"Without a scholarship, I can not afford my studies"? Hello! I'm writing a letter of motivation to a university scholarship. I want to write the phrase: "Without a scholarship, I can not afford my studies.", but I don't know if it's the best way to say it. Can you help me?

University professors as television celebrities - Is it possible? Nowadays, professors are being frequently invited to participate on television programs. The text discuss about the advantages for the professor, university and public through this participation, but during the lecture, the professor explain why she disagrees with it. First, when professors appear on television, they will not be seen as a serious professional inside the academic community, once he or she is on television, maybe in a funny environment, and it is not good for their reputation. In consequence of this, they will receive less invitations to conferences, academic discussions and they will receive less money to their research. Second, this is not positive for the university. Instead of bringing some publicity to the university, the professor will have less time for meeting with students and doing research, for example, because when they go to the television, they will spend time traveling to the interview, preparing their presentation and everything that is related to their appearances. Finally, although the television viewers will have contact with academic topics, this kind of public is not really interested in this environment. Instead, they want to watch something easy and fun. So they can have the same information through normal reporters. As we can see, professors appearances on television may not be such a good thing to the professor, university and public.

Young people enjoy life more than older people do? I think elderly people can enjoy life as much as young people do. There is a couple of reasons for this belief and I will detail this in the next paragraphs. First, there is a common false belief that elderly people are too old to start learning new things, such as a foreign language, how to play a musical instrument or even applying for a graduation course. But it is untrue, since an elderly people are capable and they can get enough motivation to do it as well as a young adult. As an example, one of the biggest linguists nowadays, Steven Koffmann, is 70 years old. He is fluent in about 17 different languages and he does not think about stop doing it because of his age. Despite the fact that a lot of people think that elderly people can't start a new family if they were not able to find a partner, there are people outside to show that is completely wrong. Men and women can find love in any age. My grandmother, for example, is 85 years old and she has a boyfriend. They are so in love with each other and there are people that think they are looking like teenagers, just because for them everything is like it is the first time. They even think to adopt a baby next year and start a new happy family. Finally, because of the retirement, elderly people have more time to do things such as travelling. We usually think they cannot do it because they are not strong or healthy to travel, which is not right. Of course, for some elderly people it is hard to move around like a 20-year-old, but they can choose places to visit that is more attractive to them, maybe it can be a resort - it depends of the person. The parents of a friend of mine are from the Netherlands and now they are retired, they are travelling to different countries by the sea, with their boat, for one year. It is an incredible adventure that they planned there whole life and now it is the right moment, because they have time enough to do it. As we can see, life doesn't need to be boring when you are elderly. On the contrary - life can be extremely excited and happy, more than ever.

How flights can affect our emotions Despite the amazing airplanes technology nowadays, a long 12-hours flight is still a cause for changes in our brains and consequently in ours emotions. Through interviews with passengers, is a true that this condition makes people be more likely to cry, for example watching a movie during the flight. It's happens for a couple of reasons: homesickness, sadness at saying "goodbye" to people you love or happiness about the trip that you're going to do. Furthermore, researchers find that the increasement of the air pressure and the lowest level of humidity, also can affect our emotions. Because of this two changes, the blood's oxygen decrease in about 6 to 25%. It brings changes in our memory, being difficult to perform activities such as calculations and making decisions. This is not a problem for health people, but for elderly and people who have breathing difficults can be a challenge. So be prepared for your next trip, but to try to relax and enjoy your flight.

The world's largest all-glass underwater restaurant Based on a luxury resort, called Hurawalhi Island Resort in the Maldives' Lhaviyani Atoll, there is the world's largest all-glass underwater restaurant: 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, opened in 2016. The restaurant is named like this because is located exactly 5.8 meters below the seashore. Headed by the German chef Bjoern van den Oever, who created a seven courses special dinner, that meets with the incredible view of the marine life. While you may eat a seafood dish, as a scallop served with apricot and almond vinaigrette, you can see a variety of corals, eels, sharks or - if you are lucky - an octopus. The natural landscape was idealized by the dive instructor Paige Bennett. Her idea was to show the marine life from Maldives. For this purpose, she selected some corals who attracts certain types of fish. Today she is surprise with the variety of aquatic animals who chose to live close to the restaurant. More than attracting fishs, the construction of the restaurant was also a big challenge. The restaurant's glass was manufactured in New Zealand and is 15 centimeters thick. The process of set up it required two years in total. This restaurant receives clients especially from the resort, but it is allowed clients from the resorts around. Children is not accept, because it is an adult-only resort. Despite this fact, visiting the 5.8 Undersea Restaurant is an unforgettable experience - either to the eyes and to the stomach. (This is a summary written by me from this article: http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/hurawalhi-5-8-underwater-restaurant/index.html)

A decision for young adults: living with parents or starting an independent life? The majority of people live with their parents during their childhood and adolescence. When they reach adulthood, a decision must be made: Should I stay living with my parents or should I start to live an independent life? In my opinion, it is better to start your indepent life as soon as possible for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when you live by yourself, you will face a lot of issues that might you never thought about. As an example, when I started to live on my own, I realized that I must be so much well-organized in relation of doing groceries, buying food and paying the bills. It seems simple, but when you have to do it alone, you have to organize yourself to not be surprise when it's missing basic things, such as toilet paper or some snack to eat during the evening. Maybe you could come home and be surprised because you forgot to pay the bill and now you don't have hot water or internet to use after a long day of work. Secondly, as soon as you decide for an independent life, you will start buying important material things (or at least you will start thinking about it), such as a house or/and a car, things that you will have for your entire life or for a lot of years ahead. It is essencial, because when you live with your parents, probably you will not think or plan about this kind of thing. Finally, when you live on your own, almost everything will be a challenge - and it is excellent! Because you will grow in different aspects of your personal and professional life. You will learn how to deal with life as an adult. In the beginning, with small things as I said about the toilet paper, but soon you will laught about such small problems. You will learn to see life in different aspects and build your own way. It will be an everyday lesson about maturity and adulthood.

Altruism versus Selfishness The text and the lecture talks about altruism and how it works with animals or humans. The text defends the point of the sacrifice that the altruistic member does for their group, but during the lecture, the professor made some opposite points based in new studies. Following the example of the text, a group of researchers observed groups of meerkat, which is a kind of mammal living in Africa. They concluded that one member of the group stayed in guard while the others members was looking for food, as an example of an altruistic action. But the professor said this member who guard the group ate before standing in guard. Secondly, as the guard is the first to see a predator, like a hawk, it can be the first of the group to scape and consenquently survive. Also, the new studies concluded that looking for food is more dangerous that staying in guard. When the meerkat in guard gives an alarm to the other meerkats, it can be a distract element for the predator, who focus on the group who is looking for food, not on the guard. So they have their own chances to scape and survivor. Finally, the professor compared it with human altruism with the follow example: an rich man, who donates everything that he has for other people, could not have his money anymore, but he will obtain another benefits from other people, as appreciation and admiration, which is not material, but can be so important as material things for this person. As we can see, altruism is not totally opposite of selfishness. Although one animal or human seems to be doing a sacrifice for their group, it is not free of some type of personal gain.

People benefit more from traveling in their own country than from traveling to foreign countries? Traveling can be an amazing experience, whether in your own country or overseas, to another country. But I think people benefit more traveling to foreign countries. First, because when you travel to another country, you will be exposure to new people and their culture. It can be close to yours or totally opposite to it. People in another country have different backgrounds and points of views, so you can expand your own horizons. You will be in contact with another language and it can be challeging for both. Also you can try their food and realize that people can do so many things at the kitchen with the same ingredients, or with ingredients that you never imagined it could be possible to eat. For example, if you were born in the United States and travel to Japan, it can be really interesting, because the occidental and oriental cultures are so distinct about the food, religion, arquiteture, etc. Another vantage is visiting new places. Nature can be really different depending what part of the planet you are: freezing cold (as Lapland) or boiling hot (as Egipt). Also you can see many kinds of species of animals and plants. If you are visiting big cities, you will see the kind of arquiteture of the important places for the people of the country. As an example, a lot of people want to visit Macchu Picchu in Peru, because they have antiques and beautiful constructions from the Mayas that lived there a long time ago. As you could see, traveling to foreign countries can be an incredible and mind-expanding experience. Save some money, choose the country and pack your bags!

Working four days a week is better than working five days a week in the United States? (TOEFL) (HI! I GUESS THIS TEXT CONTAINS POOR VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR, SO I'LL BE GLAD IF YOU CAN HELP ME. THANKS IN ADVANCE!) In the United States, workers generally must work five days per week and eight hours per day, but some of the workers prefer working less (only four days per week) with a less payment (80 percent). The text agree with it, but the professor on the lecture disagree. The text defends that the companies will spend less money, but during the lecture the professor defends that they will have to spend more money, because they have to add new workers, consequently there are more people to pay health insurance and other benefits. Also, they will need more office space and new computers for the new employees. Second, maybe the companies will create more expectations about the other workers, which work five days a week. They will have to work more and it could be unpleasant for them, doing the work that the other person could not complete during their four days. The other worker will be rested and alert for sure, but how about the others workers? Finally, The text defends that they will have more free time to spend with their families and hobbies, but it can be a risk for their jobs. Probably they could not be chosen for promotions, because it is better if the supervisor stay for five days a week. Also, if the company have to eliminate employees, probably the workers with four days a week can be the first choice.