Skills • Reading

Swap it!Swapace.com is one of the most interesting new websites on the Internet. It started in Australia and now there are ‘communities’ in several other countries round the world, including the USA, Canada and the UK, but not yet in other European countries. You probably know that Internet surfers often use eBay to buy and sell things but Swapace is very different. Joseph Renzi, from Sydney, is the founder of the website. He began his career as a seller on eBay before he started his website two years ago. It now has more than 130,000 members and an enormous 500 new registrations every day.

On Swapace people can buy and sell things but they can also swap them. This is obviously cheaper than buying things on commercial websites. People swap all sorts of things from books to CDs to clothes.‘The swapping side of the website has been amazing. We have people swapping skills like cooking for gardening or babysitting services as well as goods, and the swapping is not just within Australia, it’s international,’ says Joseph.

So how does swapping skills work? For example, maybe you’re good at gardening and you don’t like cleaning your house. So you go and work in someone’s garden once a week and they come and clean your house.

‘The most interesting thing, though,’ says Renzi, ‘is the sense of community which is characteristic of the website.’ One of the most remarkable things to come from it was the public’s response after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. ‘People gave away clothes and food parcels to people in New Orleans, and more recently there was a young single mum who needed baby clothes and people simply donated them,’ he says.

Joseph Renzi

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Grammar, functions and vocabularyUNIT 12

UNITS 11-12

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Comprehension 3 Vero o falso? Scrivi V o F negli spazi.

Correggi le frasi false. P

1 There’s a Swapace site for Italy.

2 Swapace is very similar to eBay.

3 Lots of people become members of Swapace every day.

4 Members of Swapace sometimes meet.

5 All Swapace members are good at gardening.

6 Sometimes members of Swapace give things to people who need them.

Comprehension 4 Rispondi alle domande.

1 What do we know about the founder of Swapace?

2 How do we know that Swapace is successful?

3 Give four examples of skills that people swap.

4 What does Renzi fi nd surprising about the website?

5 What did Renzi think of people’s reaction to the Katrina tragedy?

6 What other example of people’s generosity does Renzi mention?

Comprehension 1 Leggi il testo e abbina le domande alle

risposte.

1 What’s the name of the website?

2 Where did it start?

3 Which countries does it serve?

4 Who started the website?

5 What’s it for?

6 What do people swap?

a In Australia.

b Things like books, CDs and also skills.

c Buying, selling or exchanging things.

d Swapace.com

e Australia, the USA, the UK and Canada.

f Joseph Renzi.

Vocabulary 2 Trova le parole nel testo e cerchia la

traduzione corretta: a o b.

1 swap it a regalatelo b scambiatelo 2 including a oltre b compresi 3 sell a comprare b vendere 4 founder a fondatore b direttore 5 ago a fra b fa 6 amazing a terribile b incredibile 7 goods a merci b favori 8 within a all’interno di b oltre 9 remarkable a belle b notevoli 10 hurricane a temporale b uragano 11 parcels a pacchi b lettere 12 needed a voleva b aveva

bisogno di

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UNITS 11-12Skills and Culture

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Skills • ListeningComprehension

5 15 Ascolta Jane che chiede indicazioni stradali. Cerchia l’alternativa corretta. P

1 Classic Jeans is in a Church Street. b Park Street.

2 Jane is a in a car. b on foot.

3 On the way to the jeans shop you go past a a cinema. b a supermarket.

4 The Old Ship is a a restaurant. b a pub.

Comprehension 6 15 Riascolta e segui le istruzioni. Segna

sulla cartina dove si trova il negozio dei jeans.

Culture Macy’s Department Store a New York è il

negozio più grande del mondo. La Galleria

Vittorio Emanuele a Milano invece è la galleria di

negozi più antica del mondo.

Comprehension 7 15 Ascolta ancora una volta e scrivi sulla

cartina i nomi dei luoghi e le strade che l’uomo nomina.

Dictation 8 16 Ascolta e scrivi sei frasi del dialogo.

1

2

3

4

5

6

PAR

K S

TREE

T

X Jane is here

1

2

5

6 7

4

3

bank

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UNITS 11-12 Skills and Culture

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Skills • Writing 9 Leggi l’e-mail di Emily che descrive la zona

dove abita alla sua amica Lisa. Sottolinea l’alternativa corretta.

10 Scrivi un’e-mail a un amico (100–150 parole) e descrivi la tua città. Includi le seguenti informazioni: P T

• una descrizione dei luoghi più belli e dove si trovano

• attrezzature sportive • cinema • teatri • edifi ci interessanti • negozi • ristoranti e bar • costo della vita paragonato

a quello in altre città

Key (The Geography Quiz)

2 Beijing is more polluted than New

York. 3 The Amazon isn’t as long as

the Nile. 4 Italy is bigger than the

UK. 5 Kilimanjaro isn’t as high as

K2. 6 France is more crowded than

Spain.

Hi Lisa!

You said you wanted to know about the place where I live. Well, it’s a really nice place. Living in Richmond isn’t as stressful 1as/than living in the centre of London but there’s still lots to do. One of the 2most beautiful/beautifullest parts of Richmond is the riverside. There’s the famous Richmond Bridge and the Petersham Meadows. Near the bridge there are three cinemas, and there are lots of really good restaurants and pubs. The 3more famous/most famous pub is The Orange Tree, opposite Richmond Station. There’s a small theatre upstairs in the pub.

George Street is the main shopping street with all the usual high-street shops like Tesco, Waitrose, Smiths, Boots and 4lots of/much clothes shops. Behind George Street is Richmond Green and 5near/next the Green is Richmond Theatre. It’s a beautiful old building with lots of interesting productions. Of course, there’s also a good library in the town. It’s near the river next to the town hall.

The only problem with Richmond is that it’s very expensive to live there – in fact it’s probably 6more/the most expensive part of London!

Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope to hear from you soon,

Best wishes,

Emily

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