Universidad Europea de Madrid

Corporate Housing: Rental Apartments for business travelers

The corporate world is in crisis. Conference calls and sandwich lunches in the board room may soon be replacing business travel. Currently the jet setting, luxury hotels and 4-course meals abroad are too extravagant for many expense accounts. Traveling businessmen and women may soon find themselves without the customary perks: the spa package that comes with 5 star hotel accommodations, the wining and dining in some of the world’s most elegant restaurants. An executive may even find that the per diem is reduced and frequent flier points must be used for business travel rather than being saved for family vacations.

Many companies seem to be opting for the smaller boutique hotels or even a corporate apartment. “We need 2 people in Lisbon for 3 months. Put them up in the corporate flat.” “4 members of the team will be in and out of Madrid several times over the next 3 weeks. They can stay at the flat.” The company has a home-away-from-home base for its traveling team. They can even leave some clothes and equipment there. Computers, printers, fax machines: everything is set up for the business traveler. Foreign travel, YES. Extravagant expenses, NO.

Vocabulary:
Board room: executive meeting room; sala de conferences para la dirección
Currently: at present, now; actualmente
Jet setting: traveling by plane frequently; viajar en avión sin pensar en el coste.
Perks: extras, benefits; extras
Wining and dining: to wine and dine someone: being taken out to elegant meals; ser invitado a comidas y cenas de lujo
Per diem; daily stipend for expenses; dieta; dinero para gastos
Opting: choosing; eligiendo
boutique hotels: small independent hotels; hoteles con caracter
put them up: house them, accommodate them; hospedar
team: group who work together; equipo
foreign: from a different country; extranjero
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/03/30/suvivienda/1238401630.html
Suvivienda.es

Publicado por shakespeare

Would you like to fly in this plane? A380......A390...

Is the Airbus 390 still on the drawing board?

Lots of questions.

The next step in aviation history is about to become a reality.

I remember looking at the Jumbo, the Boeing 747, from the SFO terminal in 1970 as I was about to board a DC 8, another smaller chartered jet plane which is now obsolete. It took me from San Francisco to Bangor Maine and then on to Paris. A few days later I flew to Madrid for my Junior Year Abroad, a year long exchange program. This was the first of my many flights back and forth from California.

How could that NEW plane, the 747, ever get off the ground? Would I ever fly in one?

Well, I've been flying to the States in the JUMBO, and later the DC 10 and Airbus for almost 40 years. Those GIGANTIC planes, better known as the wide-bodies DID get off the ground. And now the aeronautic engineers think they can develop much bigger planes. It seems that the A380 is already with us and the A390 may not be far behind. We'll wait and see....if we ever fly in one.

Airbus 380 and a prototype of the A390 (?)

on the drawing board: in the designing stage; en la primera etapa de diseño/en la mesa del delineante

if it were: if it is possible; si fuese

about to board: just before getting on an airplane; a punto de entrar en el avión

back and forth: coming and going; ida y vuelta, ir y venir

get off the ground: take off; despegar

Publicado por shakespeare

Have you ever been in a prop plane?

Have you ever been in a prop plane ? (see vocabulary at the bottom)

Aviation has changed considerably since my first flights aboard propeller planes in the late 1950s. It was a LONG WAY from San Francisco to New York. In fact, it was SO FAR that we had to go via Chicago in order to refuel. Flying was really exciting then and people got dressed up in their Sunday best. I was just a little kid, but I remember looking down at the clouds from our seats which faced each other! Is that possible or just a child’s impression? The plane smelled of cigarettes, but so did most everywhere in those days. The trip took all day. I don’t think there were movies, but they fed us and the pilots gave us little pins, our own wings, when we went into the cockpit to talk to them. The door was always open, and as I recall it wasn't even a door: it was a curtain. That certainly wouldn't happen today. The big excitement was on the return. There’d been a big snow storm and the plane had to be de-iced. This meant that snow and ice had to be taken off the wings with high powered hoses. Yes, we were already on board.

It was years before I ventured into a prop plane again and then it was with some trepidation. It was 1971. Jet planes had been born, and I’d been on several. The big song for traveling youth in those days was Peter,Paul and Mary’s recording of “I’m leaving on a jet plane”. We’d left Spain and had been traveling all summer, through France, Italy, Greece, around Albania, and were now in Yugoslavia. When we finally reached Skope, Yugoslavia we’d had enough. The only reasonable way to get to the coast, to beautiful Dubrovnik, was to fly. “Yes, yes, you can fly” the travel agenct said. “It’s a very short flight. Go.” So off we went to the airport, expecting to find a lot of jets. Well, there was ONE plane, a prop plane, and it was ours. OK, here we go. There were only 6 of us on board, and we bounced over and under the clouds all the way to beautiful Dubrovnik.

It WAS worth the effort, though we continued on by bus and train for the rest of the summer. Then in the 1980s I had to make the decision again. We wanted to go from island to island. And inter-island hopping was via…you guessed it….. prop plane. There were alternatives, of course. We could take a slow boat and lose a day, or swim in shark infested waters! So here we were about to get on an 8 passenger rusty derelict from …who knows when. The maintenance on these planes was NOT the best, and I watched, yes WATCHED, the little screws unscrewing on the wings as we flew the short distance to the next island. No, we did not feel very secure, and looked longingly at the one jet and one sea plane sitting in the airport.

Maybe I exaggerate, but over the years I’ve had the “opportunity” to fly in perfectly maintained prop planes. I usually turn down the offer.

Wendy

flights: trips on a plane; vuelos

got dressed up: put on elegant clothes; ponerse guapo

Sunday best: elegant; para ir a misa

a little kid: a child; una cría, una niña

fed us: gave us a meal; nos dieron de comer

wings: pins like a pilot wears; alas

cockpit: front of the plane where the pilots are; cabina

storm: very bad weather; tormenta

hoses: tubes used to direct water; mangueras

prop plane: propeller operated plane; avión de hélice

youth: young people; juventud

bounced: jump like a ball, botar

hopping: pump on one foot (to hop) ; saltar

guess: formulate the answer with no help; adivinar

shark: preditor similar to a fish; tiburón

screws: nails that twist; tornillos

longingly: hopefully, wishing something would happen; con ganas

turn down: reject; rechazar

Publicado por shakespeare

Are you intelligent or are you dumb?

You are probably a university student working on your degree. You're studying English, doing research for your projects, and getting ready for a semester or year abroad , maybe on the Erasmus program. Then you'll do a couple of internships so that you can get a feel for the different options available to you. You hope to get a good job, possibly in a multinational. You'll have great career opportunities because you're getting good grades and taking your studies seriously.

Some of you are already employed. You're working on an advanced degree: an MA or a PhD. You've found that you still need to improve your English because you want to travel to countries where Spanish is NOT spoken. You want to go to conventions overseas, and give presentations in English yourself.

You're a very intelligent person, but sometimes you like to test yourself. Sometimes you just like to have fun. Look at the vocabulary and then take the test at the bottom. It is very un-academic, but kind of fun. Try it ! Are you dumb?

Careful. There is one trick question.

Vocabulary:

your degree: your major, university studies: tu título de estudios/licenciatura etc

doing research: "hacer investigación"

PhD: Doctorate: "doctorado"

improve: to get better: "mejorar"

dumb: stupid: "tonto"

I think you just learned or reviewed some vocabulary.
Now, try the test.

Wendy

http://www.dumb123.com/index.html

Publicado por shakespeare

Big Book Sale-Read! Read! Read in English!

-Design by Rebecca Casado

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please come to our big book sale sponsored by the UEM LAB.

We're trying to encourage everyone to read in English! Please join us.

Bring in any books you have at home that you don't really want any more. Someone else on campus might really enjoy them. You can donate your books or trade them for others, or you can buy books for 1 Euro.

All the money collected will go to an NGO: Fundación Theodora.

And while you're at the stand in Building A, Universidad Europea de Madrid, we hope you'll talk to us in English! --Wendy

trade: exchange intercambiar

NGO: Non-governmental organization, ONG
the stand: a stall, a temporary shop, un puesto

COME TO THE 8^th

ENGLISH BOOK EXCHANGE & SALE

Mercadillo del Libro

BRING I & TAKE I or BUY I FOR A EURO !

Yes, only I Euro*

Sponsored by the UEM LAB

*ALL proceeds go to the NGO (ONG): Fundación Theodora

Clown doctors for hospitalized children in Spain

Day: WEDNESDAY, March 11^th

THURSDAY, March 12^th, 2009

Time: 11:00 am to 5:00 pm

Place: Basement Building A In front of the UEM LAB

PLEASE donate your used books & magazines

Take them to the UEM LAB

**Add your name to the list of contributors**

Clean out your bookshelves: professional journals, novels,

joke books , cookbooks, children’s books,

comic books, dictionaries,

graded readers, music books, audio tapes, road

maps, atlases,

Share your interest in: history, geography, engineering,

home maintenance, health, nursing, medicine,

wild life, art, architecture, sports, exercise,

law, business, tourism, travel, communications,

advertising, journalism, poetry, economics....

Mercadillo de libros de segundo mano en inglés. Toda la universidad está invitada a contribuir libros en inglés, intercambiar libros o comprar libros por 1 euro. Queremos animar a la comunidad universitaria a que venga a hablar con nosotros en inglés, intercambiar ideas sobre la lectura y ayudar a la ONG, “Fundación Teodora: Payasos para nuestros niños hospitalizados” http://theodora.org/esp-es/index-new-es.htm

Publicado por shakespeare