Vitamin D – natural Source

During the bleak winter months of short days and cloudy skies, many people may seek out the benefits of sunshine in bottle form and reach for supplements of vitamin D. Made naturally by the skin when exposed to sunlight, this vitamin is needed to maintain healthy bones, teeth and muscles and to prevent them from becoming brittle and at risk of fracture.

In spring and summer in the far regions of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, such as the northern US and New Zealand, people tend to produce enough vitamin D through sunlight on their skin and foods in their diet. The vitamin helps the body absorb calcium to promote bone growth.

But during autumn and winter, levels drop. It helps to eat the right foods, such as oily fish, egg yolks, red meat and liver, to keep levels high inside the body -- which not everyone can achieve adequately. Fortified foods, including milk, cereals and spreads, provide the most vitamin D in the American diet, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Based on the text, there are the following statements:

I. Lots of people look for the benefits of sunshine in capsules in order to have supplements of vitamin D during the hard winter.

II. During fall and winter levels of vitamin D drop, so it helps to eat fortified foods to maintain levels high inside.

III. Vitamin D prevents the body from being healthy and absorbing calcium to promote bone growth.

ATAQUE TERRORISTA A HOTEL DEIXA 18 MORTOS

Pessoas que estavam no Hotel Intercontinental de Cabul enfrentaram 12 horas de horror. Entre os mortos, estão 14 estrangeiros. O comando invadiu o hotel pouco depois das 21 horas de sábado, provocando uma explosão para abrir caminho antes de atirar. “Todos os agressores foram abatidos, 126 pessoas foram resgatadas”, declarou o porta-voz do Ministério do Interior, Najib Danish.

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

Sleep is important, so dreams must be, too, right?

Over the last few days, I’ve shared stories of how aggravating dreams about work can be. But sometimes good things happen. “As a computer engineer for over 40 years, sometimes my work does find its way into my dreams,” wrote Fred Myers of South Bend, Ind. “Occasionally, I’ll work out an approach to solving a problem in a dream, wake up, write it down, and then it actually pans out when I get to work.”
Sleep: There’s a reason we spend a third of our lives doing it, even if we aren’t sure what that reason is. “It must be important,” said Rachel Salas, a Johns Hopkins Medicine neurologist who studies sleep and treats sleep disorders. “And if sleeping is important, that would suggest that dreaming is important.”
However, scientists aren’t sure exactly why. “There are a lot of theories out there,” Salas said. “The bottom line is we just don’t know. There is some research suggesting that dreams are the brain processing or getting rid of unwanted memories, kind of consolidating memories as we’re sleeping.” Also, some scientists think they can play a role in creativity. “There’s some research showing that musicians have been inspired during their dreams and have actually composed music during sleep,” Salas said. So maybe those job dreams aren’t so bad!

So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms

patiently crossed, waiting, waiting and

wondering who I'm in, what I’m in for. My

eyes close nostalgically when I remember

[5] how I once drifted in my translucent body

bag, floated dreamily in the bubble of my

thoughts through my private ocean in slow-

motion somersaults, colliding gently against

the transparent bounds of my confinement,

[10] the confiding membrane that vibrated with,

even as it muffled, the voices of conspirators

in a vile enterprise. That was in my careless

youth. Now, fully inverted, not an inch of

space to myself, knees crammed against

[15] belly, my thoughts as well as my head are

fully engaged. I’ve no choice, my ear is

pressed all day and night against the bloody

walls. I listen, make mental notes, and I’m

troubled. I’m hearing pillow talk of deadly

[20] intent and I’m terrified by what awaits me, by

what might draw me in.

I’m immersed in abstractions, and only the

proliferating relations between them create

the illusion of a known world. When I hear

[25] "blue," which I’ve never seen, I imagine some

kind of mental event that's fairly close to

"green"—which I’ve never seen. I count

myself an innocent, unburdened by

allegiances and obligations, a free spirit,

[30] despite my meagre living room. No one to

contradict or reprimand me, no name or

previous address, no religion, no debts, no

enemies. My appointment diary, if it existed,

notes only my forthcoming birthday. I am, or

[35] I was, despite what the geneticists are now

saying, a blank slate. But a slippery, porous

slate no school-room or cottage roof could

find use for, a slate that writes upon itself as

it grows by the day and becomes less blank. I

[40] count myself an innocent, but it seems I'm

party to a plot. My mother, bless her

unceasing, loudly squelching heart, seems to

be involved.

Considere as seguintes propostas de reescrita para o trecho But a slippery, porous slate no school-room or cottage roof could find use for (l. 36-38).

I - But a slippery, porous slate for which no school-room or cottage could find use

II - But a slippery, porous slate that no school-room or cottage could find use for

III- But a slippery, porous slate who no school-room or cottage could find use for

Observe a seguinte frase:

“And yet and yet. Whatever accommodation he reached with his first wife in life hasn't survived her death. Diana haunts Charles”.

Text

When I got to the airport, I learnt that the plane from Cairo, on which my brother was travelling, had been delayed at Paris with engine trouble and was expected to be about an hour late. As a rule I can pass the time quite happily; watching the planes land and take off, but that evening I had a headache; which I thought that the noise of the engines might make worse. I decided, therefore to walk around to make the time pass quickly.

First of all I went back to the place where I had left my car to make sure that all the doors were locked. The walk in the fresh air did me good, for I felt slightly better as I entered the main airport building again. I made my way to the restaurant, where I ordered a cup of black coffee. As I stood drinking this at the counter, I studied the faces of the people around me. Some passengers were obviously anxious about the time, and kept looking at their watches; others checked to see that they had tickets, passports and money. Where there was a group of people, it was easy to tell which one was about to leave. He was the object of everyone’s attention and looked either very happy or very sad at the thought of departure.

There was one woman who burst into tears as she said goodbye to the relatives or friends who had come to see her off. When I had finished my coffee, I went along to the bookstall, where I bought a couple of magazines, both of them about travel, which would help to make the time pass pleasantly. Then I went into one of the waiting-rooms and made myself comfortable in a big armchair. I had hardly had time to open one of my magazines, when someone came up and put his hand on my shoulder. It was an old friend; who was just about to leave on a business trip to South America. Since we had not seen each other for a long time, we found plenty to talk about until the arrival of my brother’s plane from Paris was announced.

Leia a charge para responder a questão.

Drinking coffee could help you live longer

Coffee not only helps you feel full of beans, it might add years to your life as well, two major studies have shown. Scientists in Europe and the US have uncovered the clearest evidence yet that drinking coffee reduces the risk of death.

One study of more than half a million people from 10 European countries found that men who downed at least three cups of coffee a day were 18% less likely to die from any cause than non-coffee drinkers. Women drinking the same amount benefited less, but still experienced an 8% reduction in mortality over the period measured.

Similar results were reported by American scientists who conducted a separate investigation, recruiting 185855 participants from different ethnic backgrounds. Irrespective of ethnicity, people who drank two to three cups of coffee daily had an 18% reduced risk of death.

Each of the studies, both published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, showed no advantage from drinking either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. Experts believe the antioxidant plant compounds in coffee rather than caffeine are responsible for the life-extending effect. Previous research has suggested that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, and some cancers.

Dr Marc Gunter, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, who led the European study with colleagues from Imperial College London, said: “We found that higher coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of death from any cause and specifically for circulatory diseases and digestive diseases. Importantly, these results were similar across all of the 10 European countries, with variable coffee drinking habits and customs. Our study also offers important insights into the possible mechanisms for the beneficial health effects of coffee.”

Complete o texto abaixo com o passado simples ou o presente perfeito dos verbos entre parênteses.

I am very proud of my sister. In my opinion she ________¹(have) an interesting career. l ________²(attend) Oxford University from 1997 to 2000. Then she ________³(apply) for jobs abroad. She ________⁴(work) in Hong Kong for three years and then she ________⁵(come) to Brazil in January of 2004. She ________⁶(be) here for more than eight years and she loves what she does. She'll never go back to the UK.

During her career, she ________⁷(do) a number of different jobs, too. She ________⁸(sell) computer software in Hong Kong. She ________⁹(teach) English for her first year in Japan. Since then, she ________¹⁰(run) her own training company in Brazil. It is very successful.

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