sexta-feira, 20 de julho de 2012

Nathaniel R. Brazill

Nathaniel R. Brazill (born September 22, 1986) is an American student who was charged at age 13 with the murder of one of his school teachers, Barry Grunow.
Shooting and conviction
On May 26, 2000, the last day of 1999–2000 school year, Brazill shot and killed Barry Gunrow, a teacher at Lake Worth Middle School in Florida. Lake Worth is a city in Palm Beach County. As of 2010, the population was 34,910. It lies 60 miles (97km) north of downtown Miami. He was convicted of second degree murder and aggravated assault. Brazill was sentenced to 28 years in state prison followed by 7 years of felony probation. He is incarcerated at the Hardee Correctional Institution. His release date is May 18, 2028.
Still, the question remains whether the seventh-grader deserved more or less. The judge may have ordered him to get his GED and take anger-management courses in prison, but can Nate be properly rehabilitated growing up inside? How much should he suffer for one fatal mistake? He had been an honor student. He had been mild mannered and likeable, the kind of kid whom teachers and principals relied upon to help settle schoolyard disputes. He loved school, and he loved Barry Grunow.
On the last day of school in May 2000, Nate was sent home early because he had been throwing water balloons. He was told to leave school, before he had a chance to say goodbyes to teenager Dinora Rosales, his first serious girlfriend who only six days earlier had given him his first kiss. Fuming, he went home, got a gun belonging to his grandfather and returned to the school, where he stood outside Grunow’s classroom and demanded to see his girlfriend. Grunow did not take him seriously enough, so he cocked the gun. Then he fired one bullet, which struck Grunow in the head. As his favorite teacher lay dying, Nate ran.
In an interview with TIME before the jury convicted him in May, Nate said he did not intend to pull the trigger. It just happened.

TEXT COMPREHENSION

01- Choose the correct alternative according to the text:
a)Brazill loved Barry Grunow
b)Brazill got death penalty
c)Brazill has got his GED
d)Dinora Rosales is Brazill’s niece
e)On May 18, 2028 Brazill will be completely free

02- When Nathaniel R. Brazill murdered his school teacher, he was ___________years old.
a) twelve b) thirteen c) fourteen d) fifteen e) sixteen

03-The murder took place in _________________.
a)Miami b)New York c)Lake Worth d)Hardee Correctional Institute
e) Brazil

04- Nathaniel Brazill’s penalty is twenty_____________________years.
a) five b) six c) seven d) eight e) nine

05-Nathaniel Brazill will be completely free in twenty thirty ________.
a) one b) two c) three d) four e) five

quinta-feira, 12 de julho de 2012

Bar, Ukraine

BAR, UKRAINE

Bar is a city located on the Rov River in the Vinnytsia Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Barskyi Raion (district), and is part of the historic region of Podolia. The current estimated population is 17,776 (01.nov.2011).
History
The city was a small trade outpost named Row. In the 16th century, Polish Queen Bona Sforza founded a fortress at the rock over the river and named it Bar, after her home town of Bari in Italy. In 1540, Polish King Sigismund I the Old granted the nearby town with city rights. The fortress was besieged several times in its history and was considered unbreakable. However, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 it was captured by the cossacks under Maxym Kryvonis and severely damaged. The town was depopulated soon afterwords.
In 1672, it was captured by the Ottoman Empire and became a seat of the local administration. On November 12, 1674, the town and the fortress were recaptured by the forces of John III of Poland after four days of siege. But Ottomans recaptured the city in 1675 and retained it until 1686 (nominally until 1699). It was constantly ravaged by Turks and Poles between 1686 and 1699. On February 29, 1768, the Bar Confederation was started in the fortress. After the Second Partition of Poland the town fell under Russian rule and was part of Podillia Governorate. A famous 19th century mathematician, Viktor Bunyakovsky was born in the city in 1804. Jacobo Timerman, a Jewish editor, was also born in Bar in 1923, but his family emigrated to Argentina in 1928, where he fought the Dirty War with his editorials. After 1922 the city was part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and since 1991 in independent Ukraine.
TEXT COMPREHENSION
01-The Dirty War took place in __________________.
a) Italy b) Poland c) Ukraine d)Argentina e) Brazil

02-Check the correct sentence according to the text:
A)The Bar’s current population is 7,000
B)Bona Sforza was a Ukrainian queen
C)Bar lies in Ukraine
D)Sigismund I was a Ukrainian king
E)Jacobo Timerman was a mathematician

03- Complete:
* ____________________is a city.
a) Oblast b) Podolia c) Ukraine d) Poland e) Bari

04- Ukraine has been an independent nation since _________________________.
A) Nineteen ninety b)Nineteen ninety one c)Nineteen ninety two
d)Nineteen ninety three e)Nineteen ninety four

05- Choose the correct alternative according to the text:
A) Victor Bunyakovsky was mayor of Bar
B) Bar belonged to Argentina in 1928
C) Bar belonged to Italy
D) Bar belonged to Russia
E) Bar belonged to Germany

sábado, 7 de julho de 2012

Eva Braun

TEXT
Eva Anna Paula Hitler (née Braun; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was the longtime companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was 17 years old, while she was working as an assistant and model for his personal photographer, and began seeing him often about two years later. She attempted suicide twice during their early relationship. By 1936, she was a part of his household at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden and lived a sheltered life throughout World War II. Braun was a photographer, and many of the surviving colour photographs and films of Hitler were taken by her. She was a key figure within Hitler's inner social circle, but did not attend public events with him until mid-1944, when her sister Gretl married Hermann Fegelein, the SS liaison officer on his staff.
As the Third Reich collapsed towards the end of the war, Braun swore loyalty to Hitler and went to Berlin to be by his side in the heavily reinforced Führerbunker beneath the Reich Chancellery. As Red Army troops fought their way into the neighbourhood on 29 April 1945, she married Hitler during a brief civil ceremony; she was 33 and he was 56. Less than 40 hours later, they committed suicide together in a sitting room of the bunker, she by biting into a capsule of cyanide. The German public was unaware of Braun's relationship with Hitler until after her death.
•
Born in Munich, Eva Braun was the second daughter of school teacher Friedrich "Fritz" Braun and Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger, who had worked as a seamstress before her marriage. Her elder sister, Ilse, was born in 1909 and her younger sister, Margarete (Gretl), was born in 1915. Braun's parents were divorced in April 1921, but remarried in November 1922, likely for financial reasons (hyperinflation was plaguing the German economy at the time). Braun was educated at a Catholic lyceum in Munich, and then for one year at a business school in the Convent of the English Sisters in Simbach am Inn, where she had average grades and a talent for athletics. At age 17 she took a job working for Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer for the Nazi Party. Initially employed as a shop assistant and sales clerk, she soon learned how to use a camera and develop photos. She met Hitler, 23 years her senior, at Hoffmann's studio in Munich in October 1929. He had been introduced to her as "Herr Wolff". Eva's sister, Gretl, also worked for Hoffman from 1932 onward, and the women rented an apartment together for a time. Gretl accompanied her sister on her later trips with Hitler to the Obersalzberg.
TEXT COMPREHENSION
01- Check the correct sentence according to the text:
a) Eva Braun was shy
b) Braun met Hitler in 1929
c) Braun tried suicide twice before meeting Hitler
d) Braun’s political sway was huge
e) Braun was born in Berlin

02- When Hitler died, he was fifty _________________years old.
a) Two
b) Three
c) Four
d) Five
e) six

03- Eva Braun had ________________sisters.
a) Two
b) Three
c) Four
d) Five
e) Six

04- Hitler’s father-in-law was a_________________________.
a) Soldier
b) Photographer
c) Bus driver
d) Lieutenant
e) Teacher

05- The word “sway” means:
a) Force
b) Friendship
c) Influence
d) Luxury
e) history

domingo, 27 de maio de 2012

Kate Middleton

Middleton grew up in Berkshire and after attending Marlborough College, went to the University of St Andrews, where she met Prince William, also studying there, in 2001. They started a relationship, followed by media attention, triggering complaints by Middleton that the media were harassing her. In April 2007, the press reported that William and Middleton had split up. They continued to be friends, and later in 2007 they reunited. Since then, Middleton has attended many high-profile royal events. She has been admired for her fashion sense and has been placed on numerous "best dressed" lists.
Middleton was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, the first of three children of Michael Francis Middleton (born 1949), a flight dispatcher in 1980 and an airline officer in 1982 for British Airways, and Carole Elizabeth Middleton (born 1955, née Goldsmith), a flight attendant. Michael and Carole were married on 21 June 1980 at the Parish Church of Dorney, Buckinghamshire. In 1987 Michael and Carole Middleton founded Party Pieces, a mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations. They have since become millionaires.
Middleton was raised in Bucklebury, Berkshire. She is of English descent, but with a few distant Scottish and French Hugenot ancestors. Her paternal family came from Leeds, West Yorkshire, and her great-grandmother Olivia was a member of the Lupton family, who were active for generations in Leeds in commercial and municipal work. Carole Middleton's maternal family, the Harrisons, were working class labourers and miners from County Durham. Middleton has two siblings, Philippa "Pippa" Charlotte and James William. Pippa Middleton, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, has received press coverage since her sister became famous, with focus on her relationships and lifestyle.
Education
Middleton was educated at St. Andrew's School in the village of Pangbourne in Berkshire in South East England, and Marlborough College, a co-educational independent school in the market town of Marlborough in Wiltshire in South West England, followed by the University of St Andrews in the town of St Andrews in Fife, where she met Prince William and graduated with a 2:1 (Hons) in the History of Art.
TEXT COMPREHENSION

01- Check the CORRECT sentence according to the text:
a) William and Kate met eight years ago.
b) Michael Francis is Kate's brother
c) William and Kate split up in 2006
d) Kate has three siblings
e) Kate is a fashionable Reading citizen

02- James William is Prince William's _____________.
a) uncle
b) nephew
c) half brother
d) brother-in-law
e) brother

03- Kate Middleton met Prince William in___________.
a) Leeds
b) Reading
c) St. Andrews
d) Buckleberry
e) Dorney

04- Choose the CORRECT sentence according to the text
a) Currently Michael Francis is a flight attendant.
b) Michael and Carole got married in Dorney.
c) Kate was born in Buckleberry.
d) Kate is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh.
e) Michael and Carole have always been millionaires.

05- Party Pieces was founded in _________________.
a) nineteen eighty seven
b) nineteen eighty two
c) nineteen eighty one
d) nineteen eighty four
e) nineteen eighty five

Abigail and Brittany

Abigail "Abby" Loraine Hensel and Brittany "Britty" Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990 in Carver County, Minnesota, US) are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning that they are conjoined twins of whom each has a separate head, but whose bodies are joined. They are highly symmetric, giving the appearance of having just a single body with little variation from normal proportion. In fact, several vital organs are doubled up, each woman having a separate heart, stomach, spine and spinal cord.
Each twin controls half their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs. This means that as infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate symmetrically. Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require that each twin perform a sequence of quite separate actions that coordinate with the other. Abigail and Brittany are notable both for their rare physiology and for the many successes that they have achieved in overcoming this physical challenge in their individual and corporate lives.
Background
Abigail and Brittany Hensel were born in Carver County, Minnesota, the daughters of Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike Hensel, a carpenter and landscaper. The twins have a younger brother named Dakota, or Koty for short, a younger sister named Morgan, and a dog named Sadie. They were raised in New Germany and attended Lutheran High School in Mayer, Minnesota.
Physiology
The Hensel twins have a single body with separate heads and necks, a chest that is wider than normal, two arms and two legs. At birth they had a rudimentary arm attached to a shoulder blade at the back. The arm was removed, leaving the shoulder blade.
Abigail's head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees to the right while Brittany's head tilts laterally at about 15 degrees to the left, causing Brittany to appear to be slightly the shorter. At age 12, they underwent surgery at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare to correct
scoliosis and to expand their chest cavity to prevent future difficulties with breathing.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body. The sense of touch of each is restricted to her body half; They are effective in cooperatively using their limbs when both hands or both legs are required.

By coordinating their efforts, they are able to walk, run, swim and ride a bicycle normally — all tasks that they learned at a normal speed. Together, they can type on a computer keyboard at a normal speed and drive a car.
Organ distribution
Abigail and Brittany have individual organs in the upper part of their body while most of the organs located at or below the level of the navel are shared, the exception being the spinal cord.
2 heads
2 spines
2 completely separate spinal cords
2 arms (originally 3, but rudimentary central arm was surgically removed, leaving central shoulder blade in place)
1 broad ribcage with two 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery was employed to expand the pleural cavities
2 breasts
2 hearts (nutrition, respiration, medicine taken by either affects both)
4 lungs
1 diaphragm
2 stomachs
2 gallbladders
1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
Y-shaped small intestine which experiences a slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
1 large intestine with one colon
3 kidneys: 2 left, 1 right
1 bladder
1 set of reproductive organs
2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
1 slightly broad pelvis
2 legs
Separation
Upon their birth, their parents rejected the option to attempt surgical separation after hearing from doctors that it was not likely that both girls would survive the operation. As the girls grew and learned to walk and develop other skills, the parents confirmed their decision against separation, arguing that the quality of life for the surviving twin or twins living separately would be less than their quality of life as conjoined beings.
TEXT COMPREHENSION
1- Choose the correct item according to the text:
a) Koty and Morgan are the twins' siblings
b) Morgan is Patty's sister
c) Dakota is Mike Hensel's brother
d) Abigail and Brittany can't swim
e) The twins were raised in Germany
2- The twins are ______________years old.
a) twenty
b) twenty one
c) twenty two
d) twenty three
e) twenty four
3- Check the correct alternative according to the text:
*The conjoined twins have
a) one stomach
b) three arms
c) three kidneys
d) one heart
e) two large intestines
4- Choose the correct item according to the text:
a) Morgan Hensel is a nurse
b) Dakota Hensel is a carpenter
c) Dakota is older than the twins
d) Mike Hensel is a landscaper
e) The twins were born in Mayer
5- The twins live in ______________.
a) Germany
b) New Germany
c) South Dakota
d) North Dakota
e) St. Paul

terça-feira, 24 de abril de 2012

polysemy three

SUBJECT MATTER: POLYSEMY
A)Instructions: Write the correct word in the space before its definition.

smart sound spruce stern tart tie tip trunk usher vault vessel

1.___________ quick-witted; intelligent.

2.___________ an arched construction of stone, concrete, brick, or the like that forms a roof or ceiling, as in some churches.

3.___________ any of various evergreen trees that have short, densely growing, needlelike leaves and bear hanging cones.

4.____________ the sensation that results when the organs of hearing are stimulated by certain vibrations.

5.____________ a hollow device used as receptacle, esp. for liquids; container.

6.____________ the rear or back part of anything, esp. a nautical vessel. (Cf. bow3, stem3.)

7.____________ the extreme end, esp. of something slender, tapered, or pointed.

8.____________ to fasten, secure, or bind with a cord or string.

9.____________ the main stem of a tree.

10.___________ one who escorts people to their seats in a church, theater, stadium, or the like.

11.___________ sour or acid in taste; sharp; biting.


B)Instructions: Write the correct word in the space before its definition.

smart sound spruce stern tart tie tip trunk usher vault vessel

1.__________ to cause or feel sharp but not serious pain.

2.__________ a strongly built room or compartment in which valuable things are stored, as in a bank.

3.__________ firm and uncompromising.

4.__________ neat, stylish, or smartly dressed or groomed.

5.__________ a structure designed for traveling on water; large boat; ship.

6.__________ one of the groom's attendants in a wedding.

7.__________ (informal) a prostitute.

8.__________ in surgery, a long, slender device used to examine bodily cavities.

9.__________ the prehensile nasal appendage of the elephant; proboscis.

10.__________ a competition in which the final score is the same for each side.

11.__________ a small gift, usu. money, given in appreciation for a service rendered.

domingo, 22 de abril de 2012

polysemy two

a)Instructions: Write the correct word in the space before its definition.

apron ash bandy bang bar bark draw plug Pole screwdriver steer

1. __________ an object made of cork, rubber, wood, or the like used to block an opening.

2.___________ the harsh sound made by a dog.

3.___________ a tool for turning a screw, consisting of a shank that fits the head of the screw and a handle or mechanism for turning the shank.

4._____________ to control the course of a vehicle or the like.

5. ___________ the soft residue that remains after combustion.

6.____________ a sudden, loud, explosive sound.

7.____________ anything that acts as a restraint or hindrance.

8.____________ to exchange or pass back and forth between two or more people, often competitively.

9.____________ a game or contest that ends in a tie.

10.____________ a garment covering all or part of the
front of the body, usu. worn to protect the wearer's clothing.

11.____________ a native or citizen of Poland, or a descendant thereof


b)Instructions: Write the correct word in the space before its definition.

apron ash bandy bang bar bark draw plug pole screwdriver steer

1._________ one of two contrasting positions or attitudes.

2._________ the outside covering of the trunks, branches, and roots of woody plants.

3._________ to portray something with a pen or pencil; sketch.

4._________ the legal profession; lawyers collectively.

5._________ a castrated male ox or other bovine animal, usu. raised for its meat.

6._________ a small, compact piece of tobacco.

7._________ any of a group of trees that are related to the olive and have winged seeds and compound leaves.

8.__________ (vulgar) to have sexual intercourse with.

9.__________ of legs, curved outward; bowed.

10._________ a drink made of vodka and orange juice.

11._________ the paved strip at or bordering an airport, on which planes are parked, loaded, and maneuvered.