What is a
bookworm? And who is J. K. Rowling?
First of all a bookworm is a person who reads a lot of books and enjoys doing it. We could say that before they used to be in libraries, but now due to Internet and specially mobile phones you can find them everywhere. Another typical characteristic of them is that they are usually very intelligent and they have a very good memory. I’m not a bookworm or as we say in Spanish “un ratón de biblioteca”, despite the fact that I enjoy reading, especially at night when I’m tired.
Joanne Rowling or J. K. Rowling (as everybody knows her) is a writer who is considered to be in the top 10 of literacy heroes for having helped to boost literacy or promote a love of reading. She is well known for having written one of the best book series in history, Harry Potter. Like thousands of children I’ve read the eight books of this book series (now she has written more books related with this fantastic book series).
When did she think about the idea of Harry Potter? It was in 1990 when she was travelling by train, from Manchester to London when she first thought about a school for wizards, it’s for this reason that she thought in her story that there must be and special platform for magicians, Platform 9 and ¾. In her first book, it was also influenced by her mother's death and this is the reason why she explains in such a detailed manner Harry Potter's mum's death.
But how did she become famous? In fact, her first story was written in napkins, because she was really poor and she had to take care of her children. She presented her work to different publishers, but they didn't accept her story because of her poverty (without reading it), it was a daughter of one of these chief publishers who recognized the talent of the writer, and she became really rich only with this first book. (I’ll recommend you to go to Edimburgh and go to the Elephant House coffee shop, where she came every day to write all her ideas for her books).
In conclusion, I would like to thank J.K.Rowling for having given us the opportunity to read her books. Now, this writer is 50 years old and I hope she'll keep on writing as she has done it all these years.
NO SMOKING: Drive me home, Daddy!
According to the British Lung Foundation, more than 430,000 children are exposed to second-hand smoke in cars each week. There are 10 million adult smokers in the UK, and one of their many consequences is that they are affecting their own kids when they smoke in their cars. As a result of this, the English and the Welsh government are to implement a new law which will ban smoking in cars carrying children with a penalty fine of £50. But, is it enough? Are they conscious of the problem of smoking in cars?
On the one hand, there are still too many people who smoke in their cars that are still unaware aabout how this affects themselves and the other second-hand smokers. These are some of their many consequences: second-hand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, some of which are known to cause cancer; smoke can stay in the air for up to two and a half hours even with a window open; smoking in a car creates a higher concentration of toxins than in a bar - some research has put it at 11 times higher; research indicates 300,000 children in the UK visit a GP each year because of the effects of second-hand smoke, with 9,500 going to hospital…
On the other hand smoking in cars is allowed, provided that they don't throw away the cigarettes on roads or highways. Without talking about how much it can affect the other passengers if someone is smoking in the car, in Spain it is one of the main reasons of having a car accident, because it is a very common distraction. I think that if they are in a jam, and they are very anxious, they could have the possibility of smoking if this "relaxes" them.
In my opinion, I would never understand why people continue smoking, especially young people, because I’ve had at least 4 or 5 lessons about the effects of smoking at school and I can't see its relaxing effects, especially when I see the trembling hands of smokers I don’t find it very relaxing. Others will say that it is cool, but I don't find it 'cool' when someone dies of cancer. But well, each one decides how he will like to die and to live.
First of all a bookworm is a person who reads a lot of books and enjoys doing it. We could say that before they used to be in libraries, but now due to Internet and specially mobile phones you can find them everywhere. Another typical characteristic of them is that they are usually very intelligent and they have a very good memory. I’m not a bookworm or as we say in Spanish “un ratón de biblioteca”, despite the fact that I enjoy reading, especially at night when I’m tired.
