Religion ________ central to people's lives in Africa. Although the majority of Africans are now Muslim or Christian, traditional religions have endured and still play a big role. Religion runs like a thread through daily life, marked by prayers of gratitude in times of plenty and prayers of supplication in times of need. Religion confirms identity on the individual and the group.

                 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica

GLOSSARY:

Endure – to continue to exist for a long time

Thread – one part connecting with another  

And Now, Robodoc!

A robot in California performs its first invasive surgery on a human patient.

Medical robots in the U.S. have been used to locate hard-to-find tumors and guide a surgeon’s scalpel, but have never actually performed surgery on people. Now that line has been crossed. At Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento, California, a 90-kg machine called Robodoc has operated on its first human patient: a 64-year-old man with a bad hip.

The robot played a key role in a total hip replacement, one of 500,000 such operations performed each year. The trick in these procedures is to create a snug hole into which the artificial hip snaps. The standard method is to jam a cutting tool into the thighbone with a handheld mallet. Robodoc, using the high-speed drill at the end of its mechanical arm, can ream a cavity that is 20 times as precise.

Robosurgery doesn’t have to stop at the hip. In Europe, where officials are less squeamish about such things, robots have assisted in operations on the brain, the prostate and the inner ear.

(Time International, November 23 1992, p.15)

Billions of dollars spent on defeating improvised explosive devices (IED) are beginning to show what technology can and cannot do for the evolving struggle.

Two platoons of U.S. Army scouts are in a field deep in the notorious “Triangle of Death” south of Baghdad, a region of countless clashes between Sunni insurgents and Shia militias. The platoons are guided by a local man who’s warned them of pressure-plate improvised explosive devices, designed to explode when stepped on. He has assured them that he knows where the IED’s are, which means he is almost certainly a former Sunni insurgent.

The platoons come under harassing fire. It stops, but later the tension mounts again as they maneuver near an abandoned house known to shelter al-Qaeda fighters. A shot rings out; the scouts take cover. They don’t realize it’s just their local guide, with an itchy trigger finger, taking the potshot at the house. The lieutenant leading the patrol summons three riflemen to cover the abandoned house.

Then all hell breaks loose. One of the riflemen, a sergeant, steps on a pressure-plate IED. The blast badly injures him, the two other riflemen, and the lieutenant. A Navy explosives specialist along on the mission immediately springs into action, using classified gear to comb the area for more bombs. Until he gives the all clear, no one can move, not even to tend the bleeding men. Meanwhile, one of the frozen-inspace scouts notices another IED right next to him and gives a shout, provoking more combing in his area. Then a big area has to be cleared so that the medevac helicopter already on the way can land.

That incident, which took place on 7 November 2007, exhibits many of the hallmarks of the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan – a small patrol; a local man of dubious background; Navy specialists working with soldiers on dry land; and costly technologies pressed into service against cheap and crude weapons. And, most of all, death by IED.  

Leia a passagem seguinte e responda à pergunta que a segue.

Modern buildings incorporate exciting forms with glittering façades and compelling interior spaces. Surveying for these projects requires sophisticated computation, aggressive quality control and close interaction with construction teams. 

                                                     TEXT II

                                      LANGUAGE TEACHING

Languages are taught and learned in various places, some in informal settings, others in formal contexts, such as classrooms. It is common knowledge that regardless of the method used, second language learners achieve mastery of the target language to varying degrees. Although 10 individuals may be in the same language class for a year, their eventual proficiency level and profile will be different from one another. This is the result of a combination of the factors briefly mentioned above, compounded with the pedagogical methods that the learner has encountered. Generally speaking, it can be stated that most individuals learn to communicate basic information through a conversation in the target language in the first few years of active language study (provided that there are opportunities to use the language to create personal meaning). It is important to note that mere exposure or contact with the target language in most cases is not sufficient to result in productive language skills.

                                  (http://www.aeservices.net/English/newsletters/Oct2007.html#B2)  

                                                          TEXTO I

           THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ON LANGUAGE LEARNING

      Far from diminishing the human element in the learning process, the advent of computer technology as an integral part of language learning provides an opportunity to reflect upon and implement principles that enhance the learner’s status and expand the teacher’s role.

      Most teachers would probably agree on how:

•        Respecting learners` particular needs and learning habits increases their learning potential;

•        Learner self-esteem and involvement foster learning efficiency; and

•        The best use of a teacher’s time is not to teach vocabulary and grammar or provide listening practice, but to foster speech production and live interaction.

      Now, paradoxically, the use of computer technology can enable precisely these features to be developed by providing the means to create a learning environment in which each learner or learning group can select speed, level and content to suit their specific learning needs and styles.

      ‘Guided freedom would be a feature of intelligent CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning), where the program would make suggestions, but the learner would make the choices.’ (Warschauer & Healey 1998)

      At the same time, the teacher’s role expands beyond being a provider and assessor of knowledge and know-how (i.e. someone in front of the class) to being also a coordinator of media and a tutor (i.e. someone who is also in the midst of his/her learners).

      Teachers become freer to use their time more efficiently by devoting their time to:

•           Facilitating communicative oral activities;

•           Assisting those learners who need their support most; and

•           Discussing effective learning strategies.

      Experience shows how the proper use of technological tools can be an extraordinary means of generating peer discussion, knowledge exchange, curiosity, motivation and relaxation: all prerequisites of effective learning.

      These values are inherent in the content-based, blended-learning English for Aviation Safety courseware designed by AES. The flexibility, availability and depth of relevant informational content of its web-based training mean that learners come to the classroom for the Intensive Speaking Seminars ready to use their time to the full in communicative interaction, putting into practice the skills, knowledge and know-how they have acquired at their own pace.

      Especially for pilots and controllers, learning English is not primarily about learning a language; it is learning how to perform certain essential functions in English in a timely and efficient manner.

Philip Shawcross is Director of Training Curriculum at AES.

                * ICAO Document 9835: Manual on the Implementation of the ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements