Slow down, we move too fast

Find out more information about Slow Food and Citta Slow, in case you are interested.

Here's the list of slow cities in Spain. You can find more about them here:

- Begur and Pals in Catalonia.

- Lekeito and Mungia in the Basque Country.

- Bigastro in the Valencian Community.

- Rubielos de Mora in Aragon.

There's a siminlar a similar movement going on in Alhama called Alhama en Transición. If you are interested, you can visit their blog here.

Education helps keep blood pressure down

A new study shows that staying in education for a long time helps blood pressure. Scientists have found a link between the number of years spent studying and low blood pressure. The research looked at 4,000 people in the USA. They found that those who had a university education had lower blood pressure than people who did not enter higher education. Study leader Eric Loucks said people who left school early were more likely to have a stressful job and low salaries. He said both these things contributed to stress.


Many people think it is more stressful to stay on in education. University exams are famous for causing students lots of stress. It also seems strange that people with university degrees have lower blood pressure than those without. Graduates usually become managers in companies, or teachers and those positions are very stressful. The report looked at blood pressure levels at the end of a 30-year period. It could be that people who were in education longer were richer and had a better standard of living. Money worries often cause lots of stress.


From News English Lessons (Feb 28, 2011).


You may read the whole story here and do the exercises.

23F

Today it is the 30th anniversary of the attempted coup d'état in Spain. I know many of you, my dear students, weren't even born on that date, or you were too young to remember anything. But, in case you do: What do you remember? Where were you? How did you feel? Have your parents told you anything about that day?


Since the other day we were talking about school subjects, here's your little history lesson for today. Read this BBC report and watch the video - a real slice of history.

Cosmetic surgery becoming more popular.

The number of people having cosmetic surgery is increasing. This could be a sign that the world economy is making a recovery. Statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons show that the number of operations increased by five per cent between 2009 and 2010. Spokesman Dr. Phil Haeck said: "This is just one more tiny sign that the economy is moving forward. It's slow, but it may be that we'll slowly pull out of this recession." In the U.K. the number of surgeries reached 100,000 for the first time.

These are welcome figures for the industry, but they come at a time when the safety of cosmetic surgery is in question. A British woman died after an operation organized on the Internet. Claudia Adusei’s operation took place at a hotel near Philadelphia Airport. Many doctors said the type of operation she had was very risky. With more and more people going under the knife, there may be an increase in accidents in the future. People need to think carefully about whether they really need that nose job or tummy tuck.


Glossary:


to increase (v): to become greater or larger.
to move forward (v): to advance.
risky (adj): dangerous, not safe.
to go under the knife: to get plastic surgery.
a nose job: plastic surgery on the nose
a tummy tuck: plastic surgery of the abdomen


From News English Lessons. Find more exercises or listen to this piece of news here.

Reading practice: mobile phones & manners

Since the day of the exams is coming up, here you have two texts on the topics we are dealing with now, in case you need more practice.

Mobile madness.
Manners, please.

Queen Elizabeth officially joins Facebook

Would you like to be friends with her? Learn more about it.
Are you friends with any celebrities on Facebook?

Modern British Families

Read this article from the BBC talking about the new British families. Are these changes also happening in our country? Do you think this is positive or negative, or it is just the way society evolves?

Did Alberto Contador cheat?

Alberto Contador was accused of dopping some weeks ago. Do you think he's innocent or he cheated?