THE LIGHTHOUSE by P.D.JAMES Review

THE LIGHTHOUSE by P.D.JAMES

The complete review's Review:

       The Lighthouse is a P.D.James mystery that again features Commander Adam Dalgliesh, ready, it seems, to settle down with Emma Lavenham, a bit worried about growing old -- and particularly concerned that he might be becoming "one more bureaucrat" rather than doing the detective-work that he's meant for. Thank god for a convenient murder !
       The murder is of an author, Nathan Oliver, "acknowledged to be one of the world's greatest novelists", a modern Henry James. He's most acclaimed for how realistic and precise his descriptions of his characters and what happens to them are -- but it's also a character flaw. As his secretary-cum-editor explains:

He's a conduit. Emotion flows through him. He can describe, but he can't feel, not for other people.

       Indeed, Oliver is a great user of people, and not a very nice guy. Not everyone is willing to acknowledge it, but there's almost no one around who regrets his death.
       As significant as the victim is the locale of the murder, Combe Island, a private get-away where important figures are common. One reason Dalgliesh is dispatched there is because the Prime Minister wants to use it in a few month's time, and it wouldn't do for there to be any security or other concerns. It's hard to reach -- there's almost nowhere to land a boat, and helicopters are the preferred method of travel -- safe, and quiet. Guests who want to get away from it all really can.
       There's a motley permanent staff that includes a doctor and priest (both having left the mainland in semi-disgrace), as well as a young waif named Millie that they've taken in for the time being. Oliver was born on the island, and according to the terms of the island's trust, has the right to come whenever he wants -- which he does quarterly, along with his daughter, Miranda, and his editor-lackey, Dennis Tremlett. Among the other guests is a scientist at a laboratory that does animal-testing (and gets lots of flak for it).
       In short order, most of the people on the island have a motive for murder: Miranda and Dennis are in love, and Oliver threatens to cut them off, knowing they have nothing to fall back on. One guest confronts Oliver, angry that the central figure in the writer's next novel is obviously based on him. And Oliver has told the island-administrators that he's planning on moving there fulltime -- and that he wants one of the cottages, in which one of the island's longterm residents is comfortably housed at present. No one wants Oliver around fulltime, but he threatens to change his will, withdrawing his generous bequest to the island if he doesn't get his way. And then there's the helper who loses a blood sample Oliver wanted sent to the mainland: Oliver wants him fired .....
       So Oliver winds up dead, possibly a suicide but more likely a murder, and Adam Dalgliesh is called in. It's a bit inconvenient -- he was planning to spend the weekend with Emma -- but once again P.D.James does everything she can to avoid writing about the two of them actually together, as Emma is again relegated to an entirely peripheral role. Dalgliesh only takes two other officers with him, DI Kate Miskin, and the new man in town (or at least on the team), Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith.
       The island makes for a nice, self-contained locale, and while some comfort themselves with the thought that someone might have snuck in and done the dirty deed, it's pretty clear that there's a murderer among them. When SARS fells one of the islanders and a more (and less) voluntary quarantine is imposed the island's isolation helps add to the sense of menace and concern. Especially as a second person turns up murdered .....
       Adam Dalgliesh has good instincts, but above all he's methodical, and The Lighthouse is a procedural. In leisurely (and expert) fashion James sets the stage and introduces the actors, and then lets the detectives get to work. There are motives galore, and there are hidden facts that get uncovered which paint an even more complex picture. Interestingly, many of the motives remain hidden from the police: quite a few people get away with not being entirely forthright (and a few even with some lies).
       A different sort of complication arises when Dalgliesh himself becomes incapacitated with SARS, and Kate Miskin takes over the reins. Still, it's 'an Adam Dalgliesh mystery' and even on his sick-bed he's the man who connects the most important dots.
       The Lighthouse is a very satisfying read, especially in its build-up. James has a nice touch in presenting the different characters, including the familiar police officers possibly moving on to new stages in their lives. There's a bit much history a few of them (including Oliver) are burdened with, but it does make for a few decent twists along the way.
       Oddly, it's Dalgliesh himself that proves a bit problematic. He's still a commanding figure, but there are considerable concerns -- first imagined, then real -- about his health and advancing age. James putting him to one side as the murder inquiry winds up, as well as her inability to write a scene with him and Emma together covering more than a page or two leaves one with a sense that she's not quite sure what to do with him. And then there's Dalgliesh-as-poet, a central part of his identity but one that's not really glimpsed either -- aside from the alarming but otherwise ignored concern raised early on that if he could no longer actively do detective-work:

If this happened, would he any longer be a poet ? Wasn't it the rich soil of a murder investigation, in shared exertion and the prospect of danger, and in the pitiableness of desperate and broken lives that his poetry put out its shoots >

       The reader is never given any evidence -- not necessarily of his poetry, but even just him in any way being a poet -- to judge.
       So James seems a bit unsure of where Dalgliesh is at at the moment -- but one still hopes he'll be hard at work (and happily married) next time 'round.
       A good, enjoyable read.

PET PRACTICE.
Girls, here you have some exercises to practise narrative tenses.  Do them all and print the first two so that I have a look at your work.

http://www.ice.urv.cat/eoiact/level3/narrativetenses1.htm
http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/hd1/english/narrate/narrtense.htm
http://elt.oup.com/student/naturalenglish/upp/a_grammar/unit05/neup_grammar05?cc=ar&selLanguage=en
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=414

UPPER ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR PRACTICE

DEAR SWEETIES

CLICK AT

docs.google.com/document/d/1x9GrT8NOqNzQ1QnbPazI8V4SElAPS1ZlJq-kXWaS5tY/edit?pli=1

AND SEE IF YOU CAN DO THESE EXERCISES

YOUR TEACHER YAMILA

P.E.T PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND EX

WHY WE SHOULD ALL SAY NO THE AGREEMENT YPF -CHEVRON

THE ARGENTINE long sought deal with Chevron Corp. to exploit shale oil reserves in Patagonia was strongly criticized Wednesday by Mapuche Indians, human rights activists, environmentalists and leftists who called it a sellout to the U.S. that could drain and pollute the nation's resources.

The $1.5 billion joint venture with Chevron was made public in a brief announcement by the state-owned YPF oil company Tuesday night. President Cristina Fernandez said the deal will promote energy independence for Argentina, but many of her one-time allies warned that it would do the opposite.

"It's an irresponsibility and a lack of consciousness that the national government hands over these resources to Chevron," said Nilo Cayuqueo, who leads a Mapuche community in Neuquen province, where the Vaca Muerta shale oil basin is. "We're talking about money here, nothing else. They don't talk about the environment, or of future generations."

Mapuches say the land belongs to them and contend they weren't consulted about the deal in violation of international treaties covering indigenous peoples. YPF denied that claim Tuesday.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine rights activist awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, said the deal would hurt the country.

"We Argentines," he said, "are giving our resources to the United States and converting YPF into a highly polluting company that will use this method known as fracking," which requires millions of gallons of fresh water pumped at high pressure to extract oil and natural gas from otherwise unproductive wells deep underground in shale deposits.

Perez Esquivel said he would file suit demanding to see environmental impact studies and try to block the oil development. But he said he had little hope of success since the court system recently overturned an injunction seizing any Chevron profits in Argentina if the company didn't pay a $19 billion damage judgment won by plaintiffs in Ecuador, where the Texaco oil company since bought by Chevron was judged to have contaminated parts of the Amazon.

The deal reached with Chevron is the biggest foreign investment that Argentina has attracted since expropriating YPF from control of the Spanish company Grupo Repsol last year. Repsol is demanding $10 billion in compensation and threatens to sue any oil company that takes over the wells.

C.A.E. COMPLETE MODEL EXAM

CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES C-65 This complete exam is on the web at :http://www.english-online.org.uk/caefolder/caehome.php?name=Practice%20for%20the%20Cambridge%20Advanced%20English

FRANKENSTEIN S STORY A SUMMARY

FRANKENSTEIN S BY MARY SHELLEY

In a series of letters, Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, recounts to his sister back in England the progress of his dangerous mission. Successful early on, the mission is soon interrupted by seas full of impassable ice. Trapped, Walton encounters Victor Frankenstein, who has been traveling by dog-drawn sledge across the ice and is weakened by the cold. Walton takes him aboard ship, helps nurse him back to health, and hears the fantastic tale of the monster that Frankenstein created.

Victor first describes his early life in Geneva. At the end of a blissful childhood spent in the company of Elizabeth Lavenza (his cousin in the 1818 edition, his adopted sister in the 1831 edition) and friend Henry Clerval, Victor enters the university of Ingolstadt to study natural philosophy and chemistry. There, he is consumed by the desire to discover the secret of life and, after several years of research, becomes convinced that he has found it.
Armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months feverishly fashioning a creature out of old body parts. One climactic night, in the secrecy of his apartment, he brings his creation to life. When he looks at the monstrosity that he has created, however, the sight horrifies him. After a fitful night of sleep, interrupted by the specter of the monster looming over him, he runs into the streets, eventually wandering in remorse. Victor runs into Henry, who has come to study at the university, and he takes his friend back to his apartment. Though the monster is gone, Victor falls into a feverish illness.
Sickened by his horrific deed, Victor prepares to return to Geneva, to his family, and to health. Just before departing Ingolstadt, however, he receives a letter from his father informing him that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Grief-stricken, Victor hurries home. While passing through the woods where William was strangled, he catches sight of the monster and becomes convinced that the monster is his brother’s murderer. Arriving in Geneva, Victor finds that Justine Moritz, a kind, gentle girl who had been adopted by the Frankenstein household, has been accused. She is tried, condemned, and executed, despite her assertions of innocence. Victor grows despondent, guilty with the knowledge that the monster he has created bears responsibility for the death of two innocent loved ones.
Hoping to ease his grief, Victor takes a vacation to the mountains. While he is alone one day, crossing an enormous glacier, the monster approaches him. The monster admits to the murder of William but begs for understanding. Lonely, shunned, and forlorn, he says that he struck out at William in a desperate attempt to injure Victor, his cruel creator. The monster begs Victor to create a mate for him, a monster equally grotesque to serve as his sole companion.
Victor refuses at first, horrified by the prospect of creating a second monster. The monster is eloquent and persuasive, however, and he eventually convinces Victor. After returning to Geneva, Victor heads for England, accompanied by Henry, to gather information for the creation of a female monster. Leaving Henry in Scotland, he secludes himself on a desolate island in the Orkneys and works reluctantly at repeating his first success. One night, struck by doubts about the morality of his actions, Victor glances out the window to see the monster glaring in at him with a frightening grin. Horrified by the possible consequences of his work, Victor destroys his new creation. The monster, enraged, vows revenge, swearing that he will be with Victor on Victor’s wedding night.

C.A.E USE OF ENGLISH EX

This is an exercise for C.A.E STUDENTS  ON USE OF ENGLISH

http://www.oupe.es/es/ELT/PrivateLanguageSchoolsAdultEducationUniversities/caepracticetests/Recursos%20Destacados/Paper%203_Use%20of%20English.pdf

CAE REPORT WRITING

These are instructions for you to do a REPORT

http://www.oupe.es/es/ELT/PrivateLanguageSchoolsAdultEducationUniversities/caepracticetests/Recursos%20Destacados/Paper%202_Writing.pdf

Music and Life in the ocean Video and comment

Life in the ocean - Music played by Enya band

I hope just you enjoy that ... and then read the 1st comment below the video in Youtube

published by Marcelo Leporace, FCE Student

Environmental pollution/Song:"The beds are burning"-Midnight Oil Australian Group

What do you think about this song ?

Is it related with the Environmental  Pollution or  the Australian aborigens?

Listen and read the lyrics, then the comments below this Youtube video...

and make your own conclusion ...

Midnight Oil (click on the link for info about the band)

Idioms: "burn the midnight oil" (click on the link to learn about)

'BEDS ARE BURNING'

Lyrics

Out where the river broke 
The blood wood and the desert oak 
Holden wrecks and bulling diesels 
Team in forty five degrees 
The time has come 
To say fair's fair 
To pay the rent 
To pay our share 
The time has come 
A fact's a fact 
It belongs to them 
Let’s give it back 
How can we dance when our earth is turning? 
How do we sleep while our beds are burning? 
How can we dance when our earth is turning? 
How do we sleep while our beds are burning? 
The time has come 
To say fair's fair 
To pay the rent 
To pay our share 
Four wheels scare the cock a toes 
From kintore east to yuende muthe 
Western desert lives and breathes 
In forty five degrees 
The time has come 
To say fair's fair 
To pay the rent 
To pay our share 
The time has come 
A fact's a fact 
It belongs to them 
Let’s give it back 
How can we dance when our earth is turning? 
How do we sleep while our beds are burning? 
How can we dance when our earth is turning? 
How do we sleep while our beds are burning? 
The time has come 
To say fair's fair 
To pay the rent 
To pay our share 
The time has come 
A fact's a fact 
It belongs to them 
Let’s give it back 
How can we dance when our earth is turning? 
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

Published by Marcelo Leporace, FCE Student, July 17, 2013

The Lone Ranger=El Llanero Solitario

The Lone_Ranger=El Llanero Solitario

published by Marcelo Leporace, FCE Student

English comment about a restaurant in Buenos Aires

English comment about a restaurant in Buenos Aires

published by Marcelo Leporace, FCE Student

WRITING GOOD ARTICLES

COMPOSITION WRITING   : ARTICLE.

                   1. The title of the article.

                    1.1 Good articles have interesting titles. Read these characteristics of interesting titles.

 They are like short sentences.

 They ask a question or make a suggestion.

 They use interesting punctuation like dashes, question and exclamation marks (- ? and !)

                      1. 2 Look at these pairs of titles and circle the more interesting title in each pair.

                       1. A) My town Avila                                 B) There’s something for everyone in Avila!

                       2. A) Pollution? It’s your problem too!    B) Why pollution is a problem

                       3. A) Sardinia- island paradise!                B) The island of Sardinia

                       4. A) The popularity of recycling             B) Recycling mania- Everybody’s doing it!

                 2.   Good articles also use a range of vocabulary.

                       Read these ways of making your vocabulary more interesting.

                      Suggestions:

                      DON”T always use the first words you learnt in English e.g. big, important, good, nice,

                      badly,  much/ many, problem.   

                      DO use interesting words e.g. enormous, essential, fascinating, wonderful, excellent,

                      disastrous,thousands of, numerous, disaster., remarkable, astounding

                      USE ADVERBS after verbs  such as  play beautifully, act normally, run wildly, answer

                      rudely , etc

                  2.1 Make the underlined vocabulary in these sentences more interesting.

                  1. A big pool of oil from a tanker has caused an ecological problem.

                  2. In the centre of the town you can find many boutiques selling nice clothes.

                  3. Buying a guidebook is important. The Lonely Planet guides are good.

                  4. Her exam results were bad and she had to repeat the year.

  

                  3. In good articles the writer expresses her/ his opinion. Read these ways of introducing your opinion.

                                                         EXPRESSING ONE’S OPINION.

                            In my opinion/ view, ………

                            As far as I am , X is concerned, …………..

                            As I see it, ……….

                            If you ask me,………….

                            I’m sure …….

                            I can promise you, ……..

                            From my point of view, 

                             Im positive that ……………… 

                

                      4.  Complete the introductory phrases in these opinions.

                      1. As far ……….   people should recycle as much of their rubbish as possible.

                      2. In …………….. pollution is everyone’s problem.

                      3. I ……….. you won’t be disappointed with Smith.

                      4. I’m ………… you won’t regret visiting Singapore.

                      5. If ……….. people who hurt animals should be put in prison.

               5. Write your answer to this task in your notebook.

                   A student magazine in your country is offering a prize for articles in answer to the question

                  “What can we all do to make our cities and towns cleaner, more pleasant places to live in ?”       (120-160 words)

Topic & Supporting sentences

Paragraphs always include a topic sentence, which says what the paragraph is about. Topic sentences usually come at the beginning of the paragraph. The other sentences in the paragraph develop the ideas in the topic sentence. Supporting sentences expand what has been previously said in the topic sentence

Task 1

The sentences that follow are supporting sentences of the topic sentences that appear below. Choose the best topic sentence A, B or C for each paragraph from the list.

1)….. Almost everyone on Earth has watched it at some time and millions of households have two, three or more televisions. But is this a blessing or a curse?

2) ….. They say that it has too much influence on us and that violent programmes are responsible for an increase in crime. Even non-violent programmes can have negative consequences, according to some psychologists, because they stop us talking to each other or taking part in other healthier activities.

3) …… They point out that there are a lot of programmes with educational value such as documentaries and new reports. Some channels also show excellent films and discussion programmes.

4) …… We can decide if we want to own a television, how much we want to watch it and what to watch. Perhaps we just need to learn how to make those decisions intelligently.

1)   A  Unless you are over 50 years old, you probably cannot remember a time without a television.

B  I love television.

C  Television design has improved a lot in the last few years.

2)   A  My friends think that most of the programmes are rubbish

B  Some experts say that television is harmful.

C   My parents say that they would like to get rid of our TV sets.

3)   A  Television has its supporters, however.

B   Teachers usually advise parents to restrict the amount of time children spent watching

television.

C   Even   people who watch a lot of television frequently say that it is a waste of time.

4)   A    Let’s not forget that television can be good fun!

B   In my opinion , there are more positive things about television than negative things.

C   In the end we are responsible for making television into a blessing or a curse.

Task 2

                               Now write an article about the advantages and disadvantages  of watching  too much  television or spending too many hours in front of a computer .

ESSAY WRITING

1.It is important when you write  to use the connectors that will make the text flow naturally. Complete the composition below with suitable connectors .

                      You have recently been discussing the question: Should people who do dirty, dangerous or unpleasant jobs,  be paid more?

                    It is said that people …………..do dangerous or unpleasant jobs should

            be paid more…………….,  it is important to think about this question

                 carefully. ………………….some people who do difficult or dangerous

                things for a living actually enjoy their work. …………………., some of

                      these jobs give the person a lot of freedom, so they don t do perhaps

                those jobs because they are forced to but because they agree to do them

              . Although there are compensations for this kind of work, it is also true that

            people who have pleasant, safe jobs also often earn more than they do.

               ………………………, I think people who work in unpleasant or dangerous

             conditions should be paid at least as much as people with enjoyable and interesting  jobs.

2. Add the correct linking expressions from exercise 1 into this table.

Introducing the topic of the discussion	Listing points in the discussion	Introducing an alternative point of view	Expressing an opinion	Concluding
People often say that……… ………………	Firstly……….. ……………….	However, ………………. ………………	From my point of view ……………….. ……………….	To sum up, …………….... ………………

3.  Here are some more linking expressions. Add them to the table in exercise 2.

I think / believe / I view ……

Finally, it is important to remember that …..

Secondly……….

In my opinion / To my mind, / From my point of view……..

On balance then ……….

Nevertheless ………….

4. The composition the student wrote has not been divided into paragraphs. Put a mark where you think there should be a paragraph break.

5. Now use linking expressions from the table on the left to complete this composition.

(1). ………… “ Money is the root of all evil” but could we really live without it?  (2) …………… it would not only be possible but better than living the way we do now.

(3) ………….. money stops us really working together to solve problems. If we exchanged goods and services instead of paying for them there would be all sorts of advantages.

(4) ……….., we would try much harder to produce good quality work because our friends and neighbours would be our customers.

(5) …………, we would think more carefully about the things we consume. Perhaps this would be a complicated system to set up.

(6) …………., I am convinced that it would work.

(7) ……….., although it will take time and effort to learn to live without money, it can be done. Why don’t we give it a try?

CEI C-65 ,2013

F.C. READING COMPREHENSION EX

FIRST CERTIFICATE 

READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISE 1 

INSTRUCTIONS You are going to read a magazine article about John Prince, a dancer, dance teacher and choreographer. Seven sentences have been removed from the article on the left. Choose the most suitable sentence from the list A-H on the right for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.  

Career success in the arts  John Prince, famous dancer and choreographer, gives advice on how to succeed in a career in the arts.I asked John how he got started and what requirements there are. "Well, to be a professional dancer it's useful to have had acting lessons or some background in drama. If you want to succeed in musical theatre you have to have a good singing voice as well. When you approach an agent you should take a portfolio with your CV, your statistics sheet and some good photos and reviews of past performances. You'll need dance clothes, ballet shoes, tap shoes, and even roller skates depending on what kind of show you are going to go for."

1       "Of course, you need to be extremely fit if you want to be a professional dancer. I dance or move about for about six hours a day. There are great health benefits to being a dancer. I can eat a lot of pasta without gaining weight because dancing increases your metabolism so much."

2       John has a very busy schedule in the next few months. He took time out to speak to me today from the making of a pop video to promote N-ergy's latest record. "I choreographed the dance routine for the boys and they only had 2 days in which to learn it! I am going to be working on a video for another well known band - but that's top secret. Next month I'll be touring Spain in a production of a musical that was written by a friend of mine, Michaela Evans.

3       As for the future, I've come to realise that I would never be content to be just a chorus dancer - I'm too much of an individual for that. Like all artists I'd love to become a household name by writing and choreographing my own musicals."John was born in Jamaica to a Jamaican father and a Scottish mother but the family emigrated to England 20 years ago. "I have a little sister I adore, who is also training to be a dancer." How does it feel to have someone else following in your footsteps?

4       Has he much more to learn, I wondered. "I've spent an incredible amount of my life training to get where I am. I went to college for two years in England, I trained for six months in Paris and about eight months in America. But you never really stop training or learning your art."

5       So, would you say it's been plain sailing? "I feel I've been lucky to a degree; many people hit problems breaking into the arts. It can be a vicious circle really. You can't become a member of Equity, which is the actors' and dancers' union, without good contracts. and you can't get good contracts without being a member of Equity. My advice to people who want to get into the arts would be to go out into the world, and try everything else first.

6       What has a dance career done for you as a person? "Thanks to dancing, I've visited and performed in 23 countries so far. This has opened my eyes to the world, and I've been able to understand issues like racism and inequality from a wider perspective.

7           "So all in all I'm really happy to be a dancer!" 

A It's fine, but I try not to give out too much advice as it gets irritating!

B And if nothing you like comes out of it, then come back and be an actor or dancer.

C Without a strict daily timetable like this you find yourself wasting too much time.

D After that it's back to England to start a new term of dance classes.

E Hopefully this has enabled me to become a better and more tolerant person as a result.

F When it comes to coping with stress, I find that exercise helps me to cope with my problems, so I stay in good shape mentally as well.

G Like any profession where you're always travelling, you tend to acquire something new almost every day

.

H Being fully equipped with all this stuff beforehand makes it easier when you go for auditions. 

LIKELY ANSWERS

1 F
2 C
3 A
4 G
5 B
6 E
7 D