Questões de Inglês

FAT IS BEAUTIFUL?

    Americans are fat, they are getting fatter and as soon as they out eat the South Sea Islanders, they will be the fattest people in the world. This alarming message, from the journalist Greg Critter, has helped promote the provocative bestseller Fat Land. It reveals that six out of every 10 Americans are already overweight and that, if they continue to expand at the current rate, by 2050 all of them will be. So what should they do about it?

    There is an obvious and a not-so-obvious answer to this question. Greg Critser provides the conventional solution: they should eat more carefully and do more exercise. He traces the expanding American waistline to Earl Butz, President Nixon’s foul-mouthed Secretary of Agriculture, who drastically brought down food prices in the ‘70s by introducing subsidies for farming. The other great architect of obesity was David Wallerstein, the McDonalds executive who discovered super sizing- offering vast single portions of food so people eat the equivalent of the double helpings that they were too embarrassed to ask for.

    But the issue has another reaction: not “I’m fat, so what can I do about it?” but “I’m fat, so what?” This is the line taken by fat activists and size awareness advocates. They believe that there is nothing wrong with being overweight: negative attitudes towards large people are simply prejudices that need to be fought.

    In part perhaps due to fat liberationists, the USA is changing its views on size. The fashion press, for instance, recently announced that “fat is the new thin.” According to American Vogue the voluptuously curved Kate Winslet, Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Osbourne are much more attractive than the “stick-thin” Hollywood stereotypes. There is also a popular backlash against “self-hating” attitudes of an older generation that was inspired by feminism and sexual liberation to try always be perfect and in control.

    In spite of this, one crucial factor seems destined to keep Americans trying to lose weight. Obesity, as Critser points out, is now - for the first time in the history - the disease of the poor, not the rich. And, in an aspirational society, if the well-off can see their feet, everyone else will want as well.

Adapted fromSPEAKUP n.196, pages 18 to 20.

FAT IS BEAUTIFUL?

    Americans are fat, they are getting fatter and as soon as they out eat the South Sea Islanders, they will be the fattest people in the world. This alarming message, from the journalist Greg Critter, has helped promote the provocative bestseller Fat Land. It reveals that six out of every 10 Americans are already overweight and that, if they continue to expand at the current rate, by 2050 all of them will be. So what should they do about it?

    There is an obvious and a not-so-obvious answer to this question. Greg Critser provides the conventional solution: they should eat more carefully and do more exercise. He traces the expanding American waistline to Earl Butz, President Nixon’s foul-mouthed Secretary of Agriculture, who drastically brought down food prices in the ‘70s by introducing subsidies for farming. The other great architect of obesity was David Wallerstein, the McDonalds executive who discovered super sizing- offering vast single portions of food so people eat the equivalent of the double helpings that they were too embarrassed to ask for.

    But the issue has another reaction: not “I’m fat, so what can I do about it?” but “I’m fat, so what?” This is the line taken by fat activists and size awareness advocates. They believe that there is nothing wrong with being overweight: negative attitudes towards large people are simply prejudices that need to be fought.

    In part perhaps due to fat liberationists, the USA is changing its views on size. The fashion press, for instance, recently announced that “fat is the new thin.” According to American Vogue the voluptuously curved Kate Winslet, Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Osbourne are much more attractive than the “stick-thin” Hollywood stereotypes. There is also a popular backlash against “self-hating” attitudes of an older generation that was inspired by feminism and sexual liberation to try always be perfect and in control.

    In spite of this, one crucial factor seems destined to keep Americans trying to lose weight. Obesity, as Critser points out, is now - for the first time in the history - the disease of the poor, not the rich. And, in an aspirational society, if the well-off can see their feet, everyone else will want as well.

Adapted fromSPEAKUP n.196, pages 18 to 20.

FAT IS BEAUTIFUL?

    Americans are fat, they are getting fatter and as soon as they out eat the South Sea Islanders, they will be the fattest people in the world. This alarming message, from the journalist Greg Critter, has helped promote the provocative bestseller Fat Land. It reveals that six out of every 10 Americans are already overweight and that, if they continue to expand at the current rate, by 2050 all of them will be. So what should they do about it?

    There is an obvious and a not-so-obvious answer to this question. Greg Critser provides the conventional solution: they should eat more carefully and do more exercise. He traces the expanding American waistline to Earl Butz, President Nixon’s foul-mouthed Secretary of Agriculture, who drastically brought down food prices in the ‘70s by introducing subsidies for farming. The other great architect of obesity was David Wallerstein, the McDonalds executive who discovered super sizing- offering vast single portions of food so people eat the equivalent of the double helpings that they were too embarrassed to ask for.

    But the issue has another reaction: not “I’m fat, so what can I do about it?” but “I’m fat, so what?” This is the line taken by fat activists and size awareness advocates. They believe that there is nothing wrong with being overweight: negative attitudes towards large people are simply prejudices that need to be fought.

    In part perhaps due to fat liberationists, the USA is changing its views on size. The fashion press, for instance, recently announced that “fat is the new thin.” According to American Vogue the voluptuously curved Kate Winslet, Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Osbourne are much more attractive than the “stick-thin” Hollywood stereotypes. There is also a popular backlash against “self-hating” attitudes of an older generation that was inspired by feminism and sexual liberation to try always be perfect and in control.

    In spite of this, one crucial factor seems destined to keep Americans trying to lose weight. Obesity, as Critser points out, is now - for the first time in the history - the disease of the poor, not the rich. And, in an aspirational society, if the well-off can see their feet, everyone else will want as well.

Adapted fromSPEAKUP n.196, pages 18 to 20.

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What is organized crime?

    Organized crime was characterised by the United Nations, in 1994, as: “group organization to commit crime; hierarchical links or personal relationships which permit leaders to control the group: violence, intimidation and corruption used to earn profits or control territories or markets; laundering of illicit proceeds both in furtherance of criminal activity and to infiltrate the legitimate economy; the potential for expansion into any new activities and beyond national borders; and cooperation with other organized transnational criminal groups.”

    It is increasingly global. Although links between, for example, mafia groups in Italy and the USA have existed for decades, new and rapid means of communication have facilitated the development of international networks. Some build on shared linguistic or cultural ties, such as a network trafficking drugs and human organs, which links criminal gangs in Mozambique, Portugal, Brazil, Pakistan, Dubai and South Africa. Others bring together much less likely groups, such as those trafficking arms, drugs and people between South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia, or those linking the Russian mafia with Colombian cocaine cartels or North American criminal gangs with the Japanese Yakuza. Trafficked commodities may pass from group to group along the supply chain; for instance heroin in Italy has traditionally been produced in Afghanistan, transported by Turks, distributed by Albanians, and sold by Italians.

    Organized crime exploits profit opportunities wherever they arise. Globalization of financial markets, with free movement of goods and capital, has facilitated smuggling of counterfeit goods (in part a reflection of the creation of global brands), internet fraud, and money-laundering. On the other hand, organized crime also takes advantage of the barriers to free movement of people across national borders and the laws against non-medicinal use of narcotics: accordingly it earns vast profits in smuggling migrants and psychoactive drugs. Briquet and Favarel have identified deregulation and the “rolling back of the state” in some countries as creating lacunae that have been occupied by profiteers. The political changes in Europe in the late 1980s fuelled the growth in criminal networks, often involving former law enforcement officers. Failed states, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sierra Leone, have provided further opportunities as criminal gangs smuggle arms in and commodities out, for example diamonds, gold, and rare earth metals, often generating violence against those involved in the trade and in the surrounding communities. Finally, there are a few states, such as the Democratic Republic of Korea and Burma and Guinea-Bissau (once described as a narco-state) where politicians have been alleged to have played an active role in international crime.

    Organized criminal gangs have strong incentives. Compared with legitimate producers, they have lower costs of production due to the ability to disregard quality and safety standards, tax obligations, minimum wages or employee benefits. Once established, they may threaten or use violence to eliminate competitors, and can obtain favourable treatment by regulatory authorities either through bribes or threats.

(www.globalizationandhealth.com. Adaptado)

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Violence Prevention Among Young People in Brazil

    Crime and violence have increased dramatically in Brazil in recent decades, particularly in large urban areas, leading to more intense public debate on causes and solutions. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights. Having security means living without fearing the risk of violation of one’s life, liberty, physical integrity or property. Security means not only to be free from actual risks, but also to be able to enjoy the feeling of security. In this respect, human rights are systematically undermined by violence and insecurity.

    UNESCO expects to play a primary role in supporting actions of social inclusion to help in the prevention of violence, especially among young people. The attributes and resources to be found in the heart of the Organization’s different areas will be grouped around this objective.

    Violence is seen as a violation of fundamental human rights, as a threat to the respect for the principles of liberty and equality. An approach focused on the access to quality education, to decent jobs, to cultural, sports and leisure activities, to digital inclusion and the protection and promotion of human rights and of the environment will be implemented as a response to the challenge of preventing violence among youths. Such approach should also help in creating real opportunities for young people to improve their life conditions and develop their citizenship.

(www.unesco.org. Adaptado)

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texto

Though most people are using some sort of cloud technology — that is, Internet-based technology, such as listening to music via Pandora — most don’t seem to be aware of it, a survey this week found. The national survey by Wakefield Research and commissioned by Santa Clara’s Citrix reported that 97 percent were using some sort of cloud technology, but that many of them seem to believe the cloud has something to do with the weather or that fluffy white thing in the sky. Only 16 percent identified it as “a computer network to store, access and share data from Internet-connected devices.” Certainly the “cloud” has become a popular tech buzzword, particularly as services such as Dropbox and Apple’s iCloud become mainstream and people store more and more of their personal data online. Then again, just how important is it for consumers to know such a geeky term?

Source: From Foggy about the cloud; posted on Thursday, August 30, 2012; at http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/

Glossário:

Be aware of: ter consciência

Survey: pesquisa

Mainstream: principais (empresas)

Geeky: relacionado aos “nerds” ou intelectuais