Textuality » 4A Interacting
EDePiante - English test (valido per orale)
by - (2013-02-04)
Up to 4 A - Texts for Practice
This text is an article written by a journalist. It belongs to a blog contribution in "The Economist" it deals with economics) and it accompanies The World in 2013 (it deals with Italian politics).
The first aspect the reader can notice is the title: it is very short, it is composed by three words (two names and one conjunction). The key words are "Mario" and "Silvio": they make the reader understand the subjects of the article and make him think that there will be a comparison between them.
The article is divided into four paragraph and each one has its own function.
The first paragraph has the purpose of explaining to the reader the main of the text. It starts with "Cassandra", that is the name of the blog where you can find the article. She becomes the subject of the sentence: the journalist does not refer the idea to him but to Cassandra, a character of Greek mythology. Unfortunately she was never believed. The first sentence has the function of presenting Mario Monti as an distinguished and important person, who has two assignments in politics.
From the second sentence, the journalist tells about his experience (he chatted to Mr Monti) and then he expresses his idea about him, Just from the start the reader can understand he admires him and in the first paragraph he explains also the reasons of his point of view.
The second paragraph starts with the conjunction "but". It is used when you want to link two phrases that seems opposite or very different in meaning.
Indeed, the journalist expresses the real message of the article: he wants to know if there are other people and Italian voters who admire Mr Monti. The journalist explains the difficulties that Mr Monti is going to face in the next elections. The problem is Silvio Berlusconi, well know in Italy (also because he dominates the media: they make him very powerful). But the blogger also adds he is not admired by "The Economist". The journalist makes this idea stronger using the name of a further blog in "The Economist": Charlemagne; in this way he makes what he says more reliable; he names also an article belonging to New York Times.
The other problem is expressed quoting from something Mr Monti wrote in The World in 2013 and that is reported in the third paragraph. It deals with the possible solution that Mr Monti wants to activate to kake Italy's public finances better and he says what he has done.
The last paragraph ic connected with the previous one: it makes the reader understand why lots of Italian voters will not vote Mr Monti. Most people are old ones who, thanks to his reforms, will work longer and will be paid less.
This is the idea of the journalist about the next elections and Mario Monti's possible solution.
The first aspect the reader can notice is the title: it is very short, it is composed by three words (two names and one conjunction). The key words are "Mario" and "Silvio": they make the reader understand the subjects of the article and make him think that there will be a comparison between them.
The article is divided into four paragraph and each one has its own function.
The first paragraph has the purpose of explaining to the reader the main of the text. It starts with "Cassandra", that is the name of the blog where you can find the article. She becomes the subject of the sentence: the journalist does not refer the idea to him but to Cassandra, a character of Greek mythology. Unfortunately she was never believed. The first sentence has the function of presenting Mario Monti as an distinguished and important person, who has two assignments in politics.
From the second sentence, the journalist tells about his experience (he chatted to Mr Monti) and then he expresses his idea about him, Just from the start the reader can understand he admires him and in the first paragraph he explains also the reasons of his point of view.
The second paragraph starts with the conjunction "but". It is used when you want to link two phrases that seems opposite or very different in meaning.
Indeed, the journalist expresses the real message of the article: he wants to know if there are other people and Italian voters who admire Mr Monti. The journalist explains the difficulties that Mr Monti is going to face in the next elections. The problem is Silvio Berlusconi, well know in Italy (also because he dominates the media: they make him very powerful). But the blogger also adds he is not admired by "The Economist". The journalist makes this idea stronger using the name of a further blog in "The Economist": Charlemagne; in this way he makes what he says more reliable; he names also an article belonging to New York Times.
The other problem is expressed quoting from something Mr Monti wrote in The World in 2013 and that is reported in the third paragraph. It deals with the possible solution that Mr Monti wants to activate to kake Italy's public finances better and he says what he has done.
The last paragraph ic connected with the previous one: it makes the reader understand why lots of Italian voters will not vote Mr Monti. Most people are old ones who, thanks to his reforms, will work longer and will be paid less.
This is the idea of the journalist about the next elections and Mario Monti's possible solution.
The language of the article is not very simple: it contains lot of words belonging to the semantic field of politics: the ideal reader is the one who cares about politics and id interested in it, mainly to be a politician. But the reader can be an intelligent reader, who understands something about politics and knows the personalities from politics.
On the side of the text there is an image of Mario Monti. It helps the reader to understand the article. Its purpose is to present Mr Monti to the people who do not know him.