Punctuation

1.The men in question - Harold Keene, Jim Peterson, and Gerald Greene - deserve awards.

2.Several countries participated in the airlift: Italy, Belgium, France and Luxemburg.

3."Only one course was open to us surrender-said the ex-major-and we did."

4.Judge Carswell, later to be nominated for the Supreme Court, ad ruled against civil rights.

5.In last week´s New Yorker, one of my favourite magazines, I enjoyed reading Leland´s article “How Not to Go Camping”.

6.Yes -Jim said- I´ll be home by ten.

7.There was only one thing to do: study till dawn.

8.Montaigne wrote the following: "A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself."

9.The following are the primary colours: red, blue, and yellow.

10.Arriving on the 8:10 plane were: Liz Brooks, my old roommate, her husband and Tim, their son.

11. When the teacher commented that her spelling was poor, Lynn replied: "All the members of my family are poor spellers. Why not me?"

12. He used the phrase "you know" so often that I finally said "No, I don´t know."

13.The automobile dealer handled three makes of cars: Volkswagens, Porches, and Mercedes Benz.

14.Though Phil said he would arrive on the 9:19 flight, he came instead on the 10:36 flight.

15. Whoever thought -said Helen - that Jack would be elected class president?

16.In baseball, a “show boat” is a man who shows off.

17.The minister quoted Isaiah 5:21 in last Sunday´s sermon.

18.There was a very interesting article entitled "The New Rage for Folk Singing” in last Sunday´s New York Times newspaper.

19."Whoever is elected secretary of the club (Ashley, Chandra or Aisha) must be prepared to do a great deal of work" - said Jumita, the previous secretary.

20.Darwin´s On the Origin of Species (1859) caused a great controversy when it appeared.

21.We had a great time in France; the kids really enjoyed it.

22.Some people work best in the mornings; others do better in the evenings.

23.What are you doing next weekend?

24.Mother had to go into hospital. She had heart problems.

25.Did you understand why I was upset?

26.It is a fine idea, let us hope that it is going to work.

27.We will be arriving on Monday morning. At least, I think so.

28.A textbook can be a wall between teacher and class.

29.The girls’ father sat in a corner.

30.In the words of Murphy´s Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Elections Campaign 2015

Today the political campaign for the 20D elections begins. Some people are calling these elections "the new transition" of our country, and I certainly agree with that. Spain has changed a lot during the last two years: new parties came to the scene, with a refreshed view of our world. People are looking forward to seeing changes and democratic regeneration. This economic crisis plus the insane amount of corruption cases in government both local and general have pushed people to have this desire.

One thing that is almost certain is that the two-party game is over and no party will get an overall majority in the Spanish parliament. Rajoy will tell voters that their money is safe in his hands: that his party takes the credit for Spain's economic recovery and that there is more to do. Some are looking for something new, to take away the politics of the past, but others might opt for more of the same. It is possibly modern Spain's most unpredictable election to date.

Some thoughts about work and future

As I see it, it is early to know what I will like the most at the last years of the degree, as we will be studying both linguistics and literature and I suppose I will be inclined for one of those fields. However, my goal by now is to work on something related to international relations and diplomacy, for instance in the EU. Another option would be working as a university teacher, I really like teaching at this level because students are actually willing to learn, because it is a voluntary choice and it is not only about passing exams, like most of students do in high school. Of course the job market will be key, because we do not know what the future may bring on these matters.

The ideal scenario would be working on what you like from the beginning, but let’s be real, this is not the case in the harsh reality, so I think it is very important to be able to adapt and to learn from the first jobs and then, with that background experience, maybe take some risks and follow your vocational route.

From my point of view, being a good professional requires willingness to learn and the capacity of adapt to the job needs in every situation, that is to say, being open minded. I think the mentality is the strongest skill we can take advantage of to turn professional: trying to learn something every day and above all, be responsible while enjoying what you are doing.

Nowadays most jobs are very specialised, so a point to work on would be to gain experience and make progress in a specific field in order to be competitive. Trying to master everything could lead to “know a bit of here and there” and, let’s be honest, nobody would hire a candidate like that.

Are social networks really helping young people?

In my opinion, there is actually more cons that pros about social networks when it comes to teenagers. The biggest problem is that young people do not know how to use them properly or, at least, in a balanced way. As I see it, in general, they are addicted to their smartphone, constantly checking it to see if they have new messages or likes in social networks. There are moments that we live through the device, and we do not enjoy things “in real life”. You can see people watching some kind of show or performance and instead of watching it directly to keep a memory of it they are continuously recording, or people hanging out in a café and actually not talking to each other, but completely absorbed in their devices. This cause people to spend less time interacting face-to-face and can lead to stress and offline relationship problems. Social networking sites also entice people to waste time and because of that, students who are heavy social media users tend to have lower grades. They also facilitate bullying, which is already a big problem “offline”.

On the other hand, the spread of internet and new gadgets has provided us easy access to lots of information. We can check whenever we want any doubt we could have on google or the Wikipedia, we are constantly informed of news, and of course we are also in permanent touch with our friends or family. For instance, on Friday, when the terrible attacks of Paris happened, you could check in Facebook if your friends that lived near the zone were safe. Easy access of information means culture, and well used can mean a big academic benefit. Social networking sites and internet in general also offer teachers a platform to upload content that students can benefit from, as in the case of sakai in our university.

To sum up, being techno-lover of the social media and new generation gadgets can mean an advantage in culture and awareness of what is happening in the world if used correctly, but using them in a bad way can lead to addiction and make people to lose interest on school and important matters and, in some way, “disconnect” from the real world.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in November, but many Americans take a day of vacation on the following Friday to make a four-day weekend, during which they may travel long distances to visit family and friends.

The holiday dates back to 1621, the year after the Puritans arrived in Massachusetts, determined to practice their dissenting religion without interference. After a rough winter, in which about half of them died, they turned for help to neighboring Indians, who taught them how to plant corn and other crops. The next fall's bountiful harvest inspired the Pilgrims to give thanks by holding a feast.

The Thanksgiving feast became a national tradition — not only because so many other Americans have found prosperity but also because the Pilgrims' sacrifices for their freedom still captivate the imagination.

To this day, Thanksgiving dinner almost always includes some of the foods served at the first feast: roast turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, pumpkin pie. Before the meal begins, families or friends usually pause to give thanks for their blessings, including the joy of being united for the occasion.

Me and sports

The sports I like the most to practise are football and table tennis. I started to play football in my hometown team when I was eight years old, and I played there until I was fourteen years old. Besides practising it I have always watch and support Real Madrid football team, because my father was a fan and transmitted the passion of football to me. We both were also member of Real Murcia, and went every two weekends to support our local team during three years. Table tennis is the other sport I have practised the most, because one of my cousin has a table and we spent the whole summer playing there. Furthermore, my uncle is semi-pro so I also went to some training sessions where I learned a lot.

I also practised a branch of kung fu called wing chun while I was living in Barcelona, but only for three months, because I had to take a train and the metro and I spent like one hour and a half only to get to the gym and I eventually got fed up. I would like to take the classes up in the future as I have always wanted to know more about martial arts.

Now I am a member of a gym here in Murcia but I hardly ever go, because I am not a big fan of the exercises you can practise there, I find it quite boring to be honest.

I have never tried any kind of dangerous sport, mainly because I have fear of heights and most of extreme sports are related to high places. I have some friends that have tried them though, one of them skydived and recorded it, it seems an amazing experience. Another friend of mine got bungee jumping as a birthday present, he was scared at first but after doing it he said he would have jumped more times because of the adrenaline rush.

As I see it, there is no negative aspects about sports, as they are a fun way of staying healthy or get a better physical fitness, and they also put some excitement in everyone’s life. Moreover, practising sports can improve your focus in other aspects of your life like studying. The only negative part I could add is the fanaticism around some football teams, where some of their supporters are violent groups that use football as an excuse to cause trouble. But aside from that, sports provide nothing but benefits to the society from my point of view.

Do young people rely on drinking alcohol and smoking to have a good time?

I would answer yes to that question in general, although it is not my case. I don’t smoke and when I hang out with my friends, alcohol is not a must. As I see it, it is true that most of young people tend to associate an enjoyable time with their friends with alcohol, and that is a pity, because getting used to those habits may lead you to future problems of addiction. However, as you grow up, you usually get rid of them and you give more value to a nice conversation or trip with your friends rather than just getting drunk.

Apart from this kind of “soft drugs”, another problem that I see in modern teenagers is the high dependence they have on social networks. I have seen 4 or 5 people around a table having a drink and every one of them hooked on the phone without even talking to each other. Furthermore, kids are eventually going less to the park or other outdoor locations and are more stuck at home playing videogames or spending time with a tablet.

In order to stay healthy, young people should try to get away from bad influences that may come from, for example, some groups of friends, where one can unconsciously copy bad behaviours. Another good idea is to try to focus on good habits such as practising sports like football, running, going to the gym, etc. Getting into a sport team can substantially improve not only your fitness but your mind-set and your attitude towards new challenges.

Anyhow, sometimes young people just have to make their own mistakes and learn from them, no matter how many times they are given advices or warnings about anything, because that is how we grew up and get experience in life.