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With Brazil in Turmoil, Rio Counts Down to Olympics

By REBECCAR. RUIZAPRIL27, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO- Brazil's president is facing impeachment. The country's economy is in sharp decline. Bodies of water that will be used for Olympic competitions are polluted, and global public health officials are trying to tamp down the Zika virus epidemic.

With less than 100 days before the Olympic Games come to South Amarica for the first time, Rio de Janeiro faces more than the usual challenges that bedevil host cities, like delayed stadium construction and transportation concerns. (Rio has those, too.) The mood here, however, is hardly one of panic. Officials in charge of executing the Summer Games say they feel insulated from Brazil's turmoil at this late stage. The Olympics, after all, tend to exist in their own bubble, elaborately coordinated to ensure that the multibillion-dollar operation goes off smoothly. "The machine is in place, and it's relatively stable," Ricardo Leyser, Brazil's sports minister, said in an interview this week. "My biggest concern isn't any individual issue. lt's the small demands that all come at once."

Local organizers are beginning to lay colorful comforters patterned with the silhouettes of cartoon cyclists, fencers and swimmers - on the twin beds in the athletes' village. They are monitoring the growth of 14-month-old grass that will be transplanted to Maracanã, the storied soccer stadium that will also be used for the opening and closing ceremonies. They are pulling trash from Guanabara Bay, where the Games' sailing events will be held; mopping up standing water to minimize mosquito breeding; and ramping up a round-the-clock security operation - all while publicly expressing little worry about the unrest encircling them.

On Wednesday, with the handoff of the Olympic flame in Greece and the start of a journey that in little more than a week will bring it to Brazil, the official countdown to the Aug. 5 opening ceremony began. 

ln Rio, the race to be ready is intensifying, with construction workers here still laboring on mass transit projects that were key promises seven years ago in the city's bid to host the Games. Costing several billion dollars, those projects include a new subway line and express bus lanes that connect the Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca to the rest of the city, which is expected to swell with more than half a million visitors.

As the value ofthe Brazilian real has drastically declined overthe last year, some have expressed doubt that the transit projects will materialize beyond the sleek, modernist weather shelters that have been built at various stations. At a news conference Wednesday, the city's secretary of transportation said the new routes would be ready i n ti me but did not specify when. To the vast majority of people watching the Games on television, however, such infrastructure may not matter.

The permanent venues for competitions here are mostly complete - all but those for tennis and track cycling - and athletes from around the world have competed in dozens of test events in Rio in recent months. "lt's about the filling of the cake," Mr. Leyser said. "lt's not about the stadiums; it's about the scoreboards."

As ofthe latest counts, 62 percent ofthe 5.7 million tickets on the market had been sold - roughly half of the total tickets for the Olympics - and 24 percent of tickets available for the Paralympics had been sold. But compareci with past Olympics, the buyers of those tickets may be disproportionately international, saidAndrew Parsons, the presidentofthe Brazilian Paralympic Committee.

For some Brazilians, the country's political and economic crises have cast a shadow on the celebration. President Dilma Rousseff's ouster looks increasingly likely amid a sweeping graft scandal, and those in line to succeed her have their own controversies hanging overthem.

Questions of corruption have extended to Olympics planning, particularly after a businessman who worked on many Olympic projects in Rio was convicted of corruption and money laundering related to separata contracts. Mr. Leyser said that the questions centered on irregularities at the Deodoro event site and that no publicofficial had been accused ofwrongdoing. "lt's more an administrativa issue than a corruption scheme," he said. "lt's basically a question ofthe numbers." Mr. Leyser called the devaluation of Brazil's currency an opportunity because it increases the buying power of foreign money coming into Brazil forthe Games.

But not everyone sees the event as a boon to the country. Shirlei Alves, who lives in the Santa Marta favela of Rio, criticized the government for spending on the Olympics in the face of Brazil's problems.

"The world is just getting worse here," Ms. Alves said, noting that she was without medication and electricity. "The government is making a mistake. l'd like if they'd take a better look at the poor people and not help people who are already rich." Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio, said Wednesday that the city had a "comfortable financial situation" and had spent on stadium construction 1 percent ofwhat it spent on health education. "I know people are skeptical," Mr. Paes said, citing the "huge deliverables" for the Olympics. "Of course the situation here has been difficult. But there is a commitment of the Brazilian state to deliverthe Olympics."

Perhaps the most vexing issue for local organizers-the one that may stir anxiety among athletes and spectators - is the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects and temporary paralysis. Zika is of greater concern outside Rio, in the far north part of Brazil, but the World Health Organization has declared the virus a global public health emergency and has advised pregnant women notto travei anywhere in Brazil.

"The Olympics is a pretty effective way of taking whatever disease is local and making it global," said Ashish K. Jha, director ofthe Global Health lnstitute at Harvard.

Some scientists have suggested that by the time the Olympics start in August - wintertime in Brazil, when mosquitoes are less numerous - the virus might be more prevalent in the southern United States.

"Zika's been spreading effectively on its own, but there's very good reason to think the Olympics will accelerate the spread," Dr. Jhasaid.

But the virus poses a unique problem because it isso far beyond the contrai of local organizing officials, and so many questions about it remain unanswered. Few athletes have publicly expressed concern, but it is unclear how many might withdraw as the Games draw closer.

"At this point you just keep going," David Wallechinsky, an Olympics historian, said. "You have to continue as if everything's going to be fine. These are real concerns - Zika, the water quality. But even if Dilma is forced out of office, it's not going to stop the Olympics."

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Brazil lmpeachment: The Process for Removing the President

ByTHE NEW YORKTIMES UPDATED May 12, 2016

Dilma Rousseff, the beleaguered president of Brazil, has been confronting an effort to remove her from office, accused of violating fiscal laws by using funds from state banks to cover budget shortfalls.

Her opponents claim this strategy eroded confidence among investors, raising the government's borrowing costs and disregarding measures designed to prevent a return of high inflation.

The president's supporters contend that Ms. Rousseff was seeking to maintain popular antipoverty projects, and that impeachment over the issue is politically motivated because Ms. Rousseff's predecessors carried out similar policies.

Here is a guide to the complicated process for impeaching and removing a president from office:

Step1

Congressional Panei Debates Charges

The process prescribed in Brazil's Constitution, adopted in 1988, shares similarities with impeachment proceedings in the United States.

First, the speaker of the lower chamber of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, a political opponent of Ms. Rousseff, had to accept a petition for impeachment.

Mr. Cunha then formed a 65-member congressional committee to investigate the accusations and decide if removal was warranted. The political composition of the committee was largely stacked against the president.

The committee was created in December, but its work was soon stopped by a court arder. Work resumed in March.

Jovair Arantes, the legislator in charge of preparing the committee report on the fate of Ms. Rousseff and an ally of Mr. Cunha, recommended on April 6 that proceedings move forward to remove her from office.

The full committee, in a 38-27 vote on April 11, agreed, clearing the way for a vote on her impeachment in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies.

Step2

Chamber of Deputies Votes

On April 17, the lower chamber voted for impeachment. At least two-thirds ofthe 513 deputies had to vote for impeachment forthe motion to pass. The decisiva 342nd vote was cast about five-anda-half hours afterthe floorvote started.

ln early May, Brazil's top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, removed Mr. Cunha from his speaker role on charges of obstructing a corruption investigation.

Step3

The Role ofthe Senate and Vice President

After the lower chamber vote, the process then moved to the Senate, which had to decide, with a sim pie majority vote, whether to accept the charges.

On May 12, the Senate voted 55 to 22 to begin the triai, resulting in Ms. Rousseff's suspension. The vice president then took over, with the authority to appoint ministers and enact policy.

Michel Temer, the vice president who assumed the president's office, is a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party. His party had been a crucial part of Ms. Rousseff's governing coalition, but it recently voted to split with her Workers' Party, which significantly increased the odds of Ms. Rousseff's impeachment.

Mr. Temer, 75, was himself under scrutiny over claims that he was involved in an illegal ethanol purchasing scheme.

Step4

Removal or Reinstatement

The Senate triai will be overseen by the chief justice of the Suprema Federal Tribunal, Ricardo Lewandowski. Two-thirds of the 81 senators must vote in favor of removing the president from office. lf that happens, Mr. Temer would serve as president for the remainder of Ms. Rousseff's term through the end of 2018.

lf no decision is reached within 180 days, the suspension of the president ends.

Asked in a recent interview with The New York Times whether she would accept a vote to impeach her, Ms. Rousseff, 68, said, "We will appeal with every legal method available."

She has that option: "She can appeal at any moment she finds something legally questionable occurring in the process," said Brasílio Sallum Jr., a professor of sociology at the University of São Paulo and an expert in Brazil's political processes.

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Team Composition

      In a large organization, it is often the case that different roles emerge. In Tayloristic teams, these different roles are grouped together as a number of role-based teams each of which contains members of the same role. In contrast, agile teams use cross-functional teams. Such a team draws together individuals performing all defined roles. Rotations from one role to another are common. It is also possible to have highly specialized experts (for example, security analysts and usability engineers) shared among several teams in an organization.

      One advantage to role-based teams is that teams whose work products are independent of each other can work in parallel as long as there is not much knowledge flow among the different functional sub-team. However, in knowledgeintensive software development that demands information flow from different functional sub teams, role-based teams tend to lead to islands of knowledge and difficulty in its sharing among all the teams. As hand-offs between teams usually are based on document flow, the knowledge of one team that is required by the other team must be externalized and documented. Although reviews try to minimize the knowledge loss, externalization and documentation processes cannot guarantee that all knowledge is captured and even if most of it was rigorously captured, there is still no guarantee or way to check its correctness till the project sign-off.

      Cross-functional teams should be used to facilitate better knowledge transfer. This is especially the case for agile methods since they are recommended to be used where there is a lot of uncertainty and unknown knowledge about the domain and system requirements, and the technologies to be used are new and unexplored.

Adaptado de: CHAU THOMAS, MAURER FRANK e MELNIK GRIGORI. Knowledge Sharing: Agile Methods vs. Tayloristic Methods. (WETICE´03) Proceedings of the Twelft IEEE International Workshop on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, 2003.

      Characteristics of a good test

      In order to judge the effectiveness of any test, it is sensible to lay down criteria against which the test can be measured, as follows:

      Validity: a test is valid if it tests what it is supposed to test. Thus it is not valid, for example, to test writing ability with an essay question that demands specialist knowledge of history or biology — unless it is known that all students share this knowledge before they do the test.

      A particular kind of ‘validity’ that concerns most test designers is face validity. This means that the test should look, on the ‘face’ of it, as if it is valid. A test which consisted of only three multiple choice items would not convince students of its face validity however reliable or practical teachers thought it to be.

      Reliability: a good test should give consistent results. For example, if the same group of students took the same test twice within two days — without reflecting on the first test before they sat it again — they should get the same results on each occasion. If two groups who were demonstrably alike took the test, the marking range would be the same.

      In practice, ‘reliability’ is enhanced by making the test instructions absolutely clear, restricting the scope for variety in the answers. Reliability also depends on the people who mark the tests. Clearly a test is unreliable if the result depends to any large extent on who is marking it. Much thought has gone into making the scoring of tests as reliable as possible.

(Jeremy Harmer. The practice of English language teaching. 2007. Adaptado)

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      In a research project at the University of Illinois, US, Savignon (1972) adopted the term ‘communicative competence’ to characterize the ability of classroom language learners to interact with other speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from their ability to recite dialogs or perform on discrete-point tests of grammatical knowledge.

      At a time when pattern practice and error avoidance were the rule in language teaching, this study of classroom acquisition of language looked at the effect of practice on the use of coping strategies as part of an instructional program. By encouraging students to ask for information, to seek out clarification, or to use whatever linguistic or nonlinguistic resources they could gather to negotiate meaning and stick to the communicative task at hand, teachers were invariably leading learners to take risks and speak in other than memorized patterns.

      Test results at the end of the instructional period showed conclusively that learners who practiced communication in place of laboratory pattern drills performed with no less accuracy on discrete-points tests of grammatical structure. On the other hand, their communicative competence as measured in terms of fluency, comprehensibility, effort and amount of communication in unrehearsed oral communication tasks significantly surpassed that of learners who had had no such practice. Learners’ reactions to the test formats added further support to the view that even beginners respond well to activities that let them focus on meaning rather than formal features.

(Sandra J. Savignon. Communicative language teaching for the twenty-first century. In: Marianne Celce-Murcia. Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Adaptado)

                     Read the following article and answer question

Can Allergies Cause Coughing — Or Is It Just A Cold?

Important q: Is it phlegmy or dry?

BY CASSIE SHORTSLEEVE

No matter why it's happening, a cough is always annoying—it's loud, it's uncomfortable, and it never fails to garner unwanted attention.

But what's really behind that cough? Can allergies cause coughing — or do you just have an annoying cold?

Well, turns out, there are some pretty distinct differences between allergy coughs and cold coughs...

Just curious: Why do we cough, anyway? "The purpose of a cough is to help us," says Monica Lee, MD, an otolaryngologist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. It’s your body’s way of trying to expel something it perceives as a threat in the airway, she says.

Those perceived threats can be a bunch of different things: a piece of food stuck in your throat, pollen, air pollution, or swelling or drainage from extra mucus in your throat. All those things irritate the sensory fibers in your airway, which then stimulate a cough.

As for what exactly happens in your body during a cough? It's kind of complex, says Dr. Lee. Basically, your vocal chords close briefly to generate pressure in the lungs. Once enough pressure is built up, your vocal chords open back up, and air flows quickly through your voice box, which generates that coughing sound. Kinda cool, huh?

7So...can allergies cause coughing? Give it to me straight. In short, yes. Usually, allergies create dry coughs (it’s a direct reaction to something you’re sensitive or allergic to in the airways). If that's the case, you’ll likely have other symptoms (think: itchy, watery eyes; a runny nose; an itchy throat; and sneezing, says Dr. Lee). Headaches and wheezing often come with allergies, too, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

Remind Me: When Is Allergy Season?

Timing's also a factor. If you're allergic to pollen (or your BFF's new adorable kitten), for example, you’ll likely notice symptoms (including your cough) almost immediately, or within an hour of being exposed. And those symptoms could last for hours after you've been exposed — even after the allergen isn't nearby anymore.

Coughs related to allergies are also dependent on patterns, so doctors always try to look at the big picture. Say you get a cough every single March. That could be a sign you're actually suffering from allergies, instead of the common cold. "You need to look at everything that's going on," says Paul Bryson, MD, an otolaryngologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Your best defense for a cough from allergies? Antihistamines like Allegra, Claritin, and Zyrtec, which are all available over-the-counter. Other options include steroid nasal sprays and immunotherapy shots, which can work to regulate your body's response to allergens, instead of just relieving the symptoms.

How do I know my cough is from a cold?

You know how allergy coughs are typically on the drier side? Coughs from colds (or the flu) tend to be on the wetter side (that "wetness" is actually mucus your body which is trying to move out of your body, says Dr. Lee).

Coughs that come along with a cold usually come along with stuffiness, along with postnasal drip (a.k.a., mucus running down the back of your throat), which can cause a sore throat or chest discomfort. A low-grade fever may also signal a cold instead of allergies.

Colds aren't as immediate as allergies. Instead, they tend to develop over the course of a few days, says Dr. Bryson.

You can try a few different things to help relieve a cough. Decongestants can work for, well, congestion. And ingredients like dextromethorphan (found in many multi-symptom products like Vicks NyQuil Cold & Flu Nighttime Relief) can help ease the coughing itself. Just make sure you take any products as-directed. It should be said, however, that a dry cough isn't always allergies, just like a wet cough isn't always a cold. Allergies can plague your nose, for example, causing post-nasal drip (a wet cough), while mild colds might not leave you stuffed up enough to produce any phlegm.

Do I ever need to worry about a cough?

Something important to remember: A cough — no matter its cause — shouldn’t be your norm. Colds usually run their course within a couple of weeks, which means a cough associated with a cold should go away in about three weeks time (though some can linger on for as long as eight weeks), according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The length of an allergy-related cough will vary depending on how (if) you're treating it. But if you notice you’re still barking after two months of symptoms, see your doc. You could either be dealing with an allergy you’re not aware of (this is where an allergy test could come into play) or potentially suffering from another issue such as asthma (especially if you notice shortness of breath with any of your symptoms), reflux, pneumonia, or bronchitis, says Dr. Bryson. And if something (allergies or a pesky cold) is bothering you enough to disrupt your life, don't put off getting it checked out. If nothing else, seeing a doc will give you peace of mind and maybe even speed up your recovery time.

SOURCE:https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a26289646/co ughing-from-allergies-or-cold/. Access: 02/12/2019

Para responder à questão, leia o texto a seguir, que exemplifica estratégias de leitura, e assinale a alternativa que melhor completa cada uma das lacunas numeradas, considerando o sentido do texto e a norma-padrão da língua inglesa.

John is a conscientious student. When he is told he will 41 tested on the contents of Chapter 2 in the textbook, he looks 42 every unknown word in the dictionary in an effort to fix the information in his memory. Despite his extended preparations, he doesn’t do very well 43 the test, though he says he spent hours preparing. Lia, on the other 44 , excels on the exam, but she has approached the text in a very different way. Before she reads the chapter, she skims through it, looking at subheadings and graphics so as to give herself a general idea of what the text will be about. 45 she reads, she connects the material in the chapter to what she already knows. She frequently asks herself 46 about the text, looking back or ahead to link one part of the text to another. When she is puzzled by the content, she searches for clues in the 47 , tries to paraphrase, or considers what she knows about text 48 . In short, Lia is reading like an expert, 49 John is relying on just one technique. The difference between the two is in 50 use of reading strategies.

[Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice,

by Jack C. Richards and Willy A. Renandya (Eds.)]

Ask teachers what method they subscribe to, and most will answer either that they don’t follow a method at all, or that they are ‘eclectic’, and pick and choose from techniques and procedures associated with a variety of different methods. Some might add that, essentially, their teaching follows the principles laid down by the communicative approach, itself a mixed bag, embracing anything from drills to communicative tasks, and everything in between. But the concept of a single, prescriptive ‘method’ – as in the Direct Method or the Oral Method – seems now to be dead and buried.

The demise of method is consistent with the widely held view that we are now in a ‘post-method’ era. Thus, as long ago as 1983, Stern declared that ‘several developments indicate a shift in language pedagogy away from the single method concept as the main approach to language teaching’ (1983). One such development was the failure, on the part of researchers, to find any significant advantage in one method over another. As Richards (1990) noted, ‘studies of the effectiveness of specific methods have had a hard time demonstrating that the method itself, rather than other factors, such as the teacher’s enthusiasm, or the novelty of the new method, was the crucial variable’. …

Kumaravadivelu (1994) identified what he called the ‘postmethod condition’, a result of ‘the widespread dissatisfaction with the conventional concept of method’. Rather than subscribe to a single set of procedures, postmethod teachers adapt their approach in accordance with local, contextual factors, while at the same time being guided by a number of ‘macrostrategies’. Two such macrostrategies are ‘Maximise learning opportunities’ and ‘Promote learner autonomy’. …

Nevertheless, and in spite of the claims of the postmethodists, the notion of method does not seem to have gone away completely. In fact, it seems to be doggedly persistent, even if the term itself is often replaced by its synonyms. … This is a view echoed by Bell (2007) who interviewed a number of teachers on the subject, and concluded that ‘methods, however the term is defined, are not dead. Teachers seem to be aware of both the usefulness of methods and the need to go beyond them.’

On the other hand, in a recent paper, Akbari (2008) suggests that it is textbooks that have largely replaced methods in their traditional sense: ‘The concept of method has not been replaced by the concept of postmethod but rather by an era of textbook-defined practice. What the majority of teachers teach and how they teach ... are now determined by textbooks’.

(by Scott Thornbury – http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/ methods-post-method-metodos. Adaptado)

Brain Development: Can Teaching Make a

Difference?

It has long been known that different regions of the brain have specialized functions. For example, the frontal lobes are involved in abstract reasoning and planning, while the posterior lobes are involved in vision. Until recently, it was believed that these specialized regions developed from a genetic blueprint that determined the structure and function of specific areas of the brain. That is, particular areas of the brain were designed for processing certain kinds of information from birth.

New evidence suggests that the brain is much more malleable than previously thought. Recent findings indicate that the specialized functions of specific regions of the brain are not fixed at birth but are shaped by experience and learning. To use a computer analogy, we now think that the young brain is like a computer with incredibly sophisticated hardwiring, but no software. The software of the brain, like the software of desktop computers, harnesses the exceptional processing capacity of the brain in the service of specialized functions, like vision, smell, and language. All individuals have to acquire or develop their own software in order to harness the processing power of the brain with which they are born.

A number of studies support this view. However, all were carried out on animals, because it is not possible to do such research with humans. Caution is called for when extrapolating these findings to humans.

These findings may have implications for language educators: for one thing, that teaching and teachers can make a difference in brain development, and that they shouldn’t give up on older language learners.

Source: http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol5/Nov2001_

BrainResearch.html (Edited.)