Photo 1: Dublin, Ireland.

Intermediate 2A

The Death and Life of the Central Business District

by Bloomberg City Lab's Richard Florida.

Offices are not going back to the way they were pre-pandemic, and neither are the downtown neighborhoods that house them.

Just last spring, experts proclaimed an urban exodus and the imminent death of cities. Now, just slightly (um pouco) more than a year later, our cities are coming back to life. Sidewalks are starting to bustle (movimentar); restaurants have moved clients onto the streets and are full; museums and galleries are reopening, and fans are heading back to baseball parks, basketball arenas and even outdoor concert venues (places).

100: Will your city come back to life?

150: Will all offices reopen in the central business districts?

But one area of urban life where the pandemic is poised (positioned) to have a far bigger impact is on the places where we do business. The ongoing (continuous) move to remote work (home office) challenges the historic role of the Central Business Districts — neighborhoods like New York’s Midtown and Wall Street, Chicago’s Loop, or San Francisco’s Financial District — .

200: Do you think that the central business districts will change or remain the same?

250: How would you like to see the central business district in your city transformed?

The biggest and most enduring (dura-doura) change in our economic geography ushered in (introduced/ brought in) by the pandemic turns out to be far less in where and how we live, and much more about how and where we work.

300: Do you agree that the biggest change will be how and where we work in the near future? Why, or why not?

The pandemic effect on work.

% Returned to work in the office in the U.S.A.

Dallas 41%

Houston 41%

Philadelphia 26%

Los Angeles 24%

Washington 23%

Chicago 22%

New York 16%

San Fransisco 15%

350: Do you worry more about returning to the office because of using the elevator with many people, or using public transport?

400: Do you think that many restaurants, cafés, shops etc will be closed when or if you return to the central business district (CBD)? Do you think new businesses, restaurants, bars will come in and open up?

450: Do you think that many low-wage service workers will lose their jobs in the CBD's of your city because office workers will continue to work remotely (home office)?

500: Does your company intend to halve (cortar pela metade) office space, or does it expect most people to return to work?

Even those who work remotely are not simply sitting and working in their houses and apartments. According to a recent survey, 22% of people who plan to telework say they’ll do so outside the home, and most of those people plan to spend time at co-working spaces, cafes, restaurants or outdoor public spaces, all of which are readily available in Central Business Districts.

550: Will you continue to work every day at home, or will you look for a café, restaurant or co-working space to work from sometimes?

The office of the future will likely not be a single building in a single location. It is evolving into a “network of spaces and services tied together (connected) with technology”.

600: Will office meetings become even more difficult with people in many different locations?

650: How do you think the office of the future should look?

GRAMMAR

If I had a million euros..... = Se eu tivesse um milhão de euros.......

Translate and complete:

701: Se eu tivesse 5,000,000 de euros, eu ...................

702: Se eu morasse na China, eu ....................

703: Se eu fosse o presidente do Brasil, eu ....................

704: Se eu fosse o presidente da empresa onde eu trabalho, eu ....................

705: Se eu comesse mais chocolate e bolo, eu ....................

706: Se eu bebesse 5 cervejas, eu ....................

707: Se eu tivesse mais tempo, eu ....................

708: Se eu pudesse estudar durante a semana, eu ....................

709: Se eu falasse inglês fluentemente, eu ....................

710: Se eu tivesse uma casa na praia, eu ....................

Word Confusion.

Was & Has.

a: Prince Harry has a new charity.

b: Charles was happy after breakfast was served.

c: Ivone was unhappy before she had the delicious lunch.

d: Charles has a house in Lund, Sweden.

e: Mirella was on holiday in Belgium.

f: Cicera was disappointed with the food in Paris.

g: Ivone has a new patient to look after.

h: Daniel has his own business. He is self-employed.

i: Daniel was anxious about the near future.

j: Lidia has plans for the long term.

k: Dorothy was planning for the medium term.

l: Catherine has plans only for the short term.

Interview Technique:

711: What do you do?

712: Tell me about yourself.

713: What are your responsibilities?

714: What is your greatest challenge at work?

715: How is your relationship with your boss?

716: How is your relationship with your team?

Photo 2: Prince Harry.

The Duke of Sussex has appeared to criticise the way he was raised (criado) by Prince Charles, discussing the “genetic pain and suffering” in the royal family and stressing that he wanted to “break the cycle” for his children.

It was a 90-minute interview with Prince Harry, who is expecting a daughter with Meghan and is already a father to Archie, two years old.

Harry was promoting his new Apple TV+ series about mental health, "The Me You Can’t See".

800: Prince Harry suffers from mental health problems. Do you believe that it is the stress and pressure of working in the Royal Family that caused it? Or do you think that his father is very cold and unemotional?

Discussing his childhood, Harry said: “There is no blame (culpa). I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming (culpando) anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.

850: Do parents pass on their experiences to their kids, continuing the same culture? Or do parents try to change the culture that they grew up with?

“It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on, so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say: ‘You know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you."

900: Did you change (or will you change...?) the way you bring up (criar) your children compared to the way your mother and father did?

He said that in his 20s, he realised he did not want the royal “job”, having seen what it did to his mother, Princess Diana.

He said he had been forced to “grin and bear it”, (sorrir e aguentar) but added: “I’ve seen behind the curtain, I’ve seen the business model, I know how this operation runs and how it works. I don’t want to be part of this."

950: Do you think he doesn't like living in the Royal Family because it affected his mother very much?

“It’s a mix of being in The Truman Show and being in the zoo.”

The Truman Show is a 1998 satirical film starring Jim Carrey, where the character becomes aware that he is secretly the star of an international reality TV show.

1,000: Do you think it must be terrible to have cameras and reporters following you everywhere you go, every day? Or does the money and super-rich lifestyle compensate?

Harry also told how he started therapy after a conversation with his wife, Meghan, who “saw it straight away (immediately)”.

1,050: Does it surprise you that he has started therapy sessions?

1,100: Would you like to start therapy sessions for something?

“She could tell that I was hurting and that some of the stuff that was out of my control would make me really angry, it would make my blood boil. (sangue ferver)”

He said therapy had helped him “pull his head out of the sand” and made him realise he needed to use his privileged position to help others.

1,150: Do you think that Prince Harry's experience with stress and anxiety can help others?

Of Prince Charles, his father, he said: “Suddenly I started to piece it together (juntar tudo) and go ‘OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?’

1,200: Do a mother's or father's experiences influence their children's lives?

“And, well, here I am. I moved my whole family to the US. That wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got to make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.”

1,250: Do you prioritize your mental health or your job?

He added that Meghan, now knowing the life of a royal, would say: “I don’t need to be a princess. I can create the life that will be better than any princess.”

Harry also revealed that he met up with his future wife in a London supermarket in the early days of their relationship and the couple pretended (fingiu) not to know each other.

The duke said: “It was nice with a baseball cap on, looking down at the floor, walking along the street and trying to stay incognito.”

He described the freedom he felt living in Los Angeles: “I can actually lift my head and I feel different, my shoulders have relaxed, so have hers, we can walk around feeling a little bit freer (mais livre), I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle, I would never have had the chance to do that.”

1,300: What surprised you the most about this interview with Prince Harry?

PRONUNCIATION.

The or the?

the book

the apple

the table

the department

the orange

the ice cream

the sea

the ocean

the laptop

the smartphone

the unemployment rate

the excellent restaurant

the best restaurant

GRAMMAR.

A or an?

A apple or an apple?

A SOS message or an SOS message?

orange

x-ray

one-way street

ice cream

university

useful product

useless product

horse

hour

Difficult words to pronounce:

Tough (tuf)

Rough (ruf)

Enough (inuf)

Cough (cof)

Through (thru)

Though (thou)

Although (olthou)

Thought (thort)

Brought (brort)

Bought (bort)

Sought (sort)

Drought (draut)

Grammar.

don't / doesn't

a: She don't / doesn't like chocolate cake.

b: Lidia don't / doesn't have a horse.

c: Juliana don't / doesn't have an easy job.

d: I doesn't / don't drink lemon tea.

e: Paul and John doesn't / don't live in Manchester.

f: Marcos don't / doesn't work in Porto.

g: Marcio and Eduardo don't / doesn't enjoy working overtime.

h: Mirella and Luana doesn't / don't work together.

i: Daniel and Luana doesn't / don't live in Canada yet.

j: Fabio and Ricardo doesn't / don't like working on a Friday morning.

Photo 3: Ireland.

GRAMMAR.

I was going to…… = Eu ia…………

e.g. I was going to tell you = Eu ia te contar.

Translate and complete the following:

1,701: Eu ia dizer =

1,702: Eu ia comprar um novo sofa mas ....

1,703: Eu ia te comprar flores mas .....

1,704: Eu ia cozinhar .......... mas .....

1,705: Eu ia fazer um MBA mas .....

1,706: Eu ia te contar mas .....

1,707: Eu ia procurar um novo emprego mas .....

1,708: Eu ia ser promovido mas .....

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Photo 4: Dublin, Ireland.

GRAMMAR.

Present perfect = today, this week, this month, this year, recently.

Simple past tense = yesterday, last week, last month, last year, 5 years ago, etc etc

Which is correct?

100,000: I ate / have eaten spaghetti yesterday.

110,000: I ate / have eaten spaghetti today.

120,000: I went / have been to the bank today.

130,000: I went / have been to the bank yesterday.

140,000: She drank / has drunk a beer yesterday.

150,000: She drank / has drunk a beer today.

160,000: He went / has been to Manchester last year.

170,000: He has been to / went to Manchester this year.

180,000: He went to / has been to Manchester last month.

190,000: He went to / has been to Manchester this month.

200,000: I have spoken to / I spoke to my mother today.

225,000: I have spoken to / I spoke to my mother last week.

245,000: She bought / has bought a new car in September.

265,000: She bought / has bought a new car today.

295,000: He finished / has finished the project recently.

300,000: He finished / has finished the project last Friday.

325,000: I have called / I called a lot of clients today.

350,000: I have called / I called a lot of friends recently.

375,000: I have called / I called a lot of clients last week.

400,000: He drove / has driven all the way from SP to Bahia.

425,000: He drove / has driven all the way from SP to Bahia last summer.

450,000: I sent you / have sent you the file 2 hours ago.

475,000: I sent you / have sent you the file today.

Photo 5: Dingle, Ireland.

Brazil Covid: Deaths plunge after town's adults vaccinated

A Brazilian town called Serrano has seen a 95% drop (redução/ queda) in Covid-19 deaths after almost all adults were vaccinated as part of an experiment, researchers say.

Serrana, with 45,000 inhabitants, saw the number of cases plunge (fall fast) after a mass vaccination with the Chinese-developed CoronaVac.

The team said those who had not been vaccinated were also protected by the reduction in the virus's circulation.

The findings (levantamentos) suggest the pandemic can be controlled after 75% of people are fully dosed.

The experiment in Serrana, in the south-eastern state of São Paulo, was carried out between February and April by Instituto Butantan, which produces the CoronaVac vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech.

The city was divided into four areas to help determine the threshold (patamar) for containing the virus. The team said this was achieved after three areas, or about 75% of the population over the age of 18, had been given both doses.

When 95% of adults were fully vaccinated, they said the results showed that:

Deaths fell by 95%

Hospitalisations fell by 86%

Symptomatic cases fell by 80%

Ricardo Palacios, research director at Butantan, said the key figure was the 75%.

"The most important result is that we can control the pandemic without having to vaccinate the whole population," he said.

Mr Palacios also said there was a decline in the number of cases among children and teenagers, who had not been vaccinated. This could indicate that there was no need to vaccinate children for schools to reopen, he said.

Researchers say they controlled the spread of the virus after vaccinating 75% of the adult population.

According to Mr Palacios, the vaccine was also effective against the variant originally known as P.1, and now called Gamma, that was first identified in the northern city of Manaus and has been blamed for a surge (surto) in cases across the country.

Serrana, some 315km (195 miles) from São Paulo, is surrounded by cities that have a large increase in infections. A lockdown is in place in Ribeirão Preto, located 24km away with a population of 710,000.

The results of the experiment could give a boost to CoronaVac, which is being used by dozens of developing countries. There was some controversy about the vaccine this year, after clinical trials in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey put its efficacy in a range of 50% to 90%.

The CoronaVac is an inactivated vaccine, and it works by using killed viral particles to expose the body's immune system to the virus without risking a serious disease response.

The experiment in Serrana was the first of its kind in the world, its authors said. There were no reports of severe side effects from the vaccine and no Covid-related deaths among those who had been vaccinated 14 days after the second shot was applied, the results showed.

A similar study is being carried out in another Brazilian city, Botucatu, which has a population of 148,000. Researchers are using the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, produced locally by the Fiocruz institute.

Photo 6: Dublin, Ireland.

Covid-19 is fuelling a Zoom-boom in cosmetic surgery.

from The Economist, May 2021.

Depressed by your appearance on video calls? Men and women alike are splashing out on face-lifts, lip-plumping and more.

2,250: Do you worry about the way you look on video calls?

Poor lighting and the bad angles of laptop cameras are rarely flattering. Nor is “lockdown face”, brought on by stress, or a dearth (lack) of sunlight and exercise. For Kim, a 57-year-old actress in New York City, Zoom seemed to add ten pounds and a “crepe” look to her skin.

After seeing “way too much” of that, she got a facelift last summer. She is delighted with the result. Similarly, Michèle Le Tournelle, a 62-year-old retiree near Nantes in France, said the “horrible” confinement turned into “a revelation”: it spurred (motivated) her to undergo (se submitir) a slimming procedure and a facelift with which she has been “very, very, very” pleased.

2,300: Would you spend a lot of money on cosmetic surgery to improve your appearance?

Many cosmetic surgeons had expected the pandemic to hammer business. Instead, the industry is enjoying a Zoom-boom. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reckons that the pandemic has led to a 10% increase in cosmetic surgery countrywide. In France, despite limits on elective procedures during the pandemic, cosmetic surgeries are up by nearly 20%, estimates the French Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

2,350: Do you think that men and women are doing this in Brazil, too?

For Ashton Collins, the boss of Save Face, a firm in Cardiff that refers people seeking minimally invasive cosmetic treatments to the 852 practitioners it has accredited across Britain, business is “through the roof”. In Italy, Pier Andrea Cicogna of Studio Cicogna, a plastic surgery clinic in Treviso, says his revenue has risen by nearly a third despite more than three months of closure.

Apart from face-envy, other forces are at play (estão em jogo). In the age of teleworking, patients can recover inconspicuously at home as bruises (hematomas) and swelling (inflammation) fade (disappear). It helps that professionals, the biggest clients for pricey (expensive) cosmetic surgery, are more likely (probable) to work from home than many others.

Covid-19 has highlighted (destacado) our helplessness (desamparo), concurs Richie Chan, (the head of cosmetic surgery at an OT&P Healthcare clinic in Hong Kong), and as a result, people have become keener to exert control over their bodies through elective surgery.

Pierfrancesco Cirillo, head of the Italian Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Rome, says, "this has all coincided with a record rise in cosmetic surgery of about 12% in Italy."

2,400: Cosmetic surgery is increasing in France, Italy, Hong Kong, Great Britain, the U.S.A etc because of the pandemic. Does this surprise you?

Before the pandemic, 10% of Studio Cicogna’s surgery patients were men. Now it’s 20%.

2,450: Do these numbers regarding men surprise you?

Most operations are for eyelids, noses and “love handles” liposuction. For minimally invasive skin rejuvenation, the proportion of male clients has risen from roughly 12% to nearly half. In Britain, men now account for about 40% of skin rejuvenations, says Save Face.

2,500: Are British men becoming vainer (mais vaidoso), or are all men becoming vainer?

A 47-year-old single mum in Milan said: “I felt uglier.” Being stuck at home without occasion to dress up didn’t help. “I really needed to do something to feel better,” she says. Eyelid (pálpebra) surgery wiped “ten years off my face”, she reports; the operation was “psychologically therapeutic”.

Such satisfaction is common, but it is not universal. Some psychologists fear that the boom in beauty treatments is encouraging an obsessive-compulsive disorder sometimes called dysmorphia.

2,550: Is plastic surgery a question of vanity, necessity, or sometimes a psychological problem?

Photo 7: Dublin, Ireland.

Photo 8:

The post-pandemic office etiquette

How manners will change when working life returns

As the vaccination programme in most countries accelerates, people will be thinking about going back to the office, if only for a couple of days a week. Many workers will have got out of the habits of the 9-to-5 day and the prevailing customs. The pandemic will also have changed attitudes towards behaviour that were seen as quite normal before the appearance of covid-19. Here are some suggested dos and don’ts for the new world order.

2,700: Are there some things that colleagues should not do when you go back to work?

Don’t tell others about your exotic holidays. Most people have had little to do but stare out of the window since the lockdown started. They don’t want to hear about your trip to the Maldives, even if you did sit through two weeks of quarantine afterwards. People only put up with (aguentar) the rules because they were told they were all in the same boat; they don’t want to know that you have a yacht.

2,750: Do you like to know that a colleague is on holiday while you are working? Or is it not a problem for you?

In the same way, don’t humblebrag. A lot of people will have struggled during the lockdown so don’t boast about how you taught your kids ancient Greek and differential calculus while also hosting a dozen Zoom calls a day. Nor is this a competition.

2,800: Do you mind people bragging (se gabando) about how efficient or brilliant they have been during the pandemic?

Don’t come to the office with a cold (resfriado). Traditionally, people have been expected to arrive at the office with one, even when sneezing (espirrando) a lot. But the pandemic has demonstrated that viruses are highly transmissible. Fellow workers will be very lucky if they don’t catch it. A cold is nothing like as serious as covid-19. Still, now that we know people can work at home, there is no excuse for inflicting your sniffles on your colleagues.

2,850: Do you think that a person with a cold should work from home?

Be hygienic. In the weeks before the lockdown, many people came to realise how being in the office meant touching a lot of common surfaces: door handles, light switches, printer buttons. So wash your hands (or use hand sanitisers) as often as possible. Hold the door open for colleagues so they don’t have to touch the handle as well. It is a good rule to follow at all times as other viruses (influenza, norovirus) often strike.

2,900: Do you think that colleagues will continue to worry about hygiene when they come back to work? Or will they relax?

Clear your desk every evening. For the near future, many people will be hot-desking so don’t leave behind soft-drink cans, bicycle helmets, crucial memos, etc, for the cleaner or next occupant to deal with. If this system is going to work, managers will need to provide lockers so workers can store important material.

2,950: Will you be hotdesking?

Don’t stand so close to me. Everyone has become used to keeping a bit of social distance from others during the pandemic. So it is only going to seem more intrusive if you get within three feet (one metre) or so of a colleague when you go back to the office. Don’t pull up your chair so close to a person that your arms and legs are almost touching. If the lift already has several passengers, don’t push in: wait for the next one.

3,000: Do you think that people should maintain a distance at work? Or do you think that the vaccine will be effective?

3,050: Have you had a vaccine? Will you get a vaccine?

Don’t dress too informally. It has been more than a year since male employees have worn a suit and tie, or female employees have worn a dress or skirt and blouse. Dressdown days have become an everyday occurrence, especially below the waist (and out of camera range). Maybe office fashion will never go back to the pre-pandemic era but there are limits; in particular, men should avoid the shorts-and-sandals combination. You don’t have to dress for a wedding but you shouldn’t dress for the beach.

3,100: Do you think that colleagues will continue to dress informally (not in pyjamas)? Or will they enjoy dressing up again?

Do be tolerant of nervous colleagues. Some people may be more reluctant to return than others. This may be down to (divido ) individual health reasons, or as a result of a family member being vulnerable. Don’t forget to include them in discussions because they are only on Zoom. And don’t automatically assume that people want to shake hands (let alone hug) when they see you again. Not every element of “remote working” will disappear overnight.

3,150: Will you be tolerant and patient with colleagues who are still worried about catching the virus?