Spotlight - 01.2020

ARTS 1/2020 Spotlight 63

GAME | CARD GAME

Duo — Double Up! consists of three card games in one box — and
all of them will improve your English. Organized according to
categories that include adjectives, adverbs, verbs and idioms,
every card is one of a pair, and the object of all three games is to
find the matching card. The simplest version of Duo — Double
Up! is to play it as “memory”. From the 200 cards, choose as many
pairs as you wish to play with: 20–30 pairs is a good number that
works well for three players. While you are sorting the cards,
you can look at them and start practising your English. Once
the cards are laid out face down, try to find the pairs. If you are
not completely sure that two cards match, look at the coloured
boxes on the corners of your two cards. These should match. The
player with the most pairs wins. At the A2 level and above. Duo
— Double Up! is a Spotlight Verlag/Grubbe Media cooperation.
€14.95. Available from shop.spotlight-verlag.de

face down [feIs (daUn]
, mit der Bildseite nach
unten

BOOK REVIEW | REPORTAGE

British journalist Nick Thorpe has been

based in Budapest since the 1980s, cov-

ering developments in the Balkans as the

BBC’s Central Europe correspondent.

His third book, The Road Before Me Weeps,

is a description of the refugee crisis of

2014–18, when so many people set out

from the Middle East and Africa in search

of a better life in Europe. Thorpe takes the

concerns of the EU’s south-eastern fron-

tier states seriously, but his sympathies are with the refugees. He

makes their case by letting them talk and telling their stories, as

he reflects on the government negotiations and procedures that

took place in reaction to the crisis. History may see only dates

and statistics. Thorpe gives us the story, and it’s a powerful tale.

Yale University Press, €21.70.

cover [(kVvE]

, abdecken, behandeln

sympathy [(sImpeTi]

, Mitgefühl

bang up to date: bring ~

[bÄN )Vp tE (deIt] ifml.

, auf den neuesten Stand

bringen

mansion [(mÄnS&n]

, Villen-, Herrenhaus-

suspect [(sVspekt]

, Verdächtige(r)

FILM PREVIEW | CRIME / COMEDY

The “mansion” murder, involving a family gathering, a dead

member of the family and a charismatic detective, is a popular

crime scenario. In Knives Out, director Rian Johnson brings the

old-world charm of this situation bang up to date. Benoit Blanc

(Daniel Craig) arrives at a big old house to solve the murder of

its owner, mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plum-

mer). Suspects include just about every family member who was

present at Harlan’s 85th birthday celebrations, which had tak-

en place the day before he died. Played by an all-star ensemble

(Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Chris Evans, Toni Collette), the

family turns out to be less than loving. Imagine Agatha Christie

chatting to Tennessee Williams about money and murder on

social media, and you’ll get the picture. Starts 2 January.

All’s not well in

Knives Out