Questões de Inglês

Texto

Ten things to do if you lose your job

Unemployment is rising towards two million and the outlook is discouraging. Here are 10 things to remember if you have lost your job:

[5] 1. DON'T PANIC
2. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
3. PLAN YOUR FINANCES
4. BE HONEST WITH PEOPLE
5. CUT OUT LUXURIES
[10] 6. FIND NEW SOURCES OF INCOME
7. CLAIM WHAT YOU ARE DUE
8. UPGRADE YOUR CV
9. IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS
10. SEE IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY

Adapted from: http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/11022009/389/ten-things-lose-job.htm

Texto

Ten things to do if you lose your job

Unemployment is rising towards two million and the outlook is discouraging. Here are 10 things to remember if you have lost your job:

[5] 1. DON'T PANIC
2. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
3. PLAN YOUR FINANCES
4. BE HONEST WITH PEOPLE
5. CUT OUT LUXURIES
[10] 6. FIND NEW SOURCES OF INCOME
7. CLAIM WHAT YOU ARE DUE
8. UPGRADE YOUR CV
9. IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS
10. SEE IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY

Adapted from: http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/11022009/389/ten-things-lose-job.htm

Texto

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Isn’t it time you thought about investing in the largest economy in South America..?

Here are just three reasons why we think your investment will have a solid foundation:

   Resources: Brazil is a country of vast natural resources – We are the world’s largest producer of sugar cane and coffee, and our other exports include cocoa, orange juice, and soya beans. In addition, the poultry, pork and milk industries have undergone rapid growth in the last decade.We are one of the world’s leading producers of hydroelectric power, which accounts for 90% of country’s own electricity. And we exported 6 million kWh in 2004. Our extensive mineral resources are iron, manganese, nickel, tin, bauxite, and copper...the list continues. We have proven oil reserves of 15 billion barrels and expertise in deep-water prospecting.These resources are no longer exploited at the cost of the environment. The government is getting serious about sustainability. We recently adopted an Environmental Crimes Law to combat deforestation in the
Amazon.

     Stability: Since 1994, the Real Plan has brought rampant inflation under control. And the introduction of a policy of fiscal prudence continues to this day under President Lula da Silva. The economy showed steady GDP growth of 2.2% in the period 2001-05. Unemployment is under 10%. Trade has doubled since 1990, as has US direct investment following a sharp reduction in import
tariffs. Exports in 2005 were the best ever in the country’s history. Brazil is now the 11th largest economy in the world.
    Services: We have a diverse and sophisticated services sector. Take Financial Services, for example, which has recently seen significant structural reform to attract foreign capital. The result has been a huge increase in investment from the USA alone. Brazilians are as technology-hungry as anywhere in the world. You used to wait years to have a telephone installed. Today there are 70 million mobile phones and over 25 million internet users.

Think of the future. Think Brazil...

Adapted from http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-crossculture-brazil-1.htm

Texto

Advertisement

Isn’t it time you thought about investing in the largest economy in South America..?

Here are just three reasons why we think your investment will have a solid foundation:

   Resources: Brazil is a country of vast natural resources – We are the world’s largest producer of sugar cane and coffee, and our other exports include cocoa, orange juice, and soya beans. In addition, the poultry, pork and milk industries have undergone rapid growth in the last decade.We are one of the world’s leading producers of hydroelectric power, which accounts for 90% of country’s own electricity. And we exported 6 million kWh in 2004. Our extensive mineral resources are iron, manganese, nickel, tin, bauxite, and copper...the list continues. We have proven oil reserves of 15 billion barrels and expertise in deep-water prospecting.These resources are no longer exploited at the cost of the environment. The government is getting serious about sustainability. We recently adopted an Environmental Crimes Law to combat deforestation in the
Amazon.

     Stability: Since 1994, the Real Plan has brought rampant inflation under control. And the introduction of a policy of fiscal prudence continues to this day under President Lula da Silva. The economy showed steady GDP growth of 2.2% in the period 2001-05. Unemployment is under 10%. Trade has doubled since 1990, as has US direct investment following a sharp reduction in import
tariffs. Exports in 2005 were the best ever in the country’s history. Brazil is now the 11th largest economy in the world.
    Services: We have a diverse and sophisticated services sector. Take Financial Services, for example, which has recently seen significant structural reform to attract foreign capital. The result has been a huge increase in investment from the USA alone. Brazilians are as technology-hungry as anywhere in the world. You used to wait years to have a telephone installed. Today there are 70 million mobile phones and over 25 million internet users.

Think of the future. Think Brazil...

Adapted from http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-crossculture-brazil-1.htm

Extinction 'Gene': Some Species Are More at Risk

By Bryan Walsh Friday, Aug. 07, 2009

(1) In the tree of life, we often envision evolution working like a patient gardener, pruning species that don't quite fit, bit by bit. But that's not how extinction works in practice. Throughout our planet's history, mass extinction has occurred five times — most recently 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs finally died out — taking out vast amounts of life all at once, usually due to a catastrophic and sudden climatic change.

(2) But it turns out that even during the relatively peaceful eras between global calamities, during what is known as background extinction, whole families of species can disappear, pushed out of existence together. And it's not random. According to a new study published in the August 7 issue of Science, vulnerability to extinction runs in families, meaning that some groups of species have a higher likelihood of becoming extinct than others. "It turns out that some branches of the tree of life are more extinction-prone than others," says Kaustuv Roy, a biology professor at the University of California, San Diego. "Those traits aren't just a part of extinctions that human beings cause, but a general feature of extinction itself."

(3) Roy and his colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Chicago examined 200 million years of history of marine clams, oysters and mussels; they picked the simple bivalves because they have a long and detailed fossil record. Going back to the Jurassic period, researchers analyzed when each genus — a taxonomic category just above species — disappeared, and whether relatives vanished at the same time. On average they found that closely related groups of clams went extinct together at a rate that was more often than expected by blind chance — generally those groups of species were confined to a fairly small geographic area. "Extinctions tend to be clustered, which means the effects tend to be worse than what you might expect from random," says Roy. "That's true for mass extinctions as well — they end up culling the most vulnerable lineages, leaving the more resistant ones."

(4) This matters because if extinction were truly random, we'd have a much richer evolutionary history, because at least some representatives of all living things would make it to the present. But because extinction tends to be clumped around certain lineages, when extinction occurs we lose whole groups of species. "The long-term consequences are therefore much worse for biodiversity," says Roy.

(5) The Science study will provide needed ammunition for modern-day conservationists as well. We're in the middle of what some scientists have begun to call the sixth great extinction event, this one caused almost entirely by human beings. Human expansion, hunting, deforestation and ultimately climate change are eliminating species at a rate up to 1,000 times higher than the evolutionary norm. Species like the Yangtze River dolphin and the golden toad have disappeared, while a range of animals — from the Sumatran tiger to the silky Sifaka lemur of Madagascar are on the brink.

(6) Since extinction tends to target groups of vulnerable species, conservationists would be smart to identify and focus their efforts on the most susceptible families. That means species that have a narrow geographic spread — always a risk factor for extinction, in case something happens to their habitat — and, interestingly, large body size, which also tends to be associated with extinction. "It's a quick and dirty way to get a better picture of which species are likely to be most impacted," says Roy. "Then you can go in and mark your priorities." Extinction may be a part of life, but as the dominant species, we have the ability to influence it — for better or for worse.

(taken from the website: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1915055,00.html#ixzz0bHFxP4Tw ) 

Extinction 'Gene': Some Species Are More at Risk

By Bryan Walsh Friday, Aug. 07, 2009

(1) In the tree of life, we often envision evolution working like a patient gardener, pruning species that don't quite fit, bit by bit. But that's not how extinction works in practice. Throughout our planet's history, mass extinction has occurred five times — most recently 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs finally died out — taking out vast amounts of life all at once, usually due to a catastrophic and sudden climatic change.

(2) But it turns out that even during the relatively peaceful eras between global calamities, during what is known as background extinction, whole families of species can disappear, pushed out of existence together. And it's not random. According to a new study published in the August 7 issue of Science, vulnerability to extinction runs in families, meaning that some groups of species have a higher likelihood of becoming extinct than others. "It turns out that some branches of the tree of life are more extinction-prone than others," says Kaustuv Roy, a biology professor at the University of California, San Diego. "Those traits aren't just a part of extinctions that human beings cause, but a general feature of extinction itself."

(3) Roy and his colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Chicago examined 200 million years of history of marine clams, oysters and mussels; they picked the simple bivalves because they have a long and detailed fossil record. Going back to the Jurassic period, researchers analyzed when each genus — a taxonomic category just above species — disappeared, and whether relatives vanished at the same time. On average they found that closely related groups of clams went extinct together at a rate that was more often than expected by blind chance — generally those groups of species were confined to a fairly small geographic area. "Extinctions tend to be clustered, which means the effects tend to be worse than what you might expect from random," says Roy. "That's true for mass extinctions as well — they end up culling the most vulnerable lineages, leaving the more resistant ones."

(4) This matters because if extinction were truly random, we'd have a much richer evolutionary history, because at least some representatives of all living things would make it to the present. But because extinction tends to be clumped around certain lineages, when extinction occurs we lose whole groups of species. "The long-term consequences are therefore much worse for biodiversity," says Roy.

(5) The Science study will provide needed ammunition for modern-day conservationists as well. We're in the middle of what some scientists have begun to call the sixth great extinction event, this one caused almost entirely by human beings. Human expansion, hunting, deforestation and ultimately climate change are eliminating species at a rate up to 1,000 times higher than the evolutionary norm. Species like the Yangtze River dolphin and the golden toad have disappeared, while a range of animals — from the Sumatran tiger to the silky Sifaka lemur of Madagascar are on the brink.

(6) Since extinction tends to target groups of vulnerable species, conservationists would be smart to identify and focus their efforts on the most susceptible families. That means species that have a narrow geographic spread — always a risk factor for extinction, in case something happens to their habitat — and, interestingly, large body size, which also tends to be associated with extinction. "It's a quick and dirty way to get a better picture of which species are likely to be most impacted," says Roy. "Then you can go in and mark your priorities." Extinction may be a part of life, but as the dominant species, we have the ability to influence it — for better or for worse.

(taken from the website: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1915055,00.html#ixzz0bHFxP4Tw )