Questões de Concursos Inglês

Assigning female genders to digital assistants such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa is helping entrench harmful gender biases, according to a UN agency.

Research released by Unesco claims that the often submissive and flirty responses offered by the systemsto many queries – including outright abusive ones – reinforce ideas of women as subservient.

“Because the speech of most voice assistants is female, it sends a signal that women are obliging, docile and eager‐to‐ please helpers, available at the touch of a button or with a blunt voice command like ‘hey’ or ‘OK’”, the report said.

“The assistant holds no power of agency beyond what the commander asks of it. It honours commands and responds to queries regardless of their tone or hostility. In many communities, this reinforces commonly held gender biases that women are subservient and tolerant of poor treatment.”

The Unesco publication was entitled “I’d Blush if I Could”; a reference to the response Apple’s Siri assistant offers to the phrase: “You’re a slut.” Amazon’s Alexa will respond: “Well, thanks for the feedback.”

The papersaid such firms were “staffed by overwhelmingly male engineering teams” and have built AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems that “cause their feminised digital assistants to greet verbal abuse with catch‐me‐if‐you‐can flirtation”.

Saniye Gülser Corat, Unesco’s director for gender equality, said: “The world needs to pay much closer attention to how, when and whether AI technologies are gendered and, crucially, who is gendering them.”

The Guardian, May, 2019. Adaptado.

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How to Stop Eating Sugar

By David Leonhardt

If you’re like most Americans, you eat more sugar than is good for you. But it’s entirely possible to eat less sugar without sacrificing much — if any — of the pleasures of eating. Surprising as it may sound, many people who have cut back on sugar say they find their new eating habits more pleasurable than their old ones. This guide will walk you through why sugar matters, how you can make smart food choices to reduce sugar consumption, and how you can keep your life sweet, even without so many sweets.

Here's why you eat more sugar than you realize, and why it's a problem. The first thing to know: Added sugars, of one kind or another, are almost everywhere in the modern diet. They’re in sandwich bread, chicken stock, pickles, salad dressing, crackers, yogurt and cereal, as well as in the obvious foods and drinks, like soda and desserts.

The biggest problem with added sweeteners is that they make it easy to overeat. They’re tasty and highly caloric but they often don’t make you feel full. Instead, they can trick you into wanting even more food. Because we’re surrounded by added sweeteners — in our kitchens, in restaurants, at schools and offices — most of us will eat too much of them unless we consciously set out to do otherwise.

It’s not an accident. The sugar industry has conducted an aggressive, decades-long campaign to blame the obesity epidemic on fats, not sugars. Fats, after all, seem as if they should cause obesity. Thanks partly to that campaign, sugar consumption soared in the United States even as people were trying to lose weight. But research increasingly indicates that an overabundance of simple carbohydrates, and sugar in particular, is the No. 1 problem in modern diets. Sugar is the driving force behind the diabetes and obesity epidemics. Fortunately, more people are realizing the harms of sugar and cutting back.

[...]

Changing your diet is hard. If your strategy involves thinking about sugar all the time — whenever you’re shopping or eating — you’ll likely fail. You’ll also be miserable in the process. It’s much more effective to come up with a few simple rules and habits that then become second nature. (One strategy to consider: Eliminate all added sugars for one month, and then add back only the ones you miss. It’s easier than it sounds.)

Above all, most people’s goal should be to find a few simple, lasting ways to cut back on sugar. Once you’re done reading this guide, we suggest you choose two or three of our ideas and try them for a few weeks.

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/smarterliving/how-to-stop-eating-sugar (text adapted)

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“Eu, Marília, não sou algum vaqueiro,

Que vive de guardar alheio gado;

De tosco trato, de expressões grosseiro,

Dos frios gelado e dos sóis queimado.

Tenho próprio casal e nele assisto

Dá-me vinho, legume, fruta, azeite;

Das brancas ovelhinhas tiro o leite,

E mais as finas lãs, de que me visto.

Graças, Marília bela,

Graças à minha Estrela!”

(Tomás Antonio Gonzaga)

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Global warming is intensifying El Niño weather

As humans put more and more heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, the Earth warms. And the warming is causing changes that might surprise us. Not only is the warming causing long-term trends in heat, sea level rise, ice loss, etc.; it’s also making our weather more variable. It’s making otherwise natural cycles of weather more powerful.

Perhaps the most important natural fluctuation in the Earth’s climate is the El Niño process. El Niño refers to a short-term period of warm ocean surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, basically stretching from South America towards Australia. When an El Niño happens, that region is warmer than usual. If the counterpart La Niña occurs, the region is colder than usual. Often times, neither an El Niño or La Niña is present and the waters are a normal temperature. This would be called a “neutral” state.

The ocean waters switch back and forth between El Niño and La Niña every few years. Not regularly, like a pendulum, but there is a pattern of oscillation. And regardless of which part of the cycle we are in (El Niño or La Niña), there are consequences for weather around the world. For instance, during an El Niño, we typically see cooler and wetter weather in the southern United States while it is hotter and drier in South America and Australia.

It’s really important to be able to predict El Niño/La Niña cycles in advance. It’s also important to be able to understand how these cycles will change in a warming planet.

El Niño cycles have been known for a long time. Their influence around the world has also been known for almost 100 years. Having observed the effects of El Niño for a century, scientists had the perspective to understand something might be changing.

The relationship between regional climate and the El Niño/La Niña status in climate model simulations of the past and future. It was found an intensification of El Niño/La Niña impacts in a warmer climate, especially for land regions in North America and Australia. Changes between El Niño/La Niña in other areas, like South America, were less clear. The intensification of weather was more prevalent over land regions.

And this conclusion can be extended to many other situations around the planet. Human pollution is making our Earth’s natural weather switch more strongly from one extreme to another. It’s a weather whiplash that will continue to get worse as we add pollution to the atmosphere.

Fortunately, every other country on the planet (with the exception of the US leadership) understands that climate change is an important issue and those countries are taking action. It isn’t too late to change our trajectory toward a better future for all of us. But the time is running out. The Earth is giving us a little nudge by showing us, via today’s intense weather, what tomorrow will be like if we don’t take action quickly.

Disponível em: <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/aug/29/global-warming-is-intensifying-el-nino-weather>. Acesso

em: 19 set. 2018. (Adaptado)

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Science confirms: Dark chocolate and red wine helps keep you looking young

NEWSNER

Chocolate and wine, and not always together, are among life’s simple pleasures, but most of us think we should only indulge in these pleasures in moderation.

Granted chocolate and wine contain a high number of calories and I don’t need to explain what happens to our bodies and minds if we drink too much wine. But now scientists may have found a reason to indulge in these delicious things more often than we think.

A recent study found a powerful antioxidant present in dark chocolate and red wine; the effect of this antioxidant on our bodies could be a reason to celebrate. Scientists say the presence of resveratrol in these food items has a positive effect on the brain, heart, and lifespan. The most naturally abundant sources of resveratrol are plants, including the skin of red grapes, red wine, raw cocoa, and dark berries, like lingonberries and blueberries.

A team led by Professor Lorna Harries at the University of Exeter discovered that by treating worn-out human cells with a formulation of resveratrol the older cells started to divide. These older cells then developed longer telomeres – the protective tips on the ends of chromosomes which shorten as we age, according to Longevity Facts. It seemed a miracle that these old cells looked young again. The experiment was repeated several times and each time the result was rejuvenated cells.

According to scientists red wine, dark chocolate and some berries also help to reduce inflammation and strengthen the heart. This powerful antioxidant was also found to help ward off certain age-related diseases.

Certain metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease, tend to occur as we age. In animal studies, severely restricting calories can help prevent some of these diseases.

Researchers found that resveratrol can mimic calorie restriction in some ways and found it to extend the lifespans of yeast, worms, flies and fish. To help avoid the excessive consumption of red wine, this antioxidant can also be found in dark chocolate, grapes, raspberries, plums, blueberries, cranberries, grape tomatoes, and pomegranate. These findings are fascinating and are a step to prolonging people’s life without affecting overall health.

Please share with all your friends and family so they know dark chocolate can finally be consumed guilt free!

https://en.stories.newsner.com/health/science-confirms-dark-chocolate-and-red-wine-helps-keep-you-looking-young/ Accessed on May, 7th. Slightly modified

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How to Make Friends While Traveling Solo

Even in the best cases, traveling alone can get lonely. Here’s how to connect safely with the people you meet along the way.