Questões de Inglês

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SODA’S NEW THREAT
Sure, soda can rot your teeth and make you fat, but that’s not all. Sugary drinks may increase your risk of heart disease, especially if you’re a heavy guy, say scientists from the University of California at Davis. In the study, overweight people who drank a fructose-sweetened beverage with a meal saw their triglyceride levels spike three times as high over 24 hours than people who drank a glucose-sweetened beverage. Triglycerides are fats in your blood, and high levels are thought to boost heart-disease risk. Your liver converts fructose to triglycerides, causing the spike, says study author Karen Teff, Ph.D. Most fruit juices also contains fructose, so dilute apple juice with equal parts water.
Men’s Health, October 2006, page 36.

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Civil societies can only thrive when damaging stereotypes are broken down. The difficulty is that stereotypes are sometimes hard to recognize because they are fixed beliefs. Learning to identify stereotypes is one of the first steps we must take to build a civil society. All of us face peer pressure when confronted with a joke which puts down a certain minority. It takes courage to raise objections to these jokes and pejorative names and to actively fight the prejudice and bigotry which they foster. It is important to stand up against injustice, and fight the discrimination, stereotypes, and scapegoating which have served as the precursors to persecution, violence, and genocide. After identifying stereotypes, we can work toward eliminating them from society. When stereotypes are eliminated, it will be easier to acknowledge and appreciate individual differences. When we live in a society that is open to cultural diversity and that values the contributions of all society members – regardless of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, race, life styles, and belief – we will be one step closer to living in a civil society.
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First and Second Inaugural Addresses

      This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

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I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.
I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago.

I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.
I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions.

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
It is not in despair that I paint you that picture, I paint it for you in hope – because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful, law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

(Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

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Of prime importance in reading is vocabulary skill. The reader must know the meanings of enough of the words in a sentence for it to make sense and also know how to combine individual word meanings within a sentence. Once the student is past the initial stages of reading, he spends a large percentage of his time encountering new vocabulary, which can be approached in a number of ways. The teacher can give the meaning for each new word, as is common in teaching reading to non-native students.
Or, also common, the student may spend hours with a dictionary writing native-language glosses into his text. For the native speaker of English, the most common form of vocabulary building is guessing from context and/or word formations.
In many settings in which English is taught as a foreign language (EFL) there are high degrees of emphasis on rote memorization. Because vocabulary development skills are seldom specifically taught, the student is not aware of the skills or their benefits. Most students have been trained to panic. Their first
reaction on encountering a new word in a text is to stop and ask for a definition, even if the rest of the sentence defines it. The student of English as a foreign language cannot begin to read with full comprehension until he has been taught to conquer the unknown word by using contextual aids, that is, the formation of the word itself and the environment in which it is found.
(Adapted from Vocabulary in Context, by Anna Fisher Kruse, in Long, Michael H. and Richards, Jack (eds.), Methodology in TESOL – A Book of Readings. New York: Newbury House, 1987)

Impact of smartphones on behaviour in lessons to be reviewed
School Minister Nick Gibb announces Torn Bennett Will review Wider behaviour issues including smartphones in lessons.

[01]       An investigation into how to train teachers to tackle poor pupil behaviour wiII be expanded to cover
[02] Wider issues such as the use of mobile phones and other devices in schools, Schools Minister Nick Gibb
[03] announced today (13 September 201 5).
[04]       In June, the government expert former teacher Tom Bennett to lead a review into how initial teacher
[05] training prepares teachers for tackling low-level disruption in class - but now his role wiII be expanded to
[06] look at aII of the challenges of managing behaviour in 2lst-century schools.
[07]       Appropriately used, technology can offer opportunities to enhance the educational experience of
[08] pupils - devices such as tablets and smartphones are used by many schools to aid teaching. Teachers,
[09] however, have reported that the growing number of children bringing personal devices into class is hindering
[10] teaching and leading to disruption.
[11]       In May, the London School of Economics found that banning mobile phones from classrooms could
[12] benefit students” learning by as much as an additional week's worth of schooling over an academic year.
[13] The report found that banning phones would most benefit Iow-achieving children and those from
[14] disadvantaged backgrounds.
[15]      Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has already called for more schools to ban children from
[16] bringing phones into lessons - a major issue that Tom Bennett will now review.
[17]        Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:
[18]       “Since 2010 we have given teachers more power to ensure good behaviour in the classroom. But
[19] we need to make sure the advice we give to schools and the approaches being used across the country are
[20] fit for the 21st century when even primary school pupils may be bringing in phones or tablets.”
[21]       “That is why we have taken the decision to expand Tom Bennett's review to look at how teachers
[22] can tackle bad behaviour.”
[23]       “Whether it is the use of mobile phones in schools or the attitudes of parents to their child's behaviour
[24] in class, we will now probe deeper into behaviour more generally to ensure that no child has to put up with
[25] having their education disrupted by misbehaviour.”
[26]         Tom Bennett, school behaviour expert, said:
[27]       “Technology is transforming society and even classrooms - but all too often we hear of lessons
[28] being disrupted by the temptation of the smartphone.”
[29]       “Learning is hard work and children are all too aware of this. So when they have a smartphone in
[30] their pocket that offers instant entertainment and reward, they can be easily distracted from their work.”
[31]       “This is a 21 st-century problem and the majority of schools are dealing with it effectively. But I will
[32] now probe deeper into this issue, and behaviour challenges more broadly, to uncover the real extent of the
[33] problem and see what we can do to ensure all children focus on their learning.”
[34]       A 201 3 survey suggested that the vast majority of schools have some form of mobile phone policy
[35] in place. One third of schools ban mobile phones outright, with a further fifth Iimiting their use in lessons.
[36] (...) 
[37]       Thanks to the government's reforms and the hard work of teachers, school behaviour has been
[38] transformed since 2010:
[39]       - fewer pupils are persistently absent from school than ever before, with the number of pupils in this
[40] category almost halving since 2010
[41]       - more teachers rated behaviour in their schools as “good” or “very good, in 201 4 than when previously
[42]surveyed in 2008
[43]       The government's reforms include a number of measures to encourage good behaviour and
[44] attendance in school, including:
[45]       - changing the law so that headteachers only grant leave from school in exceptional circumstances
[46]       - encouraging schools to tackle the problem of persistent absence earlier by reducing the threshold
[47] by which absence is defined as persistent from 20% to 15% from October 2011 - this means schools are
[48] held to a higher standard in performance tables than before
[49]       - making clear that teachers can use "reasonable force” to maintain behaviour and extending their
[50] searching powers from 2011
[51]       - allowing teachers to impose same-day detentions from 2011.
Disponível em: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/impact-of-smartphones-on-behaviour-in-Iessons-to-be-reviewed. Acesso em: 13 set. 2015.

TEXTO:

Study: Thirdhand Smoke Could Cause Harm

  A new study reveals that the so-called “thirdhand
smoke,” or the residue from cigarette smoke that lands
on surfaces after a smoker lights up, could be hazardous
to passers-by even well after the smoker has left the
[5] scene.
  New research from the University of California
Riverside shows that the so-called “thirdhand smoke”
exposure harms organs in mice and increases symptoms
of hyperactivity — which suggests humans too might
[10] suffer similar negative consequences.
  The researchers exposed lab mice to levels of
thirdhand smoke meant to imitate the levels humans
come into contact with in a smoking environment. They
found that the mice exhibited higher levels of lipids and
[15] fatty liver disease, as well as inflammation in their lungs.
The mice also had trouble healing wounds. Both of these
findings are found among people exposed to secondhand
smoke. Smokers also tend to take longer to heal their
wounds after a surgery.
[20]   The researchers also noted increased levels of
hyperactivity in the mice, which they compared to similar
symptoms reported in children exposed to second and
thirdhand smoke. “It follows that children in environments
where smoking is, or has been allowed, are at significant
[25] risk for suffering from multiple short-term and longer health
problems, many of which may not manifest fully until
later in life,” the researchers conclude in the study,
published in the journal PLOS ONE.

SIFFERLING, Alexandra. Study: Thirdhand Smoke Could Cause Harm. Disponível em: <www.time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/page/ 91/>. Acesso em: 12 out. 2015.