Leti's Castle

Nombre: Leticia Badía Torrente

Edad: 21 años

Carrera: Filología Inglesa, 4º año

E-mail: lele@alumni.uv.es

Writing Folder 12

Option A

Most students suffer from excessive levels of noise which affect their concentration and attention span and in some cases result in migraine, insomnia or stress.

This inconvenient noise pollution usually comes from several of these sources combined: the student’s flatmates inviting other people and throwing parties late at night, neighbours’ loud household appliances or gadgets, and heavy traffic, as most of them live next to busy avenues due to the proximity of tube station entrances.

Some solutions, like the one pertaining to the student’s flatmates, are feasible, while others like the ones related to heavy traffic are not.

Students can talk to their flatmates and reach an agreement that they would not interfere in each other’s study time. The same goes for neighbour’s problems; students can explain their situation and ask them to turn down the volume and agree on an schedule for noisy household appliances. If the problem persists, they should call the police.

As for the heavy traffic, there’s nothing they can do to shut off the nuisance. However, they might be able to lessen the noise by closing the windows that look onto the avenue, or if the weather is too hot they can leave them open and listen to soft background music, preferably classical, that helps them forget about the noise.

Option B

I think that the most useful modern method of communication is instant messaging.

The advantages are many; it’s free, easy to use, and as its own name states, it’s instant! You can talk to anyone in the world who also has a computer with no need to wait for your letter to be delivered and, more important, you don’t need to pay, unlike with short message services, in which you must pay some cents to send a limited number of characters. And speaking about limited number of characters, instant messaging is able to break that barrier! Not only can you type any type of unicode characters, but you can also send predetermined emoticons or make your own, as well as sounds, animations, scripts and other additional useful features such as file sharing or online games.

I can’t really think of many disadvantages. Some would argue that handwritten letters are warmer, but new IM versions allow you to write with your mouse or tablet. The biggest disadvantage would be that, unlike mobile phones, computers are not likely to be carried around, and so IM can’t be used. But do not worry, new mobile phones and Ipods include IM services as default, and even though its use it’s not much spread yet, it’s only a matter of time before everyone uses it!