Questões de Inglês - Discurso direto e indireto | Reported speech para Concurso

Text 4A1-I

President Joe Biden predicted Thursday that student loan borrowers will start receiving relief – which is currently on hold over a court challenge – within weeks, projecting confidence that his administration will win the challenge. “We’re going to win that case. I think in the next two weeks you’re going to see those checks going out”, Biden told a TV news correspondent.

The Biden administration started taking student debt forgiveness applications on October 14 and officials have said it could take weeks to process and grant relief. Eligible borrowers won’t be receiving actual checks. Instead, they will see up to a $ 20,000 reduction in their student debt balances. The Department of Education has told borrowers who are eligible for automatic debt relief, without filing an application, not to expect the debt cancellation before November 14.

A federal appeals court put a temporary hold on the administration’s student loan forgiveness program last week, which barred the government from canceling loans covered under the new policy while the court considers a challenge brought by six Republican-led states. The Biden administration is also facing lawsuits from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and conservative groups such as the Job Creators Network Foundation and the Cato Institute.

Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, first announced in August, aims to deliver debt relief to millions of borrowers before federal student loan payments resume in January after a nearly three-year, pandemic-related pause.

The President made his comments during an interview with a local TV station network during his visit to Syracuse, New York, to tout a new deal on semiconductor manufacturing. With less than two weeks until the midterm elections Biden took questions on the economy, his message to voters, and the stalled student debt relief program. President Joe Biden is canceling some federal student loan debt, making a once pie-in-the-sky idea a reality. The application officially opened Monday, allowing low- and middle-class federal student loan borrowers to apply for up to $ 20,000 in debt relief.

https: <www.edition.cnn.com> (adapted). 

Read the text below to answer the question:

ICEBERG A68a

   An enormous iceberg that is heading toward the island of South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean has broken up into three large chunks. Scientists from NASA have been tracking the berg - dubbed A68a - for several weeks. It actually calved from the Larsen C ice shelf in 2017 and has been floating northwards ever since. In recent weeks, a fast-moving stream of water known as the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front has put the chunks on a trajectory that means they could run aground off the coast of South Georgia. Scientists say the three fragments are roughly 2,600 square kilometres in size. The submerged part of one chunk is 106 metres at its thickest point.

   The sheer bulk of the three iceberg chunks poses a serious threat to the wildlife of South Georgia. There could be an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen. If the three mini icebergs collide with the seabed, they could obstruct penguins and seals from foraging for fish. They could also block the route between penguin colonies and their feeding grounds during the breeding season. Scientists worry the underside of the fragments could grind the seabed near South Georgia and disrupt delicate underwater ecosystems. This could be exacerbated by the introduction of a mass of fresh water to the ecosystems as the stationary fragments melt over the summer months. 

Available at: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2012/201229-iceberg-a68a.html Accessed on January 5th 2021.

Australia fires: What's being done to fight the flames?

Large parts of Australia __________ (devastate) by the worst wildfires the country __________ (see) in decades, with huge blazes tearing through bush, woodland and national parks. Record-breaking temperatures and months of drought __________ (help) the fires burn an estimated 10 million hectares (100,000 sq km) of land since 1 July.

Bushfire conditions EASED over the weekend, giving fire crews a period of temporary respite. But authorities __________ (say) the huge fires will persist until there is substantial rainfall. More hot weather is __________ (expect) next week and the risk was far from over, they said. Thousands of firefighters are still battling blazes across large swathes of Australia - ranging in size from small fires to infernos burning across hectares of land. Entire towns have been engulfed and residents across several states have lost their homes. At least 28 people have died.

State and federal authorities have been working together to try to stem the spread. While they have managed to contain some within a matter of days, the biggest blazes have been burning for months.

At least 3,700 firefighters are on the ground at any one time across the country during the worst periods, according to the country's state fire services. Most are in the worst-hit states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. When fires have been at their worst, about 2,700 firefighters have been battling the blazes at any one time in NSW alone. Ben Shepherd, of the NSW Rural Fire Service, said his colleagues had dealt with 4.2m hectares of burning land this season, compared with the typical 300,000 hectares. "It's been an incredibly long campaign," he said.

Fire crews across the country have been joined by 3,000 army, navy and air force reservists who are assisting with search and rescue and clean-up efforts. Further support coming from the US, Canada, and New Zealand, who have sent additional teams and equipment to help.

                                         (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51008051 )