Questões de Concurso

                                       The Bookstore’s Last Stand

*Barnes & Noble is the largest book retailer in the United States.

   (…) No one expects Barnes & Noble* to disappear overnight. The worry is that it might slowly wither as more readers embrace e-books. What if all those store shelves vanished, and Barnes & Noble became little more than a cafe and a digital connection point? Such fears came to the fore in early January, when the company projected that it would lose even more money this year than Wall Street had expected. Its share price promptly tumbled 17 percent that day.

  Lurking behind all of this is Amazon.com, the dominant force in books online and the company that sets teeth on edge in publishing. From their perches in Midtown Manhattan, many publishing executives, editors and publicists view Amazon as the enemy — an adversary that, if unchecked, could threaten their industry and their livelihoods.

Like many struggling businesses, book publishers are cutting costs and trimming work forces. Yes, electronic books are booming, sometimes profitably, but not many publishers want e-books to dominate print books. Amazon’s chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, wants to cut out the middleman — that is, traditional publishers — by publishing e-books directly.

   Which is why Barnes & Noble, once viewed as the brutal capitalist of the book trade, now seems so crucial to that industry’s future. Sure, you can buy bestsellers at Walmart and potboilers at the supermarket. But in many locales, Barnes & Noble is the only retailer offering a wide selection of books. If something were to happen to Barnes & Noble, if it were merely to scale back its ambitions, Amazon could become even more powerful and — well, the very thought makes publishers queasy. (…)

Disponível em:<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/business/barnes-noble-taking-on-amazon-inthe-fight-of-its-life.html?pagewanted=all>.

Acesso em: 22 abr. 2012

                                  The History of the Maori

    The arrival of the Maori people to New Zealand is deemed as somewhat of a mystery. It is estimated that the first Polynesians arrived over 1000 years ago, possibly around 800 AD or even earlier. Linguistic and cultural evidence suggests that the Maori travelled originally from the Cook Islands - an enormous feat at that time considering the prevailing winds make sailing in a southeast direction extremely difficult. It is because of this that the first navigators probably came here by design, looking for land whose presence may have been indicated by migratory birds, still flying these paths today. It is unknown if these first explorers actually settled here, or if in fact they returned to the Rarotongan Islands to herald the migration.

   By the end of the fourteenth century, settlement was established throughout the country, most being in the warmer climes of the north, being closer to that of their origins. Being Neolithic, devoid of hides and textiles, they clothed themselves in cloaks constructed with woven flax and adorned with dog fur or feathers provided by many native birds including kiwi and moa. The northern conditions were favorable for many of the subtropical food plants they brought with them, in particular the sweet potato, or Kumara. The Maori people also lived off the abundant produce provided by native birds and the sea. In the south the bird life was hunted to extinction, the most famous of which being the Moa, the spectacular flightless bird that could reach up to 3.7m in height.

Disponível em: <http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/maori/>.

Acesso em: 3 mai. 2012 

                                  The History of the Maori

    The arrival of the Maori people to New Zealand is deemed as somewhat of a mystery. It is estimated that the first Polynesians arrived over 1000 years ago, possibly around 800 AD or even earlier. Linguistic and cultural evidence suggests that the Maori travelled originally from the Cook Islands - an enormous feat at that time considering the prevailing winds make sailing in a southeast direction extremely difficult. It is because of this that the first navigators probably came here by design, looking for land whose presence may have been indicated by migratory birds, still flying these paths today. It is unknown if these first explorers actually settled here, or if in fact they returned to the Rarotongan Islands to herald the migration.

   By the end of the fourteenth century, settlement was established throughout the country, most being in the warmer climes of the north, being closer to that of their origins. Being Neolithic, devoid of hides and textiles, they clothed themselves in cloaks constructed with woven flax and adorned with dog fur or feathers provided by many native birds including kiwi and moa. The northern conditions were favorable for many of the subtropical food plants they brought with them, in particular the sweet potato, or Kumara. The Maori people also lived off the abundant produce provided by native birds and the sea. In the south the bird life was hunted to extinction, the most famous of which being the Moa, the spectacular flightless bird that could reach up to 3.7m in height.

Disponível em: <http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/maori/>.

Acesso em: 3 mai. 2012