September 11, 2001 - The worst terrorist attack in history
On September 11, 2001, the world witnessed the most terrifying yet the best planned terrorist action of all times (or one can see in a lifetime).
The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the highest building in the USA and one of the highest of the world, were destroyed by two airplanes - the biggest ones used for domestic flights - which crashed into the towers.
At 8:45 a.m., American Airlines Flight II Boeing 767, going from Boston to Los Angeles, with 92 people on board, slammed into the north tower. Everybody thought it was an accident.
About 18 minutes later, however, the same kind of plane, also en route from Boston to LA, with 65 people on board, hit the south tower. Now everybody was sure it was a terrorist attack.
At 10:05 a.m. the south tower collapsed and 20 minutes later, the north tower came down too.
New York city had the worst day of its history and the New Yorkers had the saddest and most painful sight in their lives - people crying for help, others yelling, others jumping out of the windows, many trying to get out, but most of them getting trapped by the fire and dying.
In the meantime, not far from New York, another plane, this time a Boeing 707 with 64 passengers and crew members, crashed into the Pentagon, the most important center of the American military power. One of the building's five sides came down. More than one thousand people later were found dead under the debris.
Yet, another Boeing 757, with 38 passengers and seven crew members crashed near Pittsburgh, before it could its target - Camp David, where in September of 1978, Jimmy Carter, President of the USA then, met Muhammad Anwar Al. Sadat, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Menachen Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, to sign a peace agreement for the Middle East.
The planes, hijacked by merciless terrorists, were used to kill thousands of innocent people and to try to destroy the most significant American symbols of financial, military and political power.
One of the richest and most feared terrorists in the world had declared 3 weeks before that he was preparing "the most daring" and "most striking" attack one has ever seen, to protest against the support given by the Americans to Israel.
Whoever did that will never have enough reasons to justify such hideous deed.
What else can we say! The pieces of dead bodies and their smell coming from under the debris lead us to conclude that pride, fanaticism of any kind, revenge, anger, thirst for power and hate, are the worst, most destructive, most harmful, most unfair and most cruel feelings which can inhabit the human heart.
(adapted from Newsweek)
Exercises:
01. How does the text describe this terrorist attack?
02. How many and what were the targets?
03. Concerning the New Yorkers, How does the text describe this day?
04. Concerning the people that were inside the World Trade Center, How does the text describe what happened to them?
05. Concerning the text, What is the Pentagon?
06. Besides the WTC and the Pentagon was there another target? Explain?
07. What was the purpose of this attack?
08. Concerning the text, one of the richest and most feared terrorists in the world had declared 3 weeks before that he was preparing this attack. How did he define this attack?
09. How high were the twin towers concerning to the text?
10. Explique qual a diferença entre o superlativo e o comparativo de superioridade. Suporte sua resposta com exemplos de texto.
11. Qual a diferença entre "How far" e "how long"?
12. Qual a diferença entre "how tall" e "how high"?
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