Questões de Inglês - Formação de palavras (prefixos e sufixos) | Word formation (prefix and suffix) para Concurso

Text IV

Diversity and Inclusive Teaching

    Teaching to engage diversity, to include all learners, and to seek equity is essential for preparing civically engaged adults and for creating a campus and society that recognizes the contributions of all people. Teaching for diversity refers to acknowledging a range of differences in the classroom. Teaching for inclusion signifies embracing difference. Teaching for equity allows the differences to transform the way we think, teach, learn and act such that all experiences and ways of being are handled with fairness and justice. These ideas complement each other and enhance educational opportunities for all students when simultaneously engaged. […]

    Inclusive teaching strategies are intended to ensure that all students feel supported such that they freely learn and explore new ideas, feel safe to express their views in a civil manner, and are respected as individuals and members of groups. Intentionally incorporating inclusive teaching strategies helps students view themselves as people who belong to the community of learners in a classroom and university.

Adapted from https://ctal.udel.edu/resources-2/inclusive-teaching/

Text III

From: https://streetlibrary.org.au/reading-in-the-garden-tom-gauld-cartoon/

“The professional of Teaching English as a Foreign Language”

Author: Anderson Francisco Guimarães Maia

O texto seguinte servirá de base para responder a questão. 

HVAC Contractors Need to Adapt to Repair Market 

Repair or replace is a question homeowners often need to answer, and it greatly impacts an HVAC contractor's business. During COVID, the residential HVAC industry saw a replacement market boom. But in 2023 and now the beginning of 2024, there has been a shift to a repair market that HVAC contractors need to be aware of as they run their businesses.

According to numbers from the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), shipments of unitary air conditioners and heat pumps were down 16.7% in 2023, compared to 2022. Gas furnaces were down 23%.

"The replacement market is performing worse when you strip out new construction," said industry leader Matt Michel. "Housing starts were down around 5%, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, so the replacement market for unitary air conditioners and heat pumps was down in the low 20s."

Distributors are seeing similar numbers, according to the Heating, Air-conditioning, & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI).

"We definitely are seeing a shift here. And that shift has actually been visible for some time," said Tim Fisher, HARDI director of market intelligence.

HARDI receives data from FieldEdge on the invoice and quote trends exhibited by their users. Invoices reflect work that has been completed, whereas quotes reflect potential future work and are most often provided for new system installations. HARDI has found that, over time, the ratio of new invoices to new quotes is a useful indicator of whether a market is trending more toward repair than replace and vice versa.

The numbers show the annual growth rate bottomed out in the spring of 2022 but remained negative through most of the year, indicating that replacement trends were broadly higher in 2022 than in 2021. That figure increased through 2023, peaking in May but generally remaining positive for most of the year. While the three-month growth rate has slowed in recent months — an encouraging sign — they don't expect much of a negative drift in 2024, meaning that repair versus replace trends will broadly remain similar to where they were in 2023.

So why is this change happening? It can't be attributed to any single factor but rather a combination of items. Certainly, higher costs of both HVAC systems and housing in general play a role.

"Adapting to the economy is something contractors need to do. We can't just assume people are going to reach into their pocket and replace," said ACCA CEO Bart James. "Contractors need to help customers get through the current need. People are slowing down on their spending. People are worried about what is coming and how they are preparing for it. Wages and other things are not keeping up with how fast prices are going up."

James said reading the numbers shows there is a shift in the home improvement market.

"Just look at the Walmart and Home Depot quarterly projections. Walmart did well with more visits but had smaller purchases, while Home Depot did not hit their numbers. That tells you that people are handling investments into housing differently. That will catch up with HVAC, too. "Contractors need to prepare by making investments in their team to meet the needs of the customer. And that need is not always a replacement option but also can be a repair option," James continued. 

The sluggish home resale market is another reason for the shift towards a repair market. "Home improvement spending, in aggregate, tends to follow existing home sales totals nationally," Fisher said. "People invest more in their homes prior to selling to boost its value, and new homeowners spend more in their first year of moving than homeowners who stay put. This has major implications for HVAC replacement demand, which, historically, peaks when existing home sales are at their highest and falls off when existing home sales decline. 

"Both the 3-month and 12-month growth rates bottomed out earlier in 2023, and while still negative, have slowed significantly," he continued. "We believe that home sale totals are at or nearing their trough, and over the duration of 2024 should steadily improve and finish at or ahead of 2023 totals."

The final reason is the cyclical nature of HVAC. It reflects the shipment cliff from 15 years ago, when the industry contracted 40% after peak shipments in 2005. Contractors cannot replace what was never installed.

How do HVAC contractors deal with this shift? Michel believes they should embrace the repair market.

"The money is better in replacements," he said. "It always has been and always will be. However, margins are better in service. For the next couple of years, anyway, contractors should focus on building up their service business and making money on it."

Since service involves more labor, and labor carries more overhead than equipment and material, keeping a close watch on overhead expenses is a must.

"Contractors need to build the service base, watch your marketing expenses drop, and down the road, the replacement margins and close rates to a satisfied service base will rise," Michel said. "Once we get past the shipment cliff, the replacement market will begin a decade-long run with every year being better than the year before it. We know this because it's what happened in the past, and when it comes to replacements, the past truly is a prologue."

Contractors in most parts of the country are already feeling the pinch of a slower market, and their experiences in 2024 are unlikely to be much different from their experiences in 2023 though rebounds from the milder temperatures we saw during peak months last year would go a long way in improving demand in 2024.

HARDI advises contractors should consider the following six tactics in '24:

• 
  
•       •Offer financing options: Any homeowner considering a new system is likely going to feel some sticker shock if it's been a few years since they
• last bought a system. Financing a new system helps to alleviate that shock, making the big sticker prices much more palatable monthly payments.
•       •Protect margins: Work to ensure that your pricing for jobs is consistent with market trends, and attempt to pass through as much of the higher system costs as possible. Likewise, now is a critical time to manage operating expenses closely. Together, good cost  management and smart pricing can help protect business margins in 2024. 
•      •Educate homeowners: Many homeowners may not fully understand the long-term benefits of replacing their HVAC system versus frequent repairs. Offer educational materials, such as blog posts, videos, or pamphlets, explaining the advantages of a new system 
• in terms of energy efficiency, lower maintenance costs, and improved IAQ. Also, be sure to make clear to your customers which incentives they may qualify for through IRA or other state-level rebate/incentive programs. 
•     •Focus on value proposition: Emphasize the value proposition of a new HVAC system, highlighting its reliability, longevity, and performance. Help homeowners understand that investing in a replacement now can save  them money and hassle in the long run. 
•     •Offer maintenance packages: Create maintenance packages that bundle regular servicing with discounts on repairs or replacements. This can encourage homeowners to invest in preventive maintenance and build a long-term relationship with your company. 
•    •Diversify services: Explore diversifying your services beyond just HVAC installations and repairs. For example, you could offer IAQ assessments, smart thermostat installations, or energy audits to provide additional value to homeowners and generate new revenue streams. 

https://www.achrnews.com/articles/154324-hvac-contractors-need-to-ad apt-to-repair-market

Instruction: Answer questions 31 to 35 based on the following text.

German student invents own language

1. Fynn Schlemminger _____ exactly what he wanted to do for his A-levels special project:
2. create a language from scratch. And that’s exactly what he did. The invented language is
3. called Garadálava, and, according to its creator, it is unique. “The premise of creating
4. Garadálava was to make it unlike any spoken language. I came up with a phonology people
5. usually interpret as harsh or pointed, featuring some guttural sounds and a very unmelodious
6. tone,” he explained.
7. All languages are, to a point, constructed because they went through corrections and
8. reforms over time. However, there is one main difference according to a professor of linguistics
9. at Wellesley College. Angela Carpenter, who has been teaching a course on invented languages
10. since 2010, said the main difference is that “an invented language originates in someone's
11. mind and is developed and expanded upon mostly by that person. A natural language ______
12. within a speech community, usually from another language, dialect or creole, over a period of
13. time.”
14. When Schlemminger began working on Garadálava, he started with a sketch, an idea of
15. how the language should sound and feel like.
16. “You begin with the more superficial things, the shape of the language so to speak, some
17. basic words, a sound inventory, sentence order. After that you simply go into more detail and
18. mostly rotate between making up words and grammar rules, until you are done,” he said to
19. Euronews. To him, the experience of creating a language was not unlike making a sculpture,
20. creating a work of art.
21. “Inventing a language is a very creative process that also requires knowledge of linguistic
22. structures to make it a viable language. Having to create your own language really ______
23. you to understand linguistic structure and the complex nature of language communication,”
24. explained Carpenter.

Fonte: adaptado de http://www.euronews.com/2018/04/25/from-klingon-to-dothraki-is-inventing-your-own-language-that-hard-

Brit dad is the first person to take

a holiday in the ruins of failed state ISIS

in Northern Iraq

Dad-of-four Andy Drury, 53, had no visas and was in danger of kidnapping from militia d uring his £4,000 three-day break in Mosul, Northern Iraq. But he has _______ back stunning photos of t he former IS stronghold.

Building firm owner Andy, of Guildford, Surrey, has spent the last 20 years touring areas of the planet most people do not dare to go and first visited this a rea in 2016.

He said of one visit to a dangerous area near Mosul : “I was nervous, my heart was in my mouth for 20 minutes.

“We had been turned away by Iraqi forces. If caught , we could have been jailed for spying.”

Andy added: “I must be the first person to be have been a tourist in the ruins of Islamic State.

“My fixer Ammar (not his real name) was right on th e front line for the taking back of Mosul, taking repor ters in there.

“But he said he is more scared with me, with the ne ws reporters he was in an armoured car, but with m e on the front line a couple of years ago, he said I di dn’t wear a vest or helmet or nothing, he said that w as scarier.”

Andy said he doesn’t wear protective clothing beca use he tries to stumble on as little front line fighting as possible.

The businessman is meticulous in the planning of hi s trips and so far has holidayed in no-goareas like Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan, as well as spending time with the Klu Klux Klan.

Andy said:

“Driving in from Iraq and Kurdistan, all the buildings were beautiful, and then it changes, and I’ve never seen nothing like it, it was like an apocalyptic film.

Fonte: https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/10087541/br it-dad-holiday-isis-iraq/ Acesso em: 09/Out/2019

Instruction: Answer questions 41 to 53 based on the following text.

Why Learning Is A New Procrastination

1. The tremendous world of online courses, blogs, social media, free eBooks, podcasts, and
2. webinars provides the best ever opportunity to broaden your knowledge in almost every sphere
3. you can imagine. Thanks to technological advancement and the instant access to the internet,
4. everyone can now study from home. It seems like it would be foolishly not to seize this
5. opportunity and improve your skills and knowledge. Moreover, you are kind of forced to do so
6. since the contemporary world has raised the bar higher than ever before. It literally invited you
7. to gather the pace and ___________ even more.
8. It is not surprising that, ultimately, you try to be everywhere and do everything. No doubt,
9. you do your best to constantly gather tiny bits of information from as many channels as
10. possible, because you are afraid that you will fall behind if you stop. After all, you enter a
11. learning crunch mode. You do not afford to miss anything and try to read every book you could
12. get your hands on. You listen to every single podcast your smartphone could download and take
13. every online course your paycheck would allow to take.
14. All in all, you learn. As much as possible. As intense as you manage to. You learn how to
15. write and publish a new book. You learn how to launch a successful blog. You learn how to hit
16. your goal on Kickstarter. You learn how to build the next “unicorn”. You learn how to land a job
17. of your dream. You learn how to successfully sell thousands of items on Amazon. You learn how
18. to make millions of dollars in passive income.
19. However, the problem is that you do everything except taking action. All those activities do
20. not take you closer to the things you want to accomplish. Better knowledge does not make you
21. more influential, powerful, and successful unless you apply it. The key secret to success is not
22. ________ expertise, but the ability to use it.
23. Knowledge is worthless unless it is applied. Needless to say that studying is crucial.
24. However, the thing is that it should take the entirely new form now. You should stop learning
25. from someone else’s experiences, knowledge, failures, and wins and start learning from your
26. own mistakes, adventures, ___________, and bold actions.
27. Learning has become a major trend of the 21st century. Sadly, it has also become a new
28. form of procrastination. You consciously postpone the first step justifying this by your eagerness
29. to broaden the knowledge and learn new things. You put the start date off justifying this by
30. your desire to pick up new skills that would help you succeed faster. You procrastinate over
31. chasing your own aspirations because doing the things on your own and creating your own story
32. of success is far more complicated than reading about someone else’s one. Meanwhile, no one
33. would really reproach you for wasting your time. Also, you feel comfortable about staying within
34. this zone of ease and convenience forever.
35. However, the point is that you already have and know everything you need to start off. In
36. fact, there is nothing more you need to learn in order to take the first step. Embrace the truth.
37. No matter how good your theoretical knowledge is, you will face a lot of obstacles while
38. applying it. You will have to deal with issues that have never been described or covered in any
39. book. You will have to look for the solutions and make the spontaneous decisions that no one
40. probably has ever thought of. You will have to design your own road to success.
41. Transform your learning process from the continuous the procrastination into an
42. unstoppable process of absorbing invaluable expertise based on your own experience. It might
43. seem counterintuitive, but the old-fashioned way of learning is what holds you back. This is
44. what makes your triumphs suck.
45. Constant learning, evaluating of ideas, thinking, and visualizing your journey towards your
46. major aspirations will not take you far from the place you are now. Actions will. You can sit and
47. research, and research, and research, while someone else is already reaping huge rewards for
48. his or her fruitful and hard work. Stop learning now. Become bold enough to take the first step
49. and start learning from your own experience.

Source: https://medium.com/the-coffeelicious/why-learning-is-a-new-procrastination-104b53107e8b

The Reasons Why We Dance

1. As a choreographer, I get asked to share my opinion about a myriad of dance-related
2. topics, from the practical, like “How can dance help you get in shape?” to the existential, like “Is
3. my dancing a projection of my self-image?”. But the question I think matters most is: why do
4. people dance? What is about moving our bodies to a song we love that is so joyfully Pavlovian?
5. Why do we watch videos and take lessons on something that could be labeled as trivial? Why do
6. we love it so?
7. There are the obvious answers. We dance for physical fitness, mental clarity, emotional
8. stability, and other such pluses. However, all these benefits could be attained by other means –
9. though I confess I have yet to find a better alternative than a great “cha cha”* to lift both one’s
10. heart rate and spirits. There must be something glorious about dancing that is more than just
11. intangible. We cannot seem to explain it, yet we all know it so well that we do not hesitate to
12. tap our feet to a Gershwin melody or pulse with the percussion of a samba rhythm.
13. Perhaps dance is the way we express ourselves when words are insufficient. The joy we
14. feel over newfound love, the determination we have in the face of great sorrow or adversity, the
15. passionate fire of our youth, and the peacefulness of our softer and more graceful years – maybe
16. they are never expressed more fully than through a waltz, or a tango, or a jive. We all want to
17. be understood, and if we could truly speak the words that describe our feelings, how deep and
18. powerful they would surely be. But alas, those words never seem to come to us just right. Maybe
19. dance is simply a translator for the human heart.
20. Perhaps dance is the medium through which we show the world who we truly are and who
21. we can be. All of us, if we are honest, believe deep down that we are not ordinary. We know
22. ourselves to be wonderfully unique, with many layers of personality and talent woven in such a
23. way that no one on earth could possibly have our same make-up. We know it. We just do not
24. always know how to prove it. Maybe dance gives us the opportunity. And perhaps dance is how
25. we choose to remember, how we hold on to the past. It is how we relive __ fun-filled days of
26. our youth or __ time we looked into their eyes and knew they were the one. It is our tribute to
27. the heroes of yesterday who jitterbugged like carefree boys and girls, when tomorrow they would
28. march as men and women to defend freedom’s cause. It is the chance to be __ princess again,
29. waiting for __ outstretched hand and the call to __ romance that is graceful, true, and not as
30. forgotten as the cynics say. When we dance, we can remember them all a little better, feel the
31. butterflies once again, and if only for a moment, return to the purest part of our lives when time
32. was of no matter…for we were dancing.
33. Why do we dance? Every answer will be different, and that is as it should be. Perhaps the
34. better question is, “Why would we not?”

*Cha Cha: an energetic modern dance.

(Available in: https://dancewithmeusa.com/why-we-dance-the-reasons/ – text especially adapted for this test).

Read Text | and answer questions 05 to 13.

Netflix is trying to prove to the world that it's all grown up

Netflix is trying to persuade Wall Street that it is now all grown up. After squeezing out millions of additional subscribers via its password sharing crackdown and through the introduction of cheaper advertiser-supported plans, the streamer knows that its growth spurts are coming to an end — and now it wants investors to stop obsessing over those pesky membership numbers and instead focus on other metrics.

"In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential. But now we're generating very substantial profit and free cash flow. We are also developing new revenue streams like advertising and our extra member feature, so memberships are just one component of our growth", Netflix told shareholders as it reported quarterly earnings.

To that end, Netflix said that it will no longer report quarterly subscriber numbers, starting in 2025. Alas, the metric that Wall Street has forever judged Netflix on — the metric that prompted legacy media companies to burn endless piles of cash in their bids to compete with the streamer — will be retired. The decision to shut off transparency on the metric represents a significant turning point in the streaming revolution. For years, Netflix has prided itself on being extraordinarily transparent. Now it is aiming to hold its cards closer to its chest. And given that streaming giant is the trendsetter in the space, one could expect that other media companies will be inspired by the company's move and also opt to cease reporting such data.

To be fair, what Netflix is saying isn't necessarily off base either. As the company shifts its business model away from subscriptions and toward advertising and other revenue streams, it makes sense to consider how much time users are spending on the service. The more content a user consumes on Netflix, the more likely they are to continue paying for the service, and the more money Netflix then makes from that single subscriber. "We're focused on revenue and operating margin as our primary financial metrics — and engagement (i.e. time spent) as our best proxy for customer satisfaction,” Netflix underscored in its letter to shareholders.

Regardless, less transparency in an already opaque industry is not ideal. The walled garden of streaming already lacks the same detailed viewership data that Nielsen collects on linear television broadcasters. Now, visibility into the streaming world will get even dimmer.

The announcement from Netflix managed to overshadow its otherwise stellar quarter. The company handily beat expectations and added a staggering 9.3 million subscribers, meaning it now boasts nearly 270 million in total. Netflix also beat analyst expectations on both earnings and revenue. However, it wasn't all good news. Netflix forecasted its subscriber growth to be lower in quarter two, chalking it up to “typical seasonality.” That led the stock to slide nearly 5% in after-hours trading.

Whether "typical seasonality” is solely to blame, or whether the streamer is simply starting to hit a ceiling, is hard to tell. Perhaps it is a mix of both. Whatever the cause, the stock sliding on the less-than-ideal outlook is a prime example of why Netflix wants Wall Street to stop focusing on its subscriber numbers. And, in one year's time, investors won't have a choice.

Adapted from: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/19/media/netflix-subscription-numbers/index.html