As Olympics Near,

Brazil's President Faces Senate Trial

 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 2

Preview
Words Expressions

be suspended from
1. manipulate /məˈnɪp.jə.leɪt/ [verb]
to control something or someone to your advantage, often unfairly or dishonestly
was expected to
2. showcase /ˈʃəʊ.keɪs/ [verb]
to show the best qualities or parts of something arrival on the world stage

3. commodity /kəˈmɒd.ə.ti/ [noun] upper legislative body

a substance or product that can be traded, bought, or sold
health crisis
4. fraudulent /ˈfrɔː.dʒə.lənt/ [adjective]
dishonest and illegal

5. postpone /pəʊstˈpəʊn/ [verb]

to delay an event and plan or decide that it should happen at a later date or time

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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 2

Article

As Olympics Near, Brazil's President Faces Senate Trial

Brazil is preparing to host the Olympic Games in August, but the

South American nation may not be celebrating.
Political problems and other issues have drawn attention away from
the games in Rio de Janeiro and toward the country's troubles.
This week, Brazil's Senate voted to put President Dilma Rousseff
on trial for manipulating the budget. She is suspended from office.
Her replacement as acting president, Michel Temer, had to pay a
fine for violating campaign finance laws.

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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 2

Brazil won the right to host the Olympic games in 2009. Brazil's
Olympic bid was expected to show the country's strength as a
developing world leader. For some nations, hosting the games
is considered a chance to show the world a nation's arrival on
the world stage. It also can showcase national unity.

The BRICS economies, including Brazil, have seen reversals as oil and
other commodity prices have dropped sharply in the last two years.
Brazil's economy shrank by nearly four percent last year. Brazil is a
major exporter of raw materials such as sugar, soybeans, coffee and
iron ore. Falling commodity prices have hurt its foreign trade. Brazil's
imports from trade partners also have dropped.

Brazil's upper legislative body now must decide whether to

remove Rousseff from office during this intense period for the
nation. Rousseff denies any wrongdoing. She called the charges
against her "fraudulent," and has called the impeachment
process a "coup" against the country's democracy.

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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 2

As Brazil prepares for the huge sporting event, it faces not only
the political storm in the capital, Brasilia. The nation has a
public health crisis in the spread of the Zika virus. The World
Health Organization (WHO) said the Zika virus could be linked
to 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil.
Microcephaly is when babies are born with extremely small
heads. It causes severe brain damage. The virus is spread by
mosquitoes and has caused infections in Brazil and many other
countries in Latin America.

An estimated 500,000 visitors are expected to come to Brazil

for the Olympic Games. This has one public health official
questioning in the Harvard Public Health Review whether the
games should be moved or postponed.

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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 2

Discussion

1. According to the article, what are the 5 problems that Brazil

is facing?
2. What do you think is the influence of the political condition
of a country on its economy?
3. Are you positive or negative toward the 2016 Olympics?
Why?

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 Learn and Talk III – Lesson 2

Further Reading

Full Text: http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/olympics-brazil-president-faces-senate-trial-69569.html

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