"Da angolo bar a Bologna ad acetone”

The above title contains a palindrome (angolo bar a bologna), a semordnilap (acetone), and two prepositions (da, ad). The palindrome, which etymologically means “running backwards,” doesn’t change meaning when read in both directions, whereas the semordnilap changes (acetone becomes enoteca). Likewise, the two prepositions, one simple and one euphonic, change meaning when read in both directions. The same combinations of letters, apparently the same words, but creating different concepts according to how we look at them. It depends on the way, on the perspective with which we approach them. Perspective is not just a geometric, pictorial, architectural technique. It’s like a sound: if it’s close, we hear it loudly and clearly, but if the same acoustic source moves away, even if it maintains the same timbre, rhythm, and volume, it seems weak and unclear. As if it were a new sound. The way we face reality can change our perspective, and therefore our way of understanding it. There can be many points of view, many ways of thinking, observing, perceiving, living, feeling, different emotions. Is it our thinking that changes according to how we interpret reality, or is it reality that makes us change how we think? For some, thinking in a different way can enrich, not impoverish.

 

 

 

TEST

 

1) È tempo di Natale

 

a) che bello

 

b) che stress

 

c) passa in fretta

 

2) Un tuo amico ha compiuto una scorrettezza verso di te

 

a) gli chiedi spiegazioni

 

b) fai finta di niente

 

c) ti arrabbi con lui

 

3) Senti dire “carte in tavola”; pensi

1) It’s Christmastime

 

a) great

 

b) what a stress

 

c) it passes quickly

 

2) A friend of yours has acted unfairly toward you

 

a) you ask him for an explanation

 

b) you ignore it

 

c) you get angry with him

 

3) You hear “cards on the table;” you think

 

a) very simple table setting

 

b) work meeting

 

c) game

 

4) Which proverb do you prefer?

 

a) if you want something done well, do it yourself

 

b) there’s strength in numbers

 

c) a man is known by the company he keeps

 

5) Having a hobby

 

a) another chore

 

b) a pleasant pastime

 

c) watch out if you don’t have one

 

6) You meet an old schoolmate

 

a) you promise to see each other again

 

b) you set a date to meet again

 

c) a quick hello and it’s done

 

 

7) Future means

 

a) progress

 

b) distance

 

c) grammar

 

8) You’ve made a mistake

 

a) you admit it

 

b) you look for excuses

 

c) you insist you’re right

 

9) You can do something that brings advantages, but, even if it’s not serious, it’s illegal

 

a) you don’t do it

 

b) maybe you’ll do it

 

c) you do it

 

10) You hear the word “battery;” you think of

 

a) a musical instrument

 

b) a set of pots

 

c) a power bank

 

11) Fairy tales end with “and they lived happily and contentedly ever after”

 

a) it could really happen

 

b) fairy tales have to make you dream

 

c) if happiness is reduced to contentment in fairy tales, just imagine in real life

 

12) They ask you to deliver a demanding job in advance; you think

 

a) I’ll have more free time later

 

b) I can’t do it

 

c) I’ll even work at night, but I’ll do it

 

13) They offer you a short boat ride, but you don’t know how to swim

 

a) you say no

 

b) you accept, no problem

 

c) you put on a life jacket

 

14) Having thoughts means

 

a) opinions

 

b) worries

 

c) ideas

 

15) When you travel you prefer to eat

 

a) local foods

 

b) your usual foods

 

c) alternate varieties of cuisine

 

SCORE

 

Questions A B C

 

1) 3 1 2

 

2) 3 2 1

 

3) 1 3 2

 

4) 1 3 2

 

5) 1 2 3

 

6) 2 3 1

 

7) 3 1 2

 

8) 3 2 1

 

9) 1 3 2

 

10) 3 2 1

 

11) 3 2 1

 

12) 3 1 2

 

13) 1 2 3

 

14) 2 1 3

 

15) 3 2 1

 

 

EXPLANATION

 

45 TO 36 POINTS:

 

FROM “ACETONE” TO HAPPY TOASTS AT THE “ENOTECA”

 

You like change: you want to change or renew your surrounding reality, and when you think this isn’t possible you try to adapt it to you or you to it. You think it’s important to move ahead, with new ideas even if you hang out with the same people and in the same places. You know you can add a little … spice to these realities.

 

35 TO 26 POINTS:

 

“IF WE WANT EVERYTHING TO STAY THE SAME, EVERYTHING HAS TO CHANGE”

 

This sentence from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel “The Leopard” means that you can pretend to change lots of things so that nothing changes. You too feel the desire to change something; sometimes you do it, and you’re happy, other times you’re disappointed. At least you tried. See if your method can be improved and you’ll be happier.

 

25 TO 15 POINTS:

 

ANYWAY, NOTHING WILL CHANGE

 

Either you like things as they are, or you think it’s useless to try to change them. Maybe you think it’s impossible, too tiring, or that you don’t have the resources or abilities. Try to see if there’s still some dream hidden in the back drawer: you can find it, grab it, dust it off, and -  why not? – try to make it come true.

 

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