Verify the timetable below and choose the CORRECT option.
( ) The ticket is for a round-trip.
( ) The ticket allows the passenger to arrive at all platforms in London.
( ) The ticket is first class.
( ) The ticket has a specific validity date.
Read the text and choose the CORRECT alternative.
Training Midwives to Save Expectant Mothers in Chiapas
Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico, is a mix of wonder and sadness. It is home to rain forests, Ma-yan ruins, waterfalls, rugged highlands — and some of the country’s highest death rates among women in childbirth. Pregnancy and birth are not illnesses, and yet they are a significant cause of death in young wom-en in developing countries. Globally, complications of pregnancy or delivery killed 289,000 women in 2013, almost entirely in poor countries. The toll was far worse in 1990, when more than 500,000 women died. But the improvement in recent years falls short of goals set by the United Nations, which called for a worldwide decrease of 75 percent in maternal mortality by 2015. The death rate remains “unacceptably high,” according to the World Health Organization. The figures are inexcusable, experts say. With proper, basic health care, nearly all deaths during pregnancy and childbirth can be prevented. The story in Chiapas is much like that in other impoverished regions around the world. Wherever maternal deaths are high, the main reason is the same: not enough doctors, nurses and medically trained and equipped midwives to help deliver babies.
Available in: <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/health/midwife-mexico-chiapas.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&_r=0>. Access in: August, 2015.
The highlighted words in the text mean, respectively:
Read the text and answer the question.
Coca-Cola history began in 1886 when the curiosity of an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton, led him to create a distinctive tasting soft drink that could be sold at soda fountains. He created a flavored syrup, took it to his neighborhood pharmacy, where it was mixed with carbonated water and deemed “excellent” by those who sampled it. Dr. Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, is credited with naming the beverage “Coca-Cola” as well as designing the trademarked, distinct script, still used today. Prior to his death in 1888, just two years after creating what was to become the world’s #1-selling sparkling beverage, Dr. Pemberton sold portions of his business to various parties, with the majority of the interest sold to Atlanta businessman, Asa G. Candler. Under Mr. Candler’s leadership, distribution of Coca-Cola expanded to soda fountains beyond Atlanta. In 1894, impressed by the growing demand for Coca-Cola and the desire to make the beverage portable, Joseph Biedenharn installed bottling machinery in the rear of his Mississippi so-da fountain, becoming the first to put Coca-Cola in bottles. Large scale bottling was made possible just five years later, when in 1899, three enterprising businessmen in Chattanooga, Tennessee secured exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola. The three entrepreneurs purchased the bottling rights from Asa Candler for just $1. Benjamin Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John Lupton developed what became the Coca-Cola worldwide bottling system.
Available in: <http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/coca-cola-facts/coca-cola-history/>. Access in: agosto de 2014.
Select the alternative that is TRUE according to the text.
Read the text and choose the CORRECT alternative.
Brazil Opens Latin America’s Tallest Environmental Tower
Brazil and Germany have opened the tallest environmental observation tower in Latin America, a 325-meter (1,065-foot) structure that will allow scientists to study the effects of climate change on the Amazon jungle. The Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory, or ATTO, was inaugurated on Saturday, August 22, and is the result of a scientific partnership between the governments of Brazil and Germany. The U$7.4 mil-lion tower stands in the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve, located about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon region. The ATTO, which is taller than the Eiffel Tow-er, will help scientists monitor the effects of climate change on the area’s forests, considered one of the most sensitive ecosystems on Earth and an important element in climate stabilization. The long-term goal is to use the ATTO to measure changes in the Amazon due to global climate change via monitoring of the interactions of plants with the atmosphere. The tower will allow scientists to study the role of the Amazon ecosystem amid changing global climate patterns, the Brazilian government said.
Available in: <http://curitibainenglish.com.br/current-affairs/environment/brazil-opens-latin-americas-tallest-environmental-tower/>. Access in August, 2015.
According to the text, we can state that:
I. The Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory is the highest tower in Latin America.
II. Manaus is the smallest city in the Amazon region.
III. Amazon forest is the most sensitive ecosystem in the world.
IV. Eiffel Tower is shorter than ATTO.
Read the text and complete the blanks with the appropriate set of definite, indefinite or no articles.
Freeway chase ends at newsstand
A 24-year-old Los Angeles man was taken to (1) ___ hospital and then to (2) ___ county jail after leading police on (3) ___ one-hour freeway chase in (4) ___ stolen SUV. The chase ended in downtown Los An-geles in front of the Spring Hotel. Most of (5) ___ chase was uneventful, except for (6) ___ empty bottle of whiskey that (7) ___ driver threw at one police officer.
When the driver got into downtown, things started to happen. He ran over (8) ___ fire hydrant. The water spewed out of (9) ___ hydrant, causing (10) ___ geyser that ruined all (11) ___ books in several carts that (12) ___ vendor had put outside to attract customers into his bookstore. The driver hurriedly turned west on Grand Avenue and managed to bang into three parked cars on one side of that street and two cars on the other side. The driver also tried to run over a police officer, who was standing in the crosswalk ordering him to halt.
Turning north, the driver caused (13) ___ bus to slam on its brakes to avoid a collision. The bus was empty, and the bus driver was uninjured. However, two police cars that were pursuing the SUV from dif-ferent directions were not so lucky. One of them ran into (14) ___ front of the bus, and the other into the back. Because the drivers had braked early enough, the damage to their cars was minor. Both officers resumed the chase.
They only went two blocks north to find that the SUV had come to (15) ___ full stop because it had plowed into a newspaper stand. The driver, who was not wearing (16) ___ seatbelt, was slumped behind (17) ___ steering wheel. The proprietor of (18) ___ newsstand was yelling at the driver and shaking a magazine at him. The police called for (19) ___ ambulance. They charged the driver with failure to yield to a police officer and driving under (20) ___ influence.
Available in: <http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/stories/story006.htm>. Access in: maio 2015.
Choose the CORRECT answer.
Read the text and choose the CORRECT alternative.
Big Ben’s Culture
Big Ben is a focus of New Year celebrations in the UK, with radio and TV stations tuning to its chimes to welcome the 'official' start of the year. Similarly, on Remembrance Day, the chimes of Big Ben are broad-cast to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and the start of two minutes silence.
For many years ITN's "News at Ten" began with an opening sequence which featured Big Ben with the chimes punctuating the announcement of the news headlines. This has since been dropped, but all ITV1 and ITV News Channel bulletins still use a graphic based on the Westminster clock face. Big Ben can al-so be heard striking the hour before some news bulletins on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, a practice that began on December 31, 1923.
The clock features in John Buchan's spy novel The Thirty-Nine Steps and makes for a memorable climax in Don Sharp's 1978 film version, although not in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 original adaptation. A similar scene is recreated in the 2003 film, Shanghai Knights which culminates with Jackie Chan hanging from the hands of the clock. The clock also appears in the animated cartoon Basil, the Great Mouse Detective.
An earlier film climax on the clock face of Big Ben appears in Will Hay's 1943 film My Learned Friend, alt-hough the scene is more slapstick than thriller.
Available in: <http://saberingles.com.ar/reading/big-ben.html>. Access in: julho de 2015.
( ) People can watch and listen to Big Ben’s chimes for New Year celebrations on radio and TV stations in the UK.
( ) All news channels start with an opening sequence from Big Ben’s chimes.
( ) Big Ben is featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Thirty-nine Steps.
( ) You can see Big Ben in the Great Mouse Detective.
( ) A thriller scene from My Learned Friend shows the face of Big Ben.
The CORRECT alternative is: