How to prepare well for an interview

It’s important to be well prepared for a job interview and practice the best answers to possible questions an interviewer could ask. It is common for the interviewer to ask why you are unemployed, why you want to work in that company, what you know about it and what salary you are looking for. Some interviewers can ask questions about current affairs in Brazil and the world (so it is always good to be well informed).

                                                               (Adapted from Maganews Mar 2011)

GLOSSARY

current affairs – assuntos atuais 

Ronaldo, the soccer world, confirmed his retirement today at the age of 34. The Brazilian legend has decided to hang up his boots due to injuries and a loss of fitness. “I’m ending my career as a professional soccer player. It’s been a beautiful, emotional, marvelous career. However, these last two years, I’ve had a long series of injuries, from one side to the other, one leg to the other, one muscle to the other,” the Corinthians striker said.

                                                                   (Adapted from Maganews Mar 2011)

Split Rock Resort is open to the public. Hours vary and the park is closed Tuesday - Thursday except the week of President’s Day. Purchase online and save $2 per ticket. Split Rock also offers lodging and water park specials. Tel 800-255-7625

                                                                                    (From Recreation News)

GLOSSARY lodging – casa, hospedaria 

                                     The “Freshman Fifteen”

A freshman is a first-year college student. “Fifteen” refers to fifteen pounds – the fifteen pounds added to a student’s weight in his or her first year. There are a number of reasons why first-year university students gain weight; but it’s encouraging to know that freshmen don’t have to add these harmful fifteen pounds.

                                                             (Taken from Active Skills for Reading)

GLOSSARY pound – libra (unidade monetária e medida de peso equivalente a 454 gramas) 

Flooding, chaotic traffic, a lack of security, and a deficient public health service. These and other problems are routine for people living in the capital of São Paulo State. However, ___ residents are happier with the city today than they were nine years ago. Despite these problems, São Paulo has much to offer, such as great job and good chances of business, and an excellent range of leisure and service options.

                                                                      (Adapted from Maganews #53)

GLOSSARY

range – variedade 

Murderesses Velma Kelly (a woman who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows, in 1920s musical Chicago.

                     Adapted from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299658/plotsummary 

Observe the fragment taken from the blues Blow Wind Blow (Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield)

                           When the sun rose this morning,

                           I didn't have my baby by my side.

                           When the sun rose this morning,

                           I didn't have my baby by my side.

                               I don't know where she was,

                        I know she's out with some another guy.  

                                        Titanic – The Movie

Storyline

In this fiction movie, 84 years later, a 100-year-old woman named Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story to her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert and others about her life set on April 10th 1912, on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers, her mother Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. She explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning.

Adapted from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/

"My Heart Will Go On" is the love theme of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. It was recorded by Celine Dion. Originally released in 1997, it went to number 1 all over the world. It became Dion's biggest hit, and one of the best selling of all time, and was the world's best-selling single of 1998. 

                                                                                      Adapted from Wikipedia

                               My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion)

                                          Soundtrack of Titanic

                                       Every night in my dreams

                                            I see you, I feel you,

                                    That is how I know you go on

                                         Far across the distance

                                         And spaces between us

                                You have come to show you go on

                                      Near, far, wherever you are

                                 I believe that the heart does go on

                                   Once more you open the door

                                     And you're here in my heart

                                   And my heart will go on and on

                                                         [...]

                              http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/titanic/myheartwillgoon  

                                       Twilight

      Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based ___ Stephenie Meyer’s popular novel of the same name. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series. This film focuses on the development of the relationship between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen (a vampire), and the subsequent efforts of Cullen and his family to keep Swan safe ___ a coven of evil vampires.

      The project was in development for approximately 3 years ___ Paramount Pictures, during which time a screen adaptation that differed significantly from the novel was written. Principal photography took 44 days and the film was primarily shot in Oregon.

Twilight was theatrically released ___ November 21 2010, grossing over US$392 million worldwide and became the most purchased DVD of the year. The soundtrack was released in the same year. Following the success of the film, New Moon and Eclipse, the next two novels in the series, were produced as films the following year.

                                                                                     Adapted from Wikipedia 

                                                          The Mona Lisa

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is widely recognized as the most famous painting of all time. She has aroused admiration, curiosity and suspicion for over 500 years. She can provoke a reaction known as the Mona Lisa Syndrome: the viewer is enchanted by her legendary smile, which becomes increasingly enigmatic the more you look at it.

As it will never be sold, the Mona Lisa is priceless, although for insurance reasons it is believed to be valued at anything up to $ 1 billion.

( Adapted from Move – Intermediate)

GLOSSARY

to arouse – despertar

to enchant – encantar

legendary – fabuloso, lendário

insurance – apólice de seguro 

                                   Service Animals

A Therapy Dog is a kind of service animal – an animal that helps people. The most common service animal is a seeing eye dog. A seeing eye dog helps blind people. However, dogs help people in many other ways. Hearing ear dogs help people with hearing problems. These dogs listen for specific noises, such as a fire alarm. When the dog hears the sound, the dog touches the owner. However, if it’s an emergency, the dog may pull the owner out of danger. Usually small dogs are hearing ear dogs because they are easy to care for. Wheelchair assistance dogs are much larger because the dog’s main job is pulling the wheelchair. These dogs also open doors and get items for their owners, such as magazines.

                                                       (Adapted from Access Reading – Thompson) 

EXTRACT 1

Japan’s shipyards remain intact after quake

Japan’s major shipyards escaped the full impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeastern coast of the country with full force. An official at the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association said the devastating natural disaster “will have no impact on future export ship orders at all”. Although several small shipyards in the quake-hit areas were affected, major Japanese shipyards that build large vessels for exports are concentrated in western Japan and remain intact, the official said. Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding sustained “slight material damages” in the company’s Kasai Center and Chiba Works but did not consider such slight damages would cause serious impact on operations. “The rotational schedule of interruption of power supply due to the earthquake may affect our operation at our works and subsidiaries. However, the degree of the impact is not known now,” the company said in a statement. Japanese export ship orders rose for the 15th consecutive month in February o a year-on-year basis. Japanese shipbuilders received orders for 277 export vessels – 259 bulk carriers, 10 oil tankers and eight general cargo vessels – in the April-February period.

                        (Adapted from: www.australianmerchantnavy.com, March 2011)

EXTRACT 2

Tsnunami Debris Expected on U.S. Shores in 3 Years

The powerful tsunami triggered by the 9.0 Japanese earthquake destroyed coastal towns near Sendai, washing such things as houses and cars into the ocean. Projections of where this debris might head have been made at the international Pacific Research Center, university of Hawaii at Manoa. What their model predicts about the tsunami debris is that they first spread out eastward from the Japan Coast in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. In a year, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument will see pieces washing up on its shores; in two years, the remaining Hawaiian islands will see some effects; in three years, the plume will reach the US West Coast, dumping debris on Californian beaches and the beaches of British Columbia, Alaska, and Baja California. The debris will then drift into the famous floating junk yard, the North Pacific Garbage Patch, where it will wander around and break into smaller and smaller pieces. In five years, Hawaii shores can expect to see another barrage of debris that is stronger and longer-lasting than the first one. Much of the debris leaving the North Pacific Garbage Patch ends up on Hawaii’s reefs and beaches. These model projections will help to guide clean-up and tracking operations.

                                                 (Adapted from: www.geog.ucsb.edu, April 2011)