Questões de Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension para Concurso

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).

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).

Village’s Amateur Archaeologists Find Lost Tudor Palace

1. When a group of amateur archaeologists set out to find the buried remains of a Tudor palace
2. in their Northamptonshire village five years ago, they knew the odds were against them. “Many
3. of us were brought up in the village, and you hear about this lost palace, and wonder whether
4. it’s a myth or real. So we just wanted to find it”, said Chris Close, the chair of the Collyweston
5. Historical and Preservation Society (Chaps) which made the discovery of the Palace of
6. Collyweston in a back garden this year. “But we’re a bunch of amateurs. We had no money, no
7. expertise, no plans, no artist impressions to go off, and nothing remaining of the palace. It was
8. naivety and just hard work that has led us to it”.
9. The site was found using geophysical surveys and ground-penetrating radar. Various
10. attempts had been made in the 1980s and 90s to find Collyweston Palace, the home of Henry
11. VII’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. However, without the advantage of modern technology,
12. none had succeeded. The palace was famous during the 15th century and several historic events
13. took place there. The pre-wedding celebrations of Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland in
14. 1503 took place in the palace, and Henry VIII is recorded as holding court there on 16 and 17
15. October 1541. By the mid-17th century, it had fallen into disrepair, and until the Chaps dig
16. uncovered the palace walls in March, there was very little remaining evidence of its existence.
17. “A number of things have only really come to light as we’ve done this project”, said Close.
18. “As you do more and more research, and various different records start to become unearthed,
19. we realized Collyweston had privy councils being run from here, which is of massive national
20. importance”. Historians from the University of York helped verify the group’s findings and identify
21. the palace through some uncovered stone moldings, and will work with Chaps on more
22. excavations to further reveal the structure and conserve it for the future.
23. The Chaps team, which comprises more than 80 members ranging from teenagers to people
24. in their 70s and 80s, first set out their plan to find the palace in March 2018, using “local folktales
25. and hearsay” to help refine their search area. They carried out geophysical surveys and used
26. ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to help reveal the location of the palace walls, before securing
27. permission from homeowners to excavate in gardens. “We’ve done it all on an absolute
28. shoestring”, said Close. “We’ve basically done an £80,000-£90,000 project for roughly £13,000.
29. For us, being a little society, to have achieved this with no money, or expertise, or plans, I think
30. it’s something that the whole society should be proud of”.

(Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/dec/06/tudor-collyweston-palace-northamptonshire-found-in-garden-by-amateur-archeologists - text especially adapted for this test).