Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

When a job application is rejected, you often get a response like the following: 'Thank you for your application and your very interesting CV. You have a lot of experience for this job. However, we have received other applications that fit the profile even better, so unfortunately we have to turn you down. This all sounds very nice and appreciative. But if you're really honest, it's often not true...

Blinds are fitted to windows to protect them from bright light. There are different types: for example, slat blinds, which, depending on how far they are lowered, have small gaps between the light-tight slats, allowing some light to pass through until they are completely closed. Or there are fabric blinds, which are continuous and have no slats, but are often translucent at the edges or made of a...

We've all been in a situation where we've been told 'too late'. It happens to me sometimes at the station when I can't make the connection because my train is so close and by the time the first train is late, the second has already left. These are external events over which I have no control. But there are also self-inflicted delays. I plan badly or simply forget things, appointments, etc. And whe...

Every four years, athletes around the world celebrate the Olympic Games. They are preceded by the Olympic torch relay. This is a modern invention inspired by ancient Greece. It heralds the start of the Olympic Games and sends a message of peace and friendship along its route. It was first organised for the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. It says a lot: an inhuman, authoritarian, despotic political sy...

In the darker months of the year, there are things that we only use during these weeks. Things like running the heating or wearing a down jacket. This also includes lighting candles. Especially during Advent, but also in the first months of a new year. Candlelight is something special. More than just light, more than just a small source of warmth. There is something metaphysical about it, and I fe...

As a city kid, I didn't grow up with the realities of farming, so I only know a lot about it from hearsay or from books and films. I know that in the past, cattle or horses were used for field work, especially ploughing, and that they carried a yoke to which the plough was attached and did the work of ploughing. The farmer would harness the animals under the plough and let them pull it. As we go t...

When I was young, there were strong opinions about bachelors and their domestic skills - or lack thereof. The most they were generally thought to be able to do was cook a fried egg or heat up a tin of ravioli. But still. I still think a fried egg is fine, even though my cooking repertoire is much wider. Nowadays you can make a fried egg in many different ways, and not just as an egg in a hot pan....

I belong to the generation that has been able to follow the development of computer games. In the beginning, you could only play very simple games that couldn't show upright, real-looking objects because of the low resolution of the screens. You could play Tetris or Pacman or other games. One of these games involved shooting down enemy spaceships flying towards you. If you managed to fight your wa...

In our everyday language, the term 'overwhelmed' is often used in a positive sense. You are surprised, far beyond what you could have imagined or imagined, and therefore perhaps speechless or simply utterly grateful. Overwhelmed in the real sense means that something or someone has defeated you, overpowered you. You have lost a battle, so to speak, or you have had to surrender, realise that someth...

Many people like to travel. They enjoy travelling to other cultures, getting to know other people and their countries, customs and languages, and enjoying the differences from their own everyday environment. In particular, other foods and their preparation and menus that we are not familiar with. These are all positive aspects. But then there is the term 'foreign'. Something or someone is foreign...

You may watch television occasionally or regularly and have your favourite shows or series. You know the roles in the stories and automatically associate the actors with the personalities in the stories. When the same actors play completely different roles in other series or films, it can be a bit confusing at first. But good actors are those who can take on these roles and play them convincingly....

It looks so easy when birds fly. With their regular, sometimes faster, sometimes slower wing movements, they keep themselves in the air and fly forward. We humans marvel at this - at least I do - and wonder how it is possible to stay in the air like this, to move forward despite their own weight. There are physical explanations, of course, and I think we can now understand and explain this very we...

We all experience and practise it every day - sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously: non-verbal communication. In a good case it is the case that I understand someone - as they say - blindly. This means that we don't have to say a word, maybe just a look, and we know exactly what's going on in the other person's mind or what needs to be done. When it's not so good, it's dirty looks, suspi...

As children, we used to make chestnut figures or chestnut animals with toothpicks at nursery school and at home. Chestnuts were collected at the zoo and fed to the animals and, last but not least, chestnuts are also used to make delicious roasted chestnuts to eat in the cold season and vermicelles as a dessert. Chestnuts are also added to red cabbage as a garnish for deer dishes. So these fruits h...

In winter, the air tends to be dry due to heating. Heating dries out the air and the mucous membranes in our airways. This makes them more susceptible to germs. This unhealthy situation can be remedied by artificially humidifying the air or using a humidifier spray that cares for the mucous membranes. Drought is a condition that is rarely good for us. Neither in agriculture nor in our own bodies....

When a tree is cut, only the stump remains in the ground - the much larger part, the trunk with the crown and all the branches, is sawn up and burned or processed industrially. Depending on the location and what is to be done with the soil, the stump may be removed with great difficulty, or it may be left behind. Cutting down a tree has something to do with killing life or ending a flowering seaso...

If you have woollen garments in your wardrobe, you may be one of those people who have had an unwanted hole in their beautiful garments - because a moth had this item on its menu. This is annoying. You can fight moths with chemical products - or with natural ones: Put or hang a sachet of lavender in the box. The scent of lavender is effective in keeping moths away. It is a small effort with the de...

The term turbine was coined in France towards the end of the 18th century by a French engineer called Claude Burdin. It comes from the Latin turbare, which means to turn. That makes sense. You may be familiar with the word turbo, which has the same origin. Turning - that's what the turbine does to generate electricity, for example. But in order for it to spin and produce that energy, something has...

I've often found myself unable to associate certain names with their short form. For example, when I heard the name Bob in English, I didn't know that it was Robert or that Chuck was Charles. Here in Switzerland there are also such abbreviations, depending on the dialect. In the Bernese dialect, many names end in '-u': Tinu for Martin, Winu for Erwin or, quite differently, Aschi for Ernst. Without...

I was allowed to fly again recently. I had a window seat on the outward flight and not on the return. On the return flight there was a beautiful panorama with the peaks of the Alps and then a thick blanket of cloud below us and it just looked so peaceful and calm. There was nothing to see or feel of the wars on earth, political conflicts, climate change and all the social problems and challenges w...

A rhombus is a special geometrical shape characterised by the fact that its opposite sides are parallel and of equal length, and the opposite angles are equal and the adjacent angles are complementary. Not really exciting. So a square is a special case of the rhombus. In everyday life, it appears in architecture: there are roofs, tiles, etc. that are laid out in the shape of a rhombus, and rhombus...

You've probably been out in the snow in winter. When the sun is shining, the sun and snow can blind you. Without the right snow or ski goggles, it can be dangerous for you. You may be wondering why this is the case: as a human being, you have eyes, of course, and snow and sun are also natural phenomena - yet they don't seem to get along together. Protection is needed. Snow goggles. Not only do the...

Give credit where credit is due. You may have used this yourself. The point is that those who deserve something by virtue of their authority, merit or other qualifications should receive it. So the state should get the taxes it is entitled to because the law says so. Whether we agree with that or not, or whether we want to give the money in the amount demanded or not - that is not the point. Simil...

I was recently in Berlin. I was struck by the dimensions of the city: The buildings are incredibly massive, the squares and streets take up an enormous amount of space, and I could go on and on. As well as being amazed by these dimensions, which are so unfamiliar to me, I find myself fixated on what I'm looking at, completely forgetting myself or not even noticing myself. I feel different when, in...

Next year, 2025, will be a special year for the railway. That's when the first commercial steam railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England, will celebrate its 200th anniversary. I imagine there is a huge difference between the locomotives of then and now. However, the principle of an - as the name suggests - iron railway, i.e. a track on or made of iron, has remained the same. The rai...