Alguien que me acolabore THE IF GENERATION
Nowadays, many people have issues with appreciating what they have; it is always the matter of ‘If I were richer…’, ‘If I were younger…’, ‘If I were him…’ etc. I don’t have a problem with the fact that we want more from our lives; what annoys me is the fact that we keep saying what we would do ‘IF’ …
When I was younger, I thought that if my parents had been richer I could have been more fortunate with my life. I was losing my time on thinking that if I had been born in the family of my cousin, I would have enjoyed private tennis lessons, skiing holidays in Austria or expensive, fashionable clothes. What I didn’t take into consideration back then was the fact that I didn’t really like sport, I absolutely hated skiing and expensive clothes often covered the lack of personality. In other words, I was jealous of the things that I didn’t want in reality.
Nowadays I keep finding myself the new ‘ifs’ that can successfully keep me away from being happy. I think that if I had more time, I would start going to the gym; if I had more money, I would eat healthy etc. Result? An overweight 30-year-old woman, always complaining about how difficult life is.
But the problem of ‘ifs’ doesn’t finish here. We tend to overuse the 1st conditional in quite straightforward situations. ‘I’ll visit you if I have time’ usually means ‘I won’t visit you, I’m busy’ or ‘I will lend you the money if I can’ equals: ‘ I will not lend you the money, don’t put me in an uncomfortable situation’. Why do we choose to send confusing messages when we can simply say what we think? We have to be not only politically correct anymore, we must be socially correct too.
Answer Yes or No(Responde de acuerdo a la lectura)
1. Is the author annoyed with the fact that nowadays people don’t appreciate their lives?
Yes/No
2. Does the author regret not being able to train tennis? Yes/No
3. Does the author think that expensive clothes may compensate for an uninteresting character?
Yes/No
4. Is the author physically fit? Yes/No
5. Is the author happy with her life? Yes/No
6. Does the author think that people often say things which they don’t mean? Yes/No
Answer the questions in your own words(responde con tus propias palabras, puedes usar el español)
1. What is the author’s opinion about the way we live today?
2. What does the author criticize in people’s characters?
3. What does the author mean when she says that we must be socially correct?
THE IF GENERATION – VOCABULARY
Match the English words with their equivalents
1. Nowadays a. to make someone angry
2. Issue b. to put or spread something over something
3. Appreciate (v) c. to say that something is wrong or not satisfactory
4. Matter d. to recognize how good someone or something is and to value them
5. Annoy (v) e. to give something to someone for a short period of time, expecting it to be given back
6. To be fortunate f. to continue or repeat an activity over and over again
7. Fashionable g. at the present time, in comparison to the past
8. Cover (v) h. not clear, difficult to understand
9. Keep doing sth (v) i. to be lucky
10. Overweight J. to be the same in value or amount as something else
11. Complain (v) k. a problem that people are thinking and talking about
12. Overuse (v) l. to use something too often or too much
13. Lend (v) m. fat
14. Equal (v) n. a situation or subject that is being dealt with or considered
15. Confusing o. popular at a particular time
Respuestas
Respuesta:
Explicación:
Respuesta:
Hoy en día, muchas personas tienen problemas para apreciar lo que tienen; siempre se trata de "Si fuera más rico ...", "Si fuera más joven ...", "Si fuera él ...", etc. No tengo ningún problema con el hecho de que queremos más de nuestras vidas; lo que me molesta es el hecho de que seguimos diciendo lo que haríamos "SI" ...
Cuando era más joven, pensé que si mis padres hubieran sido más ricos, podría haber sido más afortunado con mi vida. Estaba perdiendo el tiempo pensando que si hubiera nacido en la familia de mi primo, habría disfrutado de clases particulares de tenis, vacaciones de esquí en Austria o ropa cara y de moda. Lo que no tomé en consideración en ese entonces fue el hecho de que realmente no me gustaba el deporte, odiaba absolutamente el esquí y la ropa cara a menudo cubría la falta de personalidad. En otras palabras, estaba celoso de las cosas que en realidad no quería.
Hoy en día sigo encontrando los nuevos "si" que pueden mantenerme alejado de ser feliz. Creo que si tuviera más tiempo, empezaría a ir al gimnasio; si tuviera más dinero, comería sano, etc. ¿Resultado? Una mujer de 30 años con sobrepeso, siempre quejándose de lo difícil que es la vida.
Pero el problema de los "si" no termina aquí. Tendemos a abusar del primer condicional en situaciones bastante sencillas. 'Te visitaré si tengo tiempo' normalmente significa 'no te visitaré, estoy ocupado' o 'te prestaré el dinero si puedo' es igual a: 'no te prestaré el dinero, don 'No me ponga en una situación incómoda'. ¿Por qué elegimos enviar mensajes confusos cuando simplemente podemos decir lo que pensamos? Tenemos que ser ya no solo políticamente correctos, también debemos ser socialmente correctos.
Explicación: