LONDON: HOME AND FAMILY (UFCE – 2014)

Adapted from: http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.25.

Book Four Corners (Level 3A)

Unit 1: Education

Lesson D: Alternative Education (Pages 10 and 11)

First things first….

Do you know who was this woman? And do you know what paleontology is?

Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a

British author, and campaigner for and women's rights. She made significant

contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, and was the first

female academic on the University of Manchester. Stopes founded the first birth

control clinic in Britain (and was arrested for this). And edited the newsletter Birth

Control News, which gave explicit practical advice. Her book Married Love was

controversial and influential, and brought the subject of birth control into wide

public discourse. Stopes opposed abortion, arguing that the prevention of

conception was all that was needed.

Paleontology is the scientific study of life

existent prior to. It includes the study of

fossils to determine organisms' evolution

and interactions with each other and their

environments.

Women in the late 19th century gave birth, on average, to 4.6 children during

their lifetime. By the 1950s the average had surprisingly fallen to 2.19 children per

woman. By the end of the century it dropped to 1.76 children per woman and has kept

on falling dramatically so far.

Family reduction was partly a consequence of women’s changing status. The

20th century saw women enter the workforce and enjoy more choices about their lives,

including the choice not to marry and have children.

London: Home and Family

________________________________________. The issue of birth control was firstly

brought out into the open in 1921 by Marie Stopes. Stopes' work dispelled some of the

taboos surrounding birth control, but the real revolution occurred in the 1960s with the

arrival of the oral contraceptive pill.

Smaller families and more choices for women also meant smaller households,

more people living alone, more one-parent families, and more unwed parents. By the

1990s, for example, a third of all households in London were single-person households.

1. The sentence that completes the blank correctly is:

A) “Yet, standards of living dropped”.

B) “Contraception was another factor”.

C) “Modern Londoners search for reliable methods of contraception”.

D) “The 20th-century women do not engage in deeply committed relationships”.

E) “Contraceptive methods, on the other hand, are responsible for 100% of family

reduction”.

2. The adverb “surprisingly” is equivalent in meaning to:

A) “suddenly”.

B) “obviously”.

C) “noticeably”.

D) “drastically”.

E) “unexpectedly”.

3. After reading the first paragraph, we may say that:

A) birth rate has increased in London.

B) the number of family members has decreased.

C) the standard of life has dropped over the centuries.

D) a surprising number of families are headed by unwed women.

E) female Londoners have given birth to 4.6 children during their

lifetime.

4. After reading the sentence “It has kept on failing

dramatically so far” (Slide 4)we may infer that the birth rate

in London:

(A) Cannot be estimated.

(B) Will dispel remaining taboos about birth control.

(C) Has dropped substantially over the last centuries.

(D) Is exclusively determined by women’s forever changing status.

(E) Is very likely to keep on increasing dramatically for the centuries to

come.

5. Before 1921 contraceptive methods:

(A) Had never been discussed overtly.

(B) Had Always been a national interest.

(C) Had never been considered a taboo subject.

(D) Had never been openly discussed by birth parentes.

(E) Had been concernedly surveyed by Marie Stopes.

6. The last paragraph suggests that:

(A) The over-century traditional Family has never been majority.

(B) Childleness withim couples have never been tolerated.

(C) Extramarital affairs have become an incontestable fact.

(D) Family structure has been redefined throughout time.

(E) Single paraental families have never been estimated.

WRITING PRODUCTION

WHAT WAS THE TEXT ABOUT?

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL?

ACCORDING TO THE TEXT “Family reduction was partly a consequence of women’s changing status” DO YOU AGREE? EXPLAIN

YOUR REASONS.

GLOBAL FOOD CRISES (U. F. VIÇOSA - MG 2014)

(Adapted from http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-05-09-voa21.cfm. Retrieved on May 13th, 2013.)

If you've been shopping for food lately, I don't have to tell you

that prices are going through the roof. In some cases world prices

have more than tripled in recent months, "going from, in December,

a price of $300 a ton to just this week over $1,000 a ton." Robert

Zeigler of the International Rice Research Institute is talking about

rice, a basic staple food across Asia, of course. Prices surged

dramatically after China, Vietnam, and India limited exports to

ensure they had enough supplies for their own people. Other food

products have also seen alarming increases.

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, the FAO, says wheat prices

have doubled in Senegal. Bread prices doubled in Tajikistan. The cost of corn in

Uganda rose 65 percent in just six months. One reason: farmers are passing on

their higher costs, particularly the rising cost of energy. "Fertilizers become more

and more unaffordable for the small farmers, who are at the center of a

response to the world food crisis," notes Joachim von Braun, who heads the

International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. "And transport costs

have become higher and higher, so the cost side of agriculture will keep food

prices high, even if we make major efforts to increase production." Other reasons

for the run-up in prices include natural causes like drought and pest outbreaks

and speculation in the commodities market.

And as world oil prices hover around $120 a barrel, more food crops are

ending up in fuel tanks. In the United States, about one-quarter of the corn crop

is now being used to make ethanol, which is blended with gasoline to make a

motor fuel. Soybean farmers are switching to corn, which drives up soy prices,

and so on. Rising living standards also play a role. Particularly in India and China,

where hundreds of millions of people are having access to the middle class,

more people are buying more food higher up the food chain, says Carlos Seré of

the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi. "We know that

consumers, when they move, let's say, from $2 to $10 a day per capita, they

largely expand the consumption of vegetables, oils, and animal products. This is

happening in big countries around the world. This has a big impact."

But in many cases the poorest of the poor are paying the price for the good

fortune of the emerging middle class. Analysts like Robert Zeigler of the Rice

Research Institute are starting to assess the damage. "Now what are the

consequences of this? Well, there are some estimates that say that if present

trends continue for very long, we can expect 100 million people to be pushed

back into poverty." And Joachim von Braun of the Food Policy Research Institute

says that higher food prices today can cause long-term damage as people

change their eating habits.

"The high food prices lead poor people to limit their food consumption and

shift to even less balanced diets with harmful effects on health in the short and

long run. The child who is not appropriately nourished under the age of three for

a couple of months will be harmed for the rest of its life." The three experts spoke

in a telephone conference organized by the International Agricultural Research

Group, whose research centers have some 8,000 scientists working on food issues.

1. All of the following are causes for the increase in the prices of

food, EXCEPT:

a) transportation costs.

b) advertising campaigns.

c) natural disasters.

d) higher life standards.

2. It is CORRECT to say that high oil prices make:

a) farmers use their crops to make fuel.

b) consumers buy more fuel.

c) crops have a lower price.

d) farmers plant more soy.

e) F – V – F

3. One consequence of high food prices is:

a) balanced diets.

b) more food consumption.

c) health problems.

d) good nourishment.

4. The expression going through the roof (Slide 14) can be best replaced by:

a) falling.

b) decreasing.

c) freezing.

d) rising.

05. The only word that functions as a verb in the text is:

a) Heads

“notes Joachim von Braun, who heads the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington”

b) Estimates

“Well, there are some estimates that say that if present trends continue for very long, we can expect 100 million people to be pushed back into

poverty.”

c) Costs

“Farmers are passing on their higher costs, particularly the rising cost of energy.”

d) Causes

“Other reasons for the run-up in prices include natural causes like drought”

06. The referente to the word WHOSE in this part “The three experts spoke in a

telephone conference organized by the International Agricultural Research Group, whose

research centers have some 8,000 scientists working on food issues.” is:

a) Experts

b) Group

c) Scientists

d) Centers

WRITING PRODUCTION

WHAT TEXT WAS EASIER FOR YOU – FRST ONE OR SECOND ONE? WHY?

WHAT WAS THIS TEXT ABOUT?

DO YOU FOLLOW THE PRICES OF FOOD? DID YOU NOTICE THE PRICES GETTING HIGHER?

COMPLETE AS ATIVIDADES DA PÁGINA 10 E 11 DO LIVRO FOUR CORNERS.

GET TO WORK! – ENGLISH HOMEWORK