Fluency News 63

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 possível tratado de paz entre as Coréias do Norte e do Sul, sobre as consequências aguardando a Rússia caso o país invada a Ucrânia e sobre Dubai se tornar o primeiro governo sem papel do mundo. Nós também falamos sobre os esforços para preservar uma espécie na fronteira Brasil-Bolívia.

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

What is up, everyone! Welcome back to Fluency News, Fluency Academy’s podcast series that helps you practice your listening skills while you get informed! I’m Scott Lowe, and I’m thrilled you’re here with me.

In case you’re listening to us for the first time, let me give you a quick rundown of what happens here. We’re going to go over some of the week’s most relevant stories, and I’ll come in in Portuguese whenever there’s something that requires a bit more attention.

If you’re listening to us through a streaming platform, let me just remind you to head over to fluencytv.com to have access to the transcript of this episode, all of our sources and thousands of lessons in all the languages Fluency Academy teaches. Again, it’s fluencytv.com.

Now let’s get started! North and South Korea seem to be working on a formal end to the war that’s lasted over half a century.

South and North Korea, China and the US have agreed “in principle” to declare a formal end to the Korean war, almost 70 years after the conflict ended in a shaky truce, the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has said.

But Moon conceded that talks on the war were being held back by North Korean objections to present-day “US hostility”.

Speaking in Canberra on Monday during his four-day visit to Australia, Moon said he believed the four main parties agreed, theoretically, to a peace declaration.

But he added that North Korea had made an end to US hostility a precondition for talks.

“And because of that, we are not able to sit down for a negotiation on the declarations between South and North Korea, and those between North Korea and the United States,” he said at a press conference with the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison. “And we hope that talks will be initiated. We are making efforts towards that.”

The talks have started and stalled a couple of times in the last few years, and Moon is pleading to reach a resolution before his single five-year term ends.

A palavra seem pode ser traduzida em português para “parece”. Mas em inglês, é possível usar outras palavras, exemplificadas pelos sentidos, com o mesmo significado. “Look”, “smell”, “feel”, “sounds” e “tastes” também podem ser traduzidos para “parece”, dependendo de seu contexto. Seem tem uma ideia mais “abrangente sensorialmente”, que vai além dos outros verbos – inclui uma percepção de coisas que não estão ditas ou visíveis. Neste sentido, o inglês é uma língua mais rica do que o português, já que temos uma tradução única, “parece”, para seis palavras em inglês.

In other news, the G7 group of leading industrialized nations has said at a meeting that Russia faces “massive consequences” if it invades Ukraine.

There was a “very much a united voice from the G7 nations who represent 50 percent of global GDP, being very clear that there will be massive consequences for Russia in the case of an incursion into Ukraine”, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday at the meeting in Liverpool.

Ukraine is at the center of a crisis in East-West relations as it accuses Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops for a possible large-scale military offensive.

The Kremlin denies it plans to invade and says the West is gripped by Russophobia. Moscow says the expansion of NATO threatens Russia and has contravened assurances given to it as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

London was considering all options on how to respond if Russia invades Ukraine, Truss said, highlighting that the UK has used economic sanctions in the past to send diplomatic messages to Moscow.

“When the UK has wanted to send clear messages and achieve clear goals, we have been prepared to use economic sanctions,” Truss told reporters. “We are considering all options.”

America’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration seeks to have a “stable, predictable relationship” with Russia, but if Putin continues his aggressive behavior toward Ukraine, the US and its allies around the world will respond.

“I think what people need to understand is that Ukraine is important, and we are resolute in our commitment to its sovereignty, its territorial integrity,” Blinken said.

“But there is something even bigger at stake here, and it’s the basic rules of the road of the international system, rules that say that one country can’t change the borders of another by force, one country can’t dictate to another country its choices, its decisions, and its foreign policy, with whom it will associate,” he said.

In a draft statement seen by the Reuters news agency, the G7 delegates said they were united in their condemnation of Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine and called on Moscow to de-escalate.

“Russia should be in no doubt that further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost,” the statement said.

“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of any sovereign state to determine its own future,” the draft said.

A preposição at causa alguma confusão quando estamos nos familiarizando com o inglês. É comum não ter certeza se devemos usar “at”, “in” ou “on”. Essas preposições são usadas para falar de lugar e tempo. Há variações, mas em geral existe uma ordem de “especificidade”.

Usamos IN para falar de coisas bem gerais, pouco específicas – continentes, países, estados, cidades, bairros; ou para falar de séculos, décadas, anos, meses, semanas.

ON é usado para coisas mais específicas, como ruas, datas, dias da semana.

AT é bem específico – localização exata de alguém, com rua e número, locais específicos e horários.

Você não precisa decorar o que eu disse aqui, ok? É só um lembrete, e até nativos podem ter dificuldade com isso. Você vai acabar desenvolvendo um sexto sentido na hora de usar essas preposições, com o contato frequente com o idioma.

In some lighter news, Dubai became the world’s first paperless government!

Since the launch of the paperless strategy in 2018, 45 government entities in Dubai cut paper consumption by more than 336 million papers, more than Dh1.3 billion in related costs and over 14 million man-hours.

“Today marks the beginning of a new stage in Dubai’s journey to digitize life in all its aspects – a journey rooted in innovation, creativity, and a focus on the future,” said Sheikh Hamdan.

Sheikh Hamdan praised the teams working across all participating government entities in the emirate, whose efforts have further strengthened Dubai’s position as a global role model for integrated and sustainable smart cities.

“We mark this achievement with our sights set firmly on the future, and we look forward to providing a fully digital life for residents of the emirate,” he said, adding that the next stage will be marked by advanced strategies to create and enhance digital life in Dubai over the next five decades.

A palavra across é normalmente usada para indicar o outro lado de um local. Ela é acompanhada pela preposição “from” com frequência, para falar de algo ou alguém que está em frente a outra coisa.

Nesta história, vemos a palavra across sozinha, quando eu disse “praised the teams working across all participating government entities”. Aqui, ela não tem nenhum dos dois sentidos que já mencionei, e sim o sentido de “em todas”. Nós poderíamos traduzir esse pedaço de frase para “elogiou os times trabalhando EM TODAS as entidades governamentais”. A tradução literal é perigosa porque muitas vezes, como aqui, a tradução depende do contexto!

And our last story of the day comes from the Bolivian-Brazilian border, where one million Amazon River turtles were released in a conservation effort to preserve the species.

For years, Amazon River turtles have been losing the battle against climate change and human activity that threatens their ecosystem, directly affecting their survival.

“Today in the Guapore or Itenez River, we have a binational project for the protection and conservation of the species, especially the Amazon River turtle,” Camila Ferrara, a technical supervisor working for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the region, said.

Biologists and volunteers on the banks of the Itenez River in Bolivia and the Guapore on the Brazilian side have formed a binational project to protect the species. Their job mainly consists of the removal of turtle nests hatching in the sand, which are in danger of drowning if they do not act quickly.

River turtles inhabiting the Amazonian border between Bolivia and Brazil are also endangered due to the high demand for their meat and eggs.

The Itonamas, members of the Indigenous people of Versalles in Bolivia, protect 300 kilometers of virgin beaches so that turtles can reproduce safely.

Although it is customary for them to eat these turtles, these people are provided with food and security by the binational program and local authorities in an attempt to eradicate this consumption.

One million baby turtles being released into the wild! It must be quite a sight to behold. And it’s with that image in mind that we’re going to end today’s episode. Remember to check out fluencytv.com for have access to our sources and the transcript of this episode. There you’ll also find all of our past episodes and other podcasts, so you can continue your journey.

There’s a new episode of Fluency News every week, and we’ll be waiting for you with brand new stories from all over the world. Peace out.

Stories

North and South Korea agree ‘in principle’ on formal end of war
‍https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/13/north-south-korea-agree-in-principle-formal-end-war-us
‍https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20211213002700315
‍https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59632727

G7 warns Russia of severe economic costs if Ukraine is invaded
‍https://beta.cp24.com/world/2021/12/12/1_5704117.html
‍https://nypost.com/2021/12/12/g7-nations-agree-russia-will-face-massive-consequences-if-it-invades-ukraine-blinken/
‍https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/russia-troops-ukraine-border-satellite-photos
‍https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59627275
‍https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-considering-all-options-if-russia-invades-ukraine-foreign-minister-2021-12-12/
‍https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/12/g7-warns-of-consequences-if-russia-invades-ukraine

Dubai becomes world’s first paperless government, saves over 336 million papers
‍https://gulfnews.com/uae/environment/dubai-becomes-worlds-first-paperless-government-saves-over-336-million-papers-1.84328648

One million Amazon River turtles released at Bolivia-Brazil border in conservation effort
‍https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-08/one-million-turtles-released-at-bolivia-brazil-border/100684296