An example of direct and reported speech

A WEIRD LAPTOP

Two weeks ago I decided to buy a new laptop, because my last one wasn’t working well and it was old-fashioned. Therefore, last Tuesday I went to the new computer store that is just at the corner of my street. There were good offers and I bought a light red Mac (a laptop from Apple). The first week everything was okay, but on the second week, when I switched it on, it made a lot of noise and then it switched of. So, I went back to the shop and talked with the shop assistant and this is what he told me.

“Hello, can I help you?” He asked me.

“Yes, I’ve got a problem with the Mac that I bought here two weeks ago” I said.

Then I explained my problem, he took my laptop for a couple of days and he called me by telephone again.

                “Listen, Sir, your Mac has a virus and we can’t do anything for it” He told me.

                “But, but… I can change it for another one, can’t I? I asked impatiently.

                “No, because it was an offer”, he answered.

We were talking for two hours and then, I decided to talk with his manager. He finally accepted to solve the problem and told me that they would bring me another one, because they have some spare ones in another city. However, he told me that he couldn’t give my money back, because they had just opened, and I finally had to accept, but I didn’t go to that shop again.

Anyway, next time I will always check that any item I want to purchase has a guarantee and that it is valid for at least two years. Bargains can cost you a fortune!!

Local heroes: James Bond and Robin Hood

Local heroes: James Bond and Robin Hood. Do we have this type of heroes in our everyday life?

There have been many characters in our history like Robin Hood or James Bond that have taught us the good values of life and that have also been local heroes, because they have fought against the rich people that stole money from the poor. Currently, James Bond is still one of these characters that promote this type of values. In fact, soon there will be a new James Bond’s film. However, do we still have this type of heroes in our minds? Have we got a little local hero in our everyday life?


Firstly, it’s a well-known fact that this type of heroes had a lot of influence in the past, because there was no TV and no Internet, so to do revolutions against the rich, they needed to believe that a hero like Robin Hood for example, was supporting them in another part of these wars. I don’t know if they really existed, but perhaps it was true that someone did similar things and after his death, he became a myth, even if we couldn’t testify it.

And what do we know about them? Well, Robin Hood was an English archer of the Middle Age who stole the money from the rich and gave it to the poor. It’s said that he was a very kind man and that lived in the wild forest of Nottingham fighting even against the king. Another character is James Bond, or 007, an English secret agent who is the best in his job, because he kills everybody who is ordered to kill. People think that he is the perfect English gentleman because of his look, but in reality he’s a bit womanizer.

All in all, I reckon that before there were more local heroes that people believed in than in our days, because now our politicians are more corrupt and we have fewer local heroes. At least, now we can decide “the king” that is going to steal our money.

Paris COP21 What is it? Are our gouvernements going to do something for the climate change?

Paris COP21 What is it? Are our gouvernements  going to do something for the climate change?

For two weeks, from 30th November to 11th December, representatives of 195 countries will meet in Paris for the COP21, and what is the COP21? The COP21 is the 21st Conference of the Parties, the annual meeting of all countries which want to take action for the climate. And the most important matter, what are the main goals? Their main goal is that they want to reduce their emissions of CO2 so that Earth doesn’t get warmer than 2ºC. 

One of the problems that they are having is that the attacks of Paris were so recent that they can't give lectures in public and they have to be at every moment with a lot of security. As a result of the attacks all the presidents are giving their condolences to the victims. Another big problem in relation with this conference is that emerging countries don’t want to take part in this meeting, because most of them still use too much non-renewable energy, and that can be determinant in the end, because they are the most polluting countries.

In addition, this conference is more important than others, because now rich countries like the USA or China, which haven't wanted to respect the limits of pollution in the past, have now realized that renewable energies are more economic in the long term, so they are now in favour to reduce their pollution in their countries. Moreover, they want to promote this to poor countries, setting their renewable factories there (and for not paying taxes).

From my point of view, it’s good that we have this type of conferences, but we need to take practical measures, because if we don’t do something fast, we will finish with our planet. In Spain, we have had two alerts because of pollution and in two cities (Madrid and Oviedo) people couldn’t use their cars for a couple of days. I don’t know you, but I want to breathe fresh air.

A terrorist attack. Maintenan, on est tous Paris.

A TERRORIST ATTACK. MAINTENANT, ON EST TOUS PARIS.

Last Friday, 13^th November France suffered one of the worst episodes of the 21st century. I didn’t write about this before, because the event was too recent and I wanted to see what was going to happen next, the reaction of France, how much this has affected us, and obviously how this was going to affect Spain, because I remind you that Granada is one of the most menaced cities by these fanatical terrorists, because they still think that the south Spain is Al-Andalus, as it was called when they invaded the Iberian peninsula in 711 AD, and they still think that is part of their “empire”.

First of all, I’m going to talk a bit about the incident. It began in the northern suburb, Saint-Denis, on the night of 13th November 2015. The attackers killed 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre, where they took hostages. In total 368 people were injured. Afterwards, three suicide bombers struck near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants and a music venue in Paris. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq. The President of France, François Hollande, said the attacks were planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, and perpetrated with French complicity.

In response, a state of emergency was declared, and temporary border checks were introduced. On 15^th November, France launched the biggest air raid, striking ISIL targets in Al-Raqqah. On 18^th November, the suspected lead operative of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid in Saint-Denis, along with at least two other people.

 
France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers. The November attacks have been the deadliest on France since World War II, and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. 

But, why hasn’t Europe reacted now to this problem and not before? That’s because things only affect us when they are near us. There have been many attacks in other countries like Tunisia, Kuwait…, but it’s now when Europe is doing something against these terrorists. People think that this could be the beginning of the 3rd World War with a new type of fighting in which there won’t be a war between two factions, instead of that, we will have attacks like this one in Paris, where we could see that the terrorist hadn’t fear to die and kill themselves with bombs. 

And regarding the response of France, I reckon that it’s not the best way to solve this problem, because I think that they are killing too many civil people that maybe couldn’t have escaped from these places, even if now there isn’t another solution, because they are recruiting more and more children so that they can train them to do this type of things, which is inhuman. 

I only hope that this war will finish as soon as possible, so that these episodes won’t happen again in France, in Tunisia and in any part of the world. Even if experts say that it will take several years. Nevertheless, I only want our governments to stay together against these terrorists and not be hypocrites just putting a French flag in their Facebook profiles, because I didn’t see anybody with other flags when the terrorists attacked other countries, and please don’t say hypocrites to the people that observe a minute of silence, because nobody has observed a minute of silence in other terrorist attacks.

Living in the countryside or in a city?

Living in the countryside or in a city?

Nowadays there are a lot of ways of living, you have the possibility to live in a flat or in a house, but there are many different options like living in a boat, in a tree house or even in a cave. However, the most commonly forms are in a flat or in a house. But, is it better to live in a small flat in the city centre or in a little house in the countryside?

On the hand, it’s obvious that living in the countryside is healthier than living in a city, as you always breathe fresh air and you can do many activities outside. Moreover, it’s more relaxing because it’s not as stressful as a busy city.

On the other hand, in the day to day life it’s better to live in a city because now nearly everything is in the city. Therefore, if you live in the countryside you will have to take a car to go to places, polluting more than we should.

All in all, I reckon that it’s better to live in the countryside, if we want a healthy life. In my case I have a little house in the mountains and I like going trekking in summer, especially because of its pure air.

In what ways can ideas of greatness in the The Great Gatsby be linked to the American Dream of 1920s?

In what ways can ideas of greatness in the The Great Gatsby be linked to the American Dream of 1920s?

The Great Gatsby represents the American Dream in so many ways. After the war American, who had fought, became intensely disillusioned, because of the brutal carnage they had faced. Gatsby was one of them, he represents the cosmopolitanism and cynism that resulted from the war.

Gatsby represents the irresponsibility and the greed of decadent parties every Saturday night where social climbers and ambitious speculators evidence that greedy scramble for wealth. Moreover, The Great Gatsby shows us that marrying someone rich or doing illegal business finally helps fulfil the American Dream. This also shows us that is those years love didn’t exist at all, because people married for money.

To sum up, the American Dream was discovery, individualism and the pursuit of happiness, and also to finally form a family which Gatsby never achieved.

With the collaboration of María Elena Peinado.

Is it better to have older or younger parents?

Is it better to have older or younger parents?

It’s a well-known fact that your family, especially your parents are one of the biggest influences in your life, they take care of your education, your health. Therefore, how old should parents be? Is it better to have younger or older parents?

On the one hand, if you have younger parents, they will probably understand you better when you are in a bad mood, because for them it’s a recent past. Moreover, they will maybe do more physical activities with you, because of their age and that’s a good point in parent and son relationship.

On the other hand, if you’ve older parents, they will certainly have more experience of life than younger parents and they will help you more if they are retired. Even though, they won’t probably be fit to play with you, because of their age, now there are many kinds of sports that can be done alone with professional trainers.

As far as I know, now parents have their children at an older age than several years before, because now they need more money to support them. However, I don’t see the problem of being younger parents, because I reckon that all parents want the best for their children.

Back to the future and its predictions

BACK TO THE FUTURE AND ITS PREDICTIONS.

21st October 2015 was the date that Emmet Brown programmed the futurist amazing car for Marty McFly to go to the future in 26th October 1985, hoping to arrive in a very futuristic future they didn't know anything about. However, they were not totally wrong because this year in August, one of the inventions that “Back to the future” predicted has become true. The invention of the first hoverboard called Hendo is pretty amazing. But, my question is: can films like “Back to the future” of Robert Zemeckis or books like “De la Terre à la Lune Trajet direct en 97 heures” of Jules Verne predict our future like they did?

On the one hand, most science fiction films have been created to predict what our future will be like. They have done it, following evidences and leading them to the end to make their own future. There are some that predict a good future, and others that don’t. Nowadays, most of them talk about a near future in which robots will be in charge of most tasks we have to do, but we also have fear they may take over the control of the power or important things that control our lives.

On the other hand, futuristic movies are always searching a big audience and they sometimes make some foolish predictions that are impossible to achieve. Most of them talk about aliens and universal crazy wars, it’s true that there could be life in other planets, but I don’t reckon that this type of life will exist one day.

To sum up, science fiction films can predict our future, but I think it is us that make the important decisions about our future: polluting - planting new trees, taking a car - taking a bike. Therefore, I recommend you all to make good decisions that will help us our planet in the future and that will make our lives better, as life is too short.