Sunday, December 31


31 de diciembre, es el momento de hacer balance del 2006 y de formular los propósitos que todos nos planteamos al comenzar un nuevo año.
Este 2006 se despide de forma inesperada, imprevista con un atentado bomba de ETA. Todos mantenemos en el córtex de nuestra memoria la imagen de los tres encapuchados con txapela anunciando el "alto el fuego permanente ( y para los que no lo recordaban la televisión se ha encargado de volver a emitirla una y otra vez). No les creí entonces y el tiempo desgraciadamente me ha dado la razón, pero lamentablemente hay dos víctimas más.
Se despide también con la ejecución del ex-dictador de Irak Sadam Hussein y también con duras imágenes. A mi juicio, otro error, lo justo hubiera sido mantenerlo en la cárcel de por vida.

Este empezó siendo el año en el que prohibieron fumar, y parecía extraño pero luego empezamos a acostumbrarnos a ver a los empleados compatibilizando frío con cigarrillos en la calle ( como bien sabemos mi querida Alejandra y yo, ella fumando bajo el paraguas y yo -fumadora pasiva- acompañándola a veces).
Pero he aprendido mucho este año. A saber:
Un "cayuco" no es lo mismo que una patera y éstos suelen venir de Senegal y llegar a las playas Canarias donde se mezclan con los turistas.
El jersey que el señor Evo Morales llevaba cuando ganó las elecciones bolivianas no era tal jersey, es una chompa y parece ser que lo luce con gran orgullo indígena. Pero a mi entender y con todo el respeto, Sr. Morales, cuando se reuna con dirigentes internacionales sería más adecuado llevar traje, ¿qué pasaría si todos los dirigentes llevaran sus trajes regionales? Parecería un desfile de carnaval. Como dirigente de su nación ya se le supone que defiende los intereses de su pueblo, no necesita ser tan evidente.
El polonio 210 es un veneno que puede matar. El ex espía ruso Alexander Litvinenko ha compartido su agonía con el mundo acusando a Vladimir Putin de envenenarle con esta sustancia por investigar el asesinato de la periodista Anna Politkovskaya.
El general Augusto Pinochet, fallecido recientemente ha dejado una carta póstuma justificando su golpe de Estado y manifestando que "por amor se pueden hacer cosas malas", quizá se refiera a matar a los que no piensan como él. Este tipo de amor debe ser como el que mata a su pareja porque "la quiere mucho". Por favor no sean tan buenos amantes.
Irak, es oficialmente el nuevo Vietnam, la mayoría ya lo sabiamos pero desde el 18 de octubre el presidente Bush también lo comparte.
Las pasarelas de moda exigen un cierto peso, - masa corporal, se llama ahora- a sus modelos para desfilar. Nos hemos enterado de cómo hallar el índice de masa corporal y de que estamos saludables si tenemos un índice entre 18 y 24 (afortunadamente tengo un índice 21).
He acabado sabiendo también que los mismos del tabaco han prohibido que los que venden hamburguesas gigantes hagan publicidad, y que unos tipos uniformados nos pueden humillar en el aeropuerto tirando nuestras pertenencias a la basura y dejando nuestra intimidad al descubierto en una bolsa de plástico transparente.
El 2006 se caracterizará también por ser el año en el que hemos tenido conciencia de la gravedad del cambio climático. Según los científicos la subida de la temperatura y el nivel del mar ya es inevitable, con lo que en el futuro habrá refugiados climáticos. La ONU calcula que en el próximo siglo 150 millones de personas tendrán que emigrar porque su ciudad se inundará.
Plutón ya no es un planeta mayor del Sistema Solar. El 22 de agosto será recordado como el día que perdimos Plutón, según el astrónomo Jay Pasachoff. Este pequeño cuerpo de roca y hielo ha dejado de ser considerado oficialmente uno de los planetas mayores del Sistema Solar.

2006 ha sido además pródigo en imágenes, de las que sólo recordaremos unas pocas. En mi memoria han quedado algunas. Aparte de la que nunca se me borrará por lo impactante que fue, Omayra, la niña peruana que quedó atrapada por el volcán Nevado del Ruiz agonizando ante la impotencia de todo el mundo. Siguen muriendo niños pero no tenemos fotos tan evidentes.
Recordaremos fotos de denuncia como las de los cayucos y la de Litvinenko, reflejando el horror como los tanques israelies avanzando hacia el Líbano, reflejando el momento más exultante del éxito con la socialista Segolène en Francia, reflejando el asombro con los "mirós" del lavabo de Juan Antonio Roca y la tristeza de sus caballos agonizando del caso Malaya en Marbella.
Deportivamente recordaremos a la Selección Española de baloncesto asombrando en Japón con un mundial prodigioso y fulminando a Grecia en la final con Pau Gasol ausente por lesión. A Fernando Alonso, de Fórmula1, reeditando su triunfo ante Schumacher. Al cabezazo de Zidane agrediendo a Materazzi.


En cuanto a mi vida personal, el 2006 ha sido un año más, sin grandes acontecimientos, un poco duro en algún momento.
Ahora que empieza un nuevo año, como es habitual, me fijo unos pequeños propósitos que pueda cumplir, las grandes decisiones seguirán aplazadas.
Este año son doce objetivos sencillos, posibles, uno para cada mes del año que formularé a golpe de campanada esta noche intentando no atragantarme con las uvas que nunca he conseguido terminar.
En enero, con eso de que está ahí a la vuelta de la esquina, y en Navidad todos somos más solidarios y antes de que se olviden las buenas intenciones he decidido no ir de rebajas y destinar el dinero de ellas a alguna organización que se dedique a combatir el hambre. Es un poco para tranquilizar mi conciencia después de los excesos y los gastos extraordinarios que hacemos en Navidad con los que podrían vivir una familia del Tercer Mundo todo el año.
En febrero, empezar a hacer un poco de ejercicio, ¿volver, quizá, a la piscina? No voy a ser capaz. Por libre no tengo fuerza de voluntad y con un monitor tiene que ser de noche y ahora que no me acompaña mi hijo tengo miedo al regresar sola.
En marzo, voy a hacer caso a Alejandra y por fin voy a decidir hacerme una revisión médica, antes de que empiece la menopausia y los problemas.
Y asi hasta diciembre, pero como son privados no voy a seguir detallándolos.
Eso sí, deseo a todo el mundo el mejor de los años, multiplicado por el infinito.

Sunday, December 17

A time to relax?


So, it's finally the weekend. A time to relax? Hell no. My agenda for this weekend has been fuller than ever and I suppose next week will be even busier. I'll try to take it easy.

Wednesday, December 13

Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793), daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria was married to the king Louis XVI of France (1754-1793), both of them were executed by guillotine at the height of the French Revolution.

She became queen of France at the age of 19 and had a reputation for lavish and extravagant tastes

She has come into fashion thanks to a recent biography by the UK historian, Lady Antonia Frazer and the film by Sofia Coppola based on this biography.

Coppola details a decadent world in which the French aristocracy live to excess. Marie-Antoinette is a young Austrian girl in a foreign land who does not know how to behave and she turns to drink and gambling when her husband, the heir to the French Throne spurns her in the marital chamber.


Coppola said the film was not a political statement on current times about French Revolution, she was making a portrait of Marie-Antoinette and althought it is a drama, the film has a sense of modernity and it resembles pop videos and teen dramas. Since it was released this summer, visitors to the palace of Versailles have increased considerably.


Moreover, next 8 June will hold the symbolic heart re-burial at Saint Demis Basilica of ten year-old Louis XVII. The dauphin, son of Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI is going to rest in the family crypt after 200 years of controversy.


And finally, taking advantage of this fashion, The Palace of Versailles is going to launch a perfume just today based on the fragance once used by Marie-Antoinette.
A 25 ml bottle will cost 350 euros and it will be sold only to order. A limited prestige version of 1025cl crystal bottles will be sold by 8000 euros each, this "royal" perfume comes with an aristocratic price tag.
Profits will be used to buy a travel chest the queen once owned.

Historian Elizabeth de Feydean discovered the authentic formulas used by the queen's perfumer Jean-Louis Fargeon. The original scent has been used by French perfumer Francis Kurkdjian to develop the new one combining the original ingredients. The perfume is said to take you directly to the 18th century, combining 100% natural primary materials and with an intensely floral fragance. It combines several scents including rose, iris, jasmine, orange blossom and sandalwood.

Friday, December 8

El valle de Baliem, Papua oeste (Indonesia) es el hogar de las tribus Dani, Lani y Yali. Son bastantes similares y se les distingue entre otros aspectos por su forma de vestir. Los Dani usan un short y una koteka delgada (para cubrir el pene). Las mujeres que no están casadas usan faldas hasta la rodilla hechas de corteza de árbol y las casadas usan faldas de fibra de orquídea.
No voy a describir su estilo de vida, solamente quiero centrarme en un aspecto doloroso para las mujeres Dani, como siempre las mujeres sufriendo. No pude evitar el sentir un escalofrio cuando leí un pequeño artículo sobre el tema.
La muerte de un ser querido de estas mujeres les supone aparte de la pérdida afectiva la amputación de una falange de un dedo de la mano que ellas mismas se automutilan o una tercera persona lo hace por ellas después de las exequias fúnebres. Muchas de estas mujeres carecen así de varios dedos de sus manos porque no es necesario decir que en esta etnia la mortalidad infantil es muy alta.
Me llama la atención que no se haya puesto fin a esta práctica, y no me refiero al gobierno de Indonesia, ni siquiera a la civilización occidental que pueden presionar. Me estoy refiriendo a la misma sociedad Dani, ¿no ha habido en toda la historia una mente "pensante" (entiéndase hombre) que sean conscientes de este doble dolor infligido a las mujeres y lo detenga?, porque aunque sea una sociedad primitiva, deben darse cuenta de que es una práctica lesiva y dolorosa para las mujeres (ellos no lo hacen cuando mueren sus seres queridos).
Pero lo más sobrecogedor de todo y lo que me parece una crueldad absoluta es que las niñas huérfanas no se libren del ritual, en este caso a la fuerza. Puedo visualizar su horror, y me resulta casi insoportable, huyendo despavoridas, presas del pánico hasta que un adulto les reduce y les somete a la fuerza a la amputación. El "cirujano" sujeta su codo con unas cuerdas y les da un golpe seco a modo de anestésico para acto seguido amputarles el dedo con un cuchillo afilado de piedra.
¿Cómo no pueden mostrar al menos un poco de piedad por estas niñas, quizás sus propias hijas o familiares?.
Pero ahora también se me ocurre pensar en el sufrimiento de otra gran cantidad de niñas de aproximadamente 28 paises (Etiopia, Somalia, Sudán, Egipto...) que son sometidas a la mutilación genital femenina, práctica que en la edad adulta es la principal culpable de la gran mortalidad femenina e infantil cuando dan a luz y les provoca además las llamadas fístulas obstétricas causándoles incluso el rechazo de su propia sociedad.
Es increible pero cierto que en pleno siglo XXI no seamos capaces de erradicar esta práctica y que parte del Tercer Mundo sufra y muera por algo que para los del primero tan sólo forma parte del pasado, y no quiero dar la impresión de ser una feminista o reivindicativa, que no lo soy. Solamente, como mujer, me duelen estas situaciones.

Sunday, December 3

The Catcher in the Rye


Written by J. D. Salynger, It is one of my all-time favourite novels, although it has been involved in controversy since its publication in 1951 maybe by the use of offensive language, premarital sex, alcohol abuse and prostitution.
The murderer of musiciam John lennon, Mark David Chapman, was carrying the book when he was arrested inmediately after the murder. John Hinckley, Jr. who attented to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 was also obseesed with the book, and Kurt Cobain, leader of Nirvana band was also carrying a copy of the book few weeks before his death.
Holden, the novel protagonist, has a disturbing influence on youths considered to be "social outcasts". People like Chapman and Hinckley come to relate themselves to Holden, the person who nobody understands and that can't understand anybody else.
The meaning of the novel's title is based on a misreading of a line in the song "Comin' Thro' The Rye" by Robert Burns which Holden heard a young boy singing. He imagines a field of rye perched high on a cliff full of children playing. He says he would like to protect them from falling off the edge of the cliff by "catching" them if they were in danger. Holden tells his sister Phoebe he has always wanted to be a Catcher in the Rye (symbolically a rescuer of children).
Holden Caulfield, protagonist and narrator of the story has become an icon for teenage alienation and fear.
Written in the first person and in flashback while he was in a mental hospital, though the readers do not know this until the end of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye relates Holden's experiences in New York in the days following his expulsion for academic failure from the Pency Preparatory school. It is not the first school that has expelled him.
The novel covers a few important days in the life of a tall, highly-critical and depressed sixteen year old who decides one night to run away from Pencey Preparatory boarding school, just before Christmas vacation, he plans to spend some time on his own in New York City, where he lives.
Though Holden is friendly with many people al school, and though he has several friends in the city, he is constantly lonesone and in need of someone who will sympathise with his feelings of alienation. The person Holden feels closest to is his ten years old sister Phoebe. He has an older brother, D.B. who is a screenplay writer in Hollywood, and a younger brother, Allie who died years ago of leukemia.
After getting kicked out of Pency, Holden must go home and tell his parents. Instead of deciding to face them with his failure, he wanders around the streets of New York City and comes into contact with some interesting characters, but he can't make meaningful contact with any of them. Holden thinks the only solution to his problem is to run away and establish a new identity as a deaf-mute who will not need to communicate with anyone. On the verge of a nervious collapse, Holden changes his mind and decides to go back home. He enters a hospital not far from Hollywood, and he is telling us his story while in his institution. At the end of the novel, Holden is not sure if he will be able to handle things better when he leaves the hospital.

Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded voice with a sarcastic style and using the stream of consciousness throughout the novel.
The Catcher in the Rye deals mainly with different themes:

  • Alienation.

Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him, he continually tries to find his way in a world in which he feels he does not belong.He thinks that no one understands him and that everyone is a "phony". He believes that no one is honest and everybody wants to be something else. He feels that the only person who understands him is Phoebe. He does not have relationship with girls, or anyone because he feels that he is the only genuine person in the world.

He is an atypical teenager. He is alienated more than most adolescents. He is also in the middle of an identity crisis. All teenagers go through these phases, so everyone can relate to Holden to some extend. He is socially inept, although he has many friends and acquantances, he cannot form lasting, meaningful friendship. Most teenagers, although they have insecurities, are able to function in relationships.

  • Phoniness

This is probably the most famous phrase from The Catcher in the Rye , it is a word which describes the superficiality, hypocrisy, pretension and shallowness that Holden encounters in the world around him. He explains that adults are inevitably phonies, and, what is worse, they can't see their own phoniness. His brother D.B. is a screenwriter in Hollywood. Holden regards him as a "phony" and has little contact with him. He regards D.B. as a figurative prostitute, who writes only to make money, and not for intellectual redemption.

He finds the hypocrisy and uglyness of the world around him almost unbearable and through his cynicism he tries to protect himself from the pain and dissappointment of the adult world, but there is evidence that Holden exhibits much of the same "phoniness", meanness and superficiality he denounces in others.

  • Loss

Holden has to deal with loss, he loses his brother, Allie, to leukemia, and he feels a tremendous loss. Allie wrote poems on an old baseball glove, and Holden cherished this and speaks about it in great detail. Once, his roommate, Stradlater asked him to write a story for him, he found inspiration in his brother Allie's baseball glove, but when Stradlater returns and finds what Holden has written, he is annoyed. Holden tears up the essay.

  • Loss of innocence

Holden wishes to eliminate corruption from the world and protect children like his sister from becoming like the many adult "phonies" he hated. But he finds it impossible to maintain innocence. After seeing some vulgar grafitti on the walls in his sister Phoebe's elementary school and the museum, bastions of learning and culture, he realizes that he will not be able to erase it all and protect children from the world indefinitely.

  • Betrayal

Holden constantly feels betrayed, and this is a possible cause of his problems. Early in the novel, Mr. Spencer betrays him, he was one of the few teachers at Pency that Holden liked. Stradlater betrays him by dating his best friend, Jane, whom Holden also had a crush on. When he returns home to see Phoebe, she is dissappointed in him that he failed out of Pency. He thinks that she should accept him unconditionally, so he feels betrayed.

  • Maturity

Holden is very inmature, but he believes he is mature. He does not mature throuh the novel. He actually regresses back to a child-like state of mind. He is constantly dwelling on the death of his younger brother and avoids his parents. He thinks the only person he can talk to is his ten year old sister. Holden holds Allie and Phoebe in such high esteem because they are innocent. Holden's goal is to protect innocence in the world.

  • The painfulness of growing up (adolescence)

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about a young character's growth into maturity, he is an adolescent in search of an identity.

When he hears the "Catcher in the Rye" song being sung by a little boy, he decides that he wants to be the person that keeps children from falling off a cliff. That cliff symbolizes the transition from childhood to adulthood, and he wants to keep them as innocent children, not phony adults.

Other possible themes are:

  • Mental deterioration. Holden ends up in a psychiatric hospital
  • Failure. Holden is constantly beein kicked of schools.
  • Sexual experiences/frustration. Holden is a typical hormonal tennage male, yet he does not have sex with the prostitue when she offers.

Haven't you read this novel yet? What are you waiting for? I strongly recommend it to everyone. It is a real masterpiece.

Tuesday, November 21

I am having problems enabling comments to some of my last posts, I know I have to republish my blog but I don't know how. I go to posting but it doesn't appear status. Can Anyone help me?
Thanks.
So, please; have you a comment to do in one of those posts, you can do it here.

Aparte de enseñar Inglés, tengo cuatro horas a la semana de Cultura Religiosa (alternativa a la Religión) con dos grupos de 3º ESO y como es de esperar en una asignatura que ni ellos ni yo la tomamos muy en serio siempre hay algún barullo en la clase, que este año es la biblioteca del centro al no quedar disponibles otras aulas.
Ayer mi jefa de seminario y amiga, Alejandra me dijo: mañana bajo a la biblioteca a la hora de Cultura Religiosa y me haces el concurso de traslados (es más negada que yo para la informática).
Hoy después de repartir unas fotocopias con diferentes sistemas religiosos y decir a los estudiantes que lo fueran mirando para decidir sobre qué religión desean hacer el trabajo, llega Alejandra. Les pido que lo lean en silencio que tenemos que rellenar unos datos.
Nos sentamos al ordenador y empiezo a cambiar códigos de centros, a eliminar otros, confirmar los demás...
El murmullo va en "crescendo", ya es un barullo. Digo voy a mandarles callar, y me dice Ale ya voy yo, que a mi no me conocen. Se levanta, va hacia la última mesa donde están los chavales y les grita "el que hable, muere". Silencio sepulcral. Yo observaba la escena, Alejandra, pequeña(como yo) en medio de los chavales que nos sacan una cabeza mirándole fijamente, estupefactos sin saber a qué atenerse. Y no puedo contener la risa.Carcajada general.
Se acabó la poca autoridad que tenía en esta clase, ¡vaya añito que me espera!.
Alejandra me dice que se me está bien empleado por reírme y yo le digo que como se le ocurrió decir eso. Se callaron ¿no? contesta.
La risa ya nos ha jugado algunas otras malas pasadas pero ya lo contaré otro día.

Monday, November 20

Seize the day





Next week I will show my students the film "Dead Poets Society" (1989), I think that they really need to watch it and they will not have to bring back a report or talk about it in class, just to watch it and make up their minds about it.
I could watch this great story over and over, it's one of all-time favourite; and tears would come to my eyes and stream down my cheeks every time. But not only will this film touch my heart and bring tears, it will inspire me to be a better teacher, to follow my dreams no matter what the boundaries may be and to seize the day and make my life extraordinary.
"Dead Poets Society" is the film that best explores the idea of "Carpe Diem" (Seize the day), to live every moment to the fullest from the viewpoint of a classroom of young men in a boarding school.
When a new English teacher arrives, John Keating (played by Robin Williams), he brings with him a passion for teaching romanticism, opening a never-before-seen world to his students. The film also explores the conflict between realism and romanticism as these contrasting ideal are presented in the prestigious Welton Academy founded in four principles: "Tradition, Honor, Discipline and Excellence. According to the boys: "Travesty, Horror, Decadence and Excrement".
Keating begins his unorthodox teaching methods with a fervent lecture, explaining to the students his core philosophy, to contribute a meaningful verse, so that when it came time for them to die, they would not "discover that they had not lived".
He explains that their lives are fleeting, so they should seize the day before it is too late to make their lives count.
He teaches them the works of the romantic poets such as Thoreau and Lord Byron and employs
outdoor exercises to warn them of the dangers of conformity and the power of sports as a way which human beings push each other to excel.
The English teacher was their inspiration and made their lives extraordinary, he embodies every teacher who you thought was cool and respectable, the teacher we all wish we'd had.
He brings warmth, passion and quite humour as he foster individualism in a school environment of total conformity, teaching these young men both the beauty of the English language and the importance of living life to the full (seizing the day). This teacher believed so much in his students, that it changed their lives.
Needless to say, Mr. Keating's unorthodox approach meets with obstacles, from his fellow teachers, from the school's ultra traditional Headmaster and from parents.
Keating tells his students they should call him "O Captain! My Captain!, title of a Walt Whitman poem about the assessination of Abraham Lincoln and foreshadows Keating's symbolic death at the end of the film (his removal from teaching, which is his passion).
The film concludes with the previously very shy Todd Anderson, climbing to the top of his desk to salute his fallen teacher, who changed his life, followed by the rest of the students standing on their desks in front of Mr. Nolan, in open defiance, calling to Keating, "O Captain! My Captain! to show him that his message has been understood and appreciated while Nolan stands helpless with the realization that there are too many in this demonstration to expell quietly.
With tears in his eyes, Keating says "Thank you, boys. Thank you" and the film ends on a high, but uncertain note.
It has one of the most powerful endings I've experienced similar to the one in "America History X" film.
I like "Dead Poets Society" since it is one of those films that change your life, subtly altering your perception of reality and because it showed me that we have the responsability and the joy of being alive in this planet, so we have precious little time to make a difference, and we have the moral obligation to "seize the day" and make our lives extraordinary. That the only limitations are withing ourselves and that we have to fight, to rebel against conformity to change what we hate and keep what we love.
I recommend everybody to give this film a chance and see it, it may just change your life.

Thursday, November 16

Muá, Muá

Muá, Muá é a traducción ó galego da obra de Roald Dahl, Kiss, kiss; o célebre autor de innumerables libros para nenos e guionista de varias películas moi coñecidas entre as que se encontra "Gremlins" de grande éxito comercial.
Sen embargo, este autor tamén escribiu magníficas historias para adultos, e unha proba disto é esta colección de once relatos que, simplemente, parecen escritos para entreter ó lector pero que presentan o tipo de narracción característica de Roald Dahl.
A acción desenrólase dun xeito aparentemente plano e, de súpeto, cunha frase o nun paragrafo descúbrese un novo elemento que nos obriga a cambiar por completo toda a interpretación da historia, e vai debuxando un camiño ambigüo que conduce á trampa, ó inesperado; é un maestro do chocante que desconcerta ó lector.
Así a forza destos relatos está, sobre todo, no seus argumentos. Os sucesos anúdanse maxistralmente, sen saltos. Tódolos elementos da historia cadran perfectamente e nos conducen a un final conmovedor. É capaz de manter a emoción e a intriga dende o principio ó final, o narrador destas historias ten unha mente un tanto morbosa e intenta deixarnos cun sorriso xeado nos beizos, que ó final sempre o logra.
Utiliza unha linguaxe moi precisa, exacta, capaz de imprimir a estas historias fantásticas un toque de veracidade por medio dunha linguaxe especializada nas diferentes materias que, ás veces, parece que está escribindo un tratado; é o caso dos interesantes datos de apicultura en "Xalea Real", os coñecementos médicos en "William e Mary" o estudio anatómico en "George Porgy", a longa lista de menús vexetarianos en "Porco" o as descricións de mobles antiguos en "O pracer dun crego".
As personaxes son creacións moi acertadas e manteñen a súa consistencia ata o final, ben trabados cunha grande matiz psicolóxica e descritos pormenorizadamente no seu físico, ás veces esaxerando algúns trazos, moitos deles recurrentes ó longo da historia: a boca, os andares, os ollos, o tono da voz, que cobran importancia nunha o noutra personaxe converténdose ás veces en claves simbólicas das historias, como a boca en "George Porgy" ou os ollos en "William e Mary".
Estas personaxes reflicten unha realidade social: a rutina da vida cotiá, a inexistente fronteira entre o tolo e o cordo, a ambición do poder, a falta de comunicación interpersoal, a necesidade de afecto, o odio soterrado polas frustracións, pero todas elas están dominadas por un narrador cínico e sarcástico que os leva perigosamente a unha fin que os ridiculza.
En canto ó tratamento da muller, nótase que é unha obra escrita nos años cincuenta; a esposa está sempre sometida ó marido que é o que toma todas as decisións e, ás veces coma un acto de condescendencia, permite á súa muller facer algo; claro que ó final as mulleres adoitan "vengarse" da opresión a que foron sometidas.

Este libro gustame porque os relatos manteñen o interese dende que comenza, e cunha grande dose de ironía, cinismo e humor cruel precipítanse a finais asombrosos. Estás desexando saber cál será o desenlace destas personaxes que, en moitas ocasións, acaban sendo "o burlador burlado", coma o marido que domina completamente a súa muller e dirixe tódolas súas accións, quere que incluso despois de morto siga a comportarse de acordo cos seus preceptos e deíxalle unha carta escrita coas súas normas: non gastes diñeiro, non fumes, non bebas cocteis, non pintes os beizos, non merques televisión, desconecta ó teléfono...
Cando, sete días despois de morrer, a muller descubre que o seu cerebro e o seu ollo se mantiveran vivos, o primeiro que fai ó ir a verlo é botarlle unha bocanada de fume do cigarrillo e quereo levar para casa para que vexa a televisión recén comprada e a súa forma de vida, agora que el non pode "desautorizar" nada.
Tamén o caso de clérigo que quiso enganar ós campesinos decíndolles que soamente lle interesaba as patas da cómoda de estilo que lles ía comprar. Ó final, cando foi recollela, marabillándose da obra de arte que adquirida a prwzo de ganga, encontrouse con que a troucearon para que poidera transportarla mellor.
Ou o caso de esposa infiel, o amante da cal lle regalara un abrigo de visón. Para disfrazar a súa procedencia, empeñouno e dixo ó marido que encontrara un recibo de empeño. Él foi a desempeñalo a deu á súa muller unha bufanda de visón, pero ésta, máis tarde descubriu a axudante do seu marido co abrigo.
Outro caso do marido que constantemente martirizaba psicoloxicamente a súa muller e ésta vaise de viaxe durante seis semanas sabendo que se quedara cerrado no ascensor e sen posibilidade de saír.

Son relatos crueis, de grande sufrimento, pero estas persoas non senten remordimentos e os lectores somos cómplices con eles, quedámonos estupefactos, cun sabor amargo, pero pensando que o tiñan ben merecido. Soamente falta a moralexa final o poderíase aplicar o dito "o que a fai, págaa"

Tuesday, January 17


He preparado un texto para un examen de 2º de bachillerato similar a los textos de Selectividad.
Voy a publicarlo por si a alguien le fuera de ayuda, a los estudiantes para practicar y a los profesores para sus alumnos.
El tema me parece muy actual y está adaptado a los requerimientos de las pruebas de Selectividad de Galicia.



ENGLISH EXAM 2º Bach.

The spread of bird flu which has led to human deaths is causing concern. Like humans and other species, birds are susceptible to flu. There are 15 types of bird flu but the type currently causing concern is the deadly strain H5N1.
Outbreaks of this strain among birds were first spotted in Vietnam and Thailand. It spread to several other countries in the region and has now established a foothold in Western Turkey and Romania. The fear, after these findings, is that avian flu will spread across Europe, since viruses are carried by migrating birds, there is no way of preventing its spread.
Bird flu was thought only to infect birds until the first human cases were seen, the World Health Organization now put the number of human deaths at more than 60. Humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds that excrete the virus in their faeces, which dry become pulverised, and are inhaled.
The disease still does not transmit easily to humans but the latest outbreaks have raised fears of a pandemic. Experts believe the virus could exchange genes with a human flu virus if a person was simultaneously infected with both. Once the virus gained the ability to pass easily between humans the results could be catastrophic. Worldwide, experts predict anything between two million and 50 million deaths.
In addition, there is not yet a vaccine, but prototypes which offer protection are being produced. Antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu which are already available and being stockpiled by countries may help limit symptoms and reduce the chances the disease will spread.
But, are we at risk of being infected? Scientists say avian flu is not a food-borne virus, so eating chicken is safe. The only people thought to be at risk are those involved in the slaughter and preparation of meat. However the WHO recommends, to be absolutely safe all meat should be cooked to a temperature of at least 70 C. Eggs should also be thoroughly cooked.


1. Write a title in English which best summarises the text and justify your answer in order to demonstrate that you have understood the global meaning of the text. ( 25-40 words ) ( 1.5 points )

2. Explain in English the meaning of the following expressions as used in the text. ( 1.5 points: 0,75 each )

a) Migrating birds
b) concern

3. Complete the second sentence of each pair so that it has the same meaning as the first one. ( 2 points: 1 point each )

a) Humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds
The disease…

b) The World Health Organization said: “Don’t eat underdone chicken or eggs"

The World Health Organization recommended …

4. Answer the following questions in your own words. The information must be taken from the text. ( 2 points: 1 point each)

a) What would be the consequence if avian flu passed from person to person?

b) Can we continue eating chicken?

5. There is a high possibility of a bird flu pandemic but we don’t have the certainty of this to happen. What do you think authorities should do to prevent it? ( about 100 words) (3 points)

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