Fluency News: Hand in hand, we’re making the world a better place.

Hello, everyone!‍

Bem-vindos e bem-vindas a mais um episódio da nossa série de podcasts, Fluency News! Aqui você terá a oportunidade de praticar suas habilidades de escuta e se atualizar com o que está acontecendo em todo o mundo.

Hoje, você terá quatro novas histórias, todas em inglês. Falaremos sobre os BAFTAs 2022 e mencionaremos os vencedores, veremos como as pessoas estão ajudando a arrecadar fundos para a Ucrânia, saberemos de más notícias sobre a COVID 19 na China e terminaremos o episódio falando sobre Queenie, o bebê rinoceronte branco.

A propósito, visite fluencytv.com para ter acesso a mais conteúdo gratuito e confira nossa página no Instagram, @fluencytvingles!
Temos um novo episódio do Fluency News toda semana, e estaremos esperando por você!

Transcrição do episódio

What is up, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Fluency News! I’m Scott Lowe, one of your English teachers here at Fluency Academy, and I’m thrilled that you’re joining me today.

Every week we get together to talk about some of the most relevant stories of the week, and we take some time to learn a new thing or two. For that learning moment, you’ll hear me speaking a little Portuguese, to make sure you that understand everything we’re talking about.

You’ll find all of our sources in the description, and you can read the transcript of this episode by going to fluencytv.com. Now, without further ado, let’s get started!

The 75th British Academy Film Awards, aka the BAFTAs, was held on 13 March 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honoring the best national and foreign films of 2021. The nominations were announced on 3 February 2022 and the ceremony was hosted by actress and comedian Rebel Wilson. Many winners were not present to collect their awards, though the ceremony was exclusively in-person.

The Power of the Dog has taken the top two prizes at this year’s Baftas: best film and best director. Benedict Cumberbatch missed out in the leading actor category, losing to Will Smith for his performance as the father of Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard. The win makes Smith a huge favorite to triumph at the Oscars in a fortnight.

Best actress was awarded to Joanna Scanlan, After Love. Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi extravaganza starring Timothée Chalamet, took the most awards of the night – five – sweeping the board in the technical categories including cinematography, production design, visual effects and sound.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Encanto was named best animation. Speaking on the podium, composer Germaine Franco said she had wanted to make a film that tells “my beautiful brown children they are seen and heard and they’re important”.

Kenneth Branagh won outstanding British film for his autobiographical drama, Belfast, and used his speech to thank cinemagoers for heading out to see it. “Advances in streaming were admirable,” said Branagh, but “all hail the big screen too! It’s alive! And long may they live together!”

He continued: “A black-and-white film about the Troubles [was] not an easy pitch, but if you build it they will come”. Film-makers, he said, needed to “believe in the imagination of the public to embrace any and every kind of story, well told”.

The awards were decided by the 7,000 members of the British Film Academy, which has undergone a considerable behind-the-scenes overhaul since the backlash to the lack of diversity in its shortlists two years ago.

So, how many of them have you watched and which one is your favorite? Well, if you wanna know the full list of winners there’s a link on our portal, fluencytv.com, that takes you straight to the BAFTA’s website. There, you can find the full list of winners and nominations.

No início da notícia temos a palavra aka na frase “Academy Film Awards, aka the BAFTAs”. AKA é uma abreviação da expressão also known as que significa “também conhecido como”. Essa abreviação é muito usada no inglês dia a dia quando falamos de siglas como em “ British Broadcasting Corporation aka BBC”. Mas podemos usar essa abreviação com outro sentido: podemos usar aka para indicar um outro nome que uma pessoa ou coisa é conhecido, como em “Michael Jackson, aka The King of Pop” que significa “Michael Jackson, também conhecido como o rei do pop”. E aí, sabia desse uso? Abreviações são super importantes para construirmos uma conversação mais rápida e uma escrita mais informal e concisa.‍

Now, switching the topic a little. Last week we talked about the unfortunate events that have been taking place in Ukraine. Today, we’ll see how people are hanging in there.

More than 2.8 million people have now fled Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations. Refugees are crossing to neighboring countries to the west, such as Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova. The UN says that as of 13 March, Poland had taken in 1,720,227 refugees; Hungary 255,291; Slovakia 204,862; and Moldova 106,994.

Trains heading towards Ukraine’s border have been packed, and there have been long queues of traffic on roads leading out of the country. United Nations spokeswoman who is in Warsaw told the BBC it was mostly women and children making the crossing into Poland, with some facing waits of 24 hours.

In some cases children were traveling with distant relatives or family members who returned to Ukraine after dropping them off. Refugees are told they do not need documents, but should preferably have their internal or foreign passports, birth certificates of children traveling with them and medical documentation.

In countries bordering Ukraine, refugees can stay in reception centers if they do not have friends or relatives to stay with. They are given food and medical care. And help is being sent from many directions.

Many children in the UK have been doing everything they can to help young people in Ukraine – from sponsored haircuts to spending chilly hours standing on doorsteps selling homemade hot chocolate to passersby. The Save the Children Fund said it had seen “unprecedented amounts” raised by children since the start of the war, at an average of £1,400 per young fundraiser – more than triple the typical average total of £400.

“I wanted to do something because if I was a child in Ukraine I would be feeling really scared,” Nine-year-old Ella said. “I heard on the radio and I saw on Newsround that people had to leave the country, leaving toys and school behind. I hope our money helps children have food and water, maybe some toys and books, and I hope that they can live the rest of their lives without worrying a bit and be happy.”

Lisa Aubrey, the head of regional fundraising and engagement at Save the Children, said that “many people will feel incredibly inspired by the tenacity and enthusiasm of these young fundraisers. We can’t thank them and their families enough for their support. Our ambition to make the world a better place for children around the world simply couldn’t happen without their efforts.”

A company collecting aid for Ukraine says they have been overwhelmed by the public response. The company, which transports goods from charity shops around the world, said it plans to make deliveries to Poland every week and is looking for more new items as well as further volunteers. The Staffordshire firm has received 300 pallet-loads of donations and five vans have already delivered some aid to the Red Cross in Poland.

Renata Pierscinsk, CTR operations manager said she is worried about her family in Poland. “My family is in Poland at the moment, everyone is worried that Poland will be next, so we’re helping people from Ukraine at the moment,” she said. “You know, we’ve got experience with transport and sending all the goods in Europe so, we decided to help”.

And here we see different stories which have something in common: people helping other people to move on. From kids to adults, we see they’re trying their best in making the world a better place to live in.

A palavra overwhelm é usada em diversos contextos em inglês com muitos significados diferentes. Quando é usado como verbo, por exemplo, overwhelm pode significar “dominar” como em “the cops overwhelmed the rebels” que significa “a polícia dominou os rebeldes”. Já quando usamos a expressão “to be overwhelmed” existem dois principais significados: o primeiro é referente ao estado de estar sobrecarregado, saturado com alguma coisa “I’m overwhelmed with work” que significa “eu estou saturado/sobrecarregado com o meu trabalho”. O outro significado, que foi usado na notícia, se refere à sensação de uma forte emoção repentina, de estar impressionado com alguma coisa. Na notícia, a passagem “they have been overwhelmed by the public response” significa que a companhia está impressionada com a resposta do público e com o número de doações. Já que overwhelm é uma palavra com muitos significados, é muito importante prestar atenção no contexto de uso dessa palavra porque, assim, você vai conseguir identificar qual o seu equivalente ao portugues em diferentes situações.‍

Since last week, it’s been 2 years since the pandemic started and, fortunately, we can say that things are getting better. The higher the vaccination rate is, the smaller the number of covid 19 cases. Yet China battles the worst Covid outbreak for two years as cases double in 24 hours.

China reported thousands of new local Covid-19 cases Sunday as the Omicron variant drove the worst outbreak in the country since Wuhan in early 2020, according to the National Health Commission. Nearly 3,400 cases were reported on Sunday, forcing shutdowns for millions of people and closure of schools in Shanghai.

A government notice on Sunday said all residential communities were now under “closed management”, meaning they would be locked down. Every resident would undergo three rounds of testing, for which they were allowed to leave their homes, and all buses and subways were suspended. All businesses in the finance and technology hub, which borders Hong Kong, were ordered to close or work from home unless they supplied food, utilities, or other necessities.

Two major Chinese cities – northeastern industrial hub Changchun and southern economic hub Shenzhen – are under lockdown, with more than 26 million residents forbidden from leaving their homes. As cases rise, the country’s national health commission announced Friday that they would introduce the use of rapid antigen tests. The kits will now be available online or at pharmacies for clinics and ordinary citizens to buy for “self-testing”, the health commission said.

In Hong Kong the variant has overwhelmed the city and its government’s insistence on sticking to a strategy of elimination over mitigation. On Sunday it reported more than 32,400 cases. Hospitals have been swamped, with patient beds in lobbies and carparks.

“People must not get the wrong impression that the virus situation is now under control,” said Dr Albert Au, an expert with the government’s Center for Health Protection. “Once we let our guard down, it’s possible that (infections) will bounce back and rise again.”

Zhang Wenhong, China’s top infectious disease expert, on Monday warned Hong Kong’s outbreak was in the “early stage of an exponential rise”, and said it was inevitable that some would panic but people should retain confidence in the effectiveness of lockdowns, testing, and restrictions. “As long as we slow down, the virus will not be fast,” he said.‍

Must é um verbo modal que pode ser usado como um intensificador quando estivermos falando de obrigações em inglês. Poderíamos dizer, por fim didáticos, que must é um irmão mais forte de should. Must é traduzido na maior parte das vezes como “deve”, já should ocupa mais a ideia de “deveria” . A diferença entre ambos os modais se dá justamente na intensidade das ideias que eles trazem: should é um “deveria” e tem um tom mais de opinião. Então a frase “I should study more” traz mais a ideia de opinião “eu deveria estudar mais”. Agora, “I must study more” traz uma ideia mais forte, de dever “Eu devo estudar mais ou eu tenho que estudar mais”. Quando usamos must, modalizamos a ideia da ação para algo mais assertivo. Na frase da notícia “People must not get the wrong impression that the virus situation is now under control” que significa “As pessoas não devem ter a impressão errada de que a situação do vírus está agora sob controle”, o must not foi usado para dar um tom mais forte, algo como uma regra. No nosso portal, fluencytv.com, você vai encontrar várias dicas legais sobre must! Go watch it!‍

Well, the last story of the day is about a baby rhino named Queenie to mark the Queen’s Jubilee year. A baby rhinoceros born at a wildlife park has been named after the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee year.

Queenie is the ninth white rhino to be born at Cotswold Wildlife Park in Burford, Oxfordshire, and the fifth consecutive female. The new calf is also the fifth for parents Monty and Nancy. Previous rhino calves have been named after people linked to the park, including a keeper’s daughter, Molly, and the park’s electrician, Alan.

Managing director Reggie Heyworth said: “I thought it might be a bit presumptuous to call our new baby Elizabeth, so I have christened her Queenie instead. “I think it is a perfect name for a young lady rhino.” The name was given to the white rhino in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, which marks her 70th year on the British throne.

According to the park, white rhinos weigh around 6-7 kg at birth and gain between 1.5kg and 3kg a day as they grow. Adults can weigh between 1,440kg and 3,600kg. On our portal, fluencytv.com, you can find a link that takes you to a video of Queenie. It’s so worth watching! I strongly recommend it.

E se você quer ter a chance de participar da próxima turma da Fluency Academy… Você precisa se inscrever na lista de espera gratuita. O seu nome na lista é a garantia de receber o acesso a todas as informações em primeira mão.

Na Fluency Academy você evolui o seu inglês, espanhol, francês, italiano, alemão, japonês, mandarim ou coreano com os melhores experts em fluência do mundo.

Não demora nem 15 segundinhos para fazer a inscrição, então se você não quiser perder o seu lugar, aperte o link na descrição desse episódio!

And, remember, there’s a new episode of Fluency News every week. I’ll be waiting for you!

Until next time!
Peace out ✌️

Stories:

→ BAFTA 2022
‍The winners:
‍https://www.bafta.org/film/awards/2022-nominations-winners
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60243683
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/13/baftas-2022-the-power-of-the-dog-wins-best-picture-and-director‍

→ Raising funds for Ukraine
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60555472
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-60729538
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/mar/14/uk-children-raise-ukraine-funds-charity‍

→ China battles worst Covid outbreak for two years as cases double in 24 hours
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/14/china/china-covid-outbreak-monday-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/13/china-battles-worst-covid-outbreak-for-two-years-as-cases-double-in-24-hours
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/13/china-shuts-down-business-centres-in-bid-to-halt-covid-outbreak‍

→ Queenie
Video of Queenie:
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/lifestyle/whie-rhino-queen-platinum-jubilee-b2034812.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-60737551
https://www.dw.com/en/uk-zoo-names-white-rhino-queenie-after-elizabeth-ii/a-61107296
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/03/14/white-rhino-Queenie-Queen-Elizabeth/1871647259221/