Questões de Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension para Concurso

After years of inattention, the whole world has just awaken to what is happening in the Amazon. “Save the rain forest” is the cry of conservationists, politicians, and rock stars. The movement has already sparked a confrontation between rich industrials nations, which are new converts to the environmental cause, and the poorer nations of the Third World which consider outside interference as an assault on their sovereignty. Scientists think that destruction of the Amazon could lead to climatic chaos. Because of the huge volume of clouds it generates, the Amazon system plays a major role in the way the sun’s heat is distributed around the globe. Any disturbance of this process could produce unpredictable effects. As an American Senator has just said: “The devastation is unbelievable. It’s one of the great tragedies of all history”. (Adapted from Playing with Fire, by Eugene Linden)

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Even though the Mona Lisa has always been popular in the art sphere, it hasn’t always been world-famous, but everything changed in the summer of 1911 when the painting was stolen. 

 

Thanks to massive reporting by the media, the Mona Lisa became a worldwide news sensation overnight.  

Even those who barely had any interest in art followed the story of the masterpiece’s disappearance.  

Gossips about the heist also surfaced, further cementing the Mona Lisa’s status as a household name. Even Pablo Picasso was once accused of stealing the painting! 

And when Mona Lisa was returned, everyone instantly flocked to the Louvre to see the famed da Vinci masterpiece.  

 

The heist made Mona Lisa so popular that the public mourned when she was gone.

After the painting was stolen, thousands immediately came to the Louvre Museum to stare at the blank wall where it once hung. People also left countless notes, flowers, and other mementos to honor the missing painting.

Later, the New York Times would compare this public display of grief to the one seen after Princess Diana’s death in 1997. 

 

One of the interesting Mona Lisa facts is that Pablo Picasso who was a famous painter at the time was initially accused of stealing the painting.

In fact, he was the prime suspect and was taken in front of a judge together with his then-friend and French writer, Guillaume Apollinaire.

How did all this come to be? Well, Guillaume Apollinaire’s former secretary, Honore-Joseph Géry Pieret testified that he had previously stolen some art pieces from the Louvre and sold them to his “friends” and those friends happen to be Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire.

Of course, it didn’t seem far-fetched that the people who had initially bought stolen art from the Louvre could possibly also have the Mona Lisa and that’s why they were prime suspects.

Two years later, the thief, an Italian handyman, Vincenzo Peruggia, was finally caught. [...] 

Disponível em: https://dreamsinparis.com/facts-about-mona-lisa/. Acesso em: 27 set. 2023. Adaptado.  

Hurricanes are categorized by their wind speeds on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The scale was first developed by Herb Saffir, a structural engineer, and Bob Simpson, a meteorologist.

Hurricanes are split into five categories based on the wind speeds they produce.

To be considered a “major” hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center, a storm must reach Category 3 or above.

A hurricane’s strength matters because it helps meteorologists give residents in its path an idea of what type of damage is possible.

A Category 2 hurricane, for example, has the potential to cause major roof damage to homes, snap or uproot shallowly rooted trees, and knock out power in an area for days to weeks.

When a hurricane reaches Category 5 strength, the center can predict that “catastrophic damage will occur,” according to the Saffir-Simpson scale. Winds from a Category 5 hurricane can destroy homes, fell trees and power lines and possibly leave an area without power for weeks or months.

Because the hurricane category scale is based only on wind speeds, a number of factors are not considered.

“Wind is only one of four hazards, four primary hazards, associated with a tropical cyclone,” said Dr. Michael Brennan, the acting deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, using the broader term for a hurricane. “You can also have rainfall and flooding, storm surge, tornadoes, rip currents.”

Other hurricane-related dangers can occur after the storms have moved through an area.

When an affected area loses power, for example, many people often turn to portable generators to produce electricity. But when they are used improperly, they can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.

And a weak Category 1 hurricane, or even a tropical storm, can still cause serious damage. A tropical storm can have wind speeds between 39 m.p.h. and 73 m.p.h. If the storm strengthens and produces winds up to 74 m.p.h., it becomes a Category 1 hurricane. 

Disponível em: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/climate/hurricane-categories-scale-saffir-simpson.html. Acesso em: 27 set. 2023. Adaptado.