Exámenes inglés resueltos

100 Candles - PAU Andalucía 2015

>Exámenes selectividad inglés resueltos Andalucía

Receiving a birthday telegram from the Queen is a special event, but it is becoming more common all the time. Today, around 10,000 people in the UK are centenarians, or people aged one hundred years or older. A future monarch will be very busy penning birthday congratulations because the prediction is that by 2050, there will be a quarter of a million centenarians.

We know there are certain places in the world where many people already live to one hundred and beyond. They retain good health into very old age with lower rates of heart disease, cancer and dementia. Some famous examples include Okinawa and Sicily.

Why does this happen, and how can we increase our chances of a long and healthy life? Dr Lynne Corner, a researcher in ageing at Newcastle University has informed about the latest clues that scientists have found.

First of all, it may help to have the right genes. But the potential to live a long life is a complicated mix of genes and other factors that keep us healthier. We can't control our inherited traits, but we can all still benefit from adopting some of the habits and lifestyles for a healthy older age. For example, it helps to follow the so-called Mediterranean diet, which is high in fruit and vegetables. It is low in fat and salt and includes only modest amounts of meat. In the places mentioned above, everyone also stays active, even in very old age. They walk, dance and tend gardens, with daily exercise outdoors in the fresh air. And it also helps to live in very sociable communities, where families and friendship are an important part of everyday life.

Halloween in Hollywood - PAU Andalucía 2001

Poltergeist  by Steven Spielberg, Universal Studios 1982

All Hallows Eve is the night when witches and fairies traditionally dance in the moonlight, and when old superstitions come to the surface. But Halloween is also the night when television and cinema screens serve thrillers and horrors, a new tradition of demons, vampires and ghosts.
A sinister legend circulates Hollywood that these subjects, even on film, can be dangerous. The Poltergeist trilogy tells a terrifying tale of how the Freeling family is tormented by a group of demons which try to possess their five-year-old daughter, and in the process destroy their house. In Poltergeist II the demons return to the Freelings’ new home, and they turn for help to Taylor, a native Indian medicine man, or “shaman.”
During the filming., there were strange happenings. For instance, one of the actors would regularly return home and find the pictures on the walls had been moved. Another one died very young, after a long battle with stomach cancer. Finally, the actor who played Taylor, a shaman in real life too, exorcised the studio. When the shooting was over, the director said with relief: “I am convinced that the presence of a shaman on this film saved us all from tragedy.” However, the shaman himself died before the film was even released.

A talent for spying - EOI Islas Baleares inglés C2 resuelto

The publication of the history of MI6 reveals the British gift for espionage. The concept of an authorised history of a secret agency, which did not officially exist until 1992, is slippery, to say the least. The publication of Professor Keith Jeffery’s MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909 – 1949, is notable for the very fact of its existence as well as the secrets that it reveals. It also invites a much broader question. Why is British identity so bound up with espionage and subterfuge? Have the British made unusually good spies, and if so, do they continue to do so in today’s very different diplomatic environment?
MI6 began with a mistake. ―We went to the office and remained there all day but saw no one, nor was there anything to do‖. That was the verdict of Mansfield Cumming in 1909 after his first day at work as head of the foreign section of the new Secret Service Bureau, the agency that later became the Secret Intelligence Service (or MI6). For once there was simple explanation: Cumming had accidentally started work a week early.
That inauspicious start quickly gave way to serious victories. La Dame Blanche, the most successful intelligence network of the First World War, orchestrated 880 men and women working behind enemy lines. During the operation to penetrate occupied France and Germany in the Second World War, an agent’s average life expectancy was three weeks. An incalculable debt is owed to the bravery of those men and women.
But even armed with the evidence of this book, taking measure of MI6 is unusually difficult. First, although MI6 has opened up in recent years (it now has a more conventional recruitment process than the donnish tap on the shoulder) it remains much more secretive than its sister agency MI5. Second, Mr Jeffrey’s evidence covers only 1909- 1949 – perhaps because it stops just short of the most embarrassing era in MI6’s history. In 1951, a Cambridge spy ring was exposed, in which double agents such as Kim Philby had betrayed British state secrets in the service of the Soviet Union.
That MI6 was once so dominated by Oxbridge and the public schools exposes both the genius and the fault line in British intelligence. The British class and education system, by honing the ability to hide real feelings beneath charm and polish, made for natural spies. Charm, in Evelyn Waugh’s phrase, ―is the English disease‖. But the ability to say one thing while feeling another has practical benefits. ―For the British it could be said that the inclination to deceive is already available as a natural asset,‖ concluded one American intelligence chief. Indeed, the United States did not even have a secret service until 1942.
In recent decades, MI6 has been accused of being slow to adapt. The absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq undeniably tarnished its reputation. And MI6 was influenced by America’s overreliance on high-tech intercepts, rather than face-to-face human intelligence. But 9/11 showed that high-tech systems can only augment traditional intelligence, never replace it.
MI6 has continued to punch above its weight. Oleg Gordievsky’s defection was a Cold War triumph. And Libya’s decision to abandon its nuclear programme in 2003 owed much to MI6’s relationships, its agents’ ability to persuade. When it comes to human intelligence, it remains the case that nobody does it better. 

Adapted from The Times, August 2010.

The decline in home cooking - EOI Extremadura inglés B2 resuelto

Image: Daragh Mc Sweeney

Once they were upheld as the paragons of feminine genius in the kitchen, but all that remains now of Les Mères de Lyon —the famous 20th-century French mother cooks— are their names. Mère Brazier may be written above the door of the restaurant at No. 12, Rue Royale in France's second major city, but there's a male chef in Eugenie Brazier's former kitchen. Mère Lea's stove at La Voûte (Chez Léa) is today tended by chef Philippe Rabatel and the restaurants of those equally renown priestesses, Mère Paulette Castaing and Marie Bourgeois, were long ago taken over by male chefs, who work very differently to their female forebears.

These bistros, or porte-pots as they were known, originated as places where the Lyon white-collar work force could stop and eat perfectly cooked, comforting, motherly food made from seasonal, often inexpensive ingredients.

Les Mères often worked with only one assistant, and their short menus and practical techniques are in marked contrast to the technique heavy "haute cuisine" prepared by brigades of male chefs today.

The decline in French home cooking—specifically the nurturing, bourgeois home cooking for which French women have always been admired-- joins a trend that has affected all major European nations as their societies and economic structures changed post World War II.

Home cooking is in decline in Southern Europe as it is in the northern and Nordic countries, yet in each there are variables in the style of change. It is happening faster in certain countries—such as the U.K., where total industrialization was complete in the 19th century—than others.

Analyzing the decline across these nations is mainly a matter of reading the figures for sales of convenience and fast food, and collecting statistics that mark change in attitude and trend. Market-research firm Euromonitor carried out a comprehensive study of changing habits across Europe from 2000–2007. It found that among large, less affluent populations in European countries, the take up of fast food and convenience food is increasing. The researcher's latest figures this year for sales of packaged food in the U.K., France, Italy, Denmark and Germany, for example, show an average increase of 15% in consumption.

But there is a parallel story of a much smaller number of wealthier women and men in the same countries becoming increasingly concerned about their health, trying organic and cooking fresh foods from scratch. When this group buys convenience food, they tend to buy the healthier, often natural or organic, option.

You cannot pin the demise of home cooking in European countries on a single issue. The loss of structured mealtimes can be put down to a number of causes including urbanization and smaller households, but the changing role of women in European society in the past 40 or 50 years is very significant. Exercising their right to equality in the workplace raises the family income and the hardpressed career woman relies more on prepared food or eating out when it comes to feeding her family. Mr. Marquis, an acclaimed chef, believes that aspirational tastes have put good traditional home cooking lower on the agenda in upwardly mobile European families. "In my youth, we had one car and ate very well on a budget supported only by my father's salary," he says. "Now everyone wants three cars, Apple technology and long-haul holidays, so both parents must work. Food becomes less significant," he adds.

There is the added dynamic that women are sometime sole breadwinners.

Their male partners can enthusiastically take up the home-cooking role. Male keenness for cookery remains in the margin of wealthier families, but there is a role reversal that fits with the eminence of chefs in the media and heading up kitchens in the world's "best restaurants."

Controversially, there is the accusation that liberated women (who gave up cooking) inadvertently generated a modern irresponsible food industry. The women that chose not to follow their mother and grandmother's career, left the door open. Had the food companies created a healthy surrogate for all and not just wealthy society—we might not have the fast-food industry and ensuing health problems, such as rising obesity. It is important to note that no feminist would have intended such an outcome, and that other environmental and economical factors have contributed to the problem.

It is not that women in Europe need leave their jobs and go back to housework, but families risk rearing a generation of "kitchen orphans," men and women who have never witnessed their parents cooking. There is no substitute for this; no popular TV chef can replace the effectiveness of the conversation about the right way to prepare a dish between mother and daughter, or indeed father and

son. The talented Les Mères gave up their kitchens to male chefs and their brigades of helpers, worn down by an unequal society that gave them too much work and little assistance, as did millions of stay-at-home mothers throughout Europe. In a culture where gender roles are more evenly balanced, there is a chance to revive the heroic, nurturing motherly food of each nation. It isn't just a sociological need, but an economic one. Mr. Marquis, whose life's work has been to emulate this, says a return to these basics is politically necessary. "In the past there were economic reasons for women getting out of the kitchen; now there is an economic reason for their simple, perfectionist cooking to be restored. This is the culture that is the envy of the world."

From The Wall Street Journal

Slow movement - EOI Canarias inglés B1 resuelto

The Slow Movement began with a protest against the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome that sparked the creation of the Slow Food organization. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, such as Slow Travel, Slow Shopping and Slow Design. A principal characteristic of the Slow Movement is that it is propounded, and its momentum maintained, by individuals that constitute the expanding global community of Slow. Although it has existed in some form since the Industrial Revolution its popularity has grown considerably since the rise of Slow Food and Cittaslow in Europe, with Slow initiatives spreading as far as Australia and Japan.

 

Slow Parenting

Slow parenting encourages parents to plan less for their children, instead allowing them to enjoy their childhood and explore the world at their own pace. It is a response to hyper-parenting and helicopter parenting, the widespread trend for parents to schedule activities and classes after school every day and every weekend, to solve children´s problems, and to buy services from commercial suppliers rather than letting nature take its course. It was described most specifically by Carl Honoré in "Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children From The Culture Of Hyper-Parenting".

 

Slow Travel

Supporters of slow travel argue that all too often the potential pleasure of the journey is lost by too eager anticipation of arrival. Slow travel is a state of mind which allows travellers to engage more fully with communities along their route, often favouring visits to spots enjoyed by local residents rather than merely following guidebooks. As such, slow travel shares some common values with ecotourism. Its supporters and devotees generally look for low-impact travel styles, even to the extent of avoiding flying.

 

Slow Art

Slow art is a developing movement championed by such proponents as Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic and columnist for the New York Times. It supports appreciating an art work in itself as opposed to a rapid, ephemeral state of art common in a chaotic societal setting. One of its central beliefs is that people often search what they already know as opposed to allowing the artist to present a journey or piece in itswhole.

Adapted from www.en.wikipedia.org

Pubs in Derry - EOI Extremadura inglés A2

1- Café Roc 1, College Terrace

Very fashionable pub that is divided into two parts. The best of these two parts is the ground floor with good music like pop or rock. There is a dance floor and also seats and tables. Although it is not one of the cheapest places in Derry, some days it is too busy and it is difficult to move around inside.

Pint price: 2.20 pounds (except special offers)

Anecdotes: The DJ is so nice that you are allowed to choose the music if there are just a few people.

 

2- Sandino's Water Street

It is more similar to a typical Irish pub at least on the ground floor. It is a suitable place to have your drink and talk without hearing loud music. The first floor is like a disco, where the music is louder. This floor is better for dancing.

Pint price: 2.20 pounds

Anecdotes: This pub is full of photos of Che Guevara, Sandino,…

 

3- The Ice Wharf 22, Strand Road

It is not a dancing venue, but it is a comfortable place to have a drink and to talk.

During the day you can also have meals. It is cheap, and also, every night, there are different promotions. The Ice Wharf is a big place and it has comfortable seats.

Opening hours: open during all day

Anecdotes: It has the best toilets in Derry. They are better than the bar itself.

 

4- Sugar Niteclub ( Downeys Bar) 33, Shipquay Street

Opposite the River Inn, Sugar Nightclub is a nice place playing all types of music to suit all tastes. It has two floors, but there is no difference between these ones.

Like most of the places in Derry, there is a dance floor and places to sit.

Anecdotes: One night they played songs by Bob Dylan, Shakira and Barry White in this order.

 

5- The River Inn Shipquay Street

It is the oldest pub in Derry. Good place, good atmosphere, good people, good offers. It has two floors. One of them is the typical Irish pub (the ground floor), the other one is like a club (the subterranean floor).

Pint prices: 2.20 pounds. ☺ 1.00 pound on Sundays and Thursdays

Anecdotes: One of the waiters has no idea about serving drinks. In the ground floor there are only old people.

 

6- Jackie Mullans: 13, Little James Street

Club with three floors with no difference between them. You only can hear disco, dance, techno music, and it is a really expensive place. The pint price is the most expensive one in Derry. It is really strangely decorated, and it is very hot.

Pint price: 3.20 pounds

Anecdotes: There was a horrible lamp decorated with dead fish.

The seats remind one of the TV programme (with Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox, hummmmmmm…) "Friends".

One of the waiters, apart from being really ugly, is really unfriendly and unpleasant.

 

7- Becketts 26-28 Foyle Street

It is an expensive pub without any interest. We have spent lots of nights there, and we are very ashamed about this. Becketts is the place where the biggest Spanish parties took place. The music is awful. Although the DJ is a very good guy.

Anyway, it is a good place to give up drinking and start studying English!

Pint price: 2.20 pounds

Anecdotes: The bouncers are really rude and they shout a lot. It is something very unpleasant for us.

Source: adaptado de un texto que se encuentra en la siguiente dirección: Isabel Pérez

Life in Japan - EOI Extremadura inglés A2 resuelto

1. During the mid-summer, it can be really hot and humid, which can be uncomfortable. Snow falls in part of the country during the mid-winter months. From summer to autumn, there are typhoons (tropical storms) every year. The months of June and July are the "rainy season" in Japan.

2. You usually go into a Japanese home after you take off your shoes. At most offices, you don't take off your shoes to enter, but there are some traditional businesses where you take off your shoes.

3. When you visit someone's house or a public bath, wash your body before you enter the bathtub. Do not wash your body inside the bathtub. Traditionally, in Japan, the hot water in the bathtub is not changed after every person takes a bath. When you finish your bath, leave the hot water in the bathtub.

4. At most Japanese and Chinese restaurants, chopsticks are usually served. If you can't use chopsticks, ask for a knife and fork.

In most restaurants and bars in Japan, you never pay for individual drinks or snacks, one at a time. You simply pay your total bill when you leave the restaurant or bar at the cash register.

5. For most shopping, you usually pay in cash, but nowadays, a limited number of places, such as hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets, accept credit cards.

6. A lot of government offices, banks and post offices are closed on Saturdays, Sundays and National Holidays in Japan, but a lot of department stores, shops and restaurants are open on these days. In Japan, if a National Holiday falls on a Sunday, the next day (Monday) is a holiday. A lot of public offices, banks and schools close for some days in mid-August too, for "Obon" (the Buddhist event), and at the end of the calendar year and the beginning of the new year (especially January 1 to 3).

My last birthday - EOI Extremadura inglés A2

Mathew

I've spent my last few birthdays in Japan - birthdays, along with Christmas, are the times that I miss family and friends back home a little more than usual. Last birthday all my friends were working but I had the day off, so after feeling sad about it all the day before, I went snowboarding for the day.

 

Alan

Last birthday.......I was floating in the Dead Sea in Jordan....;-)!! With about 11 new friends that I met during the trip from Egypt to Jordan!! It was an amazing experience ;-)!!!! I have been living in Dubai for over a year and when you live in the centre of the world you just use every opportunity to explore other countries....;-)!!

 

Jane

I was in San Francisco for my cousin's wedding. We are a big family, so we rented a huge house and all stayed in it together. In the morning I walked from the Golden Gate Bridge to downtown Toyko and back again for a day adventure. Truly one of my favourite cities to visit. When I got home my aunts had bought a huge chocolate cake and I blushed as they all sang to me in the dining room. Good family is an amazing gift.

 

Nikki

Today is my boyfriend's birthday. We are off to the zoo here in Munich when my daughter gets home from school. Then, afterwards, a restaurant in the centre of Munich and a walk around the old town with some ice creams.

Edinburgh cafés - EOI Asturias inglés B1 resuelto

Water of Leith Café Bistro

I visited it on a weekday at lunch time and had fortunately booked a table, as people were being turned away. Despite the place being busy, we did not feel rushed and service was very friendly. I had a good courgette quiche, followed by a delicious pear and almond cake. The café is family friendly and there were some noisy kids. Very friendly greeting both on the phone and when we got there. Nice atmosphere, tasty menu and the food did not let it down. We all really enjoyed our meal. Great to chat to the chef afterwards. Thoroughly recommend this little gem.

The Haven Café

This little gem is not that easy to find as it is on the shore at Newhaven and not actually in Edinburgh but it is well worth the trip out from the city. It is small and cosy and tables were never free for more that a few minutes. It is clearly a favourite with locals and visitors alike. The food is excellent. We had the all day breakfast which is a comprehensive Scottish breakfast which is full of flavour, freshly cooked and made with fresh local ingredients. Particularly of note is the haggis which is the best I have had in a long time. You get a large cup of tea, bigger than in most cafés, with plenty of milk on the table. The girls behind the counter work very hard to ensure a great eating experience. We will definitely be back.

Elephant House

Great little café. Obviously, if you're a big Harry Potter fan, you want to come to where it all started, and that alone is well worth the five-star review. The café itself is not catered specifically to fans (though they do have souvenir mugs and shirts for sale), which is nice, still the same atmosphere as when JK Rowling came here to write, I think. Make sure you check out the toilets if you're a fan, though, and bring your camera and a pen with you. For non-Potter fans, this little café is definitely still worth it. Breakfast was fantastic though a bit pricey. I got the pancakes with bacon, an almond croissant, and some tea. My companions got beans on toast and the full breakfast, respectively, and we all enjoyed our food. It's a nice, quiet atmosphere even for such a now well-known place and we stayed for over an hour. The food sustained us all day, so we ended up not eating "lunch" until almost 4 pm! Make sure you check out the view out the back windows, too, you can see the castle!

Ship on the shore

I went to the Ship on Saturday, and I have to say that I’m very pleased with the choice. The place is wonderful, it's like having dinner in a restaurant of centuries ago, candle light, foggy windows… super. Scallops and mussels are AMAZING, we've also had a paella which was OK - the fish was very good, the rice however, was overcooked. I tried the crumble pie for dessert. Price is expensive, but fair for the things you'll eat; good quality fish is expensive. I'll definitely come back.

Wildfire

This is a very small restaurant, with only about 30 places, and not having booked we were very lucky to get a table for two. We had the fish chowder, a steak and steak pie, and all the food was brilliant. Unfortunately, we could not manage a sweet, but they also looked great. The service was attentive and friendly.

Angels with Bagpipes

Fabulous little bar and restaurant. If we had known about it, we would definitely have eaten here as the food looked fantastic. Recommended by the lady on the bus tour.

From tripadvisor

Bats - EOI Asturias inglés B1 resuelto

Many people fear the small flying animals called bats. There are stories about bats attacking people and drinking human blood. However, bats are not dangerous. In fact, they are an important part of our environment. Bats are mammals, just like humans. There are about one thousand different kinds of bats in the world. Some weigh less than ten grams. Yet the largest bats are almost two meters long when their wings are extended.

Most people think bats are rare. That is because they hide during the day and are active only at night. However, bats can be found in almost every part of the world.

Not all bats spend their days underground in dark caves. Some rest in trees or other places that keep them safe from attack and changes in weather. Unlike other animals, their bodies are designed to hang upside down. This is the best position for them to take flight suddenly.

Bats are the only mammals that can really fly. Their wing structure, bones and muscles help them to move quickly. This helps bats in their search for food.

Most bats eat insects. Bats provide one of the most effective controls on insect populations. A single, small, brown bat can catch more than one thousand insects in just one hour. Twenty million bats live in Bracken Cave in the western American state of Texas. They eat about two hundred tons of insects every night.

Some bats eat fruit. Other bats like to eat pollen on plants. They help to make new plants by spreading pollen from flower to flower.  A few bats eat meat. They catch small frogs, birds or fish.

No report about bats is complete without a discussion of vampire bats. Three kinds of vampire bats feed on blood. They live in parts of Central and South America. These bats feed mainly on the blood of birds, farm animals and wild animals. They rarely attack people. The bats bite their victims and drink the blood, usually while the animal is sleeping. The harm from such bites comes not from the amount of blood lost, but from any resulting infection.

Source: The VOA Special English Science Report

The Houses of Parliament - EOI Islas Baleares inglés A2

To know something about the world of Britain’s politicians, you should explore the Houses of Parliament. They are part of the Palace of Westminster, which stands on the banks of the Thames across the river from the London Eye. At the Northern end of the Palace there’s a clock tower. As soon as they see it, tourists shout “That’s Big Ben!” Actually, Big Ben is only the name of the impressive 13-tonne bell. You should visit the House of Commons’ public gallery, where you can observe debates on weekday afternoons and evenings. Once inside, visitors pass through the octagonal Central Lobby (where the public can meet members of parliament- MPs), and then enter the House itself. The Government and the Opposition sit on green benches divided by a long table and two parallel red lines. MPs mustn’t cross these lines. The debates are often noisy affairs where The Speaker has to control the proceedings: MPs must attract his attention if they want to speak. Sessions begin with open questions and then new laws are considered. The rest of the Palace of Westminster is only open to public tours during the summer, when you can see the Victoria Tower, the Royal Apartments and the spectacular Westminster Hall. This used to hold the law court where famous people like Guy Fawkes were condemned to death: he failed to blow up the House of Commons in 1605, but a German bomb destroyed the chamber in 1941. It was rebuilt to the original design in 1950.

Source: Speak Up

Black Friday - EOI Asturias inglés A2

The day after Thanksgiving has become America's biggest shopping day. Closed all day on Thursday, shopping centres all across the nation open early on Friday. Some of them open at 12:01 Friday morning, while others open at 4 a.m. Some "sleepyhead" shopping centres, like Target this year, don't open their doors on Friday until 6 a.m. From Friday to the day before Christmas, this is the season when businesses make nearly 25 per cent of what they earn in a year. This season puts many businesses "in the black", that is, they make the money they need for the year. Reporters from local TV stations interview people who sleep in tents in front of the shops a day or two before the doors open on Friday. These people patiently wait in queue to get products that are 50 per cent cheaper or more.

"Oh, we have fun," said one of the persons queuing. "We sometimes bring games to play, we watch TV and order lots of pizza, and we often meet interesting people. And, most important of all, we save a lot!" The problem, of course, is that only a very small number of products have big reductions in their prices. Apart from a few big discounts, each shop has other things that are reduced from 10 to 50 per cent, saving shoppers from $10 to $400 per item, and so Americans want to go shopping.

Not all Americans enjoy shopping. Reverend William Graham wants to change Black Friday’s name. "We want to call it Remember Jesus Friday. People should start the season with the right attitude. Christmas has become a Season of Shopping. We want to make it a Season of Giving. And we don't mean giving material things. We mean giving your back, your mind, and your hands. Help an old lady clean up her house. Teach a kid how to read. Visit sick people in the hospital or in nursing homes. Give food to the Red Cross. Celebrate Christmas by remembering Jesus and forgetting Santa Claus."

Adapted from http://www.eslyes.com

Support for domestic violence victims at risk - EOI Extremadura inglés B2 resuelto

New multi-agency schemes are under threat despite their success in helping women and children who have been abused

Tens of thousands of women most at risk of being seriously harmed or even killed by violent partners are not getting access to the help that could save them, domestic violence experts claim.

More than 28,000 adult and 40,000 child victims of domestic abuse were supported by a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (Marac) last year – where agencies join together to help high-risk victims. Many have been raped, strangled and beaten. But they are a fraction of the 120,000 adults and 117,000 children at high risk of severe abuse, according to a new report out tomorrow.

More than 200 multi-agency schemes currently operate nationally – fewer than the 300 that experts estimate are needed. The resulting provision lottery forces some women to wait weeks before they get help.

Diana Barran, the chief executive of Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (Caada), which produced the report, said: "In some areas there are local committed individuals, but other areas don't have those individuals and there is very little in the way of commitment."

She said the death of a child as a consequence of domestic abuse was often the catalyst for more resources being given to Marac teams.

The report warns that the new approach, first piloted in 2007, is being hampered because there is no legislation making Maracs statutory. They are vulnerable to being cut and even closed down, it warns. The future of the service is under threat, with funding due to run out in 2011, according to the charity, whose report calls on the Government to give legal protection to Maracs and to commit £120m in funding.

A national roll-out of the multi-agency approach, with support for the independent domestic violence advisers who play a key role, could save the taxpayer £740m a year, the report argues, by reducing the amount of time and money spent on dealing with repeat victims.

Up to 60 per cent of those helped by Marac report no further violence. And for every £1 spent on the multi-agency approach, at least £6 could be saved in direct costs to the police, health, criminal justice system and children's services.

The report comes amid fears that the economic climate could cause a surge in domestic violence. Although cases have declined recently, partially because of greater efforts by the police and the growth of specialist services, they remain prevalent, said Professor Gene Feder from Bristol University. Professor Feder, who advises health ministers on domestic abuse, added, "It's still incredibly common, and we still have a major problem. When it comes to health consequences it ranks up there with major causes of ill health such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We are entering into years of economic pressure on households, which I think is going to manifest itself in increased violence."

Backing calls for more support for victims, Sandra Horley, the chief executive of Refuge, said: "Only one in four high-risk victims receives support from a Marac at present. That is simply not enough. All women and children experiencing domestic violence must have access to this level of support. It not only makes financial sense; it makes moral sense."

Wiltshire's chief constable, Brian Moore, the lead officer on violence and public protection at the Association of Chief Police Officers, warned: "Engagement in the multiagency process is on a voluntary basis and, as a result, there is inconsistency in attendance and they are not operating to their full potential."

The Government has pledged to ensure Maracs cover all of England and Wales. A Home Office spokesman said: "To ensure every area has a Marac in place and that every relevant statutory agency attends them, the Government can see a case for this change, but it is important that we consult fully on the best way of achieving this. It is our intention to launch a public consultation by the summer 2010."

The stakes could not be higher, said Ms Barran. "I have people ringing me who say, 'I just want you to know this woman would be dead if it hadn't been for the Marac'. This is the single most important advance in dealing with domestic violence since the start of the refuge movement and it would be a travesty to lose it."

The impossible moment of delight - EOI CyL inglés C1 resuelto

A recent survey has examined the well-trodden ground of the relationship between pleasure and money. Many studies have examined this, from any number of starting points, often concluding, in the oldest of old clichés, that money can’t buy you happiness or, in more sophisticated terms, that happiness and pleasure often reside, not in riches in absolute terms, but in being richer than the people who happen to live to your left or your right. Other studies have claimed that comparison with the wealth of others leads to a “set-up for disappointment” and that a good attitude is all that matters.

This most recent study inquired into the wellbeing of 136,000 people worldwide and compared it to levels of income. It found, overall, that feelings of security and general satisfaction did increase with financial status. Money, however, could not lift its possessors to the next level, and was unable to provide enjoyment or pleasure on its own. The survey, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, examined large numbers of people from almost every culture on Earth, and found much the same thing. The stereotype of the rich man who finds life savourless and without pleasure was not invented simply to keep the poor happy with their lot.

Paul Bloom addresses the same issue in his book How Pleasure Works. According to Bloom, at the point when people get the thing they really want, they enter a state of perfect pleasure. Both Bloom’s book and the enormous survey concentrate on status and on the moment of getting possession of something we want. Are we satisfied and filled with pleasure when we get what we want? Bloom, looking at eager consumers, would say ‘yes’; the survey tends to say ‘not necessarily’. In my view, it’s rare that we can actually pin down the specific moment when the feeling of pleasure is at its clearest.

Take the teenager determined to buy the latest must-have gadget, a woman setting out to get a new handbag, or a prosperous businessman who wants to add to his collection of Japanese netsuke. The setting out with the happy intention of spending; the entering of the shop; the examination of the wares; the long decision; the handing over of the money; the moment when the ownership of the goods is transferred; the gloating at home; the moment when the object is displayed to others. All these steps form a process in enjoyment, but almost all of them are redolent with anticipation or with retrospective glee. The moment where bliss is at its peak is over in a flash, and hardly exists at all. Everything else is expectation or memory.

Composers have always known this simple, basic truth: pleasure is half anticipation and half blissful recollection, and hardly at all about the fulfillment of the promise. The great musical statements of ecstasy, such as Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde or Schubert’s first Suleika song, are literally all half crescendo and half languid recall. We look forward to pleasure; we look back on it. The moment of pleasure itself is over in a flash, and often rather questionable.

The hairband and geegaw emporium Claire’s Accessories has a thoughtful, rather philosophical slogan to tempt its young customers. It sells itself under the strapline ‘where getting ready is half the fun’. That is honest and truthful. A group of 14-year-old girls in their party best is nowhere near as successful an enterprise of pleasure as exactly the same girls putting on and trying out and discussing their hopes for the party in advance; not as successful either as talking it over the next day. The party itself, from the beginning of time, has consisted of a lot of standing around and gawping and giggling, and someone crying in the lavatory.

So any notion of fulfilled pleasure which insists on the moment of bliss is doomed to failure. Mr Bloom and the researchers of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology were clearly happiest when undertaking their research, during which time they were looking forward to coming to a conclusion. And now they can sit back and start to say ‘Yes, when I concluded my theory of pleasure and satisfaction…..’ Even for philosophers of pleasure, another ancient and well-handled cliché about travel and life is true: getting there really is half the pleasure.

A woman bullfighter

When Cristina Sanchez told her parents that she wanted to be a bullfighter, they were not to pleased. Her father said that bullfighting was a hard enough world for a man and twice as bad for a woman. “Dad was right”, she explains. You start with the door shut in your face.” Cristina started on the professional circuit only years ago. After outstanding performances in Latin America and Spain earlier this year, Sanchez decided that she was ready to become a professional bullfighter. She is now the first woman in Spain to have reached the top of an all-male profession.
On the day of the fight she eats a light early lunch and rests before dressing for the bullfight. The worst of the job these days, Sanchez says, is the sense that all eyes are expectantly looking at her: “It’s as if I’m walking round carrying a flag which says ‘woman bullfighter’.” She is clear, in any case, that precisel what seems most frightening, facing a 450kg fighting bull, is the best part of her profession: “Once the two of you are out there, it all depends on how good you are your art. The bull doesn’t care what sex you are or how much you’re getting paid.”