Prime Time 8. Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks, Schulbuch

Improving a text The marked words or phrases in this internet posting are all repetitions that could be avoided. Think of ways to improve the text by using synonyms or making any other appropriate adjustments. Which other weaknesses does the text have? Paraphrasing a) Paraphrase these quotations in your own words. 1. “Winning isn’t the most important thing; it’s the only thing.” Vince Lombardi (1913–1970, US football coach) 2. “Writing to me is simply thinking through my fingers.” Isaac Asimov (1920–1992, science fiction writer) 3. “There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980, Canadian educator and philosopher) 4. “Fatigue is the best pillow.” Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790, founding father of the US) 5. “Isn’t it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?” Kelvin Throop (fictional character in science fiction stories) 6. “Nothing changes your opinion of a friend so surely as success – yours or his.” Franklin P. Jones (1908–1980, US reporter and humourist) 7. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Harry Truman (1884–1972, US President) 8. “There is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.” Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, US President) 9. “Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.” Robert Ingersoll (1833–1899, US politician and orator) b) In pairs, collect examples of concepts, ideas or traditions typical for your home country that cannot be trans- lated into English. Then try to explain/paraphrase your ideas in English and let your classmates guess if they can come up with the correct term. 2 Hi, I’m Mike. I’m on this site to communicate with people from all over the world. People tell me that first I should tell you about myself, so here goes. I’m 18 and I’m Welsh. My family used to live in Cardiff, but now we live in St David’s, right on the west coast. After getting my ALevels next year, I hope to get a place at university, where I hope to get my Master’s degree in law. I think being a student will be great fun. Most of the time I will have a great time, but sometimes the pressure will be too great. I want to study law because law offers good career opportunities. I want to get a job with an international company and I want to be successful in my job. In my free time I like sports like basketball and cycling and when I’m free I like going to discos. Sports and discos offer great opportunities to meet new people, and perhaps I can also meet new people through this site. Because of all that I’m not really worried about starting a new life in a different place. I’m interested in politics and I’m interested in taking part in debates. In my opinion it’s important for young people to be interested in politics because if they are interested in politics there’s a chance that we can change some things before it’s too late because if we go on like this there’ll be no chance. 3 109 Nur zu Prüfzweck n – Eigentum d s Verlags öbv