Questões de Inglês

Brazil cotton deal perpetuates an unhealthy status quo of subsidies

Published by The Washington Post (The text below has been slightly modified to better suit the exam)

 

1. When is a victory for the United States not a victory

for the American taxpayer? When it’s an international

agreement like the one the Obama administration has

just reached to settle a long-running dispute with

Brazil over cotton subsidies. The roots of that dispute

lie in this country’s history of showering federal funds

on crop producers, including cotton growers. That

particular business received $32.9 billion from

Washington between 1995 and 2012, according to

the Environmental Working Group, largely through

programs that had the effect of rewarding farmers for

increasing production. The extra supply dampened

prices on the world market, so, in 2002, Brazil

complained to the World Trade Organization, which

ruled that US cotton subsidies were indeed

“trade-distorting” and authorized Brazil to retaliate

against US exports. The United States avoided

sanctions — not by reforming its programs but by

agreeing in 2010 to pay Brazil’s cotton farmers

$147.3 million per year.

2. In short, the US government bought off Brazil’s

cotton farmers so that it could keep on buying off its

own. Under the new settlement, announced

Wednesday, Brazil agreed to drop its case at the

WTO and to forgo any new ones during the five-year

term of the farm bill Congress enacted last year. In

return, the United States agreed to trim the modest

US cotton export credit subsidy program and, most

important, to pay Brazil one last dollop of taxpayer

cash, in the amount of $300 million.

3. This is good news to the extent that it fortifies

US-Brazil relations on the eve of a new presidential

term in that country and that it spares US exporters

from the threat of Brazilian retaliation, which could

have reached a total of $829 million per year. Yet, in

essence, the new deal perpetuates the unhealthy

status quo whereby the United States pays Brazil

____ the right ____ continue propping _____ a

domestic cotton industry that can ____ should learn

to compete ____ its own.

According to the information provided in the text, why did the US government have a dispute with Brazil?

Migrant crisis: Grim find of bodies in Austria lorry

AUGUST 27, 2015 -BBC NEWS

The bodies of between 20 and 50 migrants have been found in a lorry abandoned in a motorway lay-by near the Austrian border with Hungary, authorities say.

Austrian police say they think the people inside were already dead when the truck crossed into Austria. The lorry has been towed away for forensic examination. Police say they should be able to give more information on the number of bodies on Friday morning. The grim find comes as a summit focusing on migration takes place in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe.

Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said the tragedy showed once again "how necessary it is to save lives by combating criminals and people traffickers".

The vehicle - a refrigerated lorry with Hungarian license plates - was found parked off the A4 motorway between Parndorf and Neusiedl am See, according to Burgenland police chief Hans Peter Doskozil. The vehicle was there from around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Thursday morning, Mr. Doskozil said. But Hungarian cameras had identified that the truck was on the Hungarian side of the border, very close to Austria, at 09:00 on Wednesday, he said, so it must have been driven across the border in the intervening time.

The decomposing state of the bodies would suggest that they had been dead for one and a half to two days, the police chief added, suggesting that the victims must have already been dead when the lorry crossed into Austria. On Thursday afternoon the truck was towed away to undergo forensic examinations in Nickelsdorf. Police will give a further news conference at 11:00 on Friday, when they should be able to say how many people have died. They do not yet know whether women and children are among the victims, or how they died.

Fonte: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34073534

In “But Hungarian cameras had identified that the truck was on the Hungarian side of the border (…) so it must have been driven across the border in the intervening time”, the verb tenses involved are, respectively:

Migrant crisis: Grim find of bodies in Austria lorry

AUGUST 27, 2015 -BBC NEWS

The bodies of between 20 and 50 migrants have been found in a lorry abandoned in a motorway lay-by near the Austrian border with Hungary, authorities say.

Austrian police say they think the people inside were already dead when the truck crossed into Austria. The lorry has been towed away for forensic examination. Police say they should be able to give more information on the number of bodies on Friday morning. The grim find comes as a summit focusing on migration takes place in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe.

Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said the tragedy showed once again "how necessary it is to save lives by combating criminals and people traffickers".

The vehicle - a refrigerated lorry with Hungarian license plates - was found parked off the A4 motorway between Parndorf and Neusiedl am See, according to Burgenland police chief Hans Peter Doskozil. The vehicle was there from around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Thursday morning, Mr. Doskozil said. But Hungarian cameras had identified that the truck was on the Hungarian side of the border, very close to Austria, at 09:00 on Wednesday, he said, so it must have been driven across the border in the intervening time.

The decomposing state of the bodies would suggest that they had been dead for one and a half to two days, the police chief added, suggesting that the victims must have already been dead when the lorry crossed into Austria. On Thursday afternoon the truck was towed away to undergo forensic examinations in Nickelsdorf. Police will give a further news conference at 11:00 on Friday, when they should be able to say how many people have died. They do not yet know whether women and children are among the victims, or how they died.

Fonte: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34073534

What did Austria\'s Chancellor Werner Faymann say about the episode?

Migrant crisis: Grim find of bodies in Austria lorry

AUGUST 27, 2015 -BBC NEWS

The bodies of between 20 and 50 migrants have been found in a lorry abandoned in a motorway lay-by near the Austrian border with Hungary, authorities say.

Austrian police say they think the people inside were already dead when the truck crossed into Austria. The lorry has been towed away for forensic examination. Police say they should be able to give more information on the number of bodies on Friday morning. The grim find comes as a summit focusing on migration takes place in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe.

Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said the tragedy showed once again "how necessary it is to save lives by combating criminals and people traffickers".

The vehicle - a refrigerated lorry with Hungarian license plates - was found parked off the A4 motorway between Parndorf and Neusiedl am See, according to Burgenland police chief Hans Peter Doskozil. The vehicle was there from around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Thursday morning, Mr. Doskozil said. But Hungarian cameras had identified that the truck was on the Hungarian side of the border, very close to Austria, at 09:00 on Wednesday, he said, so it must have been driven across the border in the intervening time.

The decomposing state of the bodies would suggest that they had been dead for one and a half to two days, the police chief added, suggesting that the victims must have already been dead when the lorry crossed into Austria. On Thursday afternoon the truck was towed away to undergo forensic examinations in Nickelsdorf. Police will give a further news conference at 11:00 on Friday, when they should be able to say how many people have died. They do not yet know whether women and children are among the victims, or how they died.

Fonte: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34073534

In the stretch “The lorry has been towed away for forensic examination”, “the lorry has been towed away” means:

Migrant crisis: Grim find of bodies in Austria lorry

AUGUST 27, 2015 -BBC NEWS

The bodies of between 20 and 50 migrants have been found in a lorry abandoned in a motorway lay-by near the Austrian border with Hungary, authorities say.

Austrian police say they think the people inside were already dead when the truck crossed into Austria. The lorry has been towed away for forensic examination. Police say they should be able to give more information on the number of bodies on Friday morning. The grim find comes as a summit focusing on migration takes place in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe.

Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said the tragedy showed once again "how necessary it is to save lives by combating criminals and people traffickers".

The vehicle - a refrigerated lorry with Hungarian license plates - was found parked off the A4 motorway between Parndorf and Neusiedl am See, according to Burgenland police chief Hans Peter Doskozil. The vehicle was there from around 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Thursday morning, Mr. Doskozil said. But Hungarian cameras had identified that the truck was on the Hungarian side of the border, very close to Austria, at 09:00 on Wednesday, he said, so it must have been driven across the border in the intervening time.

The decomposing state of the bodies would suggest that they had been dead for one and a half to two days, the police chief added, suggesting that the victims must have already been dead when the lorry crossed into Austria. On Thursday afternoon the truck was towed away to undergo forensic examinations in Nickelsdorf. Police will give a further news conference at 11:00 on Friday, when they should be able to say how many people have died. They do not yet know whether women and children are among the victims, or how they died.

Fonte: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34073534

According to the reporting:

The verbal tense in “Sharon, get busy and wash the dishes” is: