Fede85

Exercice 3, Complete the letter: (march 11th 2011) Returning the works of art to their legitimate owners would lead **to the death of this kind of trade** and every country **would** be able to manage its works of art by itself. Nevertheless this new regulation **will** probably turn out to be a real loss for most of the museums all over the world, which **would** be forced to reduce their spaces or to close pemanently, whereas the black market of art **would** keep on branching out, allowing unscrupulous rich men to buy priceless works just because of their vanity and exhibitionism.

Best regards, a faithful reader.

Exercice7, Write a letter: (15 march 2011)

Federica, the formatting of this got lost when I saved it but I think you can understand the corrections if you click on Modifica and then look below the text. AP

Dear Madam or Sir,

 I would like to **take** the opportunity to comment **on** the issue raised by Henry Reid-Streebling, who strongly complained about the current behaviour of teenagers. First of all he is not completely wrong IN [A2]  declaring that family values have changed for the worse. In the past the families were strictly managed, in addition time was considered [A3]  a really valuable resource and nobody was allowed to waste it. The most important values were work and order, **the** children feared their parents and never dared to show disrespect to them.  Today order ** seems to be an out-dated value ** [A4] , indeed the teenagers believe they can do whatever they want and what is worse they do not respect anything OR ANYONE. At home they demand to be served and they are not used to facing up to their responsibilities.  The blame game is completely useless because **it is clear that the family is responsible for** ** [A5]  ** this situation. Teenagers' behaviour is 90% determined by the way they have been raised by their parents and nowadays families are extremely permissive and overprotective; most **of the** parents seem unable to discipline their children, who turn out to be rude, selfish, megalomaniac young people. Therefore we could infer that families **spoil** [A6]  their children **a bit** but actually it is worse than so**, as a matter of fact** parents even protect them from their duties and responsibilities. They feel protected and consequently justified to do what they want, without caring **about** [A7]  the effects of their behaviour, sometimes they do not even realize **what these consequences are**  [A8]. For instance a boy in Italy **ran** [A9]  away after causing an accident thinking he had killed some people. Personally I described him as a coward, in fact he preferred **to escape** [A10]  from a difficult situation instead of doing something, and he preferred **to die**  [A11]  of cold instead of admitting guilt. In conclusion I firmly believe that the families should not spoil their children and that there should be more discipline in their education. What is more, respect and responsibility should be the first values taught.

Thank you in advance for your attention, Yours faithfully, Nardi B. Federica

[A1] Wrong collocation

[A2] Change preposition

[A3] To be

[A4] What do you mean here? Rather an overstatement I think – it’s in my dictionaries!

[A5] Repsonisble cannot be used as a noun in English – can you rephrase this please?

[A6] Is it acceptable to spoil children a bit? I don’t think we can use ‘excessively’ here…

[A7] preposition

[A8] what these consequences are

[A9] tense?

[A10] Verb form

[A11] infinitivE

TABLE MANNERS Economically speaking, (WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS? WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ECONOMICS?) culture is represented by a series of aspects including language, nonverbal communication, religion, time and space management etc., but more generally it pertains to behavior. Everyday's behavior shows the others ones cultural affiliation, and table manners, which are often omitted from the discussion around culture, could be a very interesting issue to delve into. We are all very susceptible to the way the other people behave at the table, and when we hear a teacher or an expert say "Acceptable table manners should be required in every family" we instinctively agree. Indeed nobody would like to see anybody chewing food with **AN** open mouth or making a nasty noise while eating the supper. However table manners may (AFTER VERB) change **radically **<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">from **ONE** <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">a country to another, and what is acceptable or ignored in one place can be completely forbidden in another. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">In Italy<span style="color: #ff0700; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;"> the housewives HOSTS tend to fill a guest's plate with plenty of food and it would be very impolite to leave something of your meal; the same happens in **THE** Philippines, India and Brazil, where not only DOES leaving food<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">**?** on the plate give<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">s a negative impression but<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;"> the hands should always be washed before eating. In Russia, on the other hand, leaving a little food on the plate is judged to be a sign of appreciation and a guest should expect another helping of food (WHEN? IF THEY CLEAR THEIR PLATE?). <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">In northern America, Europe and Chile <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">the soup must be eaten noiselessly and in most western and eastern countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Afghanistan it is forbidden to talk with **A** full mouth. Thus we could infer that this is a rule generally shared all over the world. Furthermore, giving the best food to the guest is another very common practice and<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;"> the compliments to the host are generally well **RECEIVED** valued. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">In many African countries, people eat with the right hand and without cutlery; this is a typical feature **OF** <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">belonging to Muslim societies, where the right hand is used to eat and to interact with people while the left hand pertains to bodily functions. Muslim countries usually say grace before eating. In the past this practice was usual in Catholic countries too but recently it has become dated. In Afghanistan as well, the use of cutlery depends on the culture of each person and if **A** <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">the spoon is not available, <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">the soup is eaten by soaking bread in it and some slices of bread are used to collect the food which remains in the plate. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Placing the elbows on the table, which is forbidden by the more classical etiquette, is **GENERALLY** <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">quite ignored in Italy while in some countries such as Great Britain, France, Philippines and Chile IT is considered to be rude. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">In Japan, China and other eastern countries cutlery doesn't even exist and food is eaten by using <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">the chopsticks. In Japan <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">the soup is (AFTER VERB) "drunk" **<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">directly **<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">from the bowl and what is more it is obligatory not to make any noise when drinking it. On the other hand, making a slurping noise while eating some kind of hot noodles is encouraged, owing to a popular belief according to which this could improve their flavour. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Chinese table manners are a bit more strict and<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;"> the etiquette is extremely important, since correct table manners are believed to bring "luck". The guest is normally the first one to start the meal and he is given the best food in the dish, besides, he is expected to pay compliments to the hostess and to **PAY** take on the bill when eating out. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Chopsticks are not toys and they should not be used to point at another person, moreover it is improper to stick the chopsticks vertically in the bowl because it means that the food is for the dead; in contrast, in Japan this practice implies that this food is an offer for God. <span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">To sum up, we **CAN SAY** could affirm that some basic rules about table manners are shared by most <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">of the countries, however this must not let us presume that we can behave as we like at a foreigner's table. In fact many business meetings end<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">ed in a complete failure due to the guest's ignorance about the most important table manners, who irreparably-and unconsciously- offend<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-decoration: line-through;">ed their host.

<span style="color: #6300ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Answers: 1. Explain Roland G. Fryer’s plan for improving the performance of students in New York schools. The economist Roland Fryer had the idea of giving a reward in money to the students who prove to be successful at school, what is more the award can BE AS MUCH AS reach 500 $ in a year. THE DOLLAR SIGN GOES BEFORE THE NUMBER. 2. What is the first assumption of Fryer’s plan? According to Fryer, people are extremely susceptible to incentives, therefore, in order to make people do something, we should give them something in exchange for it. 3. What is the second assumption of his plan? The second assumption of Fryer’s plan pertains to the possibility that people will probably do better and better if they receive more than one incentive. 4. What motivates people to learn according to the author of the text? There are intrinsic motivations that push us to learn, first of all the pleasure of learning itself, besides this the discovery of new worlds, the personal growth and the possibility of doing better and better in order to enter the best colleges and having (OR HAVE??) a great career. 5. Why does the author claim that Fryer’s assumptions are false? Because the experts have known for more than 30 years that the incentives may have a negative influence on the other motivations which make a person do something, and consequently they may decrease their importance. 6. Explain how the first experiment with nursery school children was conducted? In the nursery school, children were requested to draw using special crayons and later some of them received a gift as “good player”. When the crayons were given out again, the ones who had been awarded showed a decreased interest in the activity. 7. Why were the result of this experiment a good illustration of the point tha author is making? Because the way children behave is the same as adults’ WHY THE APOSTROFE? THIS IS PLURAL NOT POSSESSIVE ISN'T IT?, who are not willing to work better unless they receive something like a gift or an award, SO then it is necessary to give them a reason to do something better. 8. In the second experiment, conducted in Swizerland, there were two competing incentives:what were they? In the experiment conducted in Swizerland the two competing incentives were an interesting A SIGNIFICANT (INTERESTING IS A FALSE FRIEND HERE) annual sum of money on THE ONE HAND one side, and the importance of being good Swiss citizens on the other. As a matter of fact people were asked to put a nuclear waste dump in their area in exchange for a sum of money. 9. What was surprising about the out come of the second experiment? The surprising thing about the second experiment is that people refused the money because this choice would affect their patriotism and their responsibility as good citizens. In contrast, they would accept a nuclear waste dump without receiving any money, being only content with a reduction in property values. WELL i DON'T SUPPOSE ANYONE WOULD BE CONTENT WITH A FALL IN PROPERTY VALUES BUT PRESUMABLY THEY WOULD PUT UP WITH IT AS THEY FELT IT WAS THEIR DUTY AS GOOD CITIZENS. 10. In conclusion, the author is opposed to fryer’s plan for new York’s schools; explains why. According to the author, this plan will have negative consequences in the future because students will probably work less, and they will be less interested and productive, if they aren’t paid or they don’t receive a gift in exchange for their work.

Generally fine but you still haven't got the hang of the use of the article in English - keep trying!!