The bermuda triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the Atlantic Ocean bounded roughly at its points by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Legend has it that many ships and planes have mysteriously vanished in this area. But there are some skeptics who argue that the facts do not support the legend. The number of wrecks in this area is not extraordinary, given its size, location and the amount of traffic it receives. Many of the ships and planes that have been identified as having disappeared mysteriously in the Bermuda Triangle were not even in that area. The real mystery, they argue, is how the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery at all.

Adaptado de www.skeptic.com/bermuda.html. Acessado em 14/09/2008

1. 
   Indique UM dos fatos invocados por alguns céticos para negar que haja algo de misterioso nos acontecimentos associados ao Triângulo das Bermudas.
   

2. 
   Segundo esses céticos, qual é o verdadeiro enigma envolvendo o Triângulo das Bermudas?
   

THE NUTRITION PROGRAM IN FRANCE

The results of the nutrition program in France have been spectacular. ¹The number of obese French kids has doubled from 6% to 12% over the past decade. But the increase in obese students in northern France, where the nutrition program runs, has been of merely 1%, one of the lowest rates in the country.

The program has been so successful that it now runs in schools in 10 other towns across the country and the doctors and nutritionists behind the program are trying to find funding and support to expand the program nationwide and to the rest of Europe. Other countries are picking up on the trend. In Germany - where up to 16% of kids are overweight - healthy eating for kids is a hot topic. This month, the government released the first nationwide criteria for school menus, calling for more vegetarian meals, fewer fatty and sweet foods, and fresh fruit at least two to three times a week.

Of course, there are limits to the school-lunch approach to obesity. In many parts of Europe, children still eat their lunches at home, beyond the reach of nutritionists and reforming administrators. Most experts agree that regular exercise is also a crucial factor in weight control (many of the nutrition classes also point out the benefits of exercise). And even improved education and government restrictions on junk food won't keep all kids from sometimes eating unhealthy food. At first glance, the playgrounds of St. Joan of Arc look filled with active, healthy and energetic kids. But on a recent day, a group of friends - hiding from the teachers in a far corner - could be seen eating sweets and chocolates with guilty delight. "Balance is the key," says Agnes Lommez, coordinator for the school district's food program. "Kids understand this. They can and should eat junk food. Just not every day."

ROBINSON, Simon. A is for apple. Time, Amsterdam, v. 165, n. 22, May 30, 2005. p. 45. Adaptado.

3. 
   Explain, with elements from the text, why there may be limits to the school-lunch approach to children obesity in Europe and say how Agnes Lommez reacts to kids' eating of junk food.
   

4. 
   "The number of obese French kids has doubled from 6% to 12% over the past decade." (ref. 1)
   

TEXTO PARA AS PRÓXIMAS 2 QUESTÕES:

A passagem a seguir foi tirada do livro Guliver's Travel, de Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Em tom irônico, o autor satiriza e critica a futilidade e a brutalidade das guerras que ocorriam na Europa em sua época.

He asked me what were the usual causes or motives that made one country go to war with another. I answered they were innumerable, but I should only mention a few of the chief. Sometimes the ambitions of princes, who never think they have land or people enough to govern; sometimes the corruption of ministers, who engage their master in a war in order to stifle the clamour of the subjects against their evil administration. [...] Sometimes the one prince quarrels with another, for fear the other should quarrel with him. Sometimes a war is entered upon because the enemy is too strong, and sometimes because he is too weak. Sometimes our neighbors want the things which we have, or have the things which we want, and we both fight, till they take ours or give us theirs. It is a very justifiable cause of war to invade a country after the people have been wasted by famine, destroyed by pestilence, or embroiled by factions among themselves. If a prince sends forces into a nation where the people are poor and ignorant he may lawfully put half of them to death, and make slaves of the rest, in order to civilize and reduce them from their barbarous way of living.

Responda a todas as perguntas em PORTUGUÊS.

5. 
   Segundo o narrador, de que forma ministros corruptos podem provocar uma guerra?
   

6. 
   Ainda segundo o narrador da passagem, o que um príncipe pode legitimamente fazer quando envia suas forças contra um povo pobre e ignorante? Quais seriam os objetivos dessas ações?
   

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

On April 4th, 1968, the sound of a rifle shot rang out across Memphis, Tennessee. On the balcony of a small hotel a man lay dying from the assassin’s bullet. He was a 39-year-old preacher named Martin Luther King.

Martin Luther King came into the world on January 15th, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. When he was born he was named Michael but he later changed his name to Martin. He graduated with a B.A. degree from Morehouse College in 1948. He then went on to earn a Bachelor of Divinity degree and finally became a Doctor of Philosophy at Boston University in 1955. By this time however, he had already been a Baptist minister (like his father and grandfather) for seven years and had been married for two years, with his wife Coretta expecting their first child. King had long fought for civil rights and from 1955 until his death he devoted himself to fighting injustice, and particularly pushed for the right of all people, black or white, to have equal opportunities and status.

While he was a student, King had been inspired by the philosophy of Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian whose non-violent social protest provided King with a role model. Between 1955 and 1968 he travelled over six million miles and spoke on more than 3,000 occasions. He delivered his speeches in the true style of a Baptist preacher, with rich eloquence and passionate conviction. And the people listened. In 1963 he gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in front of 250,000 supporters. In the same year he was named Man of the Year by Time magazine. The following year, at the age of 35, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the second American and the third black man to win the award.

He continued to work tirelessly, getting arrested more than twenty times along the way, until that evening when he leaned over the balcony to speak to his friend, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. His assassin, James Earl Ray, took aim and fired.

For many years after his death January 15th, his birthday became the unofficial Martin Luther King Day. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan declared January 20th the official Martin Luther King Day. It is a national holiday in the United States, a day on which to reflect on the remarkable achievements of a man who inspired others to look for a peaceful, nonviolent solution to all their problems. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.