FAST-FOOD STRIKES

AMERICA
Thousands of fast-food workers held a 24-hour strike in cities across the US to demand thtat the minimum wage be raised to $15 an hour. The current minimum wage, set in 2009, is $7,25 and hour. The action came a day after Barack Obama declared that income equality was "the defining challenge of our time". Fast-food staff, he said, "work their tails off and are still living at or barely above poverty."

Space balloon

Mojave desert, New Mexico

A US firm plans to take eight people to the edge of space inside a gondola attached to a helium balloon. Tickets have gone on sale for an eight-hour flight taking off from Richard Branson's spaceport in the Mojave desert in 2016.
AT maximum cruising height of 31 km, passengers will be alble to see the Earth's curvature and even beam back "selfies" thanks to the on-board wi-fi. Price: $75,000

MAGMA MIA!

Yellowstone, Wyoming

A supervolcano under Yellowstone national park is 2,5 times bigger than previously thought and could be "catastrophic" for the planet if it were to erupt. With a 90 km-long magma chamber, geologists say it could produce an ah cloud that would make two-thirds of the Us uninhabitable. Luckily, scientists say no eruption is imminent, but they will be keeping a close eye on it!

GLADIATOR

The history take place in Rome in 180AD. 

Emperor Marcus Aurielos wanted that general Maximus, to become emperor before his son. Marcus Aurelius soon became angry about that and he decided to kill his father. 

Then Commodous became the emperor and he putt his rules. Maximous manages to escape because if he stayed there in Rome, Commodous prepared his execution. Then he decided to return home in Spain, but he finds his son and wife already dead when he arrived. Then Proximo bought Maximus as a gladiator. He started at small places to fight but then Proximo explains Maximus that if he wanted to be free he must won his freedom in Rome. Maximus accept and then he went to rome. He only think that when he won his freedom he would kill the emperor. And then he started to fight and he wins all the fights. Then he fought against the emperor and the emperor died first. After the fight Maximus also died.

THE BOAT RACE

Every year, members of England's top universities, Oxford and Cambridge, participate in this famous boat race on the River Thames. And 2014 is special year: it's the 160th Boat Race. The tradition started in 1829: its's one of the oldest sporting events in the world.

7 ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE

A Happy Ending

This time last year, things weren't going too well for me. One of my friends was moving to the USA and I also had a big argument with my cousin. Friends invited me out, but I didn't really want to see them. I spent a lot of time training roller skating.

Everything changed for me the day I saw a programme about the professional girl, who thought roller skating in Barcelona. I became much more optimistic and enthusiastic. My friends made me realize that I should be a bit more positive. I found out that sportsters in my town were training with a professional girl too, so I started to go there.

These days, I feel much happier. I feel more sociable and useful. If I hadn't seen the programme, I have never had the opportunity.

6 AN OPINION ESSAY

Changing laws

The government plans to introduce a new law in our country to introduce school on Saturday mornings in order to improve the level of education. In my view, this would have some negative consequences.

In first place, I belive that the weekends its the part of the week to relax and do everything that you want. So if this law is introduced, I have no doubt that a lot of students will be angry. I also think that this would descriminate students, who aren't all bad and take bad grades.

If the aim of government is to improve the level of education, it seems to me that there's a better alternative: if they spent more money on better schools and institutes, education in our country would be better.

5 ABOUT ME AND MY VIEW OF THE WORLD

Spending my time...
My name is Pau guilana and I'm a student in Escola Casa Nostra in Banyoles. I'm interested in music and sports. Some of my friends are into sports too. The people who I spend most time with are my mate Bernat and my cousin Quim. The thing which I like best is sitting in the park on a sunny day.

I don't think that the world is a bad place, although I think we could improve it if we shared things more with each other. There aren't many things that ennoys me, but one thing that make me angry is when people are rude or ignorant.

As far as the future is converned, it sometimes depress me that we won't have peace. I find it a bit frightening that there's always a war somewhere in the world. I'm rairly optimistic about my own future though. In a few years' time, I see myself travelling around the world with a famous football club.

3 PLANS FOR A VISIT

Hi, Veronica
I'm just writing to check that everything's OK for your visit.
I think you'll like Banyoles. On Monday afternoon, we're doing a bus tour with my parents because they really want to show you the city. We'll be free in the night, so we'll probaby meet some of my friends, and we could either walk around the town or go to a museum. It's up to you. I expect we'll end up in one of the cafés in the sopping centre.
On Tuesday, we could get a bus or train somewhere. There are some typical Catalan villages around here, like Serinyà and Besalú. There isn't much to do in them, but they're very pretty places. I'll get some photos and you can have a look.
We're going to meet you at the railway station tomorrow, so can you remind me what time your train gets in?

Looking forward to seeing you.