late+of+oxford

   Portugal's most famous wine and leading export takes its name from the city of Oporto or porto, which means "port" or "harbor" in Portuguese. Sometimes described as "the Englishman's wine," port is only one of the many wines produced in continental Portugal and the Atlantic islands. Another noted dessert wine is Madeira wine, which is produced on the island of Madeira. Port wine's history is about as long as that of Madeira wine, but the wine's development is recent compared to that of older table wines and the wines Greeks and Romans enjoyed in ancient Lusitania. During the Roman occupation of the land (ca. 210 BCE-300 CE), wine was being made from vines cultivated in the upper Douro River valley. Favorable climate and soils (schist with granite outcropping) and convenient transportation (on ships down the Douro River to Oporto) were factors that combined with increased wine production in the late 17th century to assist in the birth of port wine as a new product. Earlier names for port wine ( vinho do porto) were descriptive of location ("Wine of the Douro Bank") and how it was transported ("Wine of [Ship] Embarkation").

   Port wine, a sweet, fortified (with brandy) aperitif or dessert wine that was designed as a valuable export product for the English market, was developed first in the 1670s by a unique combination of circumstances and the action of interested parties. Several substantial English merchants who visited Oporto "discovered" that a local Douro wine was much improved when brandy ( aguardente) was added. Fortification prevented the wine from spoiling in a variety of temperatures and on the arduous sea voyages from Oporto to Great Britain. Soon port wine became a major industry of the Douro region; it involved an uneasy alliance between the English merchant-shippers at Oporto and Vila Nova de Gaia, the town across the river from Oporto, where the wine was stored and aged, and the Portuguese wine growers.

   In the 18th century, port wine became a significant element of Britain's foreign imports and of the country's establishment tastes in beverages. Port wine drinking became a hallowed tradition in Britain's elite Oxford and Cambridge Universities' colleges, which all kept port wine cellars. For Portugal, the port wine market in Britain, and later in France, Belgium, and other European countries, became a vital element in the national economy. Trade in port wine and British woolens became the key elements in the 1703 Methuen Treaty between England and Portugal.

   To lessen Portugal's growing economic dependence on Britain, regulate the production and export of the precious sweet wine, and protect the public from poor quality, the Marquis of Pombal instituted various measures for the industry. In 1756, Pombal established the General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro to carry out these measures. That same year, he ordered the creation of the first demarcated wine-producing region in the world, the port-wine producing Douro region. Other wine-producing countries later followed this Portuguese initiative and created demarcated wine regions to protect the quality of wine produced and to ensure national economic interests.

   The upper Douro valley region (from Barca d'Alva in Portugal to Barqueiros on the Spanish frontier) produces a variety of wines; only 40 percent of its wines are port wine, whereas 60 percent are table wines. Port wine's alcohol content varies usually between 19 and 22 percent, and, depending on the type, the wine is aged in wooden casks from two to six years and then bottled. Related to port wine's history is the history of Portuguese cork. Beginning in the 17th century, Portuguese cork, which comes from cork trees, began to be used to seal wine bottles to prevent wine from spoiling. This innovation in Portugal helped lead to the development of the cork industry. By the early 20th century, Portugal was the world's largest exporter of cork.

school [sku:l]

1 noun

(a) (educational establishment) école f, établissement m scolaire; (secondary school → to age 15) collège m; (→ 15 to 18) lycée m; (classes) école f, classe f, classes fpl, cours mpl;

∎ to go to school aller à l'école ou au collège ou au lycée;

∎ to be at or in school être à l'école ou en classe;

∎ to go back to school (after illness) reprendre l'école; (after holidays) rentrer;

∎ to send one's children to school envoyer ses enfants à l'école;

∎ parents have a duty to send their children to school les parents ont le devoir d'envoyer leurs enfants à l'école ou de scolariser leurs enfants;

∎ what are you going to do when you leave school? qu'est-ce que tu comptes faire quand tu auras quitté l'école ou fini ta scolarité?;

∎ I was at school with him j'étais en classe avec lui, c'était un de mes camarades de classe;

∎ he's still at school il va encore à l'école;

∎ to go skiing/sailing with the school ≃ aller en classe de neige/de mer;

∎ television for schools télévision f scolaire;

∎ there's no school today il n'y a pas (d')école ou il n'y a pas classe aujourd'hui;

∎ school starts at nine (primary) l'école ou la classe commence à neuf heures; (secondary) les cours commencent à neuf heures;

∎ school starts back next week c'est la rentrée (scolaire ou des classes) la semaine prochaine;

∎ see you after school on se voit après l'école ou la classe;

∎ the whole school is or are invited toute l'école est invitée;

∎ figurative the school of life l'école f de la vie;

∎ I went to the school of hard knocks j'ai été à rude école

(b) (institute) école f, académie f

(c) University (department) département m, institut m; (faculty) faculté f; (college) collège m; American (university) université f;

∎ London School of Economics = institut d'études économiques de l'université de Londres;

∎ she's at law school elle fait des études de droit, elle fait son droit

(d) (of art, literature) école f;

∎ figurative a doctor of the old school un médecin de la vieille école ou de la vieille garde;

∎ the Florentine/classical school l'école florentine/classique

(e) (training session) stage m;

∎ a two-day school for doctors un stage de deux jours pour les médecins

(f) (in Oxford and Cambridge)

∎ schools (examination hall) salle f d'examens; (examinations) examens mpl de la licence

(g) History

∎ the Schools l'École f, la scolastique

(h) (of fish, porpoises) banc m

2 compound-forming noun

(trip, doctor) scolaire;

∎ I'm not allowed to stay up late on school nights je n'ai pas le droit de me coucher tard quand il y a école le lendemain;

∎ British to do the school run emmener les enfants à l'école (à tour de rôle)

3 transitive verb

(a) (train → person) entraîner; (→ animal) dresser;

∎ to be schooled in monetary/military matters être rompu aux questions monétaires/militaires;

∎ she schooled herself to listen to what others said elle a appris à écouter (ce que disent) les autres;

∎ she is well schooled in diplomacy elle a une bonne formation diplomatique

(b) (send to school) envoyer à l'école, scolariser

►► school age âge m scolaire;

school attendance (going to school) scolarisation f; (not being absent) présence f à l'école;

school board conseil m d'établissement;

Radio & Television schools broadcasting émissions fpl scolaires;

school buildings bâtiments mpl scolaires;

school bus car m de ramassage scolaire;

school of dance, dancing school académie f ou école f de danse;

school day journée f scolaire ou d'école;

school dinners repas mpl servis à la cantine (de l'école);

school district = aux États-Unis, autorité locale décisionnaire dans le domaine de l'enseignement primaire et secondaire;

school fees frais mpl de scolarité;

school friend camarade mf de classe ou d'école, familiar copain (copine) m,f de classe ou d'école;

British school governor membre m du conseil de gestion de l'école;

school holiday jour m de congé scolaire;

∎ tomorrow is a school holiday il n'y a pas école ou classe ou cours demain;

∎ during the school holidays pendant les vacances ou congés scolaires;

school hours heures fpl de classe ou d'école;

∎ in school hours pendant les heures de classe;

∎ out of school hours en dehors des heures de classe;

school magazine journal m de l'école;

school of medicine faculté f de médecine;

school milk = lait offert aux élèves dans le primaire;

school of motoring auto-école f, école f de conduite;

school of music (gen) école f de musique; (superior level) conservatoire m;

school report bulletin m scolaire;

school of thought école f de pensée; figurative théorie f;

∎ one school of thought argues that this is due to genetic factors il existe une théorie selon laquelle ceci a une origine génétique;

school tie = cravate propre à une école et faisant partie de l'uniforme;

school uniform uniforme m scolaire;

school year année f scolaire;

∎ my school years ma scolarité, mes années fpl d'école;

∎ the school year runs from September to July l'année scolaire dure de septembre à juillet

✾ Play 'The School for Scandal' Sheridan 'L'École de la médisance'

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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Of Scandinavian parentage, Arup attended school in Germany and Denmark before taking his degree in mathematics and philosophy at Copenhagen University in 1914. He then graduated as a civil engineer from the Royal Technical College in the same city, specializing in the theory of structures.

Arup retained close ties with Europe for some time, working in Hamburg as a designer for the Danish civil engineering firm of Christiani \& Nielsen. Then, in the 1930s, he began what was to be a long career in England as an engineering consultant to a number of architects who were beginning to build with modern materials (par-ticularly concrete) and methods of construction. He became consultant to the famous firm of Tecton (under the direction of Berthold Lubetkin) and was closely associated with the leading projects of that firm at the time, notably the High-point flats at Highgate, the Finsbury Health Centre and the award-winning Penguin Pool at the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens, all in London.

In 1945 Arup founded his own firm, Ove Arup \& Partners, working entirely as a consultant to architects, particularly on structural schemes, and in 1963 he set up a partnership of architects and engineers, Arup Associates. The many and varied projects with which he was concerned included Coventry Cathedral and the University of Sussex with Sir Basil Spence, the Sydney Opera House with Joern Utzon and St Catherine's College, Oxford, with Arne Jacobsen.

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SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing

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Fourdrinier's father was a paper manufacturer and stationer of London, from a family of French Protestant origin. Henry took up the same trade and, with his brother Sealy (d. 1847), devoted many years to developing the papermaking machine. Their first patent was taken out in 1801, but success was still far off. A machine for making paper had been invented a few years previously by Nicolas Robert at the Didot's mill at Essonnes, south of Paris. Robert quarrelled with the Didots, who then contacted their brother-in-law in England, John Gamble, in an attempt to raise capital for a larger machine. Gamble and the Fourdriniers called in the engineer Bryan Donkin, and between them they patented a much improved machine in 1807. In the new machine, the paper pulp flowed on to a moving continuous woven wire screen and was then squeezed between rollers to remove much of the water. The paper thus formed was transferred to a felt blanket and passed through a second press to remove more water, before being wound while still wet on to a drum. For the first time, a continuous sheet of paper could be made. Other inventors soon made further improvements: in 1817 John Dickinson obtained a patent for sizing baths to improve the surface of the paper; while in 1820 Thomas Crompton patented a steam-heated drum round which the paper was passed to speed up the drying process. The development cost of £60,000 bankrupted the brothers. Although Parliament extended the patent for fourteen years, and the machine was widely adopted, they never reaped much profit from it. Tsar Alexander of Russia became interested in the papermaking machine while on a visit to England in 1814 and promised Henry Fourdrinier £700 per year for ten years for super-intending the erection of two machines in Russia; Henry carried out the work, but he received no payment. At the age of 72 he travelled to St Petersburg to seek recompense from the Tsar's successor Nicholas I, but to no avail. Eventually, on a motion in the House of Commons, the British Government awarded Fourdrinier a payment of £7,000. The paper trade, sensing the inadequacy of this sum, augmented it with a further sum which they subscribed so that an annuity could be purchased for Henry, then the only surviving brother, and his two daughters, to enable them to live in modest comfort. From its invention in ancient China (see Cai Lun), its appearance in the Middle Ages in Europe and through the first three and a half centuries of printing, every sheet of paper had to made by hand. The daily output of a hand-made paper mill was only 60–100 lb (27–45 kg), whereas the new machine increased that tenfold. Even higher speeds were achieved, with corresponding reductions in cost; the old mills could not possibly have kept pace with the new mechanical printing presses. The Fourdrinier machine was thus an essential element in the technological developments that brought about the revolution in the production of reading matter of all kinds during the nineteenth century. The high-speed, giant paper-making machines of the late twentieth century work on the same principle as the Fourdrinier of 1807.

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SUBJECT AREA: Paper and printing

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Wedgwood was descended from Thomas Wedgwood, the father of Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of the famous pottery firm. In 1806, he patented an apparatus for making copies of handwritten documents, Wedgwood's Stylographic Writer. It was originally developed with the intention of helping the blind to write and had a metal stylus instead of a quill pen: a piece of paper that had been soaked in printer's ink and then dried was placed between two sheets of paper, and wires placed across the page guided the stylus in the hand of the blind writer.

A few years later Wedgwood developed this apparatus into a way of making a copy of a letter at the time of writing. He used impregnated paper, which he called carbonic or carbonated paper, the first known reference to carbon paper. It was placed between a sheet of good quality writing paper and one of thin, transparent paper. By writing with the stylus on the thin paper, a good copy appeared on the lower sheet, while a reverse copy appeared on the underside of the other, which could be read right way round through the transparent paper. In its final form, the Manifold Stylographic Writer was put on sale, elegantly presented between marbled covers. Eventually a company was established to make and sell the writer, and by 1818 it was in the name of Wedgwood's son, R.Wedgwood Jun. of Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, London. Many of the writers were sold, although they never came into general use in offices, which preferred battalions of Dickensian Bob Cratchits armed with quill pens. Wedgwood himself did not share in the family prosperity, for his pathetic letters to his daughter show that he had to hawk his apparatus to raise the price of his next meal.

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