Questões de Inglês - Grammar

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FROM PARIS TO BERLIN

    Public transport is increasingly becoming one of the most crucial forms of transport in the world, with most major cities having a vast network connecting millions. But, for all their perks and uses, they are often plagued with technical issues, delays and overcrowding.

    Now, researchers at the Polytechnic University of Turin have ranked the world’s largest networks to find which move quickest and to identify the most sluggish.

    Berlin and Paris take gold and silver, respectively, in a top ten list dominated by European capital cities. Their average speed was found to be 6.2 and 5.8 km/h whereas Mexico City, languishing at the bottom of the list with a docile 2.4km/h.

    Only Melbourne (ten) and New York (eight) break up the European monopoly when it comes to average travel velocity.

    The study, published in Royal Society Open Science, found that London came out at number seven.

    The English capital fell behind Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Athens and Prague. The top ten was rounded out by New York, Madrid and Melbourne.

    The authors Indaco Biazzo, Bernardo Monechi and Vittorio Loreto write in the study: “In the last decades, the acceleration of urban growth has led to an unprecedented level of urban interactions and interdependence”.

    “This situation calls for a significant effort among the scientific community to come up with engaging and meaningful visualisations and accessible scenario simulation engines”.

    “The present paper gives a contribution in this direction by providing general methods to evaluate accessibility in cities based on public transportation data”.

Adapted from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7399879/European-capital-cities-dominate-list-worlds-FASTEST-public-transport-systems.html Last access: August, 29, 2019.

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    The Brazilian culture is one of the world’s most varied and diverse. This is due to its being a melting pot of nationalities, as a result of centuries of European domination as well as slavery, which brought hordes of African migrants across Brazil’s borders to live in and influence the local cultures with their ancient customs and ideas. The European settlers also brought ideas, innovations and belief systems with them, shaping the local societies significantly. All of these different influences have meant that the modern-day Brazilian culture is unique and very complex. 

    At present, Brazil has a population of about 190 million people. Of these, more than half are white (which includes Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish etc... individuals), just fewer than 40% are mixed Afro-Brazilian and white and less than 10% are Afro-Brazilian.

    Brazilians, as a nation, focus much importance on the family structure and the values that are entrenched within that institution. Families are usually large, and even extended family members are close with one another, providing much-needed help and support to each other whenever and however necessary.

    Brazilians are usually rather affectionate, tactile people. Men shake hands with one another, while women are going to kiss each others’ cheeks in greeting. They are going to start with the left cheek and then kiss the right. In business relationships, Brazilian businessmen are going to know one another before committing to long-term business dealings, as they want to know those with whom they deal.

(Texto Adaptado. Disponível em: https://www.brazil.org.za/brazil-culture.html#:~:text=Th e%20Brazilian%20culture%20is%20one%20of%20the%20wo rld's%20most%20varied%20and%20diverse.&text=At%20pr esent%2C%20Brazil%20has%20a,less%20than%2010%25% 20are%20black.. Acesso em: 15 dez. 2020).

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For the first time, king-sized bed sales have outstripped double-bed sales in the UK. Double beds are normally four feet six inches wide, but families want the extra space provided by the five-foot king size bed. Buyers are taller and heavier than they used to be and need bigger beds. Leading retailer John Lewis sold 34% more king-size than double beds in 2010. Interior designers say that the bed is no longer just for sleeping as people watch television and use their laptops in bed. The bedroom is the new living room and beds are the new sofas!

Go! English Brasil. N. 13, ano Il, p. 17.

TIME 100 ICONS
Malala Yousafzai
By Mezon Almellehan
April 16, 2015

Champion of education

    I’M 16 years old and from Dara’a in Syria. I fled to Jordan with my Family two years ago.

    Spending time with Malala Yousafzai made me stronger. I didn’t know her before meeting her in Za’atari camp last year, but I understand she suffered, and yet continues to fight for what she believes in – for rights of children and for their education. She is an inspiration for me.

    When it comes to continuing our education as refugees, I am on the front lines with my friends, speaking to other girls throughout the camp on the importance of going to school. My mother and father are always encouraging me. I saw this in Malala too, and her close relationship with her mother and father.

    I’ve always loved learning and education, but since I fled with my Family, these views have grown stronger. I have seen too much wrong to not use my voice. Malala has shown that education is crucial for laying a foundation for girls and boys to have secure lives.

    I know no matter what I go through today, it will make me a stronger person for tomorrow. Rather than giving up, my friends and I will continue to think positively and try to make our community better. Girls need to learn to take care of themselves, because if they don’t, nobody will. Our lives are completely diferente now – we’ve gone from living in homes to surviving in tents in refugees camps. Education is the only way to regain our spirit and control over our lives.

    I was so honored to be in Oslo to watch Malala be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. To see a Young woman recognized with such an award made me realize that yes, I can make a difference, and I have to continue to fight for what I believe in – that all girls and boys can bring change to our world.

Almellehan is an education activist and student. (fonte: http://time.com/3822637/malala-yousafzi-2015-time-100/ acessado dia 03/11/15 17:44)

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    Remember the good old days, when you could have a heated-yet-enjoyable debate with your friends about things that didn’t matter that much — times when you could be a true fan of the Manchester United soccer team when you didn’t come from the city of Manchester?
    How things have changed.
    Now disagreements feel deadly serious. Like when your colleague pronounces that wearing a face mask in public is a threat to his liberty. Or when you see that one of your friends has just tweeted that, actually, all lives matter. Before you know it, you’re feeling angry and forming harsh new judgments about your colleagues and friends. Let’s take a collective pause and breathe: there are some ways we can all try to have more civil disagreements in this febrile age of culture wars.

1. ‘Coupling’ and ‘decoupling’

    The first is to consider how inclined people are to ‘couple’ or ‘decouple’ topics involving wider political and social factors. Swedish data analyst John Nerst has used the terms to describe the contrasting ways in which people approach contentious issues. Those of us more inclined to ‘couple’ see them as inextricably related to a broader matrix of factors, whereas those more predisposed to ‘decouple’ prefer to consider an issue in isolation. To take a crude example, a decoupler might consider in isolation the question of whether a vaccine provides a degree of immunity to a virus; a coupler, by contrast, would immediately see the issue as inextricably entangled in a mesh of factors, such as pharmaceutical industry power and parental choice.

2. ___________________

    Most of us are deeply committed to our beliefs, especially concerning moral and social issues, such that when we’re presented with facts that contradict our beliefs, we often choose to dismiss those facts, rather than update our beliefs.
    A study at Arizona State University, U.S., analysed more than 100,000 comments on a forum where users post their views on an issue and invite others to persuade them to change their mind. The researchers found that regardless of the kind of topic, people were more likely to change their mind when confronted with more evidence-based arguments. “Our work may suggest that while attitude change is hard-won, providing facts, statistics and citations for one’s arguments can convince people to change their minds,” they concluded.

3. Just be nicer?

    Finally, it’s easier said than done, but let’s all try to be more respectful of and attentive to each other’s positions. We should do this not just for virtuous reasons, but because the more we create that kind of a climate, the more open-minded and intellectually flexible we will all be inclined to be. And then hopefully, collectively, we can start having more constructive disagreements — even in our present very difficult times.

(Christian Jarrett. www.bbc.com, 14.10.2020. Adaptado.)