Fluency News #60

Hello, everyone!

Sejam bem-vindos e bem-vindas a mais um episódio da nossa 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 aumento de casos da gripe aviária, sobre o perigo em que a tripulação da ISS está após um teste russo, e sobre os danos que o clima extremo causou no Egito. Também falamos sobre as mudanças que estão acontecendo no oil country no Canadá, graças à energia solar.

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.

Episode Transcript

Hello, squad! Welcome back to Fluency News! Fluency News is the Fluency Academy podcast that helps you keep informed while putting your English to the test and learning new things.

I’m one of your English teachers, teacher Thali, and I’m really happy to be here with you again!

Before we get started, let me just remind you to head over to fluencytv.com. There, you’ll find the transcript of this episode, links to all of our sources, and thousands of free lessons in all the languages Fluency Academy currently teaches.

We’re going to start today’s episode with a story that is, quite literally, out of this world. All seven astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station are having to take shelter inside their spacecraft because of the sudden appearance of a debris cloud in orbit. The U.S. State Department says the fragments were produced by a Russian anti-satellite missile test.

Russia fired a missile at one of its satellites over the weekend, generating more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of pieces of smaller debris, which the US said, “now threaten the interests of all nations”.

Astronauts aboard the ISS were forced to float into special “lifeboat” pods following the release of the debris. The pods can detach from the ISS and fly crews back to Earth.

“Needless to say, I’m outraged. This is unconscionable,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said. “It’s unbelievable that the Russian government would do this test and threaten not only international astronauts, but their own cosmonauts that are on board the station as well as the three people on China’s space station.”

Nelson said the astronauts now faced a four times greater risk than normal, with the ISS passing near or through the debris cloud every 90 minutes. Though the larger pieces can be relatively avoided, the smaller are more unpredictable, actively able to cause substantial damage.

The UK defense minister Ben Wallace said: “This destructive anti-satellite missile test by Russia shows a complete disregard for the security, safety and sustainability of space.”

Anti-satellite weapons tests are rare and widely criticized by the space community, due to the risk they create for crews in low Earth orbit. Last year, US space command accused Russia of having “made space a war fighting domain” after it fired a missile at a satellite as part of a weapons test.

The Russian military and ministry of defense did not comment.

Anton Shkaplerov, the current commander of the outpost, tweeted to reassure people of their condition. “Friends, everything is regular with us! We continue to work according to the program,”.

A live feed of NASA mission control audio is available, along with live video of the ISS.

Um tipo de palavra que é importante para a fluência avançada em inglês são os advérbios de intensidade e modo. Nessa notícia alguns exemplos são: relatively, widely e actively. Eles podem parecer “dispensáveis”, porque apenas “intensificam” uma informação ou explicam o “modo” como uma ação foi realizada. Por exemplo, na frase “Anti-satellite weapons tests are rare and widely criticized, poderíamos deixar o “widely” de fora, mas o sentido não seria tão intenso quanto quando temos ele na frase.

Extreme weather in Egypt brought out a swarm of scorpions from their nests, resulting in hundreds of people in the southern city of Aswan being stung and three people dying.

At least 450 people were injured by scorpion stings on Friday (November 12), an Egyptian health ministry official said, according to the BBC.

Heavy rain, hail, thunderstorms and dust storms near the River Nile, forced scorpions and snakes out of the grounds. The scorpions then sought shelter in people’s homes, causing the encounters.

Egypt is home to the fat-tailed scorpion, one of the most dangerous scorpion species in the world. They are considered to be among the most deadly in the world. Venom from a black fat-tail can kill humans in under an hour if left untreated. Symptoms related to venomous scorpion stings can include difficulty breathing, muscle twitching and unusual head movements.

The Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram reported, citing a health ministry official, that those who were injured have been hospitalized and are receiving treatment. Doctors were redirected from COVID-19 vaccination centers to help treat the scorpion stings.

People have been urged to stay at home and avoid places with lots of trees, the BBC reported.

A palavra swarm pode ser traduzida para “enxame” ou “multidão”. Ela se refere ao coletivo de insetos, principalmente insetos voadores. Outros substantivos coletivos, palavras que indicam o agrupamento de pessoas, seres, coisas, objetos ou animais da mesma espécie, são “army of ants”, “hive of bees”, “sloth of bears”, “squad of squid”, “flock of birds or sheep”, “litter of puppies or kittens”, “pack of hounds or wolves”, e uma das melhores que eu conheço, “a murder of crows”. “Murder of crows” seria traduzido literalmente para “assassinato de corvos”, mas é o que usamos para falar de um grupo de corvos. Interessante, não é?

Several outbreaks of severe bird flu in Europe and Asia have been reported in recent days to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), in a sign the virus is spreading quickly again.

The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has put the poultry industry on alert after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds.

It is attracting the attention too of epidemiologists, as the virus can be transmitted to humans. China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza so far this year, more than in the whole of 2020.

South Korea reported an outbreak at a farm of around 770,000 poultry, the OIE said on Monday, citing a report from the South Korean authorities. All animals were slaughtered.

Also in Asia, Japan reported its first outbreak of the 2021 winter season, at a poultry farm in the north-east of the country, the OIE said, confirming a statement last week by Japan’s agriculture ministry.

Bird flu circulates naturally among wild birds, and when they migrate to the UK from mainland Europe in winter the disease can be spread to poultry and other captive birds.

The Belgian government put the country on increased risk for bird flu, ordering poultry to be kept indoors as of Monday, after a highly pathogenic variant of bird flu was identified in a wild goose near Antwerp.

This followed a similar move in neighbouring France earlier this month and in the Netherlands in October.

Earlier this month, a bird flu prevention zone was declared across Great Britain, legally requiring all bird keepers to follow strict biosecurity measures after a flock of poultry was culled near Dundee in Scotland in response to a bird flu outbreak.

Bird flu can affect humans in rare cases if people touch infected birds, their droppings or bedding, or while preparing infected poultry for cooking.

Put é um verbo irregular no inglês. Ele significa “por” ou “colocar”. Chamamos de verbos irregulares aqueles que não seguem uma regra quando mudam de tempo verbal. “Walk”, por exemplo, é um verbo regular, em que só adicionamos -ED quando passamos o verbo para o passado ou particípio do passado. Com os verbos irregulares, não há uma regra a ser seguida, o que significa que é preciso memorizar os outros tempos verbais. Put é um exemplo bem tranquilo, porque ele não varia. O infinitivo é put, o passado é put, e o particípio também. Nessa mesma notícia, nós temos outros exemplos de verbos irregulares, como “say”, “be”, “have” e “keep”. Há duas maneiras de você se lembrar desses verbos e de suas formas. Uma delas é achar uma tabela e decorá-la, o que pode ser tedioso e não muito eficaz. A melhor forma é aumentar o seu contato com o idioma, ouvindo músicas, assistindo a filmes e séries, lendo livros e, é claro, escutando nossos podcasts e assistindo as nossas tips. Isso vai garantir que você absorva esse conteúdo de forma natural, sem ter que sobrecarregar seu cérebro com uma lista de palavras aleatórias. No nosso portal, fluencytv.com, você tem acesso aos nossos conteúdos gratuitos, pra garantir o seu aprendizado, corre lá!

And finally, let’s end today’s episode with some good news, shall we? Canada’s largest solar panel project is set to create more than 1,000 jobs at the peak of its construction in southern Alberta.

That’s according to Dan Balaban the co-founder and CEO of Calgary-based Greengate, which is developing and managing the project.

The project, which is receiving funding from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, will be the size of 1,600 football fields and include more than 1 million solar panels.

This is expected to produce enough power to provide electricity for 150,000 homes.

The solar farm – called Travers Solar – is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022.

Balaban said the project is “unique” for a number of reasons.

“For one: the scale, it’s by far and away the largest solar energy project ever constructed in Canada, [and] one of the largest in the world,” he told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.

He said it’s also being constructed in Alberta — in the heart of oil country, which he thinks is “just fantastic”.

Balaban said the oil and gas industry in Canada is “going to continue to be an important part of our economy for the foreseeable future”, but that it’s important to find areas to diversify the economy.

“We’ve got phenomenal renewable energy resources, some of the best onshore wine in the world, some of the best sunshine in Canada, and I think we’ve got lots of natural advantages”, he said.

According to the Travers Solar Project website, development began in 2017 on a site covering approximately 3,330 acres of land near the Village of Lomond in Vulcan County. It also said the project will generate clean energy over its 35+ year lifetime.

And it’s with that exciting bit of news we’re going to end today’s episode. Thank you so much for joining us and having me today.

E pra todo mundo perguntando se temos vagas abertas na Fluency Academy, infelizmente todas as turmas estão lotadas! Então se você quiser ter aulas de inglês, espanhol, francês, italiano, alemão, japonês ou mandarim com os melhores experts em fluência de idiomas do mundo, se inscreva na nossa lista de espera! Assim você vai ficar sabendo em primeira mão quando abrirem novas vagas. Pra não ficar de fora, é só apertar o link na descrição desse episódio e fazer a sua inscrição 100% gratuita (leva uns 15 segundinhos).

I hope you all enjoyed getting to know a little bit about what’s going on around the world with me. Don’t forget, there’s a new episode of Fluency News every week. Until next time!

Stories

Space debris ‘event’ forces International Space Station crew to take evasive action
‍https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3156167/space-debris-event-forces-international-space
‍https://gizmodo.com/astronauts-forced-to-take-shelter-as-debris-cloud-threa-1848057874
‍https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/nov/15/us-investigating-debris-event-space-reports-russia-anti-satellite-weapon-test

Scorpions sting 453 citizens in Egypt’s Aswan due to thundershowers, killing 3
‍https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/109861/Scorpions-sting-453-citizens-in-Egypt-s-Aswan-due-to
‍https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211114-egypt-3-dead-hundreds-injured-after-scorpion-swarm-in-aswan/
‍https://www.insider.com/egypt-storm-unleashes-scorpion-swarm-stings-450-kills-3-2021-11

Bird flu spreads in Europe and Asia, putting poultry industry on alert
‍https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/15/world/bird-flu-europe-asia-spread-intl/index.html
‍https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/norway-reports-bird-flu-farm-oie-says-2021-11-15/
‍https://www.nippon.com/en/news/reu20211115KBN2I0106/bird-flu-spreads-in-europe-and-asia.html
‍https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/15/bird-flu-europe-asia

Canada’s largest solar panel project to create more than 1,000 jobs in oil country
‍https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/canada-s-largest-solar-panel-project-to-create-more-than-1-000-jobs-in-oil-country-1.5666324