Questões de Vestibular

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    A library tradition is being refashioned to emphasize early literacy and better prepare young children for school, and drawing many new fans in the process.

    Among parents of the under-5 set, spots for story time have become as coveted as seats for a hot Broadway show like “Hamilton.” Lines stretch down the block at some branches, with tickets given out on a first-come-first-served basis because there is not enough room to accommodate all of the children who show up.

    Workers at the 67th Street Library on the Upper East Side of Manhattan turn away at least 10 people from every reading. They have been so overwhelmed by the rush at story time — held in the branch’s largest room, on the third floor — that once the space is full, they close the door and shut down the elevator. “It is so crowded and so popular, it’s insane,” Jacqueline Schector, a librarian, said.

    Story time is drawing capacity crowds at public libraries across New York and across the country at a time when, more than ever, educators are emphasizing the importance of early literacy in preparing children for school and for developing critical thinking skills. The demand crosses economic lines, with parents at all income levels vying to get in.

    Many libraries have refashioned the traditional readings to include enrichment activities such as counting numbers and naming colors, as well as music and dance. And many parents have made story time a fixture in their family routines alongside school pickups and playground outings — and, for those who employ nannies, a nonnegotiable requirement of the job.

    In New York, demand for story time has surged across the city’s three library systems — the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Library — and has posed logistical challenges for some branches, particularly those in small or cramped buildings. Citywide, story time attendance rose to 510,367 people in fiscal year 2015, up nearly 28 percent from 399,751 in fiscal 2013.

    “The secret’s out,” said Lucy Yates, 44, an opera coach with two sons who goes to story time at the Fort Washington Library every week.

    Stroller-pushing parents and nannies begin to line up for story time outside some branches an hour before doors open. To prevent overcrowding, tickets are given out at the New Amsterdam and Webster branches, both in Manhattan, the Parkchester branch in the Bronx, and a half-dozen branches in Brooklyn, including in Park Slope, Kensington and Bay Ridge.

    The 67th Street branch keeps adding story times — there are now six a week — and holds sessions outdoors in the summer, when crowds can swell to 200 people.

    In Queens, 41 library branches are scheduled to add weekend hours this month, and many will undoubtedly include weekend story times. As Joanne King, a spokeswoman for the library explained, parents have been begging for them and “every story time is full, every time we have one.”

    Long a library staple, story time has typically been an informal reading to a small group of boys and girls sitting in a circle. Today’s story times involve carefully planned lessons by specially trained librarians that emphasize education as much as entertainment, and often include suggestions for parents and caregivers about how to reinforce what children have learned, library officials said.

    Libraries around the country have expanded story time and other children’s programs in recent years, attracting a new generation of patrons in an age when online offerings sometimes make trips to the book stacks unnecessary. Sari Feldman, president of the American Library Association, said such early-literacy efforts are part of a larger transformation libraries are undergoing to become active learning centers for their communities by offering services like classes in English as a second language, computer skills and career counseling.

    Ms. Feldman said the increased demand for story time was a product, in part, of more than a decade of work by the library association and others to encourage libraries to play a larger role in preparing young children for school. In 2004, as part of that effort, the association developed a curriculum, “Every Child Ready to Read,” that she said is now used by thousands of libraries.

    The New York Public Library is adding 45 children’s librarians to support story time and other programs, some of which are run in partnership with the city government. It has also designated 20 of its 88 neighborhood branches, including the Fort Washington Library, as “enhanced literary sites.” As such, they will double their story time sessions, to an average of four a week, and distribute 15,000 “family literacy kits” that include a book and a schedule of story times.

    “It is clear that reading and being exposed to books early in life are critical factors in student success,” Anthony W. Marx, president of the New York Public Library, said. “The library is playing an increasingly important role in strengthening early literacy in this city, expanding efforts to bring reading to children and their families through quality, free story times, curated literacy programs, after-school programs and more.”

    For its part, the Queens Library plans to expand a “Kick Off to Kindergarten” program that attracted more than 180 families for a series of workshops last year. Library officials said that more than three-quarters of the children who enrolled, many of whom spoke a language other than English at home, developed measurable classroom skills.

From: www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02

A TOOL FOR SPIES

When Iran’s opposition protesters used Twitter and other forms of social media last year to let the world know about their regime’s brutal post election crackdown, activists praised Twitter as the tool of revolution and freedom. But now Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has figured out how to twist this tool into one of repression. Though as recently as this past January Chávez was decrying Twitter as a weapon of terrorists, he’s since turned into an avid Twitterer himself ( his account, the country’s most popular, boasted more than half a million followers at press time ), as well as a devoted Facebook user and blogger.

      Far from embracing the democratic spirit of the Web, though, the Venezuelan strongman is using his accounts and blog to exhort people to spy on each other. At the launch of his Twitter account, Chávez enjoined the Boliviarian faithful to use it to keep an eye on state enemies, namely the wealthy. My Twitter account is open for you to denounce them, “ Chávez announced on his television program. El Presidente has hired a staff of 200 to deal with tweeted “requests, denunciations, and other problems,” which have resulted in actions against allegedly credit-stingy banks and currency speculators. He’s now considering going a step further and ruling that all Venezuelan Web sites must move from U.S.- based servers to domestic ones - which would, of course, make them far easier to control. Big Brother would be proud.

              (Newsweek – June 14, 2010. By Mac Margolis and Alex Marin)

                                    Genetically modified foods

      Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally, e.g. through the introduction of a gene from a different organism. Currently available GM foods stem mostly from plants, but in the future foods derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are likely to be introduced on the market. Most existing genetically modified crops have been developed to improve yield, through the introduction of resistance to plant diseases or of increased tolerance of herbicides.

      In the future, genetic modification could be aimed at altering the nutrient content of food, reducing its allergenic potential, or improving the efficiency of food production systems. All GM foods should be assessed before being allowed on the market. FAO/WHO Codex guidelines exist for risk analysis of GM food.

                                                                                                                                    (www.who.int)

TEXTO 8

CAPÍTULO IV

      Este Quincas Borba, se acaso me fizeste o favor de ler as Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, é aquele mesmo náufrago da existência, que ali aparece, mendigo, herdeiro inopinado, e inventor de uma filosofia. Aqui o tens agora em Barbacena. Logo que chegou, enamorou-se de uma viúva, senhora de condição mediana e parcos meios de vida; mas, tão acanhada, que os suspiros no namorado ficavam sem eco. Chamava-se Maria da Piedade. Um irmão dela, que é o presente Rubião, fez todo o possível para casá-los. Piedade resistiu, um pleuris a levou.

     Foi esse trechozinho de romance que ligou os dois homens. Saberia Rubião que o nosso Quincas Borba trazia aquele grãozinho de sandice, que um médico supôs achar-lhe? Seguramente, não; tinha-o por homem esquisito. É, todavia, certo que o grãozinho não se despegou do cérebro de Quincas Borba, — nem antes, nem depois da moléstia que lentamente o comeu. Quincas Borba tivera ali alguns parentes, mortos já agora em 1867; o último foi o tio que o deixou por herdeiro de seus bens. Rubião ficou sendo o único amigo do filósofo. Regia então uma escola de meninos, que fechou para tratar do enfermo. Antes de professor, metera ombros a algumas empresas, que foram a pique. 

      Durou o cargo de enfermeiro mais de cinco meses, perto de seis. Era real o desvelo de Rubião, paciente, risonho, múltiplo, ouvindo as ordens do médico, dando os remédios às horas marcadas, saindo a passeio com o doente, sem esquecer nada, nem o serviço da casa, nem a leitura dos jornais, logo que chegava a mala da Corte ou a de Ouro Preto.

      — Tu és bom, Rubião, suspirava Quincas Borba.

      — Grande façanha! Como se você fosse mau!

      A opinião ostensiva do médico era que a doença do Quincas Borba iria saindo devagar. Um dia, o nosso Rubião, acompanhando o médico até à porta da rua, perguntou-lhe qual era o verdadeiro estado do amigo. Ouviu que estava perdido, completamente perdido; mas, que o fosse animando. Para que tornar-lhe a morte mais aflitiva pela certeza...?

      — Lá isso, não, atalhou Rubião; para ele, morrer é negócio fácil. Nunca leu um livro que ele escreveu, há anos, não sei que negócio de filosofia...

      — Não; mas filosofia é uma coisa, e morrer de verdade é outra; adeus.

                                                   (ASSIS, Machado de. Quincas Borba. São Paulo: Ática, 2011. p. 23-24.)