Did you remember it’s April Fools Day today? My sister loves playing jokes. At breakfast, she said, “Robert and I ____ going to elope! We’re going to Robben Island. It’s the place where Nelson Mandela was in prison. My guidebook say it is a “place forever connected with the fight for freedom”. So, if you receive a phone call today about winning the lottery or something, don’t get excited. It’s probably an April Fools joke.

(taken from Stories worth reading)

GLOSSARY

to elope: fugir de casa secretamente para se casar.

The verb “get”, in the text, can be replaced by

Why do planes crash?

Navigational errors are among the most common causes of plane crashes. Planes are flown into a mountain or the sea out of a variety of reasons. Sometimes weather conditions are bad, in other cases pilots have made bad judgements.

In 1996 a Peruvian airliner crashed into the sea after the computer stopped working. The crew had almost no data left to work with and didn't know at which height they were flying when they hit the water.

In 1977 almost 600 people got killed when two planes were heading at full speed towards each other and collided in heavy fog on the runway in Tenerife. The crash happened after planes had been guided to Tenerife because Gran Canary airport was closed.

In June 2009 an Air France airbus disappeared off the coast of Brazil. Although the wreckage was found after a few days it took investigators almost three years to find out what had really happened to the plane.

Pilots are criticising the way planes are ____. In the past decades the structure of planes has changed. More computers and automated systems are taking over, the pilot often has no alternatives left.

(Adapted from http://www.english.online.at/news-articles/technology)

According to the text, write (T) for the true statements and (F) for the false statements.

( ) In 1977 two planes collided in Tenerife.

( ) In 1977 almost 600 people were killed due to heavy fog on the runway.

( ) In 1977 two planes collided when they were heading for Gran Canary airport.

( ) In 1977 two planes were guided to Gran Canary airport because Tenerife was closed.

Choose the alternative that corresponds to the order.

MORTE E VIDA SEVERINA

— O meu nome é Severino,
como não tenho outro de pia.
Como há muitos Severinos,
que é santo de romaria,
deram então de me chamar
Severino de Maria;
Como há muitos Severinos
com mães chamadas Maria,
fiquei sendo o da Maria
do finado Zacarias.

[...]

Somos muitos Severinos
iguais em tudo na vida:
na mesma cabeça grande
que a custo é que se equilibra
no mesmo ventre crescido
sobre as mesmas pernas finas,
e iguais também porque o sangue
que usamos tem pouca tinta.

E se somos Severinos
iguais em tudo na vida,
morremos de morte igual,
mesma morte severina:
que é a morte de que se morre
de velhice antes dos trinta,
de emboscada antes dos vinte,
de fome um pouco por dia
(de fraqueza e de doença
é que a morte severina
ataca em qualquer idade,
e até gente não nascida).

João Cabral de Melo Neto, Morte e Vida Severina – texto adaptado

Em relação aos versos “O meu nome é Severino/como não tenho outro de pia”, marque a alternativa correta quanto ao significado da palavra “pia”.