The following dialogue takes place between two native speakers of English in the lower airspace in the vicinity of a major airport. Two aircraft __________ towards the airfield:

Pilot – Fox Charlie speaking.

            Who’s ahead ... us or Golf Yankee?

Controller – Well... you’re neck and neck.

Pilot – We can keep a high speed in the descent if you want us to.

Controller – I don’t know how the TMA are going to plan

                     this. You can if you wish.

Pilot – You’re the boss.

Controller – Well they’ll be the boss when you get down

                     there. I’m just sort of keeping you apart for the

                     moment.

Pilot – Understood.

GLOSSARY:

vicinity = proximidade

Fox Charlie = nome da aeronave

Golf Yankee = nome da aeronave

TMA = refere-se ao órgão de controle de tráfego aéreo 

                                  A Bunch of Butterflies

Priests don’t like confetti, it makes a mess.

The bride and groom rarely like rice, because it hurts. So the latest thing at weddings, at least in America, is butterflies.

What could be nicer than having a bunch of butterflies released into the air around the marriage couple? Companies are now springing up in the US to meet the new demand, but animal rights groups are concerned. How are the butterflies caught, how are they transported to the wedding and what happens to them afterwards?

The wedding party thinks the butterflies fly away, but often the insect cannot survive in their new environment and die.

GLOSSARY:

spring up – surgir 

He had felt terrible for three days, so Bob finally called his doctor’s office.

“The doctor can see you in three weeks”, he was told. An outraged Bob bellowed, “Three weeks? The doctor can’t see me for three weeks? I could be dead by then!”

Calmly the voice at the other end of the line replied, “If so, be sure to have someone call to cancel the appointment.”

GLOSSARY:

outraged – ofendido, injuriado

bellow – gritar, berrar 

Chandra is a dentist in Texas. She is from India. “I’m afraid to try new foods because they might contain beef.

I’m a Hindu, and my religion forbids me to eat meat from the cow. That’s why I can’t eat hamburgers or spaghetti with meatballs.”  

                           NATO ships, helicopters hunt down 7 pirates

      NAIROBI, Kenya - NATO warships and helicopters pursued Somali pirates for seven hours after they attacked a Norwegian tanker, NATO spokesmen said Sunday, and the high-speed chase only ended when warning shots were fired at the pirates' skiff. Seven pirates attempted to attack the Norwegian-flagged MV Front Ardenne late Saturday but fled after crew took evasive maneuvers and alerted warships in the area, said Portuguese Lt. Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes, aboard a warship in the Gulf of Aden, and Cmdr. Chris Davies, of NATais maritime headquarters in England.

      "How the attack was thwarted is unclear, it appears to have been the actions of the tanker," Davies said. Fernandes said no shots were fired at the tanker.

      Davies said the pirates sailed into the path of the Canadian warship Winnipeg, which was escorting a World Food Program delivery ship through the Gulf of Aden. The American ship USS Halyburton was also in the area and joined the chase. 

      "There was a lengthy pursuit, over seven hours," Davies said. The pirates hurled weapons into the dark seas as the Canadian and U.S. warships closed in. The ships are part of NATais anti-piracy mission.

      "The skiff abandoned the scene and tried to escape to Somali territory," Fernandes said. "It was heading toward Bossaso but we managed to track them. Warning shots have been made after several attempts to stop the vessel."

      Both ships deployed helicopters, and naval officers hailed the pirates over loudspeakers and finally fired warning shots to stop them, Fernandes said, but not before the pirates had dumped most of their weapons overboard. NATO forces boarded the skiff, where they found a rocketpropelled grenade, and interrogated, disarmed and released the pirates.

      The pirates cannot be prosecuted under Canadian law because they did not attack Canadian citizens or interests and the crime was not committed on Canadian territory.

      "When a ship is part of NATO, the detention of a person is a matter for the national authorities," Fernandes said. "It stops being a NATO issue and starts being a national issue." 

      The pirates' release underscores the difficulties navies have in fighting rampant piracy off the coast of lawless Somalia. Most of the time, foreign navies simply disarm and release the pirates they catch due to legal complications and logistical difficulties in transporting pirates and witnesses to court.

      Pirates have attacked more than 80 boats this year alone, four times the number assaulted in 2003, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau. They now hold at least 18 ships - including a Belgian tanker seized Saturday with 10 crew aboard - and over 310 crew hostage, according to an Associated Press count.

                                                                                 (Adapted from: www.ap.org, 04/19/09)