I am going to talk about my favourite sport which is skiing because, during winter break, a lot of people will go to the mountains.

Origins of skiing

4000 (before J.C) : first wood skis used by humans to move on snow and ice in the Nordic countries.

1539 : some wars were carried out by Finnish soldiers equipped with ski.

1867 : first skiing competition in the region of Telemark, in Norway.

1888 : it’s one of the famous date in the history of skiing : Nansen crossed the Greenland on skis. This exploit aroused curiosity around the world about this sport.

1930 : explosion of activity of skiing for tourists.

1933 : first skiing school in France and creation of the “Féderation Française du ski”.

1934 : first cable car created specifically for skiers.

Since 1935 : the competitions became numerous.

At the end of XXth century : France has 30% of ski areas in the world and the largest ski lift equipment.

The ski today in the world

First, today, there are about 8 million skiers per season in France.

Then, there are different types of skis :
•    The telemark (it is the ancestor of ski. The heels aren’t attached to the ski).
•    The monoski (both feet are on the same ski).
•    The snowblades (they’re small skis).
•    The parabolic ski (now it is the most commonly used ski) .

After that, skiing is a competitive sport because every year, there are a lot of races (for example slaloms, super giants, ...)

Some famous skiers

Finally, you certainly know some champions like the French Jean-Claude Killy, Jean-Baptiste Grange, Luc Alphand, the American Bode Miller, the Italian Alberto Tomba or also the German Fritz Dopfer.

As the ski is a mixed sport, there are also women who are champions like the Austrian Kathrin Zettel and the French Marion Rolland.

Photo Credits

  1- SkiStory – http://www.skistory.com/F/histoire/A12.html
  2- LifeInMegapixels – Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/27649557@N07/6296306076/
  3- 20 Minutes – http://www.20minutes.fr

Sources

•    http://www.skistory.com/F/histoire/A11.html
•    http://www.crdp3-poitiers.org/soft/c-m-parthenay/soft2003-4/histoire/aujourd.htm

Sophie

Another series with, soon , 8 seasons!

For my article, I have chosen to talk about ‘How I Met Your Mother’ because I enjoy this funny TV series.

First, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, and directed by Pamela Fryman.


Next, the main character, Ted Mosby, in 2030, tells his son and daughter how he met their mother, which explains the title. ‘How I Met Your Mother’ follows Ted and his friends Marshall Eriksen, Robin Scherbatsky, Lily Aldrin and Barney Stinson. 

After that, to my mind, Barney Stinson is the funniest character of the series.  Contrary to his best friend, Ted Mosby, who wants to settle down, Stinson has a lot of strategies and rules designed to meet women.



Finally, I really recommend it because it is one of my favorite series. I think jokes are better in English so watch it in original version.

Here's the recap of season 6:

Jules

First I'm going to talk about Shy’m because I think she’s a good singer, I love her, she’s so beautiful . I love her songs and it’s the reason I’m going to her concert in September.

Next, her name is Tamara Marthe and her nickname is shy’m : shy means “timide” in French and the letter “M” is the first letter of Martinique (because her father was born in Martinique). Shy’m was born in Trappes in  November 1985 so she is 26 years old.

One of my favourite songs is 'JE SAIS' ('I know' in English) :

Then, she is a RN’B singer. Her songs are very popular in the world. Her first album’s name was “ Mes fantaisies  “ in 2006. Shy’m received platinium disks (It’s a very wonderful award). In 2011, she won “Danse avec les stars“ (It’s a French  TV show).

Finally, she is nominated for ‘The Best French Woman Artist’ category at the NRJ Music Awards. You can watch it on Channel TF1 next Saturday. It will be presented by Nikos Aliagas.

Juliette

I’m going to talk about Exeter because we’ll go there in April with our English teacher and I wanted to make some research about it.

First, let’s locate Exeter :

It is located in the south-west of England and is the capital city of the Devon. London and Exeter are 255 km apart. The city is connected with the English Channel by a little canal. A river, the Exe, crosses the city.

Next, let’s talk about the city in itself :

Regional trade center, Exeter possesses some light industries (paper mill, metallurgy, food industry...).
The most famous monument of Exeter is Saint-Peter Cathedral, built between 1280 and 1369 in an English gothic style called “ornate style”. The cathedral’s library contains many precious manuscripts, like a poetry manuscript from the 10th century. There were 111 078 inhabitants in 2001.

Exeter’s cathedral :

Finally, let’s revise the history of the city :

First, the Romans founded the city in 50 B.C. and called it Isca Dumnoniorum.

Afterwards, it became an important city at the Saxon time and was called Exanceaster, but was, during the Middle Ages, the stake of many conflicts.

Then, the city was taken in 1068 by William the Conqueror who built the Rougemont castle there. During the 15th and the 16th centuries, Exeter was a famous wool trade center.

Later, it was one of the main supports of the Lancaster House during the Wars of the Roses that opposed the Lancaster family (red rose) and the York family (white rose).

Finally, it was a royalist center during the war that opposed Charles Ier and the Parliament.

Unfortunately, Exeter was seriously damaged during the Second World War by the bombings of the German’s aviation. 


Source : "Exeter." Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 [DVD]. Microsoft Corporation, 2005.

Raphaël

This is DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. It’s my favourite American series. Even if the story may be tragic, it is rather funny and realistic and I think that the actors play very well.

This American series which started in 2005 in France on Canal+ channel was created by American writer and producer Marc Cherry and was immediately a great success.
We now know that season 8 will be the last one, unfortunately for all the passionate TV viewers all around the world, and I am one of them!  So it’s my turn to be “desperate”!

But now, let me tell you about this TV series. All along the 180 episodes, this series stages the everyday life of some housewives, all living at the same street of Wisteria Lane, a quiet residential area of an American town called Fairview.

The four main characters are Susan Mayer, Bree Van de Kamp, Lynette Scavo and Gabrielle Solis but in the first episode of the first season, we learn that they had another good friend named Marie-Alice Young. But unfortunately, Marie-Alice committed suicide after she received an anonymous letter on which she could read : “I know what you did, it makes me sick, I will tell”

From this moment, the story is told by Marie-Alice’s voice, as if she was watching everything from the next world. Little by little, we discover some hidden secrets. Then, some marriages are broken, some new friendships are built. Each new season brings lots of new neighbours, such as family Applewhite, family Bolen, Catherine Mayfair or Renée and new problems or new secrets appear.

Of course, I really enjoy this series because of the twists and turns of the plot and because of the moral lesson at the end of every episode.

In good tourist, I visited the Universal Studios in Los Angeles during my last summer holidays and I was so excited when I had a ride in Wisteria Lane ! Nevertheless, the actors were not playing at that time, too bad for me! I would really like to meet them, particularly Eva Longoria (the actress playing Gabrielle Solis), because she is my favourite “desperate housewife”!

Here’s my video of Wisteria Lane :

Sources : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Housewives

Agathe