Text nº 16 for reflection and translation: A plastic ocean. 12 de enero de 2022.

Buenas tardes, estimada familia IPEP #inglésipep #ingléspagsypau (en Twitter).

Descripción de la tarea para el curso:

Buenas tardes. Es un decir. Me acabáis de escribir 3 de vosotros para informarme que el covid ha entrado en vuestras casas durante una temporada de vacaciones de Navidad. Esto es un desastre.

Pero tenemos que seguir trabajando.

Para hoy, he cogido prestado un texto de un examen de vuestro nivel, en este caso, del British Council, de un tema de actualidad, como siempre hacemos, porque como os he dicho muchas veces, los temas de los exámenes suelen ser temas de actualidad y relevancia social.

Hoy vamos a traducir el texto y, además, vamos a hacer dos tareas más: por un lado, tenéis que completar 5 huecos con 5 frases que os dejo a continuación. Por otro lado, tendréis que completar 8 frases con 8 palabras, nada más.  

Vamos a la tarea.

CÓDIGOS DE COLORES:

AZUL: Traducciones.

ROJO: Aspectos gramaticales.

VERDE: Aspectos culturales.

NARANJA: Estructuras concatenadas

MORADO: Traducción y sinónimos, antónimos, etc.

Amarillo: Palabras con trampa.

Os dejo una plantilla para que, sobre la marcha, podáis ir completando con sinónimos, antónimos, etc -si los sabéis- así como el significado de cada palabra. Espero que os sea de utilidad. Pinchad aquí para descargarla.

A Plastic Ocean is a film to make you think. Think, and then act. We need to take action on our dependence on plastic. We've been producing plastic in huge quantities since the 1940s. Drink bottles, shopping bags, toiletries and even clothes are made with plastic. 1) _____. What happens to all the rest? This is the question the film A Plastic Ocean answers. It is a documentary that looks at the impact that plastic waste has on the environment. Spoiler alert: the impact is devastating.

The film begins as a journey to film the largest animal on the planet, the blue whale. But during the journey the filmmakers (journalist Craig Leeson and environmental activist Tanya Streeter) make the shocking discovery of a huge, thick layer of plastic floating in the middle of the Indian Ocean. 2) _____. In total, they visited 20 locations around the world during the four years it took them to make the film. The documentary premiered in 2016, and is now on streaming services such as Netflix.

It's very clear that a lot of research went into the film. There are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life. 3) _____. We see how marine species are being killed by all the plastic we are dumping in the ocean. The message about our use of plastic is painfully obvious.

Pincha en este enlace para descargarte unos apuntes realmente buenos sobre la voz pasiva, que ya va tocando. Incluye un total de 17 ejercicios que iremos haciendo hasta final de curso. Para hoy, deberás traducir el siguiente cuadro:

https://inglescarmelitaslb.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/the-passive-voice1.pdf

4) _____. In the second half, the filmmakers look at what we can do to reverse the tide of plastic flowing around the world. They present short-term and long-term solutions. These include avoiding plastic containers and 'single-use' plastic products as much as possible. Reuse your plastic bags and recycle as much as you can. The filmmakers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes, and look at how technology is developing that can convert plastic into fuel.

We make a staggering amount of plastic. In terms of plastic bags alone, we use five hundred billion worldwide annually. Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, and at least 8 million of those are dumped into the oceans. 5) _____. Once you've seen A Plastic Ocean, you'll realise the time is now and we all have a role to play.

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading/upper-intermediate-b2/a-plastic-ocean-a-film-review

Saludos.

Text nº 14: Cold, heat, fires, hurricanes and tornadoes: The year in weather disasters. 19 de diciembre de 2021

Buenas tardes, estimada familia IPEP #inglésipep #ingléspagsypau (en Twitter).

Bueno, pues hoy día 22 de diciembre, recién 'modernizados' químicamente en un museo tristemente vacío junto al tranvía inexistente de Jaén, vamos a por la última traducción del trimestre. De nuevo, vamos a usar para la clase de hoy un texto del periódico The Washtington Post.

The Washington Post. Democracy dies in Darkness

Cold, heat, fires, hurricanes and tornadoes: The year in weather disasters.

Vicious wind and tornadoes put a deadly exclamation point on the end of an extraordinary year for extreme weather in the United States.

Earlier in 2021, Texas froze and Seattle roasted. Parts of California flooded, burned, then flooded again. A hurricane that slammed Louisiana was so waterlogged that its remnants inundated New York City. A blizzard hit Hawaii.

The weather was wilder than usual this year, and the reasons vary, climate experts say.

Crazy cold snap? Giant hail? December tornadoes? Those happen now and then on a planet with natural variations in weather patterns.

But evidence increasingly shows that historic heat waves, monster rain events and ultra-intense storms are exacerbated by the warmer air and water of our overheating planet.

“The only two truisms when it comes to extremes in climate change are that almost everywhere: The hot hots are getting hotter and more frequent, and the wet wets are getting wetter and more frequent,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA who specializes in the relationship between climate change and weather.

The year began with what Swain might call a “wetter wet” against the backdrop of a year-long drought, and it just got weirder from there.

JANUARY

California floods amid drought

For five days late in late January, California had water thrown at its mouth.

Much of the West’s water comes from atmospheric rivers, which are like fast-moving, airborne conveyor belts that shuttle moisture from the Pacific to the West Coast about a dozen times a year. They are notoriously unpredictable and are often described as giant fire hoses in the sky.

FEBRUARY

Deadly cold in Texas

It was strolling-around-the-neighborhood weather in much of Texas for the first week of February. Then the next week, frigid Arctic air stretched drastically far south and obliterated low-temperature records from North Dakota to Mexico.

MARCH, APRIL AND MAY

Supersized storms

In spring, violently rotating thunderstorms called supercells are common across the country as cold and warm air masses meet and dance around each other.

But the three supercells that struck Alabama and Georgia in late March were notable for their power and endurance. All three spun out tornadoes and lasted several hours. One cell traveled more than 400 miles through four states.

JUNE

Otherworldly heat

Beginning in mid-June, a blanket of unprecedented hot air spread over the typically mild Pacific Northwest, an event scientists say was “virtually impossible” without climate change.

The culprit was an alarmingly strong heat dome, a sprawling mass of high pressure and hot air that muscles out any cooling systems that come near it. And its sheer power rattled experts who study heat waves all the time.

AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER

Smoke and a string of hurricanes

As Dixie and other large fires across the West continued to belch smoke into the atmosphere, plenty of precipitation was on its way to the other side of the country.

By mid-August, tropical storms and hurricanes had queued up in the Atlantic.

Tropical Storm Fred was first in line of the August storms, rolling through the Florida Panhandle and causing deadly flooding in North Carolina.

Then came three days during which Tropical Storm Henri made a rare Rhode Island landfall and drenched New England while unrelated storms caused catastrophic flooding in North Carolina and a freak deluge in Tennessee.

Hurricanes have always occurred, but models indicate that warmer temperatures combined with unchecked greenhouse emissions may make hurricanes wetter, stronger and more likely to veer toward North America.

To be continued.

Texto nº 11 para traducir. What will the weather be like? 1 de diciembre de 2021

Buenas tardes, estimada familia IPEP #inglésipep #ingléspagsypau (en Twitter).

Foto de @mmolpor Caminos de Segovia.

CÓDIGOS DE COLORES:

AZUL: Traducciones.

ROJO: Aspectos gramaticales.

VERDE: Aspectos culturales.

NARANJA: Estructuras concatenadas

MORADO: Traducción y sinónimos, antónimos, etc.

Amarillo: Palabras con trampa.

Os dejo una plantilla para que, sobre la marcha, podáis ir completando con sinónimos, antónimos, etc y los significados. Espero que os sea de utilidad. Pinchad aquí para descargarla.

WHAT WILL THE WEATHER BE LIKE?

Michael and Victoria live in Australia and are planning a trip to the United States. They are flying to Miami, New York and Alaska and they don't know what the weather is going to be like.

Victoria looks at the weather channel on the Internet. She finds out that in New York it will be partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. The high will be around 80F with East Northeast winds of 15 to 25 mph. 

"I find that the temperature is surprisingly high for this time of the year in New York", Victoria says to Michael.

"For Miami I suppose we'll have to pack our bathing suits", Michael adds.

"It seems like we aren't going to be very lucky. The weather forecast for Miami is as follows" says Victoria "Sunny with cloudy intervals. High of 57F. Winds South, 5 to 10 mph."

"What? Only 57F? That's very low. I can't believe it. That temperature can't be right for Miami. Besides it's going to be windy."

"Yeah" agreed Victoria. "It seems like we'll have to take our bathing suits for New York instead of for Miami. And, remember, later we'll go to Juneau, Alaska." 

"Yes, that's going to be very cold. Right?", asks Michael.

Foto de Wikipedia

"Let me see. I will check it on the weather channel again. It says: Juneau, Alaska. Overcast with rain showers at times. Temperatures in the mid to upper 30s. Winds East Southeast, 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%."

"Brrr...that's going to be very cold. I think I'd rather go to the Caribbean. I want to enjoy a hot climate, sunny skies and no thunderstorms."

"There are also thunderstorms in the Caribbean", says Victoria.

"Yes, I know, but that's only from May to June and September to October."

"Shall we change our tickets then?", asks Victoria.

Foto de Wikepedia

Texto cogido de CREA, TEMA 1, PAU.

Vocabulario básico: puedes descargarlo aquí.

@mmolpor

Texto nº 10 para traducir: Underbrush and pine trees are a problem. 1 de diciembre de 2021

 Buenas tardes, estimada familia IPEP #inglésipep #ingléspagsypau (en Twitter).

Foto de @mmolpor Caminos de Segovia.

CÓDIGOS DE COLORES:

AZUL: Traducciones.

ROJO: Aspectos gramaticales.

VERDE: Aspectos culturales.

NARANJA: Estructuras concatenadas

MORADO: Traducción y sinónimos, antónimos, etc.

Amarillo: Palabras con trampa.

Os dejo una plantilla para que, sobre la marcha, podáis ir completando con sinónimos, antónimos, etc y los significados. Espero que os sea de utilidad. Pinchad aquí para descargarla.

Underbrush and pine trees are a problem

The mountain town of Canton is at an elevation of 6,000 feet, the highest in the area. It is surrounded by thick underbrush and pine trees. Because of six years of drought, these plants are a major fire hazard. Thousands of trees and tons of underbrush are going to be removed over the next five years at a minimum cost of $3 million. The brush is going to be removed first, then the trees are going to be cut down and removed. A cleared nonflammable area will then safely surround the town of 4,000.

Residents look forward to the work, because it will help their town survive a future forest fire. "But there are two problems," said one resident. "All the extra trucks are going to make traffic pretty bad. Once the area is cleared, we have to make sure dirt bikers don't try to make the cleared area their personal playground."

A recent fire burned 4,000 acres and destroyed 11 homes in nearby Hamilton. The fire was raging toward Canton, but a sudden rainstorm put it out. Residents know that they won't get lucky twice, so they are hoping this massive clearing operation will avoid a worse result in the future.

Ninety percent of the cutting and clearing are going to be paid for with federal funds . Unfortunately, if the trees are on private property, they must be paid for by the residents themselves. Prices can range as high as $1,000 to cut down and remove one tree. Officials say that residents can apply for state and federal loans if necessary. 

"Well, what good does that do me?" asked Thelma, a 65-year-old widow. "I'm living on social security. I've got four trees on my property. The government's not going to loan me money when they know there's no way I can pay it back. So what am I supposed to do? These planners with all their big ideas ought to think of the little people."

Texto cogido de CREA, unidad 1, PAU.

Saludos.