"I want to tell the factories they make too much pollution. Because of them Xinglong village is sick."

An article and video about pollution in China.

Phrases and vocabulary
breakneck economic growth: incredibly fast economic growth, maybe so fast it will break your neck.
takes its toll on the nation´s health: has a negative effect on the nation´s health
I looked up take its toll because it is a common phrase in English but there is no specific translation in Spanish so click above and have a look.
impoverished: extremely poor
outsourced dirty industry: in this context outsourced means that other countries have sent out (exported) their dirty industries for China to deal with, obviously paying China to do so, but it is the citizens who pay the price.
acrid stench: a really unpleasant strong smell
layer of soot: thick black smoke

Feeding the Chinese Medicine Market

A disturbing picture of a tragic situation unfolding in many parts of Africa.  More than 200, maybe closer to 300 elephants have been slaughtered in Cameroon.  Read the article and the links within the article and find out why locals in the national park don´t mind this happening.

Phrases and vocabulary:

slaughter: matar brutalmente

a smuggler: contrabandista

poaching: caza furtiva

unbridled: desenfrenado

ivory tusk: colmillo de marfil

[hunters] leave trails of dead elephants in the wake of their hunts: tras su caza

groups of ten strong: groups of ten people

Dr Jekyll and Mister Mourinho

They say you either love him or hate him.  I know I don´t feel like that about him  but I can definitely say that he fascinates me.

I have copied an article from El País (a rather long article) about Mourinho. Throughout the article I have highlighted phrases that I think will be useful for a CAE  competition entry where you have to nominate a person to receive a prize or title etc. At the end I have collected them all together to make it easier to remember them and use them. The article isn´t difficult to understand but there will be words you don´t know.  If you are a Real Madrid fan it might be of more interest. However, despite it being a long article, try and read it through obviously making note of the relevant phrases.

Elephants are paying the price for Asian economic success.

Because more Asian people are living in Africa, especially Chinese, there is an increased demand for the sex organs of elephants which in some Asian cultures is considered an aphrodisiac.
A link to another video will shortly follow.

Phrases: 

under severe threat: in great danger, in this case of extinction

dwindling herds:  disminuir (dwindle), manada (of elephants)

a by-product of: in this context, a secondary and sometimes unexpected result
to pay their respects: presentar sus respetos
prompted: instigated

smugglers: contrabandista

Elephant Hunting in Thailand

In 2ºeso we were talking about keeping animals in zoos and words like "poaching" and "in danger of extinction" came up.  Here is an easy article containing these words along with these others.

Phrases:

Elephant tusks are sought: passed of seek, to look for

Baby elephants are poached: to poach is to hunt illegally

A comparison: the longer...... the sooner

logging: cutting trees into logs
pachyderm: animal with thick skin

Spanish advertising regulators say Metro advertisements are misleading

The follow-up story to the Madrid Metro ad campaign.

It is only short so should´t take long to read.

Useful phrases:

Complaints are upheld (the past of uphold): the complaints are said to be valid complaints

Plastered across: an area is covered with, in this case, graffiti

Misleading "subway users could be misled": tending to confuse or be deceptive

Withhold information: to not give all the relevant information, to hold it back.

the watchdog: an organization acting as a protector against illegal practices

New year, new fake partners for China's young singletons with parents to please

Not only Eithiopian girls are under pressure to get married,  Chinese twentysomethings  have resorted to hiring partners to placate impatient parents.

Interesting phrases:

twentysomethings: people in their twenties

go into overdrive: do something with great enthusiasm and determination.

fake: false

matchmaking: to try and put a boy and girl together for marriage

to get hassle from someone:  to be caused trouble 

haggling:  to argue over the price of something in order to reduce it

to vet: to inspect for approval

chores: simple tasks you don´t usually want to do

filial: expected of a son/daughter

reluctant to do something: you don´t really want to do something