Questões de Vestibular
Comentadas sobre interpretação de texto | reading comprehension em inglês
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Can the movement achieve lasting change?
A movement to protect and expand girls' rights around the world is gaining support from governments, international donors and advocacy groups. Improving girls' lives is not only a moral issue — research shows it also speeds economic development. Activists are pushing to end child marriage, educate all girls, improve their reproductive health and reduce violence and discrimination against them. Although girls' mortality and school enrollment rates have been improving, obstacles remain. Nearly 120 million girls do not attend primary school, and 15 million girls under 18 marry each year, often under duress, ending their schooling and putting them at risk for domestic violence and health complications. In some countries girls' progress is threatened by religious extremists, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and Boko Haram in Nigeria. Activists say that to have lasting effects, girls' rights campaigns must establish effective onthe-ground programs that change societal attitudes as well as local policies.
Read the text below and answer the following questions based on it.
Is an unstoppable global pandemic possible?
From the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa to a mysterious new illness that killed a Kansas farmer last summer, emerging infectious diseases — illnesses never seen before or that reappear in new places or with new severity — threaten people around the world. About five new infections emerge in humans each year, typically three crossing over from animals. Many new kinds of infections also strike wild and domestic animals. Fifty years ago many medical scientists believed widespread use of antibiotics and vaccines would all but eliminate infectious disease. But factors such as environmental change, population growth, poverty and globalization are spurring new, often deadly, infections. Disease scientists urge policymakers to pay much more attention to animal health and to boost funding for public-health agencies here and abroad, but many conservatives say more money is not the answer. Meanwhile, scientists are gaining new insights into the genetic makeup of disease-causing microbes, giving them hope of discovering more ways to prevent or fight infections.
Read the text below and answer the following questions based on it.
Is an unstoppable global pandemic possible?
From the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa to a mysterious new illness that killed a Kansas farmer last summer, emerging infectious diseases — illnesses never seen before or that reappear in new places or with new severity — threaten people around the world. About five new infections emerge in humans each year, typically three crossing over from animals. Many new kinds of infections also strike wild and domestic animals. Fifty years ago many medical scientists believed widespread use of antibiotics and vaccines would all but eliminate infectious disease. But factors such as environmental change, population growth, poverty and globalization are spurring new, often deadly, infections. Disease scientists urge policymakers to pay much more attention to animal health and to boost funding for public-health agencies here and abroad, but many conservatives say more money is not the answer. Meanwhile, scientists are gaining new insights into the genetic makeup of disease-causing microbes, giving them hope of discovering more ways to prevent or fight infections.
Are too many with psychiatric problems behind bars?
Thousands of people with schizophrenia, severe depression, delusional disorders or other mental problems are locked up, often in solitary confinement. While some committed violent crimes and remain a threat to themselves or other inmates and prison staff, many are incarcerated for minor offenses, simply because there is no place to send them for treatment. The number of mentally ill inmates has mushroomed in recent years as states have closed their psychiatric hospitals in favor of outpatient community mental health centers that typically are underfunded and overcrowded. In an attempt to reduce the influx of mentally ill inmates, some 300 specialized mental health courts have diverted them into court-monitored treatment instead of jail. Yet, many participants re-offend, and some experts say psychiatric treatment alone won't prevent criminal behavior. Meanwhile, courts in more than a half-dozen states have declared solitary confinement unconstitutional for those with mental illness. However, some corrections officials say solitary is necessary to separate dangerous prisoners.
Are too many with psychiatric problems behind bars?
Thousands of people with schizophrenia, severe depression, delusional disorders or other mental problems are locked up, often in solitary confinement. While some committed violent crimes and remain a threat to themselves or other inmates and prison staff, many are incarcerated for minor offenses, simply because there is no place to send them for treatment. The number of mentally ill inmates has mushroomed in recent years as states have closed their psychiatric hospitals in favor of outpatient community mental health centers that typically are underfunded and overcrowded. In an attempt to reduce the influx of mentally ill inmates, some 300 specialized mental health courts have diverted them into court-monitored treatment instead of jail. Yet, many participants re-offend, and some experts say psychiatric treatment alone won't prevent criminal behavior. Meanwhile, courts in more than a half-dozen states have declared solitary confinement unconstitutional for those with mental illness. However, some corrections officials say solitary is necessary to separate dangerous prisoners.
Technology isn’t working
The digital revolution has yet to fulfil its promise of higher productivity and better jobs
If there is a technological revolution in progress, rich economies could be forgiven for wishing it would go away. Workers in America, Europe and Japan have been through a difficult few decades. In the 1970s the blistering growth after the second world war vanished in both Europe and America. In the early 1990s Japan joined the slump, entering a prolonged period of economic stagnation. Brief spells of faster growth in intervening years quickly petered out. The rich world is still trying to shake off the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. And now the digital economy, far from pushing up wages across the board in response to higher productivity, is keeping them flat for the mass of workers while extravagantly rewarding the most talented ones.
It seems difficult to square this unhappy experience with the extraordinary technological progress during that period, but the same thing has happened before. Most economic historians reckon there was very little improvement in living standards in Britain in the century after the first Industrial Revolution. And in the early 20th century, as Victorian inventions such as electric lighting came into their own, productivity growth was every bit as slow as it has been in recent decades.
Technology isn’t working
The digital revolution has yet to fulfil its promise of higher productivity and better jobs
If there is a technological revolution in progress, rich economies could be forgiven for wishing it would go away. Workers in America, Europe and Japan have been through a difficult few decades. In the 1970s the blistering growth after the second world war vanished in both Europe and America. In the early 1990s Japan joined the slump, entering a prolonged period of economic stagnation. Brief spells of faster growth in intervening years quickly petered out. The rich world is still trying to shake off the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. And now the digital economy, far from pushing up wages across the board in response to higher productivity, is keeping them flat for the mass of workers while extravagantly rewarding the most talented ones.
It seems difficult to square this unhappy experience with the extraordinary technological progress during that period, but the same thing has happened before. Most economic historians reckon there was very little improvement in living standards in Britain in the century after the first Industrial Revolution. And in the early 20th century, as Victorian inventions such as electric lighting came into their own, productivity growth was every bit as slow as it has been in recent decades.
Technology isn’t working
The digital revolution has yet to fulfil its promise of higher productivity and better jobs
If there is a technological revolution in progress, rich economies could be forgiven for wishing it would go away. Workers in America, Europe and Japan have been through a difficult few decades. In the 1970s the blistering growth after the second world war vanished in both Europe and America. In the early 1990s Japan joined the slump, entering a prolonged period of economic stagnation. Brief spells of faster growth in intervening years quickly petered out. The rich world is still trying to shake off the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. And now the digital economy, far from pushing up wages across the board in response to higher productivity, is keeping them flat for the mass of workers while extravagantly rewarding the most talented ones.
It seems difficult to square this unhappy experience with the extraordinary technological progress during that period, but the same thing has happened before. Most economic historians reckon there was very little improvement in living standards in Britain in the century after the first Industrial Revolution. And in the early 20th century, as Victorian inventions such as electric lighting came into their own, productivity growth was every bit as slow as it has been in recent decades.
Technology isn’t working
The digital revolution has yet to fulfil its promise of higher productivity and better jobs
If there is a technological revolution in progress, rich economies could be forgiven for wishing it would go away. Workers in America, Europe and Japan have been through a difficult few decades. In the 1970s the blistering growth after the second world war vanished in both Europe and America. In the early 1990s Japan joined the slump, entering a prolonged period of economic stagnation. Brief spells of faster growth in intervening years quickly petered out. The rich world is still trying to shake off the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. And now the digital economy, far from pushing up wages across the board in response to higher productivity, is keeping them flat for the mass of workers while extravagantly rewarding the most talented ones.
It seems difficult to square this unhappy experience with the extraordinary technological progress during that period, but the same thing has happened before. Most economic historians reckon there was very little improvement in living standards in Britain in the century after the first Industrial Revolution. And in the early 20th century, as Victorian inventions such as electric lighting came into their own, productivity growth was every bit as slow as it has been in recent decades.
Learn ‘n’ go
How quickly can people learn new skills?
Jan 25th 2014 – from the print edition
In 2012, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee took a ride in one of Google’s driverless cars. The car’s performance, they report, was flawless, boring and, above all, “weird”. Only a few years earlier, “We were sure that computers would not be able to drive cars.” Only humans, they thought, could make sense of the countless, shifting patterns of driving a car – with oncoming1 traffic, changing lights and wayward2 jaywalkers3 .
Machines have mastered driving. And not just driving. In ways that are only now becoming apparent, the authors argue, machines can forecast home prices, design beer bottles, teach at universities, grade exams and do countless other things better and more cheaply than humans. (…)
This will have one principal good consequence, and one bad. The good is bounty4 . Households will spend less on groceries, utilities and clothing; the deaf will be able to hear, the blind to see. The bad is spread5 . The gap is growing between the lucky few whose abilities and skills are enhanced6 by technology, and the far more numerous middle-skilled people competing for the remaining7 jobs that machines cannot do, such as folding towels and waiting at tables. (…) People should develop skills that complement, rather than compete with computers, such as idea generation and complex communication. (…)
Learn ‘n’ go
How quickly can people learn new skills?
Jan 25th 2014 – from the print edition
In 2012, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee took a ride in one of Google’s driverless cars. The car’s performance, they report, was flawless, boring and, above all, “weird”. Only a few years earlier, “We were sure that computers would not be able to drive cars.” Only humans, they thought, could make sense of the countless, shifting patterns of driving a car – with oncoming1 traffic, changing lights and wayward2 jaywalkers3 .
Machines have mastered driving. And not just driving. In ways that are only now becoming apparent, the authors argue, machines can forecast home prices, design beer bottles, teach at universities, grade exams and do countless other things better and more cheaply than humans. (…)
This will have one principal good consequence, and one bad. The good is bounty4 . Households will spend less on groceries, utilities and clothing; the deaf will be able to hear, the blind to see. The bad is spread5 . The gap is growing between the lucky few whose abilities and skills are enhanced6 by technology, and the far more numerous middle-skilled people competing for the remaining7 jobs that machines cannot do, such as folding towels and waiting at tables. (…) People should develop skills that complement, rather than compete with computers, such as idea generation and complex communication. (…)
Learn ‘n’ go
How quickly can people learn new skills?
Jan 25th 2014 – from the print edition
In 2012, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee took a ride in one of Google’s driverless cars. The car’s performance, they report, was flawless, boring and, above all, “weird”. Only a few years earlier, “We were sure that computers would not be able to drive cars.” Only humans, they thought, could make sense of the countless, shifting patterns of driving a car – with oncoming1 traffic, changing lights and wayward2 jaywalkers3 .
Machines have mastered driving. And not just driving. In ways that are only now becoming apparent, the authors argue, machines can forecast home prices, design beer bottles, teach at universities, grade exams and do countless other things better and more cheaply than humans. (…)
This will have one principal good consequence, and one bad. The good is bounty4 . Households will spend less on groceries, utilities and clothing; the deaf will be able to hear, the blind to see. The bad is spread5 . The gap is growing between the lucky few whose abilities and skills are enhanced6 by technology, and the far more numerous middle-skilled people competing for the remaining7 jobs that machines cannot do, such as folding towels and waiting at tables. (…) People should develop skills that complement, rather than compete with computers, such as idea generation and complex communication. (…)
Learn ‘n’ go
How quickly can people learn new skills?
Jan 25th 2014 – from the print edition
In 2012, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee took a ride in one of Google’s driverless cars. The car’s performance, they report, was flawless, boring and, above all, “weird”. Only a few years earlier, “We were sure that computers would not be able to drive cars.” Only humans, they thought, could make sense of the countless, shifting patterns of driving a car – with oncoming1 traffic, changing lights and wayward2 jaywalkers3 .
Machines have mastered driving. And not just driving. In ways that are only now becoming apparent, the authors argue, machines can forecast home prices, design beer bottles, teach at universities, grade exams and do countless other things better and more cheaply than humans. (…)
This will have one principal good consequence, and one bad. The good is bounty4 . Households will spend less on groceries, utilities and clothing; the deaf will be able to hear, the blind to see. The bad is spread5 . The gap is growing between the lucky few whose abilities and skills are enhanced6 by technology, and the far more numerous middle-skilled people competing for the remaining7 jobs that machines cannot do, such as folding towels and waiting at tables. (…) People should develop skills that complement, rather than compete with computers, such as idea generation and complex communication. (…)
Read the text and choose the best alternative.
Don’t Set Goals: Use Systems
Have you already set your goals for the New Year? Do you want to lose 10 kilos, run a marathon or speak fluent English? Some experts believe that you need systems, not goals. A system is something you do on a regular basis. This means focusing on what you can control (your actions) rather than what you can’t (the unpredictable). For example, don’t focus on losing 10 kilos, focus on shopping for healthy food and cooking something light every day. Don’t focus on the marathon; focus on the training schedule. Invent a system to improve your English, one step at a time. Good luck!
Disponível em: . Acesso em: junho de 2015.
According to the text we can state that:
I. In order to achieve something you should focus on your actions.
II. In order to achieve something you should eat healthy food every day.
III. In order to achieve something you should set your systems for the New Year.
IV. In order to achieve something you should take one step at a time.
Read the text and choose the best alternative for the underlined word.
Pictures of Ascent in the Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe.
By Douglas Anderson.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2009. xi, 201 pp. $ 80.00.
The material world and the ability to transcend it are at the heart of this study of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings. In chapters such as “Problems of Disposal” and “The Gravity of Things,” Anderson contrasts the “weight of living” present in Poe’s life and work with, in Italo Calvino’s words, the “lightness of thoughtfulness.” This book provides a taxonomy of Poe’s literary imagination through suggestive literary analyses of the fictive environments that inhabit and undergird his stories, and it expands the purview of Poe studies as well as of nineteenth-century American literature.
Available in: <http://americanliterature.dukejournals.org/content/82/3/663.full.pdf> . Access on: August 2015.
Taxonomy means
Read the text below:
Study: Junk Food Doesn’t Only Make You Fat, It Makes You Lazy
According to a recent study by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles, a diet rich in processed food and fat leads not only to excess weight but also to less motivation. Researchers found that rats on a junk food diet were significantly fatter than rats on a healthy diet. But the rats with the unhealthy diet also were less active and mentally slower. "Our data suggest that diet-induced obesity is a cause, rather than an effect, of laziness. Either the highly processed diet causes fatigue or the diet causes obesity, which causes fatigue," says lead researcher Aaron Blaisdell.
Disponível em: <http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=94296> . Acesso em: abril de 2015.
According to the text, it is possible to state that:
I. Rats which ate healthy food were thinner than the ones which ate junk food.
II. Laziness is a consequence from obesity.
III. Obesity can be considered as an effect of laziness.
IV. Less motivation is one of the causes which make junk food ingestion attractive.
V. Rats on a healthy diet were more active.
Read the text and choose the best alternative.
Solar eclipse in Europe
The UK could be plunged into darkness next month, as experts warn there could be the biggest solar eclipse since 1999. Nearly 90% of the sun's rays are expected to be blocked out in parts of Europe on March 20th.
In London and the Southeast, 85% of the sun will be obscured by the moon, while in northern Scotland, more than 95% will be covered.
But the National Grid warns there could be a solar power outage as a result. Solar power isn’t widely used in the UK, but other parts of Europe that heavily rely on it could be out of electricity for a short while.
There's no need to worry, though – the European Network Transmission System Operators for Electricity have been planning for the event for months.
The eclipse will last for around two hours at 8:40 a.m. The next one will not be until 2026.
Disponível em: <http://www.newsinlevels.com/products/solar-eclipse-in-europe-level-3/> . Acesso em: março 2015.
Check the statements according to lexical-semantic aspects from the text above:
I. In: ‘The UK could be plunged into darkness next month…’, the verb in bold could be changed to ‘immersed’ without changing the meaning of the sentence.
II. The word ‘warn’ in the first paragraph means to make someone conscious of a possible problem or danger so they will not be hurt or affected by it.
III. In the sentence: ‘In London and the Southeast, 85% of the sun will be obscured by the moon, while in northern Scotland, more than 95% will be covered.’; the conjunction ‘while’ means that the same exact thing will be happening in the entire area.
IV. Read the sentence: ‘But the National Grid warns there could be a solar power outage as a result.’ The words in bold ‘as a result’ mean that a solar power outage could happen because of the solar eclipse.
V. The meaning of the word ‘eclipse’ in the last paragraph is ‘decline’.
Choose the CORRECT alternative.
Read the text and answer the question.
Life stress may lead to cognitive developmental delays in children
According to a new study, children living in harsh or unstable environments are more likely to experience learning and cognitive delays by age 4.
Researchers examined the cortisol levels and cognitive delays of 201 children from low-income families in the northeastern United States. It was found that those kids with higher levels of cortisol experienced harsh or insensitive caregiving.
"We discovered that exposure to specific forms of family adversity when children were 2 years old predicted their cortisol profile, which in turn was linked with notable differences in children´s cognitive functioning at age 4," the researchers say.
Disponível em: <http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=100733> . Acesso em: 16/06/15.
According to the research, we can state that:
I. Children who are more stressed may have cognitive delay.
II. Children who are stresser may have developmental delays.
III. Children from more rich families were evaluated in this research.
IV. Children from richer families were evaluated in this research.
V. Children from poorer families were evaluated in this research.
Atenção: Para responder à questão, considere o texto abaixo.
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people passing .. I...
I see friends ..II.. hands
Saying, "how do you do?"
They're really saying,
I love you.
Opera
Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the lyrics. By contrast, in musical theater an actor's dramatic performance is primary, and the music plays a lesser role. The drama in opera is presented using the primary elements of theater such as scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the opera, or libretto, are sung rather than spoken. The singers are accompanied by a musical ensemble ranging from a small instrumental ensemble to a full symphonic orchestra.
Disponível em: <http://www.grammarbank.com/short-reading-comprehension-passages.html> . Acesso em: novembro 2014.
Select the alternative that is TRUE, according to the text.