40 ways to make the world a better place

To celebrate 40 years of their publication, Veja magazine has invited specialists from different fields to comment on how to make Brazil a better place. The list, with short explanations, is an excellent mini-manifesto on how to make the world a better place. Apart from being very interesting, it’s also packed with loads of essential vocabulary!

You can read it here: http://veja.abril.com.br/100908/p_110.shtml#17

R.E.M. in Brazil

R.E.M. have been touring South America, with several shows in Brazil – their first since 2001. Sadly, I wasn’t  able to make it as they’re only playing some 3000kms away in the south of the country. Anyway, here is a good-quality Brazilian-Portuguese-subtitled video of the band performing their hit Everybody Hurts.

Michael Stipe reportedly wrote the chorus to the song Imitation of Life with the line “that sugar cane that tasted sweet” after his visit to Brazil in which he tasted a drink made from sugar cane. The song is very popular in Brazil and here is a subtitled version of the track. The only problem is that the lyrics don’t make a lot of sense in English, let alone in Portuguese, so good luck…

The  press have been covering R.E.M. coming to Brazil. Here is an interview with leadsinger Michael Stipe from Folha Sao Paulo and here is a report from Globo about R.E.M.’s support of Obama (including a subtitled video clip). And here are some photos from their Sao Paulo show. Stipe’s only televison interview came with Globo news and you can watch it here (dubbed).

Nobel Peace Prize winners

As a break from all the stories of financial krakatowa, here’s an article about the recent winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. This year’s winner was announced last week with the Finnish ex-president Martti Ahtisaari taking the honour for his conflict resolution work in different parts of the world. Globo’s run-down of past winners is interesting. Click here to access the article. As usual, I’ve included a short quiz to test your comprehension. No word help this time though!

Quiz questions

1) Which two winners were awarded prizes principally for their work with the environment?
2) Which winners won awards for their work in reconciling people of their own nation with a neighbouring enemy?
3) Which winners idea was exported to 58 countries?
4) Which two candidates are highlighted for their work with human rights?
5) How many other UN Secretary Generals have their been before Annan?
6) Which TWO organisations are winners of the Nobel Prize in the list?
7) How is “The Good Friday Agreement” translated into Portuguese in the article?

Globo quizzes

The Globo website G1.com.br has some nice animated, interactive quizzes on different topics. They only take about 5 minutes to do.

September 21st was International Day of Peace so there’s a Q&A on famous peacemakers of our times. Click here for that.

And if you’re keeping a close eye on the US President election. Test your knowledge of who’s who with this short interactive quiz in Portuguese. Click here for that one.

Strange story involving Gordon Brown

I read this last week and it made me laugh – a strange story involving a protestor and Gordon Brown, the British PM. It contains lots of unusual vocabulary which are tested in the quiz below. Click here to read the story in Portuguese.

If the level of Portugese in the article is too high for you, I recommend reading the same story in English first. Click here for the English version.

Quiz questions

What do you think these words and phrases mean in English?

Be careful! Some words are homonyms – that is, they appear to be the same as other Portuguese words but have different meanings. (For example, a homonym in English is match - football match, light a match).

Click Answers above to check your results.

1) arrancou
2) bolso
3) doeu bastante
4) deu umas risadinhas
5) fontes
6) grades do portão
7) grudar
8 ) manga do terno
9) terceira pista
10) tubo de cola