Fluency News #20

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!

No episódio desta semana, nós falamos sobre o que está acontecendo nos Estados Unidos e a possibilidade de Donald Trump ser o primeiro presidente na história do país a ser impeached duas vezes. Também falamos sobre o compromisso de 50 países de proteger 30% da terra e oceanos do planeta.

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

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

Este episódio foi escrito por Lívia Pond.

Transcrição do episódio:

What is up, everyone! Welcome to the very first episode of Fluency News of the year! I’m Scott Lowe, your native English teacher here at Fluency Academy, and we hope you had a wonderful start of 2021, and here’s to hoping this year will be miles better than 2020.

Before we get started for real, let me give you a quick rundown of what happens here. We’re going to cover some of the most relevant stories of the week here, all in English, for you to train your listening and comprehension skills. At some points, I’m going to come in in Portuguese to explain any structure, expression or word we think needs an extra explanation. Soundgood?

Now, we already had a very busy start of the year, so let’s jump into it! You may have already seen some parts of this story, but things in the US are not sailing smoothly right now.

Donald Trump is facing the imminent prospect of becoming the first US president to be impeached twice following an extraordinary breach of the country’s Capitol in Washington, DC, by his supporters.

Trump is accused of “incitement of insurrection” after giving an incendiary speech on January 6 in Washington DC before a mob violently attacked the heart of the US government. At least five people were killed in the assault.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday the House will go ahead with impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump as she pushes Vice President Mike Pence to invoke constitutional authority to remove Trump from office following last week’s deadly assault on the Capitol.

On Monday, Pelosi’s leadership team will seek a vote on a resolution calling on the vice president and Cabinet officials to invoke the 25th Amendment, a constitutional provision that allows the vice president and the Cabinet to remove the president from office if they deem him unable to perform his duties.

Pence and the Cabinet would have 24 hours to act before the House would move towards impeachment.

“We will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat,” Pelosi said in a letter late on Sunday to colleagues.

“The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.”

A stunning end to Trump’s final 10 days in office was under way as politicians warned of the damage the president could still do before President-elect Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20.

Trump, holed up at the White House, was increasingly isolated after a mob rioted in the Capitol in support of his false claims of election fraud. Five people were killed in the violence at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

A Republican senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, joined Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling for Trump to “resign and go away as soon as possible”.

During an interview on 60 Minutes aired on Sunday, Pelosi invoked the Watergate era when Republicans in the Senate told President Richard Nixon, “It’s over.”

“That’s what has to happen now,” she said.

With impeachment planning intensifying, Toomey said he doubted impeachment could be done before Biden is inaugurated, even though a growing number of politicians say that step is necessary to ensure Trump can never hold elected office again.

“I think the president has disqualified himself from ever, certainly, serving in office again,” Toomey said. “I don’t think he is electable in any way.”

While many have criticised Trump, Republicans have said that impeachment would be divisive in a time of unity.

Senator Marco Rubio from Florida said that instead of coming together, Democrats want to “talk about ridiculous things like ‘Let’s impeach a president’” with just days left in office.

Still, some Republicans might be supportive.

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said he would take a look at any articles that the House sent over. Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, said he would “vote the right way” if the matter were put in front of him.

The Democratic effort to stamp Trump’s presidential record – for the second time – with the indelible mark of impeachment had advanced rapidly since the riot.

Representative David Cicilline from Rhode Island, a leader of the House effort to draft impeachment articles accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, said on Sunday that his group had 200-plus co-sponsors.

The articles, if passed by the House, could then be transmitted to the Senate for a trial, with senators acting as jurors to acquit or convict Trump.

If convicted, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the vice president. It would be the first time a US president had been impeached twice.

Potentially complicating Pelosi’s decision about impeachment was what it meant for Biden and the beginning of his presidency.

While reiterating that he had long viewed Trump as unfit for office, Biden on Friday sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress did “is for them to decide”.

A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows and rampaged through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were finalising Biden’s victory over Trump in the Electoral College.

Some have referred to the incident as the Capitol riot, others called it a unorganized coup attempt. An angry and violent mob went from hearing Trump speak to the steps of, outside the doors of, and then inside the capitol, where among other things, they chanted for things like hanging Mike Pence.

Following the Capitol breach, major social media platforms decided to act. Twitter first set a temporary suspension on Trump’s account, later changing it to a permanent ban, citing the risk of inciting further violence, which is against Twitter’s rules. Mark Zuckerberg announced that Trump is banned from Facebook and Instagram for at least the next two weeks. Snapchat locked his account, Twitch disabled Trump’s channel until the end of his term, to “minimize harm”. Paypal and Shopify removed Trump related accounts, citing policies against supporting violence.

This story is still unfolding, as rioters are being identified and arrested, charged with crimes and being put on “no fly” lists.

You can find the full transcript of Trump’s speech in the description of this episode, along with all our sources.

Nessa história, nós vimos a palavra “could” sendo usada algumas vezes. Could é um verbo modal, e ele pode ser usado basicamente de três formas diferentes. Para falar de uma habilidade passada, como o passado de “can”, fazer pedidos de forma educada, e por fim, como vemos aqui, para falar de possibilidades futuras. Como a história ainda está em desenvolvimento, e muita coisa ainda não foi definida e estabelecida, nem sempre podemos fazer afirmações concretas, e precisamos fazer previsões e falar das possibilidades do que pode acontecer enquanto a história vai se desenrolando. Em grande parte, “could” pode ser traduzido para “poderia” ou “conseguiria”, em português.

Now, let’s end this episode with some good news! A coalition of more than 50 countries has committed to protect almost a third of the planet by 2030 to halt the destruction of the natural world and slow extinctions of wildlife.

The High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, which includes the UK and countries from six continents, made the pledge to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans before the One Planet summit in Paris on Monday, hosted by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Scientists have said human activities are driving the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth, and agricultural production, mining and pollution are threatening the healthy functioning of life-sustaining ecosystems crucial to human civilisation.

In the announcement, the HAC said protecting at least 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade was crucial to preventing mass extinctions of plants and animals, and ensuring the natural production of clean air and water.

The commitment is likely to be the headline target of the “Paris agreement for nature” that will be negotiated at Cop15 in Kunming, China later this year. The HAC said it hoped early commitments from countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Japan and Canada would ensure it formed the basis of the UN agreement.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, welcomed the pledge but cautioned: “It is one thing to commit, but quite different to deliver. But when we have committed, we must deliver. And with concerted efforts, we can collectively deliver.”

The announcement at the One Planet summit, which also saw pledges to invest billions of pounds in the Great Green Wall in Africa and the launch of a new sustainable finance charter called the Terra Carta by Prince Charles, was met with scepticism from some campaigners. Greta Thunberg tweeted: “LIVE from #OnePlanetSummit in Paris: Bla bla nature Bla bla important Bla bla ambitious Bla bla green investments…”

As part of the HAC announcement, the UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith said: “We know there is no pathway to tackling climate change that does not involve a massive increase in our efforts to protect and restore nature. So as co-host of the next Climate Cop, the UK is absolutely committed to leading the global fight against biodiversity loss and we are proud to act as co-chair of the High Ambition Coalition.

“We have an enormous opportunity at this year’s biodiversity conference in China to forge an agreement to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030. I am hopeful our joint ambition will curb the global decline of the natural environment, so vital to the survival of our planet.”

However, despite support for the target from several countries, many indigenous activists have said that increasing protected areas for nature could result in land grabs and human rights violations. The announcement may also concern some developing countries who are keen for ambitious commitments on finance and sustainable development as part of the Kunming agreement, not just conservation.

Unlike its climate equivalent, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity covers three issues: the sustainable use of nature, sharing benefits from genetic resources, and conservation. The three pillars of the treaty can clash with each other and richer, developed countries have been accused of focusing too much on conservation while ignoring difficult choices on agriculture and providing finance for poorer nations to meet targets.

The High Ambition Coalition, currently co-chaired by France, Costa Rica and the UK, was formed at Durban UNFCCC Cop in 2011 in an effort to encourage ambitious international action on the climate crisis before the Paris agreement. By promoting action on biodiversity loss, it is hoped early commitments from the HAC will ensure a successful agreement for nature.

On Monday, leaders from around the world met in person and virtually at the One Planet summit in Paris to discuss the biodiversity crisis, promoting agroecology and the relationship between human health and nature. Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and Justin Trudeau addressed the event, which also included statements from UN secretary general, António Guterres, and the Chinese vice-premier Han Zheng .

The UK government has also committed £3bn of UK international climate finance to supporting nature and biodiversity over the next five years.

A palavra “environment”, que significa “meio ambiente”, pode ser um pouquinho difícil de pronunciar, por causa do som de N seguido por M ali no meio. Então, se você quiser acertar a sua pronúncia, repete comigo, da maneira que eu vou falar, primeiro bem separado, e depois de forma natural. En – vi – ron – ment. Envi-ronment. Environment. Environment.

Alright, that is it for today! Thank you for joining me in this new year. We hope you stick around! There’s a new episode of Fluency News every week, and if you miss us too much, you can check out our other podcasts and lessons on fluencytv.com. Until next week. Peace out.

Fontes:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump/democrats-in-congress-to-begin-drive-to-force-trump-from-office-after-capitol-violence-idUSKBN29G0DT

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/11/pelosi-says-house-will-impeach-trump-pushes-vp-to-oust-him

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/11/full-transcript-donald-trump-january-6-incendiary-speech

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/10/toothless-tiger-impeachment-could-bar-trump-from-future-office

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/11/pelosi-says-house-will-proceed-with-efforts-to-remove-trump-with-urgency-25th-amendment

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/jan/11/joe-biden-donald-trump-impeachment-capitol-mike-pence-nancy-pelosi-coronavirus-covid-live-updates

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/capitol-siege-security.html

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/11/us/joe-biden-trump/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/11/50-countries-commit-to-protection-of-30-of-earths-land-and-oceans