Questões de Concurso
Sobre interpretação de texto | reading comprehension em inglês
Foram encontradas 13.079 questões
Read text I and answer questions 41 to 55:
Text I
Technology for children in the classroom
Attitudes to technology
Many people are afraid of new technology, and, with the
increasing presence of the Internet and computers, the term
technophobe has appeared to refer to those of us who might
5 be wary of these new developments. More recently, the term
digital native has been invented to refer to someone who
grows up using technology, and who therefore feels
comfortable and confident with it – typically today’s children.
Their parents, on the other hand, tend to be digital
10 immigrants, who have come late to the world of technology, if
at all. In many cases, teachers are the digital immigrants and
our younger students are the digital natives.
What about you? How confident do you feel about using
the Internet and computers? Although there is a tendency to
15 call computer users either technophobes or technogeeks (a
term for a technology enthusiast), the truth is that most of us
probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Technology and young learners
Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely
20 on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have — the
preference for visually presented information. Television,
movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually
oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of
young children.
25 The problem with this is that many of the modern
technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not
provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial
emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they
require when they are young.
30 On the other hand, there are many positive qualities to
modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young
children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow
the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and
independent thinking skills.
35 Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace
and activity and make things happen on computers. They can
also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.
In practice, computers supplement and do not replace highly
valued early childhood activities and materials, such as art,
40 blocks, sand, water, books, exploration with writing materials,
and dramatic play. Research indicates that computers can be
used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to
children and also can be misused, just as any tool can.
Developmentally appropriate software offers opportunities for
45 collaborative play, learning, and creation. Educators must use
professional judgment in evaluating and using this learning tool
appropriately, applying the same criteria they would to any
other learning tool or experience.
Char Soucy (a primary school teacher) mentions: "Reading
50 books, handling real books, learning to take care of books,
turning pages, and interacting with human beings about
literature are still vital for learning to read." There are
electronic books, but they are really not the same thing as real
books. There must be a balance between the two. Computers
55 are highly motivating to today's students, who come to school
with plenty of visual stimulation from TV, video games, and
other technological sources, but it is not a good idea to go all
electronic or to let technology replace what teachers have
done for a long time with learning how to read or write.
(Retrieved and adapted from http://pearsonclassroomlink.com /articles/0711/0711_0102.htm on June 10th, 2014)
The question that is answered by the sentence “Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have” (lines 19 and 20) is
Read text I and answer questions 41 to 55:
Text I
Technology for children in the classroom
Attitudes to technology
Many people are afraid of new technology, and, with the
increasing presence of the Internet and computers, the term
technophobe has appeared to refer to those of us who might
5 be wary of these new developments. More recently, the term
digital native has been invented to refer to someone who
grows up using technology, and who therefore feels
comfortable and confident with it – typically today’s children.
Their parents, on the other hand, tend to be digital
10 immigrants, who have come late to the world of technology, if
at all. In many cases, teachers are the digital immigrants and
our younger students are the digital natives.
What about you? How confident do you feel about using
the Internet and computers? Although there is a tendency to
15 call computer users either technophobes or technogeeks (a
term for a technology enthusiast), the truth is that most of us
probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Technology and young learners
Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely
20 on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have — the
preference for visually presented information. Television,
movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually
oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of
young children.
25 The problem with this is that many of the modern
technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not
provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial
emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they
require when they are young.
30 On the other hand, there are many positive qualities to
modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young
children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow
the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and
independent thinking skills.
35 Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace
and activity and make things happen on computers. They can
also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.
In practice, computers supplement and do not replace highly
valued early childhood activities and materials, such as art,
40 blocks, sand, water, books, exploration with writing materials,
and dramatic play. Research indicates that computers can be
used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to
children and also can be misused, just as any tool can.
Developmentally appropriate software offers opportunities for
45 collaborative play, learning, and creation. Educators must use
professional judgment in evaluating and using this learning tool
appropriately, applying the same criteria they would to any
other learning tool or experience.
Char Soucy (a primary school teacher) mentions: "Reading
50 books, handling real books, learning to take care of books,
turning pages, and interacting with human beings about
literature are still vital for learning to read." There are
electronic books, but they are really not the same thing as real
books. There must be a balance between the two. Computers
55 are highly motivating to today's students, who come to school
with plenty of visual stimulation from TV, video games, and
other technological sources, but it is not a good idea to go all
electronic or to let technology replace what teachers have
done for a long time with learning how to read or write.
(Retrieved and adapted from http://pearsonclassroomlink.com /articles/0711/0711_0102.htm on June 10th, 2014)
As regards the author’s opinion, analyse the assertions below:
I. Computers will replace all other materials in the future.
II. Electronic books are much more effective than paper books.
III. New technology should be evaluated like any other pedagogical tool.
Choose the correct answer.
Read text I and answer questions 41 to 55:
Text I
Technology for children in the classroom
Attitudes to technology
Many people are afraid of new technology, and, with the
increasing presence of the Internet and computers, the term
technophobe has appeared to refer to those of us who might
5 be wary of these new developments. More recently, the term
digital native has been invented to refer to someone who
grows up using technology, and who therefore feels
comfortable and confident with it – typically today’s children.
Their parents, on the other hand, tend to be digital
10 immigrants, who have come late to the world of technology, if
at all. In many cases, teachers are the digital immigrants and
our younger students are the digital natives.
What about you? How confident do you feel about using
the Internet and computers? Although there is a tendency to
15 call computer users either technophobes or technogeeks (a
term for a technology enthusiast), the truth is that most of us
probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Technology and young learners
Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely
20 on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have — the
preference for visually presented information. Television,
movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually
oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of
young children.
25 The problem with this is that many of the modern
technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not
provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial
emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they
require when they are young.
30 On the other hand, there are many positive qualities to
modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young
children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow
the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and
independent thinking skills.
35 Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace
and activity and make things happen on computers. They can
also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.
In practice, computers supplement and do not replace highly
valued early childhood activities and materials, such as art,
40 blocks, sand, water, books, exploration with writing materials,
and dramatic play. Research indicates that computers can be
used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to
children and also can be misused, just as any tool can.
Developmentally appropriate software offers opportunities for
45 collaborative play, learning, and creation. Educators must use
professional judgment in evaluating and using this learning tool
appropriately, applying the same criteria they would to any
other learning tool or experience.
Char Soucy (a primary school teacher) mentions: "Reading
50 books, handling real books, learning to take care of books,
turning pages, and interacting with human beings about
literature are still vital for learning to read." There are
electronic books, but they are really not the same thing as real
books. There must be a balance between the two. Computers
55 are highly motivating to today's students, who come to school
with plenty of visual stimulation from TV, video games, and
other technological sources, but it is not a good idea to go all
electronic or to let technology replace what teachers have
done for a long time with learning how to read or write.
(Retrieved and adapted from http://pearsonclassroomlink.com /articles/0711/0711_0102.htm on June 10th, 2014)
When one says that people “are afraid” (line 2) they mean they are
Read text I and answer questions 41 to 55:
Text I
Technology for children in the classroom
Attitudes to technology
Many people are afraid of new technology, and, with the
increasing presence of the Internet and computers, the term
technophobe has appeared to refer to those of us who might
5 be wary of these new developments. More recently, the term
digital native has been invented to refer to someone who
grows up using technology, and who therefore feels
comfortable and confident with it – typically today’s children.
Their parents, on the other hand, tend to be digital
10 immigrants, who have come late to the world of technology, if
at all. In many cases, teachers are the digital immigrants and
our younger students are the digital natives.
What about you? How confident do you feel about using
the Internet and computers? Although there is a tendency to
15 call computer users either technophobes or technogeeks (a
term for a technology enthusiast), the truth is that most of us
probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Technology and young learners
Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely
20 on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have — the
preference for visually presented information. Television,
movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually
oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of
young children.
25 The problem with this is that many of the modern
technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not
provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial
emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they
require when they are young.
30 On the other hand, there are many positive qualities to
modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young
children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow
the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and
independent thinking skills.
35 Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace
and activity and make things happen on computers. They can
also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.
In practice, computers supplement and do not replace highly
valued early childhood activities and materials, such as art,
40 blocks, sand, water, books, exploration with writing materials,
and dramatic play. Research indicates that computers can be
used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to
children and also can be misused, just as any tool can.
Developmentally appropriate software offers opportunities for
45 collaborative play, learning, and creation. Educators must use
professional judgment in evaluating and using this learning tool
appropriately, applying the same criteria they would to any
other learning tool or experience.
Char Soucy (a primary school teacher) mentions: "Reading
50 books, handling real books, learning to take care of books,
turning pages, and interacting with human beings about
literature are still vital for learning to read." There are
electronic books, but they are really not the same thing as real
books. There must be a balance between the two. Computers
55 are highly motivating to today's students, who come to school
with plenty of visual stimulation from TV, video games, and
other technological sources, but it is not a good idea to go all
electronic or to let technology replace what teachers have
done for a long time with learning how to read or write.
(Retrieved and adapted from http://pearsonclassroomlink.com /articles/0711/0711_0102.htm on June 10th, 2014)
The label “digital natives” has been used to define people who
Read text I and answer questions 41 to 55:
Text I
Technology for children in the classroom
Attitudes to technology
Many people are afraid of new technology, and, with the
increasing presence of the Internet and computers, the term
technophobe has appeared to refer to those of us who might
5 be wary of these new developments. More recently, the term
digital native has been invented to refer to someone who
grows up using technology, and who therefore feels
comfortable and confident with it – typically today’s children.
Their parents, on the other hand, tend to be digital
10 immigrants, who have come late to the world of technology, if
at all. In many cases, teachers are the digital immigrants and
our younger students are the digital natives.
What about you? How confident do you feel about using
the Internet and computers? Although there is a tendency to
15 call computer users either technophobes or technogeeks (a
term for a technology enthusiast), the truth is that most of us
probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Technology and young learners
Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely
20 on one of the most powerful genetic biases we have — the
preference for visually presented information. Television,
movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually
oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of
young children.
25 The problem with this is that many of the modern
technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not
provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial
emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they
require when they are young.
30 On the other hand, there are many positive qualities to
modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young
children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow
the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and
independent thinking skills.
35 Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace
and activity and make things happen on computers. They can
also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.
In practice, computers supplement and do not replace highly
valued early childhood activities and materials, such as art,
40 blocks, sand, water, books, exploration with writing materials,
and dramatic play. Research indicates that computers can be
used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to
children and also can be misused, just as any tool can.
Developmentally appropriate software offers opportunities for
45 collaborative play, learning, and creation. Educators must use
professional judgment in evaluating and using this learning tool
appropriately, applying the same criteria they would to any
other learning tool or experience.
Char Soucy (a primary school teacher) mentions: "Reading
50 books, handling real books, learning to take care of books,
turning pages, and interacting with human beings about
literature are still vital for learning to read." There are
electronic books, but they are really not the same thing as real
books. There must be a balance between the two. Computers
55 are highly motivating to today's students, who come to school
with plenty of visual stimulation from TV, video games, and
other technological sources, but it is not a good idea to go all
electronic or to let technology replace what teachers have
done for a long time with learning how to read or write.
(Retrieved and adapted from http://pearsonclassroomlink.com /articles/0711/0711_0102.htm on June 10th, 2014)
In relation to the use of technology in the classroom as presented in the text, mark the statements below as true (T) or false (F).
( ) Children tend to be more at ease with it than adults.
( ) Not all technologies promote student interaction.
( ) Everybody is eager to deal with new technology.
The statements are, respectively,
Read text IV to answer 26 through 30.
Invitation for Bids (IFB)
1. The ECOWAS COMMISSION has allocated own funds towards the cost of the Supply, Deployment & Installation of Network Equipment at the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters Data Centre, Abuja.
2. The ECOWAS Commission therefore invites sealed bids for the Supply, Deployment & Installation of Network Equipment at the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters Data Centre, Abuja described above in one lot.
3. The Bidding Document can be obtained at the Procurement Division, Directorate of General Administration, ECOWAS Commission, Plot 101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro District, Abuja, Nigeria, upon submission of a written request and payment of three hundred US Dollars (US$300.00) by Cash or Bank Draft made in favour of ECOWAS Commission, Abuja.
4. For Bidders outside Nigeria, the Bidding Document can be mailed to interested Bidders upon payment (by Transfer) of non-refundable fee of US$300.00 to the Commission (transfer charges born by the bidder). (Account Details available on request.)
5. Interested Bidders may obtain further information at the address below, during office hours: Monday to Friday from 9.00am (8.00am GMT+1) to 4.00pm (3.00pm GMT+1), ECOWAS Commission, Directorate of General Administration, Procurement Division, 1st Floor, Plot 101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro District, PMB 401 Abuja Nigeria.
E-mail: [email protected]
6. Bids shall be valid for a period of 120 (days) after Bid Opening and must be accompanied by a bid security of US$20,000.00 (Bank Guarantee or Insurance Bond).
7. Bids shall be delivered in sealed envelope and deposited in the ECOWAS Tender Box located Office of the Executive Assistant of Commissioner of Administration & Finance, fifth (5th) floor of the ECOWAS Commission Building, 101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent Asokoro District, P. M. B. 401, Abuja, Nigeria on or before November 7, 2013 at 11.30am (10.30am GMT+1) and clearly marked “International Competitive Bidding for the Production of ECOWAS Biometric Laissez Passer and Supply of Equipment” Do Not Open, Except in Presence of the Committee.
8. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders who wish to attend on November 7, 2013 at 12.00 noon (11.00am GMT+1), Room 523, Ecowas Commission, Abuja, Nigeria.
(The Economist, September 4th, 2013. Page 86. Adaptado.)
A bid security
Read text IV to answer 26 through 30.
Invitation for Bids (IFB)
1. The ECOWAS COMMISSION has allocated own funds towards the cost of the Supply, Deployment & Installation of Network Equipment at the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters Data Centre, Abuja.
2. The ECOWAS Commission therefore invites sealed bids for the Supply, Deployment & Installation of Network Equipment at the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters Data Centre, Abuja described above in one lot.
3. The Bidding Document can be obtained at the Procurement Division, Directorate of General Administration, ECOWAS Commission, Plot 101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro District, Abuja, Nigeria, upon submission of a written request and payment of three hundred US Dollars (US$300.00) by Cash or Bank Draft made in favour of ECOWAS Commission, Abuja.
4. For Bidders outside Nigeria, the Bidding Document can be mailed to interested Bidders upon payment (by Transfer) of non-refundable fee of US$300.00 to the Commission (transfer charges born by the bidder). (Account Details available on request.)
5. Interested Bidders may obtain further information at the address below, during office hours: Monday to Friday from 9.00am (8.00am GMT+1) to 4.00pm (3.00pm GMT+1), ECOWAS Commission, Directorate of General Administration, Procurement Division, 1st Floor, Plot 101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro District, PMB 401 Abuja Nigeria.
E-mail: [email protected]
6. Bids shall be valid for a period of 120 (days) after Bid Opening and must be accompanied by a bid security of US$20,000.00 (Bank Guarantee or Insurance Bond).
7. Bids shall be delivered in sealed envelope and deposited in the ECOWAS Tender Box located Office of the Executive Assistant of Commissioner of Administration & Finance, fifth (5th) floor of the ECOWAS Commission Building, 101, Yakubu Gowon Crescent Asokoro District, P. M. B. 401, Abuja, Nigeria on or before November 7, 2013 at 11.30am (10.30am GMT+1) and clearly marked “International Competitive Bidding for the Production of ECOWAS Biometric Laissez Passer and Supply of Equipment” Do Not Open, Except in Presence of the Committee.
8. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders who wish to attend on November 7, 2013 at 12.00 noon (11.00am GMT+1), Room 523, Ecowas Commission, Abuja, Nigeria.
(The Economist, September 4th, 2013. Page 86. Adaptado.)
It is true about the text that
Read text III to answer 21 through 25.
Acid rain and… the facts
www.acidrain.org.ca / Oxford Children´s Encyclopedia
What causes acid rain?
Acid rain is caused by air pollution. When fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned, two gases, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, are released into the atmosphere. These two pollutants eventually react with the moisture in the air. When this polluted mixture falls onto the ground, it is called acid rain.
Rain measuring between 0 and 5 on the pH scale, is acidic therefore called ACID RAIN.
Acid rain is harmful to the environment. It is hard to control because it may be blown by the wind, falling thousands of kilometers from where it was first formed. For example, much of the acid rain in Canada is caused by smoke from factories and power-stations in the USA. The acid rain in Scandinavia may come from Britain.
What are the effects of acid rain?
Acid rain has many different effects. It has killed fish in the lakes of North America, Scandinavia, Scotland, and Wales. Vast areas of forest in northern and central Europe are dying because of it, while in many European cities statues and stone buildings are being eaten away by the acid. Acid rain corrodes metalwork such as steel bridges and railings; it also attacks some types of concrete. Even the water that we drink is slowly being polluted by acid rain.
What are the effects on trees and soil?
One of the most serious impacts of acid precipitation is on forests and soils. Great damage is done when sulphuric acid falls onto the earth as rain. Nutrients present in the soils are washed away. Aluminium also present in the soils is freed and this toxic element can be absorbed by the roots of trees. Thus, the trees starve to death because they have been deprived of their vital nutrients such as calcium and magnesium.
Acid rain is one of the most serious environmental problems of our time. It is a global problems that is gradually affecting our world.
How does acid rain effect lakes?
Lakes that have been acidified cannot support the same variety of life as healthy lakes. As a lake becomes more acidic, various types of fish disappear. Other effects of acidified lakes on fish include: decreased growth, inability to regulate their own body chemistry, reduced egg deposition, deformities in young fish and increased susceptibility to naturally occurring diseases.
Clean rain usually has a pH of 5.6. It is slightly acidic because of carbon dioxide which is naturally present in the atmosphere. Vinegar, by comparison, is very acidic and has a pH of 3.
What is pH?
This is a measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. (See a pH scale below).
The initials pH stand for Potential of Hydrogen. Acids have pH values under 7, and alkalis have pH values over 7. If a substance has a pH value of 7. It is neutral-neither acidic or alkaline.
Because the pH scale is logarithmic, a difference of one pH unit represents a tenfold, or ten times change. For example, the acidity of a sample with a pH of 5 is ten times greater than that of a sample with a pH of 6. A difference of 2 units, from 6 to 4, would mean that the acidity in one hundred times greater, and so on.
(Reinildes Dias. Reading Critically in English, 3rd ed. UFMG 2002. Adaptado.)
A difference of four units, from six to two, means that the acidity is
Read text III to answer 21 through 25.
Acid rain and… the facts
www.acidrain.org.ca / Oxford Children´s Encyclopedia
What causes acid rain?
Acid rain is caused by air pollution. When fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned, two gases, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, are released into the atmosphere. These two pollutants eventually react with the moisture in the air. When this polluted mixture falls onto the ground, it is called acid rain.
Rain measuring between 0 and 5 on the pH scale, is acidic therefore called ACID RAIN.
Acid rain is harmful to the environment. It is hard to control because it may be blown by the wind, falling thousands of kilometers from where it was first formed. For example, much of the acid rain in Canada is caused by smoke from factories and power-stations in the USA. The acid rain in Scandinavia may come from Britain.
What are the effects of acid rain?
Acid rain has many different effects. It has killed fish in the lakes of North America, Scandinavia, Scotland, and Wales. Vast areas of forest in northern and central Europe are dying because of it, while in many European cities statues and stone buildings are being eaten away by the acid. Acid rain corrodes metalwork such as steel bridges and railings; it also attacks some types of concrete. Even the water that we drink is slowly being polluted by acid rain.
What are the effects on trees and soil?
One of the most serious impacts of acid precipitation is on forests and soils. Great damage is done when sulphuric acid falls onto the earth as rain. Nutrients present in the soils are washed away. Aluminium also present in the soils is freed and this toxic element can be absorbed by the roots of trees. Thus, the trees starve to death because they have been deprived of their vital nutrients such as calcium and magnesium.
Acid rain is one of the most serious environmental problems of our time. It is a global problems that is gradually affecting our world.
How does acid rain effect lakes?
Lakes that have been acidified cannot support the same variety of life as healthy lakes. As a lake becomes more acidic, various types of fish disappear. Other effects of acidified lakes on fish include: decreased growth, inability to regulate their own body chemistry, reduced egg deposition, deformities in young fish and increased susceptibility to naturally occurring diseases.
Clean rain usually has a pH of 5.6. It is slightly acidic because of carbon dioxide which is naturally present in the atmosphere. Vinegar, by comparison, is very acidic and has a pH of 3.
What is pH?
This is a measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. (See a pH scale below).
The initials pH stand for Potential of Hydrogen. Acids have pH values under 7, and alkalis have pH values over 7. If a substance has a pH value of 7. It is neutral-neither acidic or alkaline.
Because the pH scale is logarithmic, a difference of one pH unit represents a tenfold, or ten times change. For example, the acidity of a sample with a pH of 5 is ten times greater than that of a sample with a pH of 6. A difference of 2 units, from 6 to 4, would mean that the acidity in one hundred times greater, and so on.
(Reinildes Dias. Reading Critically in English, 3rd ed. UFMG 2002. Adaptado.)
It is true that clean rain
Read text III to answer 21 through 25.
Acid rain and… the facts
www.acidrain.org.ca / Oxford Children´s Encyclopedia
What causes acid rain?
Acid rain is caused by air pollution. When fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned, two gases, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, are released into the atmosphere. These two pollutants eventually react with the moisture in the air. When this polluted mixture falls onto the ground, it is called acid rain.
Rain measuring between 0 and 5 on the pH scale, is acidic therefore called ACID RAIN.
Acid rain is harmful to the environment. It is hard to control because it may be blown by the wind, falling thousands of kilometers from where it was first formed. For example, much of the acid rain in Canada is caused by smoke from factories and power-stations in the USA. The acid rain in Scandinavia may come from Britain.
What are the effects of acid rain?
Acid rain has many different effects. It has killed fish in the lakes of North America, Scandinavia, Scotland, and Wales. Vast areas of forest in northern and central Europe are dying because of it, while in many European cities statues and stone buildings are being eaten away by the acid. Acid rain corrodes metalwork such as steel bridges and railings; it also attacks some types of concrete. Even the water that we drink is slowly being polluted by acid rain.
What are the effects on trees and soil?
One of the most serious impacts of acid precipitation is on forests and soils. Great damage is done when sulphuric acid falls onto the earth as rain. Nutrients present in the soils are washed away. Aluminium also present in the soils is freed and this toxic element can be absorbed by the roots of trees. Thus, the trees starve to death because they have been deprived of their vital nutrients such as calcium and magnesium.
Acid rain is one of the most serious environmental problems of our time. It is a global problems that is gradually affecting our world.
How does acid rain effect lakes?
Lakes that have been acidified cannot support the same variety of life as healthy lakes. As a lake becomes more acidic, various types of fish disappear. Other effects of acidified lakes on fish include: decreased growth, inability to regulate their own body chemistry, reduced egg deposition, deformities in young fish and increased susceptibility to naturally occurring diseases.
Clean rain usually has a pH of 5.6. It is slightly acidic because of carbon dioxide which is naturally present in the atmosphere. Vinegar, by comparison, is very acidic and has a pH of 3.
What is pH?
This is a measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. (See a pH scale below).
The initials pH stand for Potential of Hydrogen. Acids have pH values under 7, and alkalis have pH values over 7. If a substance has a pH value of 7. It is neutral-neither acidic or alkaline.
Because the pH scale is logarithmic, a difference of one pH unit represents a tenfold, or ten times change. For example, the acidity of a sample with a pH of 5 is ten times greater than that of a sample with a pH of 6. A difference of 2 units, from 6 to 4, would mean that the acidity in one hundred times greater, and so on.
(Reinildes Dias. Reading Critically in English, 3rd ed. UFMG 2002. Adaptado.)
According to the text, a pH of 8
Bertrand Russell once predicted that the socialization of reproduction — the supersession of the family by the state — would “make sex love itself more trivial,” encourage “a certain triviality in all personal relations,” and “make it far more difficult to take an interest in anything after one’s own death.” At first glance, recent developments appear to have refuted the first part of this prediction. Americans today invest personal relations, particularly the relations between men and women, with undiminished emotional importance. The decline of childrearing as a major preoccupation has freed sex from its bondage to procreation and made it possible for people to value erotic life for its own sake. As the family shrinks to the marital unit, it can be argued that men and women respond more readily to each other’s emotional needs, instead of living vicariously through their offspring. The marriage contract having lost its binding character, couples now find it possible, according to many observers, to ground sexual relations in something more solid than legal compulsion. In short, the growing determination to live for the moment, whatever it may have done to the relations between parents and children, appears to have established the preconditions of a new intimacy between men and women. This appearance is an illusion. The cult of intimacy conceals a growing despair of finding it. Personal relations crumble under the emotional weight with which they are burdened. The inability “to take an interest in anything after one’s own death,” which gives such urgency to the pursuit of close personal encounters in the present, makes intimacy more elusive than ever. The same developments that have weakened the tie between parents and children have also undermined relations between men and women. Indeed the deterioration of marriage contributes in its own right to the deterioration of care for the young. This last point is so obvious that only a strenuous propaganda on behalf of “open marriage” and “creative divorce” prevents us from grasping it. It is clear, for example, that the growing incidence of divorce, together with the ever-present possibility that any given marriage will end in collapse, adds to the instability of family life and deprives the child of a measure of emotional security. Enlightened opinion diverts attention from this general fact by insisting that in specific cases, parents may do more harm to their children by holding a marriage together than by dissolving it. More often the husband abandons his children to the wife whose company he finds unbearable, and the wife smothers the children with incessant yet perfunctory attentions. This particular solution to the problem of marital strain has become so common that the absence of the father impresses many observers as the most striking fact about the contemporary family. Under these conditions, a divorce in which the mother retains custody of her children merely ratifies the existing state of affairs — the effective emotional desertion of his family by the father. But the reflection that divorce often does no more damage to children than marriage itself hardly inspires rejoicing.
Christopher Lasch. The Cult of Narcissism. Abacus, Londres, 1980 p. 320-322 (adapted)
Based on the text, decide if the following statement is correct (C) or wrong (E).
Living one’s children’s lives and dreams used to be a far more widespread feature of traditional families in the US than it is nowadays.
Men and women in the US have become increasingly aware that it takes money to improve their personal relations.
Based on the text, decide whether the following statement about the author's position on the trivialization of personal relationships is right (C) or wrong (E).
He is non-committal about it, assuming this is an inescapable trend in contemporary American life.
Principies for an effective informatics curriculum
The committee performed a comprehensive review of the considerabie existing material on building informatics curricula, including among many others the (UK) Royal Society report, the CSPrinciples site, the Computing at Schools Initiative, and the work of the CSTA. Two major conclusions follow from that review.
The first is the sheer number of existing experiences demonstrating that it is indeed possible to teach informatics successfully in primary and secondary education. The second conclusion is in the form of two core principies for such curricula. Existing experiences use a wide variety of approaches; there is no standard curriculum yet, and it was not part of the Committee's mission to define such a standard informatics curriculum for the whole of Europe. The committee has found, however, that while views diverge on the details, a remarkable consensus exists among experts on the basics of what a school informatics curriculum should (and should not) include. On the basis of that existing work, the Committee has identified two principies: leverage students' creativity, emphasize quality.
Leverage student creativity
A powerful aid for informatics teaching is the topic's potential for stimulating students; creativity. The barriers to innovation are often lower than in other disciplines; the technical equipment (computers) is ubiquitous and considerably less expensive. Opportunities exist even for a beginner: with proper guidance, a Creative student can quickly start writing a program or a Web Service, see the results right away, and make them available to numerous other people. Informatics education should draw on this phenomenon and channel the creativity into useful directions, while warning students away from nefarious directions such as destructive "hacking". The example of HFOSS (Humanitarian Free and Open Software Systems) shows the way towards constructive societal contributions based on informatics.
Informatics education must not just dwell on imparting information to students. It must draw attention to aspects of informatics that immediately appeal to young students, to encourage interaction, to bring abstract concepts to life through visualization and animation; a typical application of this idea is the careful use of (non- violent) games.
Foster quality
Curious students are always going to learn some IT and in particular some programming outside of informatics education through games scripting, Web site development, or adding software components to social networks. Informatics education must emphasize quality, in particular software quality, including the need for correctness (proper functioning of software), for good user interfaces, for taking the needs of users into consideration including psychological and social concerns. The role of informatics education here is:
• To convey the distinction between mere "coding" and software development as a constructive activity based on scientific and engineering principies.
• To dispel the wrong image of programming as an activity for "nerds" and emphasize its human, user-centered aspects, a focus that helps attract students of both genders.
Breaking the teacher availability deadlock
An obstacle to generalizing informatics education is the lack of teachers. It follows from a chicken-and-egg problem: as long as informatics is not in the curriculum, there is Iittle incentive to educate teachers in the subject; as long as there are no teachers, there is Iittle incentive to introduce the subject.
To bring informatics education to the levei that their schools deserve, European countries will have to take both long-term and short-term initiatives:
• Universities, in particular through their informatics departments, must put in place comprehensive programs to train informatics teachers, able to teach digital literacy and informatics under the same intellectual standards as in mathematics, physics and other Sciences.
• The current chicken-and-egg situation is not an excuse for deferring the start of urgently needed efforts. Existing experiences conclusively show that it is possible to break the deadlock. For example, a recent New York Times article explains how IT companies such as Microsoft and Google, conscious of the need to improve the state of education, allow some of their most committed engineers and researchers in the US to pair up with high school teachers to teach computational thinking. In Russia, it is common for academics who graduated from the best high schools to go back to these schools, also on a volunteer basis, and help teachers introduce the concepts of modern informatics. Ali these efforts respect the principie that outsiders must always be paired with current high-school teachers.
(Excerpt of ' Report ofthe joint Informatics Europe & ACM Europe Working Group on Informatics Education April 2013')
According to the text, it is correct to say that:
Brazilian exports have tripled in the last ten years and now the country requires huge investments in port infrastructure. Investment projects in the coming years are likely to exceed R$19 billion.
The Brazilian infrastructure sector is gearing up to sup- port the strong growth of the country’s foreign trade. In the last 10 years exports have more than tripled, while imports have more than doubled. In order to handle the trade boom Brazilian ports – which handle 95% of the country’s trade by volume and 85% by value – have been receiving significant public and private investments.
At the same time, large-scale projects in transportation logistics (railroads, highways, waterways and airports) are now underway or will be starting in the short or medium term and will promote greater integration with the country’s ports system.
For its part the federal government has made the rules _______________ the ports sector more flexible _______________ the recent publication of Decree 6,620, which allows Brazilian and international private companies ________________ build and operate new public ports under concession. Ports Minister Pedro Brito said he hopes Brazilian ports will receive investments totaling R$19 billion through the coming years.
Investments are needed to expand and modernize Brazilian ports to handle the growth of foreign trade. From 1998 to 2008 Brazil’s total trade flow, counting imports and exports, jumped from US$108 billion to an estimated US$400 billion, of US$281 billion in 2007.
Brazil is also expanding the number of countries with which it trades. From January to September of 2008 Brazil exported to 224 countries and imported from 109. While Brazilian exports still include a strong element of commodities (petroleum, iron ore, soy, grains, coffee and sugar as well as newcomers such as ethanol and bio-diesel) they now also include high-value- added items such as airplanes, vehicles, engines, auto parts, processed meat and steel products.
The sentence:
“The Brazilian infrastructure sector is gearing up to support the strong growth of the country’s foreign trade.” can be correctly translated as:
According to the text:
Building a Practical College Degree for the New Economy
This is not a great time to be a recent college graduate.
Average student-loan debt is $29,400. The underemployment rate is 44 percent for graduates ages 22 to 27, meaning they are holding jobs that don’t require bachelor’s degrees. And the average age of financial independence for college graduate these days is 30.
Such statistics have given rise to the narrative that a college degree is no longer worth it, although volumes of economic studies on lifetime earnings prove otherwise. Even so, given the number of college graduates struggling to launch their careers, a wide gap has emerged between what the workforce needs in employees and what colleges are producing in graduates.
Part of the problem is that we have high expectations for the bachelor’s degree today. Thirty years ago, when fewer people required a higher education to get ahead in life, the bachelor’s degree was seen as a vehicle for broad learning. The training part came later by going to graduate school or getting a job where the new employer trained you.
Now we demand that skills training move in tandem with broad learning, and expect both to be completed in the four years of an undergraduate education. For too many students, however, the bachelor’s degree is not providing that dual experience – high-impact, in-classroom learning and out-of-theclassroom, experiential, and hands-on learning necessary for success in today’s economy.
Because of student loan debt, graduate or professional school is no longer an option for many recent college graduates. They’re searching for quick and cheap addon boot camps that give them what they’re missing. And a whole new set of providers are emerging outside of the traditional higher-education ecosystem to provide that lift.
Last year, General Assembly, which offers courses of a few hours to a few weeks in everything from digital marketing to web development, expanded to Washington, DC, where it is selling out of nearly all of its offerings. Its average student is in his mid-20s and just a few years out of college.
According to the text,
I. colleges are not producing in graduates what the workforce needs in employees.
II. nowadays, the bachelor’s degree is seen only as a vehicle for broad learning.
III. nearly 44% of graduates ages 22 to 27 hold jobs that require bachelor’s degree.
IV. colleges are expected to give students not only skills training, but also broad learning.
V. economic studies on lifetime earnings prove a college degree is no longer worth it.
The correct assumption(s) is(are)
De acordo com o texto, assinale com V (verdadeiro) ou F (falso) as afirmativas abaixo.
( ) Ganhos financeiros não são os únicos objetivos do crime cibernético.
( ) Os Cavalos de Troia são o único programa que não pode destruir toda uma rede de computadores.
( ) Desde início dos anos 90, o compartilhamento de sítios de músicas já se fazia violando a lei.
( ) A disseminação de material sujeito a direitos autorais, sem autorização do proprietário, é considerada pirataria.
A sequência correta do preenchimento dos parênteses, de cima para baixo, é
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