QUINCENA 9

Training and Politics

Teresa Perales is not just a deputy in Aragons regional chamber, she is also
a swimming champion with 11 medals - five in Sydney, six in Athens - under her
belt. But the best thing about her is her solidarity and optimism, which can make
you forget that Teresa, a 29-year-old woman from Zaragoza, has been going
around in a wheelchair since she was 10. As if to exemplify the traditional,
famous stubbornness of the Aragonese, she says: If they tell me I cant do
something, thats enough to determine me to go ahead and do it, no matter
what.
Teresas day starts at 5:30 a.m. She spends several hours of training in the
swimming pool to be in parliament by 10 a.m. Her agenda in the Aljafera is a
busy one since she is her partys spokeswoman on several commissions. I have
tried not to be pigeonholed* in a single field. I am handicapped and can be said
to represent the handicapped, but Im also a woman, a young person, a worker,
she says. Her parliamentary work, meeting with groups and attending different
events leaves her little time for leisure, but one of her favourite activities is
walking Golfo, her golden retriever.
Teresa admits she learned from her father the value of the family above
all else, and from her mother, the value of trying hard: You have to keep going,
she says. If you find an obstacle in your way, you have to climb over it. You have
to generate optimism.

To pigeonhole = encasillar

1. Answer the following questions about the passage in your own words.

a. What features of Teresas personality make people ignore her physical

problems? Her interest for the community and positive attitude.
b. Why is she usually so busy? Because she is an athlete who needs to train
everyday and also a politician.
c. In what ways does Teresa exemplify the well known stubbornness of the
Aragonese? She is always trying to do whatever she wants even when those
things are challenging. She is in a wheelchair but that doesnt means she cannot
do what everyone does.

2. Look for words in the passage that mean the same as:

only = just

obstinacy = stubbornness

occupied = busy

spare time = leisure

3. What is your opinion about politicians nowadays? (120 words)

When I was taught at school what democracy means they said it means freedom and
prosperity, it means choosing someone who is going to represent you at the parliament
and is going to do the best to make your life better and protect you.

Well, right now I do not think the Government represent me at all, their salaries are so
high, most of them are doing illegal things and their economy interests are so far from
been the same as mines. Many of the politicians from the left and right parties have
been accepting money in exchange of doing favors to the big companies, and forgetting
why they are in the parliament.

I believe we are on time to teach those people that been a politician have to be a
vocational job, and this means do the best for your citizens. For me the best politicians
will be the ones who understand that they are our employees and we, the citizens, are
the employers.