entry 34

Are we honest?

I was reading the August edition of a very well known magazine called Reader´s Digest and i found an article that called my attention, it was called Are we Honest? and it was about a research made in 32 countries to find how honest are people araund the world. It consisted in leaving a cell phone on the floor of a public place and observe what reaction had the people that found them. The number of cell phones returned varied according to the country and whith this information they created a Ranking of Honesty.
They found that Eslovenia (a young country that got the independence from Yugoslavia in 1991) is a country with old traddition and a high sense of civism that placed it in the first place in the rank of honesty. Arentine is the number 26 in the list with 16 of 30 cell phones returned. Ironically, one of the cell phones was found by a security guard who never returned it and that´s why we are almost at the bottom of the list.
A point very important of this reseach is to find the causes that take people to behave in a dishonest way.One of the people interviewed said that the economic situation in some countries like Mexico lead people to become selfish and dishonest while others said that honesty is tied to our education, specially the one that our parents give us.
Whatever was the reason, we should bare in mind that as we find things, we may lose objects, but one never loses honesty.

entry 32

How will transpot media be in the future?

One of the biggest worries of the modern world is how to prevent car accidents in the big cities,area tragedies and specially pollution. Technology will be the key to have better transpot medias without the neccessity of a big infraestrucrure.
According to Insurance Information Institute, car accidents represent a ost of U$230 billions every year. This is why transport is considered one of the five principal problems of the planet. But thanks to the innovations in technology this will change. It is thought that in the future transport wil be safer and more efficient. Cars will have a technology of assistance for the drivers which will allow the car to develop a behaviour as if it had reflexes. They will have a sort of artificial intelligence with dispositives that will obtain information abaut the state f the roads to avoid traffic jams. A new dispositive will allow drivers to comunicate with their cars and answer mails, get instructions to avoid any accident and reproduce dvd through voice commands.
The specialists say that traveling in the future will be safer and cheaper. Appart from that, the new technology will offer the travellers more control and most importantly and will reduce pollution car accidents.
In this way the main roads will be safer and the air cleaner. Needles to say, the evolution of transport in the future will be totally positive for travellers and for our enviroment.

article 2

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7004372.stm

Vocabulary:

Take a leaf out of book: to copy something that someone else does because it will bring you advantages. Maybe I should take a leaf out of Robert's book and start coming in at ten every morning.

Output: An amount produced or manufactured during a certain time.

Endorse: to approve, support, or sustain: to endorse a political candidate.

Whooping: To utter a loud shout or cry. See Synonyms at shout.

Footprint: a trace suggesting that something was once present or felt or otherwise important; "the footprints of an earlier civilization"

Pioneer: to be the first to open or prepare .To take part in the beginnings of; initiate: to pioneer an aid program.

Hybrid: Something of mixed origin or composition. Something, such as a computer or power plant, having two kinds of components that produce the same or similar results

Deem: To have as an opinion; judge: deemed it was time for a change.
To regard as; consider: deemed the results unsatisfactory

Framework: A fundamental structure, as for a written work. A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality.

Hammer out: discuss vehemently in order to reach a solution or an agreement; "The leaders of the various Middle Eastern countries are trying to hammer out a peace agreement"

Personal reaction:

Finally, government has started to support corporations that study climate change. As this article says , climate change will cost big companies enormous amounts of money and will strongly affect their busisnesses. Of course, they are worried about climate change after hearing the dreadfull amounts that they may lose. In a world where money is power, The biggest companies have started to work in order to reduce what they have caused.

article

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7007491.stm

Vocabulary:

Sought:
1.
to go in search or quest of: to seek the truth.
2.
to try to find or discover by searching or questioning: to seek the solution to a problem.

Personal reacction:

Violence in schools and universities has become a serious problem in the USA and the rest of the world. After the mass shooting at Virginia Tech University secutity services improved but still is not enough to stop this problem. The government should organise campaigns to prevent this problem, otherwise more people will die.

entry 31

Global warming

One of the biggest wories for those who care abaut ecology is global warming. Most of the natural disasters that have occurred are related to this problem which seems to get worse and worse with thw course of time.
This topic has become a main poit of discussion since Green Peace and other organizations started to create awareness abaut the consequences of global warming. The use of some chemicals and the waste of energy plus the air pollution are taking our enviroment to suffer the green house effects. Therefore, the temperature increases between 40 and 70 every year, dry areas become drier and natural disasters occurr with more frequency. The poorest areas like Africa and Asia are the most affected by this problem. But unfortunately, very little is being done to prevent it.
There are many things in which we can help. Simple things like reducing the use of oil or electricity or planting a tree can be really hepful for the enviroment. But for this it is necessary the support of the government because it plays a very important role in society. In addition, thre should be more campaigns to inform people abaut the ways they ca help.
In conclusion we can say that wether our planet will keep safe or not in a matter that is in our hands. We should care about the planet because is the only home we have.

entry 30

Use of blogs in the class

Typical of our culture is to make use of technology, especially computers, as a useful device to simplify work. Modern teachers use it in their classes because they consider it a tool of crucial importance for the future working class. Specially the use of blogs has attracted a great criticism among students who are required to use it.

First of all, in order to make use a blog students have to know how to use a computer, which is not the case for all of them. Most students think that the tradditional education system is enough and that computing should be learnt as an extra curricular activity. But this is because many of them can´t afford having a computer in their homes and they have to spend hours and hours in a cibercafe to post their homework. Therefore, they say that the use of blogs is a waste of time and money.

Now, it is certainly true that what students consider now a waste if time can become in a way to save time once they have developed their computer skills. Appart from that, using blogs gives them the chance to get the information they need for the class and to do their homework at any time and anywhere.

In addition to this, the use of blogs can help students to improve their writting skills which will increase their vocabulary and fluency in the language that are very important for any future job.

While at the moment there is a great discussion abaut the use of blogs in the class, a lot of people think that the results can be totally positive.

One theory is that in the years next to come, text books will be replaced by computers in schools and we have to be prepared for that.

entry 29

Superwoman

As everybody knows, woman´s role in society has changed a lot in the last years. The ordinary housewife who stayed at home to look after her children and husband is on the verge of extinction. Women work as their husbands and take care of the family consecutively. They have time to work, prepare food, send their children to school, clean the house etc. They have the capacity to do many things at the same time as for instance cook while dressing children and talking on the phone, isn´t that a good quality?

One of the causes of this conversion is the economic situation. One income is not enough to support the family and women have no other choice than going out to work. But the charge is heavier for women because they have much more things to do when they arrive home.

It is true that working and having a proffession is very satisfactory, but some women put their bodies to the limit and this can be fatal for their health.

I strongly believe that things in the past were better than now in the sense that mothers had time to talk with their children and spent more time with them. But now they have to employ people to do their job.

Anyway, to be a moher is every time more difficult and requires more responsabilities but it doesn´t take that women still consider it a miracle.