DOODLES AND GOOGLE / Los Doodles y Google / EASY ENGLISH / Inglés Fácil.

Hi my friends, I'm here again.  Today we're going to speak about DOODLES, these funny letters or drawings that appear when we open our computer. They  commemorate an event or special date and  Google invented them  some years ago.  We will know how the Doodles were invented and why!  Let's go!


Hola amigos, aquí estoy otra vez.  Hoy vamos a hablar de los DOODLES, estas divertidas letras o dibujos que aparecen cuando abrimos nuestro ordenador. Hacen  mención de  un acontecimiento o una fecha especial y  Google los  inventó hace algunos años.  Conoceremos cómo fueron inventados los Doodles y porqué. ¡Allá vamos!



From Speak Up magazine.

GOOGLE  DOODLES
Corporate Fun


For many of us the working day begins when we go onto Google and enjoy the latest drawing or doodle on its home page.



THE MAGIC LETTERS

These doodles are the changes to Google logo, and they mark cultural events, such as holidays, anniversaries or the lives of famous people.  There was a London Underground map to celebrate its 150th birthday;  during the London Olympics there was a new sport-related doodle every day and there was a similar football motif during the  World Cup.
If you look carefully, Google's six-letter name always appears somewhere in the illustration.



OUT OF THE OFFICE.

The idea started in 1998 when Google was still a very young company.  The company's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, invented an "out-of-the-office"  message to show that they had gone to the Burning Man Festival.  That was the first doodle.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1998 they added a turkey and for Halloween in 1999 two pumpkins replaced the o's in Google.  They discovered that users liked  changes to the clean Google logo.  Soon afterwards  Brin and Page asked a webmaster to create more doodles.  You may remember doodles for Monet, Picasso and Michelangelo in the early 2000s.

INTERACTIVE

Doodles quickly became a regular event on the search  engine's home page.

The variety of subjects increased and the doodles became more intricate.  At first they were quite basic;  now they are frequently elaborate and beautiful.  In recent years some doodles have even become interactive.  For example, a giant zip to mark the 132nd  anniversary of the invention of the zip can be unzipped.
A Rubik's Cube can be solved  (or not)  online. 40 years after its invention, the Cube is still really difficult.

THE DOODLERS

Google now has a full-time team of people inventing new doodles.  They are called "Doodlers".  Over 2,000 doodles have appeared since 1998.

Some people may argue that the doodles help to soften the internet giant's corporate image.
Others would say that they are artistic and provide a welcome start to the day.



FAMOUS DOODLES

**Gustav Klimt's famous "The Kiss"  painting to honour his 150th birthday (2012).

**Google in braille to mark Louis Braille's birthday (2006).

**A knitted doodle in Google's bright colours to mark the winter solstice.  The logo looks as if it has been made from wool  (2013).



ANY IDEAS?

Do you want to see all the Google doodles ever made?  If so, visit  www.google.com/doodles

Do you have an idea for a new doodle?  The team is open to new ideas!!!



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VOCABULARY

DOODLE:  garabato.
TURKEY:  pavo.
PUMPKIN:  calabaza.
SOON AFTERWARDS:  poco tiempo despué.
SEARCH ENGINE:  buscador.
ZIP:  cremallera.
TO UNZIP:  abrir la cremallera.
TO ARGUE:  sostener.
TO SOFTEN:  suavizar, hacer más cercano.
WELCOME START:  inicio agradable.
TO  KNIT: hacer punto.


HAVE A NICE DAY!!!

SEE YOU!!

FICTION - "THE HAUNTED HOTEL" - Lectura - Ficción - El Hotel Encantando.

Hi my dear friends, today we're going to read a fiction story, "The Haunted Hotel"  I hope you'll like it!

Hola mis queridos amigos, hoy vamos a leer una historia de ficción, "El Hotel Encantado", espero que os guste.


From Speak Up magazine.

THE HAUNTED HOTEL  by Rachel Roberts.

"I'm not sure I believe in ghosts", but I try to keep an open mind, and when the travel magazine I write for asked me to do a tour of the Haunted Hotels of Britain, I agreed.  I was curious, and prepared to be surprised.

I soon realized that the more a hotel and its staff publicized their ghosts, the less likely you were to have a scary experience.  At a luxurious hotel in a Scottish castle, the staff had all been dressed in period costume.  One man had even been wearing a headless horseman outfit, with very obvious eyeholes in the chest!  It was too theatrical to be frightening.

On the other hand, I had left far more nervous at an old inn in Cornwall, where the staff had been unwilling to talk to me about their legendary "grey lady".
They said the stories were just local nonsense and refused to look me in the eye;  but I felt they were hiding something I can't say I noticed any strange "cold"  areas in any part of the inn -a typical sign of paranormal activity-  or any creaking noises that weren't normal for a centuries-old building.
Nevertheless, I had trouble sleeping.  I could have been my imagination but I felt there was something strange about that old Cronish pub.

My experience at Flitton Manor Hotel was very different.  An acquaintance of mine had stayed there for a business conference and had had an "unpleasant experience".  My friend, a very practical, down-to-earth person I'd known for years, had said categorically that he would "never go there again".  That, of course, put the hotel at the top of my list, and I had saved it till last.

I discovered on the Internet that Flitton Manor had a history of paranormal activity, which had suddenly worsened after builders had discovered a walled-up room during renovation work.  The owners had converted this new space into another bedroom, but after a series of almost poltergeist -like attacks, with objects flying round the room and guests screaming in the middle of the night, they had been forced to close it again, and things had calmed down.

The receptionist was a smart young man in his early twenties.  When I introduced myself and told him I was the journalist writing about haunted hotels, he looked down, smiled to himself and then looked back at me intently.

"I'd love an eye witness account," I said cheerfully.  "Have you ever seen any ghosts here?"

Like the staff of the Cornish inn, he seemed reluctant to talk, but eventually said, "I've never seen an actual ghost, but I'm sure someone moves my things around I keep my pens in this old mug.  Several times a day I find someone has put them in the drawer.  I put them back in the mug and a minute later they're back in the drawer".

"Some colleague playing a trick?"  I asked.

Maybe.  They all say no.  He shrugged.  "The cleaning staff say the same thing happens to them with their cleaning equipment;  or they tidy a room and five minutes later they find an imprint on the sofa, as though someone had sat down on it, even though no one has entered the room".

"Any idea who the ghost might be?"

He shook his head.  "Some say an old housekeeper -maybe that's why she keeps tidying things up!"

My bedroom was a large bright room with a good view of the grounds, and old fashioned furniture.  I put my bad down beside a plump velvet armchair and had a shower before going down to dinner. During the meal I quizzed some of the waiters but,  like the receptionist, they were vague.

I had trouble  sleeping that night, I tried to relax but my ears kept searching the darkness for ghostly noises.  I think I fell asleep about 3 a.m.

Not surprisingly, I woke up late the next morning.  I had to vacate the room by 10 o'clock and I still didn't  have any new interesting information about this hotel, the last of the series, the one I'd been convinced would provide me with a real ghost story.  I washed and dressed quickly, determined to force the morning staff to give me a story before I left.

It was when I went to pick up my bag that I saw it, and my blood froze!

It was  such a small, insignificant thing, but the implications made my legs go weak and I literally fell onto the edge of the bed.  The plump, velvet armchair was no longer as it had been the evening before!  There was the deep imprint of a heavy body on its fat cushions where someone, not me, had sat during the night!!!

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VOCABULARY

-HAUNTED:  encantado.
-LESS LIKELY:  menos probable.
-SCARY: espeluznante.
-HEADLESS:  sin cabeza.
-OUTFIT: traje, atuendo.
-UNWILLING:  reticente.
-ACQUAINTANCE:  conocido.
-DOWN-TO.EARTH: con los pies en la tierra.
-TO WORSEN:  empeorar.
-WALLED-UP ROOM:  habitación acorazada.
-POLTERGEIST:  espíritu.
-EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT:  relato de primera mano.
-EVENTUALLY:  finalmente.
-MUG:  taza.
-TO SHRUG:  encogerse de hombros.
-IMPRINT:  huella.
-HOUSEKEEPER:  ama de llaves.
-GROUNDS:  jardines.
-VELVET:  terciopelo.
-TO QUIZ:  interrogar.
-CUSHION:  cojín.

HAVE A  NICE DAY MY FRIENDS!!!

SEE YOU!!!