Ranking Universities by ‘Greenness’

Universities these days are working hard to improve their sustainability credentials, with efforts that include wind power, organic food and competitions to save energy. They are also adding courses related to sustainability and energy. But which university is the greenest?

Several ranking systems have emerged to offer their take. The Princeton Review recently came out with its second annual green ratings. Fifteen colleges earned the highest possible score — including Harvard, Yale and the University of California, Berkeley.

Another group, the Sustainable Endowment Institute’s GreenReportCard.org, rates colleges on several different areas of green compliance, such as recycling, student involvement and green building. Its top grade for overall excellence, an A-, was earned by 15 schools.

Leia o texto para responder a questão.

New crab species honors Harry Potter

A recently discovered crab species has been somewhat tenuously named in honor of characters from the magical world of Harry Potter.

The crab’s official name is Harryplax severus, with the genus Harryplax named after the crab’s collector, the late researcher and former marine Harry Conley, who died from a gunshot in 2002, as well as the protagonist in J. K. Rowling’s novels. Conley dug up many specimens in Guam’s coral reef rubble almost 20 years ago.

The latter species part of its name is inspired by the character Severus Snape, who “despite being a central character in the series, keeps his background and agenda mysterious until the very end,” the statement announcing the naming said. The authors note this is “just like the present new species, which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected”.

Even though Conley found the specimen long ago, its status as a new species and genus was only realized recently by Dr Peter Ng and Dr Jose Cristopher E. Mendoza from the National University of Singapore.

The crab is tiny, measuring just 7.9 by 5.6 millimeters (0.3 by 0.2 inches), and known only to herald from the island of Guam. It’s found deep in coral rubble or under subtidal rocks, and survives at dark depths with reduced eyes, ones that are not used extensively. Instead, it has antennae to probe the depths, and gets around on long thin legs.

In the statement, Dr Mendoza was said to be a self-confessed “Potterhead”, hence the somewhat unusual moniker. But it’s not the first time Potter has inspired the naming of a new species – The magazine Popular Science notes that a dinosaur species was named after Hogwarts in 2006 (Dracorex hogwartsia), a wasp in Thailand was named Ampulex dementor in 2014, and a spider was named Eriovixia gryffindori last year.

Read the text and answer question.

The child and his mother
[1] A curious child asked his mother: “Mommy, why are some of
your hairs turning grey?”
The mother tried to use this occasion to teach her child:
“It is because of you, dear. Every bad action of yours will
[5] turn one of my hair grey!”
The child replied innocently: “Now I know why
grandmother has only grey hairs on her head.”

Read the comic to answer question.

Leia o texto a seguir e responda a questão.

5 Conversations to Have with Your Kids After "Wonder Woman

By Betsy Bozdech 6/2/2017

Families can talk about everything from women's roles in comics and superhero films to the importance of compassion and empathy.

The comic book adaptation with a female superhero - Wonder Woman - is an engaging, entertaining, empowering, and surprisingly diverse superhero story with strong messages about teamwork, courage, and compassion which families can talk about with their children. Try these discussion questions to get started:

1) Talk about women's roles in comics and superhero films. What makes Diana a role model in Wonder Woman? How does her intelligence shine throughout the movie? What about the rest of the Amazons? What did you think about the fact that many of them are thin, conventionally beautiful, and wearing brief/tight-fitting outfits?

2) How do the characters in Wonder Woman demonstrate courage and teamwork? What about Diana's keen sense of compassion and empathy? Why are those all important character strengths?

3) What do you think about the way superhero movies illustrate violence? Is there a difference in the way you react to realistic vs. stylized violence? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

4) Wonder Woman, the character, was created in 1941 and has always been very popular. So why do you think it took so long for her to get her own movie? What about today's culture welcomes such a role?

5) How is Wonder Woman similar to and different from male superheroes such as Superman, Batman, and Iron Man?

Glossário:
Roles: papéis
Empowering: empoderador
Shine: resplandece
Brief/tight-fitting outfits: roupas curtas e apertadas
Character strengths: pontos fortes de caráter/personalidade
Welcome: recebe/apoia

O texto apresenta um convite às famílias, para que, após assistirem ao recente filme ‘Mulher Maravilha’, discutam algumas questões com seus filhos.

O texto a seguir é referência para aquestão.

Kindly Shut the Hell Up About “Adulting”

By Danielle Tullo

A few nights ago, I got home from work and sat on my bed, scrolling through Twitter. I didn’t get far in my timeline before I saw a tweet from a twentysomething who said she was “adulting” because she cooked herself dinner. Ugh.
Scroll through the #adulting hashtag on Twitter at any given moment, and you’re likely to see Millennials sharing anecdotes like: “I grabbed drinks with friends but only talked about apartment leases #adulting”, “I have clean laundry!!! #adulting”, and, “I made dinner that wasn’t hummus and baby carrots #adulting”.
Urban Dictionary defines “adulting” as “to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown ups”. In the past year, the term “adulting” has increased in usage by 700 percent on Twitter.
“Adulting” is a terrible fake word (that you will not find in the actual dictionary, for the record) that everyone should stop using. “Adulting” implies that being an adult is not a necessary part of growing up, but rather a life choice you’re hesitant to fully buy into. It’s a singularly Millennial – especially female, at that – immaturity that reduces being a grown-up to a hobby.
Many of us have been shielded from the full responsibilities of adulthood. Unlike our parents’ generation, nearly a third of us are not forced to pay rent or provide for ourselves immediately after college. Many of us don’t need to worry about going to the grocery store alone because our parents’ fridge is already stocked. We don’t have to think about paying the cable bill because our parents have it covered. Growing up may feel optional because, for many of us, it is.

About the term “adulting”, consider as true (T) or false (F) the following affirmatives:

( ) “Adulting” is a probably a new term, used to refer to something typical of our times.
( ) “Adulting” is a term that has found a lot of space in social media.
( ) “Adulting” is a term designed for social interactions, especially eating and drinking with friends, and it cannot be used for activities done by yourself.
( ) “Adulting” means avoiding doing daily chores because you do not like them.

Read the text and answer question.

Hijacked jets destroy Twin Towers: a creeping horror
[1] The horror arrived in epsodic bursts of chilling disbelief,
signified first by trembling floors, sharp eruptions, cracked
windows. There was the cruel sight of bodies helplessly
tumbling out, some of ________ in flames.
[5] Finally, the high and impressive towers themselves were
reduced to nothing. Dense plumes of smoke raced through the
downtown avenues, coursing between the buildings, shaped
like tornadoes on their sides.
Every sound was cause for alarm. A plane appeared
[10] overhead. Was another one coming? No, it was a fighter jet.
But was it friend or enemy? People scrambled for ________
lives, but ________ didn’t know where to go. Should people go
north, south, east, west? Stay outside, go indoors? People hid
beneath cars and each other. Some contemplated jumping
[15] into the river (…).
Fonte:The New York Times, Sep. 12, 2001.

GLOSSARY
chilling disbelief – incredulidade assustadora
trembling floors – o tremor dos andares
to scramble – lutar

TEXTO

É com certa sabedoria que se diz: pelos olhos se conhece uma pessoa. Bem, há olhares de todos os tipos — dos dissimulados aos da cobiça, seja pelo vil metal ou pelo sexo.

Garimpeiro se conhece pelos olhos. Olhos de febre, que flamejam e reluzem. Há, em suas pupilas, o ouro. O brilho dourado tatua a íris. Trata-se apenas de um reflexo de sua alma e daquilo que corre em suas veias. É um vírus. A princípio, um sonho distante, mas, ao correr dos dias, torna-se uma angustiante busca. Na primeira vez que o ouro fagulha na sua frente, na bateia, toda a alma se contamina e o vírus se transforma em doença incurável.

Todos, no garimpo, têm histórias semelhantes. Têm família, filhos, empregos em suas cidades, nos distantes estados, mas, de repente, espalha-se a notícia do ouro. Então, largam tudo, vendem a roupa do corpo e lá se vão. Caçar o rastro do ouro é a sina. Nos olhos, a febre — um brilho dourado doentio. Sim, é fácil conhecer um garimpeiro.

Todos sabem que, no garimpo, não é lugar para se viver. Mas ninguém abandona o seu posto. Suor, lama, pedregulhos, pepitas douradas, cansaço — é a vida que até o diabo rejeita.

Por onde passam, o rastro da destruição. A Amazônia é nossa. Tratores e retroescavadeiras derrubam e limpam a floresta; as dragas chegam, os rios se contaminam rapidamente de mercúrio. Quem pode mais chora menos. Na trilha do brilho dourado, nada se preserva. Ai daqueles que levantarem alguma voz... No dia seguinte, o corpo é encontrado no meio da selva, um bom prato aos bichos.

TEXTO: