Fluency News 07

Hello, everyone!

Sejam bem-vindos e bem-vindas a mais um episódio da nossa nova série de podcasts, o Fluency News! Aqui, você vai treinar a sua escuta e ficar por dentro do que está acontecendo no mundo, sempre com as três principais notícias da semana, tudo em inglês! Ao longo do episódio, nós também adicionamos explicações em português das coisas que achamos que precisam de mais atenção, assim você não perde nenhum detalhe!

Neste episódio, nós revisitamos a notícia sobre as múmias encontradas em um poço no Egito, falamos sobre a morte da juíza Ginsburg e os planos de Trump para substituí-la, além do fato de o fundador da Nikola, Trevor Milton, ter renunciado ao seu cargo. E, por fim, falamos também sobre Chuck Feeney, o bilionário que desejava morrer falido.

Nós temos uma nova página de dicas de inglês no Instagram, vá conferir! @fluencytvingles‍

Toda semana temos um novo episódio do Fluency News, não deixe de conferir! See you!
‍

Transcrição do episódio

What is up, guys! I’m Scott Lowe and welcome back to Fluency News! Fluency News is the latest podcast series by Fluency Academy, and it was specially designed to help you, yes, you, practice your listening and comprehension skills, while also keeping you an informed citizen of the world. You already know that I’m American born and raised, but a Brazilian at heart, so after each story, you can expect little snippets of explanations in Portuguese. Combinado? Great!

But before we get started for real with the world news, let me share some other awesome news with you guys! Fluency Academy now has a dedicated English tips Instagram page, @fluencytvingles. That’s where we’re going to post tips, explanations and interact with you, the listener, or the watcher, or the commenter, whatever! With you guys! So be sure to follow @fluencytvingles on Instagram!

I already have an awesome little one minute tip on there, which is like four minutes, don’t tell Rhavi. But it’s really good, it’s about coffee, ok? Who doesn’t like coffee? By the way, @fluencytvingles in English, @fluencytvingles, go check it out.
‍
So, if you’ve been listening from episode one, first of all, you’re amazing, you already know what happens here. But if you’re new, well, you’re also amazing, but let me fill you in. we’ll share three of the most relevant stories of the week with you, and after each one, we’ll come in with snippets of explanations of expressions, structures and words you may not be familiar with in English.

If you’re listening through a streaming platform, like Spotify or Deezer, I want to take this moment to invite you to check out fluencytv.com. Fluency TV is Fluency Academy’s content portal, and there are tons of free content in five, yes, five, one, two, three, four, five different languages for you to learn, have fun and explore. Did I mention free? You’ll also find the sources to this episode and any extra material by going to fluencytv.com or clicking the link in the description.

Ok, ok, without further ado, let’s get started. And we begin our episode with a follow up of one of last week’s stories. Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed TWENTY SEVEN ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said on Monday.

The sarcophagi have remained unopened since they were buried more than 2,500 years ago near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, said Neveine el-Arif, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. She said 13 coffins were found earlier this month in a newly discovered, 11 meter-deep well, and that 14 more were found last week in another well. Footage shared by the ministry showed colorful sarcophagi decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, as well as other artifacts the ministry said were found in the two wells.

The Saqqara plateau hosted at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials, ranging from the 1st Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642). Archaeologists were still working to determine the origins of the coffins, Miss el-Arif said, adding that more details and “secrets” would likely be announced next month. In recent years, Egypt has heavily promoted new archaeological finds to international media and diplomats in an effort to revive its key tourism sector by attracting more tourists to the country.

El-Arif said further excavations were underway in the necropolis, and more coffins were expected to be found. Well, I think it’s a great strategy. “Hey guys, come to Egypt, come visit, come check out these dead bodies we found”. But seriously, it’s very interesting.Last year, archaeologists found a cache at Saqqara that included hundreds of mummified animals, birds and crocodiles, as well as two mummified lion cubs. Oh no, Simba and Nala…

The Saqqara plateau is part of the necropolis of Egypt’s ancient city of Memphis, no, not memphis Tenessee, in the USA, that also includes Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh and the famed Giza Pyramids. Man, you can really tell I’m from the United States with these terrible pronunciations, but you guys know I try my best. The same ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1970s.

In October 2019, archaeologists unearthed 30 ancient wooden coffins with inscriptions and paintings in the southern city of Luxor. The Luxor coffins were moved to be showcased at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which Egypt is building near the Giza Pyramids. Also near the Giza Pyramids, did you know this? There’s a Pizza Hut. Yeah, if you see a lot of pictures of the pyramids, you can clearly see a Pizza Hut in the background. Kind of ruins the photo, but it’s fun.

Egypt’s key tourism sector has suffered from the years of political turmoil and violence following the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and the sector was dealt a further blow this year by, of course, the global coronavirus pandemic.

Antes mesmo de eu começar essa história, eu usei a expressão “without further ado”. Você já deve ter escutado isso em filmes e séries, já que é uma expressão bem comum. Ela significa “sem demoras”, “imediatamente”. Essa expressão é uma das poucas que ainda usa o substantivo “ado”, que significa “o que está sendo feito”. Ado.‍

Now we move from Egypt to the US, as we cover the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneer for women’s rights. Ginsburg, who died on Friday as a result of complications due to metastatic pancreatic cancer, became a much younger generation’s unlikely cultural icon. She was 87.

As Justice Ginsburg passed her 80th birthday and 20th anniversary on the Supreme Court bench during President Barack Obama’s second term, she shrugged off a chorus of calls for her to retire in order to give a Democratic president the chance to name her replacement. She planned to stay “as long as I can do the job full steam,” she would say, sometimes adding, “There will be a president after this one, and I’m hopeful that that president will be a fine president.

‍Eita, eu conto ou vocês contam, hein? É brincadeira, gente.‍

When Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired in January 2006, Justice Ginsburg was for a time the only woman on the Supreme Court — which was hardly a testament to the revolution in the legal status of women that she had helped bring about in her career as a litigator and strategist.Indeed, her years as the solitary female justice were “the worst times,” she recalled in a 2014 interview. “The image to the public entering the courtroom was eight men, of a certain size, and then this little woman sitting to the side. That was not a good image for the public to see.” Eventually she was joined by two other women, both named by President Obama: Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010.

After the 2010 retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, whom Justice Kagan succeeded, Justice Ginsburg became the senior member and de facto leader of a four-justice liberal bloc, consisting of the three female justices and Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Unless they could attract a fifth vote, which Justice Anthony M. Kennedy provided on increasingly rare occasions before his retirement in 2018, the four were often in dissent on the ideologically polarized court.

Justice Ginsburg’s pointed and powerful dissenting opinions, usually speaking for all four, attracted growing attention as the court turned further to the right. A law student, Shana Knizhnik, anointed her the Notorious R.B.G., a play on the name of the Notorious B.I.G., a famous rapper who was Brooklyn-born, like the justice. Soon the name, and Justice Ginsburg’s image — her expression serene yet severe, a frilly lace collar adorning her black judicial robe, her eyes framed by oversize glasses and a gold crown perched at a rakish angle on her head — became an internet sensation.

Young women had the image tattooed on their arms; daughters were dressed in R.B.G. costumes for Halloween. “You Can’t Spell Truth Without Ruth” appeared on bumper stickers and T-shirts. A biography, “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” by Irin Carmon and Ms. Knizhnik, reached the best-seller list the day after its publication in 2015, and the next year Simon & Schuster brought out a Ginsburg biography for children with the title “I Dissent.” Also a documentary film of her life was a surprise box office hit in the summer of 2018, and a Hollywood biopic centered on her first sex discrimination court case opened on Christmas Day that year.

This woman was a sensation!

Since Friday, remembrances for the Justice have been pouring in. Justice Stephen Breyer called her “a great justice; a woman of valor; a rock of righteousness.” President Trump said “whether you agree or not — she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life.” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lauded Justice Ginsburg and said the fact that her death had touched off a political furor was a sign of an unhealthy democracy.m With her death, Trump presses for a new Justice ‘without delay’. The president is likely to nominate a successor this coming week, but Senate Republicans are weighing whether they have the votes to confirm his choice before the Nov. 3 election.

Mr. Trump said he expected to announce his nomination in the next week and told a campaign rally that it “will be a woman,” gambling that he can scramble the dynamics of a campaign in which he is currently trailing and at the same time seal his legacy by cementing a conservative majority on the Supreme Court with his third appointment in four years. The president did not name his finalists, but in a telephone conversation on Friday night with Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, according to two people familiar with the call, Mr. Trump identified two women as candidates: Judges Amy Coney Barrett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and Barbara Lagoa of the 11th Circuit in Atlanta.

She’s not Brazilian. She’s actually Cuban-American, which is pretty cool. Mr. Trump offered praise for both judges when reporters asked about them on Saturday afternoon before he flew to North Carolina for his rally. He called Judge Barrett, who was a finalist for the last opening two years ago, “very highly respected” and said that while he did not know Judge Lagoa, he had heard “incredible things” about her, noting that she is Hispanic and from Miami, in the battleground state of Florida.

Ok, smart move, Mr. Trump. I see what you’re doing, very strategic.The president rejected suggestions that he should wait to let the winner of the Nov. 3 contest fill the vacancy, much as Mr. McConnell insisted four years ago in blocking President Barack Obama from filling an election-year vacancy on the court.

“We won and we have an obligation as the winners to pick who we want,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s not the next president. Hopefully, I’ll be the next president. But we’re here now, right now, we’re here, and we have an obligation to the voters, all of the people, the millions of people who put us here.”‍

Você notou que eu usei bastante a palavra “justice”? Em inglês essa palavra tem mais de um significado. Ela significa “justiça”, e também “juiz” e “juíza”. Você vai saber como usá-la e qual o significado pelo contexto. É por isso que é tão importante se cercar do máximo do idioma que você puder, pra identificar as diversas situações em que uma palavra pode ser usada e como o seu uso pode mudar o significado de uma frase.‍

So keep listening and keep practicing. And with that, we move to our next story of the day. Nikola announced early Monday that founder Trevor Milton is voluntarily stepping down from his roles as executive chairman and a member of the board. The resignation came 10 days after a short-selling firm accused the company of making “an Ocean of Lies.” Ok, well, we’ll get to the bottom of the Ocean of Lies, but first of all, that name, really, Nikola? An electric car company, named after Nikola Tesla? Really cute, guys, really cute.

The stock, which has had volatile swings, plunged 30% in premarket trading on Monday. They recovered some of the losses after the opening bell. “It’s a dark day for Nikola,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in a “Squawk Box” interview. “Let’s call it like it is. Trevor leaving. I mean he’s a key part of the vision.” The electric truck maker said the board accepted Milton’s resignation, adding that Stephen Girsky, former vice chairman of General Motors and a member of Nikola’s board, has been appointed chairman of the board, effective immediately.

“Nikola is truly in my blood and always will be, and the focus should be on the Company and its world-changing mission, not me,” Milton said in a statement. “So I made the difficult decision to approach the Board and volunteer to step aside as Executive Chairman. Founding Nikola and growing it into a company that will change transportation for the better and help protect our world’s climate has been an incredible honor.”

In a Sept. 10 report, titled “Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America,” short-selling firm Hindenburg Research accused Nikola of making false statements about Nikola’s technology in order to grow and secure partnerships with auto companies, including General Motors. GM stock was down more than 4% in early trading Monday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice are reportedly investigating claims that the company misled investors.Nikola pushed back on the Hindenburg accusations, saying there were “dozens” of inaccurate allegations in the report. In an early Monday tweet, Milton said, “I intend to defend myself against false allegations leveled against me by outside detractors.” GM recently took an 11% stake in the company and said it will produce Nikola’s marquee hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck, the Badger, by the end of 2022. Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker conducted “appropriate diligence” regarding a $2 billion deal with the electric vehicle start-up.

In a statement, GM said it will work with Nikola to close the deal “to seize the growth opportunities in broader markets with our Hydrotec fuel cell and Ultium battery systems, and to engineer and build the Nikola Badger. It added: “Nikola, Honda and other companies who are looking to GM’s technology as a platform for their products, represent just one part of our overall EV strategy. Our overall goal is to put everyone in an EV and accelerate adoption.”

“This is a gut punch to the story,” Wedbush’s Ives told CNBC, “and definitely I think a white-knuckle period right here for Nikola bulls.” Nikola stock has been wildly volatile this year, rising from $13 at the beginning of May to a current 52-week high of $93.99 in June. The Nasdaq-traded shares finished Friday at $34.19. The company’s average volume over the last 10 trading days has come in at 53.2 million shares, though it has only about 361 million shares outstanding. Nikola CEO Mark Russell said the company remains committed to its objectives and creating value for shareholders.

“Our priorities remain unchanged and, in collaboration with our partners, we are laser-focused on executing on our strategic initiatives and laying the groundwork to become a vertically integrated zero-emissions transportation solutions provider,” Russell said in a statement.‍

Uma das fontes dessa história comentou que a situação é “a gut punch”. Traduzida literalmente, essa expressão significa “soco no estômago”, e esse é o sentimento geral mesmo. O que significa é que a situação se compara a levar um soco no estômago, no sentido de te dar uma sensação ruim, tirar seu fôlego de forma negativa. Além disso, ele também disse que seria “a white-knuckle period”. Essa é outra expressão, usada para descrever uma situação que é bastante emocionante e, ao mesmo tempo, assustadora.‍

And now, last, but not least, we talk about Chuck Feeney, the billionaire who wanted to die broke.So I told him, “hey Chuck, if you want to die broke, let’s just switch bank accounts. Yes, man, I’m willing to make that sacrifice for you”. No, I’m just kidding.

Charles “Chuck” Feeney, age 89, who cofounded airport retailer Duty Free Shoppers with Robert Miller back in 1960, amassed billions while living a life of monk-like frugality. As a philanthropist, he pioneered the idea of Giving While Living—spending most of your fortune on big, hands-on charity bets instead of funding a foundation upon death. Since you can’t take it with you—why not give it all away, have control of where it goes and see the results with your own eyes?

“We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch,” Feeney tells Forbes. “My thanks to all who joined us on this journey. And to those wondering about Giving While Living: Try it, you’ll like it.”

Over the last four decades, Feeney has donated more than $8 billion to charities, universities and foundations worldwide through his foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies. When he first met Forbes’s Senior Editor and VP, Steven Bertoni, in 2012, he estimated he had set aside about $2 million for his and his wife’s retirement. In other words, he’s given away 375,000% more money than his current net worth. And he gave it away anonymously. While many wealthy philanthropists enlist an army of publicists to trumpet their donations, Feeney went to great lengths to do the opposite, and keep his gifts secret. Because of his clandestine, globe-trotting philanthropy campaign, Forbes called him the  James Bond of Philanthropy.

Wow, being the James Bond of anything, that’s like the coolest title. I wonder if I can be the James Bond of English, or maybe James Bond of podcasting. Alright, I’ll work on that. But Feeney has come in from the cold. The man who amassed a fortune selling luxury goods to tourists, and later launched private equity powerhouse General Atlantic, now lives in an apartment in San Francisco that has the austerity of a freshman dorm room. On the table sat a small Lucite plaque that read: “Congratulations to Chuck Feeney for $8 billion of philanthropic giving.”

That’s Feeney—understated profile, oversize impact. No longer a secret, his extreme charity and big-bet grants have won over the most influential entrepreneurs and philanthropists. His stark generosity and gutsy investments influenced Bill Gates and Warren Buffett when they launched the Giving Pledge in 2010—an aggressive campaign to convince the world’s wealthiest to give away at least half their fortunes before their deaths. “Chuck was a cornerstone in terms of inspiration for the Giving Pledge,” says Warren Buffett. “He’s a model for us all. It’s going to take me 12 years after my death to get done what he’s doing within his lifetime.” 

Feeney gave big money to big problems—whether bringing peace to Northern Ireland, modernizing Vietnam’s health care system, or spending $350 million to turn New York’s long-neglected Roosevelt Island into a technology hub. He didn’t wait to grant gifts after death or set up a legacy fund that annually tosses pennies at a $10 problem. He hunted for causes where he can have a dramatic impact and went all-in.

In 2019, Forbes worked with the Atlantic Philanthropies on a report titled Zero Is the Hero, which summarized Feeney’s decades of go-for-broke giving. Literally, go-for-broke giving. While it contains hundreds of numbers, stats and data points, Feeney summarized his mission in a few sentences. “I see little reason to delay giving when so much good can be achieved through supporting worthwhile causes. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to give while you live than give while you’re dead.”

On September 14, 2020, Feeney completed his four-decade mission and signed the documents to shutter the Atlantic Philanthropies. The ceremony, which happened over Zoom with the Atlantic Philanthropies’ board, included video messages from Bill Gates and former California Gov. Jerry Brown. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sent an official letter from the U.S. Congress thanking Feeney for his work.

At its height, the Atlantic Philanthropies had 300-plus employees and ten global offices across seven time zones. The specific closure date was set years ago as part of his long-term plan to make high-risk, high-impact donations by setting a hard deadline to give away all his money and close shop. The 2020 expiration date added urgency and discipline. It gave the Atlantic Philanthropies the time to document its history, reflect on wins and losses and create a strategy for other institutions to follow. As Feeney told Forbes in 2019: “Our giving is based on the opportunities, not a plan to stay in business for a long time.” 

While his philanthropy is out of business, its influence reverberates worldwide thanks to its big bets on health, science, education and social action. Where did $8 billion go? Feeney gave $3.7 billion to education, including nearly $1 billion to his alma mater, Cornell, which he attended on the G.I. Bill. More than $870 million went to human rights and social change, like $62 million in grants to abolish the death penalty in the U.S. and $76 million for grassroots campaigns supporting the passage of Obamacare. He gave more than $700 million in gifts to health ranging from a $270 million grant to improve public healthcare in Vietnam to a $176 million gift to the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.

One of Feeney’s final gifts, $350 million for Cornell to build a technology campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, is a classic example of his giving philosophy. While notoriously frugal in his own life, Feeney was ready to spend big and go for broke when the value and potential impact outweighed the risk. Warren Buffett, Laurene Powell Jobs, Bill Gates, Sandy Weil and others praised Chuck Feeney on his giving spirit and the changes he brought on the world with his initiatives.

Well, Chuck Feeney, enjoy your retirement, man, you deserve it, man.

A palavra frugal está tanto nos dicionários português e nos dicionários inglês. Apesar de não ser uma ocorrência frequente, acontece. E nesse caso, algo ainda mais raro e maravilhoso. As palavras têm o mesmo significado! Tanto em português quanto em inglês, frugal vem de frugalidade, de ser comedido, poupador, moderado, econômico ou prudente. Cara não é sensacional quando isso acontece? Em línguas que têm a mesma origem, como as derivadas do latim, esses casos são mais comuns, mas entre o português e o inglês, isso quase nunca acontece!

And that’s awesome, so easy to remember.

And, with that awesome tidbit, we’re done! I’ve got to say, Chuck Feeney should be an inspiration to more people. Money won’t do us any good when we’re dead, ok, you crazy ancient Egyptians, burying your gold. You can find the sources to all of our stories in the description. Don’t forget to check out fluencytv.com for more free content and ways for you to expand your knowledge and vocabulary. There’s a new episode of Fluency News every week, and we’ll be waiting for you. Peace out.

Sources‍

Archaeologists unearth 27 coffins at Egypt’s Saqqara pyramid: https://apnews.com/25f0c1e09be14ec13dacd26e0a6a089f
‍Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court’s Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/us/ruth-bader-ginsburg-dead.html
Trump Presses for New Justice ‘Without Delay’ as Election-Season Battle Looms: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/19/us/politics/supreme-court-trump.html
Nikola founder Trevor Milton to voluntarily step down as executive chairman; stock plunges: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/09/21/nikola-founder-trevor-milton-to-voluntarily-step-down-as-executive-chairman.html
The Billionaire Who Wanted To Die Broke . . . Is Now Officially Broke: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2020/09/15/exclusive-the-billionaire-who-wanted-to-die-brokeis-now-officially-broke/#6a974adb3a2a