Questões de Concurso Sobre interpretação de texto | reading comprehension em inglês

Text

The Psychology of Computer Games

These days, everyone is playing computer games: whether on their PC, games console, or smartphone.

In the busy modern world, we rarely have total control of our lives. .....(1)..... . Some computer games provide an antidote to this because they let players create and control the whole world. One example is Civilization, where players build a modern society from nothing. In earlier versions of the game, creator Sid Meier introduced a crisis. Some games included a moment where the player’s civilization collapses. The players then had to overcome these new difficulties to rebuild their civilization again from the beginning. In reality, the majority of players simply ignored the collapse. Most people just returned to an older version of the game. They had saved it for this purpose. People like computer games because it gives them total control.

In most computer games, you only learn one skill at a time. .....(2)..... . Once you have mastered this skill, you progress to the next level. Unlike real life, computer games give you plenty of time to learn. You aren’t immediately asked to do something too difficult. Users have control of the situation and that is very motivating.

This learning needs to work for everyone. In the game World of Warcraft, a player operates an avatar .................. himself or herself in an online fantasy world. The beginning of the game is easy, and .................. getting over the first challenges quickly, this gives players a feeling of achievement. However, the game is enormous. People who persevere with difficult tasks will learn a lot of new skills and explore areas that are inaccessible .................. beginners. Both beginners and experts can become immersed .................. a huge artificial world.

Most games are repetitive, and games designers need to find ways to stop people from becoming distracted and giving up. There are two ways of doing this. The first is the random reward where players win a surprise prize. .....(3)...... . In the real world, most people don’t notice when we do good things, but games are different.

Furthermore, games use clever AI (artificial intelligence). If you are inexperienced and play a soccer computer game against the computer, the computer could always win. Using AI, the computer adjusts its level of ability to equal the player. This means the human opponent always has a chance to win, and it keeps players interested in the game.

Winning isn’t everything, however. In computer games, failure is fun if the final screen shows an entertaining end for the character. Some players lose a game just to see what happens.

.....(4)..... . The virtual world is both more entertaining and less stressful than reality.

Many criticize computer games as just a waste of time. In fact, computer games are one of the greatest learning tools ever invented. Look at their uses in other fields. Flight simulators teach pilots how to cope with many difficult situations, which would be impossible any other way. A flight simulator is just a more sophisticated form of a computer game.

Text

The Psychology of Computer Games

These days, everyone is playing computer games: whether on their PC, games console, or smartphone.

In the busy modern world, we rarely have total control of our lives. .....(1)..... . Some computer games provide an antidote to this because they let players create and control the whole world. One example is Civilization, where players build a modern society from nothing. In earlier versions of the game, creator Sid Meier introduced a crisis. Some games included a moment where the player’s civilization collapses. The players then had to overcome these new difficulties to rebuild their civilization again from the beginning. In reality, the majority of players simply ignored the collapse. Most people just returned to an older version of the game. They had saved it for this purpose. People like computer games because it gives them total control.

In most computer games, you only learn one skill at a time. .....(2)..... . Once you have mastered this skill, you progress to the next level. Unlike real life, computer games give you plenty of time to learn. You aren’t immediately asked to do something too difficult. Users have control of the situation and that is very motivating.

This learning needs to work for everyone. In the game World of Warcraft, a player operates an avatar .................. himself or herself in an online fantasy world. The beginning of the game is easy, and .................. getting over the first challenges quickly, this gives players a feeling of achievement. However, the game is enormous. People who persevere with difficult tasks will learn a lot of new skills and explore areas that are inaccessible .................. beginners. Both beginners and experts can become immersed .................. a huge artificial world.

Most games are repetitive, and games designers need to find ways to stop people from becoming distracted and giving up. There are two ways of doing this. The first is the random reward where players win a surprise prize. .....(3)...... . In the real world, most people don’t notice when we do good things, but games are different.

Furthermore, games use clever AI (artificial intelligence). If you are inexperienced and play a soccer computer game against the computer, the computer could always win. Using AI, the computer adjusts its level of ability to equal the player. This means the human opponent always has a chance to win, and it keeps players interested in the game.

Winning isn’t everything, however. In computer games, failure is fun if the final screen shows an entertaining end for the character. Some players lose a game just to see what happens.

.....(4)..... . The virtual world is both more entertaining and less stressful than reality.

Many criticize computer games as just a waste of time. In fact, computer games are one of the greatest learning tools ever invented. Look at their uses in other fields. Flight simulators teach pilots how to cope with many difficult situations, which would be impossible any other way. A flight simulator is just a more sophisticated form of a computer game.

Text

The Psychology of Computer Games

These days, everyone is playing computer games: whether on their PC, games console, or smartphone.

In the busy modern world, we rarely have total control of our lives. .....(1)..... . Some computer games provide an antidote to this because they let players create and control the whole world. One example is Civilization, where players build a modern society from nothing. In earlier versions of the game, creator Sid Meier introduced a crisis. Some games included a moment where the player’s civilization collapses. The players then had to overcome these new difficulties to rebuild their civilization again from the beginning. In reality, the majority of players simply ignored the collapse. Most people just returned to an older version of the game. They had saved it for this purpose. People like computer games because it gives them total control.

In most computer games, you only learn one skill at a time. .....(2)..... . Once you have mastered this skill, you progress to the next level. Unlike real life, computer games give you plenty of time to learn. You aren’t immediately asked to do something too difficult. Users have control of the situation and that is very motivating.

This learning needs to work for everyone. In the game World of Warcraft, a player operates an avatar .................. himself or herself in an online fantasy world. The beginning of the game is easy, and .................. getting over the first challenges quickly, this gives players a feeling of achievement. However, the game is enormous. People who persevere with difficult tasks will learn a lot of new skills and explore areas that are inaccessible .................. beginners. Both beginners and experts can become immersed .................. a huge artificial world.

Most games are repetitive, and games designers need to find ways to stop people from becoming distracted and giving up. There are two ways of doing this. The first is the random reward where players win a surprise prize. .....(3)...... . In the real world, most people don’t notice when we do good things, but games are different.

Furthermore, games use clever AI (artificial intelligence). If you are inexperienced and play a soccer computer game against the computer, the computer could always win. Using AI, the computer adjusts its level of ability to equal the player. This means the human opponent always has a chance to win, and it keeps players interested in the game.

Winning isn’t everything, however. In computer games, failure is fun if the final screen shows an entertaining end for the character. Some players lose a game just to see what happens.

.....(4)..... . The virtual world is both more entertaining and less stressful than reality.

Many criticize computer games as just a waste of time. In fact, computer games are one of the greatest learning tools ever invented. Look at their uses in other fields. Flight simulators teach pilots how to cope with many difficult situations, which would be impossible any other way. A flight simulator is just a more sophisticated form of a computer game.

Instruction: answer questions 51 to 58 based on the following text.

Eve Rodsky’s deck of cards could help you find domestic bliss

1. Eve Rodsky was fed up. For years she, like many other women, had shouldered the burden
2. of invisible labor at home. Rodsky, a Harvard-educated lawyer and organizational management
3. specialist who advises families and charitable foundations, was tired of being the “she-fault”
4. parent. So, she started a spreadsheet titled “Shit I do.” “After months and months of
5. crowdsourcing this beautiful, giant spreadsheet, I sent this to my husband and said, ‘Can’t wait
6. to discuss.'”
7. Rodsky shared the spreadsheet on Facebook. Soon, she was receiving messages from
8. strangers who had seen it, detailing the domestic indignities they faced. She wanted to channel
9. that frustration into something productive, and then Rodsky realized she could apply
10. organizational management principles to the home. When Sarah Harden, the CEO of the media
11. and production company Hello Sunshine, met Rodsky, she realized Rodsky was onto something
12. novel. “After 40 to 50 years of talking about the problems, she was working on a solution. [At
13. Hello Sunshine], (...) We like to be on the problem-solving end of the conversation rather than
14. wallowing” said Harden.
15. The result is Rodsky’s book, Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too
16. Much to Do (and More Life to Live), which came out in October. (Hello Sunshine inked a unique
17. deal with Rodsky as a venture partner, which means the company helped sell the book to a
18. publisher and will take a cut of its profits.) A key piece of Rodsky’s solution is gamifying the
19. notion of fair play with a set of cards. “So this is based on a 100 card game. You’re holding cards
20. that represent all that you do for your home and family.”
21. The author believes the cards can help couples navigate their domestic balance by helping
22. them to talk about home life (which most people don’t do) and take full ownership of the tasks
23. (concept, planning, and execution). The ultimate goal of redistributing domestic work, according
24. to Rodsky, is to free up time for what she calls “unicorn space” — the stuff that might feel like a
25. luxury or pipe dream to most parents. “This is about making time for the things we actually care
26. about — who we were before we had kids,” she said. “What are our passions and purpose,
27. beyond being a parent and a partner and a worker? The more we spend time arguing about who
28. does what, the less time we have for the things that truly matter.”

Adapted from: https://www.fastcompany.com/90425669/eve-rodskys-deck-of-cards-could-help-you-find-domestic-bliss

Instruction: answer questions 51 to 58 based on the following text.

Eve Rodsky’s deck of cards could help you find domestic bliss

1. Eve Rodsky was fed up. For years she, like many other women, had shouldered the burden
2. of invisible labor at home. Rodsky, a Harvard-educated lawyer and organizational management
3. specialist who advises families and charitable foundations, was tired of being the “she-fault”
4. parent. So, she started a spreadsheet titled “Shit I do.” “After months and months of
5. crowdsourcing this beautiful, giant spreadsheet, I sent this to my husband and said, ‘Can’t wait
6. to discuss.'”
7. Rodsky shared the spreadsheet on Facebook. Soon, she was receiving messages from
8. strangers who had seen it, detailing the domestic indignities they faced. She wanted to channel
9. that frustration into something productive, and then Rodsky realized she could apply
10. organizational management principles to the home. When Sarah Harden, the CEO of the media
11. and production company Hello Sunshine, met Rodsky, she realized Rodsky was onto something
12. novel. “After 40 to 50 years of talking about the problems, she was working on a solution. [At
13. Hello Sunshine], (...) We like to be on the problem-solving end of the conversation rather than
14. wallowing” said Harden.
15. The result is Rodsky’s book, Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too
16. Much to Do (and More Life to Live), which came out in October. (Hello Sunshine inked a unique
17. deal with Rodsky as a venture partner, which means the company helped sell the book to a
18. publisher and will take a cut of its profits.) A key piece of Rodsky’s solution is gamifying the
19. notion of fair play with a set of cards. “So this is based on a 100 card game. You’re holding cards
20. that represent all that you do for your home and family.”
21. The author believes the cards can help couples navigate their domestic balance by helping
22. them to talk about home life (which most people don’t do) and take full ownership of the tasks
23. (concept, planning, and execution). The ultimate goal of redistributing domestic work, according
24. to Rodsky, is to free up time for what she calls “unicorn space” — the stuff that might feel like a
25. luxury or pipe dream to most parents. “This is about making time for the things we actually care
26. about — who we were before we had kids,” she said. “What are our passions and purpose,
27. beyond being a parent and a partner and a worker? The more we spend time arguing about who
28. does what, the less time we have for the things that truly matter.”

Adapted from: https://www.fastcompany.com/90425669/eve-rodskys-deck-of-cards-could-help-you-find-domestic-bliss

Instruction: answer questions 51 to 58 based on the following text.

Eve Rodsky’s deck of cards could help you find domestic bliss

1. Eve Rodsky was fed up. For years she, like many other women, had shouldered the burden
2. of invisible labor at home. Rodsky, a Harvard-educated lawyer and organizational management
3. specialist who advises families and charitable foundations, was tired of being the “she-fault”
4. parent. So, she started a spreadsheet titled “Shit I do.” “After months and months of
5. crowdsourcing this beautiful, giant spreadsheet, I sent this to my husband and said, ‘Can’t wait
6. to discuss.'”
7. Rodsky shared the spreadsheet on Facebook. Soon, she was receiving messages from
8. strangers who had seen it, detailing the domestic indignities they faced. She wanted to channel
9. that frustration into something productive, and then Rodsky realized she could apply
10. organizational management principles to the home. When Sarah Harden, the CEO of the media
11. and production company Hello Sunshine, met Rodsky, she realized Rodsky was onto something
12. novel. “After 40 to 50 years of talking about the problems, she was working on a solution. [At
13. Hello Sunshine], (...) We like to be on the problem-solving end of the conversation rather than
14. wallowing” said Harden.
15. The result is Rodsky’s book, Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too
16. Much to Do (and More Life to Live), which came out in October. (Hello Sunshine inked a unique
17. deal with Rodsky as a venture partner, which means the company helped sell the book to a
18. publisher and will take a cut of its profits.) A key piece of Rodsky’s solution is gamifying the
19. notion of fair play with a set of cards. “So this is based on a 100 card game. You’re holding cards
20. that represent all that you do for your home and family.”
21. The author believes the cards can help couples navigate their domestic balance by helping
22. them to talk about home life (which most people don’t do) and take full ownership of the tasks
23. (concept, planning, and execution). The ultimate goal of redistributing domestic work, according
24. to Rodsky, is to free up time for what she calls “unicorn space” — the stuff that might feel like a
25. luxury or pipe dream to most parents. “This is about making time for the things we actually care
26. about — who we were before we had kids,” she said. “What are our passions and purpose,
27. beyond being a parent and a partner and a worker? The more we spend time arguing about who
28. does what, the less time we have for the things that truly matter.”

Adapted from: https://www.fastcompany.com/90425669/eve-rodskys-deck-of-cards-could-help-you-find-domestic-bliss

Instruction: answer questions 36 to 39 based on the following text.

History of Halloween

01 Halloween is __ holiday celebrated each year on October 31st, and in 2022 it occurs on __

02 Monday. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people used

03 to make __ fires and wear costumes to scare ghosts.

04 In the eighth century, Catholic Pope Gregory III decided November 1st should be __ day

05 to honor all saints and called it “All Saints’ Day”. Soon, All Saints’ Day incorporated some of the

06 traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve (the evening of all

07 spirits), and later it became Halloween.

08 The festivity migrated from Ireland to America in the 19th century. Over time, Halloween

09 evolved into __ overjoyed day of activities like trick-or-treating, festive gatherings, and

10 costumes. It’s a community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide Halloween parties.

(Available in: https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween – text especially adapted for this test).

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 47 a 50.

We commonly observe in second language learners a plethora of errors attributable to the negative transfer of the native language to the target language. There can be interlingual interference at the phonological, syntactic, lexical, and semantic levels of language. For example, one might find a beginner learner who says “I am in New York since January”. Examples of distinctions at the lexical level may be seen in false cognates.

The early stages of second language learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once learners have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer – generalization within the target language – is manifested. Negative intralingual transfer or overgeneralization is seen in such utterances as “Does John can sing?” or “He goed”.

A number of different categories for description of errors have been identified in research on learner language, among them:

I. The most generalized errors of addition, omission, substitution, and ordering. In English, for example, a definite article can be omitted (I went to movie), or an item substituted (/ lost my road), or a word order confused (I to the store went).

II. Within each category, levels of language can be considered: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar, and discourse. Often, of course, it is difficult to distinguish different levels of errors. A word with a faulty pronunciation, for example, might hide a syntactic or lexical error.

III. Errors may also be viewed as either global or local. Global errors hinder communication; they prevent the hearer from comprehending some aspect of the message. Local errors do not prevent the message from being heard, usually because there is only a minor violation of one segment of a sentence.

(BROWN, D. Principles of Language Learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994. Adaptado)

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 47 a 50.

We commonly observe in second language learners a plethora of errors attributable to the negative transfer of the native language to the target language. There can be interlingual interference at the phonological, syntactic, lexical, and semantic levels of language. For example, one might find a beginner learner who says “I am in New York since January”. Examples of distinctions at the lexical level may be seen in false cognates.

The early stages of second language learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once learners have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer – generalization within the target language – is manifested. Negative intralingual transfer or overgeneralization is seen in such utterances as “Does John can sing?” or “He goed”.

A number of different categories for description of errors have been identified in research on learner language, among them:

I. The most generalized errors of addition, omission, substitution, and ordering. In English, for example, a definite article can be omitted (I went to movie), or an item substituted (/ lost my road), or a word order confused (I to the store went).

II. Within each category, levels of language can be considered: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar, and discourse. Often, of course, it is difficult to distinguish different levels of errors. A word with a faulty pronunciation, for example, might hide a syntactic or lexical error.

III. Errors may also be viewed as either global or local. Global errors hinder communication; they prevent the hearer from comprehending some aspect of the message. Local errors do not prevent the message from being heard, usually because there is only a minor violation of one segment of a sentence.

(BROWN, D. Principles of Language Learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994. Adaptado)

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 47 a 50.

We commonly observe in second language learners a plethora of errors attributable to the negative transfer of the native language to the target language. There can be interlingual interference at the phonological, syntactic, lexical, and semantic levels of language. For example, one might find a beginner learner who says “I am in New York since January”. Examples of distinctions at the lexical level may be seen in false cognates.

The early stages of second language learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once learners have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer – generalization within the target language – is manifested. Negative intralingual transfer or overgeneralization is seen in such utterances as “Does John can sing?” or “He goed”.

A number of different categories for description of errors have been identified in research on learner language, among them:

I. The most generalized errors of addition, omission, substitution, and ordering. In English, for example, a definite article can be omitted (I went to movie), or an item substituted (/ lost my road), or a word order confused (I to the store went).

II. Within each category, levels of language can be considered: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar, and discourse. Often, of course, it is difficult to distinguish different levels of errors. A word with a faulty pronunciation, for example, might hide a syntactic or lexical error.

III. Errors may also be viewed as either global or local. Global errors hinder communication; they prevent the hearer from comprehending some aspect of the message. Local errors do not prevent the message from being heard, usually because there is only a minor violation of one segment of a sentence.

(BROWN, D. Principles of Language Learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994. Adaptado)

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 43 a 46.

In 1972 a British linguist, D. A. Wilkins, proposed a functional or communicative definition of language that could serve as a basis for developing communicative syllabuses for language teaching. Wilkins’s contribution was an analysis of the communicative meanings that a language learner needs to understand and express. Rather than describe the core of language through traditional concepts of grammar and vocabulary, Wilkins attempted to demonstrate the systems of meanings that lay behind the communicative uses of language. He described two types of meanings: notional categories (concepts such as time, sequence, quantity, location) and categories of communicative function (requests, denials, offers, complaints).

Proponents of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) see it as an approach that aims to (a) make communicative competence the goal of language teaching and (b) develop procedures for the teaching of language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication. Its comprehensiveness thus makes it different in scope and status from any of the earlier traditions in language teaching. There is no single text or authority on it, nor any single model that is universally accepted as authoritative. What is essential in all of them is that at least two parties are involved in an interaction of some kind where one party has an intention and the other party expands or reacts to the intention.

(RICHARDS, J.C. & RODGERS,T. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP, 2001. Adaptado)

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 36 a 42.

While the potential benefits or drawbacks of children playing video games receive a lot of attention, little notice is taken of the place of children within video games themselves.

A recent survey at the Anglia Ruskin University, Great Britain, investigated how children were represented in over 500 commercially successful video games, aimed both at adults and at children, published between 2009 and 2019. Although video games are often considered a children’s medium, it was found that, out of the 506 video games analysed, 331 did not contain any child characters at all. In the remaining titles that did feature a child character, less than half of them were significant characters.

How “the child” is treated in media like video games is a reflection of the morals of wider society. If a game treats children badly without explicitly condemning this treatment, it violates these morals. This accounts for the absence of child characters in controversial open-world games that predominantly invite players to steal cars, shoot people, and evade the police.

Children were also absent from games that aren’t particularly violent. Child characters did not feature in the majority of sports, racing or music games. Because the majority of children are excluded from the world of work, games that simulate aspects of real industries represent virtual environments that are only populated with adults.

Child characters in video games can also tell us about how society visualises the figure of the child. Adult characters in video games are more likely to be white and male. This same pattern was observed in the research on child characters. Where playable child characters were given a gender, 25 were male and six were female. The lack of playable girl characters reinforces the idea that boys are at the centre of the action and girls exist only on the sidelines.

Animal or other non-human characters were more common than non-white child characters. This echoes a problem in western children’s literature: non-human characters appear less frequently than white child protagonists but significantly outnumber child protagonists of all other races. Examining the digital kids that populate virtual gameworlds is a great way to show that how societies perceive “the child” is often in a narrow and exclusionary way.

(Emma Joy Reay. www.theconversation.com, 01.06.2022. Adaptado)

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 36 a 42.

While the potential benefits or drawbacks of children playing video games receive a lot of attention, little notice is taken of the place of children within video games themselves.

A recent survey at the Anglia Ruskin University, Great Britain, investigated how children were represented in over 500 commercially successful video games, aimed both at adults and at children, published between 2009 and 2019. Although video games are often considered a children’s medium, it was found that, out of the 506 video games analysed, 331 did not contain any child characters at all. In the remaining titles that did feature a child character, less than half of them were significant characters.

How “the child” is treated in media like video games is a reflection of the morals of wider society. If a game treats children badly without explicitly condemning this treatment, it violates these morals. This accounts for the absence of child characters in controversial open-world games that predominantly invite players to steal cars, shoot people, and evade the police.

Children were also absent from games that aren’t particularly violent. Child characters did not feature in the majority of sports, racing or music games. Because the majority of children are excluded from the world of work, games that simulate aspects of real industries represent virtual environments that are only populated with adults.

Child characters in video games can also tell us about how society visualises the figure of the child. Adult characters in video games are more likely to be white and male. This same pattern was observed in the research on child characters. Where playable child characters were given a gender, 25 were male and six were female. The lack of playable girl characters reinforces the idea that boys are at the centre of the action and girls exist only on the sidelines.

Animal or other non-human characters were more common than non-white child characters. This echoes a problem in western children’s literature: non-human characters appear less frequently than white child protagonists but significantly outnumber child protagonists of all other races. Examining the digital kids that populate virtual gameworlds is a great way to show that how societies perceive “the child” is often in a narrow and exclusionary way.

(Emma Joy Reay. www.theconversation.com, 01.06.2022. Adaptado)