Hong Kong is a very modern city with a large

population. Two years ago a famous fun park

was opened just outside the city center. This
place attracts hundreds of visitors each day
and has really helped improve the local
economy in the past year.
Computer games and game consoles have
been popular for decades now and many
households have at least one. However it can
be seen that playing these games causes
social, educational and personal problems of
several kinds both to youngsters and society.
Firstly, youngsters who spend a great deal of
time in front of a monitor are not studying,
playing sport, socializing or learning about
life, which are skills needed in order to
interact with others and succeed in the real
world.
Secondly, studies that the new generation of
young males is actually physically growing
less than previous generations due to lack of

exercise. In addition to this they are more

likely to be overweight and less healthy and
therefore prone to diseases such as
diabetes.
Furthermore, the games themselves are often
quite violent and dangerously sexist. For
example, there are games which show
graphic fighting scenes where the most brutal
is most applauded. Women are shown as
either sexy, but weak or as some kind of
warrior type character.
Violence against women is often part of these
games, which encourages negative opinions
of women. The language tends to be violent
and sexist which further adds to the problems
of lack of interaction and social skills.
It is easy to imagine the effects of such
games on young minds. If we wish children to
grow up to become well-adjusted members of
society, these games should be more tightly
controlled.

Hong kong es una ciudad muy moderna con una gran poblacion. Hace dos aos un famoso parque
de diversiones fue abierto justo en el centro de la iudad.este lugar atrae a cientos de visitants cada
dia y ha realmente ayudado a mejorar la economia local el pasado ao.
Los juegos de computadora y consolas de juego han sido populares por decadas ahora y muchos
hogares tienen al menos una. Sin embargo puede ser visto que jugar estos juegos causa problemas
de varios tipos como sociales, educativos y personals tanto a jovenes y la sociedad.
Primeramente,los jovenes quienes gastan una gran cantidad de tiempo al frente de un monitores
no estan estudiando, practicando deportes, socializando o aprendiendo de la vida, las cuales son
habilidades necesarias para que interactuen con otros y triunfen en el mundo real.
En Segundo lugar, estudios han mostrado que la nueva generacion de jovenes varones estan
fisicamente desarrolandose menos que las anteriores generaciones debido a la falta de ejercicio.
Adicionalmente a esto ellosson mas propensos a estar en sobrepeso y menos saludables y por lo
tanto suceptibles a enfermedades Como la diabetes.
Ademas,

Package holidays, vacations where everything is included, are becoming increasingly popular.
Everything is prepared for you. Once you get to the airport, it is up to the tour guide to see that you
get safely to your destination. On the tour you make friends and have a good time but there is very
little chance that you will get to know the local people. This is even more likely on a bus tour, when
you spend most of your time traveling. Of course, there are carefully planned stops for you to visit
historic buildings and places of interest. You may visit the historic, the beautiful, the ancient but time
is always limited. There is always another disadvantage of having to spend your holiday with a
group of people you have never met before. This means that you can be stuck with a group of
people you have nothing in common with and no shared interests other than the fact that you are
having the same holiday together. Many people do make good friends on package holidays and this
friendship can last for many years with many friends keeping in touch when they return home.

The US software giant Microsoft has broken off licensing talks with four major music companies
over its plans to launch a subscription download service.
It is believed Microsoft had been in negotiations with EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony-BMG about
selling music online for a flat monthly fee.
However, sources told the Wall Street Journal that the talks broke down on Friday because of what
Microsoft considered to be excessively high royalty demands.
The sources said the music labels were seeking royalties of around $6 per user per month believed to be roughly in line with what rivals pay in license fees - according to the Journal.
Microsoft is understood to have been seeking a lower charge in order to undercut competitors in the
emerging music subscription industry.
It already operates a music download service, MSN Music, which claims to offer 1m songs at $0.99
each, but many experts believe flat rate subscription services will become increasingly popular.
Yahoo! charges PC users $4.99 a month for its music subscription service, while Napster costs UK
users 9.95 a month.
Apple's iTunes store currently dominates the online music sector, accounting for more than threequarters of downloads and charging 79p a song in the UK.
In July, Apple announced that more than 500m songs had been downloaded, many for its popular
iPod music players, which are incompatible with rivals' download services.
The royalties sought by music labels have become a major source of friction for download firms.
Last month, Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO, claimed recording companies had demanded that iTunes
raise its prices. Mr. Jobs warned people would revert to illegal downloads if charges increased.

"If the price goes up, people will go back to piracy," he said. "Then everybody loses. If they want to
raise the prices, it just means they're getting a little greedy."
According to the Music Managers Forum, artists receive around 4.5p from every 79p sale on iTunes
- around 6% of revenue - but 35p from physical singles sales, equal to about 12%.
Two weeks ago, the Warner CEO, Edgar Bronfman, suggested download royalties should not be
uniform and said newer material should cost more than back catalogue songs.

The general consensus is that most jobs have become more demanding, with longer hours, and
greater pressures. When pressure builds up, its easy to feel overwhelmed by work and this can
produce feelings of stress. More and more people want to get away from what is called the rat race
of the treadmill, the feeling that work is too competitive, and are looking for lifestyles that are less
stressful. A whole 'stress industry' has grown up, with its stress counselors and stress therapists
giving advice on how to avoid stress and how to lessen its effect. Whatever the truth, people love to
talk about the stress of their work.
Our living and working conditions may put us under stress. Overcrowding in large cities, traffic jams,
competition for jobs, uncertainty about the future, any big change in our lives, may be stressful. If
you have moved house or changed jobs in recent months you are more likely to become ill than if
you haven't.

Valentines Day.
If someone says the words 'Valentine's Day' to you, what springs to mind? Love, romance and
bunny rabbits? Well, lucky you. Because for many of us these two words summon up pervasive
feelings of exclusion, loneliness and frustration.
There's nothing wrong with the idea. That people should declare their feelings to their intended
sweetheart - often for the first time, tentatively, nervously - is surely something to make even the
most cynical heart flutter. But the roots of the Feast of Lupercus, the pagan celebration in which
young men picked out of a hat the names of the girls they would partner for games, dancing and
"other" activities, are a little more salacious.
We shouldn't need Valentine's Day as an impetus to attain the heart of our intended, and nor should
this date be the only one on which we tell our beloved that they are adored. Nevertheless, it is
hammered into us year after year that if we're single or, worse luck, single and don't get any cards,
on February 14, or if we fail to splash out on informing our partner of what they should know
damned well already, then we've failed as human beings.

4.Writing | Please write at least six sentences based on ONE of the topics below.Pay attention to your
grammar, spelling and punctuation. Type your answer in the box on the right. Please note that your text
cannot be longer than 1400 characters.

1. Give an account of what you did at work today.

OR
2. Compare your company or product with two other companies or products.
OR
3. Describe a process at your work, the order in which things are done and why they are done in
this way.