Questões de Concurso
Comentadas sobre substantivos e compostos | nouns and compounds em inglês
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2. This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.
3. They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles. (…)
4. The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind — like remembering a sequence of directions while driving. (…)
5. The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. “Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often — you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language,” says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain. “It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving.” In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it. (…)
6. Bilingualism’s effects also extend into the twilight years. In a recent study of 44 elderly Spanish-English bilinguals, scientists led by the neuropsychologist Tamar Gollan of the University of California, San Diego, found that individuals with a higher degree of bilingualism — measured through a comparative evaluation of proficiency in each language — were more resistant than others to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease: the higher the degree of bilingualism, the later the age of onset.
7. Nobody ever doubted the power of language. But who would have imagined that the words we hear and the sentences we speak might be leaving such a deep imprint?
(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/thebenefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=0. Acesso: 04/02/2013)
The words globalized (paragraph 01), considered (paragraph 02), blessing (paragraph 03), and like (paragraph 04), are respectively presented in text as:
I. A multilevel, multi-sectored package of measures, requiring multilevel planning and structuring, leading towards an overall goal.
II. One or more processes in which an individual or group takes part in specific decision-making and action, and over which they may exercise specific controls.
III. Result of a project relative to its objective that are sufficient and necessary to achieve the objective and are generated by its respective partner’s output.
IV. The intended physical, financial, institutional, social, environmental, educational or other goals which a project is expected to achieve and which lies in its own sphere of influence.
Associe cada definição com um substantivo que a sinteza:
Business Week - December 5, 2007
by Jennifer Fishbein
It seems like everywhere you turn these days, a new
high-speed train is whisking more passengers across longer
distances faster than ever before. A [NOUN] to Paris from
London is quicker than flying; Japanese bullet trains traverse the
320 miles from Tokyo to Osaka in two and a half hours; and
magnetic levitating trains in Shanghai cut through the city at 268
miles per hour. But while high-speed trains may grab all the
glamour, the more mundane business of subway construction is
what's driving the biggest growth for transportation companies.
Indeed, the world is seeing an unprecedented boom in new
subways and expansion to existing systems. Thanks to surging
economic growth and urban populations, demand for subways is
soaring in China and India. Lots of other places around the
world also are building new lines, from Dubai to Santo Domingo,
capital of the Dominican Republic. And many European and
American cities ? including even such improbable locales as Los
Angeles and Phoenix ? have caught the transit bug.
Problem-Solving and Prestige
Some cities build out of necessity. Rising prosperity
prompted Dubai residents to buy so many cars that they realized
they could [ADVERB] longer drive these cars because they
were stuck in traffic. Others are keen on the environmental
benefits of metros, which produce far less pollution and
encourage drivers to leave cars at home. Some places, mainly
in the Middle East, are looking to diversify their oil-dependent
economies. And others, to be honest, are chasing an urban
status symbol. Building a metro won't turn any old town into
Paris or London, but it does tell the world that you've arrived.
"You have in some cases a prestige issue, which is more
the case in young cities in need of an image," says Jean-Noël
Debroise, vice-president for product and strategy at Alstom
(ALSO.PA), the French transport company that has built a
quarter of the world's metros.
Rennes is an example of the new trend. The city of about
212,000 people in northwestern France was looking to raise its profile when it installed a metro in 2002. It raised the bar by
opting for a driverless system made by Siemens ? just like the
shiny new No. 14 line in Paris ? protecting passengers from the
French penchant for transit strikes. Turin, Italy, did the same to
help win its bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics; its driverless
system opened just before the games. Even the Spanish island
of Mallorca inaugurated a short metro line in April in hopes of
luring even more tourists to its capital, Palma. Alas, it closed
indefinitely in September due to flooding, amid charges of
mismanagement.
A Boon for Transit Builders
The world's three largest metro manufacturers, Montrealbased
Bombardier (BBDB.TO), Alstom, and Munich-based
Siemens (SI) report high demand for mass transit, including
tramways and light-rail systems that run both under and
[PREPOSITION] ground. The global subway market was worth
9.3 billion dollars in 2005 and is projected to grow at a rate of
2.7% per year until 2015, according to a 2007 study by the
European Railway Industry Assn. Subway lines [TO BUILD] or
extended in 20 European cities and five Middle Eastern ones,
and dozens of towns are constructing light-rail systems, reports
the Brussels-based International Association of Public
Transport.
The size of a city determines its need for a metro system.
Cities of a few million people ? or those anticipating huge
population growth ? really can't do without a mass transit
system. But cities of one or two million inhabitants can choose
between a subway and a surface tramway, which costs far less
but also runs more slowly. [CONJUNCTION] funding is an issue,
cities usually will spring for a subway, says Debroise. "The
tramway has a very old image of the 19th century, with horses in
the streets," he says.
(Adapted from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/
content/dec2007/gb2007125_600001.htm?chan=top+news_
top+news+index_global+business)
Like most young people of my generation, I started using drugs as an adolescent. By the time I was 16, I was taking cannabis, hallucinogens and injecting drugs. Soon, my addiction led me to drug trafficking. Between 1985 and 1993, I was imprisoned in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, where I was diagnosed HIV-positive.
Initially, I was shocked. But I didn't really know what HIV or AIDS were, which is why I continued using drugs and sharing needles with other inmates. We received no guidance or preventive care.
In prison, AIDS first manifested itself through tuberculosis, an illness I suffered from three times. Although I was eventually given anti-retroviral medicines, I continued taking drugs and only restarted the treatment in earnest after abandoning drugs for good in 1999.
At that time, I was a member of a support group in my hometown, the coastal city of São Vicente, and was close to other HIV-positive people. We soon decided to establish the Hipupiara NGO to promote a sense of unity among people living with HIV and to improve their quality of life.
Unfortunately, I suffered a lot of prejudice for being HIV-positive, including from members of my family. I was also denied jobs. Then, in 2001, I started working as a fisherman, a job I retired from in 2005, at 50, due to poor health.
Today, I am free of drugs and am sticking to the treatment. I work as a volunteer for Hipupiara, contacting drug users in the city and referring them to treatment and assistance services.
Thanks to all the information I have accumulated about HIV/AIDS, I can now face and beat prejudice. People infected with HIV and drug users should not close up or avoid talking about their problems; we should help each other so that we can all lead a better life.
In the text,
“volunteers” (
.23) is a noun. In the text,
“parents” (
.21) refers to mother and father. 
