Questões de Inglês - Sinônimos | Synonyms para Concurso
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The fair trade movement, which aims
ensure that fair prices are paid to producers in
developing countries, is one of the true global success
stories recent decades. The International
Fairtrade Certification Mark, a guarantee that producers are getting a fair price, has become one of the
most recognizable logos the world, which
91 percent of customers associate positive
values. When the logo first appeared in the UK, the
country where the largest number of fair-trade products are sold, nobody expected that the number of
certified products would grow from only 3 to over
4,500 in just 18 years. In 2011, people around the
world spent more than 6.5 billion US dollars on fair-
-trade certified goods, signifying a 12 percent increase
in sales from the previous year. This was at a time
when most market segments in the developed world
were still shrinking or stagnating from the after effects
of the 2008 banking crisis. Over 1.2 million farmers
and workers living in 66 countries benefit from fair-
-trade certification by being able to sell their products
at competitive prices, to ensure sustainability.
Fair-trade initiatives have been growing steadily since the late 1960s, when the fair trade
movement started with only a handful of committed
individuals in the West who believed there was an
alternative to the exploitation of farmers and workers
in the developing world. Fair trade ensures fair prices
for suppliers, as well as payment of a premium that
can be reinvested in the local communities (for example, in schools or sanitation) or in improving productivity. In India, for instance, a group of rice farmers used
the premium to buy farm machinery, which meant a
30 percent improvement in production.
As consumers look for, and recognize, the logo
and purchase fair-trade products, they put
pressure on companies and governments to do more
for global welfare. They also put pressure on supermarkets to sell fair-trade goods at the same price as
conventional products, shifting the extra costs involved from consumers to the corporations that collect
the profits.
Critics of the fair trade movement say it is still
not doing enough. They stress that the key to
long-term development is not in small local improvements, but in moving the developing world from
the production of raw materials into processing them,
which can bring in greater profit. There are already some signs of this happening. A group of tea growers
in Kenya recently set up a processing factory to deliver the final products directly to their customers in
the West. By switching from the export of raw tea to
boxed fair-trade products, they achieved 500 percent
higher profits.
It is important to realize that, despite all of its
benefits, the fair trade movement has its limitations. Some of the poorest farmers can’t afford to pay
the certification fees required for each fair-trade initiative, while others work for big, multinational employers that are excluded from participating. Fair trade is
certainly a step in the right direction, but there is a lot
more we must continue to do in order to help people
in the world’s poorest regions.Read the text and mark the CORRECT alternative form question:
Windsurfing around Britain
Kevin Cookston, a 23-year-old engineering student, has been keen on windsurfing for many years. Recently, he set a new record for travelling all the way round the coast of Great Britain on a windsurf board.
'I don‟t really know why I did it,‟ says Kevin, ‟just for the fun of it, I suppose. It was there to be done, that was all.‟ Despite lacking both the obsessive ambition and the funds that normally go with attempts to break records, Kevin made the journey in eight weeks and six days, knocking one week off the previous record set in 1984.
Leaving from Exmouth in the south-west of England, Kevin travelled up the west coast of England and Wales, before going round the top of Scotland and then coming back down the other side. The journey officially covered 2.896 kilometres, although given the changes of direction to find the right wind paths, the actual distance Kevin travelled is probably closer to 4.000 km.
Kevin fitted his fitness training in around his final year university examinations. ‟I didn‟t have that much time to prepare,‟ he explains. ‟But I went running often and supplemented that with trips to the gym to do weight training. I found I got a lot better during the trip itself actually. At the start, I was tired and needed a rest after four hours, but by the end I found I could do ten hours in a row no trouble.‟
Kevin had a budget of £7.000 to cover the whole expedition. The previous record had been set with a budget twice that size, while a recent unsuccessful attempt had cost £40.000. Budgets have to meet the cost of fuel, food and accommodation for the support team, as well as the windsurfer's own equipment and expenses.
Previous contenders had been accompanied by a boat on which they slept at night, as well as a fleet of vehicles on land to carry their supplies. Kevin made do with an inflatable rubber boat and an old van manned by four friends who followed his progress. Overnight arrangements had to be found along the way. Apart from the odd occasion when they enjoyed the hospitality of friends, the team made use of the camping equipment carried in the van, and slept on the beach.
When asked if his athlete‟s diet was a closely kept secret, Kevin replied that he ate a lot of pasta and added the odd tin of tuna to keep up his energy. ‟Basically, we had anything that was on special offer in the nearest supermarket, he confided.
Such a prolongued period of gruelling windsurfing made relaxation important however, and for this, Kevin favoured the pub method. This also provided social opportunities.“The people we met were really encouraging he recalls“. 'They thought what we were doing was really great. It was hard work, but we had a lot of fun along the way“.
Kevin has been windsurfing since he was thirteen years old and he is also a highly-ranked competitor at national level. ‟I don‟t know where I‟m ranked now,‟ he says, `because I‟ve missed a lot of important competitions this year. But what I did has more than made up for that and I‟ll be doing my best to be up there amongst the winners once I get back into the competitive sport next season‟. Given his unique achievement this year, Kevin seems well-placed to take on the world‟s top windsurfers.
Fonte: First Certificate Practice Tests Plus 1, pg 116 Kenny/ Luque-Mortimer, Ed. Longman
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