Parque de Lisboa News 7.

Parque de Lisboa News 7

Welcome to our seventh news program. Today we will speak about tobacco price increased, Winter Olympics tragedy and our literary recommendation. And we begin our new weekly game in which you will have to answer a question and leave your answer in the comments for this post. But first,

TOBACCO PRICE'S INCREASE.

My talk is going to be about tobacco and the increase in its price. First of all, the Government thinks that if they increase the price of tobacco we can go out of crisis, because the Government catches 50% of the money from there. Secondly I think they must do other things because people who smoke can't buy tobacco so frequently. Then income goes down. In my opinion they must do other things for going out of crisis (by Nicolas Kireyev).

WINTER OLYMPICS TRAGEDY AND WHAT LUGE IS.

Last Friday, Nodar Kumaritashvili died in Vancouver when he was racing at 150 km/h in a luge race. Doctors did all they could to make Nodar back to life, but they couldn't do anything because he died in the same instant when he crashed against a column. Nodar was from Georgia and he was 21 years old. Nodar was the 44th in the world and he is the first dead in 18 years in Winter Olympic Games. The next day after his death all Vancouver observed a moment of silence in his memory. Furthermore, every important person, like Jacques Rogge, the president of IOC, sent their condolences to Nodar's family and friends.

Luge consists in a sledge made of metal with rollers in the lowest part of the sledge. There aren't brakes in the sledge and you must drive it changing the position of your weight. The driver goes with his feet forward and the head backwards. There are weight limits in the sledge, it must be 23 kg, and the person has another weight limit. IOC puts a limit because everyone must have the same opportunities when he is racing. Luge is a very limited sport because it needs a lot of expensive installations and only a few countries can afford it (by Alejandro Montero).

LITERARY RECOMMENDATION: THE LONG WALK.

How long could you keep runnning over 6 km/h? How long could you keep runnning over 6 km/h...if your life was at stake? This is the plot of this week's book. Written by Stepehen King, The Long Walk deals with a contest where, if you win, you can ask for whatever you want for the rest of your life, but if you lose... you'll be wacked-you'll be shot by the soldiers. The soldiers are going to follow you day and night and they aren't going to hesitate to shoot you. The competitors are 100 teens who are attracted by the prize, 99 will die, just one will survive. How can they allow this type of contest? Very easy to answer: who leads this contest, the Major, is who leads the country. How can they watch this type of contest (there are billions of viewers)? Oh, you can imagine: if nowadays we watch contests like Big Brother, why can´t they watch things like that within 40 years? Ah! It's a Stephen King's book so, beside having sociological issues, it has a bit of terror and suspense too. Be a good boy (or girl) and read it, it's interesting (by Álvaro Bravo).
Finally, today's question is: "What's the name of the Spanish Prime Minister?" Leave your answers as a comment to this entry. Thank you, we'll meet again next week.