ENGLISH WORK – TEXTOS PARA O 1º “COL”

4º BIMESTRE – 2013

NAPPLES PIZZA PROTECTED BY EU

            Pizza makers in Naples are celebrating after gaining official European Union recognition. It’s the end of a battle that began 25 years ago and is aimed at protecting Neapolitan pizzas from imitations.

            For 25 years pizza makers in Naples have been trying to get their product protected, and now it is, being granted a TSG, or Traditional Speciality Guaranteed label by EU. The head of the pizza makers’ association said the trademark was a great honour. The EU’s agriculture commissioner said Neapolitan pizza was now part of Europe’s food heritage.

            It means that all pizzerias aspiring to supply the real thing are, in future, supposed to be vetted by a special commission that will check standards. They include using only San Marzano tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese.

The Italian farmers’ association says that half of Italy’s 25.000 pizzerias currently use wrong ingredients, like East European cheese or Ukrainian flour.

            Italy now tops the EU chart for products that are protected. It has 180, more than Spain or France. Protected status enables producers to not only boast about their exclusivity but also charge a premium. And now pizza makers from Naples will get their slice of the action. 

                                                          

                                                                       (Duncan kennedy – BBC News, Italy)

GOOGLE TESTING SELF-DRIVING CAR

            Google is testing a car it believes is the future of motoring. The Internet giant has been testing the car that drives itself for several months. It has driven along thousands of miles of public roads in California. The car is guided by sensors, lasers and video cameras. A Google spokesperson explained to concerned motorists that the car has never been driven “unmanned,” and had test drivers, just in case things went wrong. The tech company says its vehicles are still “very much at the experimental stage”. Google’s interest in artificial intelligence is a sign that it wants to branch out beyond the web. It is an extension of its Street View project, in which millions of streets have been photographed and put online.

            Google’s blog said the company’s entry into the world of automotive technology is part of its plans to make the world a better place. “Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin] founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology,” it wrote. The blog continued: “One of the big problems we’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use.” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last month that it was unfortunate that cars were invented before computers: “Your car should drive itself; it’s amazing to me that we let humans drive cars,” he told reporters.

                                                                                  (breakingnewsenglish)

CANINE SUICIDE PUZZLE

             Can dogs commit suicide? That is the puzzling question being asked by dog lovers and animal behaviourists today in a small town in Scotland. At least five dogs are known to have leaped 13 metres to their deaths from a bridge in the town of Dumbarton. The bridge is now known as Rover’s Leap and is next to a  supposedly  haunted mansion  built in  1863, which was used as the location for a BBC TV series called Tales from the Madhouse. The latest suicidal canine completely distressed its owner by suddenly making a beeline for the bridge and jumping to its death. Animal psychologists are baffled at this abnormal behaviour and are keen to understand what is triggering it. Dogs are not like lemmings, which jump to their deaths in thousands, but are fully able to understand heights, just as humans are. Dogs would also have no reason to take their own lives  –  something unheard  of in the canine world, especially happy pet dogs from good families. All dog owners in the area have been advised to keep their dogs on a leash when they approach the bridge in future, until this mystery has been cleared up.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               (braklinglishnewsenglish)

SUNBED: CANCER RISK FOR TEENS

            A World Health Organization (WHO) press release* has warned against the use of sunbeds, highlighting the risks they pose of developing deadly skin cancers. They particularly recommend teenagers avoid sunbed use, “It is known that young people who get burnt from exposure to ultraviolet will have a greater risk of developing melanoma [the most dangerous form of skin cancer] later in life.” Research proves there is a direct link between the use of sunbeds and cancer. The press release warns that “some sunbeds have the capacity to emit levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation many times stronger than the mid-day summer sun”. Despite this little-known fact, sunbeds remain very popular with young people, especially women. Teenagers have become obsessed with getting or maintaining a sun tan, which has become a very powerful fashion statement.

            The WHO offers some scary statistics for sun and sunbed worshippers. It estimates there to be “132,000 cases of malignant melanoma … annually, and an estimated 66,000 deaths from malignant melanoma and other skin cancers.” It says fairest-skinned people, where the sun tanning culture is strongest, are most at risk: Australians, New Zealanders, North Americans and northern Europeans. Other very real dangers include eye damage; premature skin ageing (wrinkles); and a reduction in the effectiveness of the immune system, which can lead to a greater risk of infectious diseases.                   

                                                                       (breakinginewsenglish)

THE RIGHT OF RETURN

            Recently, Nebraska introduced a low that allows parents to abandon their unwanted children in designated hospitals - no questions asked. The law was designed to help young women who had got pregnant by mistake to be able to give up their babies without fear of prosecution. However, the law was so vaguely defined that it effectively allows any parent to abandon any child up to the age of 18 at one of the hospitals. Numerous teenagers have already been dumped. For instance, one single father handed over nine of his ten children - aged between 20 months and 17 years old. Now people from out of state are taking advantage of the law. In October 2008 a 14-year-old girl from lowa was dumped in an Omaha hospital by her grandparents. That girl was eventually returned home but a week later a woman from Michigan drove for 12 hours in order to get rid of her 13-year-old son.

                                                                                  (THINKIN ENGLISH)