Questões de Inglês

FIGHTING FAT IN THE DESERT

By Rod Nordland

1 Qatari officials have been racking their brains to find a way to address their country’s epidemic of obesity. They have built sports facilities, parks, and a splendid hillside road in the capital, with a seaside promenade and parkour stations; hosted fun runs with hefty cash prizes; set up free body mass index and blood pressure monitoring stations. Anything money can buy to draw their citizens — said to be first-richest in the world and sixth-fattest — out of a sedentary lifestyle, they seem to have bought.

2 The only thing is, even Qatar’s great wealth has not been able to do anything about the weather, and in a country where highs top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for a large part of the year, getting anyone to go out and walk, let alone do outdoor sports, is a lost cause. About the only pedestrians in the summer, when temperatures are even higher, are expatriates.

3 Now the sports health authorities have introduced a new program that aims to reach Qataris where they live, or at least where they shop — the climate-controlled shopping mall. Four of the emirate’s major malls are participating in the program, called “Step Into Health: Walk More, Walk the Mall,” posting maps and walking routes, along with information about how many calories could be burned in the process. The malls are also opening their halls two hours before and after shopping hours, for those who want their exercise free of consumerism.

4 “Mall walking is the perfect workout, alongside controlled temperatures; it provides a clean and safe environment to exercise,” a promotional brochure for “Step Into Health” reads. The mall walk program is part of a broader effort to encourage Qataris “to walk 10,000 steps and more a day in a noncompetitive, recreational and social way.” The organizers hasten to reassure people that mall walking need not be strenuous. “Unlike most community exercise programs, Step Into Health is not about working up a sweat,” they say. The walking routes and speeds they have outlined are not likely to do that.

5 Obesity is a touchy subject in the emirate. Data from the International Association for the Study of Obesity shows that Qatar has the highest obesity rates in the Middle East. About 34 percent of Qatar’s men and 45 percent of its women are obese, defined as a body mass index of more than 30.

6 Those figures, however, only begin to tell the tale. They are based on the emirate’s total population  of about 1.9 million, but most of those are migrant workers. Qatari citizens number only about 250,000. Since most of the migrant workers are construction and other manual laborers, obesity rates among citizens are likely to be far higher than overall figures suggest.

7 The first mall walk two weeks ago was pronounced a big success by the government-controlled news media, with some 1,000 people showing up to take part — encouraged by handouts of  pedometers (free to anyone who registers for Step Into Health), and free raffles of iPhones, laptops and other Qatari-size baubles.

8 After that initial outpouring of interest, however, there was relatively little follow-up — a common phenomenon, as every gym manager knows. Soon after, the participating malls were nearly as empty in those shopping-free hours as ever.

Adapted from The International Herald Tribune, Tuesday, July 9, 2013

FIGHTING FAT IN THE DESERT

By Rod Nordland

1 Qatari officials have been racking their brains to find a way to address their country’s epidemic of obesity. They have built sports facilities, parks, and a splendid hillside road in the capital, with a seaside promenade and parkour stations; hosted fun runs with hefty cash prizes; set up free body mass index and blood pressure monitoring stations. Anything money can buy to draw their citizens — said to be first-richest in the world and sixth-fattest — out of a sedentary lifestyle, they seem to have bought.

2 The only thing is, even Qatar’s great wealth has not been able to do anything about the weather, and in a country where highs top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for a large part of the year, getting anyone to go out and walk, let alone do outdoor sports, is a lost cause. About the only pedestrians in the summer, when temperatures are even higher, are expatriates.

3 Now the sports health authorities have introduced a new program that aims to reach Qataris where they live, or at least where they shop — the climate-controlled shopping mall. Four of the emirate’s major malls are participating in the program, called “Step Into Health: Walk More, Walk the Mall,” posting maps and walking routes, along with information about how many calories could be burned in the process. The malls are also opening their halls two hours before and after shopping hours, for those who want their exercise free of consumerism.

4 “Mall walking is the perfect workout, alongside controlled temperatures; it provides a clean and safe environment to exercise,” a promotional brochure for “Step Into Health” reads. The mall walk program is part of a broader effort to encourage Qataris “to walk 10,000 steps and more a day in a noncompetitive, recreational and social way.” The organizers hasten to reassure people that mall walking need not be strenuous. “Unlike most community exercise programs, Step Into Health is not about working up a sweat,” they say. The walking routes and speeds they have outlined are not likely to do that.

5 Obesity is a touchy subject in the emirate. Data from the International Association for the Study of Obesity shows that Qatar has the highest obesity rates in the Middle East. About 34 percent of Qatar’s men and 45 percent of its women are obese, defined as a body mass index of more than 30.

6 Those figures, however, only begin to tell the tale. They are based on the emirate’s total population  of about 1.9 million, but most of those are migrant workers. Qatari citizens number only about 250,000. Since most of the migrant workers are construction and other manual laborers, obesity rates among citizens are likely to be far higher than overall figures suggest.

7 The first mall walk two weeks ago was pronounced a big success by the government-controlled news media, with some 1,000 people showing up to take part — encouraged by handouts of  pedometers (free to anyone who registers for Step Into Health), and free raffles of iPhones, laptops and other Qatari-size baubles.

8 After that initial outpouring of interest, however, there was relatively little follow-up — a common phenomenon, as every gym manager knows. Soon after, the participating malls were nearly as empty in those shopping-free hours as ever.

Adapted from The International Herald Tribune, Tuesday, July 9, 2013

FIGHTING FAT IN THE DESERT

By Rod Nordland

1 Qatari officials have been racking their brains to find a way to address their country’s epidemic of obesity. They have built sports facilities, parks, and a splendid hillside road in the capital, with a seaside promenade and parkour stations; hosted fun runs with hefty cash prizes; set up free body mass index and blood pressure monitoring stations. Anything money can buy to draw their citizens — said to be first-richest in the world and sixth-fattest — out of a sedentary lifestyle, they seem to have bought.

2 The only thing is, even Qatar’s great wealth has not been able to do anything about the weather, and in a country where highs top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for a large part of the year, getting anyone to go out and walk, let alone do outdoor sports, is a lost cause. About the only pedestrians in the summer, when temperatures are even higher, are expatriates.

3 Now the sports health authorities have introduced a new program that aims to reach Qataris where they live, or at least where they shop — the climate-controlled shopping mall. Four of the emirate’s major malls are participating in the program, called “Step Into Health: Walk More, Walk the Mall,” posting maps and walking routes, along with information about how many calories could be burned in the process. The malls are also opening their halls two hours before and after shopping hours, for those who want their exercise free of consumerism.

4 “Mall walking is the perfect workout, alongside controlled temperatures; it provides a clean and safe environment to exercise,” a promotional brochure for “Step Into Health” reads. The mall walk program is part of a broader effort to encourage Qataris “to walk 10,000 steps and more a day in a noncompetitive, recreational and social way.” The organizers hasten to reassure people that mall walking need not be strenuous. “Unlike most community exercise programs, Step Into Health is not about working up a sweat,” they say. The walking routes and speeds they have outlined are not likely to do that.

5 Obesity is a touchy subject in the emirate. Data from the International Association for the Study of Obesity shows that Qatar has the highest obesity rates in the Middle East. About 34 percent of Qatar’s men and 45 percent of its women are obese, defined as a body mass index of more than 30.

6 Those figures, however, only begin to tell the tale. They are based on the emirate’s total population  of about 1.9 million, but most of those are migrant workers. Qatari citizens number only about 250,000. Since most of the migrant workers are construction and other manual laborers, obesity rates among citizens are likely to be far higher than overall figures suggest.

7 The first mall walk two weeks ago was pronounced a big success by the government-controlled news media, with some 1,000 people showing up to take part — encouraged by handouts of  pedometers (free to anyone who registers for Step Into Health), and free raffles of iPhones, laptops and other Qatari-size baubles.

8 After that initial outpouring of interest, however, there was relatively little follow-up — a common phenomenon, as every gym manager knows. Soon after, the participating malls were nearly as empty in those shopping-free hours as ever.

Adapted from The International Herald Tribune, Tuesday, July 9, 2013

FLORIDA HURRICANES

1 Before Hurricane Sandy tore through New York and New Jersey, it stopped in Florida. Huge waves covered beaches, swept over Fort Lauderdale’s concrete sea wall and spilled onto A1A, Florida’s coastal highway. A month later another series of violent storms hit south Florida, severely eroding Fort Lauderdale’s beaches and a section of A1A. Workers are building a new sea wall, mending the highway and adding a couple of pedestrian bridges. Beach erosion forced Fort Lauderdale to buy sand from an inland mine in central Florida; the mine’s soft, white sand stands out against the darker, grittier native variety.

2 Hurricanes and storms are nothing new for Florida. But as the oceans warm, hurricanes are growing more intense. To make matters worse, this is happening against a backdrop of sharply rising sea levels, turning what has been a seasonal annoyance into an existential threat.

3 For around 2,000 years sea levels remained relatively constant. Between 1880 and 2011, however, they rose by an average of 0.07 inches (1.8mm) a year, and between 1993 and 2011 the average was between 0.11 and 0.13 inches a year. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that seas could rise by as much as 23 inches by 2100, though since then many scientists have called that forecast conservative. Seas are also expected to warm up, which may make hurricanes and tropical storms more intense.

4 Even as seas have risen over the past century, Americans have rushed to build homes near the beach. Storms that lash the modern American coastline cause more economic damage than their predecessors because there is more to destroy. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, a Category 4 storm, caused $1 billion-worth of damage in current dollars. Were it to strike today the insured losses would be $125 billion, reckons Air Worldwide, a catastrophe-modelling firm. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, caused $23 billion in damage; today it would be twice that.

5 Most Floridians live in coastal counties. Buildings cluster on low ground; more people than in any other state live on land less than four feet (1.2 metres) above the high-tide line. Florida’s limestone bedrock makes it easy for salt water from surging seas to contaminate its freshwater aquifers. And it relies heavily on canals for flood control, which a sea-level rise of just six inches would devastate.

Adapted from The Economist, June 15^th, 2013

FLORIDA HURRICANES

1 Before Hurricane Sandy tore through New York and New Jersey, it stopped in Florida. Huge waves covered beaches, swept over Fort Lauderdale’s concrete sea wall and spilled onto A1A, Florida’s coastal highway. A month later another series of violent storms hit south Florida, severely eroding Fort Lauderdale’s beaches and a section of A1A. Workers are building a new sea wall, mending the highway and adding a couple of pedestrian bridges. Beach erosion forced Fort Lauderdale to buy sand from an inland mine in central Florida; the mine’s soft, white sand stands out against the darker, grittier native variety.

2 Hurricanes and storms are nothing new for Florida. But as the oceans warm, hurricanes are growing more intense. To make matters worse, this is happening against a backdrop of sharply rising sea levels, turning what has been a seasonal annoyance into an existential threat.

3 For around 2,000 years sea levels remained relatively constant. Between 1880 and 2011, however, they rose by an average of 0.07 inches (1.8mm) a year, and between 1993 and 2011 the average was between 0.11 and 0.13 inches a year. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that seas could rise by as much as 23 inches by 2100, though since then many scientists have called that forecast conservative. Seas are also expected to warm up, which may make hurricanes and tropical storms more intense.

4 Even as seas have risen over the past century, Americans have rushed to build homes near the beach. Storms that lash the modern American coastline cause more economic damage than their predecessors because there is more to destroy. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, a Category 4 storm, caused $1 billion-worth of damage in current dollars. Were it to strike today the insured losses would be $125 billion, reckons Air Worldwide, a catastrophe-modelling firm. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, caused $23 billion in damage; today it would be twice that.

5 Most Floridians live in coastal counties. Buildings cluster on low ground; more people than in any other state live on land less than four feet (1.2 metres) above the high-tide line. Florida’s limestone bedrock makes it easy for salt water from surging seas to contaminate its freshwater aquifers. And it relies heavily on canals for flood control, which a sea-level rise of just six inches would devastate.

Adapted from The Economist, June 15^th, 2013

FLORIDA HURRICANES

1 Before Hurricane Sandy tore through New York and New Jersey, it stopped in Florida. Huge waves covered beaches, swept over Fort Lauderdale’s concrete sea wall and spilled onto A1A, Florida’s coastal highway. A month later another series of violent storms hit south Florida, severely eroding Fort Lauderdale’s beaches and a section of A1A. Workers are building a new sea wall, mending the highway and adding a couple of pedestrian bridges. Beach erosion forced Fort Lauderdale to buy sand from an inland mine in central Florida; the mine’s soft, white sand stands out against the darker, grittier native variety.

2 Hurricanes and storms are nothing new for Florida. But as the oceans warm, hurricanes are growing more intense. To make matters worse, this is happening against a backdrop of sharply rising sea levels, turning what has been a seasonal annoyance into an existential threat.

3 For around 2,000 years sea levels remained relatively constant. Between 1880 and 2011, however, they rose by an average of 0.07 inches (1.8mm) a year, and between 1993 and 2011 the average was between 0.11 and 0.13 inches a year. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that seas could rise by as much as 23 inches by 2100, though since then many scientists have called that forecast conservative. Seas are also expected to warm up, which may make hurricanes and tropical storms more intense.

4 Even as seas have risen over the past century, Americans have rushed to build homes near the beach. Storms that lash the modern American coastline cause more economic damage than their predecessors because there is more to destroy. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, a Category 4 storm, caused $1 billion-worth of damage in current dollars. Were it to strike today the insured losses would be $125 billion, reckons Air Worldwide, a catastrophe-modelling firm. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, caused $23 billion in damage; today it would be twice that.

5 Most Floridians live in coastal counties. Buildings cluster on low ground; more people than in any other state live on land less than four feet (1.2 metres) above the high-tide line. Florida’s limestone bedrock makes it easy for salt water from surging seas to contaminate its freshwater aquifers. And it relies heavily on canals for flood control, which a sea-level rise of just six inches would devastate.

Adapted from The Economist, June 15^th, 2013