Questões de Inglês

Amazon rainforest fires 2019

GEORGIA CHAMBERS - Tuesday 27 August, 2019

Thousands of new fires have been started in the Amazon rainforest over the weekend as blazes continue to devastate huge
parts of the region. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which monitors deforestation in Brazil, said some 1,113
new fires were ignited across Saturday and Sunday. Video footage of the fires has gone viral on social media over the past few
weeks, while millions fear the impact the ongoing destruction of the world’s largest rainforest may have on the climate change
[05] crisis. According to the INPE, there have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region – an
increase of more than 80 per cent compared with the previous year. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his environmental
policies have come under scrutiny, with critics saying he favours development over conservation.
NASA's Aqua satellite shows several fires burning in the Brazilian states of Amazonas. The European Union Earth Observation
Program’s Sentinel satellites also captured images of “significant amounts of smoke” over Amazonas, Rondonia and other
[10] areas.
The scale of the fires is so huge that they can be seen from space, NASA has said. According to the INPE, more than 1 ½
football fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day. “This is without question one of only two
times that there have been fires like this in the Amazon,” ecologist Thomas Lovejoy told National Geographic. “There’s no
question that it’s a consequence of the recent uptick in deforestation.”
[15] The fires have caused mass devastation across the Amazonian region. The Amazon rainforest is considered vital in the slowing
of global warming, thanks to its plethora of habitable species of fauna and flora. It generates about 20 per cent of the world’s
oxygen and 10 per cent of the world’s known biodiversity. Often referred to as “the lungs of the planet,” it plays a significant
role in regulating the climate. This means that the destruction of the Amazon rainforest would have a devastating impact on
everything from the air we breathe to the water we drink. The fires are also causing millions of people indigenous to the Amazon
[20] to be displaced. An estimated 500 tribes live within the Amazon.
According to NASA, fires in the Amazonian area often occur during the dry season, which typically starts around July and
August. Peak “activity” is said to happen by early September and ceases by mid-November. Blazes are also started deliberately
by a way of deforestation – people clearing out the land for farming or ranches. The INPE has now ruled out natural phenomena
being responsible for the surge in forest fires. Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, told CNN that he believes 99% of the
[25] fires result _________human actions “either ______ purpose or by accident.”

(Retrieved and adapted from: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/amazon-rainforest-fire-2019-cause-jair-bolsonaro-a4222031.html. Access on September 1st, 2019)

Amazon rainforest fires 2019

GEORGIA CHAMBERS - Tuesday 27 August, 2019

Thousands of new fires have been started in the Amazon rainforest over the weekend as blazes continue to devastate huge
parts of the region. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which monitors deforestation in Brazil, said some 1,113
new fires were ignited across Saturday and Sunday. Video footage of the fires has gone viral on social media over the past few
weeks, while millions fear the impact the ongoing destruction of the world’s largest rainforest may have on the climate change
[05] crisis. According to the INPE, there have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region – an
increase of more than 80 per cent compared with the previous year. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his environmental
policies have come under scrutiny, with critics saying he favours development over conservation.
NASA's Aqua satellite shows several fires burning in the Brazilian states of Amazonas. The European Union Earth Observation
Program’s Sentinel satellites also captured images of “significant amounts of smoke” over Amazonas, Rondonia and other
[10] areas.
The scale of the fires is so huge that they can be seen from space, NASA has said. According to the INPE, more than 1 ½
football fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day. “This is without question one of only two
times that there have been fires like this in the Amazon,” ecologist Thomas Lovejoy told National Geographic. “There’s no
question that it’s a consequence of the recent uptick in deforestation.”
[15] The fires have caused mass devastation across the Amazonian region. The Amazon rainforest is considered vital in the slowing
of global warming, thanks to its plethora of habitable species of fauna and flora. It generates about 20 per cent of the world’s
oxygen and 10 per cent of the world’s known biodiversity. Often referred to as “the lungs of the planet,” it plays a significant
role in regulating the climate. This means that the destruction of the Amazon rainforest would have a devastating impact on
everything from the air we breathe to the water we drink. The fires are also causing millions of people indigenous to the Amazon
[20] to be displaced. An estimated 500 tribes live within the Amazon.
According to NASA, fires in the Amazonian area often occur during the dry season, which typically starts around July and
August. Peak “activity” is said to happen by early September and ceases by mid-November. Blazes are also started deliberately
by a way of deforestation – people clearing out the land for farming or ranches. The INPE has now ruled out natural phenomena
being responsible for the surge in forest fires. Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, told CNN that he believes 99% of the
[25] fires result _________human actions “either ______ purpose or by accident.”

(Retrieved and adapted from: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/amazon-rainforest-fire-2019-cause-jair-bolsonaro-a4222031.html. Access on September 1st, 2019)

Amazon rainforest fires 2019

GEORGIA CHAMBERS - Tuesday 27 August, 2019

Thousands of new fires have been started in the Amazon rainforest over the weekend as blazes continue to devastate huge
parts of the region. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which monitors deforestation in Brazil, said some 1,113
new fires were ignited across Saturday and Sunday. Video footage of the fires has gone viral on social media over the past few
weeks, while millions fear the impact the ongoing destruction of the world’s largest rainforest may have on the climate change
[05] crisis. According to the INPE, there have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region – an
increase of more than 80 per cent compared with the previous year. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his environmental
policies have come under scrutiny, with critics saying he favours development over conservation.
NASA's Aqua satellite shows several fires burning in the Brazilian states of Amazonas. The European Union Earth Observation
Program’s Sentinel satellites also captured images of “significant amounts of smoke” over Amazonas, Rondonia and other
[10] areas.
The scale of the fires is so huge that they can be seen from space, NASA has said. According to the INPE, more than 1 ½
football fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day. “This is without question one of only two
times that there have been fires like this in the Amazon,” ecologist Thomas Lovejoy told National Geographic. “There’s no
question that it’s a consequence of the recent uptick in deforestation.”
[15] The fires have caused mass devastation across the Amazonian region. The Amazon rainforest is considered vital in the slowing
of global warming, thanks to its plethora of habitable species of fauna and flora. It generates about 20 per cent of the world’s
oxygen and 10 per cent of the world’s known biodiversity. Often referred to as “the lungs of the planet,” it plays a significant
role in regulating the climate. This means that the destruction of the Amazon rainforest would have a devastating impact on
everything from the air we breathe to the water we drink. The fires are also causing millions of people indigenous to the Amazon
[20] to be displaced. An estimated 500 tribes live within the Amazon.
According to NASA, fires in the Amazonian area often occur during the dry season, which typically starts around July and
August. Peak “activity” is said to happen by early September and ceases by mid-November. Blazes are also started deliberately
by a way of deforestation – people clearing out the land for farming or ranches. The INPE has now ruled out natural phenomena
being responsible for the surge in forest fires. Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, told CNN that he believes 99% of the
[25] fires result _________human actions “either ______ purpose or by accident.”

(Retrieved and adapted from: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/amazon-rainforest-fire-2019-cause-jair-bolsonaro-a4222031.html. Access on September 1st, 2019)

Amazon rainforest fires 2019

GEORGIA CHAMBERS - Tuesday 27 August, 2019

Thousands of new fires have been started in the Amazon rainforest over the weekend as blazes continue to devastate huge
parts of the region. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which monitors deforestation in Brazil, said some 1,113
new fires were ignited across Saturday and Sunday. Video footage of the fires has gone viral on social media over the past few
weeks, while millions fear the impact the ongoing destruction of the world’s largest rainforest may have on the climate change
[05] crisis. According to the INPE, there have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region – an
increase of more than 80 per cent compared with the previous year. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his environmental
policies have come under scrutiny, with critics saying he favours development over conservation.
NASA's Aqua satellite shows several fires burning in the Brazilian states of Amazonas. The European Union Earth Observation
Program’s Sentinel satellites also captured images of “significant amounts of smoke” over Amazonas, Rondonia and other
[10] areas.
The scale of the fires is so huge that they can be seen from space, NASA has said. According to the INPE, more than 1 ½
football fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day. “This is without question one of only two
times that there have been fires like this in the Amazon,” ecologist Thomas Lovejoy told National Geographic. “There’s no
question that it’s a consequence of the recent uptick in deforestation.”
[15] The fires have caused mass devastation across the Amazonian region. The Amazon rainforest is considered vital in the slowing
of global warming, thanks to its plethora of habitable species of fauna and flora. It generates about 20 per cent of the world’s
oxygen and 10 per cent of the world’s known biodiversity. Often referred to as “the lungs of the planet,” it plays a significant
role in regulating the climate. This means that the destruction of the Amazon rainforest would have a devastating impact on
everything from the air we breathe to the water we drink. The fires are also causing millions of people indigenous to the Amazon
[20] to be displaced. An estimated 500 tribes live within the Amazon.
According to NASA, fires in the Amazonian area often occur during the dry season, which typically starts around July and
August. Peak “activity” is said to happen by early September and ceases by mid-November. Blazes are also started deliberately
by a way of deforestation – people clearing out the land for farming or ranches. The INPE has now ruled out natural phenomena
being responsible for the surge in forest fires. Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, told CNN that he believes 99% of the
[25] fires result _________human actions “either ______ purpose or by accident.”

(Retrieved and adapted from: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/amazon-rainforest-fire-2019-cause-jair-bolsonaro-a4222031.html. Access on September 1st, 2019)

Read the text to answer question.

Escaping from destruction

    Almost 80 years ago Snowdonia, a mountainous region in northwestern Wales, United Kingdom, prepared to keep a welcome in the hillside for some of the world’s most treasured paintings. Across Europe the advancing Nazis had already looted or destroyed millions of pounds worth of art. As bombs fell on London and a German invasion seemed inevitable, attention turned to how to protect the National Gallery’s collection. In 1940, Winston Churchill famously said of the nation’s art treasures: “Hide them in caves and cellars, but not one picture shall leave this island.”

    Experts scoured the UK for a hiding place — until they found Manod Quarry. Manod Mountain had been a working quarry¹ for over a century. Its excavations created a cavernous space at the heart of the mountain, and covered with hundreds of feet of slate and granite it was virtually impregnable to bombing. Also, its very remoteness made it easier to keep the mission top secret.

    Suzanne Bosman, author of The National Gallery in Wartime, explains that moving almost 2,000 works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Turner proved to be quite an undertaking. “Cold, damp quarries aren’t really good storage places for priceless works of art, so before they were moved in, six air-tight climate-controlled brick huts were built inside the mountain,” she explained. “In fact the conditions in which they were stored at Manod were considerably better than those in which they were exhibited at the National Gallery before the war, and the evacuation taught staff a lot about preservation, even after the war”, says Bosman.

    The largest paintings were packed in specially designed “elephant cases” and transported by road. The smaller paintings were transported in Post Office vans and delivery trucks in order to avoid attracting attention. However, Ms Bosman said, it did not always run that smoothly. “Van Dyck’s Equestrian Portrait of Charles I is a monster, at 12ft by 9.5ft, and in its case, loaded on the back of the truck, it was considerably taller. On the approach to the quarry there is a tight S-bend, just where the road passes under the arch of a railway bridge. I liken it to trying to get a sofa around a corner on the stairs; there was enough height, but only if you could hit precisely the right angle.”

     Nowadays the quarry is in a poor state of repair and access is strictly controlled. Inside you can still see the marks on the wall where the paintings hung, and the floor is littered with the hygrometers and thermometers which would have controlled every aspect of the conditions. It’s such a shame that very few people will get to see it in the future. We’ve let a piece of our national heritage slip away.

(This article was inspired by a question from reader Doug Cormack who got
in touch to ask how the National Gallery’s collection came to be evacuated
to Wales during the war, and whether the paintings would ever come back
to Wales for a commemorative exhibition.)

(Neil Prior. www.bbc.com, 19.05.2019. Adaptado.)

¹quarry: an open excavation, usually for obtaining building material.

Read the text to answer question.

Escaping from destruction

    Almost 80 years ago Snowdonia, a mountainous region in northwestern Wales, United Kingdom, prepared to keep a welcome in the hillside for some of the world’s most treasured paintings. Across Europe the advancing Nazis had already looted or destroyed millions of pounds worth of art. As bombs fell on London and a German invasion seemed inevitable, attention turned to how to protect the National Gallery’s collection. In 1940, Winston Churchill famously said of the nation’s art treasures: “Hide them in caves and cellars, but not one picture shall leave this island.”

    Experts scoured the UK for a hiding place — until they found Manod Quarry. Manod Mountain had been a working quarry¹ for over a century. Its excavations created a cavernous space at the heart of the mountain, and covered with hundreds of feet of slate and granite it was virtually impregnable to bombing. Also, its very remoteness made it easier to keep the mission top secret.

    Suzanne Bosman, author of The National Gallery in Wartime, explains that moving almost 2,000 works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Turner proved to be quite an undertaking. “Cold, damp quarries aren’t really good storage places for priceless works of art, so before they were moved in, six air-tight climate-controlled brick huts were built inside the mountain,” she explained. “In fact the conditions in which they were stored at Manod were considerably better than those in which they were exhibited at the National Gallery before the war, and the evacuation taught staff a lot about preservation, even after the war”, says Bosman.

    The largest paintings were packed in specially designed “elephant cases” and transported by road. The smaller paintings were transported in Post Office vans and delivery trucks in order to avoid attracting attention. However, Ms Bosman said, it did not always run that smoothly. “Van Dyck’s Equestrian Portrait of Charles I is a monster, at 12ft by 9.5ft, and in its case, loaded on the back of the truck, it was considerably taller. On the approach to the quarry there is a tight S-bend, just where the road passes under the arch of a railway bridge. I liken it to trying to get a sofa around a corner on the stairs; there was enough height, but only if you could hit precisely the right angle.”

     Nowadays the quarry is in a poor state of repair and access is strictly controlled. Inside you can still see the marks on the wall where the paintings hung, and the floor is littered with the hygrometers and thermometers which would have controlled every aspect of the conditions. It’s such a shame that very few people will get to see it in the future. We’ve let a piece of our national heritage slip away.

(This article was inspired by a question from reader Doug Cormack who got
in touch to ask how the National Gallery’s collection came to be evacuated
to Wales during the war, and whether the paintings would ever come back
to Wales for a commemorative exhibition.)

(Neil Prior. www.bbc.com, 19.05.2019. Adaptado.)

¹quarry: an open excavation, usually for obtaining building material.