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1. Auflage1 Version 1 | 2020
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© Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH, Rotebühlstraße 77, 70178 Stuttgart 2011. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Internetadresse: www.klett-sprachen.de
Zeichnungen: Sven Palmowski, Barcelona
Redaktion: Paul Newcomb
Layoutkonzeption: Elmar Feuerbach
Gestaltung und Satz: Satzkasten, Stuttgart
Umschlaggestaltung: Elmar Feuerbach
Titelbild: Thinkstock (Hemera), München
eISBN 978-3-12-909081-7
Abbreviations used in notes
About This Book
Chapter 1Sleepwalker
Chapter 2Count me in!
Chapter 3Ritchie‘s love rap
Chapter 4Making the video
Chapter 5Celebrating the video
Chapter 6Caught in the act
Chapter 7The power of positive thinking
Chapter 8Tour through Mattapan
Chapter 9No guarantees
Chapter 10Ritchie’s new rap
Chapter 11Homemade video
Chapter 12Alicia freaks out
Chapter 13See you at the gig!
Chapter 14A fantastic concert
Chapter 15Where’s Ritchie?
Chapter 16Hit and run man
Chapter 17Welcome to the real world
Class activities
abb |
abbreviation |
AE |
American English |
coll |
colloquial |
esp |
especially |
inf |
informal |
opp |
opposite |
sb |
somebody |
sth |
something |
sl |
slang |
vulg |
vulgar |
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogs are products of my imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely unintentional.
I want to say a word about two of the raps that play an important role in the story.
First of all, it must be said that it is normal for raps to rap (criticize) things. The rap about Boston, The Heart of Boston Rap, and the rap called Mattapan are typically critical. The many negative things said about Boston do not, however, reflect my opinion. I love Boston. To my mind, Boston is a great place to visit (or to live in).
As far as the rap about the community of Mattapan is concerned, it is true that Mattapan has a bad reputation for violent crime. The reasons why Mattapan is so different from the rest of Boston are obvious: firstly, Mattapan is part of a city that is one of the ten safest in the U.S., in a state (Massachusetts) that is ranked among the safer states, and secondly, a few spectacular crimes in Mattapan have attracted nationwide attention. But Mattapan is not as bad as its image. In fact, lots of things are happening to improve the quality of life in Mattapan, including the building of the multi-million dollar Mattapan Branch Library.
Finally, in the Activities (chapters 4, 5, 10) you, the student, will have the opportunity of becoming a rapper in rap contests! If you prefer a less active role, you can be part of the jury.
Throughout the book, spelling and phonemic transcriptions are in standard American English.
Dwain Pickett
What do you do when your best friend is making a bad mistake?
My best friend Alicia has got a new boyfriend, Ritchie Timmons. When she talks about him – and that’s often, believe me – she gets this dreamy grin on her face. He’s her first like serious boyfriend.
I don’t like this. Alicia is a Senior at South Boston High, one of Boston’s best high schools, headed for college. Ritchie is a school dropout, headed nowhere. She lives in a beautiful bungalow near ours in an upper middle-class neighborhood, he in a rundown apartment building in what the press calls the most dangerous district in the city.
Don’t get me wrong. Ritchie is a good looking guy, tall and naturally well built – not in that bodybuilder way. With his bright smile and deep, warm voice he can also be very charming. I’ve got nothing against him personally. But you have to be realistic about things like this. There are too many differences between him and Alicia. She’s heading for a broken heart.
Still, sometimes I think I should leave her alone and let her go her own way, whatever happens. After all, she has made it clear that she doesn’t want me ‘sticking my nose in her business’, as she puts it. So why should I bother? It’s a no-win situation for me.
But then I ask myself, what if I was Alicia? I’d probably say I want to be left alone, too. But deep down I’d hope that my friend would do what’s best for me. Alicia doesn’t realize what’s best for her. She’s like a sleepwalker on top of a high building. What does a true friend do in a situation like that? Duh, sure, the true friend tries to stop her before she falls over the edge.
I’m walking a thin line. I’ve got to make her realize she’s making a bad mistake, but I’ve got to be careful about how I do it. If I say too much, she’ll get angry and cut me out. I have to try to keep our lines of communication open. It’s the only way I can know what’s going on and be able to help her.
Oh, I forgot to mention it – Ritchie’s other name is Ritchie T. He’s a rapper.
grin a big, wide smile
to head for to go towards
to stick your nose in sb’s business inf to try to know things about sb that they don’t want you to know
to bother to spend time or energy doing sth
duh inf, sl of course, you idiot!
to cut sb out inf to stop having anything to do with sb
to mention to say (by chance)
Ritchie waited for Alicia almost every day after school. He was very cool about it, always busy with his cell phone, looking like the busiest guy in the world. To me, it was laughable, but Alicia didn’t seem to notice that it was all a big act. She was too happy to see him to notice anything like that.
Today was different. Ritchie’s cell phone was in his pocket. In fact, he was looking at Alicia and smiling all over his face when she appeared. As usual, he only had eyes for her. That was fine with me. In fact, I couldn’t care less if he noticed me or not.
He took her in his arms and gave her a kiss. It was a quick kiss because he had something important to say and couldn’t wait.
‘You remember I told you about entering that contest? The one for rappers? Well, I won it!’
I knew immediately what he was talking about. It was the city of Boston’s annual Calling all Rappers contest. It was open to everyone. A jury of famous rappers that included Termanology, Sev-One and Mr. Lif chose the best rap.
Alicia shook her head. ‘You – you did?’ She couldn’t seem to believe what she was hearing.
‘Yeah, is that so surprising?’
‘No, no. Of course not. Hey, that’s great!’
‘Great? It’s more than great! It’s – it’s fantastic! Did I tell you what the first prize is?’
‘Er, no.’
‘First prize is a professionally made video production!’
Alicia nodded but it was obvious that she didn’t know what he was talking about.
Ritchie laughed. ‘A professional video-making team complete with cameraman, lighting person, storyboard artist and director are going to help me make a video with my prize-winning rap. In their studio – a whole day!’
Now Alicia understood. ‘Oh, Ritchie!’ She threw herself in his arms.
Ritchie held her a moment, then took a step back. There was a playful look on his face. ‘Of course, I need people to help me. You know, to take part in the video. And the first person I thought of was you!’ he said
Alicia’s eyes grew wide. ‘Me?’ she said, ‘In a rap video? But Ritchie, you know I can’t rap.’
‘You won’t have to rap. I do the rapping. You just have to look hot like you always do.’
Alicia’s face turned red and she began to laugh. She looked at me, then turned to Ritchie. ‘What about Sarah? Can she be in it, too?’
‘Sarah? Sure, Sarah can be in it, too.’
‘Alicia?’ I said.
‘Yeah?’
‘You forgot to ask Sarah if she wants to be in the video.’
Alicia looked a little confused. She looked me in the eye, trying to understand what I meant. Then she gave a little laugh. ‘Of course. Sorry. Would you like to take part in Ritchie’s video?’
I didn’t answer at once. I waited a moment to make it look like it was a hard decision. Finally, I said, ‘I’m not sure. I – ’
‘Oh, come on, Sarah. You’ll like it, I know you will,’ Ritchie cut in.
I hesitated again. At last, I nodded and said, ‘Okay, count me in.’
Alicia looked at me with shining eyes. ‘Thanks, Sarah. That means a lot to me,’ she said.
Suddenly, Ritchie took the two of us by the hand. ‘This’ll be fun, girls, and – who knows? – if it’s good and gets clicked on a million times in YouTube, it could be the beginning of something big!’
Alicia’s mouth was wide open. I looked at Ritchie and rolled my eyes.
act a façade, not real
I couldn’t care less inf “I don’t think that’s important at all.”
to enter to put your name on the list for
annual ['ænjuəl] every year
storyboard artist sb who draws pictures showing the scenes in a planned video or film
hot inf sexy
decision to make a ~ is to choose what you could or should do
to cut in to say sth when sb is talking
to hesitate to be slow to speak because you are uncertain or nervous
to shine to be bright
to roll your eyes to move your eyes in order to show you don’t believe sb
Alicia and I were on our way home from school the next day, Alicia driving, me sitting beside her. We were waiting on a red light. She had just said how excited she was about being in Ritchie’s video. She couldn’t wait till Saturday, the big day. When I only nodded, she gave me a sharp questioning look. ‘Aren’t you excited about it, too?’ she said.
‘Very excited,’ I said.
She gave me another questioning look. ‘You don’t sound like it.’
‘My God, what do you want me to do – burst into song?’