Is the human culture evolving the process of human spiritual evolution nowadays?

By Cristiano Lima – teacher, translator and theologian

It is said that the famous quote by William Shakespeare “to be or not to be – that is the question” can be considered a philosophical question. So based on that quotation we can ask the following question: what does “to be or not to be” mean within a view of an evolutionary context? It is known that we, humans, have the abilities to create many things and we have the potential to produce culture and technology in order to advance our specie further more in the universe. Who could have imagined humans landing on the Moon or launching a prone just to step on comets and other planets as Mars or Venus?

In addition, it is necessary to answer some important questions – who are we really? How can we deal with ethics and human values? Why do we keep on making wars against each other in this twenty-first century?

It is important to understand that human beings have stopped evolving after becoming the only specie “to put halt to natural selection of its own free will”, Sir David Attenborough has said it and he predicts “the cultural evolution” in the future.

At the dawn of our civilization, humans tried to produce a cultural evolution through different languages, religions and different points of view at the world. For example, the Greek created Philosophy. Other peoples created different kinds of cultures giving us a chance to have a blend of cultures and knowledge. We, human beings, have reached the last edge of our own spiritual evolution and it is important to us.

In conclusion, the main purpose of our evolutionary cultural heritage is just to learn how we can respect each race ethically and spiritually. We need, as humans, just to be ethical not to accept that ten per cent of humans are very much richer while ninety per cent of people worldwide are trying to survive. It is unacceptable to live in a world where one billion people have plenty of food but other one billion people do not have enough food to feed their offsprings. Our last edge of our evolutionary and spiritual process is just to overcome these challenges and because of that, we need to embrace friendship, peace, dialogue and fraternity in our world.  

The Importance of Distinct Characters in Novels

By Cristiano Lima - English teacher, translator and theologian

             “The Chronicles of Narnia – the lion, the witch and the wardrobe” is a movie based on the intensively touching book from the author C. S. Lewis. The book is a masterpiece of English Literature.

               C. S. Lewis’ timeless adventure follows the exploits of the four Pevensie siblings – Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter. The siblings enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while they are playing a game of “hide and seek” in the rural country home of an elderly professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants who live in a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Under the guidance of a noble and mystical ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White Witch’s powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular climatic battle that will free Narnia from Jadis’ icy spell forever.

                The lion Aslan is considered the main character in the plot since the lion is the character who saves all four siblings, leading the people of Narnia into victory against the White Witch. The war between the lion Aslan and the White Witch Jadis reveals an ingeniously intricate interpretation and an utterly impressive characterization.

                In addition, this plot reveals the eternal fight between good and evil since the land of Narnia is facing one eternal winter caused by Jadis’ spell, and this cursed winter is destroyed only when the lion decides to act. The height of the Aslan’ role is when the lion dies on the Stone Table in the middle of the night and rises from dead before dawn to save the four siblings in a final battle against the White Witch. At the end of the movie, the White Witch and her army are destroyed and spring’ time starts in the land of Narnia.

                In conclusion, this movie is the voice of a magical imagination that is present in the imagination of everyone’s childhood, a magical childhood that adults insist on forgetting. 

The advances of technology in the medicine

By Cristiano Lima

            Nowadays we live in a world with lots of solutions in the area of medicine. The human being has found different cures for different kinds of diseases and sickness. Whether people died because of a simple flu in the fifth century or they had different kinds of heart disease – nowadays everything is totally different once medicine has changed and it has found different cures for different kinds of diseases. So we can live better nowadays because we have lots of advances of technology in the area of medicine.

            Firstly, there are real advances in medicine in the area of the surgery. For example, we can undergo surgery with the help of robots. Nowadays it is common just to see robots helping surgeons to carry out surgical procedures in patients; so robots are trustworthy when we need to undergo surgery. Medical robotic technologies can help doctors to provide safety when patients undergo surgery.

            Secondly, also there are important advances in the field of medicine when it has to do with nanomedicine. It is said that nanotechnology is the most exciting subject in the biomedical field where advances are being made in both diagnostic and treatment areas. In addition, through nanotechnology doctors can destroy cancerous tumors with heat just using a combination of gold nanoshells and lasers.

            In conclusion, it is known we can expect more from medicine and we can conclude that we have lots of cures for different diseases through the advances of technology in the area of medicine.

Mother Thereza - a dedicated life to the poors

Dear Sir,
             I am writing in response to your article about the lack of role models today. I really feel that it was most unfair and that there are many admirable role models to inspire us today. I have always felt that people who attempt to push back the frontiers of knowledge or who put their lives in danger for others should be admired. I would like to describe someone who has inspired me personally and who in my opinion has fulfilled these criteria – Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Throughout her life Mother Teresa constantly kept to the way of the strongest faith to serve poorest people from poor people. She carried on working and believing in her mission while things happened in her life by leaps and bounds. She proved his courage when she went on a mission and started her beautiful mission in the world named Missionaries of Charity. Sometimes she felt stranded with troubles and challenges because some people started criticizing her. She didn’t see her sister and mother for her whole life after she became a nun. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion in the world. In spite of suffering a heart attack when she went to Rome to see Pope Jhon Paul II, she didn’t give up doing good things to homelless people, however in her second heart attack in 1989, she offered to give up her work and to resign her position as head of the Missionaries of Charity, but the nuns of the order, in a secret ballot, voted for her to stay. Mother Teresa agreed to keep up her work as head of the order. She was a well-respected leadership and she made an important contribution to poor people and she was recognized as an important person in several countries.  She is a role model because her example to everybody is so important. For instance one day she convinced a person who wanted to kill her to give up his purpose in killing her and this story is so famous that serves as an example to people, a love’s example to people who only think in anger and revenge because such things can’t belong to our hearts.
Even then Mother Teresa didn’t rest on her laurels. Instead, after reaching the top and being in the top of the world, she decided to carry on serving poor people and she made effort to win the poverty and homellessness. In her old age, she would have had a sit and relaxed but in her last days she had kept herself fit throughout her amazing career and was therefore ready to undertake her final challenge that was to carry on serving poor people and building up hospitals, schools and shelters in 120 countries. As a result nowadays Missionaries of Charity has 4.000 nuns serving and helping people around the world and giving a good example to governments, nations and institutions. In spite of being a Roman Catholic, she took on great importance to believers from another religions once she was sympathetic to everybody. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Mother Teresa of Calcutta died on 5 September 1997 giving an amazing example of life to us.
Overall, I think I most admire her spirit, optimism and her mercy on people. Neither cynical nor money-grabbing, she took great personal risks to build up a space where people could be helped in their problems.. She achieved more in her lifetime than most people ever dream of, and was truly inspirational to others, not only of her own generation but also of mine. Who could ask for a better role model for our time?
 Yours faithfully,  

Cristaino Lima

Teacher/Translator

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I have a dream"

It's my composition about a lack of role models nowadays - read it and enjoy it.... 

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your article about the lack of role models today. I feel that it was most unfair and that there are many admirable role models to inspire us today. I have always felt that people who attempt to push back the frontiers of knowledge or who put their lives in danger of others should be admired. I would like to describe someone who has inspired me personally and who in my opinion has fulfilled these criteria - the American protestant pastor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Throughout his life pastor King constantly looked and faced new challenges. He proved his courage and adventurous spirit in 1963, when Luther King and black leaders organized the March on Washington; a massive protest in Washington D. C., for jobs and civil rights, against segregation and racial discrimination among black and white people. This public outcry was the major protest in USA and made him world-famous. After that spectacular protest in Washington D. C, it could have been difficult for him to settle back into the routine of normal life, and indeed later a black leader as Martin Luther King Jr. could have problems with the law going to the court because of the protest. But, admirably, he then set about aiming a new target for himself in fighting for freedom when he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for peace because his famous speech “I have a dream” preached in 1963 in the March on Washington D. C. - the speech and the march created the political momentum that resulted in the Civil Right Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in public accommodations and prohibited discrimination in education and employment. After the march, he became a well-respected and popular black leader, making an important contribution to the American democratic rights.Even then Dr. Martin Luther didn’t rest on his laurels. Instead, after reaching the top in his life being known worldwide, with a Nobel Prize and receiving a visit of the Pope, he decided to go back in his activism, keeping on protesting against racism and prejudice. So, throughout 1966 and 1967 King increasingly turned the focus of his activism to the redistribution of the nation’s economic wealth to overcome entrenched black poverty. This would have been a major undertaking at any person or leader, when afterwards most people just want to sit back and relax. Not surprisingly, there was considerable opposition, as black people felt these popular outcries which he was participating would put too much strain on him. However, he had kept himself fit throughout his career as a pastor and at the same moment his activism against segregation and racism around the world kept on happening. Also, he was therefore ready to undertake his final challenge – in the spring of 1968 he went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking black garbage workers when on April 4, in Memphis, he was assassinated.Overall, I think that I most admire his spirit and optimism. Neither cynical nor money-grabbing, he took great personal risks to push for knowledge and love. He achieved more in his short lifetime than most people ever dream of, and was truly inspirational to others, not only of his own generation but also of mine. Who could ask for a better role model for our time? 

Yours faithfully,

Cristiano Lima

Teacher/Translator

Names of Countries and Nationalities in English Language

Countries - Languages

Argentina - Spanish
Australia - English
Brazil - Portuguese
China - Chinese
Egypt - Arabic
France - French
Greece - Greek
Ireland - Irish/English
Italy - Italian
Japan - Japanese
Netherlands - Dutch
Portugal - Portuguese
Russia - Russian
Spain - Spanish
United States of America - English


Countries - Nationalities

Argentina - Argentinian
Australia - Australian
Brazil - Brazilian
China - Chinese
Egypt - Egyptian
France - French
Greece - Greek
Ireland - Irish
Italy - Italian
Japan - Japanese
Netherlands - Dutch
Portugal - Portuguese
Russia - Russian
Spain - Spaniard
United States of America - US or American 


Examples

1. Where are you from?
I'm from Brazil.

2. What is your nationality?
I'm Brazilian.

3. What language do you speak?
I speak Portuguese. 

LITTLE INDIAN 

One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys


Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy

Cardinal Numbers

1. one
2. two
3. three
4. four
5. five
6. six
7. seven
8. eight
9. nine
10. ten 
11. eleven
12. twelve
13. thirteen
14. fourteen
15. fifteen
16. sixteen
17. seventeen
18. eighteen
19. nineteen
20. twenty
21. twenty-one
30. thirty
40. forty
50. fifty
60. sixty
70. seventy
80. eighty
90. ninety
100. one hundred
1000. one thousand
1000000. one million