Video Script: Unit 1 Another Country Part 1 Living Abroad Part 2 Adriana: Life in England
Video Script: Unit 1 Another Country Part 1 Living Abroad Part 2 Adriana: Life in England
Video Script: Unit 1 Another Country Part 1 Living Abroad Part 2 Adriana: Life in England
And there are some things that everyone misses … Isabelle, she likes fashion, she likes make-up, and everything
in pink!
Mary: I suppose I miss my friends and my family a lot. I have
a lot of friends in London as well, but you always remember For now, Adriana enjoys the quiet country life in England, but
your friends from home. she would like to go back to Chile one day.
Jann: I miss the culture, the language, and my family. I would really like to work as a vet again.
Eva: I miss having children in my life. My nephews and my Unfortunately I would have to qualify again in the UK.
nieces running round. Perhaps we will stay here for a long time, or maybe we will
Living in a different country, whether it’s for family, work, or go back to Chile if my husband can find work there.
study, can be a great opportunity.
And for some people, the longer you stay, the harder it is to go
home.
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a really long time.
Part 3 Anita: Life in Barcelona
So, for now it’s nice, and I’m really happy here, I enjoy it a
Anita Patwardhan moved from her home city of San Francisco lot, but I don’t know if I will be here forever.
to live in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
Her parents are Indian, but she was born in the United States.
Anita: Well I first came to Barcelona in 2003, because I
wanted to study Spanish, and then I fell in love with the city at
that time, so I decided that I wanted to come back.
Luckily, in 2005, Anita found a job in Barcelona.
So I decided to come back and, and I’m really happy here, I
really enjoy it.
Today, Anita’s home is in an area called San Gervasi, about
15 minutes walk from the city centre.
It’s very convenient for me because I have my job within
walking distance.
I can take the bus directly to the beach, and I’m there in 15
minutes.
Anita spoke fluent Spanish when she came back to Barcelona,
and found a job with an American online marketing company.
I work for a company that provides different online marketing
services for hotels, and specifically my team builds websites
for hotels, so I work with designers and programmers.
As well as a great job, Anita has many friends in Barcelona.
We’re all very close, we’re friends, so it’s almost like a
second family away from home; we have dinners together, we
celebrate birthdays together, so, it’s, it’s a nice feeling.
Although she has got a good job and close friends she still
misses home.
I miss my family most of all.
It’s very difficult to not be able to give my mum a hug, or to
enjoy my Dad’s barbecue.
So I feel happy if I can see them.
But staying in touch with family overseas is much easier
today.
So my family and I, we speak generally every weekend, either
through Skype, or through e-mail, and every now and then on
the telephone too.
They have come to visit me a few times, and I try to go back
and see them at least once a year.
Anita really loves her new life in Barcelona.
Barcelona is an amazing place, you have a combination of so
many wonderful things with weather, cultural activities,
beautiful architecture, and most importantly the beach.
How can anyone not like the beach?
But still she’s not sure where her life will take her in the
future.
I don’t know if I will stay in Spain forever, forever seems like
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Unit 2 A park in the sky Part 2 The High Line
Part 1 New York City living In 2009 a new and very unusual park opened in Downtown
Manhattan.
New York City is one of the busiest, noisiest, but most
popular cities in the world. The new park, called The High Line, is now one of the city’s
most popular attractions, and it’s easy to see why people love
Eight million people live in New York’s five boroughs. it.
The largest is Queens, then there’s Brooklyn, the Bronx, and The High Line is nearly one and a half miles long, but it’s less
Staten Island. than 20 metres wide.
The smallest borough is Manhattan. It runs right through the buildings three storeys up, over the
But this is the borough most people talk about when they talk traffic and crowded streets below.
about New York. Before the High Line was a beautiful park it was a train line.
For people who love city life New York is the perfect place to The High Line opened in 1934.
live and for visitors it’s the trip of a lifetime.
Before that, from the 1850s until the early 1930s, trains
There’s so much to see and do. travelled along the streets of Manhattan.
It’s got amazing shopping and restaurants, exciting theatres, The trains carried milk, meat, and goods.
and some of the most famous architecture in the world.
But with more cars on the roads, along with people and
But not everyone enjoys New York life. horses, it was very dangerous and there were many accidents.
It’s hard to wake up refreshed in a city that doesn’t sleep. Because of these accidents, the High Line was built and the
Living in the city can be very stressful and it’s easy to feel trains now travelled safely above the traffic.
lonely. Trains used the High Line until 1980, when the train line
So where do New Yorkers go to get away from the crowds, closed.
traffic, and stress? Then, for many years, the High Line was empty and its
There are many beautiful parks in Manhattan, and they are landscape started to change.
great places to relax. Without any trains travelling on the tracks plants started to
Some, like Washington Square Park, aren’t very big, but they grow.
are very popular with local residents. Some people wanted the High Line demolished, but a group
People come here to chill out and have fun. of city residents fought to protect it.
Central Park is 2.5 miles long and half a mile wide and it has They dreamed of making the old train line into ‘a park in the
over 35 million visitors every year. sky’.
When you’re in Central Park you can forget that you are in the And finally, this dream came true.
middle of a busy city. After years of work the first section of the High Line park
opened on June 9th 2009.
In 2011 the second section opened, and the park isn’t quite
finished.
But already three million visitors come to the park every year.
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Part 3 A great success
On a perfect hot and sunny day in July the High Line is busy
with visitors and staff.
Gardeners are looking after the plants and flowers, while the
guides are helping visitors, telling them more about the park’s
history and environment.
In the park there are plenty of places to sit where you can
relax, listen to music, or meet with friends and chat.
Many visitors are enjoying the views over the Hudson River,
as far as the Statue of Liberty, or watching the busy streets
below.
So what do today’s visitors think of the High Line?
Betty: Oh, this is an amazing resource.
It’s this green oasis in an urban setting that is just surprising
and beautiful.
Derek: It’s a little bit of the country in the city, you know,
that you really don’t get enough of here.
Jeanie: I think it’s beautiful.
It gives … it’s a great place for people to spend their time off,
their lunch breaks, their time with family.
So, I think it’s a fabulous place in the city to go.
Lance: Beautiful. It’s an amazing treasure.
We just arrived an hour ago and we’ve just started walking
along, but it’s amazing to see the sites of the city and all the
foliage, all the green trees and plants, and all the people
enjoying the beautiful day.
The High Line is an amazing success.
It’s a pathway of flowers and grass that runs through
neighbourhoods where many people haven’t got gardens.
For local residents it’s a place where they can chill out and
escape the stress and noise of the crowded city.
And, for visitors, it’s an opportunity to explore New York’s
amazing architecture and experience one of the world’s
greatest cities in a very different way.
In New York City, the High Line makes a difference to
people’s lives.
It makes people happy.
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Unit 3 The Titanic Part 2 Building the Titanic
Part 1 A tragic story The birthplace of the Titanic is Belfast.
In April 1912 newspapers around the world were full of the Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland in the United
tragic story of one of the most famous ships in history – the Kingdom and the city was famous for ship-building in the
Titanic. 20th Century.
At the time, the Titanic was the largest passenger ship in the The Harland and Wolff shipyard, where they built Titanic,
world. still exists today.
She was nearly 270 metres long and over 53 metres high with You can see the dock where they finished the ship.
nine decks. They don’t make ships here anymore, but you can still see the
She was owned by the White Star Line. yard’s two massive cranes, Samson and Goliath, from all
across the city.
The Titanic left the port of Southampton on the south coast of
England on the 10th April 1912. Today, the old shipbuilding area of Belfast is called the
Titanic Quarter.
She stopped briefly at Cherbourg in France, and Queenstown,
now called Cobh, in Ireland, and then started her journey There’s a lot of new development in this area.
across the Atlantic towards her final destination, New York. And there’s a huge new Titanic Signature Building at the old
She was carrying 1343 passengers and 885 crew members. shipyard where you can learn more about the ship.
The trip to New York was her maiden voyage. From the outside this amazing new building looks like the
bow of the Titanic.
Some passengers, in first class, were rich and famous.
And behind the new building you can still see the old offices
But most second and third class passengers weren’t rich. of Harland and Wolff, where they designed the ships for the
They were people from across Europe travelling to America to White Star Line.
start new lives. This building is empty today, but in 1900 there were hundreds
The story of the Titanic is so famous that everyone knows of people working here, and around 15,000 people working in
how the voyage ended. the shipyards.
Just before midnight on Sunday 14th April, as she was sailing The Titanic was the second of three ships that Harland and
towards the coast of North America, the ship hit an iceberg Wolff were building for the White Star Line in the early 20th
and was badly damaged. century.
Two hours 40 minutes later the ship sank. The plans for the Titanic and its sister ship, the Olympic, were
almost identical both inside and out, but the Titanic was
Tragically, there weren’t enough lifeboats and only 710 slightly bigger.
people survived.
The designers marked the Titanic’s differences in red on the
In 1985 the wreck of the Titanic was finally found at the ships’ plans.
bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, two and a half miles down.
You can see these original plans at the Ulster museum of Folk
A hundred years after the Titanic sank people are still and Transport’s Titanica exhibition in Belfast.
fascinated by its story.
You can also see a lot of the objects from the Olympic.
But, while there are hundreds of books, television
programmes, and famous films about the ship’s short voyage, The Titanic had identical items on board when she sank.
many people still know very little about where the ship came At the exhibition you can also learn much more about the
from and the people who built it. people who built the ship, and the people who were travelling
on her when she sank.
And this is just one of many Titanic exhibitions around the
world.
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Part 3 My great-grandfather’s story Unit 4 Healthy eating
The tragedy of the Titanic was very difficult for the people of Part 1 A diet for a long life
Belfast and for many years no-one in Belfast talked about how There are many reasons for differences in life expectancy, that
they built the Titanic. is, the average age that people live to.
But this changed over time and today people in the city are But one of the most important secrets to a long life is food –
proud of their family histories. having enough food, and eating the right food.
There’s a memorial to the men of Belfast who died on the ship We all know it’s not always easy to eat well.
outside the City Hall.
We have busy lives. Nowadays, a lot of people don’t cook
And tour guide Susie Millar has her own very special family traditional food at home.
story.
Fast food is quick and cheap everywhere.
Susie: I can remember as a small child, my grandmother
taking me to see the Titanic memorial, which stands in the But a bad diet can reduce your life expectancy by many years.
grounds of Belfast City Hall, and she pointed up at, at the So, do you think you have a healthy diet?
name, Thomas Millar on the plinth and told me that that was
my great-grandfather. Dan: I think I have a healthy diet, 80 per cent of the time.
I eat whole foods, home-cooked food, meat, vegetables.
My great-grandfather worked here in Harland & Wolff, in the I don’t like much junk food or processed food.
shipyard which built Titanic and he had helped to construct
the engines for Titanic and its sister, Olympic … Tim: I feel I have a balanced diet. But you could always eat
more fruit and vegetables.
And Tommy Millar has a special place in the history of the
Titanic. Anne-Marie: Not so healthy. I eat a lot of sugar, so, sugar’s
not very good for you.
He’s unique, he’s the only one of the crew who worked on the
construction of Titanic for Harland & Wolff and then worked Angus: I do not have a healthy diet at all. I like
for White Star as one of the crew. cheeseburgers, I like bad food.
Like many people on the ship, Tommy was leaving Ireland to Do you think some countries have a better diet than other
start a new life in America. countries?
Before my great-grandfather left Belfast, he said his goodbyes Beth: Country that has the healthiest diet?
to his two sons and he gave each of them two new pennies I probably think the Mediterranean countries, places like
dated 1912 and he told them not to spend those coins until the Italy, and France, and Spain.
family was all together again. They eat a lot of locally produced food.
Sadly, Tommy was one of the crew members who died. But Angus: I believe that the countries which have the healthiest
his family never forgot him. diet are places such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, this is because
of their reliance on things like olive oil and fish.
… my grandfather kept those two pennies all of his life and he
passed them down through the family and we still have them Edel: I’m not too sure. I’ve been to Japan before and they
in the family today. seem to eat a lot of fish and oily foods.
I think they have a very healthy diet.
But why is the story of the Titanic still so famous after a
hundred years? Dan: I spent a lot of time in Spain and I think they have a very
healthy diet.
Susie Millar thinks that there are two reasons that people will They eat a lot of natural food.
always be interested in the Titanic. They eat a lot of vegetables, they eat a lot of fresh fish, it’s all
… you’ve got the biggest ship in the world with the richest fresh food.
people in the world and the poorest people in the world, So I always felt very healthy when I was in Spain.
sailing across the Atlantic and on the maiden voyage, it hits In the United States the average life expectancy is only 78
this iceberg and it’s a disaster. years.
And within that bigger story, there are all these little threads A lot of traditional American food isn’t very healthy.
of stories, individual stories about families and people, and
people who were heroes and people who were cowards and Often there’s a lot of fried food and meat and there aren’t
people who were villains, so you’ve got all those elements many fresh vegetables or salad.
within it, so I think those two things combined give you a But luckily in cities like New York there are lots of places to
really good story. eat and drink where you can find the most delicious food from
around the world.
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Part 2 Italian food
At over 81 years, the average life expectancy in Italy is one of Part 3 Japanese food
the highest in the world, and food is one of the most important
The longest life expectancy in the world is in Japan.
parts of Italian culture.
Life expectancy for women in Japan is over 86 years old!
And when Italians move to other countries, they take their
food with them. And one of the secrets to the long lives of the Japanese is their
traditional diet.
New York is full of Italian restaurants.
The traditional Japanese diet is very healthy, and today
Italian food is a great example of the Mediterranean diet – a
Japanese food is popular around the world.
diet that is one of the healthiest in the world.
Jing Chen is the manager of Miraku, a Japanese restaurant in
This is PJ Charlton, an Italian Restaurant on Charlton Street in
Long Island, New York.
Greenwich Village, New York.
So, what is it that makes Japanese food so healthy?
Phil Mouquinho opened the restaurant in 1979.
Jing Chen: Japanese people live a very long life, and I think
The area around the restaurant has changed a lot in 30 years,
that’s mainly due to their diet of eating a lot of fish.
but PJ Charlton’s still serves fabulous Italian cuisine to
residents and visitors to the city from around the world. Fish have omega 3, which is good for the body.
So, what is it that makes Italian food so healthy? What ingredients are popular in Japanese food?
The heart of any good Italian cuisine begins with garlic, Some of the key ingredients in Japanese cuisine are rice, fish,
onions, and olive oil. seaweed, and soy.
And once you begin with that, and you introduce the great How do you cook the food?
San Marsano tomatoes, you begin to create a Marinara
There’s grilling, there’s ‘sautéing’, there’s braising.
sauce.
What about Jing? What’s her favourite meal?
Your greens, I like to refer to all of those greens as captured
sunlight. I love Japanese food.
It’s basically all of the vegetables that you can think of, err, The ingredients are very fresh, because it focuses on
with a little bit of garlic and oil. seasonality.
In addition to that, when you talk about pasta, it’s nothing Sushi is really unique to Japanese cuisine, there’s no other
more than flour and eggs. cuisine that uses raw fish.
What could be more simple than that, more healthy and more Raw fish tastes really, really great, has a lot of, you know,
nutritious? natural flavours.
Some of the pastas that we use here at the restaurant are And it’s also very, very healthy.
linguini, spaghetti, and we have rigatoni, penne, and then we
have the cannelloni, and we have ravioli, and we have what Like the Mediterranean diet, the Japanese diet isn’t good for
we call the stuffed pastas. you just because of the healthy ingredients.
How do you cook the food? It’s about a different way of eating.
We sauté many of our vegetables, we broil many of our meats Japanese food looks beautiful.
and poultry, we don’t fry, we try to stay away from the frying There are a lot of small dishes, and a lot of variety.
process, because it’s not that healthy for you.
People eat slowly, and they eat less food.
When my customers come in and they greet me and they’re
happy, and they sit and they tell one another this is the best But everything tastes amazing!
kept secret in New York City, it makes me feel very, very
good.
I love doing what I do. I’ve been doing it for 32 years.
I feel that, watching my customers eat my food, get healthy,
stay happy, is what I want to do.
The Mediterranean diet isn’t just good for you because of the
healthy ingredients.
Eating a healthy Mediterranean diet is about eating delicious
food together, and most of all it’s about enjoying your food.
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They are building new cities that try to change the way we
Unit 5 Alternative energy live and use energy today, and in the future.
Part 1 Fuel for the future In the United Arab Emirates they are building a new ‘green’
city, where renewable energy is at the heart of the
Today, one of the biggest global challenges we face is how we development.
are going to be able to supply enough energy for everyone in
the future. Masdar City is a walled city 11 miles from the city of Abu
Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Globally, we are using more and more energy.
British architects Foster and Partners designed the city and the
We all want electricity for our homes, and fuel for our cars. Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company is building it.
We need our factories to work and our planes to fly. The first residents moved in in 2009 but it probably won’t be
But we know that traditional energy sources, fossil fuels like finished until 2025 or 2030.
oil, gas and coal, won’t last forever and are causing Masdar City is a very big project.
environmental problems like climate change.
Masdar is going to be a square, nearly a mile wide and when it
Some energy sources, like nuclear power, can also be harmful is finished they hope that about 40,000 people will live in the
when accidents occur. city, and another 50,000 will commute to Masdar every day
The development of new energy sources is becoming more from across the United Arab Emirates.
important across the world.
People are looking for sources of energy that are safe and
cheap, like wind power, solar energy from our homes or huge Part 3 A green city
solar farms, or hydro-electric power using our rivers and The brand new hi-tech Masdar City will use only solar, wind,
lakes. and other clean, green renewable energy sources.
We need energy that won’t run out, renewable energy, and They will also try to reduce energy use as much as possible.
energy that won’t damage the environment, green energy.
By designing buildings and streets to use shade and wind to
Some of these energy sources are already well-known. stay cool when the temperature outside can rise to over 40
And most people have opinions about what kind of energy we degrees, the city will use less energy.
will be using in the future and what’s the best kind of The city will also recycle most of its water and waste.
renewable energy.
One of the most important ideas for reducing energy use in
Ijeoma: I think we’ll use more wind energy and I think that Masdar is that you won’t be able to drive a normal car in the
we’ll use more solar energy. city.
I believe the government is investing in that.
Instead, there will be public transport using electric vehicles
Judy: People will probably use more solar energy, more and a ‘Personal Rapid Transit’ system.
wind power, more hydro-power.
The Personal Rapid Transit system uses small pods that travel
Andrew: In the future I think we will use more renewable on magnets in the roads across the city.
forms of energy, especially as fossil fuels are running out.
I feel solar power, wind power will be increasing in the You will get into a pod at stations around the city, choose
future, and I think that will be more sustainable for our where you want to go on the touchscreen and the pod will
development. carry you to your destination.
The design of the city encourages people to walk – the
staircases are large and lifts are hard to find!
Part 2 Alternative living Building a new city is very expensive and complicated.
A few countries, like Iceland, are lucky. But at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and
They already have their own renewable power supply; across Masdar city, they are using and testing technology that,
geothermal power. hopefully, will be used around the world in the future.
Geothermal power provides over 60% of Iceland’s energy.
Across the country they use the boiling hot water from under
the surface of the earth to make electricity.
This electricity is clean and green, and will never run out.
But other countries are looking at the problem of energy use
in a different and dramatic way.
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know, in the summer it stays light a really long time and
Unit 6 Scotland that’s nice.
Part 1 The country Cassandra: I think that people are willing to share cultural
differences which, for me, is interesting so, the atmosphere is
The United Kingdom is made up of four countries; England, something I love.
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
And the worst thing about Scotland?
England is the biggest country and has a population of over 50
million. Sandra: The weather. It’s really cold compared to Spain.
Northern Ireland is the smallest and has a population of fewer Robin: Cold.
than two million. Isabelle: I hate the rain, it’s windy and I don’t like the food
Scotland’s population is a lot smaller than England’s, at just apart from fish and chips.
over five million, but the country has got some of the most
beautiful scenery in the UK.
Scotland has got the tallest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis, Part 2 The people
and the deepest lake, Loch Morar, as well as historic castles, Although it is part of the United Kingdom, Scotland has its
amazing beaches, and a dramatic coastline. own Government, which meets at the modern Parliament
But there’s much more to Scotland than beautiful countryside, buildings in Edinburgh.
it’s also got some of the most exciting and important cities in People from Scotland are called Scots.
the UK.
Over the past 400 years hundreds of thousands of Scots have
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland. left to live in countries around the world.
It’s an important city for business and culture, with some great Generations on, many of the families of these emigrants still
modern architecture. feel a strong connection to Scotland, and they often return to
Edinburgh isn’t as big or as modern as Glasgow, but it’s the the country to visit.
capital city of Scotland and it’s the top destination for Scots have got their own vocabulary for example; – small is
international visitors to the country. ‘wee’, a lake is a ‘loch’ and a child is a ‘bairn’.
Around one and a half million international visitors come to Sometimes even English people find it hard to understand
Edinburgh every year. Scots when they are speaking English as they can have strong
So what do international visitors think about the country? accents.
Jazz: I came to Scotland last week. I’ve been here about a Isabelle: Very friendly. They are funny to understand, some
week, so far. It’s gorgeous. speak funny.
The countryside’s beautiful, Edinburgh is stunning and the Amrita: Pretty bubbly, friendly.
people are really friendly.
And the food’s great. Rory: Often very loud.
Jackie: It’s miserable. Firstly, I really like sunny weather and Conor: They’re very friendly, very welcoming.
it’s grey here all the time. Alex: I would say Scotland was more … feels more like a wee
Sandra: I think it’s really nice place; a lot of young people, community, compared to England.
many parties and the university is great.
I really like it.
How different is Scotland from your home country?
Amrita: It’s a lot colder than where I’m from.
Robin: I don’t know, just the people are a lot nicer here than
in Germany.
Isabelle: The people are very polite here, whereas back home
it’s not as, not as nice. Very friendly.
What’s the best thing about Scotland?
Sandra: The best thing about Scotland? I think maybe the
landscape, the mountains, the Highlands.
Jackie: In summer it’s… there’s really gorgeous light, you
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Part 3 Edinburgh
The most popular tourist attraction in Edinburgh is the castle,
and it’s one of the oldest buildings in the city.
There’s been a castle here for nearly a thousand years.
Edinburgh Castle stands on Castle Rock and has got amazing
views over the city and across to the River Forth.
But once a year the castle isn’t the centre of attraction, and
many people agree on the best time to visit the city.
Isabelle: Summer during the Fringe Festival. Absolutely
amazing.
Alex: Oh, Edinburgh Festival.
Andy: Edinburgh Festival. There’s lots of things happening.
Street artists and different kind of shows on and stuff in the
theatres. It’s good.
Every year, in August, the city holds the biggest arts festival
in the world, the Edinburgh Festival.
It’s the most exciting time to visit Edinburgh, and the city is
busier in August than at any other time of the year.
Edinburgh’s population of 450,000 people doubles and the
city becomes the cultural capital of the world.
The Festival began in 1947 and is a 3-week celebration of art,
music, theatre, film, dance and comedy.
During the festival, there are performances all over the city –
over 30,000 performers come to the city to work in over 2,000
shows.
The most popular shows are comedy, but there’s something
for everyone.
Edinburgh isn’t a cheap city and everything gets even more
expensive in August.
Luckily there are a lot of free shows during the festival, from
music and magic, to street theatre and there’s so much to do
that people come back year after year.
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The Austen family weren’t very wealthy and they didn’t have
Unit 7 Writers’ houses a great estate.
Part 1 Places that inspire writers Jane’s own home isn’t as large or as beautiful as the homes of
the characters in her novels, like Mr Darcy.
There are many cities around the world that have inspired
great works of art and literature. But the house is quite comfortable, pretty and light and there’s
a beautiful garden.
For hundreds of years artists have come to Paris to live and
work. Visitors today can see many of Jane’s possessions including
the desk where she completed her six novels.
Writers like George Orwell, F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest
Hemingway, and many others travelled from across Europe, Jane Austen didn’t become a famous writer in her own
and around the world, to experience life in the city. lifetime.
The beautiful city of Prague inspired the work of Franz Kafka, Her own name did not even appear on her work until after her
and since the early 20th Century New York has been home to death.
many writers and artists. She wrote as ‘a Lady’.
London has changed a lot since Charles Dickens wrote about But slowly she has become one of the most read female
the city in the early 19th Century, but the city still attracts novelists in the world.
writers from the UK and around the world.
Since the early 20th century, there have been many famous
Of course, it isn’t just great cities that inspire writers. film and television adaptations of her novels.
Every year people travel from around the world to the Lake The first famous film of Pride and Prejudice was made in
District in the North of England, to visit a tiny farmhouse in 1940.
the middle of beautiful English countryside.
In recent years there have been many adaptations of her work,
Hill Top farm was the home of Beatrix Potter. as well as films about her life.
Potter wrote and illustrated the Tale of Peter Rabbit and many Keira Knightly played Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and
other stories for children. Prejudice, and Anne Hathaway played Jane Austen herself in
Since she wrote Peter Rabbit in 1902 publishers have sold a film about her life, Becoming Jane.
more than 40 million copies, and they have translated the And still today fans come to this quiet and gentle part of the
story into more than 35 languages. English countryside to learn more about her life and work.
Hill Top has been open to the paying public for over 60 years,
and it’s still as popular as ever.
In 2011 there were over 100,000 visitors. Part 3 The Brontës
Over 200 miles away from the gentle countryside and bright,
comfortable living rooms of Jane Austen’s world there’s
Part 2 Jane Austen another house with a far more dramatic and remarkable
literary history.
Around a hundred years earlier another female British author
was at work. This is the town of Haworth in Yorkshire, in the North of
England, and at the top of the steep cobbled high street is the
In the city of Bath in the South West of England there’s a Brontë Parsonage.
museum about one of England’s most well-known writers of
the early 19th Century; Jane Austen, the author of Pride and This house was the home of Charlotte Brontë, the author of
Prejudice. Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë, the author of Wuthering Heights and
Anne Brontë, the author of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Austen wrote about this city in her novels, and it’s a favourite
location for film and television adaptions of her work. The sisters moved here with their father Patrick and their
brother, Branwell, and it was in this small home they wrote
But Austen only lived in Bath for a short time. the famous novels that have sold millions of copies and have
She wrote most of her famous novels in the peace and quiet of been adapted into hundreds of stage plays, films and
the English countryside. television programmes.
This is Chawton, a 17th century country house where Jane Haworth is surrounded by Pennine Yorkshire moorland and
Austen lived with her mother and sister Cassandra from 1809 this dramatic scenery was the inspiration for many of the
until just before her death in 1817. Brontës’ novels.
Today the house is a museum that has been open to the public Life was very hard here in the mid-1800s.
since 1949.
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The Brontës’ mother died soon after arriving at Haworth, and Unit 8 Twins
two sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, died when they were just 10
and 11. Part 1 Why are twins special?
The sisters were very close and rarely left the Parsonage, as It doesn’t matter if you have boys or girls; it’s always a
Ann Dinsdale from the Brontë Parsonage explains: challenge bringing up children.
What they really wanted to do was to be together at the But bringing up twins is an even greater challenge.
Parsonage and to write and that’s what they did.
Can you imagine two of everything, at the same time?
The sisters wrote in the evening, sitting together at the table
in the small dining room. The Department of Twin Research at Kings College London
has a database of over 12,000 twins who are taking part in a
Like Jane Austen, the sisters didn’t use their real names when fascinating research programme.
they first published their books.
Throughout their lifetimes, the twins regularly visit St
They published their novels under the names Currer, Ellis, Thomas’ Hospital in London to have a range of medical tests.
and Acton Bell, hoping that they would be treated as, as
writers rather than women writers. Today, hundreds of pairs of twins taking part in the
programme have come to a summer party at the hospital.
Their books were instant hits and everyone wanted to know
the true identity of the authors. It’s a chance to meet other twins and share their experiences.
So, Charlotte and Anne travelled to London by train to tell So, why are all these twins so important to scientists?
their publishers their real names. All identical twins, like Xand and Chris, share 100 per cent of
But tragedy was never far away. their genes – they are genetically identical.
In 1848, Bramwell died, followed three months later by Emily Twins usually look exactly the same, and they often have very
and then Anne five months after that. similar abilities, interests and personalities.
Shortly after she married, Charlotte died in 1855. Xand: Chris and I are similar in that we enjoy the same
things, we both have a lot of the same friends.
But by the time she died, Charlotte was a famous writer.
Chris: We both did medical degrees, we both did exactly the
She died in 1855 in this house and two years after her death, same A levels.
a biography written by Elizabeth Gaskell was published, ‘The
Life of Charlotte Brontë’ and that attracted a huge amount of But, identical twins can often be good at different things, and
interest in the Brontë’s lives … people wanted to come to even suffer from different diseases.
Haworth and see the place where the Brontë novels had been Chris: I think I am different to you, I think I do have some
written and to see where the family had lived their lives. free choice.
There has been a small Brontë museum in Haworth since There are differences in our personalities.
1895, but it wasn’t until 1928 that the Parsonage opened to the Remember when we were ten and I failed, you know, I came
public. bottom of the class in every single exam and everyone said
oh, you know why don’t you just work a bit harder like your
Today, inside, visitors can see many of the sisters’ possessions brother and you’d do a bit better.
including Charlotte’s wedding dress, and many of the sisters’
handwritten letters and manuscripts. So, if two people are genetically identical, why is one loud
and boisterous and the other quiet and sensitive?
Experts still come to the Parsonage from around the world to
research the sisters and their work. Or why does one get an illness and the other doesn’t?
Every year we get 75,000 visitors on average and they’re It is these differences between identical twins that are so
drawn from all over the world, from America, from Japan, important to researchers.
from places in this country. They give us a clearer picture of the influence of ‘nature’ –
The Brontë novels have been translated into, into over 26 our genes – and ‘nurture’ – how we live – on the development
different languages … they’re read by people all over the of our personality and health.
world. And scientists hope that this will help them to identify and
For many visitors, it is exploring the dramatic Yorkshire prevent health problems in the future.
countryside surrounding the Parsonage that really helps them
to understand the powerful novels of the remarkable Brontë
sisters.
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Part 2 Being a twin Part 3 Bringing up twins
Runyararo and Rufaro Mapfumo are twins. Rachel: I love that! That’s nice seeing that.
They live together in East London. Rufaro: Yeah. Us dressed the same with our jackets.
Rufaro: My name is Rufaro Mapfumo, I’m 20 years old. Runyararo: I think that’s probably when we looked most
similar actually...
I’m 23 minutes older than my twin sister and I study bio-
medical science at Middlesex University. Rachel Mapfumo is the mother of the Mapfumo twins.
Runyararo: I’m Runyararo Mapfumo, um, also 20 years old, Rachel: Oh yes I remember.
and I’m studying film and visual effects at Sheffield Hallam
Rufaro: That’s when we went for our audition, … our first
University.
audition as twins.
For Rufaro and Runyararo, there are many more advantages to
Rachel: I remember buying those t-shirts in Marks and
being twins than disadvantages.
Spencer’s.
Rufaro: Having a double wardrobe is great.
So, what’s it like trying to raise identical twins?
As a twin, umm, one of the advantages about being a twin is
Rachel: I had to rely a lot on my parents, because, having
getting to play tricks on people.
two babies, they had different times of feeding, that was one
When we were younger, we swapped classes a few times, of the difficulties, different times of sleeping.
which was interesting. So you find, if you didn’t have any help then you would be up
24/7.
I went to her maths class, and she went to my English class,
Another difficulty is the cost. Everything you pay for is
and we swapped because we thought it would be really funny.
double.
We never got caught though. We used to look even more Not so much when they’re young, but when they’re older, it
similar. becomes very costly.
When they were teenagers, the Mapfumo twins did some Rufaro: Our spotlight picture, there…
acting.
Rachel: The girls bonded right from the first day.
They learnt new skills, but, as at school, they were still able to I used to keep them more or less together.
take each other’s place when necessary. They had different cribs, they had different, you know,
separate chairs.
Because they were twins, they once had the chance to work on
But for some reason they always used to reach out for each
a Harry Potter film.
other, or look out for each other.
Rufaro: They would give us one role and divide that between
us.
Sometimes it seems the girls can communicate without
So I would go on set for three hours, while Runyararo was in
talking.
school, and then, once I’d finished and I’d had my time on set,
they used to swap us over. Rachel: I can’t even tell you sometimes as a mother what they
do, but I know they have a silent way of communicating.
So I suppose that’s good, because we, even though we got to
If Runyararo is say at Sheffield, and Rufaro is in London, and
do what we loved, we still had enough time to go to school,
if something is happening to Runyararo that she is not happy,
and get a really good education as well.
Rufaro can pick it up.
Runyararo: Rufaro’s a bit more of a joker. She liked to make She was in the library, and she left to go to the toilet, and she
everybody laugh, whereas I could possibly be seen as more … when she got back her laptop had been stolen, and she was
serious. quite upset.
She hadn’t rung me or she hadn’t rung her sister.
Rufaro: Runyararo has a lot of patience, and I think when But at the moment when she was so desperate, her sister rang
you do film, you need to have a lot of patience, and kind of her from London to see if she was all right, because she just
speak to the people you’re working with and artists, and be felt something was going on.
able to guide them patiently, whereas I kind of want things So it’s things like that as well, even when they’re apart, that
done then and there. I have a little bit less patience. they can still communicate.
It’s always nice having someone that you have close They know if one is in trouble, or one is not happy.
connection to, and having a twin, I don’t think there’s a Or if one is happy, for that, for that matter.
stronger bond. It’s like living with your best friend really.
It’s designed to be used in areas where there isn’t any When you go through this correction procedure and you get
electricity. the eye-glasses set to your vision, you don’t wear them like
that, you do up the screws on this frame and you cut off the
I spent a lot of time researching how to redesign the adjusters and then you end up with this, which you can wear
refrigerator. and this is my pair and there are about 40,000 or so of these
I realized that people in Africa weren’t able to store food and in use now in about 20 countries.
medicine because they didn’t have access to electricity or It’s taken Josh over twenty years of research to develop these
refrigerators. eye-glasses.
The design was very simple. A small cylinder inside a larger He travelled to Africa to see how his eye-glasses could help
one. people.
You put your food or medicine in the small cylinder. Henry Ajay Mensa was the first person to get a pair of Josh’s
Between the two cylinders you put some material that stays eye-glasses.
wet like sand or soil. Shall we try the glasses and see if that helps you with
In the sun, the fridge then ‘sweats’, just like a person. threading it?
The water evaporates and pulls the heat out of the small Henry was a tailor in a small village in Ghana.
cylinder and the contents stay cool. He needed good eye-sight to do his job making clothes, but
The fridge was designed so anyone anywhere could make it his eye-sight was getting worse…
with simple tools and materials. Ah! That did it immediately! So it works!
And Emily wanted to help people do this. He was trying to thread a needle and he couldn’t and he put
When I was 18, I travelled to Africa on my own which was them on and he adjusted them and he just threaded a needle
really scary at first but actually, when I got there, people immediately and what he did was he then, he then started
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operating his sewing machine much faster. projects around the world to make sure that people have
access to clean water, not just for a day or for a week but for
This experience proved that Josh’s eye-glasses can work.
life.
Today he is still improving his invention and looking for ways
of producing adaptive eyewear for everyone who needs it.
My motivation for the work is to see those billions of people
that need eyewear get it.
Tiffany: Probably Dubai. In cities like Boston you’ll see parades of people dressed in
historic costumes, and celebrating the birth of the United
Joanna: I’m going to stay in a few different places, but one of States.
the places I am most excited about is we’re going to stay in an
eco-lodge in the jungle in Cambodia. If you go to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in February you’ll see the
amazing Carnival.
Reed: Los Angeles, California.
And, with over 500,000 people celebrating, you might get the
Selina: The next place on our list is Scotland. chance to join in!
Justin: The Bahamas. And there’s the Notting Hill Carnival in London every
There are so many amazing places to visit around the world. August.
It would be great to see them all. It’s a celebration of Caribbean culture in the United Kingdom,
with music, dancing, and food.
But most of us haven’t got the time or the money to visit other
countries and explore new places. And if you are very lucky, it won’t rain!
But what if your life were different? And if you visit the historic city of Venice in Italy, you might
experience the Carnival of Venice.
If you were rich, would you travel the world?
Venice is one of the most amazing cities in the world with
If you didn’t have to go to work every day, where would you beautiful bridges, homes, and piazzas, and kilometres of
go next? canals you can explore on a gondola.
Is there a city you’ve always wanted to visit? There has been a spring time festival in Venice since the 11th
There’s so much to see and do in San Francisco in the USA. century.
There’s the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, the famous hills, At this time the carnival lasted about two months.
and the historic island prison of Alcatraz. Today, the modern carnival lasts for two weeks and takes
And if you go down to Pier 39 you’ll see the bridge and the place in February or March every year.
prison, and you might see some of San Francisco’s famous sea It’s a colourful celebration.
lions.
There are parties and processions with everybody wearing
Or you might prefer to visit Shanghai in China. beautiful costumes.
It’s a huge city with a fascinating history. You’ll see many people wearing masks.
It’s changing all the time so you’ll always see something new Masks are an important part of the traditional celebrations.
and exciting.
At huge masked balls people dance to classical music.
The Pudong skyline looks even better by night.
The parties continue in the streets through the night.
Or what about New Dehli, the capital city of India?
If you come to the Carnival it will be an experience you’ll
If you visit Dehli you’ll see amazing buildings like the Lotus never forget.
Temple and the Akshardham Temple.
If you like cricket, it’s a great place to see some of the players
of the future.
If you drive in Dehli, you’ll need to be very careful on the
roads – but you’ll experience one of the most exciting and
interesting cities in the world.
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Part 3 Adventure
If you were more courageous would you try a more
adventurous kind of holiday?
How about trying surfing or kite-surfing?
For some people sight-seeing or going to cultural festivals
isn’t exciting enough.
They don’t want to relax in their time off; they want an
action-packed holiday.
And there’s one place that is the perfect destination for people
looking for adventure – Queenstown in New Zealand.
Queenstown is a small town on New Zealand’s South Island,
next to Lake Wakatipu.
Tourists come here looking for fun and adventure.
In the past, people came to see the beautiful scenery.
They went hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.
This beautiful boat, the TSS Earnslaw has travelled across
Lake Wakatipu for over a hundred years.
And it still carries passengers every day.
But today, there are a lot more cool things to try in
Queenstown.
If you like speed, you’ll enjoy the Shotover Jet.
This was one of the first adventure sport attractions in
Queenstown.
Over two million people have enjoyed the high-speed trip
down the Shotover River since 1970.
If you’re feeling really brave and you want a great view of
Lake Wakatipu, you should try sky-diving.
If it’s your first time, you won’t jump alone.
But even if you jump with an instructor – it will be one of the
most amazing experiences of your life.
But if you come to Queenstown, and you’re into action,
there’s one activity you have to try … a bungee jump!
This is the Kawarau Bridge, near Queenstown.
The bridge over the Kawarau River is 43 meters high.
People come here from all over the world, because this was
the world’s first bungee jump.
Bungee jumping looks dangerous, but really it’s very safe.
Over 300,000 people have jumped here since 1988.
Of course, many more people haven’t jumped because they
are too scared.
But they’ve watched their friends and family jump!
If you had the chance would you jump?
Are you brave enough?