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World and Press November 2 2021

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12 History

12 History November 2 2021 | World and Press Mobster Al Capone’s granddaughters are selling his possessions HISTORY The women feared that a wildfire could threaten their homes and destroy personal items they say show a warmer side to the infamous mob boss. By Marisa Iati 1 ALMOST Acentury after the reign of notorious mob boss Al Capone, all that remains of him are the possessions passed down through his family since he died at his Florida estate in 1947. Now, many of the Prohibition Era gangster’s belongings are up for grabs. 2 Nearly 175 of Capone’s personal items will be auctioned off as his granddaughters seek to share the stories behind his knickknacks, photographs, and guns. The items to be sold Oct. 8 in Sacramento include family photographs, an 18-karat gold and platinum belt buckle, and Capone’s favorite Colt .45 semiautomatic pistol. Al Capone (1899 – 1947) in 1929. | Photo: Getty Images 3 That decision was based in part on the desire to distribute the possessions while they’re still alive, said Diane Capone, 77, a daughter of Capone’s only child, Sonny. But she and her sisters also worried that a wildfire, like the 92 burning in the United States, would threaten their Northern California homes and force them to choose which valuables they could take. “It was a tremendous relief for the memorabilia of my grandparents to be removed because there’s no way we could save it” from a wildfire, Diane Capone told ‘The Washington Post.’ “We’d lose it all.” … 4 To the Capones, the memorabilia’s importance derives from its history belonging to a man they knew as affectionate and family-oriented despite his public reputation as a violent mob boss. Diane Capone said she remembers her grandfather resting her in his lap to blow out her birthday candles and holding her hand as he guided her across a bridge in his garden. 5 On the night Al Capone died, she remembers her mother leading her upstairs to his room and her father lifting her onto the bed. Her grandfather kissed her on the cheek and told her, “I love you, baby girl,” Diane Capone recalled. She was 3 years old. 6 Of the possessions the family plans to auction off, she said she’s most attached to a poetic threepage letter her grandfather wrote to her father from Alcatraz. In it, she said, Al Capone refers to Sonny Capone as “son of my heart.” “I can’t imagine that anyone could read this letter without having at least a hint of an awareness about the fact that this man was a very complex person,” Capone said. “His name might be synonymous with Gangland Chicago, but there was another whole side to the man.” 7 Al Capone may be best known for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, when mobsters disguised as police stormed into a Chicago garage where a gang associated with George “Bugs” Moran was bootlegging liquor. The assailants announced that the men were under arrest, forced them to line up against and a wall and let off at least 70 shots. All seven men were killed. 8 No one ever stood trial for the carnage. But Capone – who eventually served time not for murder or bootlegging but for tax evasion – is largely credited with ordering the ghastly hit. Capone was reportedly at home in Florida on the day of the killings in 1929, and prosecutors were never able to link him to the crime. But the slayings were still commonly attributed to Capone, who became known as “Public Enemy Number One.” … © 2021 The Washington Post 0 – 2 MOBSTER(coll) Gangster — wildfire Feuer — infamous “"Inf´m´s‘; s.w.u. notorious berüchtigt — mob boss Mafiaboss — reign “reIn‘ Herrschaft — to pass down weitergeben — to be up for grabs (coll) zu haben sein — to auction off “"O…kS´n‘ versteigern — to seek to do s. bemühen zu tun — knickknack “"nIknœk‘ Krimskrams — belt buckle Gürtelschnalle 3 – 5 in part zum Teil — valuable “"vœlju´b´l‘ Wertgegenstand — tremendous “trI"mend´s‘ enorm — memorabilia “Æmem´r´"bIli´‘ Erinnerungsstücke Continued from page 1 7 Earlier this year, John F. Kerry, the United States’ climate envoy, described the summit as the “last, best chance” to get more pledges of emissions cuts, aid to less-wealthy countries vulnerable to climate change, and investments in renewable energies to wean the world off fossil fuels. 8 As it is, unless mammoth reforms are implemented across the world in the coming years, it looks unlikely that governments will be able to ward against the 1.5 degree Celsius rise in pre-industrial global temperatures that scientists believe marks a kind of red line – a rate of planetary warming that would lead to catastrophic climate effects, the disruption of economic life, and the destabilization of whole communities. 9 Now, Kerry appears to be offering a more limited vision for what may be accomplished at COP26. “By the time Glasgow’s over, we’re going to know who is doing their fair share and who isn’t,” he told the Associated Press in an interview Wednesday, acknowledging that many countries may struggle to make good on commitments they’ve already made, let alone those they have not. Kerry said “there will be a gap” between emissions cuts countries have promised and those that are needed. … 10 Climate change is already exacting a significant price on the American economy. In the first nine months of this year alone, my colleagues reported, the United States experienced 18 separate extreme weather and climaterelated disasters that each cost at least billion in damages. “What we are seeing now with these increasing disasters is with just one degree of warming on our planet,” Camilo Mora, a professor at the University of Hawaii, told my colleagues. “Looking into the future, our best-case scenario is 1.5 degrees of warming, and the worst case is 5 degrees. We have to choose now between bad or terrible outcomes.” 11 And then there’s the rest of the world. Research published this week in the journal ‘Nature — to derive from s.th. von etw. herrühren — affectionate “´"fekS´n´t‘ liebevoll — family-oriented familienbezogen — to rest s.o. in one’s lap jdn. auf den Schoß nehmen 6 – 7 to be attached to s.th. an etw. hängen — to have a hint of an awareness of s.th. “´"we´n´s‘ s. e-r S. zumindest ansatzweise bewusst sein (h. Hauch) — synonymous “sI"nÅnIm´s‘ gleichbedeutend — gangland Gangster- — to be associated with s.o. “´"s´USieItId‘ mit jdm. in Verbindung stehen — to bootleg liquor “"lIk´‘ Alkohol schwarzbrennen — assailant “´"seIl´nt‘ Angreifer(in) — to let off abfeuern 8 to stand trial vor Gericht stehen — carnage “"kA…nIdZ‘ Massaker — to serve time e-e Gefängnisstrafe absitzen — tax evasion “I"veIZ´n‘ Steuerhinterziehung — to credit s.o. with s.th.; s.w.u. to attribute s.th. to s.o. “´"trIbju…t‘ jdm. etw. zuschreiben — ghastly “"gA…stli‘ grauenvoll — hit (AE, coll); s.w.u. slaying (AE) Mord — reportedly angeblich — prosecutor “"prÅsIkju…t´‘ Staatsanwalt(-anwältin) — public enemy Staatsfeind Climate Change’ found that 85% of the world’s population has experienced weather events made worse by climate change. But the effects are vastly disproportionate, with many countries that pumped comparatively few greenhouse gases into the atmosphere on the front lines of a planetary crisis. 12 The report’s authors also pointed out a gap in our understanding about how climate change affects different societies. “The researchers identified fewer than 10,000 studies looking at climate change’s effect on Africa, and about half as many focused on South America,” my colleagues noted. “By contrast, roughly 30,000 published pa- US-Politik im Englischunterricht • Pressetexte aus der Washington Post, der New York Times und dem Guardian zum politischen System in den USA • Niveau B2 – C2, gymnasiale Oberstufe • lehrplangetreues Skilltraining Extra The American Political System ¤ 24,90 [D] ISBN 978-3-7961-1063-4 www.sprachzeitungen.de pers examined climate impacts in North America.” 13 “The poorest countries in the world are the ones that we know the least about,” Mora told my colleagues. “So if it is already bad in the countries that have the money to study, you can just imagine what is happening in the developing countries.” © 2021 The Washington Post 7 – 8 envoy “"envOI‘ Sondergesandte(r) — pledge Zusage — aid Hilfe — vulnerable to s.th. “"vøln´r´b´l‘ durch etw. gefährdet — renewable “rI"nju…´b´l‘ erneuerbar — to wean s.o. off s.th. jdn. von etw. entwöhnen — mammoth “"mœm´T‘ kolossal — to ward against s.th. “wO…d‘ etw. abwehren — pre-industrial vorindustriell — planetary … “"plœnIt´ri‘ … des Planeten — disruption Zus.bruch 9 – 10 to accomplish “´"kømplIS‘ erreichen — fair share gerechter Anteil — to acknowledge “´k"nÅlIdZ‘ einräumen — to make good on s.th. etw. einhalten — let alone geschweige denn — to exact s.th. on s.th. “Ig"zœkt‘ e-r S. etw. abverlangen — billion Milliarde — damages Schadensersatz — outcome Resultat 11 – 13 vastly enorm — to be disproportionate “ÆdIspr´"pO…S´n´t‘ in e-m Missverhältnis stehen — comparatively “k´m"pœr´tIvli‘ vergleichsweise — greenhouse gases Treibhausgase — on the front lines an vorderster Front — to affect s.o. s. auf jdn. auswirken — by contrast dagegen — to examine “Ig"zœmIn‘ untersuchen

World and Press | November 2 2021 Society 13 Workers set up for a wedding in Richmond, Mass. | Photos: Ilana Panich-Linsman/The New York Times Wedding business is booming, a short-term jolt to the economy BUSINESS The wedding industry is on fire, bringing spending and bottlenecks. By Jeanna Smialek 1 MEG VAN DYKE,who runs a Pittsburgh wedding planning company, spent a recent weeknight frantically calling photographers for a May wedding. All eight who fit her couple’s criteria were fully booked. “I’ve never had a problem finding vendors before,” she said. “It’s absolutely booming.” 2 Weddings are roaring back after a pandemic-induced slump, leading to booked-up venues, a dearth of photographers, and rising prices on catered dinners. As Workers add touches of greenery. 0 – 2 JOLT “dZ´Ult‘ Schub — to be on fire (fig) brummen — bottleneck Engpass — frantically “"frœntIk´li‘ verzweifelt — vendor Lieferant — to roar back wieder stark im Kommen sein — …-induced …bedingt — slump Rückgang — bookedup ausgebucht — dearth of “d‰…T‘ Mangel an — to pick up zunehmen 3 aisle “aIl‘ Gang; h.: (fig) Traualtar — payback Wiedergutmachung — to sweep s.th. etw. erfassen — onset Beginn; h.: Ausbruch — founder Gründer(in) — industry insider Branchenkenner(in) 4 to turn around sharply s. drastisch ändern — to rebound wieder ansteigen; s.w.u. rebound plötzlicher Wiederanstieg — to forecast prognostizieren — to tie the knot (coll) heiraten — pent-up demand picks up, it’s providing an additional jolt of spending to the U.S. economy. 3 The race to the aisle is payback after a lost year of ceremonies. As lockdowns swept the nation, weddings slowed abruptly at the onset of the pandemic. Shane Mc- Murray, founder of The Wedding Report, estimates that 1.3 million marriages took place in the United States last year, compared with the typical 2.1 million. Those were often “micro-weddings,” according to industry insiders, with just a handful of guests, if any were present at all. 4 That’s turning around sharply. Weddings have not quite returned to normal for 2021, but they are quickly rebounding, and McMurray forecasts that next year they will jump to the highest level since the 1980s as engaged couples who have waited out a pandemic finally tie the knot. Once that pent-up demand plays out, he expects that long-running trends like cohabitation without marriage will come to dominate. 5 Many economists agree. “My instinct, immediately, is: This is not a marriage boom; this is a wedding boom,” said Jessamyn Schaller, an economist at Claremont McKenna College in California. She added that even with the short-term pop, there were likely to be fewer marriages than there would have been had the pandemic never happened. 6 In other words, the wedding boom is probably a blip. Marriage rates have been dropping for decades and hit a record low of 6.1 per 1,000 people in 2019, down from 8.2 in 2000. The decline has come alongside a drop in fertility, which also hit a new low before the onset of the coronavirus. 7 What the wedding rebound could do is lay the groundwork demand Nachholbedarf — to play out abgebaut werden; s.w.u. passieren — long-running Langzeit- — cohabitation “k´UÆhœbI"teIS´n‘ Zus.wohnen 5 – 6 pop Knall; h.: Hoch — blip vorübergehende Abweichung — to come alongside s.th. mit etw. einhergehen — fertility (rate) “f´"tIl´ti‘ Geburtenrate; s.w.u. fertility intention Kinderwunsch 7 to lay the groundwork for s.th. die Grundlagen für etw. schaffen — baby bump (coll) Babybauch, h.: Babyboom — to exchange vows “vaUz‘ s. das Jawort geben — research fellow wissenschaftl. Mitarbeiter(in) — family studies Familienforschung — to track verfolgen — to keep a close eye on s.th. etw. genau im Auge behalten — baby bust (AE, coll) Geburtenrückgang — to take hold einsetzen Assembling flower arrangements for a wedding ceremony. for a brief post-pandemic baby bump, since couples often wait to exchange vows before they have children. Lyman Stone, a research fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, tracks fertility intentions in surveys and keeps a close eye on state-level birth data. A baby bust that took hold after the pandemic started appears to be turning around, much faster than expected. 8 “It is a rapid return to normal,” Stone said. The nascent wedding rush “probably means that we have a couple of years here where we have somewhat more positive fertility than was previously expected.” Lest onlookers get too excited, Stone points out that what was expected was a slow decline in births. 9 And Melissa Kearney, an economist at the University of Maryland, cautioned that the early signs of a fertility rebound could be a false signal, since the pandemic is still playing out and it will take time to see how birth trends shape up. 10 But Adam Ozimek, chief economist at the freelance-job site Upwork, thinks that many economists might be taking too dim of a view of the pandemic’s 8 – 9 nascent “"nœs´nt‘ aufkommend — rush Boom — lest bevor — onlooker Beobachter(in) — to caution “"kO…S´n‘ warnen — to shape up s. entwickeln 10 freelance freiberuflich — to take too dim of a view of s.th. etw. zu gering einschätzen (dim trüb) — social trajectory “tr´"dZekt´ri‘ gesellschaftl. Kurs — to pencil s.th. in mit etw. rechnen — to change one’s ways umdenken — in the wake of infolge 11 – 13 stock market Aktienmarkt — check Scheck — remote work Telearbeit — shift toward Wechsel zu — opening Chance — household formation Haushaltsgründung — on a substantial scale “s´b"stœnS´l‘ in größerem Umfang — implications Konsequenzen — homeownership Hausbesitz — day care Kinder tagesbetreuung ability to put America on a different social trajectory. He hasn’t penciled in a big increase in marriage but does think that younger adults may change their ways in the wake of the crisis. 11 People have saved a lot of money during the pandemic, thanks to long months at home, a rising stock market, and repeated checks from the government. Remote work and the shift toward more work from home have introduced new geographic flexibility for many young adults. 12 Millennials who had delayed homebuying, for instance, may now have an opening. “That’s a pretty good recipe for stronger household formation,” Ozimek said, referring to what happens when adults move out on their own or in with partners rather than parents or, in some cases, roommates. “You can afford to buy your own house, start your own family.” 13 If that was to play out on any substantial scale, it would have big implications for the economy. Millennials are the nation’s largest generation. Any change in homeownership, marriage, or fertility rates among this group would fuel spending on everything from outdoor grills and washing machines to day care. … © 2021 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Jetzt neu! Special World and Press: • Original englischsprachige Pressetexte auf Abiturniveau • Niveau B2 – C2, gymnasiale Oberstufe • Inkl. Infografiken und Fotos Black Lives Matter Themenheft 56 Seiten, DIN A4, Softcover ¤ 16,90 [D] ISBN 978-3-7961-1077-1 www.sprachzeitungen.de

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