PARIS, LE QUARTIER LATIN / París, El Barrio Latino

FRANÇAIS - FRANCÉS

Salut tout le monde, aujourd'hui nous allons lire un petit peu à propos du Quartier Latin à Paris.

Hola a todo el mundo, hoy vamos a leer un poquito sobre el Barrio Latino de París

Photos: pinterest.es  /  tripadvisor.es

LE QUARTIER LATIN

Ce quartier s'étend sur la rive gauche de la Seine, sur le 5ème et 6ème arrondissements, de part et autre du boulevard Saint-Michel, appelé familièrement le Boul' Mich'.  C'est, avec la Cité, la partie la plus ancienne de la capitale, qui comprend la montagne Sainte-Geneviève (Sainte-Geneviève est la patronne de Paris), la rue Mouffetard au sud, le Jardin des Plantes à l'est et les quartiers Saint-Sevérin et Maubert au nord.

Appelé "Latin" parce que la langue officielle de l'enseignement a été le latin jusqu'en 1789, ce quartier est depuis sept siècles celui de l'Université de la Sorbonne, des écoles napoléoniennes et des lycées prestigiéux comme Louis-le-Grand, Henri IV et Saint Louis.

L'activité culturelle de ce quartier est intense non seulement à cause des  maisons d'édition et des librairies, mais aussi grâce aux terrasses de célèbres cafés ( Aux Deux Magots, Flore ) devenus des centres privilegiés pour l'échange d'idées ainsi que de véritables lieux de rendez-vous littéraires.

La Sorbonne, la plus célèbre université de France, doit son nom au collège de théologie fondé en 1253 par Robert de Sorbon pour 16 étudiants pauvres.  C'est ici que Louis XI a installé la première imprimerie de France en 1469.

Recontruits par Richelieu de 1624 à 1642, ses bâtiments ont été agrandis à la fin du XIXème siécle et sont aujourd'hui le siège des universités de Paris III et Paris IV.

PARIS, TOUJOURS PARIS!!!

BONNE JOURNÉE!!

À BIENTÔT MES AMIS!

BLUE JEANS AND LEVI STRAUSS/ Los vaqueros y Levi Strauss

Good morning my dear friends, it's sure that many of you are wearing jeans right now, aren't you?  Nowadays, jeans are "a must" in our lives.  Everybody wears jeans.  We can find blue jeans in many colours and designs but definitely, they are "jeans".  Today, I want to tell you how the story of jeans started, let's go!

Buenos días mis queridos amigos/as, seguro que muchos de vosotros lleváis vaqueros en este momento ¿verdad? Hoy en día los vaqueros son "imprescindibles" en nuestras vidas.  Todo el mundo lleva vaqueros.  Podemos encontrar los vaqueros en muchos colores y diseños pero definitivamente son "vaqueros".  Hoy, quiero contaros cómo  empezó la historia de los vaqueros, ¡vamos!

GOLD RUSH
**In 1848, people came to California  from all over North America because gold was discovered there and all of them hoped to make their fortunes.  But not many of the miners became rich.
However, a lot of people  also came to sell the things that miners needed and so they made a lot of money!


**LEVI STRAUSS

Levi Strauss was a young man who went west to sell.  He came to America in 1847 from Europe with many immigrants.   In 1850, he arrived in San Francisco to work in a shop.
One day, a miner entered his shop.  His clothes were broken and terrible, especially his trousers.  The miner said: "Look at these pants. I bought them six months ago and now they're full of holes!"
Levi Strauss asked the miner why and he explained:  "We work on our knees for a lot of time".
Levi Strauss thought for a moment and said: "What you need is a really strong material. We have some canvas in stock.  It is used to make tents but we can make your pants out of canvas, I'm really sure that they won't get holes!"
The miner didn't hesitate and Levi Strauss took him to a tailor who made the pants.



**GOLD MINING
The miner came back to his camp in the mountains where he was looking for gold.  His friends laughed at him when they saw his new pants but he told them:  "You won't laugh when you see how strong my pants are!"  And he was right.  As the months passed, his friends saw that his pants were impeccable!  So, the miner's friends went to San Francisco to Levi Strauss' shop, to buy some of the new canvas trousers...

And they told their friends, and their friends told their friends ...  and so you can imagine the result!

**LEVI STRAUSS WORKSHOP
As many people wanted to buy Levi Strauss' canvas trousers he had to start a workshop to make them.
These trousers were called "JEANS" because the canvas that they were made from was known as "toile de Gênes" which  is the French word for Genoa (Génova), in Italy, where the canvas was manufactured.
Soon Levi Strauss needed more canvas than his agents could send him so they asked him  to try something new.  It was called "serge de Nîmes".  It was as strong as canvas but finer.  Levi Strauss thought that his customers were going to love it!  And they did!  So, the word "denim" comes from "serge de Nîmes".

**COWBOYS
But not only miners were wearing Levi's jeans, soon cowboys began to ask for them too.  Levi's workshop was too small so he had to build factories.  He asked for thousands of rolls of material but these rolls weren't all the same colour.  He decided to dye them all blue.  That is why they are called "blue jeans".

One day, a tailor called Jacob Davis, came to see Levi Strauss and told him that his customers said that the pockets were not as strong as the rest of the pants and that they often came off.  They decided attached them with copper rivets.  Levi made Jacob a partner and decided to use orange thread, the same colour as the rivets.

**A SUCCESS STORY
Nowadays, Levi's jeans are a multinational company.
When Oscar Levi Strauss, a poor immigrant from Europe, died in 1902, he had certainly made his fortune.  He left  $6 million, enormous donations to good causes and money for students at the University of California.
Today, poor students still get money from his fortune!!

VOCABULARY
- GOLD RUSH:  la fiebre del oro.
- TO HOPE:  esperar, confiar.
- WEST:  oeste.
- TO BUY - BOUGHT - BOUGHT:  comprar.
- CANVAS: lona
- HOLE:  agujero.
- KNEE:  rodilla.
- PANTS: pantalones (USA)
- TENT: tienda de campaña
- TAILOR:  sastre.
- WORKSHOP:  taller.
- CUSTOMER:  cliente.
- FACTORY:  fábrica.
- TO MANUFACTURE:  fabricar.
- TO COME OFF:  desprenderse.
- COPPER:  cobre.
- TO DYE:  teñir.
- TO DIE:  morir.
- PARTNER: socio.
- POCKET: bolsillo.
- STILL:  todavía.
- THREAD:  hilo.

I HOPE YOU'LL LIKE THE STORY OF LEVI STRAUSS JEANS!!

HAVE A NICE DAY!!

PHRASAL VERBS / English Grammar / and a Reading/ Model Aircraft.

Hi everybody, today a new look at a bit of English grammar.  We will talk about phrasal verbs, these verbs that change their meaning depending on the preposition we put after them.  We will only see some of them.

Hola a todo el mundo, hoy una nueva mirada a un poquito de gramática inglesa.  Hablaremos sobre "phrasal verbs", estos verbos que cambian su significado dependiendo de la preposición que pongamos detrás de ellos.  Veremos solo algunos de ellos.

Sta. Eulalia (Ibiza) a photo of my own

**CATCH:  coger.

*CATCH UP WITH:  ponerse al día, alcanzar.
- She is trying to catch up with her email writing: Ella está intentando ponerse al día con sus emails.
- Lucy worked hard and soon caught up with her homework: Lucy trabajó duro y pronto se puso al día con sus deberes.

*CATCH SIGHT OF:  localizar, descubrir.
- I caught sight of Pete in a crowd of people: Localicé a Pete en una multitud de gente.
- Lucy caught sight of me as I was leaving the Ibiza harbour: Lucy me localizó mientras estaba saliendo del puerto de Ibiza.

**FALL: caer

*FALL BEHIND:  quedarse atrás.
- Mary has fallen behind with her correspondence: Mary se ha quedado atrás con su correspondencia.
- Michael has fallen behind in his work: Michael se ha quedado atrás en su trabajo.


**LOOK: parecer.

Flea Market "Las Dalias"
Ibiza
(a photo of my own)

*LOOK AT:  mirar.
- Look at me, please! : ¡mírame por favor!
- Look at these bags! ¡Mira estos bolsos!

*LOOK FOR: buscar.
- I'm looking for my keys: Estoy buscando mis llaves.

*LOOK AFTER:  cuidar.
- I have been looking after my budgie for seven years:  He estado cuidando de mi periquito durante 7 años.

*LOOK FORWARD TO:  desear.
- I'm looking forward to seeing you soon:  Estoy deseando verte pronto.

**GIVE:  dar

*GIVE UP:  rendirse, dejar de hacer algo.
- Mr Jones has given up smoking:  El Sr. Jones ha dejado de fumar.
- Don't give up!  ¡No te rindas!

*GIVE BACK:  devolver.
- I have already given you back your dictionary:  Ya te he devuelto el diccionario.


READING   /  LECTURA.

MODEL AIRCRAFT   /  Aeromodelismo.
Model Aircraft is a sport which a lot of people are very fond of.
Some aeroplanes are made of wood and some have got a wooden framework covered with paper or  a cloth.

You can find small models which are driven by twisted rubber bands and others are made like gliders or sailplanes.  There are also models that are exact copies of well-known types of civil or military aircraft.

Flying model aircraft is a very popular sport in many countries.  In Great Britain there are more than five hundred clubs for this sport and a million persons go in for it.

HAVE A NICE DAY MY FRIENDS!!!

SEE YOU!!

ENGLISH GRAMMAR/ PREPOSITIONS AND READING. / Gramática Inglesa/ Preposiciones y Lectura

Good morning my dear friends, today we're going to look at some prepositions and a reading about THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI.

Buenos días mis queridos amigos, hoy vamos a ver algunas preposiciones y una lectura sobre LA FONTANA DE TREVI.

1.- WRITE IN THE BLANKS THE CORRECT PREPOSITION. / Escribe en el hueco la preposición correcta.
1.-The corpse was lying ____ the floor.
2.-She then put three ice cubes ____ the glass.
3.-They were all born ____ Hastings.
4.-All spectators mustn't stay ____ the football ground.
5.-She had to go to work _____ home for the first time.
6.-The ball was left ____ the table.
7.-You can find the file ____ the drawer.
8.- Running ____ a steep hill is exhausting.
9.-I told you that your dinner was _____ the table an hour ago, so it must be stone cold by now.
10.-The highway runs _____ the coast.
11.-If you put that to cook _____ the microwave it will be ready in a few minutes.
12.-The train stopped somewhere _____ Newcastle and Manchester.


2.- THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI.
Italy is the great country of fountains, and the fountains of Rome are world. famous.
The Fountain of Trevi, in Rome, is one of the most magnificent in the city.  It was built in the time of Pope Clement the Twelfth about the middle of the eighteenth century.
The water is brought underground from a spring many miles outside the city.
Tradition tells us that Agrippa's soldiers, marching alont the dusty road, met a young girl carrying water from a spring.  The water was so pure that Agrippa decided to build an aqueduct to carry the water to Rome.  The spring still flows, after nearly two thousand years, and supplies Rome with pure water from the Fountain of Trevi.

The Fountain and the Palace behind it are a good example of the baroque style of architecture, which gives a feeling of magnificence, movement and excitement.  This style is especially effective for fountains because of the moving water.  The Fountain of Trevi has fine sculpture :  a statue of Neptune surrounded by numerous other figures, out of and over which the water flows to fill a great stone basin that surrounds the whole.  There is a belief that if a visitor to Rome visits the fountain at midnight and drops a coin into the water, he will certainly return at some future time.

                                           ***********************************

SOLUTIONS
1 on
2 into
3 in
4 on
5 out
6 on
7 in
8 up
9 on
10 near
11 in/into
12 between

HAVE A NICE DAY!!!  

TRAVEL/ DURHAM / ENGLAND / Viaje/ DURHAM/ Inglaterra.

Hi my friends,  thinking of summer holiday?, so here you can read a new suggestion about travelling.  DURHAM is a medieval city located in the Northeast of England.

Hola amigos, ¿Pensando en las vacaciones de verano?, pues aquí  podéis leer una nueva sugerencia sobre viajes.  DURHAM es una ciudad medieval situada en el noreste de Inglaterra.

DURHAM  /  PRIDE OF THE NORTH
Durham   /  Orgullo del Norte.

(The name of this city must be pronunced "daram")
El nombre de esta ciudad se debe pronunciar "daram".

A SPECIAL PLACE

*Durham is one of the most beautiful cities in England.  All the city centre is a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE.
*Durham Cathedral and Castle are magnificent!
*The River Wear with its tree-lined banks, the medieval cobbled streets, the splendid courtyards and the ancient bridges have enchanted people for hundreds of years when they have visited Durham.

LEGENDS

It is said that a milkmaid guided a group of monks to the place where they built a shrine for the body of St. Cuthbert in 995 AD.  Pilgrims have visited the shrine for over thousand years.

The name Durham comes from the old English "dun" which means hill and from the old Norse "holme" which means island.

William the Conqueror built Durham Castle in the 11th century to defend England against the Scots.

THE WATERFALL

Other interesting things to visit are Crook Hall with its marvellous gardens, including the Secret Garden;  relaxing cruises down the river;  and the many picturesque paths out of the city to the Durham Dales and the North Pennines.

West of Durham there is the High Force Wasterfall, where the River Tees suddenly drops 21metres.

TRAVEL INFO
** Durham is easy to visit by air, train and road.  It is on the main road and rail routes between London and Edinburgh.  Durham is on the A1 motorway and frequent trains take less than 3 hours from London.

** The nearest airports are the Newcastle & Teeside Airports -about 30 minutes by ar from Durham.

** Durham Tourist Information Centre, 2 Millennnium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA. Telephone: (019) 384 3720.
Email:  www.touristinfo@durhamcity.gov.uk


SEE YOU !!!