Earthquake Week

The Cause of Haiti's Latest Earthquake: Is the Worst Yet to Come? A Look at the Seismic Science in the Caribbean.

Newsweek
Posted Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:27 AM 
Link: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2010/01/20/the-cause-of-haiti-s-latest-earthquake-is-the-worst-yet-to-come-a-look-at-the-seismic-science-in-the-caribbean.aspx

Jeneen Interlandi

In the seven days since a 7.0 earthquake struck the island of Haiti and decimated its capital city, at least 14 aftershocks measuring 5 or above have been recorded by the United States Geological Survey—including a 6.0 quake in Haiti just this morning. The event confirms a new report by Woods Hole seismologists which found that not only would such shocks be likely to continue, but the already devastated island nation would face great risk of significant future calamity.

Haiti and its neighbors sit above two tectonic plates (the North American and the Caribbean) that slide awkwardly past one another in an east-west direction at about an inch a year. The 100-mile border between these two plates, known as the Enriquillo-Plaintain fault line, extends from the Dominican Republic through Haiti all the way to Jamaica. Last Tuesday’s rupture occurred when a segment of the plates that had been stuck together since 1751 (when the last earthquake occurred) jerked themselves free, releasing 250 years of built-up friction from the earthquake’s epicenter and displacing just enough ground to topple Haiti’s fragile and ill-prepared capital.

Word list

aftershocks- terremotos recorrentes (normalmente após um terremoto maior)
to slide- escorregar
awkwardly- de modo esquisito/estranho
inch- polegada
to jerk oneself free - soltar-se
to topple- derrubar

Tradutor: http://www.google.com/language_tools


- Leiam e discutam as perguntas abaixo (postem suas ideias e respostas, clicando em "COMENTÁRIOS"):

1. What did geological surveys discovered?
2. Why is Haiti area prone to earthquakes? Will it happen again?
3. Does it seem (from the text tone) that Haiti was prepared for it? Why? Why not?

Asian Week

Google and China - Flowers for a funeral

Censorship and hacker attacks provide the epitaph

Jan 14th 2010 | BEIJING | From The Economist print edition
Full text: http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15270952

“WE’RE in this for the long haul,” wrote a Google executive four years ago when the company launched a self-censored version of its search engine for the China market. Now Google says it might have to pull out of the country because of alleged attacks by hackers in China on its e-mail service and a tightening of China’s restrictions on free speech on the internet. Its change of heart, as the company rightly points out, could have “far-reaching consequences”.

Google’s “new approach to China”, as the company’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, called it on January 12th on the company’s official blog, will certainly infuriate China’s government. The authorities are sensitive to foreign complaints about internet controls in China. In November, during a visit by President Barack Obama, his obliquely worded criticism of Chinese online censorship was itself censored from official reports. If it does close down in China, Google would be the first big-brand foreign company to do so citing freedom of speech in many years.

Word list
for the long haul: viagem longa e difícil
to pull out of the country: deixar o país (retirar seu negócio do país)
tightening: estreitamento (tornar mais rigoroso)
change of heart: mudar de idéia
infuriate: enfurecer
big-brand foreign company: empresa estrangeira de nome (marca conhecida)
freedom of speech:liberdade de expressão

Tradutor: http://www.google.com/language_tools


- Leiam e discutam as perguntas abaixo (postem suas ideias e respostas, clicando em "COMENTÁRIOS"):

1) What does the title "Flowers for a funeral" suggest? Why?

2) What is the main subject of the text?

3) Does the text suggest that "freedom of speech" is important? Why?

4) In your opinion, what could be the impact over a country of a company like Google leave it?