First Footing

One of the major Hogmanay customs was "first-footing". Shortly after "the bells" — the stroke of midnight when public clocks would chime to signal the start of the new year —, neighbours would visit one another’s houses to wish each other a good new year. This visiting was known "first-footing",and the luckiest first-foot into any house was a tall, dark and handsome man — perhaps as a reward to the woman who traditionally had spent the previous day scrubbing her house (another Hogmanay ritual). Women or red heads, however, were always considered bad luck as first-foots.

First-foots brought symbolic gifts to "handsel" the house: coal for the fire, to ensure that the house would be warm and safe, and shortbread or black bun (a type of fruit cake) to symbolise that the household would never go hungry that year.

First-footing has faded in recent years, particularly with the growth of the major street celebrations in Edinburgh and Glasgow, although not the Scots love of a good party, of which there are plenty on the night!

Disponível em: www.visitscotland.com. Acesso em: 23 nov. 2011.

A partir da leitura do texto sobre a comemoração do Ano-novo na Escócia, observa-se que, com o tempo, aspectos da cultura de um povo podem ser

Horse or cow

Prior to taking retirement and selling off his land, a farmer needed to get rid of all the animals he owned, so he decided to call on every house in his village. At houses where the man was the boss, he gave a horse; at houses where the woman was the boss, he gave a dairy cow.

Approaching one cottage, he saw a couple gardening and called out, ‘Who’s the boss around here?’

‘I am,’ said the man.

The farmer said: ‘I have a black horse and a brown horse. Which one would you like?’

The man thought for a minute and said, ‘The black one.’

‘No, no, get the brown one,’ said his wife.

The farmer said, ‘Here’s your cow.’

TIBBALLS, G. The book of senior jokes. Great Britain: Michael O’Mara, 2009 (adaptado)

O texto relata o caso de um fazendeiro prestes a se aposentar e vender sua fazenda. O aspecto cômico desse texto provém da

36 hours in Buenos Aires

Contemporary Argentine history is a roller coaster of financial booms and cracks, set to gripping political soap operas. But through all the highs and lows, one thing has remained constant: Buenos Aires’s graceful elegance and cosmopolitan cool. This attractive city continues to draw food lovers, design buffs and party people with its riotous night life, fashion-forward styling and a favorable exchange rate. Even with the uncertain economy, the creative energy and enterprising spirit of Porteños, as residents are called, prevail — just look to the growing ranks of art spaces, boutiques, restaurants and hotels.

SINGER, P. Disponível em: www.nytimes.com. Acesso em: 30 jul. 2012.

Nesse artigo de jornal, Buenos Aires é apresentada como a capital argentina, que

Uma campanha pode ter por objetivo conscientizar a população sobre determinada questão social. Na campanha realizada no Reino Unido, a frase “A third of the food we buy in the UK ends up being thrown away" foi utilizada para enfatizar o(a)

As instituições públicas fazem uso de avisos como instrumento de comunicação com o cidadão. Esse aviso, voltado a passageiros, tem o objetivo de

How fake images change our memory and behaviour

    For decades, researchers have been exploring just how unreliable our own memories are. Not only is memory fickle when we access it, but it's also quite easily subverted and rewritten. Combine this susceptibility with modem image-editing software at our fingertips like Photoshop, and it's a recipe for disaster. In a world where we can witness news and world events as they unfold, fake images surround us, and our minds accept these pictures as real, and remember them later. These fake memories don't just distort how we see our past, they affect our current and future behaviour too - from what we eat, to how we protest and vote. The problem is there's virtually nothing we can do to stop it.

   Old memories seem to be the easiest to manipulate. In one study, subjects were showed images from their childhood. Along with real images, researchers snuck in manipulated photographs of the subject taking a hotair balloon ride with his or her family. After seeing those images, 50% of subjects recalled some part of that hot-air balloon ride - though the event was entirely made up.

EVELETH, R. Disponível em: www.bbc.com. Acesso em: 16 jan. 2013 (adaptado).




A reportagem apresenta consequências do uso de novas tecnologias para a mente humana. Nesse contexto, a memória das pessoas é influenciada pelo(a)

    Why am I compelled to write? Because the writing saves me from this complacency I fear. Because I have no choice. Because I must keep the spirit of my revolt and myself alive. Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it.

ANZALDÚA, G. E. Speaking in tongues: a letter to third world women writers. In: HERNANDEZ, J. B. (Ed.). Women w riting resistance: essays on Latin America and the Caribbean. Boston: South End, 2003.

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa, falecida em 2004, foi uma escritora americana de origem mexicana que escreveu sobre questões culturais e raciais. Na citação, o intuito da autora é evidenciar as

Na tira da série For better or for worse, a comunicação entre as personagens fica comprometida em um determinado momento porque

My brother the star, my mother the earth my father the sun, my sister the moon, to my life give beauty, to my body give strength, to my corn give goodness, to my house give peace, to my spirit give truth, to my elders give wisdom.
Disponível em: www.blackhawkproductions.com. Acesso em: 8 ago. 2012.
Produções artístico-culturais revelam visões de mundo próprias de um grupo social. Esse poema demonstra a estreita relação entre a tradição oral da cultura indígena norte-americana e a

Turning Brown
A four-year-old boy was eating an apple in the back seat of the car, when he asked, “Daddy, why is my apple turning brown?” “Because,” his dad explained, “after you ate the skin off, the meat of the apple came into contact with the air, which caused it to oxidize, thus changing the molecular structure and turning it into a different color.” There was a long silence. Then the son asked softly, “Daddy, are you talking to me?”
Disponível em: http://hayspost.com. Acesso em: 10 nov. 2011.
Considerando os participantes da conversa nessa piada, nota-se que o efeito de humor é obtido em função

I read a study that measured the efficiency of I locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list ... That didn't look so good, but then someone at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And a man on a bicycle blew the condor away. That's what a computer is to me: the computer is the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.

JOBS, S. Disponível em: www.msnbc.msn.com. Acesso em: 28 fev. 2012 (adaptado)

Ao abordar o deslocamento de várias espécies, com base em um estudo que leu, Steve Jobs apresenta o computador como uma ferramenta que

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Disponível em: www.freerealestaeads.net .Acesso em: 30 nov. 2011(adaptado).
Em jornais, há diversos anúncios que servem aos leitores. O conteúdo do anúncio veiculado por este texto interessará a alguém que esteja procurando

Languages and cultures use non-verbal communication which conveys meaning. Although many gestures are similar in Thai and English such as nodding for affirmation many others are not shared. A good example of this is the ubiquitous “Thai smile”. The “smile” carries a far wider range of meanings in Thai than it does in English culture. This can sometimes lead to serious communication breakdowns between Thais and English speakers.

An example from my own early experience in Thailand illustrates the point. When confronting the Thai owner of a language school with administrative problems, complaints regarding student numbers in the class were met by a beaming smile and little else. I took this to mean lack of concern or an attempt to trivialise or ignore the problem. I left the discussion upset and angry by what appeared to be the owner's offhand attitude to my problems.

It was only later when another native speaking English teacher, with considerably more experience of Thailand, explained that a smile meant an apology and the fact that the following day all my complaints had been addressed, that I fully understood the situation.

Disponível em: www.spring.org.uk. Acesso em: 11 jul. 2011 (fragmento)

Viver em um país estrangeiro pode ser uma experiência enriquecedora, embora possa também ser um desafio, pelo choque cultural. A experiência relatada pelo autor do texto revela diferentes atribuições de sentido a um determinado comportamento, mostrando que naquela situação o sorriso indicava um(a)

Disponível em: http://1.bp.blogspot.com. Acesso em: 30 jul. 2012.
Implementar políticas adequadas de alimentação e nutrição é uma meta prioritária em vários países do mundo. A partir da campanha If you can't read it, why eat it?, os leitores são alertados para o perigo de

If You Can’t Master English, Try Globish

PARIS — It happens all the time: during an airport delay the man to the left, a Korean perhaps, starts talking to the man opposite, who might be Colombian, and soon they are chatting away in what seems to be English. But the native English speaker sitting between them cannot understand a word.
They don't know it, but the Korean and the Colombian are speaking Globish, the latest addition to the 6,800 languages that are said to be spoken across the world. Not that its inventor, Jean-Paul Nerrière, considers it a proper language.
“It is not a language, it is a tool,” he says. “A language is the vehicle of a culture. Globish doesn't want to be that at all. It is a means of communication.”
Nerrière doesn't see Globish in the same light as utopian efforts such as Kosmos, Volapuk, Novial or staunch Esperanto. Nor should it be confused with barbaric Algol (for Algorithmic language). It is a sort of English lite: a means of simplifying the language and giving it rules so it can be understood by all.

BLUME, M. Disponível em: www.nytimes.com. Acesso em: 28 out. 2013 (fragmento).

Considerando as ideias apresentadas no texto, o Globish (Global English) é uma variedade da língua inglesa que

A internet tem servido a diferentes interesses, ampliando, muitas vezes, o contato entre pessoas e instituições. Um exemplo disso é o site WeFeedback, no qual a internauta Kate Watts

The Road Not Taken (by Robert Frost)

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Disponível em: www.poetryfoundation.org. Acesso em: 29 nov. 2011 (fragmento).

Estes são os versos finais do famoso poema The Road Not Taken, do poeta americano Robert Frost. Levando-se em consideração que a vida é comumente metaforizada como uma viagem, esses versos indicam que o autor

Masters of War

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.

BOB DYLAN. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Nova York: Columbia Records, 1963 (fragmento)


Na letra da canção Masters of War, há questionamentos e reflexões que aparecem na forma de protesto contra

A Tall Order

The sky isn’t the limit for an architect building the world’s first invisible skyscraper.

Charles Wee, one of the world's leading high-rise architects, has a confession to make: he's bored with skyscrapers. After designing more than 30, most of which punctuate the skylines of rapidly expanding Asian cities, he has struck upon a novel concept: the first invisible skyscraper.
As the tallest structure in South Korea, his Infinity Tower will loom over Seoul until somebody pushes a button and it completely disappears.
When he entered a 2004 competition to design a landmark tower, the Korean-American architect rejected the notion of competing with Dubai, Toronto, and Shanghai to reach the summit of man-made summits. “I thought, let's not jump into this stupid race to build another ‘tallest’ tower,” he says in a phone conversation. “Let's take an opposite approach — let's make an anti-tower.”
The result will be a 150-story building that fades from view at the flick of a switch. The tower will effectively function as an enormous television screen, being able to project an exact replica of whatever is happening behind it onto its façade. To the human eye, the building will appear to have melted away.
It will be the most extraordinary achievement of Wee's stellar architectural career. After graduating from UCLA, he worked under Anthony Lumsden, a prolific Californian architect who helped devise the modern technique of wrapping buildings inside smooth glass skins.

HINES, N. Disponível em: http://mag.newsweek.com. Acesso em: 13 out. 2013 (adaptado).

No título e no subtítulo desse texto, as expressões A Tall Order e The sky isn’t the limit são usadas para apresentar uma matéria cujo tema é:

Movie: Hijras - The Third Gender

Director: Devika Urvashi Bhisé

Duration: 29 minutes

Hijras are the outcastes of Indian society and live on its fringes. These eunuchs (originally only castrated males) were once employed by sultans and maharajas to guard the women in their harems. Now shunned by society, they are treated with less respect than the Dalits, or untouchables. Considered neither men nor women, Hijras have no constitutional rights. Currently, there is an ongoing debate in India regarding whether or not they should be granted the status of a third gender.

Most hijras are genetically born as men, but believe they are women within. The rest are hermaphrodites with some abnormality in genitalia. For those born men, becoming a hijra is a painful process that involves removing the entire genitalia in a secret ceremony that is often undergone without any anesthetic.

Currently, most hijras have only three ways in which they can make a living: prostitution, begging, and as performing shamans removing bad luck and/or spells from suspicious Indian households. Sex work is one of the only options for hijras because there are few employment opportunities available to them. Hijras are most commonly seen knocking on car windows, begging for money at stoplights. Although hijras are feared for their dissimilarities, they are also revered for their alleged mystical abilities. Most Indian families seek their blessings during any auspicious ceremony such as a birth, a wedding, or the building of a new house.

As pariahs of society, they are subjected to prejudice that is often translated into verbal abuse, humiliation, extreme discrimination, and violence in public as well as private venues. I have documented a short film to create awareness of the plight of this segment of society and allow their voices to be heard. I was privileged to share this community's inner life and have tried to capture its stark reality as a friend rather than a voyeur. The filming took place from June 2008 to September 2008 in various cities and locations in India.

Disponível em: www.engendered.org. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2012.

O filme Hijras - The Third Gender tem como objetivo chamar atenção para a situação vivida por um segmento da sociedade indiana, os hijras. De acordo com o que se captura dessas vozes no filme e do que se lê no texto, esse segmento reivindica