Examen FP Grado Superior 2014 - Vegetarian UK

Vegetarianism is increasing in the UK. A recent survey estimated that there are over 3 million vegetarians in the UK today. Vegetarians (people who don’t eat meat), and vegans (people who don’t eat or use any animal products) are becoming increasingly common in UK culture. Visit a British supermarket and you will see a wide range of vegetarian products and prepared meals including vegan cheese, vegetarian sausages and burgers.

So why are more and more British people changing to a meat-free diet? Many people do not eat meat or animal products for ethical reasons. They are unhappy about the cruel treatment of the animals and the effects of meat and fish production on the environment. People can also be worried about food safety (for example ‘mad cow disease’). Others change to improve their general health. According to the Vegetarian Society, a meat-free diet could help reduce the risk of certain cancers and the possibility of heart disease, as well as other health problems such as obesity and high blood pressure.

Another rising trend in the UK’s food culture is related to how our food is produced. Many people reject GM (genetically modified) food. They want their food to be organically produced. Organic food is produced in a more 'natural' way. Organic farmers use very few or no chemicals, pesticides or fertilisers. Organic meat is produced without the use of drugs and antibiotics. Although it’s often more expensive, fans of organic food say it tastes much better!

Adapted from: http://esol.britishcouncil.org/magazine/vegetarian-uk

Examen FP Grado Superior 2014 - The world's movie capital is not Hollywood but Bollywood

Bollywood is the nickname given to the Indian film industry. It is a combination of the word Hollywood and theletter “B” from Bombay (now known as Mumbai), a big city in India. Indian movies are becoming more and more popular around the world. Fourteen million Indians go to the movies every day (about 1.4% of the population of 1 billion) to see any of the over 800 films produced in Bollywood each year. That is more than twice the number of films produced in the United States.

Most Bollywood movies follow a similar format. They are three to four hours long. They have dozens of songs and dances with top stars and a hundred choreographed dancers. Between the songs there is a love story without any kissing or sexual contact, lots of action and a happy ending.The stars of Bollywood are very popular and highly paid. Movies are made so fast that actors can be working on four films at the same time.

Bollywood's biggest problem is piracy; not all films make more money than they cost to make, even though they can be seen by millions of people. Another problem is that younger generations sometimes find the stories a bit predictable and boring. Film-makers are trying to solve this by changing the movies to reflect real life stories.

The future looks good for Bollywood. Big US film companies such as Warner Bros and Twentieth Century Fox have opened offices in India. Indian film-makers have found it difficult to compete with Hollywood's special effects and this is seen as the next big area for Bollywood to develop.

Adapted from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/2003/bollywood/ 

and http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/bollywood.htm

Les découvertes scientifiques et les inventions qui changent le monde - FP Grado Superior 2012 - francés A2

À quel âge sont faites les grandes découvertes scientifiques et sont mises au point les inventions qui changent le monde ? C’est la question à laquelle ont tenté de répondre les auteurs d’un article publié par le prestigieux Bureau National de Recherche Économique (NBER) américain. Pour cela, ils ont examiné les moments clés des carrières des grands inventeurs et des scientifiques ayant gagné un prix Nobel au XXème. siècle.

Il ne s’agît donc pas d’une étude produisant de nouvelles données, mais plutôt d’un travail de recoupement et d’analyse permettant d’avoir une vision d’ensemble des nombreuses recherches effectuées sur le lien entre l’âge et le génie scientifique. Le résultat ? La fin de la trentaine est le moment où le génie scientifique a tendance à s’exprimer le plus, ce qui place par exemple Albert Einstein, qui a publié sa théorie de la relativité à 36 ans, dans la moyenne.

Les auteurs de l’étude écrivent : « Contrairement à une idée reçue, la plupart des grandes contributions scientifiques ne sont pas le produit de jeunes précoces, mais arrivent plutôt de manière disproportionnée à un âge mûr. »

En même temps, les découvertes capitales se font ensuite moins nombreuses en vieillissant parce que l’on investit moins dans l’apprentissage à un âge avancé, et parce que le savoir que l’on a devient de moins en moins pertinent.

Enfin, les mêmes auteurs ont trouvé que les personnes qui excellent dans des domaines abstraits comme la physique, ont tendance à être plus jeunes que ceux qui gagnent des prix dans des matières qui requièrent plus de contexte comme l’histoire ou la médecine. Une étude de 1977 avait montré que les prix Nobel de physique avaient en moyenne 36 ans, contre les 41 ans pour ceux de médecine, par exemple.

Grégoire Fleurot. 17/02/2014. slate.fr (Texte adapté)

Examen FP Grado Superior 2014 - Winning at any cost

To be ‘the best’ at any sport means long hours and a lot of effort. The training can be very demanding, and many coaches believe it is best to begin when you are young. But is the physical and mental cost too great? We asked three young sportspeople for their views.

Sixteen-year-old Sonia Martin believes that her swimming training made her ill: 

‘At first, entering national competitions was really enjoyable, because it gave me a real sense of achievement. But my coach, who was always shouting, told me I was fat and lazy. In fact, I practised for hours and I hardly ever ate. One day, I fainted. The doctor who treated me was really sympathetic. She said that instead of being fat, I was actually underweight and over-stressed. I got rid of my coach, and now I just swim for fun. I don't enter competitions any more—I eat normal food and have a normal life. I don’t have any regrets.

Mike Green, seventeen, is a basketball player who thinks that sport is too competitive: 

‘People are only interested in winners! No one cares about how hard you've tried or how passionate you are – if you aren't number one, you're nobody. Success is everything! I know some fifteen-year-olds who have taken illegal drugs like steroids to help them succeed. Often, young players haven't got anyone to talk to and advise them. Sportspeople usually view other sportspeople as rivals. So nobody wants to be friendly- everybody just wants to help themselves.

Brenda Jones, eighteen, worries that child stars are sometimes exploited by their families:

‘I was only twelve when I started training, but my parents wanted me to win trophies and earn money for the family. If I won, they bought glamorous clothes and expensive cars. But if I lost, they were furious, which make me feel dreadful. Once, when I had a painful fall on the ice, my parents shouted at me because I forgot to keep smiling’

So, what can we learn from these three young stars?

All have been very successful in their sports, but ultimately all have paid a high price for it. The long hours, intensive training, and highly competitive atmosphere of professional sports put young athletes under great pressure. Perhaps we should reconsider our attitude to sport. Perhaps winning isn't everything?

La Gaule, 2 millions de sangliers! - PAU 2014 francés Cantabria

Dans de nombreux départements, le nombre de sangliers a littéralement explosé. Jamais la France n’en avait connu autant, plus de 2 millions soit près de quatre fois la somme des prélèvements annuels effectués par les chasseurs (550.000 en 2010-2011 et 522.000 en 2011-2012). Un phénomène qui ne touche plus seulement le monde rural, mais qui s'étend aux grandes agglomérations. D'où des incursions de plus en plus fréquentes de ces animaux dans les parcs, les jardins et même... des magasins. Plus préoccupant encore, ils sont à l'origine de plus de 60 % des quelque 40.000 accidents de la route. Leurs dégâts annuels se chiffrent à plus de 50 millions d'euros. Au point que, depuis 2009, un «plan national de maîtrise du sanglier» a été mis en place pour permettre aux préfets d'organiser des battues administratives et de réguler la prolifération des sangliers.

D’innombrables photos de sangliers font le bonheur de la presse cynégétique mais cependant pour les chasseurs, l'addition est salée. En 2011, ils ont ainsi dû acquitter la somme colossale de 50 millions d'euros, dont 38 millions versés directement aux agriculteurs, pour rembourser les dégâts dans les cultures imputables au grand gibier et plus particulièrement au sanglier. «Mais ce système de remboursement, décidé il y a plus de quarante ans, est-il toujours justifié et d'actualité? se demande le directeur de la rédaction de Plaisirs de la chasse. En effet, de récentes dispositions réglementaires libéralisent la «destruction» des sangliers, en cas de surpopulation, sans faire appel aux chasseurs. Pourquoi donc les chasseurs devraient-ils continuer à payer?»

D’après Cyril Hofstein . Novembre 2012.

Plus on a d’amis sur Facebook, plus on est stressé - PAU 2014

Une étude universitaire montre que les personnes populaires sur le réseau Facebook sont aussi plus anxieuses, car elles doivent gérer leur image auprès de publics très divers. La plupart des étudiants voient le nombre d’amis sur le réseau comme un indice de popularité. Mais cette étude explique que plus on a d’amis plus on ressent du stress.

En multipliant les contacts, on multiplie aussi les horizons auxquels les amis appartiennent. En moyenne, un utilisateur aurait ainsi sept groupes d’amis différents. C’est dans cette diversité que l’anxiété naît. Le stress augmente lorsque les utilisateurs présentent une version d’eux-mêmes inacceptable comme poster des messages insultants ou des photos les montrant en train de boire ou de fumer. De plus avec l’arrivée des parents qui suivraient aujourd’hui l’activité de leur enfant sur le réseau cela se complique. La moitié des employeurs interrogés dans l’étude déclarent avoir déjà renoncé à une embauche de quelqu’un après avoir consulté son profil sur Facebook.

Avant, Facebook était comme une discothèque où les jeunes dansaient, buvaient et flirtaient avec leurs amis. Puis le père, la mère, l’employeur ont débarqué. De sorte que le réseau peut devenir un terrain miné où le moindre faux pas coûte cher socialement.

Une solution simple existe pourtant pour éviter ces situations gênantes. Une solution qui a pour nom «paramètres de confidentialité». Un site américain permet effectivement à ses membres de regrouper les amis par groupe et de choisir quels contenus seront rendus visibles aux différents groupes. Ces quelques minutes d’efforts peuvent épargner les affres du stress!

D’après Quentin Blanc. Décembre 2012.

Ces photos d’ados qui finissent sur des sites porno

Pour être sûr de ne pas vous découvrir sur un site porno, il n'y a qu'une seule solution: refuser d'apparaître dans des photos sexuellement explicites. C'est ce qui ressort de l'étude menée par la fondation Internet Watch.

88% des contenus sexuellement explicites postés par des jeunes sur Internet, en particulier sur les réseaux sociaux, finissent par être récupérés par des sites pornographiques. En toute illégalité bien sûr. Malgré les avertissements répétés de leurs parents, de nombreux jeunes, continuent de se prendre en photo à moitié dénudés. Un phénomène qui touche principalement les filles. Une fois qu'une image a été récupérée par un site pornographique “parasite”, il est trop tard. Même en la retirant du compte Facebook ou du blog, cela ne changera rien.

Les conséquences sont désastreuses sur la santé mentale de ces jeunes. «Je regrettais d'avoir été naïve pour poster des photos de moi sur Internet et j'essayais de l'oublier. Mais des garçons de mon école ont découvert les images et j'ai été harcelée de remarques… J'ai dû être hospitalisée pour une dépression et une tentative de suicide… », témoigne une jeune fille dans l'étude.

La résolution du problème passe par l'éducation. La seule façon d'endiguer ce phénomène est d'y sensibiliser les jeunes, explique un responsable de Childnet visant à protéger les jeunes sur Internet. «Nous avons développé des ressources concrètes, comme des jeux de rôle, afin d'aider les professeurs à entamer un dialogue avec les plus jeunes. Pour les aider à réfléchir aux conséquences de ce qui leur semble souvent de banals jeux érotiques. Or ces images indécentes restent sur Internet ».

D’après Quentin Blanc. Octobre 2012.

The decline of children's right to roam - PAU inglés Cantabria 2014

>Exámenes selectividad inglés Cantabria resueltos

Just one in four primary school pupils are allowed to walk home alone

Primary school children in England have lost much of their freedom to get about without adult supervision over the last four decades, according to a report published today. British children also have far less time to get about alone when compared to German children of the same age.

Ben Watson, research fellow at the Institute, and one of the authors of the report, said: "Independent mobility has been shown to be good for children's wellbeing and development. The experience from Germany shows that this drop is not an inevitable result of modern life. If we care about the future health of our children, action should be taken to enable them to regain the right to a safe outdoor environment without the need for adult supervision."

Campaigning group Sustrans has recently launched a campaign for 'Free Range Kids' to make it easier for children to travel independently, play outdoors and explore their local community, and have the skills and opportunities to do so safely. Chief executive Malcolm Shepherd said: "Parents don't feel that their local streets are safe. We urgently need to make our communities safer if we are to get kids active by walking and cycling to school and playing outdoors. Parents want to see safer streets."

Children were asked whether they were allowed to cross main roads alone, use buses and bicycles without an adult, come home from school alone, travel to other places on their own or with friends, and to go out after dark alone.

Adapted from The Daily Telegraph January 2013

Headmaster who banned mobile phones makes the right call - PAU inglés Cantabria 2014

>Exámenes selectividad inglés Cantabria resueltos

Academic standards at Burnage Media Arts College have soared since pupils were forbidden to use mobile phones. The world, for these youngsters, began not with basic mobiles but with the BlackBerry and the touchscreen. In their lives, face-to-face social contact often takes second place to electronic text, Facebook and Skype. Real life like playing football or simply hanging around with one’s friends is not important in comparison with the virtual.

So it came as something of a shock when, in September of last year, the school’s headmaster, Ian Fenn, banned the use of mobiles by pupils on his premises. They can be brought into school but must be switched off at the gate in the morning and not switched on again until leaving time. Many schools allow the use of phones during break times, but pupils at Burnage who are caught using one must surrender it immediately or face exclusion. Confiscated devices can be recovered only by a parent or other responsible adult.

It seems to have worked in terms of lessening disruption in class, improving learning and reducing cyber bullying. Children are playing football at playtime again and rediscovering face-to-face contact.

Has Mr. F nn considered banning phones altogether at Burnage, given that children once managed perfectly well without them? “They are an extremely effective means of contacting home if someone is stranded or has missed the bus,” he concedes.

Adapted from The Daily Telegraph December 2012

Les baleines pressentent les tsunamis

Alors qu'il observait avec son équipe un groupe de cétacés au large du Sri Lanka, le photographe britannique Andrew Sutton est resté perplexe lorsque les mammifères ont soudainement disparu de son champ de vision. De la baleine bleue au plus petit des dauphins, tous ont fui au moment même où une alerte au tsunami était lancée sur les côtes. Contrairement à leurs observateurs, les cétacés auraient perçu les secousses sismiques sous-marines avant de disparaître.

Les baleines seraient-elles capables de détecter l'arrivée d'un séisme avant l'homme et ses capteurs? L'attitude de ces mammifères marins lors de récents séismes tend à confirmer cette théorie. Un grand nombre de cétacés se sont échoués sur les côtes japonaises et néo-zélandaises l'an passé, peu de temps avant qu'un tremblement de terre ne touche la région. Pourtant, le spécialiste des cétacés Michel André, du laboratoire d'applications bioacoustiques de l'université polytechnique de Catalogne, est sceptique. Pour ce chercheur, le phénomène dont a été témoin l'équipe d'Andrew Sutton n'est pas suffisant pour confirmer les capacités exceptionnelles des gros animaux. Rien ne dit que les animaux ont fui la zone, ils ont peut-être tout simplement échappé à la vigilance des observateurs dit-il.

Son laboratoire est désormais capable de suivre en temps réel l'interaction entre les cétacés et les bruits associés à toute activité humaine ou géologique. Il faudra donc attendre qu'un groupe de cétacés croise une zone touchée par un tsunami pour observer leurs réactions. On sera alors en mesure de déterminer si, à l'avenir, l'homme pourra compter sur les baleines pour anticiper les tsunamis.

D’après Manon Paulic. Novembre 2012

Learning a new foreign language is never easy - PAU inglés 2014

>Exámenes selectividad inglés Cantabria resueltos

Learning a new foreign language is never easy. It is a myth that intelligent people are better at learning languages. Most language learning skills, however, are in fact habits, which can be formed through a bit of discipline and self-awareness.

Just as babies learn to produce language by hearing and parroting sounds, language learners need to practise listening in order to learn. This can reinforce learned vocabulary and structures, and help learners see patterns in language. Listening is the communicative skill that is used most in daily life, yet it can be difficult to practise unless you live in a foreign country.

In language learning, attitude can be a key factor in how a student progresses. Linguists studied attitude in language learning in the 1970s in Quebec, Canada. The study found that Anglophones holding prejudices against French Canadians often did poorly in French language learning, even after studying French for years as a mandatory school subject. On the other hand, learners who are keen about the target culture will be more successful in their language studies.

It does not matter how well a person can write in foreign script, conjugate a verb, or finish a vocabulary test. To learn, improve, and truly use the target language, they need to speak. This is the stage when language students can clam up. In cultures where saving face is a strong social value, EFL teachers often complain that students, despite years of studying English, simply will not speak it. They are too afraid of mispronouncing words in a way that would embarrass them.

Adapted from The Daily Telegraph December 2012

Spanish schoolboy fakes kidnap to avoid parents' evening - PAU 2014

>Exámenes selectividad inglés Cantabria resueltos

Police officer's 11-year-old son, who claimed he was being driven away in the boot of a car, was found hiding in family home. It was both dramatic and creative, but it was also one of the most over-the-top solutions ever invented for avoiding that well-known childhood nightmare, when parents are called in to talk to their teachers.

Early on Monday afternoon the unnamed 11-year-old son of a Spanish police officer stationed in the northwestern town of Xinzo de Limia sent a text message from his mobile phone to tell his father he had been

kidnapped. When his father phoned back, the boy confirmed the worst. He had been snatched off the street as he was putting out the rubbish, he said, and was locked in the boot of a car. He had no idea where his kidnappers were taking him, but knew that the car was a blue Seat.

It was only two hours later that the boy's father noticed the keys to a spare flat owned by the family were missing. The child was soon discovered there and reportedly explained that he had been terrified by the prospect of his parents going to school to speak to his teachers.

"The civil guard attributed the false alarm to a childish prank that had something to do with the boy's situation at school," the local Faro de Vigo newspaper reported. "The child's poor school grades in recent weeks appear to explain a form of behaviour that no one in Xinzo could understand," said the Voz de Galicia newspaper.

Adapted from The Guardian January 2012.

Hollywood’s connections with Nazi Germany - PAU inglés 2014

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos Andalucía

A controversial new book by Harvard scholar Ben Urwand claims that Hollywood movie studios agreed to the demands of the Nazis and even collaborated with them. “The studio executives wanted to preserve business in Germany all through the 1930s,” says the author. “So they invited the Nazi German consul in Los Angeles to their studios and showed him pictures that could be considered potentially offensive to Germany, and they would allow him to make cuts to their pictures.”

The Nazis, according to Urwand, could also prevent movies from being made. He claims a Hollywood film about Hitler was never produced because of Nazi pressure. The film’s original idea came from the great Hollywood screenwriter, Herman Mankiewicz, who also wrote the script for the legendary Citizen Kane – for some, the greatest movie ever made. Mankiewicz had a script about Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. According to Urwand, the Nazi German consul told studio executives that if any studio made this picture, then all of the Hollywood studios would be banned from the German market.

Steven Ross, Professor of History at USC, sees the studios’ alliance with the Nazis as understandable. He claims that studios were primarily business companies and, therefore, although they were run by Jews, they put their business interests before Judaism. “And it all has to be understood in the context of the times,” says historian Thomas Doherty. He observes that in the 1930’s, the Nazis had not become the universal symbol for absolute evil they are today, “so, to condemn producers for negotiating with the Nazis, to my mind, lacks historical perspective.”

Education Mamas - PAU inglés 2014 Andalucía resuelto

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos Andalucía

The first day at primary school is an important event in every child’s life. It can cause the new learner excitement, or it can cause fear. But in education-obsessed Japan, mothers of new pupils also suffer from first-day-nerves. Before the opening of the school year, many read books and magazines to find what to wear to the school’s opening ceremony and what to put into their children’s school bags.

On the first day of school, they accompany their six-year-olds to the opening ceremony in the school hall. Speeches by the headmaster focus on the new pupils’ bright futures. They stress the need to start on the right foot by studying hard and being good citizens. From the beginning until they enter university 12 years later, students will go through a series of examinations.

These exams are almost as much of a trauma for the mothers as they are for the students. The Education Mama is a well-established stereotype in Japan. It applies to those women who push their children to get better and better academic results. Seventy-two per cent of Japanese mothers do not work outside their homes so that they can look after their children.

Their husbands are usually absent during the long work day and the disappearance of extended family units has eliminated the grandmother figure from the home. As a result, many mothers feel isolated and unsure where to turn for advice in raising their children and making them excellent students.

The pressure on the Education Mamas doesn’t stop at educational achievements. Even lunch boxes may become a problem. A poorly presented packed lunch can be enough to provoke bullying by classmates and ridicule by other mothers.

The connected classroom - PAU inglés Andalucía 2014 resuelto

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos Andalucía

Imagine a classroom where everyone uses a smartphone, laptop, tablet, or other devices to search the Web, complete assignments, and help each other solve problems. Students use their devices to record presentations and post the video to a blog. When the students go home, they take their devices with them so they can continue working on projects and contact each other or their teacher. The traditional model of education – one teacher instructing students for a set period of time using a narrow set of resources – is no longer how the real world works. But it is the model that persists today in schools, and it is critical that we transform the current state of education.

Unfortunately, mobile devices are perceived as a distraction, and kids are asked to turn them off. But they can dramatically improve student success by providing access to learning resources. In North Carolina, Project K-Nect began as a pilot programme to discover if smartphones could help students who scored poorly in maths. They learned algebra through their smartphones, which were loaded with educational software and had constant Internet activity. Teachers spent less time on direct instruction, and instead encouraged students to talk and learn from each other. Student results exceeded all expectations, and their grades in maths increased 30%. Students in the programme obtained much better results than their classmates who learned algebra via traditional instruction from the same teacher. Student achievement increased in other subjects as well.

With over 6.3 billion connections globally, wireless technology is now the dominant way people access the Internet. So it isn’t difficult to imagine a day when mobile technologies have a presence in every classroom.

Pour la planète, pour vous . PAU 2014

Exámenes selectividad francés resueltos Andalucía

« Si vous ne le faites pas pour la planète, faites-le pour vous ». Une nouvelle campagne de lutte contre les déchets a été lancée vendredi par le ministre de l'Écologie. S'adressant à la fois aux particuliers, aux entreprises et aux collectivités, cette campagne, organisée par le ministère et par l'Agence de l'environnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie, a été annoncée à l'occasion d'un déplacement du ministre à Rouen. Il a souligné l'importance qu'attachait le gouvernement à la gestion/récupération des déchets. Chaque Français produit en moyenne 590 kilos de déchets par an. La nouvelle campagne veut faire prendre conscience que la prévention et la valorisation des déchets ne sont pas seulement nécessaires pour la protection de l'environnement, mais qu'elles peuvent profiter à chacun, notamment aux entreprises. Pour le grand public, la campagne va chercher à faire baisser le gaspillage alimentaire, qui atteint 20 kilos par habitant et par an. Elle va aussi inciter au réemploi, qui permet d'éviter 850.000 tonnes de déchets, en proposant de donner ou de vendre plutôt que de jeter (« Les bons dons font les bons amis »). En termes économiques, le réemploi et la réutilisation ne sont pas à négliger. Le chiffre d'affaires qui en est retiré est estimé à 1,25 milliard d'euros par an. Au niveau des entreprises, il s'agit de les sensibiliser aux avantages économiques représentés par une meilleure gestion des déchets. Selon une enquête, 90 % des PME1 ne connaissaient pas le coût réel de leurs déchets

AFP publié sur Sciences et Avenir (Texte adapté)

Is the crisis causing an exodus? - PAU +25 inglés Murcia 2014

>Exámenes selectividad Murcia inglés resueltos

What if the crisis exodus caused by the crisis was not quite as massive as we believe? This is the question asked by a recent study from the Elcano Royal Institute. Based on information gathered from the Spanish consulates, the researcher Carmen González Enríquez notes that only two percent of nationals living abroad are Spanish citizens who left because of the crisis. That is just 39.912 people.

But what if the reality were different? This is what Amparo González Ferrer, a sociologist and demographics specialist at the CSIC National Research Council, claims. She says that the number of emigrants who left the country between 2008 and 2012 is close to 700.000.

That Spain is losing population to emigration is unquestionable in the view of data. But how many Spaniards are actually leaving due to the economic situation? There is a debate among the scientific community because of the absence of a statistical mechanism that can quickly and efficiently register the departure of nationals. González Enríquez feels that the concern over emigration is related to the fact that Spanish society “has been exceptionally static over the last few decades”. According to the researcher, staying close to family and friends “has been a priority for the majority”, which would explain the reticence to leave the country. Now, the majority of people leaving are university educated, that is, highly qualified. “For them, being able to go abroad and find a job is the best option.”

Buying properties in Spain - PAU +25 inglés Murcia 2014

>Exámenes selectividad Murcia inglés resueltos

Gone are the days when banks were happy to grant 30-year mortgages, and an extra bit of cash for furniture. Those conditions meant getting indebted for life. But these days, with the crisis still around, seven out of every home purchases in Spain are paid in full. There is an explanation for this: the rise in foreign buyers, who now represent 17 percent of the total, according to figures from the Public Works Ministry.

Niger Salmon is the general director of Girasol Homes, a property finder based in Wales that sells homes in Florida, Spain and Portugal. Their clients, he says, are mostly retired people who have been waiting for prices to go down during the last few years, hoping they could finally afford an apartment by the sea. Girasol Homes has listings in the Valencia Region, Murcia and Andalucia for as little as 50.000 euro. Buyers are mostly British, Dutch, Belgian, French and Russian. These have recently been joined by Algerians, because of the good sea and air connections between Alicante and Oran. “They are mid-to high-class citizens in the liberal professions”, says Brigitte Castaño, a realtor at ReMax in Alicante.

Notary statistics show that it is precisely these coastal areas that have been attracting most of the foreign capital. “Although transactions fell again in the first few months of 2013, there are provinces such as Alicante, Murcia, Tarragona and Almeria where sales have picked up”, says Luis Montes, director general of Grupo Banco Sabadell.

Scientific agreement over global warming

The overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that human-caused climate change is happening. Yet a fringe minority of our populace clings to an irrational rejection of well-established science. This virulent strain of anti-science infects the halls of Congress, the pages of leading newspapers and what we see on TV, leading to the appearance of a debate where none should exist.

In fact, there is broad agreement among climate scientists not only that climate change is real (a survey and a review of the scientific literature published say about 97 percent agree), but that we must respond to the dangers of a warming planet. If one is looking for real differences among mainstream scientists, they can be found on two fronts: the precise implications of those higher temperatures, and which technologies and policies offer the best solution to reducing, on a global scale, the emission of greenhouse gases.

For example, should we go full-bore on nuclear power? Invest in and deploy renewable energy — wind, solar and geothermal — on a huge scale? Price carbon emissions through incentive-based legislation or by imposing a carbon tax? Until the public fully understands the danger of our present trajectory, those debates are likely to continue to fail.

Netflix gain is HBO's loss in subscriber wars

According to a new report from the NPD Group, streaming services have seen a 4% rise in subscribers over the past two years. People can’t get enough Netflix. According to this report, the streaming video service and others like it have been gaining subscribers as premium pay networks like HBO and Showtime have been losing them. The NPD Group, a global information company, says over the past two years, the number of households subscribing to premium networks has fallen by 6%. Online streaming subscriptions, however, have risen by 4%, according to their report.

According to the report, in August 2013, 32% of American households paid for premium networks like HBO or Showtime and 27% subscribed to ondemand digital services. While Netflix is the most widely used service, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime are gaining in popularity. “It’s fair to say … that some of the shift that you’re seeing is probably caused by Netflix,” Russ Crupnick, a senior vice president of the NPD Group told the Los Angeles Times. “Some of this could be caused by the economy. It could be people looking at their cable bills and saying, ‘I can’t afford this.’”