Short Stories in English

This is the year of the big vaudeville show, with candidates resplendent in blue shirts, which absorb the glare from the spotlights, and pancake makeup, which artfully conceals both age and pallor and restores to weary politicians the ruddy vigor of a grade-B Western hero. There will be speeches, flags, music and, for the boys in the backroom, a bottle on the shelf. Promises will be made in good faith, and some in the rankest kind of hypocrisy. The din will be deafening, the television channels choked with argument, and ill will, we predict, will be in possession of the land. To help you get your money's worth for your vote (a figure of speech; nothing more) we are offering a standard against which we ask that you check your candidate. The beauty of this standard is that it isn't scientific, and while your findings will not deliver you into a state of ataraxia they may bring your candidate into focus, perhaps even with devastating clarity. If so, good; and if you get any c

The mass media play an important part in our lives. Newspapers, radio and especially TV inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views.  Of course, not all newspapers and TV programs report the events objectively, but serious journalists and TV reporters try to be fair and provide us with reliable information.  It is true that the world today is full of dramatic events and most news seems to be bad news. But people aren't interested in ordinary events. That is why there are so many programs and articles about natural disasters, plane crashes, wars, murders and robberies. Good news does not usually make headlines. Bad news does.  Some people say that journalists are given too much freedom. They often intrude on people's private lives. They follow celebrities and print sensational stories about them which are untrue or half-true. They ta