tom sawyer: Mark Twain(writer)

The author spent his childhood in a little town next to the river Mississippi and he left school when he was 12 years old. He was a typographer, stemboat pilot, and a gold digger, before becoming the most famous American writer of his time.

 

1835: Samuel Langherne Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri (USA)

1839: The family moves to Hannibal, a town on the banks of the Mississippi.

1847: His father dies and Sam leaves school to work as a typographer in several printer's from New York to Philadelphia.

1857: He decides to become a steamboat pilot.

1861: The American Civil War begins. Sam goes West.

1862: For a short time he works as a gold digger. He writes articles for a smal newspaper in Virgina City (California)

1863: He begins to sign his articles under the pseudonym Mark Twain and works as a reporter on the Call, in San Francisco.

1867: He visits Europe and the Holy Land

1869: His book The innocents Abroad is a great success

1870: He marries Olivia Langdon with whom he has a son that dies at a very early age and two daughters.

1876: The Aventures of Tom Sawyer is published

1884: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.

1894: After a disastrous investment, he loses all his money. To rai9se more money he goes on a tour giving conferences all round the world.

1904: His wife Olivia dies.

1910: Mark Twain dies in Redding

Dracula:Bram stoker(writer)

Mysterious and tormented: that's what we know about Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula. And, indeed, that is how he must have been to imagine such a bloodthirsty creature. 104 years later, the author is perhaps not so well rembembered but Dracula is certainly still as famous as ever. It's a cae of character that has "eliminated" its author!

1847: Bram Stoker is born in Clontarf (Dublin).
1867: He goes to uniuversity
1876: He meets the actor Henry Irving in the Royal Theatre in Dublin
1878: He marries Florence Balcomb, whom he meets at the home of the parents of the famous writer Oscar Wilde. He starts working as a stage manager in the Lyceum Theater in London.
1882: Publicitation of this first book of stories.
1883: Lyceum Theatre American tour. He meets the American poet, Walt Whitman.
 1890: He meets professor Arminius Vambery, and joins a secret society. Publication of his first novel, The Snake Pass.
1894: Publication of stories. 1895: Publication of the novel The Shoulder of Shasta
1897: Pulbication of Dracula. First and only representation of the theatrical adaptation of Dracula.
 1905: Henry Irving dies
 1911: Publication of the novel The Lair of the White Worm.
1912: He dies on the 21st of April.
1915: Publication of short posthumous novels, amongst wich we can find Dracula's Guest.

Dracula

Vocabulary;

engaged: promès

estate: finca

feed on: alimentar-se de

outskirts: als afores

drag: arrossegar

duty: deure

no offence: no s'ofengui

straight away: ara amteix

either:tampoc

frighten: espantar

nightmare:mal somni

creepy:tenebrós

indeed:efectivament

Summary:

Jonathan Harker, a young notary, goes to Transylvania to negociate a sale with Count Dracula. It doesn't take him long to discover his host's terrible secret:Dracula is a vampire that goes out at noght to quench his thirst for human blood.

When he arrives in England, Dracula chooses as his victim Lucy, who is a friend of Mina, Jonathan's fiancée. Lucy bleeds to death.

Will jonathan Harker, Mina and the condescending professor Van Helsing manage to defeat the vampire?The novel appears as a dossier of letters and parts of the diaries of each of the differents characters.

ORAL PRESENTATION: british singers

BRITISH SINGERS:

Hello we’re Júlia and Clàudia and today we are going to talk about four British singers and we will explain a little bit their biography. They are: Adele, Leona Lewis, Jessie J and Amy Winehouse. We chose those singers because they are the most famous British singers. 
 

ADELE:

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, better known as Adele was born the 5th May of 1988 in the north of London. She is an English recording artist and songwriter. She grew up in a simple family and her mother took care of her alone. Since she was little she loves and she was interested in the world of music. She studied in a music School (the sames as Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis...). Then she wrote some songs and finally she sings a contract with XL Recondings. With her second single she won a Grammy. After that, her voice became famous. She sings soul and pop. The most famous song of Adele are: “Rolling in the deep”, “someone like you” and “Set fire to the rain”.

She is the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK. Adele became the first artist in history to lead the Billboard 200 concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number ones. Adele is also the first female artist to have three singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, and the first female artist to have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.21 (her last album) is the longest running number one album by a female solo artist on the UK Albums Chart and is the longest running number one album by a female in Billboard history. In 2011, Billboard named Adele artist of the year.

LEONA LEWIS:

Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. She was born the 3rd April of 1985 in London. She is known because she won the third edition of the British television series The X Factor.

Lewis released her debut studio album Spirit in 2007 features the single "Bleeding Love", which reached number one in over thirty countries around the world, and was the best-selling single worldwide in 2008.

Lewis was the fourth best-selling artist worldwide in 2008. She released her second studio album, Echo, in 2009.

She was proclaimed Top New Artist by Billboard magazine in 2009.

JESSIE J:

Jessica Ellen Cornish better known by her stage name Jessie J is an English singer and songwriter. Born the 27th march of 1988 in London. She raised also there. She studied at the BRIT School before signing with Gut Records. She signed a contract with Island Records and she started recording her debut album: Who you are, which was released the 25th February of 2011. It arrived at the second position in the British lists. After that she wrote songs for: com Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Chris Brown and she became famous for the single: "Party in the U.S.A." that she wrote for Miley Cyrus. The 7th January of 2011 Jessie J arrived at the top of the BBC songs list. Then she released her first single as Jessie J called: “Do it Like a dude", which get the second position in the UK. Second single “Price tag” became immediately the number 1 in the UK. 
 

AMY WINEHOUSE:

Amy Jade Winehouse also called the queen of soul was born in London the 14th September in 1983. She was an English singer and songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals. She was recognized for her hairstyle and her makeup. She is known for its mix of various musical generes, including jazz, R & B, soul and ska, too.

Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

In 2007 she won a prize for Best British Female Artis.

Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011. Her album Back to Black subsequently became the UK's bestselling album of the 21st century.

Solar eclipse projects 'ring of fire' across Asia and U.S.

The shadow of the moon swept across the globe from Hong Kong to the Texas Panhandle as a rare annular solar eclipse began Monday morning in Asia and traversed the Pacific.
The sun appeared as a thin ring behind the moon to people in a narrow path along the center of the track, which began in southern China. Heavy clouds obscured the view in Hong Kong, but residents of Tokyo and other cities were able to get a spectacular view for about four minutes around 7:32 a.m. Monday (6:32 p.m. ET Sunday)

Jessie J hits back at claims she insulted The Voice

Jessie J has hit back at reports that claimed she called The Voice "lame".

The singer took to Twitter after papers said she had insulted her fellow coaches on the BBC One talent show.

She allegedly angered programme bosses by making negative comments about The Voice during filming of The Graham Norton Show.

But she posted online: "I don't know what shocks me more that the papers get away with the lies they print or how many people believe it."

The newspaper reports referred to an interview with Company magazine where she insisted she would not audition for the programme, which has been locked in a ratings battle with Britain's Got Talent.

Britney Spears and Demi Lovato to judge X Factor USA

Britney Spears and Demi Lovato have signed up as judges for the US version of the X Factor.

A few days ago FOX confirmed that this year Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger would not be returning.

Britney Spears said:"I'm so excited about this whole experience. It's going to be so much fun and so different from anything I've ever do.

"'I'm ready to find the true star."

Unit 9:Express doubt and persuade

C: Hey, Júlia, what on earth is that?

J:Oh, I got it this afternoon. What do you think? Do you like it?

C:Mmmm...I'm not convinced.

J: Don't you think it's interesting?

C:Er, sort of, but I'm not sure about the face-it's a bit mad.

J:Oh, come on! It isn't that bad. It's really colourful. It's good to have a new picture, anyway.

C:I suppose so.

J:Don't worry, it'll be fine. It'll grow on you.

C:Ok, We'll see.