(Available at: https://www.economist.com/business/2024/09/05/the-mystery-of-the-cover-letter – text specially adapted for this test).

TEXT 1

                                                   Why is music good for the brain?

                                                                                                                                                October 7, 2020

    By Andrew E. Budson, MD, Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

1. Can music really affect your well-being, learning, cognitive function, quality of life, and even happiness? Hand in a recent survey on music and brain health conducted by AARP revealed some interesting findings about the impact of music on cognitive and emotional well-being: music listeners had higher scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to people overall.

2. Of survey respondents who currently go to musical performances, 69% rated their brain health as “excellent” or “very good,” compared to 58% for those who went in the past and 52% for those who never attended. Of those who reported often being exposed to music as a child, 68% rated their ability to learn new things as “excellent” or “very good,” compared to 50% of those who were not exposed to music.

3. Active musical engagement, including those over age 50, was associated with higher rates of happiness and good cognitive function. Adults with no early music exposure but who currently engage in some music appreciation show above average mental well-being scores. Those are pretty impressive results, to be sure. However, this 20-minute online survey has some limitations. For one, it included 3,185 US adults ages 18 and older; that is a small number if you are extrapolating to 328 million people across the country. For another, it is really a survey of people’s opinions. For example, although people might report their brain health as “excellent,” there was no objective measure of brain health such as an MRI scan, or even a test to measure their cognition.

4. Lastly, even if the ratings were true, the findings are only correlations. They do not prove that, for example, it was the exposure to music as a child that led to one’s improved ability to learn new things. It may be equally likely that those children brought up in more affluent households were both more likely to be exposed to music and to be given a good education that led to their being able to easily learn new things later in life.

5. Music has been shown to activate some of the broadest and most diverse networks of the brain. Of course, music activates the auditory cortex in the temporal lobes close to your ears, but that’s just the beginning. The parts of the brain involved in emotion are not only activated during emotional music, they are also synchronized. Music also activates a variety of memory regions. And, interestingly, music activates the motor system. In fact, it has been theorized that it is the activation of the brain’s motor system that allows us to pick out the beat of the music even before we start tapping our foot to it!

6. Okay, get along! so music activates just about all of the brain. Why is that so important? Well, have you ever heard the expression, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it”? It turns out this is actually true in the brain. Brain pathways — and even whole networks — are strengthened when they are used and are weakened when they are not used. The reason is that the brain is efficient; it isn’t going to bother keeping a brain pathway strong when it hasn’t been used in many years. The brain will use the neurons in that pathway for something else. These types of changes should be intuitively obvious to you — that’s why it is harder to speak that foreign language if you haven’t used it in 20 years; many of the old pathways have degraded and the neurons are being used for other purposes.

BUDSON, Andrew E. Why is music good for the brain? Harvard Health Publishing, 7 out. 2020. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 12 maio 2024

“Wonderful experience”: Researcher’s close encounter with Svalbard polar bears

By Miranda Bryant

(Available at: www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/02/wonderful-experience-svalbardresearchers-close-encounter-with-svalbard-polar-bears – text especially adapted for this test).

(Available in: www.cbsnews.com/news/most-googled-searches-of-2023/ – text especially adapted for this test). 

What is customer experience management?

(Available at: www.dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/marketing/what-is-customer-experience-management-cxm/ – text specially adapted for this test).

Text 1

Green shoppers around the world

If you want to be a responsible consumer, think about not just how much you buy, but also about what’s good for the planet. Green Shoppers United is an international non-profit organization for the promotion of responsible consumerism.

Labels

Read the labels. Some...................the ingredients that manufacturers use in products, such as cosmetics or toiletries, can damage the environment. Some ingredients are only used...................make things prettier, or more colorful, but they might also be harmful. Don’t buy things that contain substances that harm you or the world you live................... For example, research shows a potential link...................the preservatives called parabens, often found in beauty products, and some types of cancer. 

Transport

In today’s global economy, it is easier for companies to buy products and materials where they’re cheap, and transport them over enormous distances to get them to customers. If you can, buy things locally. The local food movement has grown steadily in recent years, and it’s often possible to track down locally grown, or produced, products, rather than those that have been transported long distances. If we stop buying goods that have had to fly over continents to get to us, companies may stop transporting them around unnecessarily. A bargain may cost you less personally, but the real price we pay for it in the long run may turn out to be too high, as jet fuel continues to pollute our environment. 

Environment 

Responsible consumers recycle to reduce waste, and its negative impact on our environment. A lot of the plastic packaging we use for food and drink is recyclable, but not all of it. The most common packaging materials are still non-recyclable polyethylene and PVC. Seventy million tons are used every year. Look at the recycling labels carefully. Manufacturers should use recyclable plastics, like PET, wherever possible. Some have also begun using lighter materials, for example, 30% lighter PET plastic for drinks bottles, to reduce the amount of plastic waste. Transporting lighter materials is cheaper, and uses less fuel, too – so the solution may actually benefit everyone. 

Packaging

We’ve all purchased products wrapped in foil, then sealed in a bag, and then put in a box. Why? Write to companies that you think produce wasteful packaging. Ask them to think about what’s really necessary. Make them realize they can save money by using less packaging and, at the same time, help save our planet.

Consumers

A lot of us expect products these days to be more environmentally friendly. However, research has shown that we don’t want to pay more, and we don’t want to compromise on the quality of products, either. For example, one manufacturer recently had to switch back to less environmental packaging of potato chips, just because customers didn’t like the noise their “green” bags made when they were opened! Think about the effects of your shopping choices. Buy less to save the world, and join our effort to make shopping greener!