hola! queria comunicarles a todos aquellos que leen mi blog que hasta aqui llegue con ingles.... lamentablemente no me siento a gusto por lo tanto abandono la carrera , es por eso q a partir de ahora este blog sera utilizado para cuestiones de la vida cotidiana, ya nada que ver con el instituto lola mora. Un beso grand a todos!!!

PROS AND CONS OF VIDEO GAMING

The impact of television, both positive and negative, on children has been a subject of controversies for the last decades. In the last several years the television debate has been extended to video games because of their relatively recent popularity. Many of the most popular video games involve aggression or violent issues, and here we will try to find a conclusion to this debate. Are video games good or bad? A large number of children and teens are playing increasingly violent games. Most youth are able to see the difference between reality and fantasy, so they see games as pointless entertainment. But, some kids get immersed in the violence of the games, they “feel” what the game character feel; they tend to live as in the game which may contribute to make them have aggressive thoughts, attitudes or reactions. Sadly there have been tragic episodes where people were killed by a person who was addicted to a war video game. Of course, some aspects of video game are worrisome. One aspect are the “first person” games in which the player sees the action as she was the shooter can be a detonator for the child violence. Another cons that video gaming has is the excessive amount of hours children spend playing and away from time spent on school work or with friends. Clearly this is something that parent should be very careful and have a control over the free time of their children. We can not omit its ill effects, doctors have found that they may affect the children’s health, for example, children suffer from wrist, neck and back pains. and doctors have found a case of a eleven years old child who suffered from tendonitis, they called this “nintendonitis” Of course not everything related to video games is negative. Some studies show that used in moderation, the advantages can be very helpful. The negative aspects are found with excessive play, so the benefits may outweigh any possible negative impact if the time spent is kept within limits imposed by the parents. Video games also can bring advantages if they are viewed as pure entertainment. It was proved that they can help with aspect of coordination and concentration on visual details. In fact video players score better at vision tests as compared to non players. Educational games help to improve their communication and problem solving abilities, alertness, locating things quickly, etc. To conclude, we can say that we have a very powerful tool nowadays, technology, but it is necessary not to abuse of it. Parents should limit their children’s time on video games. As noted before, it is helpful to consider it in order to avoid illness or violence. Children can enjoy of video games in moderation. ALEJANDRA CAMPERO www.alecampero.blogspot.com

CREDIT CARDS

(From interestarticles.com)

Nowadays, credit cards represent a major element of everyone’s life. Generally speaking, credit cards have pros and cons that have to be analysed before use them. Also, credit cards can help for emergencies like medical bills caused by accidents There are lot of advantages credit cards have. The major advantage of credit cards is that they permit people to make large purchases. Another advantage is that if you don't like to carry large amounts of cash with you or if a company doesn't accept cash purchases (for example most airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies), putting purchases on a credit card can make buying things easier. In addition to the benefits listed above, some credit cards offer additional benefits, such as discounts from particular stores or companies. While you should avoid spending outside your budget (or money you don't have!), sometimes emergencies (such as your car breaking down or flood or fire) may lead to a large purchase. Credit cards are also very useful in the sense that they offer protection under the Consumer Credit Act and you can often get your money back in a fraudulent purchase that you would be unable to do with any other payment method. Credit cards also offer “incentive” benefits such as air miles or credit toward future purchases. And it can be said that they are the fastest, easier and most cost-effective payment system. Therefore there are most certainly benefits for using a credit card. But, there are also disadvantages in using them.The biggest disadvantage of credit cards is that they encourage people to spend money that they don't have. Society induce to their consumers the tendency to buy excessively without paying attention whether they will be able or not to pay the debt accumulated when purchasing with credit cards. In turn, this make lot of Americans to increase in debt and finally to be unable to repay, causing problems with the economic balance and with personal credit too.The real problem with credit cards is that the owed amounts must be paid back, this way the higher costs accumulated since the initial purchase could be avoided as well as the high interest rates of credit cards. High Interest Rates and Increased Debt -- Credit card companies charge you an enormous amount of interest on each balance that you don't pay off at the end of each month. This is how they make their money and this is how most people into debt (and even bankruptcy). Like cash, sometimes credit cards can be stolen. They may be physically stolen (if you lose your wallet) or someone may steal your credit card number (from a receipt, over the phone, or from a Web site) and use your card to rack up debts. Most of these problems come in the form of excess consumer debt, which arises when one carries a balance on the credit card while paying the absolute minimum each month. These problems occur when one begins looking at the credit line of your credit card as simply bonus money that you now have to spend. Another problem that happens with credit cards is that people simply get too many of them. With the credit environment as it is today most people are barraged with new credit card offers practically every day of the week. And some people accept each one of those offers and end up with more credit cards than they know what to do with. With increased numbers comes increased temptation. When you have a multitude of credit cards it becomes much easier to talk yourself into carrying a balance on one of them. As a conclusion, credit cards could be considered the best friends as long as they are used in a right manner and the payments are made without getting in debt.

· PERSONAL REACTION:

Credit cards are another of the modern life issues. Nowadays, one of the most indispensable things that a person must have is a credit card. The majority of the population in the world takes advantage of them. Using credit cards have become as common as to have a cell phone. Of course, as they are not perfect, there are some negative and some positive aspects about the use of them. And although the users of credit cards feel comfortable and protected with them, they are also tempted by the overuse of them due the fact that at the same time they result very helpful because of their benefits, the overuse of them can bring big debs with them.To sum up, it could be said that the use of credit cards has to be moderated in order to enjoy of the benefits of them.

· VOCABULARY

:

1. CARDHOLDER:

The person who carries the credit card.

2. CREDIT CARD:

A small plastic card that you use to buy things now and pay for them later.

3. PURCHASE:

The process of buying something.INTEREST RATE: The percentage that an institution such as a bank charges in interest when you borrow money from it.

CELL PHONES

(From redsofts.com)

In this day and age, hardly anyone can dare say he can let a week pass by without having to use his or her cell phone. And everyone tries to justify that cell phones have become a necessary tool of communication and that he or she needs to use them. Well, let’s put it straight. Historically, necessity has always invented solutions and equipments that satisfied them. It never was the other way round. So, having this into consideration, and also considering the great variety of them, what is the best choice one person can do when buying a new cell phone? There is really no point in going out to buy a mobile phone on your own these days, unless you feel like wasting your money. With all of the different cell phone models that are available, nowadays to buy a cell phone could be a very difficult thing to do. Before you buy a mobile phone, you should carefully consider what it is that you need in it, and how much you are willing to spend. Many people are under the mistaken impression that the more money they spend to buy a mobile phone, and the more fancy features that are included, the happier that they will be with their purchase. This simply is not the case at all. If you buy a cell phone with a camera, high resolution, and all of the other bells and whistles, what you are probably doing is paying a fair bit of money for features that you do not need. On top of this, a top of the line cell phone is many times more likely to be stolen than a lower value one. So, before you spend an arm and a leg to buy a mobile phone, think about it. Do you really need a personal organizer, computer, camera, and phone in one? Of course, that it is quite nice to have “the last model” and the more fancy one, but sometimes it is almost impossible because you buy one today, and tomorrow will be another better. So, the next time you go to buy a cell phone, take a time to think first on what you really want. ·

PERSONAL REACTION:

In fact I think it is a quite complicated issue in modern days. One thing the article points to is the fact that nowadays there are plenty variety of cell phones and when you want to buy one, you just do not know which one to choose. Cell phones have occupied a very important place in the life of everyone. If you take a look around you, you will find out that there are cell phones everywhere, everybody has one. Nowadays it is difficult to think of life without cell phones. ·

VOCABULARY:

1. 1. MODELS:

   a particular type of something with particular characteristics.

   2. VARIETY

   : a collection of things that is different from one another.

   3. MOBILE PHONE:

   a small phone you can carry around with you.

NEGATIVE INTERACTIONS IN MARRIAGE CAN LEAD TO MORE HEALTH PROBLEMS IN OLDER COUPLES.

(From APA PRESS REALISES)

HONOLULU — Having good communication, a reliable partner and understanding in a marriage can boost a person’s health, say experts. But having more negative than positive exchanges can diminish these benefits in the relationship and actually hurt one’s health, especially for those who have been married for a long time, says a new study that examines the role of marital quality in the physical health of mature adults – over age 50. Findings of the study will be presented at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in Honolulu. Certain behaviors by one partner in long-term marriages appear to contribute to a spouse’s likelihood of experiencing chronic health problems, more disability and poorer perceived health, according to a study that looks at 729 adults who were at least 50 years of age and currently married and in their first marriage. Researcher Jamila Bookwala, Ph.D., of Lafayette College used data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) on five dimensions of marital quality (disagreement, positive and negative spousal behaviors, overall quality of relationship and marital communication) and on four indicators of physical health (physical symptoms, chronic health problems, physical disability and perceived health). This is one of the first studies to use a large probability-based sample of middle-aged and older individuals. In this study, said Bookwala, the marital quality of the relationship does contribute significantly to the physical health of adults aged 50 and older. In particular, the occurrence of negative spousal behaviors, such as the spouse making excessive demands, being too critical or argumentative, being unreliable or continually agitating one’s partner was associated with poorer physical health for the respondent. And, said Bookwala, these negative behaviors outweighed any positive spousal behaviors in influencing physical health. Bookwala controlled for sociodemographic variables (socioeconomic status, education, family background) and symptoms of depression to rule out these factors as influencing the respondents’ health problems. “From these results,” said Bookwala, “it is likely that the occurrence of negative behaviors from one’s spouse outweighs the role of positive behaviors in physical health. It could be that the chronicity of negative spousal behaviors may have a cumulative and long-term effect on health outcomes similar to those associated with other chronic psychological stressors such as being a caregiver.” Negative behaviors between spouses may be changeable through the appropriate interventions, said Bookwala. Marital therapy is designed to reduce or eliminate the exchange of criticism and excessive demands, which may prevent the negative emotions between spouses from escalating. If the marital therapy lowered the marital distress, then it may be possible to protect couples from health problems that arise from the negative behaviors occurring in the marriage, added Bookwala. ·

PERSONAL REACTION:

It comprehensive that after many years of marriage negative interactions between a couple can lead to health problems in people. I think that these kind of interactions, in which, one person is continuously demanding, criticizing or doing anything bad for his couple is stressing, and this stress can obviously carry with it problems in health, whether physical or psychological problems. In order to have a good health, people should be more patient, and if something bothers them, they should say it, express it, and not keep quiet because sooner or later consequences will appear affecting health. ·

VOCABULARY:

1. RELIABLE: someone you can trust to behave well or do what you expect them to do.

2. BOOST: to help something to increase, improve or become more successful.

GUNMAN SLAYS 32 AT US CAMPUS

(Buenos Aires Herald, April 18th edition)

Students said there were no public-address announcements or other warnings on campus until an e-mail more than two hours after the first shooting — around the time the gunman struck again.Virginia Tech president Charles Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dormitory was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus. ‘‘We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur,’’ he said.He defended the university’s handling of the tragedy, saying, ‘‘We can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don’t have hours to reflect on it.’’Investigators offered no motive for the attack. The gunman’s name was not immediately released, and it was not known if he was a student. At an evening news conference, the university president and police chief said they were still investigating whether the shootings were related. But earlier in the day, the chief said he believed there was only one gunman.The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus, with witnesses reporting students jumping out of classroom windows to escape the gunfire. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive. Police said some doors in the classroom building had been chained shut from the inside, possibly by the gunman.‘‘Schools should be places of safety, sanctuary and learning,’’ President George W. Bush said. ‘‘When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom in every American community.’’The bloodbath took place at opposite sides of the thousand-hectare campus, beginning at West Ambler Johnston, a coed residence hall, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.Two people were killed in a dormitory room, and 31 others were killed in the engineering building, including the gunman, police said.Steger said the university decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means to notify members of the university, but with 11,000 people driving onto campus in the morning, it was difficult to reach everyone. He said that before the e-mail went out, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms to notify them and sent people to knock on doors to spread the word. (AP)

PERSONAL REACTION:

Sadly, it is not the first time that something of the kind happens in a school or an university, and not only at the U.S.A but also in our country it has happened. There is a common factor in the majority of these tragic events: a young person, who is influenced by a movie or a video game. These people tend to be shine in their everyday life; they spend hours and hours in front of a computer playing with video games aimed to violence, crimes and brutality. They are of course psychologically sick and one day they decide to go out and pretend to be the video game character, so they kill anyone who is in front of them. They also can be influenced by movies in which the principal character commits a crime, and they imitate it, so they commit the same crime copying the movie.

VOCABULARY:

1. GUNMAN: someone who uses a gun when committing a crime.

2. HANDLING: The way someone deals with a particular situation.

3. SHOOTING: an occasion when someone is attacked by a person with a gun.

READING REPORT 2- "NEUQUEN MARCHS FOR TERESA"

• NEUQUEN MARCH FOR TERESA (Buenos Aires Herald, April 13th edition) Some 3,000 people marched in Neuquén yesterday morning to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Teresa Rodríguez (a housemaid who was slain in 1997 when the provincial police were trying to break up a picket line) while a provincial government offer of dialogue with striking teachers met with a chill response.The marchers honouring Teresa Rodríguez were naturally mindful of the far more recent death of science teacher Carlos Fuentealba on the previous Thursday — also a victim of Neuquén police brutality. The march stretched out over five blocks and ended at provincial government house, which has been under siege from camping teachers for the past week.Teresa Rodríguez, 24, was slain by a police bullet piercing her throat 10 years ago yesterday. Nobody was ever convicted for the crime and the policemen accused of the slaying were acquitted and rehired by the force. Felipe Sapag, the founder of the ruling Neuquén Popular Movement (MPN) party, was governor at the time.Meanwhile the bid by eight opposition deputies to impeach current Neuquén Governor Jorge Sobisch (held responsible for the police brutality) languished in the face of stonewalling by the MPN caucus and will have to wait until next week. Sobisch has said that he is willing to face impeachment and assume the responsibility for his hard line approach to security.The provincial assembly is also due to approve a streamlining of the provincial Cabinet implemented by Sobisch on Tuesday, the day after the main protests and strikes over Fuentealba’s death.Jorge Lara, the new minister in charge of educational affairs (among others), yesterday offered to meet striking teachers around the negotiating-table in a bid to end a strike now well into its sixth week. But union leader Natalia Cantero yesterday said that Neuquén’s schoolchildren faced a long wait for the start of classes because teachers were divided over whether they even wanted to negotiate with an administration headed by Sobisch (whose resignation they are insistently demanding), no matter how tempting the offer.The province of La Rioja had better luck with its teacher dispute since the provincial government and CTERA teachers union reached agreement on a 45 percent pay hike.In other news, various Neuquén public health authorities resigned yesterday over Fuentealba’s death, Neuquén Bishop Marcelo Melani appealed to Sobisch to unblock the situation and provincial public works employees volunteered to help Fuentealba’s widow Sandra Rodríguez to finish building her house.(Herald staff with DyN, Télam) · PERSONAL REACTION: Sadly, once more police violence in our country is on the newspapers’ headlines. Once more, civilians are the victims of the police power, or better said, police bad use of its power. In this article, published on April 13th on the BUENOS AIRES HERALD, people from Neuquen remembered the 10th anniversary of the death of a woman, who was slain by the police during a picket. This commemoration was also mindful of the more recent death of the teacher Fuentealba in the same province two weeks ago. The teacher was another victim of the brutality of the police. And we do not have to forget the deaths during the crisis in December of 2001, and many others occurred in Argentina. In my opinion, policemen have to serve civilians, not to repress them. It seems that they forgot we live in democracy. And the worse of all is that in the majority of this crimes, policemen are not judged in a proper way, they seem to have some “privileges” and that there is no law for them. This is something that has to finish in our country, because in some way, Argentina is still under dictators’ power, mainly at the police sector. · VOCABULARY: 1. SLAIN: past participle of SLAY. To kill someone in a violent way. 2. SIEGE: a situation in which a group of people surround a building in order to protest about something. 3. PICKET: a group of people who are protesting about something.