Prévia do material em texto

Leiam o texto, traduzam e procurem o significado das palavras desconhecidas (escrevam no 
caderno),respondam as questões de interpretaç 
 
 
What’s it all about? Choose the sentence that gives us the main idea (not the details) the 
author wants to put forward. 
 • Nationalism and patriotism are important values that should be defended at all costs. 
 • Humanity may not survive if the current environmental problems are not solved. 
• The problems humanity is facing at present can only be solved when the whole world acts 
as one, despite international conflicts. 
• Cultural diversity should be preserved, even if it leads to quarrels and wars. Detailed 
Comprehension 
1. Read the sentences below and write F if the author is For the situation described or A if the 
author is Against it. 
a) A segregated world. A 
b) Different cultural groups respecting each other. F 
c) War between countries. A 
d) Resorting to the use of violence when there is disagreement over an issue. A 
e) People united to solve global problems. F 
f) The creation of more nations. A 
2. Isaac Asimov’s views on the state of the Earth are summed up in the statements below. Find 
the missing words in the box and write them down in your notebook. 
 wars • life • humanity • national • civilization According to Asimov, 
 a) the problem is: our planet may not continue to sustain human . life 
 b) the consequence is: the end of human . life 
c) the difficulties are: nationalism, pride, prejudice, the conviction that security is above all 
other considerations. Civilization according to Asimov 
d) the consequences of those ways of thinking are: lack of understanding, quarrels, conflicts. 
Wars 
e) the solution is: the union of people across the world in concerted effort to solve the 
problems has in common. Humanity 
3. Answer the following questions in your notebook. 
 a) Asimov claims that patriotism should be benign. According to him, in which situation is 
patriotism a bad thing? 
If different groups despise each other and have the desire to wipe each other out. 
b) Some of the problems humanity is facing make it more than necessary, according to Asimov, 
for people to get together in order to solve them. What kind of problems are those? 
He talks about problems of world scale, like global warming. According to him, it will only be 
possible to solve this problem if there’s no more nations. No political interest above the 
planet itself. 
c) Was Asimov a nationalist? Transcribe an excerpt (or more than one) from the text to justify 
your answer. 
No, he was a globalist. “… because I don’t believe in nations” 
 d) According to the author, what will eventually happen if segregation and fighting do not 
stop? 
The end of humanity. 
AFTER YOU READ Discuss the following questions in small groups. 
 
 a) Do you have the same view regarding those situations? 
No. The world may not be perfect, but a globalist approach would mean the end of 
everything we know and have so far. Of culture, religion and so on. The world should come 
together yes. But as different nations, with different goals and trying to find the common 
denominator, to solve the top issues we have right now. 
b) How do you deal with people who belong to different cultures or have ideas that are 
different from yours? 
No different than how I treat whoever has the same culture as I do. I do no act based on 
what someone believes or wears, for example. 
c) Do you believe peaceful coexistence is possible? 
On the same planet? Yes. On the same big country as one nation? No way. Different cultural 
and religious groups will always exist. They would be fighting even harder to be in the most 
wanted position: power. This is what will always drive human beings apart. 
 
1. Read the quote below from Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General from 1997 to 
2006. Then discuss the following questions with a classmate. 
 “Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to 
confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the 
outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.” Kofi Annan 
Available at: . Accessed on: January 29, 2016. How to Fight Against Prejudice Prejudice can be 
found at any time and in any society. 
a) Do you agree with his definitions of ignorance and prejudice? 
Yes 
 b) Do you know anyone who has been a victim of prejudice? If so, how did that person feel? 
And how did you feel about it? 
No, I never knew anyone who has been a victim of prejudice. 
c) What can you do to change the behavior of someone who has any prejudice against anyone 
or any group? 
Try to teach why that doesn’t make sense and show some history about the group he`s 
showing free hate for. 
 
Read the text below to learn more about prejudice. Then answer the following questions 
together with a classmate. Use your notebook to do that. 
How to Fight Against Prejudice 
 
“Prejudice can be found at any time and in any society. People have prejudice about another 
race, religion, nation and even about people who look different from them. It is known that 
prejudice appears when there is a lack of knowledge. That’s because not enough knowledge 
leads to a generalization, which is the root of every prejudice. Once people establish their 
general judgment about one particular group of people, they tend to keep their beliefs alive by 
ignoring facts that might spoil their judgment. They don’t want to learn, because learning is 
generally hard and, what is more dangerous, it might also destroy their beliefs. People with 
prejudice never compare one individual to another, but one whole group to another group. 
But, what if there is nothing to compare? Imagine yourself in a foreign country, far enough to 
present big cultural differences between you and inhabitants of that country. What would 
happen with any prejudice you might have? Could it still exist? If there is nothing to compare, 
your prejudice will simply disappear because it will become invalid. Next time, when you find 
yourself in a situation in which you have to fight against prejudice, try to imagine people of 
that group isolated from the others. That way you can successfully fight against any 
prejudice.”Available at: . Accessed on: January 29, 2016. (Fragment). 
a) Do you agree with his definitions of ignorance and prejudice? 
Yes 
 b) Do you know anyone who has been a victim of prejudice? If so, how did that person feel? 
And how did you feel about it? 
No, I never knew anyone who has been a victim of prejudice. 
c) What can you do to change the behavior of someone who has any prejudice against anyone 
or any group? 
Try to teach why that doesn’t make sense and show some history about the group he`s 
showing free hate for. 
2. Read the text below to learn more about prejudice. Then answer the following questions 
together with a classmate. 
Use your notebook to do that. 
a) Is prejudice a recent issue? 
No. It has always been around and can be found at any time and in any society. 
 b) What kinds of prejudice are mentioned in the text? What other kinds of prejudice do you 
know about? 
The text mentions prejudice about race, religion, nation and even about people who look 
different from them. Other king of prejudice that I know, even though we live in 2021, there 
are still people that have prejudice against LGBT groups. As a gay man is difficult to be in 
some places in some times. 
c) According to the text, what is the root of every prejudice? Do you agree with it? 
Ignorance. And yes, I agree. 
d) Should we generalize and stereotype people? Why (not)? 
e) What advice is given in the last paragraph? Do you think it’s good advice? 
 
Word Building: Suffixes -al, -less and -able 
Read the sentences below paying close attention to the words in bold. Then do the following 
activities in your notebook. “Humanity cannot afford to waste its financialand emotional 
resources on endless, meaningless quarrels between each group and all others.” “I am for 
cultural diversity and would be willing to see each recognizable group value its cultural 
heritage.” 
1. The words financial and emotional come from the nouns finance and emotion and are 
formed with the suffix -al, which is used to form 
• adjectives. • adverbs. • verbs. 
2. The words endless and meaningless are formed with the suffix -less, which means 
 • without. • excessively. • few. 
3. The suffix that expresses the opposite idea of the suffix -less is 
 • -able, as in recognizable and available. • -ful, as in peaceful and beautiful. 
• -ity, as in humanity and community. 
4. The word recognizable comes from the verb recognize and is formed with the suffix -
able, which is used to form 
• nouns. • adjectives. • adverbs. 
 5. Go back to the text and find an expression that corresponds to “a world we can live in”.