velours, soft voluptuous fabric / fake fur synthetic fabric simulating fur / to lead, led, led to cause, result in / to inspire to encourage / to seek, sought, sought out to look for, search for. roots origins / to conduct to carry out / to collect to have a collection of / eventually finally, in the end / crowded here, filled with numerous things / to build, built, built to construct / two-story floor, level / addition here, extension / to accommodate to house, have enough space for / craft artisanal / folk traditional to the common people of a country. 7. to trace to track, find the origin of sth / lineage origins / practitioner maker, designer, here, artist / to fall, fell, fallen for to fall, fell, fallen in love with / 8. despite in spite of / substantial significant, important / to assemble to gather, collect / that way in this manner / classism discrimination based on social class / said, was to place his collection in multiple museums, including Berkeley, but he died before plans for this dispersal could be made. Rinder will resign from his position at the Berkeley museum in March, but Catherine Koshland, the president of the museum’s board and the University of California, Berkeley’s vice chancellor for undergraduate education, said that his departure would not affect the care of the bequest. “Eli Leon’s collection is a transformative gift,” she said by email. “And we’ve made a sustained commitment to sharing it with scholars and the public for many years to come.” l to shape to form, define, influence / body of work here, collection of work / predominantly principally, mainly / prejudice discrimination, intolerance, bias. 9. executor person appointed to carry out the terms of a will / estate all the money and property a person owns (esp on their death) / fine art form of art (painting, drawing, sculpture etc) created to be beautiful / to carry forth to promote / in some way in one way or another / solo here, single artist. 10. plan project, idea / dispersal dispersing / to resign to leave (a post) / position job, function, post / board committee (of directors) / vice chancellor president (of university) / undergraduate the first three years of a university course / care preservation / transformative revolutionary / sustained enduring / commitment pledge, promise / to share to make accessible / scholar academic expert, specialist. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 27 KING KONG ET MONTY PYTHON, SACRÉ GRAAL… MAIS EN MIEUX ! © 1977 NATIONAL FILM TRUSTEE COMPANY LIMITED. TOUS DROITS RÉSERVÉS. ENTRE A LE ÉM AU CIN 25 BRE DÉCEM Un film de TERRY GILLIAM NOUVELLE RESTAURATION 4K MICHAEL WHITE présente JABBERWOCKY un film de TERRY GILLIAM avec MICHAEL PALIN HARRY H. CORBETT JOHN LE MESURIER WARREN MITCHELL MAX WALL et RODNEY BEWES JOHN BIRD BERNARD BRESSLAW TERRY GILLIAM NEIL INNES TERRY JONES scénario CHARLES ALVERSON et TERRY GILLIAM d’après le poème de LEWIS CARROLL producteur délégué JOHN GOLDSTONE producteur SANDY LIEBERSON réalisateur TERRY GILLIAM www.carlottavod.fr Échos Retrouvez plus d’infos sur www.vocable.fr Brèves de culture (Moviestore Collection / Rex Features) The comeback James Dean has been cast in a forthcoming movie. Yes, the same Rebel Without a Cause actor who died in 1955 at the age of 24. He is set to appear in Vietnam-era action drama Finding Jack. Anton Ernst, who is co-directing the film, told The Hollywood Reporter they “searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extreme and complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean.” Magic City Films, the production company behind the film, says it has obtained rights to use Dean’s image from his estate and will use CGI technology to include actual footage and photos of Dean in the movie. It comes as no surprise that the move has not been well received among the community of living actors. (Mary Evans/SIPA) Brontë book A miniature manuscript, written by Charlotte Brontë when she was 14 years old, is returning to her childhood home in West Yorkshire after it was bought at auction in Paris. The Brontë Parsonage Museum bid 780,000 euros for the unpublished manuscript. The museum’s fundraising campaign was boosted by an appeal from actress Judi Dench. childhood home home where a child grows up / auction public sale of articles to the highest offer / parsonage presbytery, vicarage, rectory / to bid, bid, bid to make an offer / fundraising activity of collecting money for an organisation/cause / to boost to reinforce / appeal request for aid. (Chelsea Lauren/Variety/REX/Shutterstock) comeback return, here return by a celebrity to some previously successful activity / to be cast to be chosen for a role / forthcoming coming soon, here, in preparation / Rebel Without a Cause (VF) La Fureur de vivre (1956) / drama film about dramatic events / to co-direct to share the making of a film with another director / Hollywood Reporter magazine about the American film industry founded in 1930 / high and low everywhere / to portray to represent, to play / arcs narrative development, here evolution of a character / estate here, successors, inheritors / CGI = ComputerGenerated Imagery / actual real / footage film images / move approach, initiative. Skywalking (Walt Disney Studios) A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...It’s time for the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise. Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker hits theatres on the 20th of December. The film marks the final episode of the nine-part Skywalker saga and will reportedly see the Resistance face the First Order and the end of the conflict between the Jedi and the Sith. If you just can’t get enough of Star Wars, Disney has launched a live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, on its brand new streaming platform, which is expected to arrive in France on the 31st of March 2020. latest most recent / installment episode, here film / The Rise of Skywalker (VF) L’Ascension de Skywalker / to hit, hit, hit theaters to come out in cinemas / nine-part made up of nine episodes / reportedly according to certain sources / to not get enough of not to be satisfied with, always to want more of / to launch here, to release (for public viewing) / live-action cinematography that does not use animation / series serialised set of TV programmes / brand new completely new / streaming tranmission of video/audio content over the internet / to be expected to to be planned to, scheduled to. Green initiative Coldplay’s first major hit may have been “Yellow”, but the Brit band is now decidedly green. The group, which released their latest album Everyday Life in November, have put plans to tour on hold. Frontman Chris Martin explained that they would be taking one or two years to work on how to make their tours not only sustainable, but also actively beneficial amid concerns over the environmental impact of concerts. green here, ecological, environmental / hit popular, successful musical track / Brit = British / band (musical) group / decidedly resolutely / to release to bring out, put on the market / to tour to do concerts around a country or countries / to put, put, put on hold to postpone / sustainable ecological, durable / amid in a context of / concern preoccupation, consideration. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 29 CultureI Cinéma I ETATS-UNIS I C2 BASIC RECORDING On the Basic recording, English author Bibi Jacob discusses writing and Jo March. CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 (sur abonnement) THE GUARDIAN LUCY SIEGLE LITTLE WOMEN BUT BIG BUZZ Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (Les Filles du docteur March) (buzz media excitement) Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Following the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy—the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. The story was an immediate commercial and critical success. Through the years, its popularity has endured and been the object of multiple adaptations. The latest revisit of the novel is by award-winning director Greta Gerwig and will feature an ensemble cast including Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep. Y ou have to be super-confident to release a film without Will Ferrell at Christmas. But then “eagerly anticipated” doesn’t quite cover the release of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. In case you haven’t been ticking off the days in an analogue, fabric-covered diary (with lock) like a genuine Louisa May Alcott nut, the release date is Christmas Day. And on the basis of just a trailer, Little Women has been tipped for all Oscars by everyone. 2. Overhyped? Absolutely not. This confidence is correctly placed. Despite the diminutive title, Little Women is a ratings behemoth. It always has been. Written in the midst of the American civil war, the novel has spent the intervening 150 years as the stand-out star of novels for young women. The saga of the four sisters of the March family of Massachusetts, their conflicting ambitions and 1. confident sure, certain / to release to bring out / but then however / eagerly anticipated excitedly awaited / [it] doesn’t quite cover [it] doesn’t exactly describe / to tick off to count the days one by one / fabric cloth / lock here, key / genuine real / nut here, fan / trailer promotional extracts of a new film to advertise its release / to tip to predict, to forecast. 2. overhyped exaggerated media attention / correctly placed legitimate / ratings behemoth enormous bestseller (behemoth giant / ratings measurement of how popular sth is by the number of people who watch it) / in the midst of in the middle of / novel book / to spend, spent, spent to pass (time) / intervening inbetween (between a later and an earlier period of time) / stand-out exceptionally excellent / conflicting different / 30 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 A still from Greta Gerwig's Little Women. (Sony Pictures) achievements, has proved to be intergenerational catnip. It is also one of those library A-listers that works super well on screen. There have been at least eight TV versions, a silent 1918 film, a 1933 version, 1949 in Technicolor and the 1994 version starring Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder. 3. Why? Little Women is eminently “relatable” and doesn’t shirk the bad stuff. It’s not harpsichord heavy and preachy in the manner of, say, Pride and Prejudice but neither is it overly saccharine and full of orchards à la Anne of Green Gables. Each sister has a distinctive set of traits that are easy to grasp and eminently memorable: Meg, the eldest, on the verge of finding love; Beth sweetnatured; Amy indulged and precocious. We come achievement accomplishment / to prove to be to turn out to be, to reveal to be / catnip herb which cats love, here, sth which everyone likes / library place where archives and book collections are stored, here, literary / A-lister star, here, famous and popular book / to work to function / on screen as a film / at least a minimum of / starring with... (in the main roles). 3. eminently very / relatable easy to identify with / to shirk to avoid (sth difficult) / stuff things / harpsichord keyboard instrument similar to a piano used in Baroque music, here, in an old-fashioned way / preachy moralizing / Pride and Prejudice Orgueil et Préjugés / overly excessively / saccharine sentimental / orchard area of land where fruit trees are grown / set collection, here, number / trait characteristic, aspect of one’s personality / to grasp to understand / (the) eldest (the) oldest / on the verge of on the point of / sweet-natured gentle and kind / indulged spoiled / for this less reductive version of the Spice Girls, but we stay for Jo March – the Hamlet of the coming-of-age genre. 4. Jo is important too because she is essentially a fictional version of the author, who wrote her way to independence. Alcott didn’t really want to write Little Women, preferring a more racy gothic format, but once persuaded by her publisher she used it as a platform to shift perception and 150 years ago left a blueprint for young women for a successful life beyond love and marriage. In her adaptation, already billed as the most feminist yet, Gerwig, the first female director to be nominated for an Oscar for a debut, Lady Bird, entrusts Jo to Saoirse Ronan (also nominated for an Oscar for that film) and there’s every reason to expect the same Lady Bird magic. Like the author, the director is a cultural iconoclast with an ability to shift our perceptions. In Greta Gerwig, Jo March has met her match. l coming-of-age genre of literature and film about the transition of a character into adulthood. 4. [she] wrote her way to independence [she] became independent thanks to her writing / racy risqué / publisher editor / to shift to change / perception here, attitude, mentality / blueprint model / beyond outside of / to bill to sell, to promote, to present / yet so far / director person in charge of making a film / debut first film / to entrust sb/sth to to assign / to expect to anticipate / to met, met, met one’s match to meet one’s equal. facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Z om sur... La personnalité de la quinzaine à la loupe Louisa May Alcott To mark the release of a new film adaptation of her famous novel Little Women, here are a few things you may not know about American novelist Louisa May Alcott. release first showing (at the cinema) / novel book, work of fiction / Little Women Les quatre filles du docteur March. 1 Transcendentalism She was mostly educated by her father, transcendentalist Bronson Alcott, and grew up in the company of the movement’s key figures: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalism is an American literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement of the early nineteenth century. (SIPA) (AP Photo/Steven Senne) mostly principally, for the most part / to grow, grew, grown up to be raised / figure personality, celebrity / early at the beginning of. 2 Making a living Alcott worked as a domestic servant and teacher, among other things, to help support her family from 1850 to 1862. During the Civil War, she went to Washington, D.C. to work as a nurse. domestic servant maid / to support to provide for, meet the needs of / civil war here war between the northern and southern states (1861-1865) / nurse person who cares for patients in hospital. 3 Real-life inspiration She contracted typhoid from unsanitary hospital conditions and was sent home. She was never completely well again. The publication of her letters in book form, Hospital Sketches (1863), confirmed her desire to be a serious writer. unsanitary dirty, unhygienic / sketch quick drawing, here, short written accounts / serious here, important. 4 A family affair A lot of her work, like Little Women, was inspired by personal experiences. As her most enduring success by far, the novel has been adapted to film five times, and inspired several television shows and even anime versions. Interestingly, her diary shows that she initially did not want to write a book for girls. enduring longlasting / show TV series / anime Japanese animated films / interestingly funnily enough / diary private journal. 5 Eclectic genres While Little Women remains her best-received work, Alcott also wrote poems, short stories, thrillers and even Gothic novels. to remain to continue (to be) / short story novella / thriller genre of novel where the protagonist is in danger from the outset. 6 Against slavery Alcott was an abolitionist. In fact her father founded an abolitionist society in 1850. Her childhood home was a stop for runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. society a formal association of people with similar interests / stop place to visit / runaway fugitive / slave person who is owned by and who works for another / Underground Railroad secret network in the 19th century that helped slaves escape from the plantations of the southern states to the northern states and Canada. 7 Women's rights She was an early American feminist and the first woman to register to vote in Concord when women were given school, tax, and bond suffrage in Massachusetts, in 1879. early first, initial / to register to enrol ( on the electoral list) / Concord historic town in Massachusetts / tax here, fiscal / bond government stock. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 31 Découverte I Intelligence artificielle I ETATS-UNIS I B2-C1 BASIC RECORDING On the Basic recording, English author Bibi Jacob discusses writing. Are writers doomed to be replaced by computers? CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 (sur abonnement) THE ECONOMIST DON'T FEAR THE WRITERNATOR Don't be afraid of the robotwriter Many notable media organisations, including The New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, Washington Post, and Yahoo! Sports, use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate content. And many of us are familiar with forms of predictive writing used in texts messages or emails, when our devices seem to know what we want to say before we’ve even finished typing. As technology hurtles forward, could writing by humans become altogether obsolete? M ANY PEOPLE will be familiar with automated writing through two features of Gmail. Smart Reply proffers brief answers to routine emails. If someone asks “Do you want to meet at 3pm?”, Gmail offers one-click responses such as “Sure!” More strikingly, Smart Compose kicks in as you write, suggesting endings to your sentences. 1. automated automatic / feature aspect, functionality / to proffer to offer, to propose / strikingly extraordinarily, astonishingly / to kick in to activate / ending last part / sentence phrase / SUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUE Exemples des préfixes "in" et "out" utilisés pour former des contraires. input apport / output production inside dedans / outside dehors indoors à l'intérieur / outdoors à l'extérieur inboard à bord / outboard hors-bord inbound en provenance de / outbound en partance inflow afflux, arrivée / outflow débit, exode 32 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 Both are not only rendered in flawless English; they often eerily seem to have guessed what you want to say. If someone sends bad news, Smart Reply might offer “Ugh.” 2. The New Yorker’s John admittedly very sophisticated—statistical guesses about which words follow which in a New Yorker-style sentence. At a simple level, imagine beginning an email with “Happy…” Having looked at millions of other emails, Gmail can plausibly guess that the next word will be “birthday”. GPT-2 makes To truly write, you predictions of the same must first have sort. Seabrook recently described a more powerful version of this technology, called GPT-2, which can something to say. ably mimic his magazine’s Computers do not. style. Such systems use a 4. What eludes computers digital network of billions is creativity. By virtue of of artificial “neurons” with having been trained on past virtual “synapses”—the connections between compositions, they can only be derivative. neurons—that strengthen as the network Furthermore, they cannot conceive a topic or “learns”, in this case from 40 gigabytes-worth goal on their own, much less plan how to get of online writing. The version Mr Seabrook there with logic and style. At various points in tested was refined with back-issues of the New the online version of his article, readers can see Yorker. how GPT-2 would have carried on writing Mr Seabrook’s piece for him. The prose gives the STATISTICAL GUESSES impression of being human. But on closer in3. The metaphor of the brain is tempting, but spection it is empty, even incoherent. “neurons” and “synapses” deserve those scarequotes. The system is merely making some— 5. Meaningless prose is not only the preserve of artificial intelligence. There is already a large to render to produce / flawless perfect / eerily mysteriously, strangely. 2. ably competently / to mimic to imitate / to strengthen to reinforce, to improve / back-issue past editions, previous copies. 3. tempting appealing / to deserve to merit / scare-quote quotation marks which can indicate irony or doubt / merely simply / admittedly undeniably. 4. to elude to be impossible for / by virtue of due to / derivative resulting from sth else and so unoriginal / furthermore what’s more, moreover / topic subject, theme / goal objective, aim. 5. meaningless without any sense / preserve domain which is exclusively reserved for sb / facile A2-B1 / moyen B2-C1 / difficile C1-C2 Téléchargez l’appli Vocable offerte à nos abonnés ! www.vocable.fr/applimobile quantity of writing that seems to make sense, but ultimately doesn’t, at least to a majority of readers. In 1996 Alan Sokal famously submitted a bogus article to a humanities journal, with ideas that were complete nonsense but with language that expertly simulated fashionable post-modernist academic prose. It was accepted. Three scholars repeated the ruse in 2017, getting four of 20 fake papers published. Humans already produce language that is devoid of meaning, intentionally and otherwise. 6. But to truly write, you must first have some- thing to say. Computers do not. They await instructions. Given input, they provide output. Such systems can be seeded with a topic, or the first few paragraphs, and be told to “write”. While the result may be grammatical English, this should not be confused with the purposeful kind. 7. To compose meaningful essays, the likes of GPT-2 will first have to be integrated with databases of real-world knowledge. This is possible at the moment only on a very limited scale. Ask Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa for a single fact—say, what year “Top Gun” came out—and you will get the answer. But ask them to assemble the facts to prove a case, even at a straightforward level—“Do gun laws reduce gun crime?”—and they will flounder. 8. An advance in integrating knowledge would then have to be married to another breakthrough: teaching text-generation systems to go beyond sentences to structures. Mr Seabrook found that the longer the text he solicited from GPT-2, the more obvious it was that the work it produced was gibberish. Each sentence was fine on its own; remarkably, three or four back to back could stay on topic, apparently cohering. But machines are aeons away from being able to recreate rhetorical and argumentative flow across paragraphs and pages. Not only can today’s journalists expect to finish their careers without competition from the Writernator— 8. breakthrough innovation, important new discovery / beyond further than / gibberish nonsensical words / back-to-back one after the other, consecutive / to cohere to form a united and consistent whole / aeon billions of years / flow steady stream (of fluent language). today’s parents can tell their children that they still need to learn to write, too. 9. Aside from making scribblers redundant, a common worry is that such systems will be able to flood social media and online comment sections with semi-coherent but angry ramblings that are designed to divide and enrage. In reality, that may not be much of a departure from the tenor of such websites now, nor much of a disaster. Perhaps a flood of furious autobabble will force future readers to distinguish between the illusion of coherence and the genuine article. If so, the Writernator, much like the Terminator, would even come to do the world some good. l 9. aside from apart from / scribbler writer, journalist, author / worry concern, anxiety / to flood to inundate / rambling confused and meaningless speech/writing / departure from difference compare to / tenor content, substance / babble incoherent words and sounds / genuine real, authentic. ultimately essentially, fundamentally / bogus fake, false / humanities academic studies in fields relating to human society and culture (literature, history, philosophy etc.) / nonsense absurdity / fashionable in vogue, trendy / scholar academic, researcher / devoid void, empty. 6. truly really / to await to wait for / input element put into a system / to provide to produce / output resulting information / to seed to implant / purposeful with a deliberate intention. (iStock) 7. meaningful with meaning / the likes of here, systems like... / database large store of data on a computer system / real-world real / knowledge information about and understanding of a subject / scale level / to come, came, come out to be released / prove to establish the truth and validity of / straightforward simple / to flounder to struggle, to have difficulties. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 33 Les sorties Retrouvez plus de coups de cœur sur www.vocable.fr sur www.vocable.fr jouez et gagnez... Des entrées pour des films et des expositions, des CD et des DVD, des romans, des voyages… EDUCATION DOCUMENTAIRE UNE LEÇON PAR JOUR PAHOKEE Ivete Lucas & Patrick Bresnan Pahokee, c'est le nom d'une petite ville, située dans le comté de Palm Beach en Floride. Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan travaillent au plus près de cette communauté depuis des années et cela se ressent dans ce premier long métrage, distribué par Arizona Distribution. En 2016, après avoir réalisé plusieurs films courts, dont The Rabbit Hunt qui a été primé 19 fois, le duo décide de suivre quatre étudiants de terminale – les seniors comme on les appelle - pendant cette année charnière de leur vie. Le duo nous plonge avec sensibilité dans le quotidien de ces jeunes gens, qui doivent jongler vies personnelles, familiales et un avenir souvent incertain, le tout ponctué par les rites incontournables du lycéen américain. Un portrait tout en finesse d'une jeunesse oubliée. Collectif Nous nous apprêtons à passer le cap de la nouvelle année donc tous à vos calendriers ! En 2020, avec l'éphéméride Une Leçon par Jour, vous pourrez apprendre ou réviser, dépendant de votre niveau, les bases grammaticales indispensables et les expressions courantes de la vie quotidienne en anglais. Arizona Distribution, en salles le 11 décembre. Hugo Images, disponible depuis novembre, 9,99€. CINÉMA JABBERWOCKY Terry Gilliam Terry Gilliam signe son premier film en solo – même si une grande partie des Monty Python figure au casting. Le membre de l’emblématique troupe d’humoristes nous livre une comédie fantastico-médiévale savoureuse, inspirée d’un poème de Lewis Carroll. Une pure merveille à l’humour absurde et fantastique. Carlotta Films, en version restaurée 4K au cinéma le 25 décembre. LIVRE DREAM DANCE: THE ART OF ED EMSHWILLER Jesse Pires Si vous avez déjà eu l'occasion de chiner des livres de science fiction en brocante, nul doute que vous connaissiez l'oeuvre de Ed Emshwiller, dit « Emsh » (1925-1990). Originaire du Michigan, et influencé par la société américaine d'après-guerre, cet artiste plasticien est un pionnier de l'illustration et du cinéma. Dream Dance : The Art of Ed Emshwiller est un voyage à travers les divers médiums qu'il a utilisés dans son exploration de la science-fiction et rassemble un vaste catalogue d'illustrations, de peintures, de notes, de photographies, de croquis et de gravures. Une enquête à grande échelle sur l'héritage d'Emsh, Dream Dance emmène ses lecteurs dans un voyage psychédélique à travers quatre décennies touchant capturant tout, des couvertures de ses dessins de livres aux plans de la cinématographie primée en 1970. Anthology Editions, disponible à partir du 10 décembre, 27€. 34 • VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 DOCUMENTAIRE L'INTOUCHABLE, HARVEY WEINSTEIN Ursula MacFarlane C'est le scandale qui a donné naissance à un mouvement planétaire. En octobre 2017, The New York Times et The New Yorker publient tous deux des témoignages accablant à l'encontre du producteur de cinéma Harvey Weinstein. Celui qui pendant des décennies se qualifiait de shérif de Hollywood se retrouve au banc des accusés, devant rendre des comptes sur ses pratiques abusives à l'encontre des actrices et de ses employées. L'Intouchable permet de comprendre comment Weinstein, figure emblématique du renouveau du cinéma a pu agir en toute impunité à travers de nombreux témoignages à la fois de ses victimes, mais également de ses proches et anciens collaborateurs. Le Pacte, disponible en DVD le 3 janvier. le dessin I Politique I ETATS-UNIS CANDIDATE CONUNDRUM The clock is ticking...The 2020 American presidential election is scheduled for the 3rd of November 2020. The various parties have been gearing up for months. One of the major talking points of this electoral cycle is the sheer number of candidates, namely on the Democratic side. As of 20 November 2019, 17 major candidates were still in the race; at its peak, there were two dozen. And those are just the major contenders: the party also has a number of lesser known candidates, also on the campaign trail. The Democratic nominee for president of the United States will be chosen by delegates at the Democratic National Convention in mid-July next year. conundrum puzzle, riddle, here, problem, dilemma / the clock is ticking time is running out on... / to be scheduled to be planned / to gear up to prepare, get ready / talking point debate / sheer here, impressive / namely in this case, specifically / democratic here, Democrat / race electoral campaign (as a presidential candidate) / at its peak at its highest level / dozen = 12 / contender candidate / campaign trail electoral campaign / nominee officially designated candidate. VOCABLE SERVICE ABONNÉS 03 27 61 10 11. www.vocable.fr Pour contacter votre correspondant, composez le 01.44. 37. 97.[...] suivi des 2 chiffres de son numéro DIRECTEUR DE LA PUBLICATION : C. Lecat. RESPONSABLE D’ÉDITION : S. 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EUTROPHISATION : ptot : 0.009 kg/tonne de papier Bureau Paris 56, rue Fondary 75015 PARIS. Tél : 01 44 37 97 97 / Fax : 01 44 37 97 98. Dans ce numéro, des encarts d’abonnements brochés ou jetés sur tous les abonnés. Cette publication comporte, sur une partie des abonnés un livret audio jeté. VOCABLE Du 12 au 25 décembre 2019 • 35 . Tél. 01.45.78.33.80 www.ophrys.fr Collection Histoires faciles à lire Pour li en V. Ore . Í Les textes en page de droite sont présentés en version intégrale ou en version adaptée et simplifiée. No u Histoires faciles à lire. Anglais. Tragedies vea L’ essentiel du vocabulaire nécessaire est traduit en page de gauche pour une lecture facile, rapide et autonome. uté Choix des textes et écriture des notes : Jean-Claude Burgué, Agrégé d'anglais Niveau avancé (B2-C1) Ð Ce titre de la collection propose trois tragédies shakespeariennes mises en contes : Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello. Macbeth ISBN 9782708015500 152 pages 12 € Chaque histoire est accompagnée d’un court appareil pédagogique à utiliser en classe ou en autonomie. Au XIXe siècle, Charles et Mary Lamb décidèrent d’adapter les pièces de Shakespeare en contes, afin de rendre les œuvres du maître plus accessibles. Les trois tragédies présentées sont tirées de leur ouvrage Tales From Shakespeare (1807) : elles racontent les terribles histoires de Macbeth, de Roméo et Juliette, ainsi que d’Othello, personnages parmi les plus célèbres de la dramaturgie anglaise. Dans la même collection Anglais super facile (A2-B1) Anglais facile (B1) Anglais Anglais Allemand Allemand Grec intermédiaire (B1-B2) intermédiaire (B1-B2) intermédiaire (B1-B2) facile (B1) facile (B1) Grec ve ISBN 9782708014725 90 pages 11 € Espagnol super facile (A2-B1) ISBN 9782708015197 144 pages ISBN 9782708014701 120 pages ISBN 9782708014992 ISBN 9782708015166 12 € 12 € Espagnol Espagnol Espagnol Espagnol ISBN 9782708014756 136 pages 11 € facile (B1) 12 € 11 € 126 pages No u ve ISBN 9782708015180 128 pages 12 € ISBN 9782708015395 152 pages 12 € ISBN 9782708015074 112 pages 12 € ISBN 9782708014732 136 pages 12,50 € ISBN 9782708015654 132 pages 12 € té facile (B1) No u ISBN 9782708015517 112 pages 12 € ISBN 9782708015388 160 pages 12 € Russe Russe ve au té 12 € Catalan intermédiaire (B1-B2) intermédiaire (B1-B2) intermédiaire (B1-B2) facile (B1) facile (B1) No u ve au té ISBN 9782708015623 136 pages 12 € No u ve au ISBN 9782708015531 124 pages 150 pages Italien intermédiaire (B1-B2) facile (B1) No u 12 € Russe intermédiaire (B1-B2) té 12 € té ISBN 9782708015630 130 pages au ISBN 9782708015371 134 pages au ISBN 9782708015173 144 pages 12 € Remise de 5 % sur www.ophrys.fr avec le code promo : VOCA1219 valable jusqu’au 5 janvier 2020
