2009 PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

(Picture Ron Edmonds / Associated Press)

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See Washington, D.C., like a local
Visiting the city for the inauguration? Experience its authentic flavor on foot via offbeat -- and affordable -- cultural sites, cafes and bookstores.
By Amanda Abrams, Reporting from Washington, D.C., Published: The Los Angeles Times - 06:43 PM PST, January 06, 2009

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The city’s abuzz as preparations, including a White House-adjacent reviewing stand, swing into high gear.
Washington is steeling itself for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20. Hotels have long sold out, and space on residents' floors is going by the square foot.
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But visitors have reason to be excited. They'll be on hand for a historic moment and they'll have the opportunity to visit a dynamic city that's been shedding its stodgy reputation in the last decade. Even with a light wallet, you can still find plenty of cheap and unusual ways to enjoy the District.
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Indeed, the last 10 years have been good ones for D.C. Sure, its gentrification, but little by little, neighborhoods are reclaiming their vitality as young professionals buy and restore the city's trademark row houses. Even with a Starbucks seemingly on every other corner, there are enough local haunts for the authentic flavor of Washington -- populated by a mix of ambitious young do-gooders, immigrants from everywhere and D.C. natives -- to sing out.

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The city is well-served by Metro, Washington's user-friendly subway system, but officials have said that trains may be overloaded during the inauguration. Visitors will have better luck on foot: The city is small and manageable, and its buildings' low heights and architectural details make for an aesthetically pleasant journey.
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Washington's most dynamic areas lie northwest of the Capitol. Dupont Circle is one of the most popular hangouts among young embassy and think-tank staff who work nearby. The surrounding streets -- particularly Massachusetts and New Hampshire avenues -- are crowded with dignified embassies. But if it's too cold for a walk, stop in at Kramerbooks, a proudly independent bookstore that specializes in the latest treatises by Thomas Friedman and Malcolm Gladwell, and one of the few places in the city that's open all night Fridays and Saturdays.
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For a break, head to Teaism, a local chain with unusual, Asian-influenced food and a variety of teas. Or visit the Tabard Inn, south of the circle: A glass of wine buys a seat in one of the most charming and tranquil sitting rooms in town.
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About six blocks north of Dupont is Adams Morgan, the District's party zone. The neighborhood is clogged with club goers every weekend and is often the site of alcohol-abetted brawls, but it's also host to a variety of people and cuisines. Eat cheap, Israeli-style sandwiches at Amsterdam Falafelshop, or boogie to reggae at the Ghana Cafe. During the day, Tryst, a popular cafe, is the place to drink a mocha, play a board game and people watch.
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Adams Morgan might be Washington's most diverse neighborhood, but the U Street Corridor is right up there. Formerly the city's "black Broadway," U Street suffered a major decline after the 1968 riots. But about a decade ago, small businesses began to pop up, and the street now boasts several funky boutiques and small restaurants.
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Revelers took over U Street on election night, and it's likely to be the place to be during the inauguration too. The epicenter could be Busboys and Poets, a 14th Street bookstore cum coffee shop cum restaurant celebrating black history and political activism. Some of the city's best-known clubs are also in the neighborhood. The Black Cat, one of Washington's oldest and biggest concert venues, will be honoring "people's empowerment through art, film and music" on inauguration night.
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Farther east on U Street are several Ethiopian restaurants; Washington is home to one of the largest Ethiopian populations outside of Addis Ababa. Dukem Restaurant is one of the best in town and frequently offers Ethiopian music and a traditional coffee ceremony.
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The inauguration itself will take place at the National Mall, where you can take in a passel of free monuments and museums, though most will be closed on Inauguration Day. Many are bound to be overrun with tourists during the rest of the week, but you'll also find some underappreciated gems too.

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The ice skating rink outside the National Gallery of Art is one treat. Surrounded by sculptures by Roy Lichtenstein and Alexander Calder, skaters can take advantage of the frigid temperatures of an East Coast winter. Southeast of the rink is the U.S. Botanic Garden, a large, glass conservatory at the base of Capitol Hill that is home to 4,000 tropical, subtropical and rare plants.
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At the other end of the Mall, hard against the Potomac, is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The center's Millennium Stage hosts free performances at 6 p.m. daily and will be holding a special celebration featuring Aretha Franklin and other performers on Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Day.
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WHERE TO GO IN D.C.
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Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. N.W., www.kramers.com
Teaism, 2009 R St. N.W., www.teaism.com
Tabard Inn, 1739 N St. N.W., www.tabardinn.com
Amsterdam Falafelshop, 2425 18th St. N.W. www.falafelshop.com
Ghana Cafe, 2465 18th St. N.W., www.ghanacafe.com
Tryst, 2459 18th St. N.W., www.trystdc.com
Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. N.W., www.busboysandpoets.com
The Black Cat, 1811 14th St. N.W., www.blackcatdc.com
Dukem Restaurant, 1114 U St. N.W., www.dukemrestaurant.com
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Skating Rink, 7th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W., www.nga.gov/ginfo/skating.shtm
U.S. Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave. N.E., www.usbg.gov
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F St. N.W., www.kennedy-center.org
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Vocabulary:
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Abuzz: adjective [after verb] filled with noise and activity
high gear: noun – a state of intense or high activity
sold out: Past tense of Sell Out - noun [C usually singular] a performance or sports event for which no more tickets are available, because it is so popular / in this text it refers to Hotel accommodations which means that all rooms are already either occupied or reserved.
square foot: equals to 1 ft² = 0.092903 m²
shedding: verb [T] shedding, shed, shed (often used in newspapers) to get rid of something you do not need or want
stodgy: adjective UK informal disapproving boring, serious and formal
gentrification: noun [U] when an area is gentrified - verb [T often passive] DISAPPROVING to change a place from being a poor area to a richer one, by people of a higher social class moving to live there
trademark: noun [C] a name or a symbol which is put on a product to show that it is made by a particular producer and which cannot be legally used by any other producer
haunts: verb [T] (of a ghost) to appear in a place repeatedly
do-gooders: noun [C] mainly disapproving someone who does things that they think will help other people, although the other people might not find their actions helpful
aesthetically: adverb relating to the enjoyment or study of beauty
hangouts: noun [C] informal a place where someone spends a lot of time or where they live
think-tank: an institute, corporation or group for interdisciplinary research (as in technological and social problems) also called think factory
treatises: noun [C] a formal piece of writing that considers and examines a particular subject
clogged: adjective blocked
alcohol-abetted brawls: grupos anti-alcolismo – easier explained in Portuguese
venues: noun [C] the place where a public event or meeting happens
empowerment: noun [U] to have legal power or official authority
bound to: adjective [after verb] going to
be overrun: verb [T] overrunning, overran, overrun If unwanted people or things overrun, they fill a place quickly and in large numbers
underappreciated: not duly appreciated

Learning in the News XXVIII - For Students all levels

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The famous New Years Eve ball goes for a test run in 2007

Richard Cohen / Corbis
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A Brief History Of The New Year's Eve Ball
Published: The New York Times - By Frances Romero - Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008
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When the New York Times officially opened its new headquarters in Times Square in 1904, owner Alfred Ochs not only convinced the city to rename the intersection formerly known as Longacre Square, but he also threw a grand party to commemorate the milestone. The New Year's Eve soiree started with an all-day street festival, transitioned to a fireworks display ending with cheers at midnight from the crowd of more than 200,000. Previous New Year's Eve celebrations typically took place outside of Old Trinity Church in Manhattan's financial district. But by contemporary standards these weren't parties at all because there was no ball.
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For decades, residents of U.S. cities would synchronize their pocket watches using a giant globe that would descend from a pole in a public space to mark the exact hour. Ochs conceived of an ornate "time ball" that would descend just before midnight to mark the exact end of the year. The first ball to drop — an illuminated 400-pound iron-and-wood orb — was lowered from a flagpole. Tradition took root and the ball has heralded a new beginning almost every year since — in 1942 and 1943, during World War II, the ball was temporarily put out of commission by a war-time "dim-out." Instead crowds gathered in the square and observed a moment of silence before hooting and hollering.
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Although the newspaper moved to a different location in 1914, the ball remained a Times Square tradition, with several makeovers along the way. In 1955 it slimmed down to a 200-pound aluminum globe, and remained that way until the 1980s when red lights and a green stem were added to make it an apple promoting the city's "I Love New York" tourism campaign. That flashy phase ended in 1988 in favor of simple white lights, followed later by edgier rhinestones and strobes. But the biggest overhaul was saved for the ball that would ring in the new millennium. Plumping up to 1,070 pounds, the massive new ball touted handcrafted Waterford crystal triangles, each with a design symbolizing various messages such as "Hope for Fellowship," "Hope for Wisdom" and "Hope for Abundance." With minor tweaks, that sphere remained through the 2007 fiesta.
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This year's ball tops out at 12 feet in diameter (double the size of previous balls) and weighs 11,875 pounds; it sparkles with 32,256 LED lights and 2,668 crystals. It's not the only thing that's gotten bigger since the 1900s; a crowd estimated at a million people will be celebrating in Times Square on Dec. 31, and millions more will be watching worldwide.
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Vocabulary:

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Ball: any object in the shape of a sphere, especially one used as a toy by children or in various sports such as tennis and football
Test run: Test Run helps you and your team creates, manage, and execute test plans. Test Run makes it easy to create new tests by eliminating a lot of the complexity that has slowly been added to so many other tools. Test Run is a tool built for managers first and engineers second
Headquarters: group noun [C] (abbreviation HQ) the main offices of an organization such as the army, police or a business company
Intersection: noun [C] mainly US the place where two or more roads join or cross each other
Formerly: adverb formal in the past
Threw: verb past participle of throw, throw a party to have a party
Milestone: noun [C] (UK also milepost) an important event in the development or history of something or in someone's life
Soiree: noun [C] formal an evening party, often with musical entertainment
Fireworks: noun [C]a small container filled with explosive chemicals which produce bright colored patterns or loud noises when they explode
Took place: verb [transitive] to happen, to occur
Ball: noun [C]a large formal occasion where people dance
Pocket: neste contexto se refere a bolso – easier explained in Portuguese
Pole: noun [C] a long thin stick of wood or metal, often used standing straight up in the ground to support things
Heralded: Past tense of Herald - verb [T] FORMAL to be a sign that something important, and often good, is starting to happen, or to make something publicly known, especially by celebrating or praising it
Dim-out: verb [I or T] -mm- to (make something) become less bright
Gathered: Past tense o gather - verb [I] when people or animals gather, they come together in a group
Hooting: Present Continuous of Hoot - verb [I or T] to make a short loud high sound
Hollering: Present Continuous of Holler - verb [I or T] mainly us informal to shout loudly
Slimmed down: Past tense of slim down - phrasal verb to become thinner
Rhinestones: noun [C] a bright colorless artificial jewel which looks like a diamond and can be sewn onto clothes
Strobes: noun [C] a light which quickly flashes on and off
Overhaul: verb [T] to repair or improve something so that every part of it works properly
Touted: (make known) verb [T] to advertise, make known or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging their sale, popularity or development
Fellowship: noun [U] OLD-FASHIONED a friendly feeling that exists between people who have a shared interest or are doing something as a group
Wisdom: Wisdom is knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion, and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity to apply these qualities well towards finding solutions to problems.
Tweaks: verb [T] to change slightly, especially in order to make more correct, effective, or suitable
Sparkles: noun [U] bright shine

Learning in the News XXVII

Stuart Isett for The New York Times

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A Holdout Against Developers Leaves a Legacy
Published: The New York Times by William Yardley
December 27, 2008
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Before construction began on neighboring buildings, Edith Macefield refused developers’ offer of $1 million to sell her house, which was built in 1900. She died in June.
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SEATTLE — People love to point out Edith Macefield’s tiny house in the old fishing village of Ballard and recount how she refused an offer of $1 million from developers who wanted to buy it. They had planned to level her home to make way for a boutique supermarket and a health club.
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The project, in faux industrial concrete and steel, is more evidence of change in a city whose growth and economic success over the past two decades have put its modest neighborhoods like Ballard under perpetual renovation.
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Ms. Macefield had little time for trendy food or fitness. Her interests were opera and Sinatra, Garbo on videotape or the classics in dusty hardback. She had history, too. If she let you in the door, she might recount her escape from a concentration camp while she was an undercover agent for the British during World War II. She might tell of her liaisons, long ago, with men of means and renown.
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“She was just full of stories and stories and stories about her past,” said Charlie Peck, whose friendship with Ms. Macefield began more than 20 years ago, after she gave him a collection of recordings of Benny Goodman, Paul Whiteman and other bandleaders on old 78s.
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Ms. Macefield’s refusal to sell her house made the news more than once. In a city knotted over its shifting identity, she seemed a familiar face, old Seattle, vulnerable but resistant to the march of gentrification and blandness. Yet it turns out that Ms. Macefield was writing a different story, and her little house, which still stirs tension, was not all she left behind. It turns out that Ms. Macefield was not so knowable, even to the few people she invited into her life. She was not such a succinct symbol after all.
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“Everybody that’s come in and tried to talk about this has tried to create that image of her,” said Mike Semandiris, whose family has owned a chili parlor around the corner for more than 70 years. “But she didn’t give a damn about preserving old Ballard. The lady just wanted to live in her house.”
Ms. Macefield was 86 when she died in June of pancreatic cancer. Six months later, her 108-year-old bungalow is cloaked by what will soon become an LA Fitness club and a Trader Joe’s, set to open next year.
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Inside, bed sheets are still on the living room sofa where Ms. Macefield slept when she could no longer climb the stairs. Ceramic cows ornament the top of every appliance. A few copies of “The Little House,” the children’s tale by Virginia Lee Burton of a country cabin swallowed by sprawling development, are in one corner. People she did not know would drop them off.
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In a bookcase in a dark hallway there is another book, not well known like the others. In fact, it is unclear whether anyone other than its author has ever read “Where Yesterday Began.”
Ms. Macefield paid to have her novel published in 1994, under the pen name Domilini. It is set against the backdrop of post-World War I Europe.
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An introductory page begins, “This story is for all those who have ever loved — truly, deeply, irrevocably — and in the thrust of disaster. For some, love simply dies — and one moves on. But for a few, love is as lasting as the ages — despite the impossibilities, the separation, the insured loneliness.”
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The book is 1,138 pages long, not counting the musical references, from Scottish folk songs to a 1915 work by the English composer Albert W. Ketelbey, and a 16-page glossary of the French, German and Italian phrases sprinkled throughout. “I think it was kind of a love story,” said Mr. Peck, the longtime friend. “I never did read it.”
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The book is dedicated to “B. Robert Aigner, M.D.,” with no explanation why. Reached by phone at his home in a Seattle suburb, Dr. Aigner, 80, said he remembered Ms. Macefield was a patient, but nothing more.
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Dr. Aigner, a neurologist, was amazed and amused that Ms. Macefield would have dedicated her ambitious work to him. He had never heard of it.
“I have no idea what I was treating her for,” he said.
She wrote other manuscripts and short stories, and, of course, there are the tales she told the few visitors she invited inside her house.
Ms. Macefield constructed her stories while the city surrounding her rushed to construct itself, while the new condos rose even as the big seagoing fish processors still sounded their horns on their way to Alaska, while the coffee shops became espresso shops and the bars became clubs.
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She lived on a street whose other houses had been torn down decades ago. Not only did she have no real neighbors, but she also had no known family. Born in Oregon, she told people she had moved to Seattle from Europe as an adult to care for her mother. Her mother died many years ago, apparently in the house that Ms. Macefield refused to sell.
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For years Mr. Peck was the person closest to her. They both loved music. He was a divorced father without much money when he met her in the 1980s. Soon he was driving her to appointments, helping get her groceries. He bought her the word processor that still sits on a desk in her house. She became like a grandmother to his sons.
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“She was a really curious person, but she was always fun,” Mr. Peck said.
By the early 1990s, he said, Ms. Macefield had made him the beneficiary of her estate through a living trust. Now that she is gone, he said he has hired a lawyer to determine his rights. Not that Ms. Macefield had much beyond well-positioned real estate. All Mr. Peck said he knew was that she worked decades ago making deliveries for the Washington Dental Service.
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In the fall of 2006, as developers were pressing Ms. Macefield, Mr. Peck tried to convince her to sell. She was in the hospital after having fallen and broken some ribs, he recalled, and the sale would have paid Ms. Macefield about $1 million, as well as help her move to new housing.
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“She just pulled out, right there, at the last minute,” said Mr. Peck, 63. “She didn’t trust them. It really hurt our relationship, too, because she thought I was in bed with these guys.” Mr. Peck has since moved to another part of the state.
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In February, Ms. Macefield signed a new will that placed her estate in the control of a man she had known well for less than a year, Barry Martin, the senior superintendent of the construction project that was quickly surrounding her. The trailer from which Mr. Martin was overseeing the project was just a few dozen feet from Ms. Macefield’s house.
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“At first, it was only 10 minutes of your time,” said Mr. Martin, 52, “but pretty soon she’s actually counting on you. And you can’t just walk away.”
He took her to the doctor. Then he took out her laundry. Then he dropped off lunch. Then one night he cooked her halibut and new potatoes and green beans. Then it was three meals a day and then he was changing the liner on her dentures. Then, last spring, Ms. Macefield was told she had cancer. She died at home.
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Word got out later that Mr. Martin had gained control of Ms. Macefield’s estate. He had made no mention of this when reporters first interviewed him after her death.
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Some people sniped on the local blogs. Others weighed in at Mike’s Chili Parlor, around the corner. They said Mr. Martin was an opportunist, either a tool of the developer or out for himself.
“I am going to benefit,” Mr. Martin said, standing in Ms. Macefield’s kitchen, his eyes welling more than once with tears. “And that’s the dilemma.”
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What happened to him, Mr. Martin said, is what had happened to many people who Ms. Macefield let in her front door. He listened to her stories, and while he did not know if all of them were true, he liked that she told them, and he liked her.
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“Barry’s probably closer to altruistic than opportunistic,” said Mr. Semandiris, of the chili parlor. “I think once he got to know her he was probably into it for the right reasons.”
Given the downturn in the market, nobody thinks the house will fetch anything close to $1 million anymore. Still, Mr. Martin said, he does plan to sell it, to make whatever he can to help pay for his daughters’ college education. He said Ms. Macefield would have wanted it that way.
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He said he would have to muster the willpower to clean the place out, to gather up all those ceramic cows, to pack up the Puccini and Perry Como recordings. There also is the question of what to do with the stories that Ms. Macefield wrote.
He, too, has yet to read “Where Yesterday Began.”
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Vocabulary:
Holdout: noun [C] a person, organization or country that continues to do something, despite other people trying to force them not to
to point out: phrasal verb [M]to tell someone about some information, often because you believe they are not aware of it or have forgotten it
tiny: adjective - extremely small
to level: verb [T] -ll- or US USUALLY -l- 1 to make a surface flat - 2 to completely destroy a building or area
to make way: same as to give way - to be replaced by something, especially because it is better, cheaper, easier, etc
faux: adjective [before noun]not real, but made to look or seem real; false
trendy: adjective INFORMAL modern and influenced by the most recent fashions or ideas
dusty: adjective - covered in dust
hardback: noun [C or U] (US ALSO hardcover) a book which has a stiff cover
undercover agent: adjective [before noun] working secretly using a false appearance in order to get information for the police or government
liaisons: noun - [C] MAINLY US someone who helps groups to work effectively with each other
renown: noun [U] FORMAL the state of being famous
78s: Antigos discos de 78 rotações –(Easier explained in Portuguese)
Knotted: verb [T] -tt- to fast by tying together the ends of a piece or pieces of string, rope, cloth, etc
Gentrification: noun [U] when an area is gentrified (people of high social class, especially in the past)
Blandness: noun [U] lacking a strong taste or character or lacking in interest or energy
turns out: (HAPPEN) phrasal verb to happen in a particular way or to have a particular result, especially an unexpected one
stirs: verb to stir – in this case used figuratively - verb [I] -rr- UK INFORMAL DISAPPROVING to cause trouble intentionally between other people, especially by telling false or secret information
knowable: adjective able to be known
succinct: adjective APPROVING said in a clear and short way; expressing what needs to be said without unnecessary words
chili parlor: A place specialized in Chili - Texans call it ‘A BOWL OF RED’. They think Chili Con Carne was invented in a jailhouse in San Antonio, Fort Worth, Corsicana or where ever (depends on who’s spinnin’ the yarn.)
didn’t give a damn: didn’t care for
pancreatic cancer: Cancer de pancreas (easier explained in Portuguese)
cloaked: noun [S or U] something which hides, covers or keeps something else secret
climb: verb [I] to go up, or to go towards the top of something
swallowed: Past tense of to swallow – verb [M] If something large swallows (up) another thing, it makes it disappear or stop existing separately by making it part of itself
sprawling: verb [I usually + adverb or preposition] DISAPPROVING (especially of a city) to cover a large area of land with buildings which have been added at different times so that it looks untidy
development: noun [C] UK an area of high numbers of people without jobs where the government encourages new industries to start so that more jobs will be created
is set against: phrasal verb to consider something in relation to another thing and compare their different qualities or effects (in this text it means that it is placed against….)
backdrop: noun - [S] the view behind something
loneliness: noun [U] the state of being lonely
sprinkled: Past tense of sprinkle - verb [T] to scatter a few bits or drops of something over a surface
throughout: preposition, adverb in every part, or during the whole period of time
amazed: adjective extremely surprised
amused: adjective showing that you think something is funny
seagoing: adjective [before noun] (of ships) built for use on journeys across the sea, not just for coastal and river journeys
fish processors: Plantas de processameno e industrialização de peixes e frutos do mar (easier explained in Portuguese)
torn down: phrasal verb [M] to intentionally destroy a building or other structure because it is not being used or it is not wanted any more
beneficiary: noun [C] a person or group who receives money, advantages, etc. as a result of something else (neste texto usado como herdeiro)
estate: noun [C] LEGAL everything that a person owns when they die
developers: noun [C] a person whose job involves buying and selling buildings and land, and arranging for new buildings to be built
overseeing: verb [T] overseeing, oversaw, overseen to watch or organize a job or an activity to make certain that it is being done correctly
halibut: noun [C] plural halibut or halibuts a big, flat sea fish which can be eaten (alabote negro)
dentures: plural noun false teeth fixed to a small piece of plastic or similar material, which fits inside the mouth of someone who does not have their own teeth
sniped: verb [I] to criticize someone unpleasantly
tool: noun - something that helps you to do a particular activity
welling: verb [I usually + adverb or preposition] (of liquid) to appear on the surface of something or come slowly out from somewhere
downturn: noun [C usually singular] a reduction in the amount or success of something, such as a country's economic activity
fetch: verb [T] to be sold for a particular amount of money
to muster: verb [I or T] to produce or encourage especially an emotion or support
willpower: noun [U] the ability to control your own thoughts and the way in which you behave; determination
to gather up: verb 1 [T] to collect or obtain several things, often from different places or people

LEARNING IN THE NEWS - XVI (For Intermediate and Advanced Students)

This article also has nothing to do with Business English but since

this Blog receives so many foreign visitors I decided to post it.

It was published yesterday, on The New York Times

(February 26th, 2008) they dedicated 3 full pages to praise

Salvador's beauty and it's famous son Jorge Amado.

It is the city where I chosed to live... S A L V A D O R!!!

I was born in São Paulo and after travelling so much this is my final

destination. For you guys from other countries I can only say one thing,

read this article and...

EAT YOUR HEARTH OUT GUYS AND GALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The Lacerda Elevator looms over Salvador’s lower city. Top of Form

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Echoes of Amado in the Dark and the Light
By Larry Hohter (Larry Hohter, The Times’s bureau chief in Rio de Janeiro from 1999 until August 2007, is on leave, writing a book about Brazil.)
The New York Times - Published: February 24, 2008
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IN Portuguese, “amado” means “beloved,” and in more than a score of novels, the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado made clear his eternal passion for Salvador da Bahia, the city that took him in as a teenage boarding student and became his home. Salvador, in turn, loved him back, and even now, more than six years after his death, Amado’s exuberant spirit, aesthetic and characters seem to permeate the streets of the place he described both as “the most mysterious and beautiful of the world’s cities” and “the most languid of women.”
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For visitors keen to experience those tropical mysteries, Amado went so far as to suggest an itinerary in his novel, “Tereza Batista: Home From the Wars.” He wanted tourists to see not just “our beaches, our churches embroidered with gold, the blue Portuguese ceramic tiles, the Baroque, the picturesque popular festivals and the fetishist ceremonies,” but also “the putridity of the slum houses on stilts and the whorehouses.”
That kind of dichotomy was typical of Amado, who, especially in his early years, tended to see everything as pairs of opposites: good and evil, black and white, sacred and profane, rich and poor. He even managed to impose that Manichean vision on the geography of Salvador, scorning Rua Chile, then the main commercial street of the upper city, and its well-to-do clientele in favor of the lower city and the port, where sailors, longshoremen, beggars, prostitutes and grifters saturated him in “the greasy black mystery of the city of Salvador da Bahia.”
Nowadays, the heart of the lower city has been restored and gentrified. The beach where the homeless street urchins of his 1937 novel, “Captains of the Sands,” struggled to survive has disappeared, replaced by a yacht club and a small mall that includes art galleries and a restaurant, Trapiche de Adelaide, that not only may be Salvador’s finest but also offers a magnificent view of the bay.
But at the noisy, stifling Mercado Municipal just down the road, the flavor of the old days lingers. Inside, stalls sell not just T-shirts but also herbs, magic potions, aphrodisiacs and amulets. On the plaza out front, con artists perform card tricks, folk poets known as repentistas and cordelistas recite or sing their verses, and practitioners of capoeira perform their graceful mixture of dance and martial arts to the twang of the single metal string of the gourd-like berimbau.
The link between the scruffy lower city and the imposing “black mass on the green mountain above the sea,” as Amado referred to the upper city in “Pastors of the Night,” is the 191-foot Lacerda Elevator, which was itself featured in “Sea of Death,” published in 1936. At its upper terminus, the elevator opens onto a square that provides a sweeping view of the city and the bay.
But at its lower terminus, the elevator is surrounded by funky bars that play axé, pagode and other styles of music favored by the Brazilian working class. Every time I exit, I think of “The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell” and its description of a bar “full of glum clusters of young guys, joyful sailors, women down on their luck and truck drivers with long hauls scheduled.”
As much as its people, Salvador’s streets and landmarks are characters in Amado’s novels. Salvador overwhelmed the author with its sights, sounds and smells. “In Bahia, popular culture enters through the eyes, the ears, the mouth (so rich, colorful and tasty the culinary arts) and penetrates all the senses,” he wrote in “Bay of All Saints,” a guidebook first published in 1945 that is unfortunately out of print.
Amado’s own presence is perhaps most palpably felt at the museum on Pelourinho Square that bears his name. Inside are numerous photographs of the novelist, at work and with his family, at home in Salvador and abroad, where he lived in reluctant exile for some years. The permanent exhibition also displays first-edition covers, in Portuguese and in translation into more than 40 languages, of each of his novels.
As you sit on the museum steps, the most famous scene from Amado’s best-known novel, “Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands,” also made into a movie in the 1970s, comes readily to mind. Even with the cobblestoned plaza cluttered by touts trying to sell trinkets to sunburned tourists in Bermuda shorts, the image of Flor walking with Teodoro on one side and the naked ghost of Vadinho on the other seems an indelible part of the landscape.
Just across the square, at Largo do Pelourinho 68, is the boardinghouse where Amado lived when he first came to Salvador from the provincial town of Ilhéus in 1928 at the age of 16 to study. Not coincidentally, an early novel written in Socialist Realist style, “Sweat,” is set in the building, which today is painted pastel green and has a small plaque that acknowledges its importance in Amado’s intellectual formation.
Legend says that Salvador has 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and each meant to be more spectacular than the last. The most dazzling of the lot is probably São Francisco, a frothy Baroque confection a couple of blocks from Pelourinho that is awash in gold arabesques and is connected to a monastery whose walls are decorated with gorgeous 18th-century Portuguese tiles.
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But Amado always felt a special affection for the more austere Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos because of its links to the historic suffering of the blacks who make up the majority of the city’s population. The church is at the foot of Pelourinho Square, where in colonial days slaves were flogged, and Amado, sometimes unjustly accused by his critics of favoring exoticism and sentimentality over substance, never forgot that.
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“The church was all blue in the late afternoon, the church of the slaves in the square where the whipping post and pillories had been erected,” he wrote in “Tent of Miracles,” published in 1969. “Is that the reflection of the sun or a smear of blood on the cobblestones? So much blood has run over these stones, so many cries of pain rose to heaven, so many supplications and curses resonated on the walls of that blue church.”
Food was also essential to Amado’s world, as the title of “Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon” clearly conveys. Amado’s humble heroines are frequently of the belief that the surest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and more often than not they are proven right. “If after confronting all the dangers and obstacles that life offers, you don’t eat well, then what’s the point?” one character observes in “The Violent Land.”
Walking down the slanted sidewalk of Pelourinho Square last year, I caught the unmistakable fragrance of dende, or palm oil, and peanut sauce wafting from a doorway. It turned out to be the entrance to the Museu da Gastronomia Bahiana, which opened in 2006 and offers a solid introduction to the culinary delights of Amado’s novels. Just downstairs from a restaurant operated by Senac, a government training school for hotel workers, waiters and chefs, the museum is divided into three sections. The first displays the ingredients of typical Bahian dishes, along with the utensils required to make them and photographs of the final results, while the second is a store that sells cookbooks, sweets and compotes.
The third, of course, is the restaurant itself, which is not just a tribute to the cuisine that inspired Amado but also an invitation to gluttony. For 28 reals ($15.56 at 1.8 reals to the dollar), visitors can eat as much as they want of the 40 or so dishes displayed on long serving tables. The choices range from vatapá, a savory paste made from shrimp, coconut milk, palm oil and nuts, to quindim, an intensely yellow custard that combines egg yolks, sugar and ground coconut. Drinks are served by women wearing the turbans and flouncy dresses of Candomblé priestesses. .
Like Pedro Archanjo, the hero of his novel “Tent of Miracles,” Amado was a lapsed Communist and atheist who eventually became so involved in Candomblé, the African-derived religion that is Brazil's equivalent to voodoo, that he became an obá, or honorary high priest in the cult of Xangô, the deity of lightning and justice. Candomblé beliefs and practices pervade Amado’s novels and motivate many of his characters, especially in “The War of the Saints,” the last of his great novels, published in 1988.
“In this land of Bahia, saints and enchanted beings perform miracles and sorcery,” Amado wrote, “and not even Marxist ethnologists are surprised to see a carving from a Catholic altar turn into a bewitching mulatto woman at the hour of dusk.”
The terreiros, or open-air Candomblé sanctuaries, which Amado frequented back when they were illegal and subject to police raids, now flourish and are open to visitors. Some hotels organize trips to what they advertise as Candomblé ceremonies. But these tend either to be bogus or at the very least watered down.
A better option is to make arrangements with one of the established terreiros to attend a worship service and, since most of the tabernacles are in poor, outlying neighborhoods, hire a taxi. Amado was fond of both the Casa Branca group in the Vasco da Gama neighborhood and Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, in the Cabula area, which the Brazilian government designated a national treasure in 2001.
Both are good choices for visitors. Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá was “my house,” Amado wrote, where “I have my chair at the side of the high priestess and at times am her spokesman.” He also urged visitors to be sure to ask their own orixá, or divinity, for protection just as soon as they arrived in Salvador.
“The pathways of Salvador are guarded by Exu, one of the most important orixás in the liturgy of Candomblé,” he wrote in “Bay of All Saints.” But Exu is often confused with the devil, so “woe be unto those who disembark with malevolent intentions, with a heart of hatred or envy, or stop here tinged by violence or acrimony.”
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For most of the last decades of his life, Amado lived at Rua Alagoinhas 33, in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood, far from both the lower and upper city. At one point in “Dona Flor,” a character complains that “the worst address can only be Rio Vermelho, with its isolation and impostors, an end-of-the-world, almost suburban kind of place, and so ordinary.”
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But in fact the area is charming, and the street on which Amado lived is quiet and palm shaded. The house itself is decorated with blue and white tiles with images of birds and fruit, and has a white tower with a statue and Candomblé emblem honoring Xangô. After Amado’s death on Aug. 6, 2001, his ashes were scattered in the house’s garden.
“The years of freedom I spent on the streets of Salvador da Bahia, mixing with the people of the docks, of the markets and fairs” and other somewhat disreputable and picaresque locations were “my best university,” Amado said when he was inducted into the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1961. Or as one of the characters in “Captains of the Sands” muses, “there is nothing better in the world than to walk like this, at random, through the streets of Bahia.”
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VISITOR INFORMATION
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HOW TO GET THERE
Once a week, TAM Airlines, the Brazilian carrier, operates a direct flight between Miami and Salvador da Bahia. The plane leaves on Sunday morning and arrives 7 hours and 45 minutes later; a round-trip ticket costs about $1,300. During the rest of the week, though, visitors must fly overnight to Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo and make connections there, adding both time and cost to the trip.
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WHERE TO STAY
The Hotel Tropical (Avenida 7 de Setembro 1537; 55-71-2105-2000; http://www.tropicalhotel.com.br/) is conveniently located near both the downtown area in the upper city and the main in-town beaches, and is decorated with murals by Carybé, who illustrated many of Jorge Amado’s novels. There are 253 rooms, and a double, with breakfast and taxes included, is 239 reals ($132.78 at 1.8 reals to the dollar).
Of the many hotels on the beachfront, the Othon Palace (at Avenida Oceânica 2294 in Ondina; 55-71-2103-7100; http://www.othon.com.br/) is a personal favorite. It’s within walking distance of several landmarks and fine restaurants, is only a short cab ride away from the lower city, and has 278 rooms with rustic-style furniture and verandahs, most offering spectacular views of the sea and a nearby lighthouse. Double rooms start at about 200 reals.
If you’re willing to splurge, the Convento do Carmo (Rua do Carmo 1; 55-71-3327-8400; http://www.pousadas.pt/) is definitely the place to go. The main building, recently and luxuriously restored, dates from 1586 and is walking distance from Pelourinho. There is a splendid restaurant and a museum, large courtyard and gardens, and the rooms are decorated in an elegant colonial style. But expect to pay a high price: double rooms start at 680 reals.
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WHERE TO EAT
In what was once a dockside warehouse, Trapiche de Adelaide (Avenida do Contorno 2 in the lower city; 55-71-3326-2211) offers a beautiful view of the bay and has food to match. The menu emphasizes local ingredients prepared with French delicacy: a typical meal might start with a soup of cassava and lobster, progress to a main course of shrimp in mustard sauce garnished with almonds, pineapple and apricots and conclude with tropical fruits or ice cream made from the same. Lunch or dinner for two, with a caipirinha, a cocktail made from sugar cane liquor, is about 200 reals.

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At the Mercado Modelo, two restaurants outdoors on the second-story verandah are good places to have lunch while enjoying the view. Camafeu de Oxóssi (55-71-3242-9751) and Maria de São Pedro (55-71-3242-5262) are bitter rivals, but have essentially the same menu and prices, featuring regional dishes such as xin xin, a chicken and shrimp stew, and bobó de camarão , a shrimp dish. Lunch for two with a caipirinha, is about 60 reals.
Varal da Dadá (Rua Teixeira Mendes 55, Alto das Pombas in Federação; 55-71-3332-1777) is exactly the kind of informal neighborhood place that Jorge Amado frequented, with the added lure of spectacular regional cuisine. Dadá is the nickname of a local cook famous for her moquecas, or fish stews, bobó de camarão and sweet desserts, and the restaurant that bears her name operates in the backyard of her home, Tuesday through Sunday. Lunch or dinner for two with beer or a caipirinha runs about 75 reals.
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MUSIC

Many of Brazil's biggest pop stars, including Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa and Carlinhos Brown, are from Salvador, and even when it’s not Carnival time, Salvador seems to be a festival of musical styles ranging from axé and tropicalista pop to samba-reggae and funk. The Olodum drum choir, which has worked with Paul Simon and Michael Jackson, rehearses most Tuesday nights at Pelourinho Square. Admission is 60 reals; call (55-71) 3321-5010 to confirm that practice is on.

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Capoeira is a mixture of martial arts and dance developed by slaves brought from Africa, and is extremely musical. There are academies that teach the art form and put on shows for the public, such as the Fundação Mestre Bimba (Rua Gregorio de Mattos 51 in Pelourinho; 55-71-3322-5082), and on Friday nights capoeira is also performed at the Terreiro de Jesus, near Pelourinho.
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VOCABULARY:
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Boarding Student: Students enroll in a school that provides with meals and lodging
Aesthetic: Showing good taste: artistic, tasteful, tasty
Permeate: pervade, penetrate, interpenetrate, diffuse, imbue
Keen: incisive, sharp
Embroidered: decorated
Putridity: Decomposed and foul-smelling; rotten
Slum: A heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor
Stilts: Any of various tall posts or pillars used as support, as for a dock or building
Slum houses on stilts: (Juntas significando Palafitas)
Whorehouses: A house of prostitution
Dichotomy: duality
Longshoremen: One who is employed in the loading or unloading of ships (estivadores)
Beggars: An impoverished person; a pauper (pedintes)
Grifters: Money made dishonestly, as in a swindle
Nowadays: At the present; these days: now, today
Gentrified: renovate so as to make it conform to middle-class aspirations
Homeless: Having no home
Urchins: poor and often mischievous city child
Struggled: To make a strenuous effort; strive
Stifling: Very hot or stuffy almost to the point of being suffocating
Lingers: moves slowly
Stalls: A booth, cubicle, or stand used by a vendor, as at a market
Twang: To emit a sharp, vibrating sound, as the string of a musical instrument does when it is plucked
Scruffy: Shabby; untidy
Sweeping: Overwhelming; complete
Glum: gloomy, long-faced
Long Hauls: Long distance
Overwhelmed: overpower, sweep over, whelm, overcome, overtake
Sights: That which is or can be seen: lookout, outlook, panorama, perspective, prospect, scene, view, vista
Cobblestoned: a naturally rounded stone larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder; especially : such a stone used in paving a street or in construction
Cluttered: Excessively filled with detail: busy, crowded, fussy
Trinkets: A small ornament, such as a piece of jewelry
Indelible: Unable to be forgotten; memorable
Boardinghouse: A house where paying guests are provided with meals and lodging
Dazzling: shinning brilliantly, arousing admiration by an impressive display
Flogged: To beat severely with a whip or rod
Whipping post: A wooden framework on a post, with holes for the head and hands, in which offenders were formerly locked to be exposed to public scorn as punishment
Pillories: a wooden instrument of punishment on a post with holes for the neck and hands; offenders were locked in and so exposed to public scorn
Smear: To spread or daub with a sticky, greasy, or dirty substance
Cinnamon: Canela (easier explained in Portuguese)
Humble: Having or expressing feelings of humility: lowly, meek, modest
Slanted: Angled at a slant: beveled, bias, biased, diagonal, oblique, slanting
Wafting: To cause to go gently and smoothly through the air or over water
Gluttony: Excess in eating or drinking
Yolks: the yellow spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the albumen (gema do ovo)
Ground coconut: Coco Ralado (easier explained in Portuguese)
Deity: entidade (easier explained in Portuguese)
Sorcery: The use of supernatural powers to influence or predict events: conjuration, magic, sortilege, thaumaturgy, theurgy, witchcraft, witchery, witching, wizardry
Bewitching: Having power to bewitch or fascinate; enchanting; captivating; charming (nexte context mais para feiticeiras)
Dusk: The darker stage of twilight, especially in the evening
Police Raids: Batidas Policiais (easier explained in Portuguese)
Flourish: To grow rapidly
Bogus: Counterfeit or fake; not genuine
Outlying: Relatively distant or remote from a center or middle
Pathways: Caminhos (easier explained in Portuguese)
Tinged: dyed in color
Acrimony: Bitter, sharp animosity, especially as exhibited in speech or behavior
Palm shaded: sombreada por palmeiras (easier explained in Portuguese)
Ashes: cinzas (neste context as cinzas do corpo de Jorge Amado – provenientes da cremação)
Scattered: occurring or distributed over widely spaced and irregular intervals in time or space
Splurge: To indulge in an extravagant expense or luxury
Courtyard: An open space surrounded by walls or buildings, adjoining or within a building such as a large house or housing complex

LEARNING IN THE NEWS - XIV (For ESL Students all levels)

J. R. Everyman/Time & Life Pictures -- Getty Images

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There Will Be Memories
By ANITA GATES
The New York Times - Published: February 17, 2008

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THE Academy Awards may have been around for 80 years now, but, as Suzanne Stone Maretto (Nicole Kidman) in “To Die For” (1995) might have told you, if it wasn’t on television, it didn’t really happen. So an equally important anniversary is that of the Oscar broadcast. The ceremony was first shown on television in March 1953. (Above, Bob Hope was the host for that ceremony.) And it should go on (thank you, Writers Guild of America) for the 56th time next Sunday broadcast on ABC from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood with Jon Stewart as host.
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Granted, the broadcast has problems. The ratings have declined steadily over the decades. (There was a spike in 1998 when ‘Titanic” was up for 14 awards and won 11.) The reviews are frequently awful. The producers seem to become more desperate every year, trying to make the show better, sometimes with appalling results.
But no true movie lover misses Oscar night, and there’s always something memorable about the evening, as this chart of select broadcast highlights demonstrates. Certain events — among them Rob Lowe’s 1989 “Proud Mary” duet with Snow White, David Niven’s suave response to a streaker zipping by onstage in 1974 (“That was bound to happen”) and Sally Field’s best actress acceptance speech (“You like me”) in 1985 — have been omitted, having long ago achieved classic status. A couple of Cher’s well-known fashion statements, however, have made the list.
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HOST
2007: (ABC) Ellen DeGeneres, her first time around.
2001: (ABC) Steve Martin, making his first appearance.
1998: (ABC) Billy Crystal, his sixth of eight appearances so far.
1995: (ABC) David Letterman, his first and probably last time as host.
1986: (ABC) Alan Alda, Jane Fonda and Robin Williams. (The producers tried this multiple-host thing almost a dozen times, mostly in the ‘70s.)
1984: (ABC) Johnny Carson, his fifth and final year.
1978: (ABC) Bob Hope, his last time around. (His first was in 1940, the year “Gone With the Wind” won.)
1969: (ABC) Ten of ‘em, including Ingrid Bergman, Sidney Poitier, Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood.
1962: (ABC) Bob Hope, for the fifth year in a row (if you count 1958 and 1959, when he was a co-host).
1953: (NBC) Bob Hope in Hollywood and Conrad Nagel, an academy founder, in New York.
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BEST PICTURE
2007: “The Departed” an all-star gangster flick set in Boston.
2001: “Gladiator” a swords-and-sandals epic set in ancient Rome.
1998: “Titanic” a pre-World War I romantic disaster epic set at sea.
1995: “Forrest Gump” a feel good comic drama about a simple man and complex events.
1986: “Out of Africa” a love story in which Robert Redford shampoos Meryl Streep’s hair.
1984: “Terms of Endearment” a mother-daughter weepie in which the mother gets the best lines.
1978: “Annie Hall” a romantic comedy about neurotic, casually dressed New Yorkers.
1969: “Oliver” a musical about Dickensian orphans with criminal tendencies.
1962: “West Side Story” a musical about juvenile delinquents with romantic tendencies.
1953: “The Greatest Show on Earth” the Technicolor circus spectacular that made Charlton Heston a star.
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WORST DRESS
2007: Jennifer Hudson’s brown Oscar de la Renta with truncated metallic bolero. Actually, the bolero was the problem.
2001: The Icelandic singer Bjork’s giant swan resting on a body stocking.
1998: Cher’s champagne beaded Bob Mackie gown with see-through skirt and frightening amoebashaped hat.
1995: The costume designer Lizzy Gardiner’s shift made entirely of American Express Gold Cards.
1986: Cher’s spider-web Bob Mackie monstrosity with bare midriff, topped by an Afro-Mohawk headpiece.
1984: A toss-up between Jane Alexander, in royal blue with bellows sleeves and an unfortunate peplum, and Amy Irving, who appeared to come dressed as a bride.
1978: Vanessa Redgrave’s bellsleeve monastery gown (the night of her “Zionist hoodlums” bit), topping Diane Keaton’s “Annie Hall” look.
1969: Barbra Streisand’s seethrough, bell-bottom Scaasi pajamas.
1962: Carroll Baker’s four leaf- clover top was a little strange.
1953: Gloria Swanson's dress was all right, but wearing her mink stole and harlequin glasses onstage (to accept an honorary award for a producer) wasn’t.
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SURPRISES VS. SENTIMENTAL FAVORITES
2007: Sentimental. Martin Scorsese, best director (“The Departed”), after six nominations over 26 years.
2001: Surprise. Marcia Gay Harden, best supporting actress (“Pollock”), over the favorite, Kate Hudson, second-generation Hollywood princess, for “Almost Famous.”
1998: Surprise. Kim Basinger, best supporting actress (“L.A. Confidential”), beating 87-year-old Gloria Stuart for “Titanic.”
1995: Sentimental. Martin Landau, 63, best supporting actor as the horror star Bela Lugosi in “Ed Wood.”
1986: Sentimental. Don Ameche, 77, best supporting actor (“Cocoon”), having impressed academy voters with his onscreen break-dancing.
1984: Surprise. Linda Hunt, best supporting actress (“The Year of Living Dangerously”), for playing a male photographer.
1978: Surprise. Richard Dreyfuss, 30, best actor (“The Goodbye Girl”), over Richard Burton, 52, nominated for his seventh and last time, for “Equus.”
1969: Sentimental. Ruth Gordon, 72, best supporting actress, as an Upper West Side Satan worshiper in “Rosemary’s Baby.”
1962: Surprise. Rita Moreno, 30, best supporting actress (“West Side Story”), beating out four grandes dames: Lotte Lenya, Fay Bainter, Una Merkel and Judy Garland.
1953: Surprise. Best picture, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Even the director, Cecil B. DeMille, said he had thought “High Noon” or “The Quiet Man” would win.
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MEMORABLE MUSICAL NUMBER
2007: “I guess you don’t like laughter.” — Will Ferrell, in a duet with Jack Black about the Oscars’ aversion to honoring comedy.
2001: Bob Dylan, via satellite from Sydney, performing the winning song (from “Wonder Boys”), “Things Have Changed.”
1998: Stanley Donen bursting into song, “Cheek to Cheek,” in the middle of his lifetime achievement- award acceptance speech.
1995: Elton John singing his own winning song, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” It was one of three best-song nominees from “The Lion King.”
1986: Howard Keel’s tribute to MGM musicals with backup dancers including Leslie Caron, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds.
1984: Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. closing the show with “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
1978: Debby Boone performing “You Light Up My Life,” the best-song winner, from the justifiably forgotten film of the same name.
1969: The reading of the costume design nominees, backed by the Soul Rascals, with Romeo and Juliet dancing the jerk and Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine doing the frug.
1962: Andy Williams singing “Moon River” for the first time, beginning his association with the song for the rest of his life.
1953: Celeste Holm singing “Thumbelina” (from “Hans Christian Andersen”) to her thumb.
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NICE MOMENT
2007: Al Gore, winning for the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” pretending to announce his candidacy for president and being cut off by the “your time is up” music.
2001: “I may never be here again.” — Julia Roberts explaining to the conductor why she refused to be cut off during her “Erin Brockovich” acceptance speech.
1998: Robin Williams, accepting the supporting actor award for “Good Will Hunting” declaring himself speechless.
1995: Nikita Mikhalkov, bringing his little daughter onstage to accept for best foreign language film (“Burnt by the Sun”) and making his exit with her on his shoulders.
1986: Geraldine Page looking frantically for her shoes, which she’d kicked off, when her win for best actress (“The Trip to Bountiful”) was announced.
1984: Jack Nicholson kissing Mary Tyler Moore’s hand. (She was presenting his supporting actor award for “Terms of Endearment”)
1978: Bob Hope, at the Oscars’ 50th-anniversary show: “If the academy wants me back here in another half century, I’m available.”
1969: “Hello, gorgeous.” — Barbra Streisand’s greeting to her “Funny Girl” Oscar statuette when she tied with Katharine Hepburn for best actress.
1962: Stan Berman, a professional gate-crasher, managing to get to the podium and announcing that he had brought an Oscar for Bob Hope, the perpetual non-nominee.
1953: The red-carpet announcer, working in the rain outside the theater in Hollywood: Ronald Reagan.
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VOCABULARY:
Broadcast: To transmit (a radio or television program) for public or general use
Host: One who receives or entertains guests in a social or official capacity
Granted: To accord as a favor, prerogative, or privilege
Ratings: The popularity of a television or radio program as estimated by a poll of segments of the audience
Declined steadily: fall continuously
Spike: A sharp rise followed by a sharp decline
Awful: Extremely bad or unpleasant; terrible
Appalling: causing consternation, dismaying
Streaker: An inherent, often contrasting quality
Zipping: Moving or acting with a speed that suggests such a sound
Onstage: Situated or taking place in the area of a stage that is visible to the audience
Bound to happen: destined to happen
Statement: A distinctive way of expressing oneself: manner, mode, style, tone, vein
In-a row: consecutive
Flick: a form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement
Epic: surpassing the ordinary especially in size or scale
Weepie: A work, especially a film or play, that is excessively sentimental
Gown: A long, usually formal dress for a woman
Midriff: The middle outer portion of the front of the human body, extending roughly from just below the breast to the waistline
Peplum: A short overskirt or ruffle attached at the waistline of a jacket, blouse, or dress
Hoodlum: an aggressive and violent young criminal
Seethrough: Shows it all, transparent
Fourleaf- clover: (Easier explained in Portuguese) trevo de quatro folhas