Mercado

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Reading 2
BEFORE READING
Discuss these questions with a partner.
a) Have you ever visited a ruin?
b) Are there ruins in your country?
c) Do you know a famous tourist attraction in Honduras?

The ruins of Copan
The ruins of Copan are located in the western part of Honduras, about 60 kilometers from the border with Guatemala.Copan- known as Xukpi to the Maya-was the dominant Mayan city in the south of their territory. Its rich stone sculptures and intricate hieroglyphs make Copan a major attraction along the “Ruta Maya”.
The Mayan culture, one of the most important in America, flourished in the western part of Honduras, leaving behind customs and traditions which can be traced to times long past. Copan was one ofthe three largest cultural centers of the new world.
As one of the greatest treasures of art and architecture in the Americas, Copan is known for it’s a beautiful temples, altars and stelae. The stelae are three to five meters tall and from two to three meters of diameter. Carved in extremely intricate high relief, they are portraits of the greatest leaders in the history of the city. Many areround on one side (the figure side) and flat on the other. The flat sides are laden with hieroglyphs which describe the power, politics and the ideology of the times. Impressive in detail and humbling I size, these unique sculptural monuments make Copan shine among the sites of the Maya ruins and are invaluable to our understanding of this lost civilization.-------------------------------------------------
Reading 3
BEFORE READING
Discuss the following questions with a partner.
a) Do to buy CDs or do you download music from the internet?
b) Do you think CDs will disappear from the market? Why (not)?
The music industry: the future is on –line
The music industry is in crisis. Young listeners prefer to download music from the internet rather than buy original CDs, and themusic labels are cutting both their staff and their rosters, in order to try and find out where all this is leading , we asked an expert whose name is Mark Griffiths.
Griffiths says that technology continues its progress no matter what. The proliferation of file formats such as MP3 files, allowed people, for the first time, to choose the level of quality they want to experience. He says that wehave had a step back in quality, as people are happy to sacrifice some additional quality to achieve a greater lovel of portability through tools like the ¡Pod and MP3 players, which in turn, have replaced cassettes and CD players.
Like many people, Griffiths feels that the Internet, rather than being a threat to the music industry, actually offers great opportunities. You can go to any websiteand, if you can go to any website and, if you have broadband connection, you can listen to an entire song in high quality, similar to CD-quality.
Some analysts have argued the music labels will eventually disappears, but Griffiths feels that they will always have a role to play. Maybe, 15 years from now, the role of the music labels will change. In terms of marketing and promotion expertise, theywill see something that the artists will not necessarily be able to do on their own.

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Reading 4
BEFORE READING
Discuss these questions with a partner.
a) How much electricity do you think you use at home? A lot? A little?
b) How do you think we can reduce the amount of energy (electricity) that we use?
Fight global warming!
Atpresent, the biggest cause of global warming is carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels like oil and coal are burned to produce energy. So, when you save energy, you’re fighting against global warming (and you save money, too). Here are some easy steps you can follow to save energy:
* Turn off your computers, copiers and printers when you are not using them. Monitors use lots of energy, so...