Talking about family Well, what could I really say about my family? I guess mine is not worse and not much better than the average one. Of course, I have a father and a mother and I also have a younger brother. Besides, my niece lives with me at the same house. She is 11 and she is a student. I´ll start with my father because I have less contact with him. Even though he is already retired, he works very much and he is usually out of house talking with his friends and neighbours. He likes to have almost everything running very smoothly at home. No arguments between us. The television set and the stereo not too much loud, and we must to obey when he says something, which is not too often. You might call him as a benevolent dictator: 'doas I say and everything will be okay'. It´s a fact. My Dad, who has a tendence to put on weight, needs a big, hearthy breakfast all mornings. So my Mom is always trying to get him to cut down on his food. Now my mother is quite different. I love her too much, but sometimes she can be exasperating. She has just to run everybody´s life down to the smallest details. She starts to mutter and fuss as soon as she gets up. Since I don´t even like to talk when I first get up I try to do everything to Mom is liking so that there won´t be any arguments. Currently, my brother doesn´t live in my city. When he is at home, he is often slow in the bathdroom and sometimes he doesn´t want to eat anything. So, this is a subject of discussion almost every day. Anyone understand his attitude. Actually, my brother and I don´t get along so well. We have to share a room because we can´t afford a more bigger house. This is the source of problems with my brother. I wish he was more cooperative. I have a very close friend of me. His name is Fernando and his family has six members: his mother, his father, his brother and his two sisters. I suppose he is rich but I don´t know if he does. Like my situation, he doesn´t also get along fine with his brother. Whenever Fernando wants to study, his brother says he need to study or he says he wants to read a book. Fernando´s Dad is a quiet man and he likes to stay at home. He works as a civil engineer in a company quite nearby his house. Fernando´s Mom is a very experencied nurse. She takes care of tons of pacients at a hospital in downtown. She is also the one who goes to shopping when the family needs to get something. I think my family is not the best of the world, but I like it too much because we love each other.

Healthy benefits of stop smoking Here in Brazil, the beginning of the new year is usually a time for new years resolutions. On of them, and maybe the most important, is to stop smoking. Medical studies show as earlier you quit smoking, your body begins to repair itself. In just one no-smoking day, almost all the nicotine is out of the bloodstream. After only a week, your taste and smell senses increase a lot and your lungs remove the mucus more easily. Here are at least three healthy benefits for quit smoking: your breathing will improve, you will be sick less often and you will find your favourite phisical activity much easier. I asked for my mother´s opinion and she said me: " I smoked for around twenty years and nowadays when I look back, I truly believe and understand I would not be a smoker today, and I completely feel how good my health is now". The Brazilian Public Health Service had been provided smokers groups to discuss the matter and help each other. They support in how to stop smoking and how to use some products, like the nicotine replacement therapy. Also, another services are available in some places such as pharmacies and chemist-shops. On the other hand, if you can´t stop smoking, try to remember the times you usually have not smoked in the past. What did you do to not smoke? What and how did you feel? What that past experience could help you give up the cigarettes in the future? Actually, you can use (and save up) your money to get something special for you. It´s a proved fact a person who smokes a packet of twenty cigarettes per day will smoke seventy thousands and three hundreds cigarettes per year. This total represents an annual cost of $ 1825.00 (Brazilian currency), that could be the cost of a very good holiday on the beach, for example. Afterwards, it´s very interesting for you make your own list of reasons for quiting. Put it on the refrigerator, beside your bed, near your cell phone or until inside your car. So, you can always remember them at once you think in taking a new cigarette on hand. Opt for more healthy habits and live better, your lungs thank you.

Opinions and its divergences Have you ever thought about your opinion about certain things around you? I was wondering if everybody in the world had exactly the same opinion about any subject. It´s true that people opine about almost everything: politics, economy, football team, beer marks, relationships and so on. On the other hand, there are other kind of people that don´t like to show their opinions. But I think they should be aware this attitude don´t become them "non-opinion" people. Sometimes we are afraid, for shyness or for a special reason I can´t get it, or maybe because we don´t want to indispose with anyone else. If existes goodness and badness, the white color and the black one, paradise and hell, yes and no, why don´t express our opinion, even if it was divergent to the others? Strong friendships and good relationships have already started this way. We are all intelligent. God certainly gave this virtue for us in order to use it, it has a purpose. So, we must estimate it with wisdom, when necessary, showing our opinion with the right words in the right time, carely, moderately, with solid arguments that support it, but no offense or hurt people. We must learn to respect the different opinions of ours. We need to be sociable with them. And for finishing my opinion: in case your opinion about this subject was different of mine, I´ll respect it.

My yesterday routine - day one Yesterday was a blue day for me because after my mother see her doctor and show him some exams very early, she discovered a mammal cancer and she will have to make a surgery in the future to extract the tumor. My mother went back at home very bad. So, I decided doing all the household tasks. I started with the morning activities. Firstly, I fastly made the beds, cleaned up the bedrooms, fixed the breakfast, swept the floor and in the middle of the morning I prepared the lunch and set the table. We ate our lunch and I did the dishes. For dessert, I had a navel orange and a gooseberry gelatin. In the afternoom I took a nap for half past an hour because I was exhausted. After this, I did the dusting, put the clothes on the washing machine and hunged up them. Later, while I watched a movie on internet with English subtitles, I was having a break. Then, I cut the grass in the garden, made a bread on the bread machine and waxed my father´s car. At night, I shaved, took a shower, got dressed, fastened ( or bound?) my shoes and went to the Spirit Center. I´m an adept from Spiritism. There, I sat down in a pew behind and made a pray for my mother´s health because I was on the rack. After this, I got out of the Spirit Center and I ran into a very close friend of mine and we caught up about an hour in the street and he came along with me to my home, where he slept over. Along the way, I got some flowers and arranged them for my mother. She liked it too much! Later, we ate dinner and played cards. It was 10 p.m. and we didn´t have much to did. So, we hunged around at home for a few hours. I turned the TV on to see the protests against the president Michel Temmer and a new about the production of genetic modified foods here Brazil. This topic was hashed out for the reporter on the news bulletim. Around midnight, I went to bed because my morning routine starts at 5:45 a.m. I had a very busy day but it was very productive.

Do you suffer from allergies? It´s a terrible problem for many people, especially for kids. When I was one, I had insect allergy. So, I saw the doctor that recommended me an anti-allergic medication and it solved my problem. Traditionally, Springers are the allergy seasons. The allergy symptoms can varie from other people to anothers. One of the most common kind of allergy is on the skin. Its symptoms can be: fever, headache, itchiness and until nausea. But there are also nose and eye allergies, allergies for bitten bedbugs and so on. The world should have more specialists (allergists) and more people studying about this subject, because it causes a lot of health problems for people. Can we be allergic to bad habits? What we can do to prevent some kinds of allergies? Specialists said yes. According to them, we must to refresh our houses and keep them very clean, especially rugs, wardrobes, sheets, pillows and cushions. Bad habits can also contribute to develop allergies, like food allergies. Try to avoid eating too much junk food, such as soft drinks, ice-creams, chips, bubble gums, lollipops, etc. And if possible, find out an alternative therapy to treat the allergies instead of taking an amount of medications.

The poverty reduction in Brazil As a good patriot, I still believe in Brazil. Despite the crisis, most brazilians are laying aside some money to renovate their houses. What such good news! In fact, Brazil has the fastly growing economies in the World because the government improve the living conditions, creating the ' Bolsa Família' Program. But, unfortunately, it barely failed to promote the desired outcome. It didn´t still erradicate the poverty in Brazil. On the other hand, for an effective economy grouth, the government should addapt new development strategies in order to solve the economic problems brought about the devaluation of the brazilian real currency. The autorities are trying to play down the seriousnes of the problems in Brazil: the criminality, the lack of jobs, the insecurity on the streets, the education and so on. Brazil aren´t still an affluent country, but I hardly believe it´ll be someday in the future. I´ll looking forward for this happening.

TO CALL BY x TO CALL IN x TO DROP BY (IN/OVER/ROUND) Hello people! The phrasal verbs above are used when you´re going to visit someone informally ( or without invitation), right? So, I´d like to know if they´ve exactly the same meaning and if I´ll be understood, for example, using the UK phrasal verb (TO CALL BY) in the USA instead of using the USA phrasal verb (TO DROP IN) in the UK? Let me give you my own example sentences: TO CALL BY: I thougth I´d CALL BY and see how you guys were. Do you want me to CALL BY tomorrow? I just thought I´d CALL BY on my way into town. TO CALL IN: We´ll try to CALL IN tomorrow evening if we´ve time. She usually CALL IN at her mother´s on Saturday afternoons. I CALLED IN to see Mary last night. TO DROP BY/IN/OVER/ROUND: My aunt DROPPED IN while we were having dinner yesterday. I just DROPPED OVER to see how she was. I´m waiting for explanations.Thank´s :)

SPECIALLY x ESPECIALLY Hi, I have a question: I´ve seen in some English articles the following adverbs used interchangeable. For example: I usually shave, SPECIALLY on weekends AND I usually shave, ESPECIALLY on weekends. Can they both used in these two situations correctly or not? Do they have the same meanings or not? Please, someone explain for me this grammar topic. Thanks a lot :)

COMPUTER IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFES In my free times, I used to make some repairs on my computer, or simply PC (personal computer).It´s kind of a hobby. In fact, I studied Computer Science a very long time ago. Nowadays, computer are part of our daily lifes.They have an expressive effect in almost everything we do.Can you imagine the world without computers? I think it would be a chaos today.Let me try to explain why. When we buy groceries at a supermarket, for example, a computer is used with laser and barcode technology to scan the price of each item and present a total of your bill.Barcoding items such as clothes, food and books require a computer to create the barcode labels and maintain the inventory.Some computers are connected by a mainframe, a kind of a header computer. It keeps safe all the data. Most TV ads and many movies use graphics produced to a computer.In big hospitals, bedside terminals connected to the hospital´s main computer allow doctors to type orders for blood tests and to schedule surgeries. All banks use the computers to look after their customer´s accounters.In labraries, bookshops and universities the PC help us to find the book we want as quickly as possible. So, lets celebrate the computer in our daily lifes.