The author’s account discloses an evolution that can be
understood as being:

Question

Text I
Shock of the old: Believe it or not, battery-powered vehicles
have been around since Victorian times.
   The history of the electric car is surprisingly enraging. If you
imagine early electric vehicles at all (full disclosure: I didn’t until
recently), it will probably be as the quixotic and possibly dangerous
dream of a few eccentrics, maybe in the 1920s or 1930s, when
domestic electrification became widespread. It’s easy to imagine
some stiff-collared proto-Musk getting bored of hunting and
affairs, eyeing his newly installed electric lights speculatively, then
wreaking untold havoc and mass electrocutions. The reality is
entirely different.
   By 1900, a third of all cars on the road in the US were electric;
we’re looking at the history of a cruelly missed opportunity, and it
started astonishingly early. The Scottish engineer Robert Anderson
had a go at an electric car of sorts way back in the 1830s, though
his invention was somewhat stymied by the fact rechargeable
batteries were not invented until 1859, making his crude carriage
something of a one-trick pony (and far less useful than an actual
pony).
   It’s debatable whether or not Scotland was ready for this brave
new world anyway: in 1842, Robert Davidson (another Scot, who
had, a few years earlier, also tried his hand at an electric vehicle)
saw his electric locomotive Galvani “broken by some malicious
hands almost beyond repair” in Perth. The contemporary
consensus was that it was attacked by railway workers fearful for
their jobs.   Despite this unpromising start, electric vehicles had entered
widespread commercial circulation by the start of the 20th
century, particularly in the US. Electric cabs crisscrossed
Manhattan, 1897’s bestselling US car was electric and, when he
was shot in 1901, President McKinley was taken to hospital in an
electric ambulance. London had Walter Bersey’s electric taxis, and
Berlin’s fire engines went electric in 1908; the future looked bright,
clean and silent.
   By the 1930s, however, the tide had definitively turned against
electric, cursed by range limitations and impractical charging times
while petrol gained the upper hand thanks partly – and ironically –
to the electric starter motor. The Horseless Age magazine, which
vehemently backed the petrol non-horse, would have been
delighted. There was a brief resurgence of interest in the late
1960s, when the US Congress passed a bill promoting electrical
vehicle development, but nothing much actually happened until
the Nissan Leaf sparked interest in 2009. Electric still isn’t quite
there yet, battling infrastructure and battery problems that might
have been familiar to Anderson and friends.
Adapted from The Guardian, Tuesday 24 October 2023, p. 6
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/shock-of-the-old/2023/oct/24/all The author’s account discloses an evolution that can be
understood as being: Alternativa A: reckless. Ou Alternativa B: smooth. Ou Alternativa C: straight. Ou Alternativa D: erratic.  Ou Alternativa E: sloppy.

Qconcursos · Accepted Answer

Alternativa [D] erratic.  Alternativa correta: D – erratic

Tema central da questão:
A questão pede para identificar como a evolução dos veículos elétricos é apresentada pelo autor do texto. O desafio aqui consiste em interpretar o sentido global do texto, conectando informações históricas e avaliando o tom e a sequência dos fatos narrados. Isso desenvolve a habilidade essencial de “reading comprehension” muito cobrada em concursos públicos.

Resumo teórico:
Na interpretação de textos, especialmente em inglês, é fundamental analisar o contexto e as ideias principais. Palavras como “erratic”, “smooth”, “reckless”, entre outras, descrevem diferentes tipos de evolução ou desenvolvimento (evolução linear, irregular, caótica, etc.). Segundo o Cambridge Dictionary, “erratic” significa algo imprevisível, irregular, que muda frequentemente sem padrão definido.

Justificativa para a alternativa correta:
O texto mostra que a trajetória dos veículos elétricos não foi linear. Houve tentativas iniciais no século XIX, crescimento até o início do século XX, queda na popularidade, um breve ressurgimento nos anos 1960, e nova retomada só no século XXI. O uso de termos como “enraging”, “missed opportunity”, “unpromising start”, além da descrição dos altos e baixos ao longo dos anos, revela uma evolução cheia de avanços e retrocessos, ou seja, errática.

Análise das alternativas incorretas:

A - reckless: Significa "imprudente". O texto não sugere que o desenvolvimento foi feito sem cuidado, mas sim que passou por altos e baixos.
  B - smooth: Significa "suave" ou "sem obstáculos". Pelo contrário, o texto evidencia obstáculos e interrupções.
  C - straight: Indica um caminho direto ou linear. Novamente, o texto destaca uma trajetória cheia de desvios e reveses.
  E - sloppy: Significa "desleixado". Não há indicação de falta de cuidado, mas sim de dificuldades e interrupções no progresso.

Estrategicamente, para interpretar perguntas desse tipo:

Leia o texto buscando palavras-chave que indiquem mudanças, dificuldades ou oscilações (ex: "despite", "however", "nothing much actually happened").
  Desconfie de alternativas extremas ou positivas demais (“smooth”, “straight”) se o texto relata desafios ou reveses.

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