http://www.lafragola.it
PILLS
Raccolta di articoli in inglese scritti dalla
Classe 2 A
Anno scolastico 2004 – 2005
Prof. Enrica Puppo
INDEX
INDEX
IRENE ARVIGO
SILVIA GATTI
3
DEHYDRATION
23 MODERN BALLAD SINGERS
4
EASTER GIFTS
24 UFO AND SCIENCE
5
DRINKING DANGER
25 A THOUSAND ONE NIGHT
6
ROSES & ST. VALENTINE’S DAY
26 GENETICALLY MODIFIED CATS
MARTA BISSO
7
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE RADIO
LAURA BOBBIO
8
28 ANNA KONDA
29 A MARS’ SHARE ON THE EARTH
WARM IS COMING
FEDERICA CARRARO
9
27 THE PORTABLE DOG
AN INCREDIBLE FINDING
GIORGIA CASELLA
10 CHILDREN SUE THEIR PARENTS
GIULIA CIOCCA
VALERIA OLIVARI
30 GREAT BRITAIN CELEBRATES ITS SEA
31 MOBILE PHONES ARE NOT DANGEROUS
VALENTINA OLIVERI
32 CALIPARI’ S CASE IS STILL OPEN
11 BLACK HOLES
12 CRINOIDS AMBIENT SENTRIES
13 GREY WHALES
VALENTINA CONTI
ZAIRA PAPARELLA
33 A LITTLE GENIUS COMMITS SUICIDE
34 A MOTORBIKE ACCIDENT
16 A WHALE FOR THE XI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
17 CORK, EUROPEAN CULTURE CAPITAL
18 SHARKS SLAUGHTER IN THE GALAPAGOS
GIULIA DE PAOLIS
35
36
37
38
39
40
19 MORE PIRATES ATTACKS
NICOLE FERRARI
41
20 TAI PEI 101
21 TRAGEDY IN TOKIO
22 THE POPULATION ON THE EARTH
ALESSIA SCHIRRU
46 CARONIA THE TOWN OF MYSTERIES
47 ROMANENGO
48 PIANO MAN
49 THE PIPER
VERONICA SIRI
50 ARRESTED IN EGYPT THE ORGANIZERS
OF THE MASSACRE
51 CHILDREN AMONG FLAMES
52 BRIDGET JONES HAS SAID “YES”
GIULIA TABBI’
53 “A SIMPLE HUMBLE WORKER” POPE
BENEDICT VXI
54 VIDEOMUSIC
ALICE TIEGHI
55 URBAN TRIBES
14 A NEW POPE MOBILE
15 A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS
JESSICA PAOLA SALCESI
45 FEWER BIRTHS
42
43
44
LUCREZIA RINALDI
THE AVIATOR
HIV VACCINE
OGM
GREEN DAY
SYSTEM OF A DOWN
KURT COBAIN’ S LAST DAYS
ILARIA ROSSI
CAN EYES REVEAL THE MURDER’ S
IDENTITY
A MASSACRE IN MINNESOTA
STRANGE BOMB-DISPOSAL EXPERT
TUTANKHAMON HAS A FACE
56 HEALTH EDUCATION
57 HIP HOP…..A DIRTY DANCE?
SARA TULLO
58 THE THIEF WAS SHARP ENOUGH
59 SAVED BY A DOG
60 A PARTICULAR THIEF
ERIKA ZUMERLE
61 AIRBUS 380
62 FAIRY TALES
63 MARS AND THE EARTH
64
THE FIRST ECOLOGICAL MOTORBIKE
DEHYDRATION
IRENE ARVIGO
When High Temperature Is an Enemy.
In order to help one’s thermoregulation we need to drink two litres of water per day, but
we must pay attention to sugared drinks and we have to keep a special eye to old people and
children as regards dehydration!
When there is hot temperature and high humidity our thermoregulation system is under
pressure in order to keep our body temperature even.
Sweating, we loose water and mineral salts till we get the typical symptoms of dehydration:
thirst, tiredness, muscular weakness, arterial pressure problems. Also our reins can face a
difficult situation working with a poor water quantity .
That is the reason why we need to drink more or less two litres of water even if we are not
thirsty. Fruit juices are not very useful because they contain sugar and the same increases
our level of calories. We have absolutely to avoid alcoholic drinks even if they are cold. The
best way to re-hydrate is eating fruit and vegetables because they contain 80% liquids and
mineral salts.
EASTER GIFTS
IRENE ARVIGO
Statistics say that over 1 ton of chocolate is going to be produced for next Easter.
This wide quantity of chocolate is used to make chocolate eggs, chocolates, sweets and cakes.
Interviews tell us that people prefer to present chocolate eggs instead of chocolates. For children the
best gift is Winnie Pooh’s chocolate egg with a great surprise inside, but also Pokemon, Kinder and
Barbie’s eggs are the most wanted.
There are also many other things to present. For example the most modern creations are chocolate
flowers! Well, please, think about presenting a bunch of chocolate flowers to your loved one... it is an
unforgettable and good gift! Or, if a relative of yours is a mechanic or a carpenter you can present him
or her a chocolate tool, for example: a chocolate hammer!
It is really similar to the real one but surely... sweeter!
We have also to consider that chocolate is a very good food for everybody because it is sweet and
tasty. It has also an important role for our health: it is a natural medicine against tumours and it is not
so disgusting as many medicines are! You can eat it, but with moderation!
Anyway, Happy Easter to everybody!
DRINKING DANGER
IRENE ARVIGO
If parents are thinking of offering their teenagers some mulled wine or egg- nog during
Christmas holidays, they should consider the latest study from the University of Buffalo.
Researches have surveyed the drinking habits of 2.200 Americans and found that the
Younger their subjects are when they have their first drink, the more likely they are to
abuse alcohol when adults.
Scientists are even able to quantify the risk: for every year earlier an adolescent starts
drinking, the chances of becoming a problem drinker increase 12%.
They also have found that for the kids who begin drinking as teens, there are more
possibilities to become seriously intoxicated during routine drinking episodes later in life,
probably because they need more alcohol to get high.
Roses & St. Valentine’s Day
IRENE ARVIGO
It’s that time of year again – the time to show your boyfriend / girlfriend how much you love him / her. It’s a well
known fact that every year on
February 14th, the world goes crazy for romantic cards, chocolates, red roses, candle lit dinners.
Worldwide, more than 50 million roses are sold on this day.
The exact origin of Valentine’s Day remains a debated mystery. The red rose has been the potent symbol of
passion and love since the classical age.
Someone believes that its origin derives from St. Valentine, martyred on February 14 th, 270 a. D because he
kept on performing secret marriages against the Emperor Claudius II’ s will.
The tradition of giving flowers on St. Valentine’s Day began in the 17th century and has continued through the
ages. Nowadays giving flowers is a well-known romantic gesture.
But what about trying something a bit different? There is nothing more romantic than buying a gift that is
personally special to you-maybe it represents the flower you had in your wedding bouquet. Tulips, lilies are all
beautifully elegant and can make a lovely surprise.
Or, if you are really looking for something different, you can make a really special surprise in the same way as a
young boy made 3 years ago: he bought 101 roses and using them he wrote “I love you” underneath his
girlfriend’s balcony. She was so happy that decided to accept marrying him.
Another happy ending story took place 2 years ago in Britain on this day. A boy wrote a poster with rose petals
and attached it to four balloons and took it into his girlfriend’s room.
However the most romantic story is an old man’s. He covered his wife’s gift and his house walk from the gate
with red petals, when she came back home she found a love route that took her to her perfumed gift.
…Thank you Cupid for giving us these
wonderful feelings…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE RADIO
MARTA BISSO
On the 10th of March 1975, about 30 years ago, a free radio, RADIO MILANO INTERNATIONAL,
was born. Before, there was only RADIO MONTECARLO, which used to go on air at 7.00 pm.
RADIO MILANO INTERNATIONAL was founded by Nino e Piero Cozzi and Rino Borra, but, a
month later, the police closed it and the three guys were prosecuted. After a short time, they got
free and started the epoch of private radios.
People were enthusiastic because they could phone the radio and ask for their favourite songs,
and this made them happy.
Meanwhile other free radios came out, like in the famous film ”American Graffiti” with its “Lupo
Solitario“(the free radio symbol). Europost, the mail police, made a war against free radios until
1976. After 1976 there were two free radios: RADIO MILANO INTERNATIONAL and RADIO
105. With the programme “Good Morning Vietnam” RADIO MILANO INTERNATIONAL was the
most listened to.
Later, other free radios came out like in 1978, in Milan, RADIO DEEJAY whose first director was
Claudio Cecchetto.
Today RADIO DEEJAY has got about 6 million listeners, its director is Linus and before he was
the deejay OF RADIO MILANO INTERNATIONAL.
WARM IS COMING. HERE ARE THE CONSEQUENCES
LAURA BOBBIO
African warm lies in want. Still a day with some clouds, and then sun and high
temperatures will give Italians a real hors-d’oeuvre of summer.
According to the weather forecast the so-called “African bubble” will take a long period
of sultriness.
Today is still raining, however, from tomorrow the weather will begin to better.
From Wednesday temperatures will increase and, in the cities, the alarm because of
pollution will be released; in fact the levels of pollution are destined to increase and new
precautions about the traffic are not excluded.
With warm the first fires will begin breaking out. Yesterday a big fire-raising has broken
out in Salerno. The material damages are huge, the environmental one incalculable.
AN INCREDIBLE FINDING
FEDERICA CARRARO
Maria, a twenty-six-year-old woman from Padua, has found her
natural mother during a job interview.
The girl was answering her examiner’s questions when she became
aware the psychologist knew a lot of particulars about her. She began
asking the examiner why until the latter revealed that she was her
mother.
The adoptive parents had told Maria about her condition and she has
always tried to find her natural mother.
Unfortunately, the psychologist did not give signs of being particularly
happy of finding her daughter again.
CHILDREN SUE THEIR PARENTS
GIORGIA CASELLA
PARIS – Thousands of parents are taken in tribunal by their children because the pocket
money is too short.
This event is getting to an alarming sum. In fact 2000 out of 400,000 familiar cases are
about children against their parents.
There is a famous article in the civil code that says: “Parents must feed, nourish and
bring up their own children”. All guys appeal to this law to legitimate their requests.
The duty lasts until the children find a steady work and so it is not a simple pocket
money but a real maintenance.
Now if the children win the suit, they will receive the 10% of the month’s salary of their
parents.
BLACK HOLES
ARE THEY EATING STARS?
GIULIA CIOCCA
Certainly, black holes are the most mysterious objects among the enormous fauna living in the
Universe. Nobody has ever seen them, also because they absorb every luminous ray without
letting it out. In fact there is also someone who doubts of their existence.
Nowadays, most scientists believe that they really exist and, indeed, they think at least one of
them is in the middle of almost every galaxy (about ten thousands) that populate the Universe.
Even if black holes are “invisible”, they denounce their presence owing to their very strong
gravitational attraction practised on the surrounding materials that, under the effects of the
enormous acceleration, sends forth X-rays intercepted by radio astronomic instruments and
space probes. The material inside the black hole is extremely compressed: ten stars as big as
the Sun (696.500 Km radius) could become a sphere of 10 Km radius.
Moreover, according to scientists, black holes will become bigger and bigger eating the material
around them.
Michael Merrifield, one of the most famous teachers at Nottingham University, verified this
assumption. “A black hole lives milliards years, so we cannot follow its evolution”, he said and so
he thought to weigh the ones inside 23 galaxies near the Earth.
RESULT: black holes fatten up during their life swallowing everything passing near them, without
being careful to the quality but only to the quantity. They are really bulimic…!
CRINOIDS AMBIENT SENTRIES
GIULIA CIOCCA
To value the quality of coastal water we need a “flower”: the sea lily (Anthedon
Mediterranea). This organism, only apparently a vegetable (it is in fact an invertebrate
echinoderm, that belongs to the class of crinoids), can help us to discover the presence
of very little quantities of Pcb (policlorodifenil): the famous chlorodical compound
(similar to dioxin) that has contaminated the fish fodders coming from Belgium.
Such as other echinoderms (starfish, sea urchin), the Anthedon has extraordinary
regenerating abilities: after spontaneous or traumatic amputations, these animals can
completely and quickly replace one or more arms. However, recent experiments have
demonstrated that pollutants in the water influence regeneration methods; in particular
Pcb, behaving as an “endocrine destroyer” interferes on the hormones that take care of
development.
In a laboratory experiment, the animals have been exposed to a commercial mixture of
chloride.
RESULTS: the regeneration process appears very modified. This confirms that crinoids
are really efficient as “ambient sentries” for our coasts but unfortunately, also that Pcb is
very dangerous for the whole ecosystem.
GREY WHALES
GIULIA CIOCCA
Since remote times, every year the grey whales (Eschrichtius
robustus) of the northern Pacific Ocean, have been crossing
the 8,000 km that separate the Bering Strait, in Alaska, from
the lagoons of California Bay, in Mexico, between autumn and
February.
There, they find the best temperature and salinity to give birth
and raise their young puppies. This species of big cetaceans,
extinct in the Atlantic Ocean, counts about 21.000 specimens
and it has been protected by the International Whaler
Commission since 1937 and by Mexican government since1949.
But now, grey whales are threatened by a serious danger. The
Mexican state society of Exportadora de Sal and the Japanese
multinational Mitsubishi have reached an agreement to realise
inside San Ignacio lagoon, one of the most frequented by
parturient and puerperal whales, the largest salt work of the
world.
According to scientists, the cocktail of noise, salinity
alteration and traffic, could take away grey whales from the
lagoon forever.
A NEW POPE MOBILE
VALENTINA CONTI
Hamburg – Volkswagen is interested in building the new “pope-mobile”, a car
explicitly drawn and built for the Pope. It has been said by the spokesman of
the famous German motor company.
Volkswagen could present this car on the occasion of the Youth Day that will
take place in Cologne from the 15th to the 21st of August 2005. On the Youth
Day, the motor company should be one of the sponsors of the manifestation
and it will show at least 100 cars.
“ If a special car is requested for the Pope – the spokesman has said – we will
build it”. The new “pope-mobile” could be shaped like the latest cars of
Volkswagen: Touareg or Pantheon. They are big cars and so they put up the
Pope comfortably.
John Paul II armoured-plated “pope-mobile” was made by another German motor
Company Mercedes-Benz.
Pope Benedict XVI has already expressed his approval in receiving this
present.
A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS
VALENTINA CONTI
LANZAROTE – The government of the Canary Islands has just
declared the state of emergency in the island of Lanzarote because
of plague of locusts coming from Africa.
Pedro Rodriguez Zaragoza, the minister of agriculture, has
explained that the situation in the other islands is not so alarming
as in Lanzarote, but the insects are going to spread everywhere.
The authorities of the Canaries have started diffusing toxic and
disinfectant substances to limit the invasion. The locusts that
ravaged the cultivations of Central Africa are flying northwards, to
the Mediterranean Sea. They first also plagued the coast of Israel
and Jordan and now they are plaguing the Canaries, especially
Lanzarote.
The fight against the infestation is very difficult because local
authorities do not want to use pesticides because they can kill the
other animals and plants which are very important for the island.
A WHALE
FOR THE XI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VALENTINA CONTI
LOUSANNE – For the first time FINA (The International Swimming Federation) has decided to hold its most
important event in North America. It has chosen Montreal for the prestigious world competition that will take
place from the 17th to the 31st of July 2005.
For the city, the region and the whole province, this competition is a great event with many young athletes
from 160 countries and over 2000 trainers, team officials and athletes competing for top honours in five
disciplines: water polo, open water swimming, diving, swimming and synchronized swimming. Many
volunteers, several hundred thousand visitors and a large number of journalists will also take part in
Montreal 2005.
The mascot of this very important event will be a beluga whale, the symbol of the hospitality of the inhabitants
of St.Lawrence estuary.
Our Italian swimming team, satisfied with the results of the Olympic Games in Athens, wants to repeat its
great results and each athlete wants to better himself. The Italian team aims at winning eight medals in
swimming, four medals in dives from the springboard and two in water polo.
This world championship is the most persuasive demonstration of pure waterpower.
CORK EUROPEAN CULTURE CAPITAL
VALENTINA CONTI
CORK – On the 7th of January a great party took place in Cork
to celebrate the new 2005 European Culture Capital. The city
was invaded by 85.000 people who were present at the opening
ceremony organized by the Irish President Mary Mc Aleese.
In the second city of Ireland for inhabitants, it will be an intense
year and Cork expects musical performances, sporting and
cultural events, theatrical shows and many entertainments.
Many artists from Italy, like Andrea Boccelli, from the
United States and naturally from Ireland will arrive in Cork
and here they are performing. 13,5 millions euros will be spent f
or the performances.
Cork was nominated European Culture Capital in 2002 and
it is the smallest city that has ever had such an honour
Sharks Slaughter the Galapagos
VALENTINA CONTI
QUITO – The Ecuador government has just issued a decree to stop
the shark massacre in the sea of Ecuador and in particular around
the earthly paradise of the Galapagos Islands.
Several ecologist organizations had already reported the murder of
over 200,000 sharks every year but the charge had been taken in
consideration by the Ecuadorian authorities. The fishermen of the
Galapagos catch sharks to sell their fins in Asian markets and,
especially in China and Hong Kong, people pay 100 dollars for a
plate of shark fins soup. After catching the sharks, the fishermen cut
their fins and throw back their bodies into the water to hide any
evidence. Environmentalists and the tourism industry are lobbying
for more protection for sharks also because shark fishing is illegal in
the Galapagos. Sharks are very important for the fauna of the Pacific
Ocean even if they scare tourists and scuba divers who can be
murdered by them.
MORE PIRATES ATTACKS
GIULIA DE PAOLIS
Pirates continue to infest the South-East Asia Sea, but also the African and
Caribbean seas.
The latest attack happened in February in Bangladesh against a sailing boat
that was completely sacked of everything there was on board.
Nowadays pirates' attacks are very frequent. Pirates get on the boats, rob
everything and kill also boat owners. Once upon a time pirates did not do it,
but now things have changed, in fact they attack ships and tankers too.
Pirates can steal easily, and now corsairs have discovered a new business:
they take a ship and ask the ship owners two million dollars, after they
threaten hostages. Sometimes the ship owner pays immediately the ransom in
order to make himself reimbursed by the insurance company.
Unfortunately the number of victims is growing, and the only way to sail
safely is to install actions projectors, noisy sirens of warning and building a
metal electric net placed around the inhabited area of the ship. When
someone touches it, he does not get a mortal shake.
TAI PEI 101
THE KING OF THE SKYSCRAPERS
NICOLE FERRARI
Requested by the president of Taiwan, Taipei 101 is the highest skyscraper in the World. It is
the monument of the city, is 508 m high and 101 floors. It will be inaugurated on December
and 10000 people will work inside it and none of them will have to wait for the elevator for
more than 30 seconds. In fact there are sixty three elevators that take forty seconds to go
from the first floor to the eighty-ninth one. Its garage contains 1839 cars and 2990 motorbikes
and inside the skyscraper there will be pubs, restaurants, a fitness centre, a swimming pool,
a big market and maybe a hotel. In spite of its height it can resist to the wind and a
earthquake thanks to its resistant structure and a big sphere between the eighty-seventh and
the ninety second floor, which balances its movement . It weights 660 t and is 5,5 m large.
On its façade there are some enormous plates and clouds, symbols of happiness.
On the corners there are many dragons, which adorn the building. In Shanghai there is
Another skyscraper, not finished yet, which maybe will be higher than Taipei 101 but the
president of Taiwan is not worried about it: “Anyway Taipei 101 will take us on the top of the
world”.
TRAGEDY IN TOKIO
NICOLE FERRARI
A TRAIN GOES OFF THE RAILS – FIFTY-SIX DEAD PEOPLE
Tokyo - Yesterday’s tragedy in Japan - At 09:18 a train full of commuters
went off the rails crashing into a building. In Anagasaki an industrial district
nearby Osaka, five wagons went off and two crashed into an eighty-floor
building, standing six metres from the rails. The accident caused about sixty
dead people and three hundred wounded ones.
The driver, a twenty three-year-old man, was ninety seconds late, too much in
comparison to the perfect punctuality that is usual in Japan. “It’s incredible!
Putting pressure on a person for such a little time.” Said Ken Tabuchi, a
young American man who has been living and working in Tokio for three
years.
Trains always run at a two minutes distance and the risk of accidents and
blockages is very high.
It is one of the biggest railway disasters in Japan.
THE POPULATION ON THE EARTH
NICOLE FERRARI
One of the biggest problems of the world is the great quantity of people. More than
6,000,000,000 inhabitants and their life conditions are very hard in many parts of the
Earth.
The real danger however is the high rise of population; in poorer countries every woman
has at least four children. This is due to their bad conditions and very little information.
There are three possible solutions to better this critical situation:
The developed countries could teach how to use contraceptives.
Sanitary fittings should be more diffused.
There should be more education.
The first problem is the worst. In too large families surviving becomes more and more
difficult and the children are often illiterate.
The people in the rich countries should be less indifferent and try to help the poor ones,
also through associations all over the world.
MODERN BALLAD SINGERS
SILVIA GATTI
In the past there were a lot of ballad singers and now, they say, have almost disappeared, but it is not true at
all! Modern ballad singers have many new stories and tell them in Italian museums.
This is a project of “Holden Art” an association born some years ago when the Racconigi castle director asked
Holden School for help. He wanted to improve the relationship between the museums and its visitors, by the
use of “ballad singers”. For this reason “Holden Art” created a lot of courses for tourists’ guides in Piedmont
and somewhere else. The Holden school director, Lea Iandiorio, in fact, explains that she proposed to “teach
them how to draw out stories from art places”.
The stories seem useful to show people art and to find information about monuments, churches, palaces.
People can find “ballad singers”, telling their stories at Quirinale in Rome or the Civic Museums in Genoa.
“Epic” stories are told at the Archaeological Museum, in Bologna. At Rivoli castle people asked to invent a story
for every statue and picture: now a “ballad singer” reads them in front of those works.
On the 4th and the 5th February2005 in Turin there will be an international conference, where people will
Compare their experiences and speak about modern “ballad singers”. A sociologist from Helsinki, who
discovered that “telling” an art work can make people think, will take part in the conference and an expert from
the Chester Beatty museum, in Dublin, will explain her experience too. In this conference people will
understand how a silent place can become a sort of theatre creating a dialogue between people and art.
There is also someone who wants visitors to invent their own stories, as in the case of the writer Antonella
Cilento, with her project “City Ways”, or of the competition “6,000 Letters for a Museum”. To take part in the
latter,people have to write a story settled in a museum of their region; some “ballad singers” will read the best
works. Perhaps more and more young people will visit museums and of course it has to be an interesting
experience.
UFO AND SCIENCE
SILVIA GATTI
Massimo Teodorani is a researcher, an expert in astrophysics. For many years he has studied UFO
phenomena, looking for a scientific explanation. Perhaps he has recently found it and has just published
his hypothesis on the “Journal of Scientific Exploration”. UFOs appear suddenly, but always in the night
and people can watch them without any telescope. They disappear with the same speed, and then they
appear again in another part of the sky, by a quick movement. They often produce more spheres of light and
when they are all together, they have the strange shape of a bunch.
Teodorani thinks that these “spheres of light” are “plasma whirls”, made by gas. They can be seen because
they shine and are caused by tectonic movements of the Earth and the electric field made by some
crystal (as quartz). The phenomenon can be observed, above all, at Messdalen (Norway), but also at the
Ontario Lake (Canada), the Arizona desert, the Avalon Beach (Australia), and the Sibillini Mountains (Italy).
Messdalen is not a seismic area, but, in the night, the water in the ground becomes ice. It breaks rocks,
producing seismic movements. Teodorani says that it can explain 80 per cent of the strange lights in Messdalen
sky; he is still trying to find a scientific explanation to the other phenomena, but excludes the “Alien” hypothesis.
Many scientists are studying how these spheres can survive: they produce a lot of energy, but where do they
take it from? They get bigger and bigger, but do not get colder as every other gas does, how can it happen?
UFO lovers will not like this news, but scientists hope it is the discovery of a new energy, more than a meeting
with E.T.!
A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHT
SILVIA GATTI
The king Shahriyar was terribly angry because his wife was unfaithful to him; so he decided to kill her.
But he was not satisfied, in fact he wanted to spend every night with a different woman and kill her the
next morning.
Sharazad, one of the vizir’s daughters, was chosen, but she was too nice and intelligent to die. She told
the king stories for a thousand and one nights. In fact when the morning came she stopped at the most
interesting moment of the story.
In this way the king decided, for a thousand and one dawns, to save her life and listen to the end.
Eventually the king changed his mind about women fell in love with her and married Sharazad.
Western people have read it for almost three hundred years, exactly from 1704, when Antoine Galland
published its first translation. It was followed by other six volumes in 1709; in fact it had a great success.
It represented the symbol of the East, with its perfumes, colours and passions. In those stories western
people saw everything seen as a “taboo” possible. This is the reason why Antoine Galland wrote most
of the stories, 719, by himself, following only what people in French and English drawing – rooms desired.
Claudia Ott has recently discovered it, at the book fair in Frankfurt. Here she presents her new
translation, of the original stories, which are 282 only. She has based it on the 1984 edition by Iraqi Muhsin
Mahdi, a professor at Harvard. Antoine Galland wrote himself also some among the most known: Aladdin,
Sinbad or Ali Baba. Now they may disappear with our dreams about the East.
It may be a great disappointment, but it is true.
GENETICALLY MODIFIED CATS
SILVIA GATTI
There is someone who fights against the GMO in the world and there is Simon Brodie, a genetic
engineer; he is the president of a society in Los Angeles, called “Allerca”. This team of
scientists has a project: they want to modify cats to create hypoallergenic ones. They are going
to modify cats’ saliva genetic composition that makes their skin humid. In fact it is also the
reason why cats make some of us sneeze. In 2007 the hypoallergenic cats are going to be ready.
The first cats are going to be “British Shorthair”, they are loving and playful; with time almost
every kind of cats could be hypoallergenic, but after soundings and under request only! In fact
you must book them. Also from now you can book one of them on the web paying 3.500 dollars,
after a deposit of 250 dollars.
This is not the first project of this society for GMO animals; some time ago these scientists
invented the “Glo Fish”, a fluorescent fish you can see in the darkness too. If you look for an
American aquarium you will find a nice Glo Fish swimming in it…!
THE PORTABLE DOG
SILVIA GATTI
Can you remember “Tamagotchi”? It was a videogame about a dog. You had to feed and take care of it by
three buttons or it died. It had a great success all over the world; in fact 40 million people bought it.
Now it is back, but it is nicer and more sophisticated than before. Its name is “Nintendogs” and it will
arrive in Europe very soon, trying to win more people’s heart than Tamagotchi. There are many differences
between them; for example the “Nintendog” can learn what you want to teach it and it will not get older or
die.
To use it, you should buy the new version of the Nintendo Game Boy, the “Ds”. It has got a touch screen
that permits you to interact with the dog by a little pen. You can call it by your own voice (the “Ds” has
got a microphone too), caress it with the little pen; you should treat him as a real pet.
As old Tamagotchi, it has already created a lot of polemics. The psychologists think that the children risk
considering the virtual dog as a real pet, giving less importance to life.
At the same time Satoru Iwata, the president of the Nintendo Company, says that videogames need to be
improved. His multinational has already sold 180 million videogames all over the world, giving an illusion
of real life to every customer.
ANNA KONDA
SILVIA GATTI
In Norway there is an organisation called “Sintef”. It is formed of many researchers
who have made a new robot. Its name is Anna-Konda, in fact it looks like a red
anaconda, but it is only a robot shaped like a snake.
Anacondas usually live in tropical forests, but now we can find them in the cold
Norwegian environment. They are very big and strong kinds of snakes and are thought
very dangerous kinds of animals also for people.
The Norwegian Anna-Konda has been created to help people, not to frighten them .
Above all they can help the firemen: to set off a fire or bring to trapped people oxygen
masks. They can also get into holes in the ground with cameras and lights to give a more
specific idea of the real situation to the aid.
Anna-Konda has been presented by a famous Norwegian newspaper: the “Aftenposten”.
The new robot has not got any kind of wheels, but it is moved by 20 hydraulic engines
and can slide in a lot of narrow places.
A MARS’ SHARE ON THE EARTH
SILVIA GATTI
Six women have just come back from their mission. They spent 15 days in the Utah Desert, but lived
like astronauts on Mars. Their mission is called “Mona Lisa”; it is a part of another project, the “Mars
Analog Research Station” (MARS). It takes place in the Utah Desert, U.S.A., but also on Devon Island,
North-Canada. It was created and is financed by Nasa and the Mars Society, a private society formed of
people from 29 different countries.
The scientists want to find the right solution to spend a long time on Mars. To do that they have to
simulate what could happen, what the future astronauts could find on the real Mars and their
conditions on the Red Planet. Because of it, since 2001 groups of astronauts and researches have been
alternating for 15 days. They live simulating Mars life, with hard duties, researches samples, tests in
the laboratory of the base and two meetings a day. Also communications are simulated and they may
arrive on Mars later, as if they arrived from the Earth. They have to do some researches, as if places
around them were unknown.
A psychologist of the “Johnson Space Flight Centre”, Ephimia Morphew, that follows the project, says
that they are looking for the perfect crew, which could leave to Mars.
The mission composed of women had three aims: to test the level of stress in an only-women
community, to do experiments about some different kinds of overalls and to complete geologic and
biological missions. It has given great results, so they will be compared with the ones of the previous
mission, composed by men.
Now a new crew is getting ready for another journey to prepare the real 2027 mission to Mars
GREAT BRITAIN CELEBRATES ITS SEA
VALERIA OLIVARI
The population of Great Britain wants to remember Trafalgar battle in
which Admiral Nelson the hero of the United Kingdom died.
They want to celebrate the relationship to the British sea with some
events. In Portsmouth will take place “The International Festival of the
Sea”, with concerts and historic reconstructions. In the festival will take
part a lot of wonderful sailing ships from more than 40 countries in the
world and ancient boats in a beautiful parade: the “International Fleet
Review” that will commemorate the Royal Navy.
Then in autumn the “Tall Ship Race” in which will take part more than 120
ships will be set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
MOBILE PHONES ARE NOT DANGEROUS
VALERIA OLIVARI
In the last three years a scientists’ group studied the effects of mobile phones on people.
In particular they wanted to test if the rising of temperature in the ears during a phone
call is dangerous for our brain and ears. They now can assert that it is not dangerous,
because the rising of temperature in the outer part of the ear is caused by the contact
between the ear and the phone. Moreover, they have discovered also that the use of an
old type of mobile phone could cause a particular type of tumour in the acoustic nerve.
During some experiments, the scientists have found out that electromagnetic waves are
more easily absorbed by small heads: the ones of children, young boys and girls.
Now experts are experimenting the effects of electromagnetic waves on animals.
CALIPARI’S CASE IS STILL OPEN
VALENTINA OLIVERI
Rome -The inquiry about the killing of Nicola Calipari is not concluded yet; Italy
and USA get along about it.
Yesterday the Italian Prime Minister explained that the situation is not over even
if some voices from the Pentagon said that the commission has acquitted
American soldiers.
The American Minister of Defense has specified that they haven’t arrived at a
final decision on the report.
Meanwhile Giuliana Sgrena has confirmed in a press conference that the
killing of Nicola Calipari has been a homicide and not an accident, she wants
the truth; she wants to know who has not given the order of not shooting at the
car. She says also that there are political responsibilities.
All of this is shared by the opposition that has in fact asked for an explanation
in Parliament.
A LITTLE GENIUS COMMITS SUICIDE
ZAIRA PAPARELLA
United States, March. Brandenn Brammer, the cleverest child in the world,committed a
suicide. He was only fourteen and he had already graduated from Fort Collins in California
when he was ten.
Brandenn Brammer was the most well known American child in the world, but the loneliest
one too . When he was eighteen months he could read and play the piano. At six he attended
high school and then he passed his school leaving exam with very good marks.
His IQ (intelligence quotient) was 178. A 130 and 150 IQ means that a person is very Intelligent
so Brandenn Brammer was a great genius.
He had got a normal and close family. His parents treated him in a normal way and they did not
want him to feel different from the other children. All of these things have been useless for him.
He suffered from depression and so he decided to put an end to his life and shot himself in his
house.
A MOTORBIKE ACCIDENT
ZAIRA PAPARELLA
Torrazza. 22 April. The mobile phone rang once, twice… ten times but Luca
did not answer. Later somebody answered and said: “Here the police. No, you
have not got the wrong number; this is Luca’s phone. Come here
immediately!” Gianfranco R. went to Torrazza as fast as possible. When he
arrived at S.Olcese he saw a white sheet on the road and understood what
had happened.
Luca Rio was 17, lived in via don Pertica Casella with his mother Daniela and
his brother Matteo. He was a student and had a girlfriend who attends the
third year in "Grazia Deledda" High School. He died at 13.30 while he was
coming back from "Leonardo Da Vinci" High School by his motorbike Aprilia
125 cc. Luca crashed against a white lorry that was in a wrong position.
The police are investigating on the accident. The lorry driver is shocked and
says that he did not see the motorbike.
The boy’s funeral will take place in Casella on the 26th of April at 11:00 o’clock.
DI CAPRIO AT OSCARS WITH THE AVIATOR
LUCREZIA RINALDI
This is the second nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio. He was previously
nominated in 1993 but he did not win.
Now with the film “The Aviator”,directed by Martin Scorsese, he has some
possibilities to take the prize for the best actor, in fact many critics consider this
performance the best in his career and the film one of the best of the year.
The Cast includes also actors like Michael Mann, Sandy Climan, Graham King, Charles
Evans Jr., Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda
and Jude Law.
The story written by John Logan is a $100 million biography of the billionaire Howard
Hughes . It talks about his life from the time of his forays to filmmaking in the late
1920s to his battles with Congress in the 1940s. The film explores also his relationships
with Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner, his pioneering efforts in the area of aviation
and the beginning of his problems of isolation and madness.
Di Caprio will compete for the oscar against Johnny Depp in "Finding Neverland", Jamie
Foxx for "Ray", Jim Carrey for "Eternal Sunshine" and the Mexican Gael Garcia Bernal
for "The Motorcycle Diaries".
HIV VACCINE, WE ARE NEAR
LUCREZIA RINALDI
SAN PAULO, Brazil, an experimental vaccine has reduced the presence of the HIV virus
(which is the cause of AIDS) by 80 per cent. It can be read in a Brazilian study on 18 infected
patients released in the gazette “Nature Medicine”.
The virus loads in all patients fell and stayed low for one year after being inoculated with the
vaccine three times in a six-week period. In eight of the patients, viral loads fell by more than
90 %.
The patients did not receive any antiviral drugs before or during the study, which was
conducted by the Federal University in Pernambuco state and sponsored by French medical
institutes. Despite the encouraging results, researchers advised caution about hope for a
cure for HIV. "We should emphasize that the efficacy of such a therapeutic vaccine will not
be definitively proven until a randomised trial with an appropriate control arm has been
performed," the authors said in the British gazette.
The Brazilian government AIDS prevention and treatment program has been cited by the
United Nations as a model for the developing world because it provides free antiviral drugs
for HIV patients.
OGM DANGER OR PROGRESS
LUCREZIA RINALDI
In this period we often hear about OGM (Organisms Genetically Manipulated), artificial organisms often
property of a company, created enclosing pieces of DNA of other organisms in a different genetic patrimony.
They are different from the standard miscegenation. The classic technique is, in fact, used in
farming to improve the characteristics of plants, but they use only vegetables fertile among them.
To create OGM companies combine organisms that cannot fertilize themselves naturally.
They could be dangerous because they are artificial combinations of hereditary material, but they are also
very useful. An example is the resistance to coldness in new strawberries combined with Artic fish DNA.
Some people (for example Greenpeace members) are contrary to OGM, because their delivering in nature
causes irreversible effects on ecosystems, they are alive organisms and they could multiply themselves,
escaping to ever supervision. This fear is real. An example of the danger is “Monsanto”, an industry based
on chemical and biotechnology; a multinational company, famous for the matter of the Orange Agent , a
toxic and carcinogenic agent used in the war of Vietnam and for the PCB, the dangerous compound more
harmful than DDT, now forbidden, but which will pollute rivers for many years.
What are the real dangers on health, eating OGM? Iper-alerting allergies and decline of immunity defences.
For these reasons it is important to do several tests on OGM to be sure of their dangers and advantages
before putting them into market. However this is not sufficient, we do not know exactly their effects on the
environment and on people’s health.
Green Day
the Return of Punk Gods
LUCREZIA RINALDI
Green Day are called the Punk rock Gods because they opened the doors for a river of American neo-punk, punk metal, and third
wave ska revivalists.
Certainly the genre existed just before this trio but they blew air into their Punk gasping lungs. Despite criticism, Green Day
remain as they were at their first album, as rebel and independent as when they were teenagers. And also their song formula has
remained the same: simple and fun, changing just not to be boring. After the printout of their new album “American Idiot” they
are, once again, on the top of the charts all over the world and they are picking up more and more fans, but their story begun
many years ago.
Green Day were part of the northern California underground punk scene. Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, singer) and Mike Dirnt
(bass, second singer),who were childhood friends, formed their first band, Sweet Children, when they were only 14. In 1989, the
group added the drummer Al Sobrante and changed its name into Green Day. In the same year, the band, independently, released
its first EP, 1,000 Hours, which was well-received in the California punk scene. Soon, the group signed a contract with the local
independent label. Green Day's first album was released later. Shortly after its release, the band replaced Sobrante with Tre Cool
(Frank Edwin Wright, III)which became the band's permanent drummer.
Through the '90s, the group continued its career with a new album in 1992,”Kerplunk” whose success interested the major record
labels. “Dookie”, Green Day's major-label debut, was released in 1994. Thanks to MTV support for the initial single, "Longview,“
“Dookie” became a hit. The album continued to get success through the summer, with the second single, "Basket Case," for five
weeks on the top of the American modern rock charts. At the end of the summer, the band stole the show at Woodstock '94,
which helped the sales of “Dookie”. By the time the fourth single, "When I Come Around," began its seven-week stay at number
one on the modern rock charts in early 1995, “Dookie” had sold over five million copies counting only the U.S.
It also won the 1994 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.
In1995 “Insomniac” followed “Dookie”; during the summer, Green Day hit number one again on the modern rock charts with
"J.A.R.". “Insomniac” performed well initially, entering the U.S. charts at number two, but it did not sell as well as “Dookie” and
none of its singles was as popular as the ones in their previous album. In1996, Green Day cancelled their European tour, cause
exhaustion. The band spent the rest of the year writing new material, publishing “Nimrod” in 1997.
Their long-awaited follow-up, “Warning”, was released three years later.
Now they have created a new and innovative album, ”American Idiot”, which could be defined a concept album. They are grown
now and they talk about the bad American condition in these years also strongly criticizing George W. Bush’s government.
System of a Down
LUCREZIA RINALDI
“System of a Down”, the heavy metal band from Los Angeles, formed of Serj Tankian (vocals,
keyboards), John Dolmayan (drums), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals) and Shavo Odadjian (bass) have
ultimate their fifth album.
All four members are of Armenian ancestry, and some of their songs are about Armenian history and
politic situation.
The band enjoyed moderate success with their first singles, “Sugar” and “Spiders”, in their debut
album “System of a Down”. However the real success arrived with “Toxicity”, which debuted at number
1 on the American and Canadian charts. Their first big hit was the controversial “Chop Suey!” released
in the late summer of 2001. The title comes from a poem of Father Armeni, who wrote about Armenia
after the genocide of 1915. He asked, like the song says, “God why have you forsaken me in your
eyes?” Father Armeni also said that in Armenia a “self righteous suicide has taken place”. System of a
Down received constant success in the United States through late 2001 and 2002 with their hits, “Chop
Suey!”, “Toxicity”, “Aerials”, and with their third album, “Steal This Album!”.
In 2004, the band recorded two brand new albums for release in 2005; they will be released 6 months
apart from each other. They are “Mesmerize” and “Hypnotize”. “Mesmerize” will be released in April
and “Hypnotize” will be released six months later. In early January a new track called “Cigaro” was
leaked on the net.
KURT COBAIN’S LAST
DAYS
LUCREZIA RINALDI
Days”, a biographic film about the leader of Nirvana, has just came out in Italy. It talks about his last
days of life, but his story is much longer.
Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the grunge band that redefined the sound of the 90’s. He was
born on the 20th of February 1967 in Hoquaim, a small town near Seattle. His mother was a waitress and his
father was a mechanic. Cobain soon moved to Aberdeen, a depressed and small town.
He had a sad childhood, his parents divorced when he was seven and he never felt loved or secure again. He
became an anti-social and difficult child after that event. He also spent a year homeless living under a bridge.
When Cobain was eleven he heard and was captured by Sex Pistols that influenced Nirvana’s melody. He
formed many bands before Nirvana, founded in1986. In 1989 they recorded the first album, Bleach.
Two years and a half after their first CD they released Nevermind, the most famous and innovative CD by
Nirvana and it sold millions. Smells Like Teen Spirit, the first single became Nirvana's most famous song.
Cobain was shocked by the success of his music. He fell into heroin in the early 90’s; he said he used it as a
shield against stomach ulcers and stress.
In February 1992 Cobain ran to Hawaii to marry Courtney Love, they had a child. Later Nirvana’s success went
on with Incesticide and Utero, which contain some of Cobain's most passionate songs.
In March 1994 Cobain was rushed to hospital in a coma after an unsuccessful suicide. On the 5th of April he
barricaded himself in the granny flat behind his mansion, put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Two days later a medical examiner said that Cobain had shot himself. The suicide note he wrote ended with
the words "I love you."
About 5,000 people arrived in Seattle for a candlelight vigil. Also several teenagers in the U.S. and in Australia
killed themselves. The mainstream media was criticized for its lack of respect and understanding of youth
culture.
“Last
Can Eyes Reveal the Murder’s Identity?
ILARIA ROSSI
In the 19th century born this idea: the eye can hold the last thing, object or
person, seen before dying.
In 1863 everything began when M. Warmer, an English photographer, took a
photograph of the eye of a just dead cow. He believed to distinguish in the
photo the slaughterhouse floor that is the last thing the animal saw.
Someone believes that also Scotland Yard used it to discover the identity of
Jack the Ripper.
The first official denial arrived in 1869 by a French doctor, Maxime Vernois,
who had made some tests to find out the truth.
Nowadays the belief is still exploited in comics, for example in “Diabolik”, or
in films, such as in “Four Flies on Grey Velvet” by Dario Argento.
But this legend has some consequences in the present, in fact there have
been episodes of people who, after killing someone, pulled out their victim’s
eyes, so that police could not understand who was the murderThe story of
the “revealer eye” is still alive even in the third millennium.
A MASSACRE IN MINNESOTA
ILARIA ROSSI
Minnesota. Red Lake is a city next to the frontier between Minnesota and Canada;
three days ago in the High School of the Indian reservation there was a massacre.
A fifteen-year-old boy, Jeff Weise, after killing his grandparents, went to school and
began to shoot at his schoolmates. He asked them some questions about God, and
then he smiled, greeted and shot. After killing ten people, he shot himself.
Actually this is not the first time that such a thing happens. In 1999 in Colorado, two
young boys slaughtered thirteen people and then killed themselves.
There is a connection between these cases: Nazism; in fact all these boys admired
Hitler. Jeff, even, was part of a Nazi site and he called himself “Todesengel” that is
the German expression of “Angel of death”. Behind Jeff’s behaviour there is also a
difficult family situation: his father committed suicide and his mother is in a mental
home with many mental problems, so he lived with his grandparents.
This is only another event of a too long line in a nation where you can buy weapons
even in supermarkets.
STRANGE BOMB-DISPOSAL EXPERT
ILARIA ROSSI
In the world there are more than 110 millions of antipersonnel mines
unexploded.
They are very dangerous not only for human beings but also for animals, so
the Belgian Society “Apopo” has found a solution: trained rats.
In fact, the gigantic rats of Tanzania have a very refined smell, are easily
trainable and are too light to cause the explosion of the mines.
Their training lasts six months and costs less than the dogs’ one.
First they are educated in labs, then in fields strewn with tea filters full of
explosive and, in the end, in real minefields.
Every time they find a bomb, they receive peanuts or pieces of bananas.
They are also faster than a human being in fact to check 100 m² they take
Only half an hour, while a man takes the whole day. Good idea!
Tutankhamon Has a Face
ILARIA ROSSI
The child- Pharaoh, so-called because he ascended the throne when he was nine
years old and died when he was only nineteen years old, has finally a face: his eyes
were broad, his cheeks chubby and his chin round.
This is the reconstruction by three teams of scientists, an American and an Egyptian
and French one.
But Tut’s death is still a mystery; his mummy was found in 1922 by the British been
archaeologist Howard Carter and was immediately analysed by x-rays.
The analysis pointed out a “hole” in his skull so they thought that he had
murdered.
But last March the researchers reached a different conclusion: Tut died of an
infection, in fact, the day before his death, his right leg was in gangrene because of
a fracture.
But, after 3000 years can we consider this case closed? And what about the “hole” in
his skull?
According to the experts the “hole” is probably only the result of a blow received
during the process of embalming.
FEWER BIRTHS
JESSICA PAOLA SALCESI
Nowadays in Italy there is a little demographical increase. However there is
still a lower percentage of births than in other European countries.
This is due to more problems than in the past and there are some reasons.
Firstly, young couples have precarious jobs. In the past, when a person had a
job, he might hold it for his whole life. Secondly, the coming of EURO
disadvantages Italian people and consequently families become poorer and
poorer. Thirdly, everything is very expensive and a family needs too many
things and so too much money and time. However if a person wants a child,
he is going to succeed in bringing up him, in fact, Italy is increasing her births.
We are waiting for an Italy full of children!
CARONIA THE TOWN OF MYSTERIES
ALESSIA SCHIRRU
Caronia is a small town near Messina in Sicily. It is not
a town like the others, it is special. As a matter of fact
since last winter in its buildings strange phenomena
(fires break out and plumbings explode) have happened.
Experts of the Italian Military Marine have not
Understood the cause of these fires and explosions
yet.
Aleister Crowly’s spirit is held responsible of these
events.
He was a diabolic English wizard who lived in Cefalù,
next to Caronia, some years ago. He was able to light
candles with the force of his mind only, furthermore
people say that before his death he said that he would
never leave Sicily.
So is he the cause of this mystery?
ROMANENGO A GENOESE JEWEL
ALESSIA SCHIRRU
“Savour”, an important review of gourmet, dedicated to Romanengo, the most famous,
old and important confectionery of Genoa, ten pages in its December number.
The journalist, Anya Fernald, described the shop with these words: “A veritable
wonderland of sugar-glazed fruits, chocolate-coated pralines, and other delights” and
inserted three traditional recipes too: “Meringata”, “Budino di semolino con canditi” and
“Canestrelli”.
Romanengo opened on the 1814 in Via Soziglia, it is a wonderful shop decorated with
marbles and valuable woods, today we can see a fantastic collection of ancient objects
used to pack presents during centuries.
It became quickly famous thanks to its delicious sweets; in fact it had very important
customers like: Giuseppe Verdi, The Duchess of Parma, Prince Umberto, and more
recently, the Shah of Persia and Queen Elisabeth II.
Today Romanengo exports not only in Europe (Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Austria
and Switzerland) but in U.S.A too and even in Japan!
The Romanengos still consider their shop a “Bottega dei vicoli” although it is famous all
over the world.
PIANO MAN
ALESSIA SCHIRRU
On the 7th of April 2005 a young man was found on a beach in Kent.
He hasn’t said a word yet, he has no tags on his clothes but, when at the
Medway Maritime Hospital in Gallingham a nurse gave him a pen and a piece
of paper, he drew a piano and a flag with a cross. Since the hospital brought
him a piano, he had been playing a Chopin’s melody and he had kept on for
many hours.
He is a very good musician as a matter of fact, when media discovered this
story, they gave him a nickname: Piano Man.
British Police started some researches and they opened a telephone line
where people, who presume to know him, can phone. They have already
received 400 calls but none of them seems real.
Somebody says that it is a “too perfect” story to be real and that it can be a
joke. But we don’t know.....so the mystery continues.
THE PIPER: 40 YEARS OF STORY
ALESSIA SCHIRRU
The Piper was born in Rome on the 17 February 1965.
Giancarlo Bornigia and Alberico Crocetta were convinced that a big place where people
could dance Beat music (very popular in London) would be successful in Rome, so they
equipped a big garage that quickly became the famous Piper.
Here were born a lot of “stars” like Patty Pravo, Renato Zero, Romina Power and Rita
Pavone and here showed off a lot of the most famous singers of the 60s like the Who, the
Genesis, Pink Floyd, Tina Turner and many others.
Every celebrity that came to Rome wanted to go to the Piper: for example the Beatles, after
their concert at Brancaccio Theatre, wanted to see it.
In the years the Piper has changed heaps of names and followed the young people’s
fashions. On the 17 February 2005 a lot of people went to put out the candles for the 40
of the Piper.
Now it is a disco where boys and girls dance house music and it does not show off big
singers but nobody can forget that it is an Italian symbol of the 60s.
Arrested in Egypt the
Organizers of the Massacre at
the Taba Hotel
VERONICA SIRI
IL CAIRO (7 October 2004) - Five of the organizers of the massacre at Taba Hotel, where
thirty-four people were killed, have been arrested. All of them are Egyptians but among
them there is not Iyod Sayd Saleh, the man who had organized the massacre, because he
died in the attack at the Hilton Hotel, with his accomplice Soliman Saleh Fleifal. Their car
exploded before they could escape. Their bodies were recognized thanks to the DNA test.
The others are handcuffed: Mohamed Ahmed al-Sweirki, Ihab Mahmoud Aid, Mohamed
Sabah Hussein, Hemdan Salama Salem al-Ahmar, who has a turistic agency and he had
taken information on the Hotel Hilton, and Mohamed Abdallah Salimon, who runs the garage
where he fixed the explosives at the cars. Other two men are wanted: Mohamed Saleh Fleifal
And Jomaan Jomaa Tarabin. The hypothesis of a kamikaze attack is excluded.
The Egyptian Ministry of home affairs thinks that it was an attack against the Israelis.
CHILDREN AMONG FLAMES DURING A RELIGIOUS RITE
VERONICA SIRI
New Delhi - Like in a famous religious medieval rite to celebrate the
gods' forces, some children had to remain among flames for some
minutes. In Ayyanapuram, a village in Tamil Nadu, south India, 28
children, between 3 and 13, were put into some dug holes near the
temple dedicated to Mariammam, the Hindu goddess of nature force.
On their heads was spilt a particular mix that made the children
unable to understand what was happening. On the holes there were
placed wood axes and some foliage then fire was set.
The children were left in the flames and smoke for longer than three
minutes, than they were set free and nobody was injured.
BRIDGET JONES HAS SAID “YES”
VERONICA SIRI
The eternal, slapdash, clumsy spinster, at last has got married! Renée
Zellweger, the famous thirty-six-year-old actress who played “Bridget Jones”
has got married to Kenny Chesney, a thirty-seven-year-old famous country
musician.
The lightning ceremony has been celebrated on St. John’s Island. Few
guests, less than fifty, and nobody famous. She has worn the traditional
white dress but Kenny was bare foot.
They met last January, and then they took part in the “Concert of Hope”, to
collect money for the tsunami victims. But Kenny has already loved her for
years.
She had a long love-story with Jim Carrey, and after with Jack White.
Chesney, from Tennessee, was fiancé with a health-administrator, Mondy
Weals, but he left her three weeks before their marriage.
“A Simple, Humble Worker” Pope Benedict XVI
GIULIA TABBI’
Rome - Next Sunday a special ceremony is taking place for the new pope of
the Roman Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI.
This event is called the ceremony of Investiture. Five hundred thousand people
are expected to crowd Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City to celebrate the
Mass with the new Pope.
More than one thousand million people are Catholic.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became the new pope on Tuesday; he was born in
Bavaria in 1927. He was required to join the Hitler Youth and the German Army
during World War two. He has called himself “a simple, humble worker in our
Lord’s vineyard”.
Cardinal Ratzinger chose the name of a pope that held it more than eighty years
ago.
VIDEOMUSIC
GIULIA TABBI’
Video images come thick and fast: a lonely beach, children playing and a city tenement block. Some
images tell a story; others create a feeling or a mood. A video clip combines music, television and film,
the three most powerful cultural forces of our century, and creates something new, exciting, above all,
young. Its quick change of images and fast pace is aimed at the under 25 young people.
Notwithstanding all their emphasis on novelty, modern music videos have their roots in the Hollywood
musical films of fifty years ago. At the beginning, famous actors often sang in musical films and
performed dance routines. Songs from musicals often became the tunes or the hits of that time. In the
musical films of the forties, the songs always helped to tell the story of the film, which was usually
about love and romance. Then, in the 1950’s, rock n’roll came. This kind of music was loud and
rebellious. Adults were shocked by the way Elvis Presley moved his hips dancing, but teenagers loved
it. By the time, the Beatles came to make musical films in the sixties. However the first real pop video
was the pop group Queen’s video for the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 1975.
Music videos really took off in the eighties, particularly after MTV started broadcasting in 1981, and
thanks to the innovative videos of British new groups.
Videos can play an important part in creating or changing a star’s image. Today it is very important to
make a music video for a singer or a group, because thanks to it you can became famous. In fact young
teenagers follow fashion and take example from the most famous singers and their music videos.
URBAN TRIBES
ALICE TIEGHI
In today’s world, many young people during their “rebel-period” try to find an escape
from their problems with friends. They join groups according to the music they listen to,
style and clothes that they wear and the way of thinking (for example politics).
We can divide them in:
-skaters
-precise ,in Genoa “albarini”
-alternative
-hip-hoppers
anyway in every city there are many different groups and names to call them.
Being part of a ”urban tribe” may also be a danger. In fact many young people are very
shy and insecure so they join a group and are often driven to do things that they do not
want to. Besides a group has got many precise rules and everybody is “obliged” to follow
them, so a group composed by ten - fifteen people becomes one, a person, a kind of
machine that thinks and acts in one way. I think that everybody is free to do what he
wants, nobody should be judged only by a pair of shoes, but in this world it seems almost
impossible…
HEALTH EDUCATION
ALICE TIEGHI
Today people are more and more attracted by food wrappings than by food nutritional
value.
Health education should be hold in schools to teach how to recognize the nutritional
value of different food and make conscious choices. It’s important, especially for young
people, to pay attention to their eating habits. In many areas of the world people suffer
from hunger and diseases because they do not have food. In other countries people eat
too much and suffer from diseases caused by excess food (for example fatness, high
cholesterol, tooth decay). Preference for pre-packed and pre-cooked food, full of
additives has changed people’s habits. This preference is also caused by the busy
modern life, the short time people have to buy and prepare meals and by advertisements.
Many people do not have breakfast, which is an essential meal and it causes a reduction
of physical and intellectual efficiency. Breakfast should include proteins, vitamins and
minerals, which are in food like cereals, fruits, bread. People should be informed of this
situation as to check their eating habits and have a regular and healthy diet.
HIP-HOP….A DIRTY MUSIC?
ALICE TIEGHI
Hip-Hop is well known for its strong and violent language. Nowadays this kind of music
has changed a lot. The beats and lyrics are still strong but also really sensual! In fact the
main themes of all the songs are almost always sex and women considered like
”objects”. Also the videos are often too ”dirty”. Many other artists are tired of this
situation so they protest against this exploitation of women’s image.
Seal, a soul artist, once said: ”When I see a Hip-Hop video on TV, I can’t see the
difference between it and an erotic movie”.
Hip-Hop artists and, of course, fans defend their music. They say that is not their fault if
they sing about ”hot” topics because they get inspiration from life and the society
around them. Actually, now, in the videos of every kind of music, from pop to punk, there
is at least one sexy shaking-bottom girl! So why is there the need to find a scapegoat?
THE THIEF WAS VERY SHARP
SARA TULLO
Genoa – Pegli. Wielding a knife a man attacked a shop assistant in the
supermarket in via Pallavicini, Genoa.
The thief arrived punctually at 6.45 a. m. while the shop assistant was raising
the rolling shutter. Within five minutes he escaped with a loot of 3.000 €.
A couple of hours later the shop assistant made a report to the police. “I was
screaming madly and that man was screaming louder than me to hush me
up” she said. “He entered the supermarket just after me and ran to me
wielding a kitchen knife. He was wearing a hat and a black scar, asked me for
the money and I gave him everything. Before leaving he cut the phone line
and took me out, in the street”. The thief got into a car driven by an abetter
and went away.
Now the police are on his tail thanks to the fact that the shop assistant
remembers a part of the numbers on the car plate.
SAVED BY A DOG
SARA TULLO
Nairobi -Little Angela has been saved by Mkombozi, a little stray female dog.
The baby had been abandoned in a plastic bag in a forest near Nairobi,
Kenya.
The dog found the little child last Friday, dragged her to her hut and laid the
baby with her pups.
Angela was noticed in the middle of the puppies by some children who heard
her complaining. Then she was brought to the nearest police station,
washed, cured and then brought to hospital. She had an infection to her cord
but the doctors gave her some medicines and she is better.
People offering their help or asking for adopting the child have made several
calls from all over the world.
Even the dog has become famous, not only because she saved the little girl,
but also because none of her puppies has survived.
A PARTICULAR THIEF
SARA TULLO
He ate in the finest and most elegant restaurants of all Italy without paying the
bill. From 1993 until today he has collected ninety-six denunciations. The
protagonist is a fifty-nine-year-old man from Cosenza who went to a Roman
restaurant next to “Piazza del Popolo” last Monday.
The man, well dressed, wearing a lawsuit, sat at a table and chose delicious
and expensive courses. He ordered fish, meat and very good wines. As he
finished his rich dinner he did not even try to run away. He simply got up and,
without any problem, told the owner he had not got the money to pay the bill.
The police arrested him a few minutes later.
The man had dined in the richest restaurants in Rome, Milan, Venice and even
abroad, in Montecarlo, never paying for what he had eaten. He had been
reported to the police ninety-six times without being ever arrested.
AIRBUS 380
Erika Zumerle
Airbus 380 is the biggest and the most luxurious passenger plane in the
world.
It has been presented this month in Toulouse (France), where there were lots
of people, VIPs and political leaders. The nations involved in this creation are
Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain.
This plane is the dream of every passenger. The designers convened over
200 “frequent travellers” and realized all their requests for an ideal plane. The
result has been a real flying city. In fact Airbus 380 is as high as a seven
storey building with a wingspan of 80m and offers the same conveniences of
a five-star hotel.
It contains 550 people, who can relax themselves in the comfortable easy
chairs, enjoy themselves for example in a video game arcade, go to the
restaurant or do shopping.
Next year this plane will fly without stop flight for 15,000 km, travelling
almost round half world.
NO MORE FAIRY TALES
ERIKA ZUMERLE
According to what a recent survey of IPSO (Institute of Public Opinion) says,
children from six to thirteen read fewer and fewer tales.
It does not mean that tales are disappearing, but it could be a passing mode.
However, children prefer to read comics, adventure stories and thrillers,
which are nearer to reality.
They are good books, but sometimes are too difficult for such a young
people. If they are not well followed by an adult, they could misunderstand
some basic principles, like the difference between the concept of good and
evil, which, instead, is very clear in fairy tales. Moreover fables help to use
imagination.
For some experts a perfect book for children might become involving and not
boring. It must not be written in a too disillusioned and ironical way, but must
press for their fantasy.
Mars and the Earth
Erika Zumerle
Many space probes were and will be sent by men to explore Mars because about
three milliards years ago, this planet and the Earth were very much alike.
Both of them had rushing rivers and salty Oceans.
Many scientists think that also on Mars there were very simple living beings; but
while the Earth has not essentially changed, and living beings keep on to live here,
the situation on Mars is very different, and no one can survive there.
Why are the conditions of life so unlike on the two planets in spite the Earth is as
far as Mars from the sun and their axis have almost the same inclination?
Maybe everything depends on the dimension .In fact Mars is much smaller than
our planet. It means a rarefied atmosphere that cannot detain the sun warmth to
offer the right conditions of life.
Today Mars is a great red desert with only few rests that show how it was originally.
THE FIRST
ECOLOGICAL MOTORBIKE
ERIKA ZUMERLE
This is the first Italian motorbike, that follows the body of legislations for
pollution control Euro 3, that will come into effect in 2007.
Breva does 200 km/h and takes its name from a wind that blows in the
Lombard Lake District.
It costs 11.590 €, has a twin-cylinder, air- cooled, 1,064 cubic centimetres
engine and a tubular frame.
It is a new model of Moto Guzzi and it has not got any bodywork. Its
dashboard is almost like a car one’s and has got many displays with different
functions.
It will take part in an American TV show called “American Chopper” which is
watched by many motorbikes fans.
This new ecological motorbike is suitable to every kind of driver, also short
drivers and will be put on the market from the end of May.