Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The mobile phone as the digital wallet of the future



Is what the video shows feasible?

How would you feel if you could use your mobile phone in this way?

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian gray was a very handsome, confident young man at the age of 19 who had his portrait done by an artist named Basil Hallward, who was also one of his best friends. Basil knew also a person called Lord Henry who was a very cynical man and he was very afraid that Lord Henry could have bad influence on Dorian. Lord Henry approached Dorian and since then they became close friends.
When Dorian saw the portrait he wished that the man in the portrait should be the one who would get old not him. Dorian met a beautiful actress named Sibyl Vane and he fell in love with her. He proposed to her and she was very happy about it.
Then Dorian went to the theater with Lord Henry and Basil to watch Sibyl acting but the only thing they saw was just a horrible actress with a weak voice and unnatural acting. When Dorian Gray asked her what the reason for her bad performance that night was, Sibyl replied that she can’t imitate love in a play now that she knows the real emotion of it. Dorian told Sibyl that she was just ordinary and he left her crying on floor. The day after, Dorian felt very bad for the way he treated Sibyl so he wrote her a letter in order to apologize to her when suddenly Lord Henry appeared and announced to Dorian that Sibyl had committed suicide. Dorian felt bad but Henry’s influence was very strong and Dorian couldn’t fight his personality so he forgot about Sibyl’s death immediately.
Dorian was watching his portrait having an unhappy face all the time and he didn’t like it anymore so he decided to hide it into his old study room. He didn’t want his servants to notice that the portrait is changing so he hired two workmen to do the job. He locked the door and felt safe again.
One night while Dorian was returning  home he met Basil on his way. Basil had to speak with Dorian because all this time Dorian was surrounded by immoral people and he wanted explanations. Dorian was upset with Basil because he continuously asked him questions about his behavior so Dorian went upstairs with him and unlocked the old study room where he was keeping the portrait. Basil was shocked when he realized that the old man in the portrait was actually Dorian and that the wish he had made all these years before, came true. Basil was looking at the portrait and couldn’t believe how evil that was and said to Dorian that he could change. Dorian wanted to change but his life was destroyed since Basil drew his portrait and he thought that Basil introduced him to Lord Henry too, so he felt that Basil was responsible for his horrible life and took the knife from the desk and stabbed Basil in the neck.
Later Dorian called Alan Campbell who was a scientist in order to force him to make the dead body of Basil disappear. And so it was done. Dorian felt relief.
While Dorian was walking on the street, a man caught him and pushed him against the wall. He told Dorian that he was Sibyl’s brother and that he came to kill him. Dorian thought really fast and answered to him that this wasn't possible since he was too young to be Dorian Gray. 18 years had passed since the accident and he looked like a 20-year-old. Sibyl’s brother was convinced. An old woman was watching from an old building and she spoke to James telling him that Dorian Gray escaped and that he lost the opportunity to kill him since she knew that Dorian looked always young without knowing how.
Later on Lord Henry organized a shooting party at Dorian’s country house. Dorian thought that it would be safe for him because James wouldn’t follow him. Suddenly there was a terrible accident and Dorian’s friends realized that they had shot a man instead of a rabbit. Dorian realized that that man was James and he felt relief.
The next week Dorian went to Lord Henry’s house and he confessed to him that he wasn’t happy with his life and that he is not a nice person. Lord Henry told him that he wouldn't change and that it was important for his friends to stay just like he was. Dorian returned at home and he was very nervous, so he decided to look at his portrait considering that it might know his good intentions. He look at the portrait but there wasn’t any change, so he took a knife and stabbed the picture. The servants saw the portrait of the young handsome Dorian Gray and on the floor the dead body of an old man with a very ugly face and evil eyes.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Write a letter nominating one person for the exchange program

Dear Editor,

I am writing in reply to an article in your magazine about an exchange program in Boston. I would like to nominate my brother.

First of all, my brother's name is Antonis Sifakis and he is a 22-year-old university student. He speaks English and German well. Moreover, he likes travelling all around the world in order to become familiar with local traditions and practise his foreigh language skills. All the trips he has made are the main reason I recommend him because they have helped him become very sociable and, thus, he will definitely get on well with other participants. Also, he is very responsible, patient and mature, while he loves sports, as he is mad about cycling and skiing.

In my opinion, this exchange could be of great benefit to him, since he has never been to Boston before and he always wanted to travel there. (not necessary, you talk about the benefits here: Antonis would be a great choice) Antony is also planning to study abroad, which means that such an multicultural experience as the one you offer will allow him to taste the life in a foreign country. In addition, when he gets his degree, he is going to continue his studies on the cultural roots of USA. Afterwards, he will be able to write about it in the blogs he maintains and express his opinions and experiences concerning the program.

All in all, I feel he could really benefit from the experience, and I hope that you will consider my brother when choosing the group. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours,
Manolis Sifakis.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Has anyone been cycling?

Hello Antony and Manolis! Did you go cycling yesterday? Tell me all about it! :-)

Type your answer in the comment box.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

CHOOSE WHICH JOB YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRY (SPEAKING)

Examiner: Hi, I'm your teacher. All students in your class, have the opportunity to get work experience for one week. Choose which job you would like to try.

Student: Hello, nice to meet you. Could you please inform me which jobs are available?

Examiner: Of course! You have to choose to work either as a student lawyer, or as a student advertising assistant.

Student: hmm, that sounds interesting! I wonder what I would have to do during this week.

Examiner: When working as a student lawyer, you will have to help the lawyer to prepare legal arguments. Also you will have to watch some courtcases. On the other hand, working as a student advertising assistant, you will have to think of plenty ideas for advertisements, do the photocopying and attend meetings.

Student: that sounds like a useful experience! but before I choose, could you give me a better idea of what each job is like?

Examiner: Working as a student lawyer, you will have lots of reading and writing, and your office will be placed in the city center. If you choose to work as student advertising assistant, you will have to work in fast-paced manner and again, your office will be located in the city center.

Student: I wonder which job suits me best

Examiner: Let me help you. If you're confident, intelligent and good with words, I think that working as student lawyer suits to you best. If not, and if you are more creative and sociable, then you had better choose to try the possision of the student advertising assistant. Moreover, if you work as student lawyer, you will have to work on interesting cages, you will develop your confidence and you will work long hours. Conversely, working as student advertising assistant will be very exciting, as you will develop you language skills, but the job is very stressful, because of the tight deadlines.

Student: It's just the thing I like and it will help me with my career later on, giving me a better idea of what the jobs is, and providing me with fist-hand knowledge. So, I suppose I would prefer to work as a student advertising assistant, as I am very sociable and creative. Moreover, developing my language skills sounds very interesting. In addition, I believe I will perform better under tight deadlines. On the other hand, working as a student lawyer will be dull for me, because I am not good at copying with a great deal of reading and writing, neither with words. These are the reasonsI would prefer to work as a student advertising assistant.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

What is Halloween and what do its celebrations involve?

According to Historian Nicolas Rogers, folkists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds or the festival of the dead which is linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain (summer’s end), falling on the last day of Autumn . There was also a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernatural worlds were closest and magical things could happen. In order to ward off these spirits, natives were symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.

 Nowadays, Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve, is not celebrated in all countries and regions of the world. This influence has extended to places such as South America, Australia, New Zealand, continental Europe, Japan and other parts of East Asia. Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns , bonfires, apple-bobbing, visiting haunted attractions , playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. The imaginery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of gothic and horror literature such as the novels Frankenstain and Dracula, and classic horror films such as The Mummy.