Pau Gasol

My favourite song

MANOWAR – MASTER OF THE WIND (THE TRIUMPH OF STEEL)In the silence of the darkness when all are fast asleep
I live inside a dream calling to your spirit
As a sail calls the wind, hear the angels sing

Far beyond the sun across the western sky
Reach into the blackness find a silver line
In a voice I whisper a candle in the night
We’ll carry all our dreams in a single beam of light

Close your eyes, look into the dream
Winds of change will winds of fortune bring

Fly away to a rainbow in the sky gold is at the end for each of us to find
There the road begins where another one will end
Here the four winds know who will break and who will bend
All to be the master of the wind

Falling stars now light my way
My life was written on the wind
Clouds above, clouds below
High ascend the dreams within

When the wind fills the sky the clouds will move aside
And there will be the road to all our dreams
For any day that stings two better days it brings

Nothing is as bad as it seems
Close your eyes, look into the dream
Wins of change will winds of fortune bring

Fly away to a rainbow in the sky gold is at the end for each of us to find
There the road begins where another one will end
Here the four winds know who will break and who will bend
All to be the master of the wind

Tibet

Why Tibet? An Introduction to the Question of Tibet

Why is there an outcry about Tibet? Why is a nation larger than Western Europe held captive and tortured by a foreign power, while the world’s leaders stand by or deny responsibility for doing business with the oppressor? Why is Tibet’s situation important right now?The pages below tell how Tibet has come to the most perilous moment in its 3,000 year existence. It is a common theme of history; many ancient and peaceful indigenous civilizations have been assaulted by military powers in search of land and booty. Tibet, an independent nation until the Chinese invasion, is now faced with extinction. But it is not yet too late.

It would be very difficult to oust the Chinese by armed force, and it would go against the Tibetan Buddhist belief in non-violence. Instead, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people have used diplomacy and non-violent activism in the hopes that the People’s Republic of China will be condemned and pressured to withdraw its occupation forces from Tibet.

It is our belief that anyone who hears of what has happened in Tibet will support its cause. But the Tibetans must be heard. Please read on to find out why Tibet needs and deserves your support. If you are moved to become actively involved, contact a Tibet Support Group near you.

In a world where terrorism gets so much attention, it is important to support those who are willing to brave the path of peace.

(www.tibet.org)

Homer´s Enemy

 

 Fun way to learn english:

From the episode ‘Homer’s Enemy’

(In Sector 7G, Homer spins around in his chair) 
Homer: Chair goes round, chair goes round, chair goes round…
Lenny: Hey, Homer, are you busy?
Homer: Yes.
Carl: There’s a new guy at the plant. Maybe we ought to say hi to him.
Homer: I don’t know… I’m kind of dizzy. I should probably go home sick.

to spin around	dar vueltas, girar
to go round	dar vueltas, girar
to be busy	estar ocupado
ought to	deber. Un sinónimo de este modal verb es should.
kind of	algo
dizzy	mareado
to go home sick	irse a casa con parte de enfermo

(www.saberingles.com)

Gossip

This word derives from the Old English term “godsibb”, which meant “godfather” (“sibb” meant “kin”). The term was then started to be used to refer to any women friends who attended the mother at the time of the birth of her child. But in the late 16th century, gossip became to be used to describe the iddle chatter with friends or acquaintances, maybe like the one those women used to have.

Esta palabra proviene de “godsibb”, vocablo del inglés antiguo que significaba “godfather” (padrino), “sib” significaba “pariente”. El término se comenzó a usar para referirse a las amigas que acmpañaban a una madre en el momento de dar a luz. Pero a finales del siglo XVI, gossip se empezó a utilizar para describir las charlas informales con amigos o conocidos, probablemente tal como las que tenían aquellas amigas.

Anna Politkovskaya

Anna Politkovskaya, murdered in her Moscow apartment building on 7 October 2006, was one of the few Russian journalists reporting on events in Chechnya. An illustrated article by her on torture there had been due to appear on 9 October in the twice-weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Her killer did not even trouble to hide his face or deactivate the building’s surveillance camera. He has not yet been identified.

Politkovskaya, who had two children, was born in 1958 in New York, where her Russian-Ukrainian parents were Soviet diplomats for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). She studied journalism at Moscow University and in 1982 began working for the newspaper Izvestia, and later for the airline Aeroflot. From 1994 to 1999, she was an editor with Obschchaya Gazeta and from 1999 with Novaya Gazeta.

She was well-known for her coverage of Chechnya, which she had visited more than 40 times. In 1998, she interviewed Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and was the only Russian journalist who reported on the second Chechnya war that began in 1999.

Politkovskaya’s commitment went far beyond journalism. She sometimes went before courts with Russian women whose sons had been killed in Chechnya, and she served as a mediator during the September 2002 Moscow theatre hostage-taking. An apparent attempt to poison her while on her way to report on the school hostage-taking in Beslan (Ossetia) in September 2004 prevented her from covering the event, in more than three hundred people were killed.

As well as her journalism, she had published several books on Russia and Russian policy in Chechnya and had become very well-known in the West.

Politkovskaya tackled many taboo subjects in her reporting and openly criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin. “As long as he’s in power, Russia won’t be a democratic country,” she said. She also heavily criticised Chechnya’s pro-Russian president, Ramzan Kadyrov.

She had received death threats which in 2001 drove her into exile in Austria. Friends said she had felt threatened in recent months but refused to consider going into exile again.

Politkovskaya received many awards for her courageous search for the truth, including the Russian Union of Journalists’ Golden Pen Prize (2000), the International Pen Club Prize (2002), the OSCE’s Journalism and Democracy Prize (2003) and the Olof Palme Prize (2004).

Sign the petition calling for an international commission of enquiry in order to establish the truth about Anna Politkovskaya’s murder on 7 October in Moscow

Sign the petition calling for an international commission of enquiry in order to establish the truth about her murder (WWW.RSF.ORG)

 

5 years…

(AP)

Sandwich

The name comes from the English diplomat John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. It was said that he was a compulsive gambler and to avoid stopping the game to eat, he would order that his food was brought to his table. The valet would bring him cold beef between two slices of bread. Later the snack became known as sandwich.

La palabra sandwich proviene del diplomático inglés John Montagu, cuarto conde de Sandwich. Aparentemente, era un jugador compulsivo y para evitar tener que detener el juego para comer, ordenaba que le trajeran su comida a la mesa. Sus sirvientes normalmente le traían fiambre entre dos rebanadas de pan. Más tarde, este tipo de comida se conoció como sandwich.

The Lion and the Mouse

Once when a Lion was asleep a little Mouse began running up and down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. “Pardon, O King,” cried the little Mouse: “forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn some of these days?” The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let him go. Some time after the Lion was caught in a trap, and the hunters who desired to carry him alive to the King, tied him to a tree while they went in search of a wagon to carry him on. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts. “Was I not right?” said the little Mouse.

Little friends may prove great friends.

animal farm

  George OrwellGeorge Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur BlairHe is one of the most admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century, and most famous for two novels critical of totalitarianism.Eric Blair was born on Motihari , India, in 1903In 1904 Orwell moved with his mother and sister to England.

He was educated at Eton College in England

His first writings Orwell published in college periodicals. During these years Orwell developed his antipathy towards the English class systems

Orwell’s parents were members of the Indian Civil Service, and, after the school, Orwell joined (1922) the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. Like his colleagues, Orwell had a native mistresses.

Eventually Orwell’s mounting dislike of imperial rule led to his resignation. “Shooting an elephant” (1950) is a collection of essays revealing the behaviour of the colonial officers.

Orwell returned to Europe and lived as a tramp and beggar, working low paid jobs in England and France (1928-29).

In “Down and out in Paris and London” (1933), Orwell wrote his experiences in poverty

In 1933 he assumed the pseudonym by which he would sign all his publications. Orwell was the name of a small river in East Anglia, and George was definitely a British Christian name.

In 1936 Orwell married Eileen O’Shaugnessy, a doctor’s daughter. From 1936 to 1940 Orwell worked as a shopkeeper in Wallington . “Keep the aspidistra flying” (1936) is the story of a young bookseller’s assistant.

Like many other writers, he travelled to Spain to report on the Civil War.

He was shot through the throat by a Francoist sniper’s bullet. When Stalinists on their own side started to hunt down Anarchists and his friends were thrown into prison, Orwell escaped with his wife Eileen Blair from the chaos.

In Orwell’s lifetime Homage to Catalonia sold only about fifty copies a year

Orwell opposed a war with Germany, but he condemned fascism. During World War II he served as a sergeant in the Home Guard and worked as a journalist for the BBC, Observer and Tribune, where he was literary editor from 1943 to 1945. Toward the end of the war, he wrote Animal Farm, which depicted the betrayal of a revolution.After the war, Orwell went to Germany as a reporter, but in his dispatches he sent to The Observer and The Manchester Evening News he did not mention the extermination camps or Auschwitz.After the war Orwell lived mostly on the remote island of Jura in the Western Isles of Scotland. With Eileen he had adopted a little boy. His wife died in 1945In 1949 Orwell married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980).Her marriage to Orwell lasted only three months.Orwell died from tuberculosis in London University Hospital on January 21, 1950, soon after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

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Cover

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Readers´interview

Rebeca Marcos

-Rebeca, did you like the book?

-In my opinion, it´s amazing.I loved it. It´s, in fact, one of my favourite books.

First, I read it at school but later, I´ve read twice.

-Why do you like so much?

- I like it so much because not it´s only a fiction book it´s an allegory in wich animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutions. At first, all animals are equal, but disparities start to emerge between the different species or classes.

I recommended everybody.

2-Sandra Garcia

-Sandra, did you like the book?

-Not specially. For me, not is a bad book but neither a fantastic book.

-Why?

-I think that it´s a bit child´s. I know that the message is a Stalin´s critic but the characters are too much lineal, too much stereotypic. For me it´s a superficial critic.

I think that’s a interested book but too much overestimate.

3-Sara Cuevas

-Sara, did you like the book?

-Not is one of my favourite books but it´s really interesting. I my opinion, this book

it´s worth reading.

-Why?

-First, because it´s an amusing book, everybody can read it. And second, because it´s an original way to explain how il power can change the people.

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Chapter III

You work, I order. This sentence can resume this chapter . The pigs didn´t work but they directed and supervised the other´s work. The first utopia had been broken because “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”.

The animals worked harder (Boxer, for example, was the admiration of everybody. He seemed more like three horses than one) but they were happy because they believed that they were more free.

One difference between the pigs and the others was the culture. The animals studied; almost every animal on the farm was literate in some degree. But while the pigs could read and write perfectly, none of the others animals on the farm could get further than the letters.

Finally, in this chapter, we recorded the seven commandments and the essential principle of Animalism: ” four legs good, two legs bad”. And we can discovered others two way to enslave.

The first can be resumed in “your puppies to me”. Napoleon took puppies away from their mothers. He said that he would make himself responsible for their education but, realty, he kept them in such exclusion and the rest of the farm soon forget their existence.

The second: the fear to enslave. The animals discovered that the milk was mixed everyday into the pigs´mash, only for them. When they protested, the pigs said that if they (the pigs) are weik, the awful Mr. Jones come back.