Questões de Inglês

Chuck Berry, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, dead at 90
By Ralph Ellis, Todd Leopold and Tony Marco, CNN
Updated 0212 GMT (1012 HKT) March 19, 2017

(CNN)Chuck Berry, a music pioneer often called “the Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” died Saturday at his home outside St. Louis, his verified Facebook page said. He was 90.
A post on the St. Charles County police Facebook page said officers responded to a medical emergency at the residence around 12:40 p.m. (1:40 p.m. ET) Saturday and found an unresponsive man inside. Resuscitation efforts failed.
“The St. Charles County Police Department sadly confirms the death of Charles Edward Anderson Berry Sr., better known as legendary musician Chuck Berry.”
A musical legend
Berry wrote and recorded “Johnny B. Goode” and “Sweet Little Sixteen” -- songs every garage band and fledgling guitarist had to learn if they wanted to enter the rock ‘n’ roll fellowship.
Berry took all-night hamburger stands, brown-eyed handsome men and V-8 Fords and turned them into the stuff of American poetry. By doing so, he gave rise to followers beyond number, bar-band disciples of the electric guitar, who carried his musical message to the far corners of the Earth.
Some of his most famous followers praised him on social media.
Bruce Springsteen tweeted: “Chuck Berry was rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived.”
Chuck Berry was rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived.
The Rolling Stones posted on their website: “The Rolling Stones are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Chuck Berry. He was a true pioneer of rock ‘n’ roll and a massive influence on us. Chuck was not only a brilliant guitarist, singer and performer, but most importantly, he was a master craftsman as a songwriter. His songs will live forever. “

But it was perhaps John Lennon -- who died in 1980 -- who put it most succinctly. “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’”
The list of Berry’s classics is as well-known as his distinctive, chiming “Chuck Berry riff”: “Maybellene.” “Around and Around.” “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man.” “School Days.” “Memphis.” “Nadine.” “No Particular Place to Go.”
They were deceptively simple tunes, many constructed with simple chord progressions and classic verse-chorus-verse formats, but their hearts could be as big as teenage hopes on a Saturday night.
His music even went into outer space. When the two Voyager spacecrafts were launched in 1977, each was accompanied on its journey to the outer reaches of the solar system by a phonograph record that contained sounds of Earth -- including “Johnny B. Goode.”
www.cnn.com

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Why I stopped mispronouncing my Igbo name
[1]  In Nigeria, the language spoken by one of the largest
ethnic groups, the Igbo, is in danger of dying out – which is
odd because the population is growing. In the past this
didn’t worry Nkem Ifejika, who is himself Igbo but never
[5] learned the language.
  When he is in Nigeria, he says his parents are Igbo. He
might throw in that he partly grew up in the United
Kingdom. In Britain, He says he’s Nigerian, though he often
adds explainers about having been educated at British
[10] schools and lived outside Nigeria since he was 12 years old.
Nkem Ifejika can speak English, French among others.
  However, he can’t speak the language of his ancestors. Igbo
is a tonal language, so the words with the wrong stresses and
tones either change their meaning, or worse, become
[15] unintelligible. In Igboland, as it’s informally known, names
have meaning and history. Nkemakonam means “may I not
lack what is mine”, while Ifejika means “what I have is
greater”. By mispronouncing his names, he was throwing
away generation of history, and disregarding his parents’
[20] careful choice.
  His indefatigable and proudly wife, who is also Igbo,
helped him out when they met. Now he knows how to
pronounce his name properly, with the correct tones and
with pride. 

Fonte: BBC NewsWorld Service

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The Bottom Line on Facebook Depression
[1]  Facebook, the most popular social media platform, does
not make people more depressed on its own. Instead, what
the research shows is that Facebook – when used as a
surveillance device – leads to a greater risk of feelings of
[5] envy. And the more those feelings of envy increase, the more
likely it is for a person to start feeling depressed.
  The key to stopping these feelings is to not use Facebook
primarily as a surveillance method to spy on your family and
friends’ lives. Instead, use it as a social network where you
[10] share your own information, photos and updates, as well as
consume other’s updates and shares.
  Healthy use of Facebook will protect you against the
possibility of feeling more depressed after using it. It’s a
simple thing you can try for yourself – especially if you feel
[15] more envious after checking Facebook. 

Fonte: Psych Central – World of Psychology

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Airports ‘vunerable’ to attack

[1]  The 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack was a
terrorist ramming attack which occurred on Saturday 30 June
2007, when a dark green Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane
canisters was driven into the glass doors of the Glasgow
[5] International Airport terminal and set ablaze. It was the first
terrorist attack to take place in Scotland. Security bollards
outside the entrance stopped the car from entering the
terminal, although the doors were damaged.
  Security consultant Chris Yates said many of the changes
[10] put in place at Glasgow had been copied at other UK airports.
But he said that although some “weak points” in airport had
been addressed, others remained.
  Since the attack, cars no longer drop off passengers
outside the main terminal building, which was fitted with
bomb-proof glass.
Fonte:BBC News
GLOSSARY
(car) ramming attack – ataque no qual um veículo choca-se contra um local 
propane canister – container de metal contendo gás propano
bollard – poste usado para manter um veículo fora de uma área em particular 

Read the article and answer question.

Airports ‘vunerable’ to attack

[1]  The 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack was a
terrorist ramming attack which occurred on Saturday 30 June
2007, when a dark green Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane
canisters was driven into the glass doors of the Glasgow
[5] International Airport terminal and set ablaze. It was the first
terrorist attack to take place in Scotland. Security bollards
outside the entrance stopped the car from entering the
terminal, although the doors were damaged.
  Security consultant Chris Yates said many of the changes
[10] put in place at Glasgow had been copied at other UK airports.
But he said that although some “weak points” in airport had
been addressed, others remained.
  Since the attack, cars no longer drop off passengers
outside the main terminal building, which was fitted with
bomb-proof glass.
Fonte:BBC News
GLOSSARY
(car) ramming attack – ataque no qual um veículo choca-se contra um local 
propane canister – container de metal contendo gás propano
bollard – poste usado para manter um veículo fora de uma área em particular 

Brexit 'means economy faces 50/50 recession chance'

3 August 2016

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) says the UK will go through a "marked economic slowdown" this year and next. It says inflation will also pick up, rising to 3% by the end of next year. "This is the short-term economic consequence of the vote to leave the EU", said Simon Kirby of the NIESR.

Overall the institute forecasts that the UK economy will probably grow by 1.7% this year but will expand by just 1% in 2017. This would see the UK avoid a technical recession, typically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

Mr. Kirby argued that the June referendum vote had led to such financial and political uncertainty that this would bear directly on the spending and investment decisions of both businesses and households. "We expect the UK to experience a marked economic slowdown in the second half of this year and throughout 2017," he said. "There is an even chance of a 'technical' recession in the next 18 months, while there is an elevated risk of further deterioration in the near term."

The pick-up in inflation to 3% will mainly be due to the recent fall in the value of the pound, but that should be ignored by the Bank of England, the Institute said. "The Monetary Policy Committee should 'look through' this temporary rise in inflation and ease monetary policy substantially in the coming months", Mr. Kirby said. The institute forecasts that the Bank will reduce interest rates to just 0.1% eventually, after cutting them to 0.25% later this week.

Falling optimism

In a separate report, the CBI business lobby group says that the UK's small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) fear they will be hit by a fall in orders in the next three months. Its latest quarterly survey of SMEs says business optimism has fallen at its fastest rate since January 2009, when the UK economy was falling into recession. Now, the culprit is the uncertainty following June's Brexit vote. Despite this, the 472 firms surveyed said that current orders were stable.

Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI's director for economics, said: "The UK's SME manufacturers reported higher production, more staff hired and now expect to sell more of their world-class goods overseas over the next quarter, with a weaker sterling having a hand in this. "But overall they do feel less optimistic and are scaling back some investment plans in machinery and plants".

The CBI's survey is just the latest to suggest that the effect of the June referendum vote may be, in the short term at least, to depress business activity. On Monday the Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers' index suggested that activity among UK manufacturers in July had shrunk at its fastest pace for three years.

Meanwhile shoppers continue to benefit from falling prices in the UK's shops, stores and supermarkets. According to the latest survey from the trade body the British Retail Consortium, overall prices fell by 1.6% in the year to July. Food was 0.8% cheaper than a year ago and non-food items were 2.2% lower.

Adapted from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36953247.