Swine Flu

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Public health

Swine flu sweeps through Brazil

There are two reasons for this spread - one is winter. Cold weather helps flu proliferate. The other reason is that the Influenza A virus spreads more easily than the regular flu virus

Swine flu is a respiratory disease caused by the influenza A virus, also known as H1N1. It is passed from person to person and its symptoms are similar to those for regular flu. One of the few differences is that swine flu has a greater impact on the respiratory system, causing a serious loss of breath. The only way to know for sure if a person has or has not been infected by the virus is by laboratory examination. Most people infected recover in seven days, with medical treatment. Up to May 10^th only eight Brazilians had been infected with Influenza A. In the weeks that followed this number began to climb rapidly. On July 22^nd over 1,200 people in Brazil had been infected (and 22 had died) with over 4,000 suspected cases having been investigated. Public and private schools in the States most affected by the disease - such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul, amongst others - have decided to put back the return to class. The idea is to try to contain the outbreak of swine flu. In some schools, class restarts on August 10th, and in others, August 17th. 

Flu vaccine will only be ready in 2010

According to the Ministry of Health, certain groups of people run a greater risk of becoming infected: children under two, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with a history of chronic disease (cancer and diabetes, for example). Why? These people have lower immunity. The government says that Brazil will only begin to produce a vaccine against Influenza A in 2010. In July the government began a prevention campaign against this new flu.  To avoid contamination you must wash your hands well with soap and water several times a day, cover your mouth and nose with a disposable handkerchief when you cough or sneeze, and not share such personal objects as cups, cutlery, and dishes.

Áudio – David Hatton

Matéria publicada na edição de número 50 da Revista Maganews – que vem acompanhada de um Cd que traz outros 18 áudios de matérias em inglês, nas vozes de David e Aasita.

Ilustração – Ministério da Saúde (campanha de controle da epidemia)

Vocabulary

1 swine flu – gripe suína

2 to sweep – se alastrar / se espalhar (the same as “to spread”)

3 cold weather – frio / baixa temperatura

4 regular flu – gripe comum

5 loss of breath – aqui = falta de ar

6 to climb – subir

7 to put back - adiar

8 run a greater risk – corre um  risco maior

9 soap – sabão

10 mouth – boca

11 nose - nariz

12 handkerchief – lenço

13 to cough - tossir

14 to sneeze – espirrar

15 to share – compartilhar

16 cutlery – talheres

17 dish - prato

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I desire that this message could touch deeply on your heart and you could help Jeanie or giving a small contribution or joining on her Facebook. You don't realise how difficult is struggling against cancer, me and this blog support for things like that, I ask for you comprehension and everyone who joining there I'm sure she will get her achievement as soon as possible. 
Well I invite you, dear readers to join on Jeanie Campaign, well this is a short description about her campaign says her husband please you just need to join on her Fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Please-Help-Jeanie-2-Cancer-Cure/176257085764887 as well as please promote it on your FB's wall and dear bloggers and Networking bloggers please do the same.  To raise enough money to provide safe, alternative cancer treatments to those individuals who cannot otherwise afford them - starting with myself for my wife, Jeanie. 

The Dog Masters

The Dog Masters

Source: www.speakup.com.br

English level INTERMEDIATE

Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe

Standard: British accent

In 1989 Sylvia Wilson was working for RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to animal) in Australia and was become number of dogs that were being brought in to be destroyed because of behavioural problems such s barking, biting and tearing things up. She went on to develop a system that had almost immediate results in dealing with problem dogs, so she set up Bark Busters. Today Bark Busters is a worldwide organization dedicated to bridging the gap between dogs and their owners by using “dog psychology.” Carol O’Herlihy runs Bark Busters I the UK and explains that a dog psychologist is not the same as a dog trainer:

Carol O’Herlihy

(Australian accent):

A dog psychologist is somebody, I think, who bridges the gap between the two different species. It teaches…we teach people how to see what their dog is saying. Dogs never stop talking to you, their body language never stops, they never stop at it, unless they’re asleep. Happy dogs sleep most of the day, but dogs that are boisterous and overactive, they’re trying desperately to tell you something and we show owners how to interpret that properly.

LEADER OF THE PACK

As can be the case with humans, many problems for dogs are the result of the change of status and way of life. Dogs are used to living in packs, where there is a natural hierarchy. This is very different from their new life as part of a human family and it can lead to a lot of confusion between animal and owner:

Carol O’Herlihy:

What happens is, people read a dog’s body language as a human, and dogs read a human body language as dog, and the two are completely different, so you get this miscommunication between the owner and the dog and neither one of them knows what the other one’s doing. So, for instance, when a dog is jumping up and licking at owner’s mouth whenever they come back, the owner thinks, “He loves me so much he’s kissing me hello,” but the dog is thinking, “Vomit, vomit, you’ve been or a hunt, what you’ve caught on the hunt, I’m hungry!”

THERAPY

When we humans need to see the “head doctor,” we take ourselves to a clinic where we can talk about our problems, but for a dog psychologist there’s no such thing as the “psychologist’s couch.” Problematic dogs are best observed at home:

Carol O’Herlihy:

Well, we ask a few questions on the phone, not a great deal, but (they) most important thing is we go out and we visit the dog in its home because a dog’s very comfortable in its home and it’ll be displaying a lot of body language that tells us how the dog sees itself in a pack situation, where it sees itself, whether it’s the top or the middle or the bottom, and sometimes dogs that are at the top of the pack find it (a) very lonely place and it’s quite scary for them and they actually need to be down further, down in the pack and with the owners over the dog. So it’s all to do with pack hierarchy because that’s…the only way a dog thinks. A dog that’s shown aggression stands a higher change of being put to sleep, destroyed, killed, murdered…whatever you like. All animals will bite, but it’s only the dog who takes the big punishment for it.

Who You Gonna Call? Bark Busters!

Bark Busters, the organisation founded by Sylvia Wilson, now has branches in Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Tawian, the UK and the USA. It is reckoned that over 300.000 dogs have been trained by Bark Busters since the organization was set up in 1989. Sylvia Wilson has written several books, including: Bark Busters: Solving Your Dog’s Behavioural Problems, The Bark Busters’ Guide to Puppy Rearing and Training, Train Your Dog The Easy Way and Bite Buster: How to Deal with Dog Attacks: For more on Bark Busters, visit www.barkbusters.co.uk  .

George Gershwin, 1898-1937: He Wrote More Than 500 Songs part II

George Gershwin, 1898-1937: He Wrote More Than 500 Songs 

Source: Voice of America Special English

www.manythings.org/voa/people 

I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.  Today we continue our report about the life and music of one of America's greatest composers, George Gershwin.

(MUSIC: "Rhapsody in Blue")

As we reported last week, George Gershwin published his first song when he was just eighteen years old. During the next twenty years, until his death, he wrote more than five hundred more songs. He also wrote an opera, and music for piano and orchestra.

Many of George Gershwin's songs were first written for musical plays performed in theaters in New York City. These comedies, with plenty of songs, were a popular form of entertainment in the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties.

One of Gershwin's musical plays, "Girl Crazy," introduced a young singer named Ethel Merman. She became one of the most celebrated performers in America. In the play, Ethel Merman sang a song George Gershwin wrote just for her. It was called "I Got Rhythm. "

(MUSIC)

Many songs that George Gershwin wrote for musical plays and movies have remained as popular as ever. Over the years, they have been sung and played in every possible way -- from jazz to country.

One example is the song, "Someone to Watch Over Me."  It was written for the nineteen twenty-six musical "Oh, Kay!"  Here is a modern version of the song, sung by Willie Nelson.

(MUSIC)

In the nineteen twenties, there was a debate in the United States about jazz music. Could jazz, some people asked, be considered serious music?

In nineteen twenty-four, jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music. George Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized how little time he had to do it. The concert was just a few weeks away. Gershwin got busy. And, in that short time, he composed a piece for piano and orchestra. He called it "Rhapsody in Blue."

Gershwin himself played the piano part of "Rhapsody in Blue" at the concert. The audience included some of the greatest classical musicians of the time. When they heard his music, they were electrified. It seemed to capture, for the first time, the true voice of modern American culture.  Today, we can still hear Gershwin playing "Rhapsody in Blue." An old mechanical piano recording has been reproduced exactly on this recording.

(MUSIC)

"Rhapsody in Blue" made George Gershwin famous all over the world. Several hundred thousand copies of the printed music sold immediately. Gershwin was satisfied that he had shown that jazz music could be both serious and popular.

Gershwin also wrote an opera, "Porgy and Bess. " It was based on a book by DuBose Heyward.  It is a tragic love story about black Americans along the coast of South Carolina.

"Porgy And Bess" opened in Boston, Massachusetts, in nineteen thirty-five. Audiences loved it. But most critics did not know what to think of it.  It was not like any other opera or musical play they had ever seen.

Gershwin was not affected by the critics' opinions. He believed some of his greatest music had gone into the opera. He said he had created a new musical form -- an opera based on popular culture. Here is the song "Summertime" from a later production of "Porgy and Bess" in nineteen fifty-two.  Leontyne Price, who played Bess, sings the song.

(MUSIC)

Another well-known Gershwin piece is "An American in Paris. " It is a long tone poem for orchestra. Its first public performance was by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in nineteen twenty-eight. Here is a modern recording from "An American in Paris."

(MUSIC)

Once again, opinion was mixed. Most people loved "An American in Paris," as they loved all of Gershwin's music. Some critics liked it, too. They called it happy and full of life. Others hated it. They called it silly and long-winded. Still, it remains one of his most popular works.

George Gershwin died in nineteen thirty-seven, just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer. He was only thirty-nine years old. Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages. Everyone mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have written.  George Gershwin is still considered one of America's greatest composers. His works still are performed by many singers and groups. They are probably performed more often than any other serious American composer.

Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg was one of the people who praised George Gershwin.  Schoenberg said Gershwin was a man who lived in music and expressed everything through music, because music was his native language.

(MUSIC: "Rhapsody in Blue")

This program was written by Shelley Gollust.  It was produced by Lawan Davis.  I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein.  Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.

Piadas traduzidas: MY TIME’S UP?

Piadas traduzidas: MY TIME’S UP?

Anônimo

Source: Teclasap http://www.teclasap.com.br

A 54-year-old woman [Uma senhora de 54 anos] had a heart attack [sofreu um infarto] and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table [mesa de operações] she had a near death experience [ela quase morreu].

Seeing God [ao ver Deus] she asked “Is my time up?” [Chegou a minha hora?]

God said, “No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live .”

Upon recovery [Após sua recuperação], the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have aface-lift, liposuction [lipoaspiração] and atummy tuck [plástica de abmômen]. She evenhad someone come in [contratou uma pessoa] and change her hair colour and brighten[branquear] her teeth!

Since she had so much more time to live[Como tinha muito mais tempo de vida], shefigured [pensou] she might as well [que deveria] make the most of it [aproveitar ao máximo]. After her last operation, she was released from the hospital [recebeu alta].

While crossing the street [Ao atravessar a rua] on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.

Arriving in front of God, she demanded [cobrou], ”I thought you said I had another 43 years. Why didn’t you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?“ [Por que não me tirou da frente da ambulância?]

God replied: “I didn’t recognize you!”

Cf. Como se diz “acabou o tempo” em inglês?Cf. Mais Piadas Traduzida
s

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Well I invite you, dear readers to join on Jeanie Campaign, well this is a short description about her campaign says her husband please you just need to join on her Fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Please-Help-Jeanie-2-Cancer-Cure/176257085764887 as well as please promote it on your FB's wall and dear bloggers and Networking bloggers please do the same.  To raise enough money to provide safe, alternative cancer treatments to those individuals who cannot otherwise afford them - starting with myself for my wife, Jeanie. 

Rich Jones

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: Advanced

Standard: American accent

RICH JONES

The Art of Voice (no audio)

Imagine words rolling out of your mouth, as if they were minded in gold. This Midas tongue is no myth. Just ask a professional voice artist – one of those men and women we hear in TV and radio commercials, animated cartoons, and movie trailers. Their vocal chords earn them a great living.

Canadian voice artist Rich Jones, 52, studied Radio at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and has spent over 30 years riding the airwaves. He has recorded for clients such as McDonald’s, Motorola, Sony, and Diet Coke – and many of his spots have won prestigious media awards. Currently living in São Paulo, Brazil, Rich stays connected to recording studios in North America through an ISDN line.

Speak Up talked to Rich about his career, his competitors, the English Language, and h desire to communicate: (no audio)

When did you start paying attention to your voice? (audio available)

I was ten in 1964, The Beatles hit, you know, and I went…I remember my friend and I said, “Well, let’s have a party and let’s invite some girls!” And then, me or him, I don’t remember, said, “Well, we need some music.” And I thought, Jesus, music. That’s a good idea! So we got on the bus, ten years old. We went downtown in the city of Victoria, which is not a big city, but…we went down, we went to the Eaton’s store, which had a music department, and I remember asking the guy. “Umm, do you have any songs that girls, will like?” at ten years old! And he said, “Yeah, there’s this new thing, “Yeah, Yeah, Year or something, you know. You might like that.”

So I bought She Loves You by Beatles. 45. She Loves You and I’ll Get You on the flipside. And then I bought All My Loving and Whatever was on the flipside of that… one or two others. and I went home and I put  that thing on, and I lis…I must have listened to it a thousand times over and over and over. I saw the movie A Hard Day’s Night ten times consecutive, like just…and it was like a li…something went off in my head. This idea of music, of entertainment, of something. And so I would put headphones on and tape myself singing. And I remember when I listened back to it I thought, “Oh My God, that’s absolutely terrible.”

So how did you end up becoming a voice artist?

In my high school years I started to think about what am I going to do for my career? And I was doing a lot of acting in school, and in the drama club, and public speaking and stuff, and my girlfriend said, “You should go in for radio and television.” And I walked into…when I applied at the university to study, and I got in…I walked in to the studio and I felt like I was home. I can’t explain it any better that that. I was like I had arrived somewhere. And then I started to really listen a lot to voiceover people, guys reading commercials, and I remember thinking. That’s something I would like to do.

Let’s talk for a minute about your competitors. I mean, who are some of your favorite vice artists today?

There’s this one guy named Don LaFontaine out of Los Angeles who does moive trailers eight hours a day. Movie trailers, that’s all he does (Now can you do the movie trailer voice?) Well, yeah: ‘He’s there, he’s waiting for you, he’s looking, he sees you, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do…coming soon.” It’s that kind of…and you listen to the take on their voices. The other guy I love for voiceovers is Donald Sutherland, ‘cause he’s got such a sardonic, ironic, style. It’s absolutely terrific. There’s a guy in Los Angeles who started as a writer and he does a real sardonic kind of, um, “You’re going to McDonald’s, and there you are. You don’t know what to do, but there it is. Completely uncharacteristic of the voiceover guy. I love these kind of guys! The guy who does Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta, I think, out of Chicago…unbelievable voice guys. Liquid with their voice, you know?

You’re Canadian, and I’m American…but our accents are very similar. What accents have you run into in the places you’ve lived and worked? Different accents?

In the United States you have a lot of regional accents. You have that typical Midwest, Minnesota sound, which is the David Letterman, kind of standard…this flat kind of “no accent.” Then you have a Boston accent, you have a New York accent, you have a Texas accent, a lot of those accents in the South. Even in the West… California. We don’t have so much of it in Canada. We have an East Coast accent…Quebec, of course, French Canadian. Central Canada, and a bit in the West, but it’s not as…as sort of obvious as the United States. And in England you can go across the street and hear a different language!

So how do I identify Canadian? I mean, if I meet a Canadian in Brazil how do I know if he or she is Canadian?

How are you doing, eh? Do you want to get a beer, eh? Let’s go down and get a beer. I tell you that hockey game with Gretzky, that was incredible, eh? I saw that guy and I thought this guy’s great, eh! Hey, give me another beer, eh! I tell you it was unbelievable. That’s Canadian.

So I’ll know they’re Canadian if they say “eh” and ask for a lot of beer?

Yeah, that’s right! I’m giving you the wrong impression, aren’t i?  I’ll tell you that, the Canadian, yeah we like our beer, eh. And we like our hockey.

Besides working as a voiceover artist, you’re also an English teacher and a public speaking coach. Now, what is the best advice you can give Brazilian English Students who want to improve their speaking skills?

I see so many people, they’re like neurotically trying to figure out in their head. They’re studying all the grammar books and they’re getting all the grammar figured out, as if that they can get all the grammar perfectly organised in their brain. There it is, there’s present perfect, there’s present perfect continuous, I got the past perfect, I got it all there, okay, now it’s there, all there, ready to use, now I just got to find the opportunity to use it. But you’ll never use a language on the at basis. Never. Like when you’re a kid, when you learn to speak a language you start to speak, you make mistakes, people laugh, you know, you say stupid words, you get the word wrong. It makes no difference ‘cause you’re making an effort to make a connection to communicate. If people could understand that, could do that, they would develop in the language so much faster. Grammar is secondary. The desire to communicate is what you need to have. If you have that, you’re well on the way to developing in English. and I’ve seen people who are not very good in English who communicate extremely well to people in English. and people look at them and go, “Wow! That’ guy’s speaking so well!” and I say, “He’s making ll sorts of mistakes, much more than you!” he goes, “No, you’re ki (dding)!” “Yes! But he’s not afraid to speak. He has the desire to communicate, and you don’t.

And that’s what’s stopping you.” So all of my training, all of my coaching, all of my teaching is based on that principle. The reasons we don’t communicate are internal reasons, not external. It has nothing to do with a language, very little to do with the teacher, actually…and I’m a teacher, and I’m saying that…very little to do with the grammar books that you study, or the material that you’re studying in the class…much more to do with your desire to communicate. And obviously a good teacher can help your enormously, but these are secondary concerns. You desire is what will…will get you there.

“In my guest to prove that the Diet Coke break is the perfect work break, I’ve been testing various work-related stimuli. Today, sounds. O look for sounds that are refreshing, rejuvenating, and just plain happy. For instance, it was determined that the moo…(moo). Thank you. The moo is the Switzerland of sounds. However, the phone ringing (ring) is hardly rejuvenating. This in sharp contrast to the speaking of an ice-cold Diet Coke. (pop) Very happy work break. Then there was yodeling (yodel). All right, that’s enough. But little tiny bubbles of Diet Coke fizz bouncing about? (fizz) Most refreshing then we listened to a jack hammer (hammering). Uh, no. and finally, the first crisp sip of a Diet Coke. (sigh) Positively off the charts. Well, it looks like the ears have it. You should take a rejuvenating Diet Coke break, especially if you’re a yodeling, jack-hammer wielding cow, close to a phone. (moo) Somebody get her out of here! A Diet Coke break is calling. Hear that?”