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

TEXT: The uses for oil
Oil is the largest source of liquid fuel and, in spite of attempts to develop synthetic fuels, world consumption of oil products in increasing. 
The oil industry is not much more than a hundred years old. It began when the first oil well was drilled in 1859. In the early days, oil was used to light houses because there was no electricity and gas was very scarce. Later, people began to use oil for heating too. 
Most industries use machinery to make things. Every machine needs oil in order to run easily. Even a small clock or watch needs a little oil from time to time. 
The engines of many machines use oil fuels petrol, kerosene or diesel. Cars, buses, trucks, tractors, and small aircraft use petroleum chemicals: synthetic rubber, plastics, synthetic fiber materials for clothes and for the home, paints, materials which help to stop rust, photographic materials, soap and cleaning materials (detergents), drugs, fertilizers for farms and gardens, food containers, and may others. 
In 1900 the world’s oil production was less than 2 million tons a year. Today the oil industry is one of the world’s largest and most important suppliers of raw materials.
The main idea of text is:

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.  Lacking vital literacy skills holds a person back at every stage of their life .  As a child they won't be able to succeed at school, as a young adult they will be locked out  of the job market, and as a parent they won't be able to support their own child's learning. This intergenerational cycle  makes social mobility and a fairer society more difficult. 
People with low literacy skills may not be able to read a book or newspaper, understand road signs or price labels, make sense of a bus or train timetable, fill out a form, read instructions on medicines or use the internet. 
In England 16.4% of adults, or 7.1 million people, can be described as having 'very poor literacy skills.' They can understand short straightforward texts on familiar topics accurately and independently, and obtain information from everyday sources, but reading information from unfamiliar sources, or on unfamiliar topics, could cause problems. 
Many adults are reluctant to admit to their literacy difficulties and ask for help. One of the most important aspects of supporting adults with low literacy levels is to increase their self-esteem and persuade them of the benefits of improving their reading and writing. 
Low levels of literacy undermine the UK’s economic competitiveness, costing the taxpayer £2.5 billion every year (KPMG, 2009). A third of businesses are not satisfied with young people’s literacy skills when they enter the workforce and a similar number have organised remedial training for young recruits to improve their basic skills, including literacy and communication. 

Adapted from https://literacytrust.org.uk/information/what-is-literacy/ and https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/ Accesss on February 12th, 2019 
We may infer from the passage that 

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.  Lacking vital literacy skills holds a person back at every stage of their life .  As a child they won't be able to succeed at school, as a young adult they will be locked out  of the job market, and as a parent they won't be able to support their own child's learning. This intergenerational cycle  makes social mobility and a fairer society more difficult. 
People with low literacy skills may not be able to read a book or newspaper, understand road signs or price labels, make sense of a bus or train timetable, fill out a form, read instructions on medicines or use the internet. 
In England 16.4% of adults, or 7.1 million people, can be described as having 'very poor literacy skills.' They can understand short straightforward texts on familiar topics accurately and independently, and obtain information from everyday sources, but reading information from unfamiliar sources, or on unfamiliar topics, could cause problems. 
Many adults are reluctant to admit to their literacy difficulties and ask for help. One of the most important aspects of supporting adults with low literacy levels is to increase their self-esteem and persuade them of the benefits of improving their reading and writing. 
Low levels of literacy undermine the UK’s economic competitiveness, costing the taxpayer £2.5 billion every year (KPMG, 2009). A third of businesses are not satisfied with young people’s literacy skills when they enter the workforce and a similar number have organised remedial training for young recruits to improve their basic skills, including literacy and communication. 

Adapted from https://literacytrust.org.uk/information/what-is-literacy/ and https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/ Accesss on February 12th, 2019    In 'lacking vital literacy skills holds a person back at every stage of their life’, THEIR refers to 

Our Kids Don’t Belong in School By Bridget Samburg | Boston Magazine | September 2015

When Milva McDonald sent her oldest daughter to Newton public school kindergarten in 1990, she was disturbed by what she saw. The kids were being tracked, even at that young age. And then there were the endless hours the small children spent sitting at their desks. It felt unnatural. In the real world, you wouldn’t be stuck in a room with people all the same ages with one person directing them, she thought.
During that single year her daughter was in the school system, McDonald saw enough to convince her that she could do better on her own. That would be no small feat: Newton’s public schools have long been rated as among the best in the state (in our Greater Boston rankings this year, they’re 10th.). But she’d always worked part time—she’s now an online editor—and she was fortunate that she could maintain a flexible schedule. So she yanked her daughter out of school, and over the next two decades homeschooled all four of her children—including her youngest, Abigail Dickson, who’s now 16.
McDonald’s first homeschool rule was to throw out the book and let her children guide their learning, at their own pace. In lieu of a curriculum or published guides, McDonald improvised, taking advantage of the homeschooling village that had sprouted up around her. One mother ran a theater group, a dad ran a math group, and McDonald oversaw a creative-writing club. Their children took supplementary classes at the Harvard Extension School and Bunker Hill Community College. “I wanted them to be in charge of their own education and decide what they were interested in, and not have someone else telling them what to do and what they were good at,” she says.
And by any measure, it’s working. McDonald’s daughter Claire—the third of her four children to be homeschooled—will enter Harvard College as a freshman this fall.

Back in the ’90s, McDonald was considered a homeschooling pioneer; now she’s joined by a growing movement of parents who are abstaining from traditional schooling, not on religious grounds but because of another strong belief: that they can educate their kids better than the system can. Though far from mainstream (an estimated 2.2 million students are home-educated in the U.S.), secular homeschooling is trending up. Last year, 277 children were homeschooled in Boston, more than double the total from 2004; in Cambridge the number was 46. (In surrounding towns, the numbers are growing, too: During the 2013–2014 school year, Arlington had 55; Somerville, 36; Winthrop, 5; Brookline, 11; Natick, 36; Newton, 33; and Watertown, 24.)
There’s enough momentum that major cultural institutions—from the Franklin Park Zoo and the New England Aquarium to the Museum of Fine Arts and MIT’s Edgerton Center—now regularly offer classes for homeschoolers. Tellingly, even public school systems are becoming more accommodating. In Cambridge, for example, homeschoolers have the option to attend individual classes in the district’s schools. Some take math or science classes and participate in sports—last year, one homeschooler took music and piano lessons. Carolyn Turk, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning at Cambridge Public Schools, says she’s seeing more of this “hybrid” approach than in the past. “In Cambridge we look at homeschooling as a choice,” she says. “Cambridge is a city of choice.”

The Boston Public Schools, meanwhile, have begun to view homeschooling as one of the many laboratories in which it can explore new teaching methods. “These people are looking to do instructive, nontraditional education. It’s all different types of people from all incomes,” says Freddie Fuentes, the executive director of educational options for Boston Public Schools. Fuentes, who personally helps parents with academic plans, finds that many homeschooling parents want “very deep, expeditionary learning” for their children. “A lot of them are looking at innovative ways of learning,” he says. “We as a school system need to think about innovation and the cutting edge.”

In other words, homeschooling is arriving here in a very Boston-like way: It’s aspirational, intellectual, entrepreneurial, and innovative.

(http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2015/08/25/homeschooling-in-boston/)


According to the text, parents are opting for homeschooling because they think

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.  Lacking vital literacy skills holds a person back at every stage of their life .  As a child they won't be able to succeed at school, as a young adult they will be locked out  of the job market, and as a parent they won't be able to support their own child's learning. This intergenerational cycle  makes social mobility and a fairer society more difficult. 
People with low literacy skills may not be able to read a book or newspaper, understand road signs or price labels, make sense of a bus or train timetable, fill out a form, read instructions on medicines or use the internet. 
In England 16.4% of adults, or 7.1 million people, can be described as having 'very poor literacy skills.' They can understand short straightforward texts on familiar topics accurately and independently, and obtain information from everyday sources, but reading information from unfamiliar sources, or on unfamiliar topics, could cause problems. 
Many adults are reluctant to admit to their literacy difficulties and ask for help. One of the most important aspects of supporting adults with low literacy levels is to increase their self-esteem and persuade them of the benefits of improving their reading and writing. 
Low levels of literacy undermine the UK’s economic competitiveness, costing the taxpayer £2.5 billion every year (KPMG, 2009). A third of businesses are not satisfied with young people’s literacy skills when they enter the workforce and a similar number have organised remedial training for young recruits to improve their basic skills, including literacy and communication. 

Adapted from https://literacytrust.org.uk/information/what-is-literacy/ and https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/ Accesss on February 12th, 2019 
The text states that people with low literacy skills 

An Ocean of Opportunities
Brazilian exports have tripled in the last ten years and now the country requires huge investments in port infrastructure. Investment projects in the coming years are likely to exceed R$19 billion.
The Brazilian infrastructure sector is gearing up to sup- port the strong growth of the country’s foreign trade. In the last 10 years exports have more than tripled, while imports have more than doubled. In order to handle the trade boom Brazilian ports – which handle 95% of the country’s trade by volume and 85% by value – have been receiving significant public and private investments.
At the same time, large-scale projects in transportation logistics (railroads, highways, waterways and airports) are now underway or will be starting in the short or medium term and will promote greater integration with the country’s ports system.
For its part the federal government has made the rules _______________ the ports sector more flexible _______________  the recent publication of Decree 6,620, which allows Brazilian and international private companies ________________ build and operate new public ports under concession. Ports Minister Pedro Brito said he hopes Brazilian ports will receive investments totaling R$19 billion through the coming years.
Investments are needed to expand and modernize Brazilian ports to handle the growth of foreign trade. From 1998 to 2008 Brazil’s total trade flow, counting imports and exports, jumped from US$108 billion to an estimated US$400 billion, of US$281 billion in 2007.
Brazil is also expanding the number of countries with which it trades. From January to September of 2008 Brazil exported to 224 countries and imported from 109. While Brazilian exports still include a strong element of commodities (petroleum, iron ore, soy, grains, coffee and sugar as well as newcomers such as ethanol and bio-diesel) they now also include high-value- added items such as airplanes, vehicles, engines, auto parts, processed meat and steel products.
The sentence:
“The Brazilian infrastructure sector is gearing up to support the strong growth of the country’s foreign trade.” can be correctly translated as:

Read the text below to answer the question.
“Culture must go hand in hand with humanitarian aid. It must be present in Haiti’s reconstruction strategies because culture and development are closely linked”, stressed Irina Bokova, Director-General of United Nations Education, Scientific and Cutural Organization (Unesco), as she ended her official visit to Haiti yesterday. 
On her second and last day in Haiti, Ms Bokova met with the Minister of Culture and Communication, and the Director of ISPAN, institute for safeguarding national heritage. She then went to Jacmel, city in the southeast that is on Haiti’s Tentative List of properties to be proposed for inscription on Unesco’s World Heritage List. The city suffered severe damage during the 12 January earthquake.
The Director-General reiterated Unesco’s commitment to safeguarding heritage in the colonial city, founded in the late 17th century, where numerous buildings are in ruins. In her discussion with the mayor, Ms Bokova underlined the vital role – social as well as economic – of craftsmanship in local life and the need to preserve it. “We are aware that emergency humanitarian aid is not the only appropriate response to the country’s needs and that your know-how and your traditions must be taken into account in the reconstruction effort”, said Ms Bokova. 
Ms Bokova, emphasizing that Port-au-Prince was not the only part of Haiti to be stricken by the earthquake, then went to Camp-Perrin in the south. According to a Unesco consultant of Haiti’s state university, some 9000 people streamed into the small town following the disaster, 30% of them school-age children. 
Ms Bokova visited workshops in Camp-Perrin where masons are learning techniques for building earthquake resistant structures. “In an exposed region such as Haiti, everyone has the right to live in a secure house”, declared the Director-General. “Preventive measures must be taken to ensure this result and I hope experience acquired here can spread to other parts of the country.”
Back in Port-au-Prince, the Director-General met with the European Union’s chargé d’affaire and the spanish ambassador. At her next meeting with the Special Representative for the United Nations Secretary General, she asked for assistance from Minustah, the UN’s mission in Haiti, to protect the country’s historical sites and monuments from the threat of vandalism and illicit trade in art objects and other cultural property.
Culture must be an integral part of reconstruction. Internet: http://portal.unesco.org. Accessed on 13/3/2010 (with adaptations).
Analyze the following statements as True (T) or False (F) and choose the correct option.
I – The Director-General of Unesco believes that culture and humanitarian aid cannot be considered separately from each other.
II – Some 9000 people left Camp-Perrin in order to escape from the earthquakes.
III – Jacmel, a city in the southeast of Haiti, integrates Unesco’s World Heritage List to be reconstructed.
IV – Minustah, the UN’s mission in Haiti, is suspected of vandalism and illicit trade in art objects.
The correct sequence is:

A look back across nearly a century of language teaching reveals a cyclical history. The “changing winds and shifting sands” of language teaching methods manifest a new paradigm every quarter of a century or so, with each new paradigm a break from the old but taking with it positive aspects of previous paradigms. These changing methodologies are very much theories in practice. Methods, however, are difficult to define. They manifest themselves in such varieties at times that the term approach may be more accurately descriptive of these general moods. An approach is a general and theoretical view of how language ought to be taught, while a method includes a developed procedure for teaching. The Audiolingual Method, for example, would be better termed an approach because there is such variation within the so-called method and because it is derived from a specific set of theoretical assumptions. We nevertheless refer often to a number of “methods”–since that is the traditional nomenclature–keeping in mind the fuzzy line of distinction between method and approach.
(Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, by Douglas Brown. Adapted)
The author defends the idea that

During the 1980s an alternative model of reading was proposed that puts together the two views, bottom-up and top-down. The result is called an “interactive” model of the process of reading. It stresses the interplay of all meaning-gathering activities which take place during reading. While the basic theoretical work has centered on native or first language readers, the interactive model has been adopted by many second language reading researchers as well.
Interactive theory acknowledges the role of previous knowledge and prediction, but at the same time, reaffirms the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words of the text. According to the interactive model, the reading process works like this: First, clues to meaning are taken up from the page by the eye and transmitted to the brain. The brain then tries to match existing knowledge to the incoming data in order to facilitate the further processing of new information. On the basis of this previous experience, predictions are made about the content of the text, which, upon further sampling of the data, are either confirmed or revised. Essentially, then, the two processes, bottom-up and top-down, are complementary; one is not able to function properly without the other.
(Academic Reading and the ESL/EFL Teacher by Fraida Dubin and David Bycina, in Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, Marianne Celce-Murcia, editor. Adapted.)
No que se refere ao conceito de tipologia textual, pode-se afirmar que o texto é

A look back across nearly a century of language teaching reveals a cyclical history. The “changing winds and shifting sands” of language teaching methods manifest a new paradigm every quarter of a century or so, with each new paradigm a break from the old but taking with it positive aspects of previous paradigms. These changing methodologies are very much theories in practice. Methods, however, are difficult to define. They manifest themselves in such varieties at times that the term approach may be more accurately descriptive of these general moods. An approach is a general and theoretical view of how language ought to be taught, while a method includes a developed procedure for teaching. The Audiolingual Method, for example, would be better termed an approach because there is such variation within the so-called method and because it is derived from a specific set of theoretical assumptions. We nevertheless refer often to a number of “methods”–since that is the traditional nomenclature–keeping in mind the fuzzy line of distinction between method and approach.
(Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, by Douglas Brown. Adapted)
In relation to the first two sentences of the text, one can say that

This process involves generating ideas, developing and organizing the ideas, and revising and editing them. Effective writers cycle through these stages until they are satisfied that the writing achieves its purpose.
Which process does the text above refer to?

A Lion passed by a Field where four oxen lived. The lion tried to attack them, but when he came near, the oxen turned their tails to one another for protection. So, every time the lion approached the oxen, he met the horns of one of them. The lion realized that those oxen were smart and went away.
  But one day the oxen quarreled among themselves, and each one went to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end to all four.
(ARSOP. The Four Oxen and the Lion. Available at: <www.australianstorytelling.org.au/txt/fables.php#52>. Access: Jun. 6,2014.)
The lion tried to attack the oxen _____.

A Lion passed by a Field where four oxen lived. The lion tried to attack them, but when he came near, the oxen turned their tails to one another for protection. So, every time the lion approached the oxen, he met the horns of one of them. The lion realized that those oxen were smart and went away.     But one day the oxen quarreled among themselves, and each one went to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end to all four.
(ARSOP. The Four Oxen and the Lion. Available at: <www.australianstorytelling.org.au/txt/fables.php#52>. Access: Jun. 6,2014.)
That fable teaches us that _____.

Algeria turns off Internet to stop exam cheats
23rd June, 2018
Algeria has turned off its Internet all over the country to stop students cheating in high school exams. Algeria's government said it wanted to do something to stop students secretly going online during nationwide school tests. All Internet service was stopped for an hour after the start of each of the exams. The government will shut the Internet down during the whole exam season, between June 20 and June 25. In addition, all electronic devices with Internet access have been banned from the country's 2,000 exam centers. Even teachers cannot take phones into the exam halls. There were many problems in 2016 when test questions were leaked online both before and during exams.
Algeria's Education Minister Nouria Benghabrit told the Algerian newspaper Annahar that Facebook would also be blocked across the country for the six days the exams were taking place. She said she did not like doing this but she could not do anything and give opportunities to students to cheat in tests. As an added security measure, metal detectors will be placed in all exam halls, and security cameras and mobile-phone blockers have been set up at the printing companies where the exams are printed. Many students thought the government was doing the right thing. Rania Salim, 16, said it wasn't fair that students who didn't study could get help in exams by using their mobile phone to cheat.
Taken from: https://breakingnewsenglish.com

According to the text, the Algerian government will shut the Internet down during the whole exam season. (1st paragraph) 
The phrasal verb SHUT DOWN in the sentence above means that the Internet access will be:

We can help you save energy in the home…
There are lots of things you can do to save energy at home, from simple things like washing at 30 °C, saving water and recycling, to insulating your loft and cavity walls. By saving energy you’ll be reducing your home’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and helping to fight climate change.
Why should you save energy? Over 40 per cent of the UK’s man-made CO₂  emissions actually come from energy we use every day – at home and when we travel. To generate that energy, we burn fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) that produce ‘greenhouse’ gases – in particular CO₂  – which are changing our climate and damaging the environment.
The greenhouse effect CO₂  and various other gases wrap the Earth in an invisible ‘blanket’, helping to prevent heat from escaping. Without this greenhouse effect, the average temperature on Earth would be around -18 ºC, compared with the current average of around +15 ºC. This blanket of gases has remained at a constant concentration for many thousands of years. Since the Industrial Revolution began around 200 years ago, people have been burning more fossil fuels. This has increased the heating effect of the ‘blanket’, trapping more of the sun’s energy inside our atmosphere. In turn the Earth’s temperature has increased more rapidly in a shorter period of time than it has for thousands of years.
The impact of climate change People sometimes think that climate change will be a positive thing for the UK, giving us warmer summers and fewer cold winters. But hotter summers and less rain in the south and east will mean water shortages, forest fires and damage to crops and wildlife. In the north and west there could be much heavier rain and more flooding. As the polar ice caps continue to melt, rising sea levels will threaten many coastal communities. Overall, the cost to society, the environment, our health and the economy is likely to far outweigh any benefits.
Make a difference The average UK household creates around six tonnes of CO₂  every year – that’s 6,000 kg – to heat and power their home. Making your home more energy efficient could save you up to £340 a year and reduce your home’s CO₂  emissions by up to 1,500–2,000 kg. You could save even more by switching to renewable energy sources, by walking, cycling or using public transport whenever possible, and by driving more efficiently.
(Texto introdutório ao manual “A guide to energy saving in the home”, disponível em: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Resources/Publications.)
Among some actions to save energy at home, in the text we find:

Helicopter Pilot Careers in Law Enforcement      In recent years there has been an increase in the use of helicopters by law enforcement. Helicopters provide a clear advantage to law enforcement. They offer speed, a bird's eye perspective, and the use of specialized sensors such as infrared that enable them to "see" in the dark. A career flying law enforcement helicopters is definitely within your reach and can offer excitement as well as financial rewards and job security.      Most, but not all law enforcement agencies require that you be a law enforcement officer before you become a pilot. This means attending the police academy and spending time in a patrol car or walking a beat. This will expose you to the situations that police officers on the ground encounter daily and you'll be better able to determine the best way to assist with an air unit. Some police aviation units, like the Maryland State Police Aviation Unit, are comprised of civilians. Others hire agencies to provide the helicopters and the pilots.      The scope and depth of law enforcement operations varies with the department. In general, larger departments have more capabilities than smaller departments. Some departments fly under VMC (visual meteorological conditions) only which means they need to be able to see the horizon to maintain the proper orientation of the aircraft while others operate in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) which is flight solely referenced to the flight instruments. Some departments have forward looking infra red while others only have a spot light and others fly using night vision goggles.      Law enforcement flying for the most part is done close to the ground. Law enforcement helicopters are usually trying to find people and vehicles that are hidden or are trying to evade and/or escape. Because of this pilots who fly law enforcement helicopters must remain vigilant for obstructions such as towers and wires. (http://ezinearticles.com/?Helicopter-Pilot-Careers-in-Law-Enforcement&id=687642)
According to the text, going to police academy before learning how to fly is:

Look at the underlined word in the extract below.
"If you want to install lots of apps, you can improve the memory, so the phone contains more data.”
Choose the correct sentence with the same meaning.

According to the article, it is correct to infer that most people: