Episódio 34: Summer Jobs (Trabalhos de verão)

Duolingo English for Portuguese Speakers Podcast

Num dia de outono em 2012, Erin Phillips tava trabalhando como caixa na Parlee Farms, uma plantação de maçãs e frutas silvestres no estado de Massachusetts, nordeste dos Estados Unidos.

Tinha uma fila de clientes na porta, mas Erin não conseguia dar atenção pra ninguém.

It was the beginning of my second year of high school, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the essay I had to write for my English class.

It was due the next day.

I knew that when I finished work, I was going to have to stay up late to finish the essay.

And then I had to wake up at 5:00 am the next morning to go to school!

Aquele era o primeiro emprego de Erin, e ela queria impressionar a chefe, Ellen, a dona da fazenda.

Mas Erin tava muito cansada.

My boss, Ellen, noticed that I was working slowly, so she asked another employee to help me at the register.

I wanted to be a good student and a good employee at my new job, but I was worried I couldn’t do both.

Welcome to “Histórias em Inglês com Duolingo”.

Eu sou Helena Fruet.

Nesse podcast, você vai poder praticar inglês no seu ritmo, ouvindo histórias reais e emocionantes.

Os protagonistas falam um inglês simples e fácil de entender — perfeito pra quem tá aprendendo.

Hoje você vai ouvir duas histórias sobre empregos temporários, ou seasonal jobs, e seus desafios inesperados.

Erin cresceu muito perto da Parlee Farms.

A fazenda é o que se conhece como U-pick, ou seja, um lugar em que o cliente colhe as frutas que vai comprar.

As fazendas U-pick são muito populares em algumas partes dos Estados Unidos, e tem até uma tradição de fazer visitas em família.

My family loved U-pick farms because they were a lot more fun than getting fruit at the grocery store.

The fruit was very fresh and we could choose the best apples or berries.

When I was just four years old, I was walking through the strawberry fields at Parlee Farms with my sister and a local newspaper photographer asked our parents if she could take our picture.

That photo is still on our refrigerator now.

Quando Erin fez 15 anos, muitos amigos dela conseguiram seus primeiros empregos de verão.

É normal pros adolescentes norte-americanos trabalhar no verão pra pagar a universidade ou só pra ganhar um dinheirinho.

São os chamados “trabalhadores temporários”.

My mom thought I should apply to work at Parlee Farms.

My family went there often, so we knew the owner, Ellen, very well.

And I already knew a lot about the business because I talked to Ellen a lot.

It was the perfect place for my first job.

Quando Erin voltou na Parlee Farms, ela perguntou pra Ellen se eles tavam contratando.

Ellen gave me an application to fill out.

She told me to come back in a week for an interview.

I was so excited that I filled out the application that night.

When I arrived for my interview, I was so nervous.

I really wanted to impress Ellen.

We sat down at a picnic table.

She told me she really needed employees who could work in the summer and during apple season.

No nordeste dos Estados Unidos, o outono é a época de maçãs — e é também quando começam as aulas.

Ellen, a dona da fazenda, sabia que seria um problema se todos os seus funcionários estudantes fossem embora.

Ela precisava que Erin se comprometesse a trabalhar em turnos, ou shifts, até novembro.

I said, “No problem!” I could work shifts after school.

Ellen was really excited, and she asked when I could start working.

I had my first job!

Erin tava um pouco preocupada por ter aceitado o trabalho até o outono, mas ela sempre tinha sido boa aluna.

Ela achava que não seria tão difícil conciliar trabalho e estudos.

Afinal, seria só por três meses.

E ela tava animada pra trabalhar na Parlee Farms.

When I arrived on the first day, another staff member showed me where to put my things.

They also gave me an official staff t-shirt to wear.

My coworkers taught me how to weigh fruit and vegetables, count change, and help at the bakery counter.

A confeitaria fazia e vendia tortas produzidas com as maçãs da Parlee Farms.

Eles também faziam rosquinhas, ou doughnuts, de maçã e de mirtilo, ou blueberry.

After I finished my training, the summer passed really quickly.

I started during blueberry season, so I could always smell fresh berries and blueberry doughnuts while I was working.

Ellen let us eat fruit whenever we wanted.

She was a great boss.

No começo, a chefe colocou Erin em turnos durante a semana, que eram mais tranquilos.

Mas, depois de um tempo, ela teve que enfrentar os sábados e domingos, que eram muito mais corridos.

Parlee Farms was one of the most popular U-pick farms in the area.

We had thousands of customers on the weekends, and sometimes they were impatient.

My first weekend shift was very busy.

When I got home, my mom gave me some advice: just pay attention to one customer at a time.

So, I tried that during my next weekend shift at the farm, and I was able to work faster, the customers seemed happier, and I had more fun.

Justo quando Erin sentia que tava começando a melhorar no trabalho, chegou a época da maçã, a fruta mais popular do pomar.

A colheita é no outono, bem quando Erin tinha que voltar pra escola.

My first shift during apple season was on a Friday after school.

It was the busiest day since I started working there.

I tried to pay attention to one customer at a time, like my mom told me, but it was hard to do after a long school day.

I was really tired.

Erin tava tendo aulas muito difíceis e tinha que estudar por três a quatro horas todas as noites.

Mas ela não queria quebrar a promessa que tinha feito pra chefe, de ficar lá durante a temporada de maçã.

I woke up early, went to school, then quickly went to Parlee Farms for my shift.

When I got home around 7:30 pm, I started doing my homework, which took hours! I was so tired, and it was really hard to finish my assignments.

Num dia de setembro, a chefe pediu pra Erin fazer um turno na confeitaria.

A Parlee Farms tinha acabado de preparar as primeiras levas de suas famosas rosquinhas de maçã pra temporada.

Eles vendiam centenas por hora! Em pouco tempo, Erin tava esgotada, ou wiped out.

That day, I helped roll doughnuts in brown sugar and put them into bags.

It was hard work, and there were so many customers.

By the end of my shift, I was covered in sugar, and I was wiped out.

But after work, I had to finish an essay for my English class.

I came home and immediately started writing.

The next morning, my mom found me sleeping at my computer.

I was still covered in sugar.

She said, “We need to talk.”

Erin ainda tinha seis semanas de trabalho pela frente até o fim da temporada.

Mas a mãe dela tava preocupada.

Erin ia tentar entrar na faculdade no ano seguinte e precisava tirar boas notas.

A mãe perguntou por que ela não saía do emprego.

At first, I was upset.

I couldn’t quit! I promised Ellen that I could work during the fall.

But then I looked at my English essay, which still wasn’t finished, and I realized my mom was right.

When I started the job, I didn’t understand that it’s a lot of responsibility to go to school and work at the same time.

My mom helped me write an email to Ellen.

A chefe, Ellen, respondeu dizendo que era uma pena que ela tivesse que sair.

Erin concordou em terminar os turnos que tinha programado pra aquela semana antes de ir embora.

Mesmo assim, ela tava preocupada.

Será que Ellen tinha ficado decepcionada, ou let down?

I apologized so many times.

I felt terrible.

For years after that, I refused to go to Parlee Farms with my mom.

Ellen was super nice when I quit my job, but in my mind, I imagined that she felt very let down by me.

Depois de terminar o ensino médio, Erin foi pra faculdade em outro estado.

Num dia durante as férias de verão, quando tava passando um tempo com a família, sua mãe a chamou pra ir na Parlee Farms.

Ela aceitou, mas foi de má vontade.

It was my first time going back in three years.

In the car, I worried that Ellen was still going to feel let down.

But when we arrived, she was as kind as I remembered.

As we left, I smiled.

Even though I chose school over my job, I learned a hard lesson at Parlee Farms that I couldn’t learn in a classroom.

I learned to be careful about the promises I make.

But I also learned that people who really care about you understand when you make mistakes.

And most importantly, you have to do what’s best for you.

Pra Erin, deixar o trabalho foi difícil, mesmo sabendo que era a melhor escolha.

Mas, pra Jesse Steinmetz, sair não era uma opção, nem quando a vida dele tava em risco.

No verão de 2021, Jesse trabalhava como vigia florestal, ou fire lookout.

O trabalho dele era detectar incêndios na floresta antes que saíssem de controle.

A maioria dos incêndios florestais dos Estados Unidos acontece no verão.

Even though fire lookouts have to look for fires, it usually isn’t a dangerous job.

The fires are normally far away.

But one evening, there was a huge lightning storm, and I realized that my job was more dangerous than I thought.

If lightning hit a nearby tree, it could set the whole tree on fire.

And that would probably set everything around it on fire, too — including me! I really didn’t want that to happen.

No oeste dos Estados Unidos, os incêndios florestais, ou wildfires, geralmente queimam uma área total maior que o país de Belize.

Incêndios são algo natural do ecossistema, mas eles ficam perigosos quando se aproximam de vilarejos e cidades.

Por isso, é importante ter vigias como Jesse pra ajudar no combate.

I grew up in the northeast U.S., where wildfires are less common.

So, I never saw big wildfires as a kid, but I often heard about them on the news.

Tonight, wildfires are burning across Northern California…

It was scary to watch videos of the fires because they don’t only destroy trees and animal habitats — they also destroy people’s homes.

…hundreds of homes have already been destroyed…

Sometimes, people even die.

I really wanted to go to the Western United States to help, and one day, I read about the job of a fire lookout.

Os vigias florestais ficam em torres de incêndio, ou fire towers, no meio da floresta.

Essas torres costumam ser muito altas, com uma vista pra toda floresta ao redor.

Assim, o vigia pode detectar incêndios logo no começo e avisar os bombeiros antes que o fogo ameace as pessoas e suas casas.

There aren’t many fire lookouts in the U.S., so I didn’t learn about them until I read a book by Jack Kerouac.

He’s a famous North American writer who loved adventure.

In the book, Kerouac wrote about the time when he was a fire lookout.

He passed the time reading, writing, and looking at a beautiful view from the fire tower all day.

I wanted to go on an adventure like Kerouac, but I also wanted to help keep people safe from wildfires.

So, a job as a fire lookout seemed like the perfect combination.

No verão de 2021, Jesse se candidatou pra uma vaga de emprego de vigia florestal no estado de Montana.

E conseguiu o trabalho! Então, ele saiu da Carolina do Norte, onde morava, e se mudou pra costa oeste.

In late May, I drove for several days to get to Montana.

And then, I finally arrived at the tower.

From the tower, I could see trees, hills, and rivers everywhere I looked.

The view was amazing, and I saw wild animals all the time.

I was about 65 kilometers from the closest town, which basically meant that I was completely alone.

Das 8 da manhã até as 4 e meia da tarde, Jesse ia a cada 15 minutos pra plataforma da torre ver se tinha fumaça na floresta.

Nos primeiros meses, os dias de Jesse foram muito parecidos com o que ele tinha lido no livro de Jack Kerouac.

Não tinha muitos incêndios, e os que apareciam não eram muito grandes.

Sometimes, there were small fires, but the firefighters usually extinguished them quickly.

There were big fires in that area in past years, but not during the first few months that I was there.

Then, one night in early August, everything changed.

No início da noite, nuvens escuras enormes começaram a se formar, e Jesse ficou preocupado.

Essas nuvens geralmente trazem raios que podem provocar incêndios.

Around 9:00 pm, the wind became really strong.

I was used to windy nights by that point in the summer, but I didn’t expect the wind to be as strong as 80 kilometers per hour.

I could hear the tower making loud noises as the wind blew outside.

Then, the rain began.

It hit the windows hard.

And soon, I saw lightning.

Os raios costumam atingir o objeto mais alto que encontram, o que era uma má notícia pra Jesse, porque a torre de incêndio era a estrutura mais alta em vários quilômetros na redondeza!

I heard stories about fire lookouts that were in their tower when it was hit by lightning.

The fire lookouts didn’t die, but after they were hit by the electricity, their bodies and brains were never quite the same again.

I did not want that to happen to me!

Então, Jesse pegou um banco, ou stool, especial, feito de madeira e com pernas de vidro.

Enquanto estivesse de pé em cima dele, estaria seguro.

O problema é que de lá ele não podia fazer muito bem seu trabalho.

De cima do banco não dava pra ver onde caíam os raios e se eles provocavam incêndios.

As I climbed on top of the stool, I could see lightning all around the tower.

After I stood there for a few minutes, I got a phone call.

To answer the phone, I had to get off of the stool.

I thought that it was probably an emergency call.

And I was right — someone from the nearby town told me that he saw a fire just a kilometer or two from my tower.

I hung up, and then I immediately called my boss to tell him the news.

He said to prepare to evacuate the tower.

Pra sair, Jesse teria que correr até o carro.

Mas tinha relâmpago em todo lugar — era perigoso ficar do lado de fora.

Além disso, o trabalho dele era detectar incêndios, e ele só conseguia identificar os focos se ficasse ali.

Even though my boss told me to prepare to leave, I decided to stay.

I wanted to keep people safe.

I looked for the fire that the man told me about, but I couldn’t see it anywhere.

Instead, I saw something in a completely different direction.

At first, it looked like lights from a car.

But it started to get brighter and brighter.

Then I realized that an entire hill was on fire, and the fire was moving quickly.

I had to tell the firefighters before it became too big!

Jesse usou um mapa pra identificar onde tava o incêndio e falou com os bombeiros pelo rádio.

I used my radio to call about the fire, and soon, firefighters were on the way to the location that I described.

But I was nervous.

Because the fire was so far away, I wasn’t sure that I gave them the right location.

If I was wrong, and they couldn’t find the fire, it could grow and become really dangerous.

Depois de muito tempo, os bombeiros chegaram na área que Jesse tinha informado… e ele tinha calculado certo! O incêndio tava exatamente onde ele tinha previsto.

If firefighters go to the wrong location, then the fire will grow and people might die.

So, I felt great when the firefighters arrived.

They had to work hard to put out the fire, but I was glad that they went to the right place.

Mas a noite de Jesse ainda não tinha acabado.

Ele teve que ficar atento a outros incêndios, porque às vezes podem ocorrer vários de uma vez em diferentes partes da floresta.

Felizmente, depois de umas duas horas, a tempestade diminuiu e o vento parou.

Antes que Jesse percebesse, já era meia-noite.

I spent all night looking at the forest, and after a while, it was hard to keep my eyes open.

Eventually, I fell asleep after a long and scary day.

The next morning, I could only see the smoke from one fire — the one that I reported.

It burned a big area during the night, but since I reported it quickly, several groups of firefighters started working to extinguish it, and nothing really bad happened.

Os esforços de Jesse valeram a pena.

Ninguém ficou ferido e nenhuma casa pegou fogo.

I was proud that I saw the fire before it became really dangerous.

I felt good that I did my job and maybe even saved lives.

For the rest of the summer, there were a few more fires in the forest, but nothing was as bad as the storm that night in August.

And when September finally arrived, I moved out of the fire tower.

I was excited to see other people again, but I was very sad that my seasonal job was over.

I was going to miss living in a fire tower because even though there’s always the possibility of lightning, it’s all part of the adventure.

Jesse Steinmetz foi vigia de incêndios em Ashland, no estado de Montana, no verão de 2021.

Agora ele é produtor da estação de rádio WFAE em Charlotte, na Carolina do Norte.

Tem muitas tempestades com raios por lá, e ele tenta evitar os prédios altos quando elas acontecem.

Nossa primeira narradora, Erin Phillips, é produtora de podcasts e mora na Virginia.

Ela ainda gosta de colher maçãs no outono.

Eu sou Helena Fruet.

Thank you for listening!