Questões de Inglês

NO HURRICANE TONIGHT

By Philip Ball

1 Isn’t it strange how we like to regard weather forecasting as a uniquely incompetent science—as

though this subject of vital economic and social importance can attract only the most inept researchers,

armed with bungling, bogus theories?

2 That joke, however, is becoming less funny. With Britain’s, and probably the world’s, weather

becoming more variable and prone to extremes, an inaccurate forecast risks more than a wet garden

party, potentially leaving us unprepared for life-threatening floods or ruined harvests.

3 Perhaps this new need to take forecasting seriously will eventually win it the respect it deserves.

Part of the reason we love to highlight the disastrously misplaced reassurance from Michael Fish, the

BBC’s TV weatherman, is that there has been no comparable failure since. “Earlier today,” said Fish,

“apparently, a woman phoned the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if

you’re watching, don’t worry – there isn’t.” Hours later, the great storm of 1987 struck. As meteorologists

and applied mathematicians Ian Roulstone and John Norbury point out in their account of the maths of

weather prediction, Invisible in the Storm, the five-day forecast is, at least in western Europe, now more

reliable than the three-day forecast was when the 1987 storm raged. There has been a steady

improvement in accuracy over this period and, popular wisdom to the contrary, prediction has long been

far superior to simply assuming that tomorrow´s weather will be the same as today’s.

4 Weather forecasting is hard not in the way that fundamental physics is hard. It’s not that the

ideas are so confusing, but that the basic equations are extremely tough to solve, and that hiding within

them is a barrier to prediction that must defeat even the most profound mind. Weather is intrinsically

unknowable more than two weeks ahead, because it is an example of a chaotic system, in which

imperceptible differences in two initial states can blossom into grossly different eventual outcomes.

Indeed, it was the work of the American meteorologist Edward Lorenz in the 1960s, using a set of highly

simplified equations to determine patterns of atmospheric convection, that first alerted the scientific

community to the notion of chaos: the inevitable divergence of all but identical initial states as they

evolve over time.

5 It’s not obvious that weather should be susceptible to mathematical analysis in the first place.

Wind and rain and blazing heat seem subject to caprice, and it’s no wonder they were long considered a

matter of divine providence.

Adapted from Prospect, February, 2013

MEMORY

by Adam Hadhazy

1 Flavonoids, a group of chemicals commonly found in plants, are often credited as having

“superfood” powers. One of them, epicatechin (epi)—abundant in chocolate, green tea, and red wine—

allegedly reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, among other virtues. It is also thought to

improve memory. But is that so? The answer, for the memory benefit, is yes, at least if you are a snail.

2 Neuroscientist Kenneth D. Lukowiak of the University of Calgary, Canada, and two colleagues

tested the power of epi as a memory enhancer in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Pond snails breathe

through their skin when in waters rich in oxygen, but if oxygen becomes scarce, the mollusks go to the

surface and breath through an orifice—the pneumostome—connected to a simple lung. By gently poking

the pneumostome with a stick when a snail tries to open it, researchers can condition snails to come up for

air less frequently. And that is what the team did.

3 They trained snails with the stick in plain pond water and in epi-infused water and compared the

duration of their memory. After a half-hour session, snails in plain water learned to attempt fewer

breaths—and remembered their lessons for about three hours. Snails exposed to epi, on the other hand,

kept up their modified behavior a full day later. And snails trained in epi-rich water for two half-hour

sessions continued to surface less often for air three days on. Snails trained in epi also had stronger

memories than snails trained in regular water—that is, it was harder to train them to ignore what they

had learned.

4 Epi still improved snail memory after the researchers blocked the animals’ serotonin receptors and

after they severed innervation to the osphradium, a chemical sensory organ, suggesting that epi might act

via a mechanism different from those previously known in snails. “Our present, as yet unproved,

hypothesis is that epi directly works on neurons,” says Lukowiak.

Adapted from Natural History, November, 2012

[1] “Fan” is ........ abbreviated form of

“fanatic”, which has ........ roots in ........ Latin

word “fanaticus”, which simply meant

“belonging to the temple, a devotee”. But

[5] these words quickly assumed negative

connotations, to the point of becoming

references to excessive religious belief and to any

mistaken enthusiasm.

Based on such connotations, news reports

[10] frequently characterize fans as psychopaths

........ frustrated fantasies of intimate

relationships with stars or unsatisfied desires

to achieve stardom take violent and antisocial

forms. Whether viewed as a religious fanatic,

[15] a psychopathic killer, a neurotic fantasist, or a

lust-crazed groupie, the fan remains a

“fanatic” with interests alien to the realm of

“normal” cultural experience and a mentality

dangerously out of touch with reality.

[20] To understand the logic behind this

discursive construction of fans, we must

reconsider what we mean by taste. Concepts

of “good taste,” appropriate conduct, or

aesthetic merit are not natural or universal;

[25] rather, they are rooted in social experience

and reflect particular class interests. Taste

becomes one of the important means by

which social distinctions are maintained and

class identities are forged. Those who

[30] “naturally” possess appropriate tastes

“deserve” a privileged position, while the

tastes of others are seen as underdeveloped.

Taste distinctions determine desirable and

undesirable ways of relating to cultural

[35] objects, strategies of interpretation and styles

of consumption.

The stereotypical conception of the fan

reflects anxieties about the violation of

dominant cultural hierarchies. The fans’

[40] transgression of bourgeois taste disrupt

dominant cultural hierarchies, insuring that

their preferences be seen as abnormal and

threatening by those who have an interest in

the maintenance of these standards (even by

[45] those who may share similar tastes but

express them in different ways).

Adapted from: JENKINS, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York / London: Routledge, 1992. p. 12-16.

[1] “Fan” is ........ abbreviated form of

“fanatic”, which has ........ roots in ........ Latin

word “fanaticus”, which simply meant

“belonging to the temple, a devotee”. But

[5] these words quickly assumed negative

connotations, to the point of becoming

references to excessive religious belief and to any

mistaken enthusiasm.

Based on such connotations, news reports

[10] frequently characterize fans as psychopaths

........ frustrated fantasies of intimate

relationships with stars or unsatisfied desires

to achieve stardom take violent and antisocial

forms. Whether viewed as a religious fanatic,

[15] a psychopathic killer, a neurotic fantasist, or a

lust-crazed groupie, the fan remains a

“fanatic” with interests alien to the realm of

“normal” cultural experience and a mentality

dangerously out of touch with reality.

[20] To understand the logic behind this

discursive construction of fans, we must

reconsider what we mean by taste. Concepts

of “good taste,” appropriate conduct, or

aesthetic merit are not natural or universal;

[25] rather, they are rooted in social experience

and reflect particular class interests. Taste

becomes one of the important means by

which social distinctions are maintained and

class identities are forged. Those who

[30] “naturally” possess appropriate tastes

“deserve” a privileged position, while the

tastes of others are seen as underdeveloped.

Taste distinctions determine desirable and

undesirable ways of relating to cultural

[35] objects, strategies of interpretation and styles

of consumption.

The stereotypical conception of the fan

reflects anxieties about the violation of

dominant cultural hierarchies. The fans’

[40] transgression of bourgeois taste disrupt

dominant cultural hierarchies, insuring that

their preferences be seen as abnormal and

threatening by those who have an interest in

the maintenance of these standards (even by

[45] those who may share similar tastes but

express them in different ways).

Adapted from: JENKINS, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York / London: Routledge, 1992. p. 12-16.

[1] “Fan” is ........ abbreviated form of

“fanatic”, which has ........ roots in ........ Latin

word “fanaticus”, which simply meant

“belonging to the temple, a devotee”. But

[5] these words quickly assumed negative

connotations, to the point of becoming

references to excessive religious belief and to any

mistaken enthusiasm.

Based on such connotations, news reports

[10] frequently characterize fans as psychopaths

........ frustrated fantasies of intimate

relationships with stars or unsatisfied desires

to achieve stardom take violent and antisocial

forms. Whether viewed as a religious fanatic,

[15] a psychopathic killer, a neurotic fantasist, or a

lust-crazed groupie, the fan remains a

“fanatic” with interests alien to the realm of

“normal” cultural experience and a mentality

dangerously out of touch with reality.

[20] To understand the logic behind this

discursive construction of fans, we must

reconsider what we mean by taste. Concepts

of “good taste,” appropriate conduct, or

aesthetic merit are not natural or universal;

[25] rather, they are rooted in social experience

and reflect particular class interests. Taste

becomes one of the important means by

which social distinctions are maintained and

class identities are forged. Those who

[30] “naturally” possess appropriate tastes

“deserve” a privileged position, while the

tastes of others are seen as underdeveloped.

Taste distinctions determine desirable and

undesirable ways of relating to cultural

[35] objects, strategies of interpretation and styles

of consumption.

The stereotypical conception of the fan

reflects anxieties about the violation of

dominant cultural hierarchies. The fans’

[40] transgression of bourgeois taste disrupt

dominant cultural hierarchies, insuring that

their preferences be seen as abnormal and

threatening by those who have an interest in

the maintenance of these standards (even by

[45] those who may share similar tastes but

express them in different ways).

Adapted from: JENKINS, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York / London: Routledge, 1992. p. 12-16.

[1] “Fan” is ........ abbreviated form of

“fanatic”, which has ........ roots in ........ Latin

word “fanaticus”, which simply meant

“belonging to the temple, a devotee”. But

[5] these words quickly assumed negative

connotations, to the point of becoming

references to excessive religious belief and to any

mistaken enthusiasm.

Based on such connotations, news reports

[10] frequently characterize fans as psychopaths

........ frustrated fantasies of intimate

relationships with stars or unsatisfied desires

to achieve stardom take violent and antisocial

forms. Whether viewed as a religious fanatic,

[15] a psychopathic killer, a neurotic fantasist, or a

lust-crazed groupie, the fan remains a

“fanatic” with interests alien to the realm of

“normal” cultural experience and a mentality

dangerously out of touch with reality.

[20] To understand the logic behind this

discursive construction of fans, we must

reconsider what we mean by taste. Concepts

of “good taste,” appropriate conduct, or

aesthetic merit are not natural or universal;

[25] rather, they are rooted in social experience

and reflect particular class interests. Taste

becomes one of the important means by

which social distinctions are maintained and

class identities are forged. Those who

[30] “naturally” possess appropriate tastes

“deserve” a privileged position, while the

tastes of others are seen as underdeveloped.

Taste distinctions determine desirable and

undesirable ways of relating to cultural

[35] objects, strategies of interpretation and styles

of consumption.

The stereotypical conception of the fan

reflects anxieties about the violation of

dominant cultural hierarchies. The fans’

[40] transgression of bourgeois taste disrupt

dominant cultural hierarchies, insuring that

their preferences be seen as abnormal and

threatening by those who have an interest in

the maintenance of these standards (even by

[45] those who may share similar tastes but

express them in different ways).

Adapted from: JENKINS, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York / London: Routledge, 1992. p. 12-16.