Task 5

Illegal downloading could be reduced considerably if the music industry would lower the money they ask for a CD or a song. Everyone of us has downloaded something without buying it. I do not consider it as theft, mostly because all the artists that I have "robbed" are rich. They get a lot of money from their companies, their business. For example, AC/DC, the famous rock band has been in the music industry for a long time, all the members of the band have a lot of money and I am sure that millions of people have downloaded some of their songs in an illegal way.

Some people say that it doesn't matter that the artist is rich, a theft is a theft no matter how much money the victim has. But I am also sure that there are people out there commiting much more serious crimes. I would BUY a song if the artist needs my money to keep making his music, if he needs economic support to keep developing his art. I have done it, I have also bought merchandise because I want to support them. So, I don't really think that illegal downloading is that bad.

A written summary

 So here we are again. Talking about how important money is in our society. 

The text talks about how companies use traditions as a way to attract us to buy their products.

For example, the story of Saint Valentine. Nowadays very few people know the story about the Saint who wrote a love letter to the woman he loved. People only know that on February 14th they "have" to buy chocolates and flowers to the person they love. So, if you are weird and don't buy flowers to your girlfriend you actually don't love her... isn't it?

Companies and business take advantage of old traditions to make us spend money.

Juan's story

Juan has convinced his parents to let him use the house they have in the country to spend a few days with his friends. It`s a long weekend and Juan and his friends drive to the house to spend their holidays there. The date is 1November, All Saints' Day. Juan and his friend decide to have a Halloween party. They dress up and decorate the house with pictures of skeletons, skulls, ghosts and monsters  to help create the rigth atmosphere. They have also bought beer and other drinks.

It`s late in the evening and it`s getting rather cold and windy. The rain starts coming down. Suddenly the lights go off. Alicia, one of Juan`s friends suggests they can do a ouija session in the dark to have some fun. They all agree with enthusiasm. They set up everything and start doing it. However they weren`t prepared for the events that would happen later in the house and that they would never forget the rest of their lives.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Juan started making questions to the ouija board. "Is there anybody here with us?" "Can  someone hear me?"

But nothing happened. Just silence in the middle of the dark. Suddenly, the planchette (instrument used to mark the letters on the board) began to move and it went directly to the "Yes". Juan and his friends were so scared that they closed the board and wanted to turn the light on again, but none of the switchers worked. 

Alicia noticed that Ana, one of the other teenagers, wasn't in the room anymore. She started to shout: "Ana, where are you? It's not funny, you know?" But Ana didn't responded. 

Then, they heard a noise coming from upstairs. 

They went to the stairs and looked directly to the dark space at the top. Ana's dead body was there, watching them.

Supermarket tricks

Our society is ruled by money. And the companies know it. They try to get you to expend the money you earn each month on their brand. And to achieve that goal, they use manipulation and some other tricks. You may know this, but maybe you don't really know how good they are at hiding those tricks.

For example, supermarkets. They are business that provide food and some other basic products to the population all around the world. Well, they usually have most of the mentioned tricks.
One of the most popular stratagem is to put some of the basic products (milk, bread, water) dispersed all around the shop, so if you want to buy two of them (for example), you must take a very long route and that will make you find some other articles on your way. Maybe you are really thirsty and you want a bottle of water, but in your way you find a delicious bag of chips, so you think about buying it.
So, to sum up, they trick you to make you buy things that you don't really need.

As a conclusion, I would recommend you to be careful when you go into a shop to buy something, because you could easily end up buying stuff that you don't really need.