Table of contents for No 455 in Speak Up

Many countries have their own fried chicken recipes1: the Japanese have Tatsuta-age, the Senegalese chicken yassa, the Italians pollo fritto, and the Austrians Weiner Backhendl. The most famous fried chicken in the world, however2, is American-style and associated with the Southern United States. This delicious, crispy3 and affordable4 dish is now so popular globally that three of the five fastest-growing5 restaurant franchises6 in the world are fried chicken chains7. So, who do we have to thank for the lucrative recipe? DEEP-FRYING TRADITION American-style fried chicken was perfected and popularised by slaves8 who worked in American kitchens from the 17th to the 19th century. Some food historians have traced9 its roots10 back to their origin in West Africa, where it was a traditional dish. Other experts believe that the recipe might…

The brilliant physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking died on 14 March 2018, aged seventy-six, after living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)1 for more than fifty years. The illness slowly paralysed him, finally leaving him helpless2 in a wheelchair, able to communicate only through a speech-generating device3 with an American accent — which he hated. His insights4 shaped modern cosmology and inspired global audiences in their millions. ECCENTRIC FAMILY Hawking came from a highly intelligent, eccentric family. At mealtimes5, everyone ate while reading books. The family travelled in a converted London taxi. Hawking was called ‘Einstein’ at school. In 1965, aged just twenty-three, while studying at Cambridge University for his mathematics PhD6, he was diagnosed with an early-onset7, slow-progressing form of ALS and given only two years to live. HARD TIMES…

CULTUREEXERCISES IN Work It Out! Born in 1818, Emily Jane Brontë was the fifth of six children brought up in the small town of Haworth, Yorkshire, where their father was an Anglican parson1. Motherless2 from infancy3, Emily was sent to Cowan Bridge School with her sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte, but was taken out of school after her two eldest sisters became ill with tuberculosis and died. The rest of Emily’s early education took place mostly at home. HIGHLY SENSITIVE Painfully shy4, Emily was often completely unable5 to speak if addressed in public. After she completed her schooling, she tried teaching in another town, but the job proved such a strain6 and she was so homesick7 that she became ill. She spent the rest of her life at home, looking…

CURRENT AFFAIRSEXERCISES IN Work It Out! For over four decades, the Mediterranean Sea has been a major crossing route for migrants hoping for a better and safer life in Europe. In recent years, the majority of these people have come from Africa or the Middle East – mainly Côte d’Ivoire1, Guinea and Tunisia, but they also come from as far away as Bangladesh and Pakistan. Many are what are legally called ‘refugees’, people who have been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster. DANGEROUS WATERS Migrants make the crossing from North Africa to Europe on overcrowded2 and unseaworthy3 boats, many of which capsize4 or deflate5. Besides the dangers of the journey, especially the risk of drowning6 or dehydration, migrants are targeted7 by unscrupulous…

SCIENCEEXERCISES IN Work It Out!The Guardian Es la droga legal más consumida y aceptada, un lubricante social de una importancia histórica y cultural innegable. Pero a pesar de que ha sido objeto de innumerables estudios y de sus evidentes efectos negativos en nuestra salud, todavía existen numerosos mitos que desmentir y datos que verificar. Birds do it, when they eat berries1 that have fermented in the first frost2. Bees do it, when they suck on tree sap3, and “many kinds of monkeys”, noted Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man, “have a strong taste for4 spirituous liquors.” There is evidence that humans were brewing5 their own booze6 even before the wheel caught on7, but how much do we know about how it works on our brains and bodies? Well, quite…

Released on 13 January 2023, the song Flowers by American recording artist Miley Cyrus is the biggest-selling single of the year so far. It topped1 the charts in over forty countries and broke2 several streaming records. It is probably not a coincidence that the release date is also the birthday of Miley Cyrus’ ex-husband, the Australian actor Liam Hemsworth. While Cyrus hasn’t yet3 confirmed it, fans have interpreted the song as the story of her breakup4. The song references the Bruno Mars hit When I Was Your Man, which, it is said5, Hemsworth once dedicated to Miley. However, while Mars’ song is filled with regret6, Flowers is more liberating and champions self-empowerment7. In the first verse, in the past simple, Cyrus looks back on her relationship, including a time when…

To be in dire straits’ means that you are in a very serious situation. ‘Dire’ means ‘dangerous’, while a ‘strait’ is a narrow passage of water connecting two large stretches of water, such as the Gibraltar Straits. Straits can be dangerous to cross as the water can be rough. The phrase ‘in desperate straits’ or simply ‘in straits’ dates back at least to medieval times. In 1888, the Scottish explorer Joseph Thomson used ‘dire straits’ in a story about his travels in Africa. The saying was popularised by US president Franklin D. Roosevelt in a 1933 speech; he used it as a metaphor for the situation America was in as a consequence of the financial crash of 1929. In 1978 a British rock band calling themselves Dire Straits released an…

ARTÍCULOS POR NIVELES Todos nuestros artículos se presentan con un código de color para indicar el nivel de dificultad del inglés empleado de acuerdo con la Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. 1. A2 PRE-INTERMEDIATEB1 LOWER INTERMEDIATEB2 UPPER INTERMEDIATEC1 ADVANCEDC2 PROFICIENCY GLOSARIO Encontrarás el vocabulario más relevante de cada artículo indicado con un número en el color correspondiente a su nivel de dificultad y su traducción en el glosario adjunto. A towering1 figure in British history, Queen Victoria was actually a diminutive figure, just one metre fifty EXPLAINS Los textos subrayados en amarillo indican que la frase requiere de una explicación más extensa, como referencias históricas o culturales, frases hechas, proverbios o argot. Encontrarás la explicación al final del artículo. SPEAK UP IN CLASS Cada mes Speak Up ofrece…

The 1969 pilot of the now-iconic British comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus ended in a sketch called “The funniest joke in the world”. In it, a man invents a joke so funny that he literally dies laughing. During the Second World War, the joke is used by the British military as a deadly1 weapon. It proves extremely effective, even in translation, wiping out2 scores3 of Nazis while Allied forces protect themselves by covering their ears. A REVOLUTIONARY ACT Laughter4 is usually thought to be beneficial to our health. Laughing can be a coping5 strategy at times of crisis, while laughter therapy and laughter yoga are both based on the belief6 that humour has physiological and psychological benefits. What makes us laugh is subjective, however. Finding one joke that everyone…

PEOPLE EXERCISES IN Work It Out! Born in New York on 22 April 1904, the boy who would one day be known as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ was the son of affluent1 German Jewish immigrants. A lonely child with a love of minerals, Julius Robert Oppenheimer corresponded2 so eloquently with the New York Mineralogical Club that they invited him to give a lecture3, unaware4 that he was just twelve at the time. POLYMATH In 1925 Oppenheimer graduated in chemistry from Harvard University, but was drawn to5 physics in Cambridge in the UK and then in Göttingen in Germany, one of the world’s leading centres for theoretical physics. Returning to the US, he worked at the University of California and the California Institute of Technology, conducting research in many…

BOOKSEXERCISES IN Work It Out! A product of the public education system, American writer and activist Rebecca Solnit has explored issues1 such as history, social movements and the human response to catastrophic events with a distinctly feminist perspective. Born in 1961 to a Jewish father and an Irish Catholic mother, she grew up in California, in a home where gender violence regularly occurred. MANSPLAINING Solnit graduated from San Francisco State University and received a Master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. In the 1980s, she was already involved in environmental and human rights campaigns. Her interests became increasingly more focused on the anti-war movement, climate change and, especially, violence against women. With the release2 of her essay3 Men Explain Things to Me, she gained credit for identifying…

Happy Birthday, Zon!” said Ryla, holding up her Electric Cocktail, which was the specialty at this resort. But Zon was too distracted to respond. He was staring1 at their server2. “Is that a human server?” he asked, stupefied. “It certainly is,” said Ryla. “I told you this place was special.” “Incredible,” said Zon. All service workers had been replaced3 by AI centuries ago, even before what modern civilisation referred to as the New Dawn4, an event that had occurred around the year 2100 and that had transformed life on earth. Zon was a curator at a museum dedicated to exploring pre-New-Dawn era, and he was obsessed with life in the 21st century. He held up his Fon now to capture images of the server as a hologram to show his…

Watch any sporting competition today and it’s hard to believe that until about forty years ago the “high five” simply didn’t exist! Although1 there are different versions of the origins of this instantly recognisable — but very American — gesture of greeting2 / celebration, many believe that the first-ever3 high five happened during a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. BASEBALL It was 2 October 1977 and the last game of the season. Dusty Baker, a star player for the Dodgers, had just hit4 a home run5. To celebrate, he rushed6 towards7 his teammates8, where the first person to meet him was player Glenn Burke, who raised9 his right arm with an open hand. Baker automatically reached up10 and hit Burke’s hand: “It seemed like…

CULTUREEXERCISES IN Work It Out! There are many dates associated with the founding of the United States, but the most famous is 4 July. This was the date in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was issued1. Celebrated every year as a federal holiday, Independence Day, or simply the Fourth of July, is considered to be the birth2 date of the nation. We hold 20 these truths to be self-evident 21 , that all men are created equal, that they are endowed 22 by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness 23 . A REVOLUTIONARY ACT The Declaration of Independence was not legally binding3, but it is still one of…

ENTERTAINMENT EXERCISES IN Work It Out! In 1981 a movie was released1 that shook up2 the academic world; archaeologists, anthropologists and other scholars3 found their decades of discipline potentially rewarded4 with a secret life of excitement and adventure! The film, Raiders5 of the Lost Ark, introduced Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr.: a university professor who spends his free time stealing sacred artefacts from ancient burial sites6. The excuse: that he was outwitting7 more malevolent rivals, including Nazis, Stalinists or the terrifying Monkey King. INDIANA JONES AND… George Lucas created Indiana Jones in the 1970s. He took the idea to director Steven Spielberg, who wanted actor Harrison Ford (Han Solo in 1977 movie Star Wars) in the role. Lucas and Spielberg signed a five-movie deal with Paramount Pictures. After Raiders…

Yorkshire is the biggest county in Britain. It stretches1 across the north of England, from the North Sea coast in the east to the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester in the west. Among its big cities are York in the centre, Hull in the east, Sheffield in the south and Leeds and Bradford to the west. But it is the rugged2 rural landscapes of Yorkshire that really define its character, as well as that of its inhabitants. RURAL LANDSCAPES Rural Yorkshire can be roughly3 divided into six zones: in the northeast, the North York Moors4 have high moorland and remote valleys that stretch to the North Sea cliffs5 on the coast. South from there is the gentle countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds6. Go west to the central Vale…

Published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, Wuthering Heights1 is Emily Brontë’s only novel. It describes the stormy2 relationship between a man called Heathcliff and the love of his life, Catherine Earnshaw. Their tale3 is told through a complex narrative comprising4 the observations of an outsider, the reminiscences of an old housekeeper5, excerpts6 from a diary, plus7 accounts8 of dreams or hauntings9. A REVELATORY DIARY Mr. Lockwood is a wealthy visitor to the Yorkshire moors10 who has rented a large house called Thrushcross Grange11 . Lockwood decides to visit his landlord12, Heathcliff, at his home, Wuthering Heights. The name ‘Wuthering’ is a Yorkshire term meaning ‘characterised by strong, blustery13 winds’. Lockwood’s reception is as chilly14 as the climate, but a wild blizzard15 forces him to stay overnight16. Unable to…

Good afternoon, sir! Can I bother you for a donation? I’m in a bit of a hurry1. What’s it for? We’re collecting on behalf of a sea rescue operation. Do you work for them, then? Oh no, we’re all volunteers. Happy to raise funds in our spare time. And what kind of organisation are they? They’re a charity2, sir, an NGO. They mainly help refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. They do good work and save thousands of people every year. That sounds admirable. What’s the usual donation? You can give whatever3 you like or, better still, you can make regular payments via credit card or direct debit. It’s all explained in this leaflet4. Well, it sounds like a good cause. Here’s a fiver. I’ll read the leaflet when…