Questões de Inglês

Brazilian Food - a Mix of Influences

_{For Sunday Times Extra, 6 July 2014}

In a country as geographically expansive as

Brazil, it isn't easy to define the cuisine. Native

Indians and colonisation by the Portuguese,

who brought over African slaves, have all

played their part in the culinary culture. There

is a mix of influences that have endured and

intermingled in Brazil.

There seems to be an understanding that

feijoada, the black bean stew made with

various pork cuts, with its roots in Africa, is the

national dish. Unctuous and hearty, it's served

with pork crackling, orange slices and collard

greens and enjoyed on Saturdays.

Just as many Asians rely on rice as a staple,

Brazilians look to the starchy tuber cassava

(known as manioc or yuca) – boiled, fried,

stewed, ground into flour and toasted with

butter, as their daily bread.

The South East (São Paulo and Rio fall here)

tends to serve a mix from around the country.

Coxinha (chicken croquettes), tapioca pancakes,

salt cod pasteis (deep-fried pastries)

and pão de queijo (cheese rolls) are popular

city snacks.

Other Brazilian foods to try:

1. The North: Influenced by the Amazon Indians,

the food here is as close to what it was

before colonisation. Try:

• Açaí: A superfruit and Guaraná, a berry

used to make energy drinks.

• Pimenta: spicy peppers.

• Pudim de Tambaqui: A soufflé-like fish

dish with shrimp sauce.

• Tacacá: A soup with salted dry jumbo

prawns and local watercress.

2. The North East: slaves on the sugar cane

plantations used palm oil, coconut milk and

okra, popular in some African countries.

Try:

• Acarajé: A fritter made with beans and

fried in palm oil.

• Bobó de Camarão: Hearty shrimp stew,

made with manioc, coconut milk, and

palm oil.

• Caruru: A stew of okra, dried shrimp and

toasted cashews.

3. South Brazil: A melting pot of cultural

influences from German to Lebanese can be

found here. Try:

• Arroz de Carreteiro: Fried rice with

rehydrated charque – South American

biltong.

• Churrasco: Brazilian braai. Meat

marinated in salt and milk or cachaça –

distilled sugar-cane spirits.

_{Fonte: Disponível em: http://www.foodandthefabulous.com/recipes/brazilian-food-mix-influences. Acesso em: 15 set. 2014. (adaptado)}

Brazilian Food - a Mix of Influences

_{For Sunday Times Extra, 6 July 2014}

In a country as geographically expansive as

Brazil, it isn't easy to define the cuisine. Native

Indians and colonisation by the Portuguese,

who brought over African slaves, have all

played their part in the culinary culture. There

is a mix of influences that have endured and

intermingled in Brazil.

There seems to be an understanding that

feijoada, the black bean stew made with

various pork cuts, with its roots in Africa, is the

national dish. Unctuous and hearty, it's served

with pork crackling, orange slices and collard

greens and enjoyed on Saturdays.

Just as many Asians rely on rice as a staple,

Brazilians look to the starchy tuber cassava

(known as manioc or yuca) – boiled, fried,

stewed, ground into flour and toasted with

butter, as their daily bread.

The South East (São Paulo and Rio fall here)

tends to serve a mix from around the country.

Coxinha (chicken croquettes), tapioca pancakes,

salt cod pasteis (deep-fried pastries)

and pão de queijo (cheese rolls) are popular

city snacks.

Other Brazilian foods to try:

1. The North: Influenced by the Amazon Indians,

the food here is as close to what it was

before colonisation. Try:

• Açaí: A superfruit and Guaraná, a berry

used to make energy drinks.

• Pimenta: spicy peppers.

• Pudim de Tambaqui: A soufflé-like fish

dish with shrimp sauce.

• Tacacá: A soup with salted dry jumbo

prawns and local watercress.

2. The North East: slaves on the sugar cane

plantations used palm oil, coconut milk and

okra, popular in some African countries.

Try:

• Acarajé: A fritter made with beans and

fried in palm oil.

• Bobó de Camarão: Hearty shrimp stew,

made with manioc, coconut milk, and

palm oil.

• Caruru: A stew of okra, dried shrimp and

toasted cashews.

3. South Brazil: A melting pot of cultural

influences from German to Lebanese can be

found here. Try:

• Arroz de Carreteiro: Fried rice with

rehydrated charque – South American

biltong.

• Churrasco: Brazilian braai. Meat

marinated in salt and milk or cachaça –

distilled sugar-cane spirits.

_{Fonte: Disponível em: http://www.foodandthefabulous.com/recipes/brazilian-food-mix-influences. Acesso em: 15 set. 2014. (adaptado)}

Neuron growth in children ‘leaves no room for memories’

25 May 2013

The reason we struggle to recall memories from our early childhood is down to high levels of neuron production during the first years of life, say Canadian researchers. The formation of new brain cells increases the capacity for learning but also clears the mind of old memories. This could be behind the absence of long-term memory events from early childhood, known as infantile amnesia. The findings were presented to the Canadian Association of Neuroscience.

Neurogenesis, or the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus - a region of the brain known to be important for learning and remembering, reaches its peak before and after birth. It then declines steadily during childhood and adulthood. Dr Paul Frankland and Dr Sheena Josselyn, from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the University of Toronto, wanted to find out how the process of new neuron generation impacted on memory storage. They carried out their research on younger and older mice in the lab.

Early amnesia

In adult mice, they found that increasing neurogenesis after memory formation was enough to bring about forgetting. In infant mice, they discovered that decreasing neurogenesis after memory formation meant that the normal forgetting observed at this age did not occur. Their research suggests a direct link between a reduction in neuron growth and increased memory recall. They found the opposite to be true also - a decreased ability to remember when neurogenesis is increased (as happens during infancy).

The researchers said this provided an explanation for the absence of long-term memory events from early childhood, known as infantile amnesia. Previous studies have shown that although young children can remember events in the short term, these memories do not persist.

Dr Frankland, senior scientist in neuroscience and mental health, at the hospital, said: “Why infantile amnesia exists has long 84 a mystery. We think our new studies begin to explain 85 we have no memories from our earliest years. Before the ages of four or five, we have a highly dynamic hippocampus which can’t stably store information. As new neurons are generated, memory may be compromised by that process.”

(www.bbc.co.uk. Adaptado.)

Neuron growth in children ‘leaves no room for memories’

25 May 2013

The reason we struggle to recall memories from our early childhood is down to high levels of neuron production during the first years of life, say Canadian researchers. The formation of new brain cells increases the capacity for learning but also clears the mind of old memories. This could be behind the absence of long-term memory events from early childhood, known as infantile amnesia. The findings were presented to the Canadian Association of Neuroscience.

Neurogenesis, or the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus - a region of the brain known to be important for learning and remembering, reaches its peak before and after birth. It then declines steadily during childhood and adulthood. Dr Paul Frankland and Dr Sheena Josselyn, from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the University of Toronto, wanted to find out how the process of new neuron generation impacted on memory storage. They carried out their research on younger and older mice in the lab.

Early amnesia

In adult mice, they found that increasing neurogenesis after memory formation was enough to bring about forgetting. In infant mice, they discovered that decreasing neurogenesis after memory formation meant that the normal forgetting observed at this age did not occur. Their research suggests a direct link between a reduction in neuron growth and increased memory recall. They found the opposite to be true also - a decreased ability to remember when neurogenesis is increased (as happens during infancy).

The researchers said this provided an explanation for the absence of long-term memory events from early childhood, known as infantile amnesia. Previous studies have shown that although young children can remember events in the short term, these memories do not persist.

Dr Frankland, senior scientist in neuroscience and mental health, at the hospital, said: “Why infantile amnesia exists has long 84 a mystery. We think our new studies begin to explain 85 we have no memories from our earliest years. Before the ages of four or five, we have a highly dynamic hippocampus which can’t stably store information. As new neurons are generated, memory may be compromised by that process.”

(www.bbc.co.uk. Adaptado.)

Do young people care about privacy?

  We seem to be moving closer to a world where

every aspect of our lives is recorded, whether we like

it or not. And once our data is shared on the internet,

we lose control over it…

  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks the age

of privacy is over…but a team of Italian researchers is

not so sure about that…They’re working on a mobile

application that will allow users to regain control of

their personal data.

  Mattia Pasolli, Application Developer at the

project, known as the ‘Mobile Territorial Laboratory’

(MTL), reports that “All the people who don’t use

Facebook because of privacy issues might use it,

because they will know they have a sort of firewall that

precisely tells them what information is being shared

with external services.”

  The application is being tested with 80 families in

the Northern Italian city of Trento. Every family has a

smartphone that collects data about their lives.

  Fabrizio Antonelli, Director of the Mobile

Territorial Laboratory, explains that “The instrument

we used is called personal data store. It represents

a sort of security box for data, where we keep all the

information we collect about the person. Here, each

person can see the life cycle of his or her own data,

and see who has used that data, when, and for what

purpose.”

  The research has been developed through the

principle of “participatory design”. The application

is developed through the participation of the 80

families taking part. It’s a real community and they

knew each other before the research.

  Community Manager of MTL Erica Paris says

it could be a learning experience for users. “People

can learn a lot from this initiative, because through

this project they realise the amount of data that is

collected about them, including data from applications

other than ours. It’s something that they did not know

before”.

  Mattia Pasolli says Europe has a long way to

go to emulate America. “In the United States, there

are cultural factors that facilitate the creation of very

innovative small start-ups. But in Europe the mentality

of ‘trial, failure and trying again’ is not still totally

accepted or part of our culture”.

  One of the goals of the project is to improve

people’s quality of life through information and

communication technologies. The researchers hope

to anticipate the future trends in society.

Available at: <http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/03/do-young-people-care-about-privacy/> Retrieved on: Sept. 7th, 2013. Adapted. 

Do young people care about privacy?

  We seem to be moving closer to a world where

every aspect of our lives is recorded, whether we like

it or not. And once our data is shared on the internet,

we lose control over it…

  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks the age

of privacy is over…but a team of Italian researchers is

not so sure about that…They’re working on a mobile

application that will allow users to regain control of

their personal data.

  Mattia Pasolli, Application Developer at the

project, known as the ‘Mobile Territorial Laboratory’

(MTL), reports that “All the people who don’t use

Facebook because of privacy issues might use it,

because they will know they have a sort of firewall that

precisely tells them what information is being shared

with external services.”

  The application is being tested with 80 families in

the Northern Italian city of Trento. Every family has a

smartphone that collects data about their lives.

  Fabrizio Antonelli, Director of the Mobile

Territorial Laboratory, explains that “The instrument

we used is called personal data store. It represents

a sort of security box for data, where we keep all the

information we collect about the person. Here, each

person can see the life cycle of his or her own data,

and see who has used that data, when, and for what

purpose.”

  The research has been developed through the

principle of “participatory design”. The application

is developed through the participation of the 80

families taking part. It’s a real community and they

knew each other before the research.

  Community Manager of MTL Erica Paris says

it could be a learning experience for users. “People

can learn a lot from this initiative, because through

this project they realise the amount of data that is

collected about them, including data from applications

other than ours. It’s something that they did not know

before”.

  Mattia Pasolli says Europe has a long way to

go to emulate America. “In the United States, there

are cultural factors that facilitate the creation of very

innovative small start-ups. But in Europe the mentality

of ‘trial, failure and trying again’ is not still totally

accepted or part of our culture”.

  One of the goals of the project is to improve

people’s quality of life through information and

communication technologies. The researchers hope

to anticipate the future trends in society.

Available at: <http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/03/do-young-people-care-about-privacy/> Retrieved on: Sept. 7th, 2013. Adapted.