Questões de Inglês

Brasilia: Fifty years of the future

By Gary Duffy ,BBC News, Brasilia

Published: April 06, 2010

 

Brasilia was a city built at high speed in the late 1950s, fulfilling a long held Brazilian dream to have a new capital in the heart of the country. The president at the time, Juscelino Kubitschek, had promised his people 50 years of progress in five, and work proceeded at a frenetic pace. While Brasilia was under construction, it is said the president used to travel at night to inspect the project, before returning to the then capital in Rio de Janeiro to fulfill a normal round of engagements the next day. 

The new capital, located in the state of Goias, was inaugurated on 21 April 1960 after barely three and a half years of rapid development. Many of the city's most striking buildings were designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, with his trademark use of concrete and curves. Among them were the National Congress, with its concave and convex domes symbolising the two houses of the legislature, and the city's cathedral with 16 columns coming together to represent hands outstretched to heaven.

'Accidental' capital

It was a bold and dramatic statement that was meant to represent a new vision for the future. "The idea of the new buildings and the plan of Brasilia itself was to create an image of a modern Brazil," says Professor Jose Galbinski, at the Centre University of Brasilia. "It was a contrast with the old tradition, the old Brazil."

However, he says this dramatic change finally came about by accident, even though the proposal had been around for a long time. "The idea of a new capital in the interior had stayed like a dead item in the constitution for decades. Nobody cared about this issue, until the time of Juscelino Kubitschek," says Professor Galbinski. "When he was campaigning for president he was asked by a young man at a public meeting if he would obey the constitution, to which he replied, 'of course I will, I am running for president'." The young guy pointed out there was an article in the constitution which said the capital should be changed from Rio de Janeiro to the interior of Brazil. "Kubitschek was astonished with this, as he had never thought about it. And he replied, 'ok, I will answer you, I will obey all the articles of the constitution, and I will make the move'."

Disponível em: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/2/hi/americas/8569349.stm (texto adaptado).

 

The wide Esplanade of Ministeries exempiífies Brasilia's design

The capital of Brazil was built in

  Home prices keep falling, but productivity is rising fast. GDP grew 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter, yet unemployment remains stubbornly high. Inflation is nonexistent, while the consumer confidence index just rose to 55.9 from 53.6—whatever that means. Can’t make sense of these economic indicators? Don’t worry, because nobody else can, either.

  Here is what you really need to know: a Sonic Boom is coming. It will be caused by globalization. And while globalization may be driving you crazy, it’s just getting started. Thirty years ago, Shenzhen, China, did not exist; today, it has nearly 9 million residents, roughly the same as New York City. In a single generation, it has grown from a village of tarpaper shacks into an important urban center. It has become the world’s fourth-busiest port, busier than Los Angeles and Long Beach combined. Never before has a great city been built so fast, nor a productive economy established from so little.

  The international recession that began in 2008 has made the Sonic Boom quieter, but history shows that when a crisis ends, the larger trends in place before the crisis usually resume. Shenzhen represents the larger trend of growth, change, and transformation at unprecedented velocity. Thanks to vast increases in productivity, worldwide economic growth soon will pick up, creating rising prosperity and higher living standards for most people in most nations. The world will be far more interconnected, leading to better and more affordable products, as well as ever better communication among nations.

  But there’s a big catch: just as favorable economic and social trends are likely to resume, many problems that have characterized recent decades are likely to get worse, too. Job instability, economic insecurity, a sense of turmoil, the fear that even when things seem good a hammer is about to fall—these are also part of the larger trend. As world economies become ever more linked by computers, job stress will become a 24/7 affair. Frequent shakeups in industries will cause increasing uncertainty. The horizon has never been brighter, but we may not feel particularly happy about it.

www.newsweek.com

 

The article states that

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Success Over Stress by Jane Revell

 

If a person is assertive,

Get into a comfortable, relaxed position. / Shut your eyes and turn your attention inwards. / Think about that assertive experience (real or imagined, yours or someone else’s) and really get into it. / Re-live it as though you are there all over again. / See everything there is to see, / the face of the other person or people / and how they’re responding to you. / Hear the sound of your own voice as you speak. / Hear the sound of any other voices. / Feel really good about the situation. / Feel confident and assertive / and enjoy the feeling. / And when you’re deeply involved in those feelings, capture them for a few seconds with your word, image or gesture. / Stay in the experience a while longer but take away the word, image or gesture. / And now come slowly and gently back to the room.

Success Over Stress by Jane Revell

 

According to the text, choose the right alternative.

Cordia Harrington was tired __( I )__ standing up all day and smelling like french fries __( II )__night. A proper ty developer, she also owned and operated three McDonald’s franchises in Illinois, but as a divorced mother __( III )__ three boys, she yearned __( IV )__ a business that would provide __( V )__ her children and let her spend more time __(VI) __ them.

Her aha moment struck, strangely enough, after she  was nominated in 1992 to be on the McDonald’s bun committee. “The other franchisees, all men, thought that was hilarious because of the word bun,” she recalls. “But the joke was on them: They didn’t know the company would be picking me up in a corporate jet to see bakeries around the world. Every time I went to a meeting, I loved it. This was global!”

The experience opened her eyes to business possibilities. When McDonald’s decided it wanted a new bun supplier, Harrington became determined to win the contract, even though she had no experience running a bakery. “You see a tiny crack in the door, and you have to run through it,” she says. “I really believed I could do this.”

Harrington studied the bakery business and made sure she was never off executives’ radar. “If you have a dream, you can’t wait for people to call you,” she says. “So I’d visit a mill and send them photos of myself in a baker’s hat and jacket, holding a sign that said ‘I want to be your baker.’” After four years and 32 interviews, her persistence paid off.

Harrington sealed the deal with a handshake, sold her franchises, invested everything she owned, and borrowed $13.5 million. She was ready to buildthe fastest, most automated bakery in the world.

Reader’s Digest

 

 

Cordia Harrington

  __( I )__ you fancy a little underwater exploration without the hassle of learning to scuba dive, you’ll love the sub-scooter. It’s a battery-powered moped that propels you through water at a depth of 10 ft. (3 m), __( II )__ compressed air is pumped into a tiny glass cockpit from a boat on the surface — the resulting air pressure keeping water out of the hood. Pelagic treasures can be seen without even getting your hair wet.

  The sub-scooter’s downside is that it is only found in Mauritius. But the upside is that you have another excuse — __( III )__ the deep-sea fishing, the beaches and the tranquility — to visit this beautiful island nation in the Indian Ocean.

  Part of the vessel’s charm is that it offers an underwater encounter with no need for heavy oxygen cylinders or uncomfortable mouthpieces and masks. __( IV )__, the motor is virtually soundless, leaving sea creatures undisturbed and preserving a sense of the exotic. It won’t take you long to get a feel for the acceleration and steering, and you won’t need brakes: the coral is low-lying, and there’s nothing to bump into apart from other sub-scooters ( __( V )__ there’s little chance of that with scuba-diving guides pointing the way). Sure, the sub-scooter is too sedate for James Bond and probably rather restrictive for experienced divers, but it’s still a thrilling experience for visiting water babies. A two-hour excursion, including 30 minutes on a sub-scooter, costs about $160 for two people. Visit www.blue-safari.com for details.

(www.time.com)

 

The text states that