Where no human has walked before

This is a video about a tour through Alaska by a small plane. The driver, works as a guide there, as he brings people to visit the island. The man says, the good thing to do that kind of tours is that you can be flexible, because every time you go it’s different.

First they go to the island itself, and see a beach. The driver always tell people not to start shooting but to look at all first, to let things get closer to see the details and then shoot.

Then they go to a kind of amazing lake surrounded by a lot of snow-covered mountains. The man says this kind of photo safari is about the experience of the nature. There are a lot of beautiful landscapes and some cute wildlife.

He also explains that he has probably seen places where no human has ever set foot, because the glacier had just receded. The best memory he has from between 20 and 25 years doing this job, is being under the glacier, because “it was like a church, so quiet, excepting the noise of the water flowing” He said, it is something that he is never going to forget.

                                      

The most beautiful things had to be seen by eyes. This may be an absolutely fantastic experience and a beautiful way to discover a little part of Nature. A thing that made me think is what the man said about the places where no human has put his foot on. This may be bad news, as it means the glacier is melting because of those pollution problems nowadays arise. But, despite pollution problems, the video and the idea of doing a tour like this has to be amazing. 

Link: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20151218-where-no-human-has-walked-before

Vocabulary: receded

Japan to pay Fukushima worker cancer compensation

Japan government now knows that a worker involved in the clean-up work at Fukushima nuclear plant may have developed cancer as a result. Officials say he will be entitled to compensation for work.

The man worked at the damaged plant for more than a year and he was exposed to a giant amount of radiation. Three other workers are waiting to have their cancer cases assessed, but more than 45.000 people have worked there.

There’s an anti-nuclear mood in Japan nowadays due to the Fukushima accident, but despite opposition, the Prime Minister wants to restart the nuclear plants.

Cancer is a really important and worrying item to talk about. Fukushima workers may all be assessed to verify they’re in good health. The interests of the Prime Minister shows up how is built our world, instead of worrying about people’s health and well-being, they care about saving money.

 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34579382

Vocabulary: Entitled, assessed, despite

DIALOGUE

Andrea: Hi Rosó!
Rosó: Hi! What are you doing here?
A: Going to the surgeon.
R: What happened, are you ok?
A: Sure! I want to operate my lips.
R: Why?! When?!
A: In two weeks. I have an appointment now.
R: Wow! You shouldn't operate!
A: Why? I think I will feel more confortable with myself...
R: But you don't have to look better to feel better, don't you?
A: Why?
R: Because beauty stays...
A: SHUT UP! I need a change!
R: Is it because you're single?
A: Just one of the reasons...
R: Do you want to look like Míriam? She has recently done that...
A: Shut your mouth! You're no one to say nothing!
R: OK, I just...
A: You have opperate your nose, haven't you?
R: Yes, but that was different...

ORAL PRESENTATION (The Big Bang Theory)

PROMISES

Promises are such a crazy thing. Some people believe promises are the hardest contract between two people, and that can’t be broken. I may be one of those… but no really.

It’s true that promises are something you can’t renege on, but they aren’t that important. The meaning of promise could be a statement or declaration that something will or will not be done, given, etc.; an indication or a sign of future excellence or achievement…

Those are simply words. Each one knows what a promise is, and each one assigns a specific meaning to this word. The only purpose of promises is to improve relations if respected, and deteriorate them if breached.

Promises are such a crazy thing. Some people believe promises are the hardest contract between two people, and sometimes that contract gets broken. 

"CHRISTMAS"

Christmas is a wonderful word, because when people think about it, they imagine the streets full of decorations, the night of Christmas eve, the illusion of a child the moment he or she opens the present… all those kinds of things that make you smile. But, is it really like that or it’s the image we’ve created about it? Christmas is a short period of spending money; it could be on presents, meals, Christmas sweets…

The word consumerism means the spending of the money without limits in the way of presents and other things that could be useless. In the past, people liked Christmas because of his essence, the feeling to be in front of a fire telling stories, there was no need to buy or receive presents.

Nowadays Christmas (for the majority) is based on spending, spending and spending more and more money on unnecessary things. A month, or more, before Christmas there is a huge amount of advertisements of toys, clothes, cologne or perfume, chocolate, chocolates and things like these.

Here in Catalonia we celebrate Christmas with the “tió” and, after Christmas, the Three Wise Men came to each town or city to see the children and give them sweets and little presents. That’s another example of consumerism. Why did the three wise men need to throw sweets and candy to the children? Why didn’t they only keep their letters with the list of presents they had written? Because that’s the new concept of Christmas. Children went to the street procession basically for the present, not only to leave the letter.

However it’s not everybody who has that image of Christmas. Poor people live it in a different way, I suppose.

A part from the consumerism Christmas has a special thing: it makes people more solidary. When Christmas comes and some poor people are in the street asking for a little money, people think it’s a good thing to give them something, because everybody deserves a little bit of magic on those special dates.

JOKE