SIMULADO - NÍVEL BÁSICO

A pet is certainly a great friend. After a difficult day, pet owners quite literally feel the love.

In fact, for nearly 25 years, research has shown that living with pets provides certain health benefits. Pets help lower blood pressure and lessen anxiety. They boost our immunity. They can even help you get dates.

Allergy Fighters: A growing number of studies have suggested that kids growing up in a home with "furred animals" will have less risk of allergies and asthma.

Date Magnets: Dogs are great for making love connections. Forget Internet matchmaking – a dog is a natural conversation starter.

Dogs for the Aged: Walking a dog or just caring for a pet – for elderly people who are able – can provide exercise and companionship.

Good for Mind and Soul: Like any enjoyable activity, playing with a dog can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine – nerve transmitters that are known to have pleasurable and calming properties.

Good for the Heart: Heart attack patients who have pets survive longer than those without, according to several studies.

BOGOF is used as a noun as in ‘There are some great bogofs on at the supermarket’ or an adjective, usually with a word such as ‘offer’ or ‘deal’ — ‘there are some great bogof offers in store’.

When you combine the first letters of the words in a phrase or the name of an organisation, you have an acronym. Acronyms are spoken as a word so NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is not pronounced N-A-T-O. We say NATO. Bogof, when said out loud, is quite comical for a native speaker, as it sounds like an insult, ‘Bog off!’ meaning go away, leave me alone, slightly childish and a little old-fashioned.

BOGOF is the best-known of the supermarket marketing strategies. The concept was first imported from the USA during the 1970s recession, when food prices were very high. It came back into fashion in the late 1990s, led by big supermarket chains trying to gain a competitive advantage over each other. Consumers were attracted by the idea that they could get something for nothing. Who could possibly say ‘no’?

No man is an island,

Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

[...]

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

As my official bio reads, I was made in Cuba, assembled is Spain, and imported to the United States – meaning my mother, seven months pregnant, and the rest of my family arrived as exiles from Cuba to Madrid, where I was born. Less than two months later, we emigrated once more and settled in New York City, then eventually in Miami, where I was raised and educated. Although technically we lived in the United States, the Cuban community was culturally insular in Miami during the 1970s, bonded together by the trauma of exile. What’s more, it seemed that practically everyone was Cuban: my teachers, my classmates, the mechanic, the bus driver. I didn’t grow up feeling different or treated as a minority. The few kids who got picked on in my grade school were the ones with freckles and funny last names like Dawson and O’Neil.

Two hundred years ago, Jane Austen lived in a world where single men boasted vast estates; single ladies were expected to speak several languages, sing and play the piano. In both cases, it was, of course, advantageous if you looked good too. So, how much has – or hasn’t – changed? Dating apps opaquely outline the demands of today’s relationship market; users ruminate long and hard over their choice of pictures and what they write in their biographies to hook in potential lovers, and that’s just your own profile. What do you look for in a future partner’s profile – potential signifiers of a popular personality, a good job, a nice car? These apps are a poignant reminder of the often classist atitudes we still adopt, as well as the financial and aesthetic expectations we demand from potential partners.

A Teen’s View of Social Media

Instagram is made up of all photos and videos. There is the home page that showcases the posts from people you follow, an explore tab which offers posts from accounts all over the world, and your own page, with a notification tab to show who likes and comments on your posts. It has some downsides though. It is known to make many people feel insecure or down about themselves because the platform showcases the highlights of everyone’s lives, while rarely showing the negatives. This can make one feel like their life is not going as well as others, contributing to the growing rates of anxiety or depression in many teens today. There is an underlying desire for acceptance through the number of likes or followers one has.

Becoming

Back in the ancestral homeland of Michelle Obama, black women were rarely granted the honorific Miss or Mrs., but were addressed by their first name, or simply as gal” or “auntie” or worse. This so openly demeaned them that many black women, long after they had left the South, refused to answer if called by their first name. A mother and father in 1970s Texas named their newborn “Miss” so that white people would have no choice but to address their daughter by that title. Black women were meant for the field or the kitchen, or for use as they saw fit. They were, by definition, not ladies. The very idea of a black woman as first lady of the land, well, that would have been unthinkable.

A Minor Bird

I have wished a bird would fly away,

And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door

When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.

The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong

In wanting to silence any song.

Quotes Of The Day

Friday, Sep. 02, 2011

“There probably was a shortage of not just respect and boundaries but also love. But you do need, when they cross the line and break the law, to be very tough.” British Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON, arguing that those involved in the recent riots in England need “tough love” as he vows to “get to grips” with the country’s problem families.

Children

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy. If children live with tolerance, they learn patience. If children live with praise, they learn appreciation. If children live with acceptance, they learn to love. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal. If children live with sharing, they learn generosity. If children live with fairness, they learn justice. If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect. If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.