Compreensão Leitora: O que significa “Indian summer”?

No hemisfério norte já é outono, os dias são mais frios mas estamos à espera do Indian summer (“verão índio”) para poder curtir mais uns dias de sol antes do frío chegar em cheio. O que é o Indian summer? Este texto vai-lhe explicar com a ajuda do vocabulário:

Texto

Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. The US National Weather Service defines this as weather conditions that are sunny and clear with above normal temperatures, occurring late-September to mid-November. It is usually described as occurring after a killing frost.

Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, it was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in the North American continent regions inhabited by Indians, or because the Indians first described it to Europeans, or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when native Americans hunted.

Similar weather conditions, with local variations also exist. A warm period in autumn is called “Altweibersommer” (literally “old women’s summer”), or something similar, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania, Hungary, Finland, and many Slavic-language countries—for example, in Russia and Croatia it is known as “grandma’s summer” (babye leto, bablje ljeto). In Bulgaria it is known as “gypsy summer” or “poorman’s summer”.

In temperate parts of South America – such as southernmost Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay – the phenomenon is known as “Veranico” (literally, “little summer”), and usually occurs in early autumn – between late April and mid-May, when it is known as “Veranico de Maio” (“May’s little summer”). Its onset and duration is directly associated with the occurrence of El Niño.

In other countries it is associated with autumnal name days or saint days such as St. Martin’s Day (Portugal, Italy, Spain and France), Saint Michael’s Day (Serbia), Teresa of Ávila (Netherlands), Bridget of Sweden in Sweden, and Saint Michael the Archangel in Wales. In Turkey it is called pastirma yazi.

Vocabulário

unseasonable: que acontece fora de estação ou de época

warm: cálido

late-:  final de. Exemplo:

late-November
(final de novembro)

mid-: meados de. Exemplo:

mid-August
(meados de agosto)

killing: esmagador, duro

frost: geada

perhaps: talvez

so-called: assim chamado. Também significa “suposto”, mas não neste contexto.

hazy: nebuloso, nublado

to hunt: caçar

Slavic: eslavo

temperate: temperado, suave (clima)

-most: o sufixo “most”  após um adjetivo dá um senso de superlatividade. Exemplos:

southernmost regions
(regiões mais ao sul)

innermost feelings
(sentimentos mais íntimos)

early: a começos de

onset: início, aparição

autumnal: outonal

Saiba que no curso completo do ABA English, cada unidade tem uma seção específica de Vocabulário onde você aprenderá vocabulário novo em inglês e  aprenderá o seu significado e a sua pronúncia graças à nossa tecnologia  exclusiva Escute-Grave-Compare (LRC®):

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