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Buondì.
A quick one today as it’s a public holiday in Italy, and in many other places, I’m sure. But if that’s not a thing where you are, read about the Festa dei lavoratori on Wikipedia. They write that:
“La Festa del lavoro o Festa dei lavoratori viene celebrata il 1º maggio di ogni anno in molti paesi del mondo, per ricordare tutte le lotte per i diritti dei lavoratori, originariamente nate per la riduzione della giornata lavorativa.”
And reading on, I was more than slightly surprised to find out that the struggle for workers’ rights originated in that socialist paradise, the USA, specifically in Chicago, Illinois, which in 1867 was the first place to introduce an eight-hour workday.
So why May 1st? Nearly twenty years after Chicago’s promising beginning at treating the working man decently, things had taken a turn for the worse, and in 1886 that date was significant in a period of protests which lead to violence, and to a number of the protesters being hanged.
One of the executed coordinators was a certain Albert R. Parsons, Wikipedia tells me in the paragraph on the condemned men’s last words (Urrà per l’anarchia!):
“la cui agonia fu terribile, riuscì appena a parlare, perché il boia strinse immediatamente il cappio e fece cadere la trappola. Le sue ultime parole furono queste: «Fate sentire la voce del popolo!»
He could barely get his last words out, due to the hangman having started his work prematurely, just croaking, “Let the peoples’ voice be heard!”
Which, indeed, is probably the point of today’s holiday, certainly in Italy. A reminder to us bosses that we shouldn’t take the present state of things for granted – our days are numbered!
Read more about ‘la festa di primo maggio’ here https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festa_dei_lavoratori.
At our house today it’s much more likely that only Bug’s voice will be heard. The petting zoo is closed so his keepers can take a well-deserved rest, leaving this particular member of the exploiter class the job of feeding and entertaining the cub. All day.
Lately he’s taken to exercising his vocal cords at full volume, for long minutes at a time. It sounds rather like like this, but much, much longer. When he begins, adult conversation needs to pause for the duration, as we can’t hear each other, especially in the car. Sometimes I just join in with Bug, so there are two of us doing jungle calls, in competition.
Così. We have an ‘eBook of the Week’ offer, for those of you who expect to have time to work on your foreign language skills this week, rather than preparing bucket-loads of fresh vegetables. Details of that are below.
Alla prossima settimana (no public holidays!!)
Half-price eBook of the Week, Il re dei ladri, £4.99
This week’s Half-price eBook of the Week offer is B2-level ‘Il re dei ladri‘.
(Not B2-level, yet? No worries! We’ve reorganised our ebook catalog by level, from the easiest to the hardest. Check out yours: A1 | A1/A2 | A2 | A2/B1 | B1 | B1/B2 | B2 | B2/C1 | C1 | C1/C2 | C2 )
We only published ‘Il re dei ladri‘ last summer, but a lot of you appear to have missed it, as sales were slow. But it was June, and who studies Italian in June?
Shame, though, as ‘Il re dei ladri‘ is an entertaining and readable story, so a great way to improve your Italian comprehension skills. Much more fun than studying grammar…
Meet Renato, a Savona cat burglar who can’t resist boasting of his exploits. Hear his story, and find out how he becomes ‘Il re dei ladri’ – the king of thieves!
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
- .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at intermediate level or above
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Remember, this week ‘Il re dei ladri‘ is 50% discounted, so just £4.99 rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ ebook price of £9.99!
Buy Il re dei ladri, just £4.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf)
Or browse our catalog, now organised by level: A1 | A1/A2 | A2 | A2/B1 | B1 | B1/B2 | B2 | B2/C1 | C1 | C1/C2 | C2
How do I access my ebook?
When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?
P.S.
Have you read/listen to today’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news?
If you didn’t get it via email this morning, why not subscribe? That’s FREE, too!
To do that, enter your email address on this page, look out for the ‘please confirm’ email sent to you, click the link it contains, then sit back and wait to receive three bulletins of Easy Italian News, each and every week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
It’s a fantastic FREE way to get into the habit of reading in and listening to Italian!
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