Questões de Concurso Sobre vocabulário | vocabulary em inglês

READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER QUESTIONS 41 TO 46.

TEXT

Petroleum Alternatives. A new promising source

Human consumption of fossil fuels is expected to fully deplete the Earth’s crude oil reserves by the year 2060. As underground reservoirs of oil continue to shrink, we have no choice but to find alternatives. One promising source, with much cleaner emissions, is called bio-diesel. Bio-diesel is often made from soybean oil, although it can be made from any vegetable oil that is not elementally different from soy. Bio-diesel can even be made from used cooking oils that homes or restaurants would otherwise dispose of. Biodiesel can be used without constraint in any vehicle that runs on diesel—no modifications are needed. Presently, diesel engines can take up to 20 percent soy in their soy-diesel blend. As the need for bio-diesel increases and the technology improves, we may soon witness the extinction of the fossil-fueled vehicle.This is good news for the planet, as biodiesel is a more stable source of energy than petroleum, and it reduces contamination of our air and water.

INSTRUCTIONS – Read the following text carefully and then choose the correct alternatives that answer the questions.

SOUTHERN HUMPBACK WHALE

INTRODUCTION

During the Australian winter, these ocean leviathans journey 3,100 miles north from their Antarctic feeding grounds to the warm tropical waters near Australia´s Whitsunday Islands. At the southern edge of the Great Barrier Reef, the 40-ton female humpbacks give birth to calves measuring 14 feet long and weighing over one ton. The Whitsundays´ sheltered bays keep the calves warm and safe from predators. During the next few months, the whales rest, sing, play and mate. The calves nurse, but the one thing the adult whales don´t do while in the tropical seas is eat. By winter´s end, adults are famished, and they head south.

This life cycle is repeated throughout the Southern Hemisphere: one group migrates along the western coast of Australia, others to southern Africa and South America.

SIGHT UNSEEN

Underneath the blue Australian ocean, film crews captured the elegant rituals of southern humpbacks as they swim, sing, nurse, and play. A mother humpback whale supported her young calf from underneath, so it could breathe easier near the surface. Calves drink 130 gallons of milk a day! While baby grows fat, the mother starves for five months, her blubber stores depleting daily. Unlike the cold Antarctic waters, the seas here don´t grow rich with krill that humpbacks filer through their baleen plates. But she provides her calf with rich milk that contains some of the highest fat content of any mammal´s milk – 45 percent.

UNIQUE BEHAVIOR

Humpback males sing a unique melody, full of high-pitched chirps and whistles interspersed with deeper gurgles and moans. Each male repeats his song for hours, which likely plays a role in courtship. The song may change over time, with males singing a modified melody in consecutive years.

Whale-watching tours take advantage of the humpback´s playful and curious nature. They often approach boats and put on quite a show. As whales journey south along the eastern coast of Australia, many stop in sheltered Platypus Bay around Fraser Island – a World Heritage Site – where they display the charismatic behaviors loved by whale-watchers. The crystal blue waters give a perfect window to watch the whales twist, roll and swim upside down, emerging to breathe, slap their tails or pectoral fins on the water´s surface. Breaching whales jump nearly all the way out of the water. “Spyhopping” means their head emerges, and they peer at the surroundings with their large eyes.

STATUS/CONSERVATION

Commercial hunting in the 19th and 20th centuries decimated most whale species. Because they migrate close to shore and swim slowly, humpbacks became a popular whalers´ target, and were hunted down to a few hundred animals in the Southern Hemisphere. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented a moratorium on harvesting all species starting in 1986, and in 1994, declared Antarctica´s Southern Ocean a whale sanctuary. Now numbering over 10,000 in the Southern Hemisphere, humpbacks have shown incredible resilience, but their numbers still remain a fraction of their historic abundance. Recovery of regional populations varies, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists the humpback as vulnerable.

Humpbacks also have two Northern Hemisphere populations that number around 11,500 in the North Atlantic and 6,000 in the North Pacific. Northern humpbacks are genetically differentiated from the Southern Hemisphere population, and have dark bellies, while the southern humpbacks have all-white bellies. They don´t interbreed, because while the southern populations are mating and calving in the warm tropical seas, northern populations are near the polar Arctic.

OUTLOOK

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) allows hunting by indigenous cultures but bans hunting of humpback whales. Japan has long engaged in IWC-sanctioned “scientific whaling” of minke and other whales, and plans to start hunting humpbacks in 2007. “We are all concerned about Japan´s plans to add this species to the scientific whaling quota”, says Dr. Scott Baker, a renowned cetacean conservation biologist. Iceland also just started commercial whaling in 2006.

Some Asian countries allow the sale of whale meat from incidental bycatch, and a whale´s value of $100,000 provides incentive for illegal harvest. Baker and colleagues used DNA to show that the whale meat being sold in South Korean shops did not match that reported to the IWC. Illegal harvest and sale of whale meat is occurring.

Australia and New Zealand have petitioned the IWC to create a South Pacific Sanctuary adjoining the Southern Ocean Sanctuary where whaling would be illegal. Thus far, it has not been approved by IWC.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/animals/animals.html

Answer questions 39 and 40 based on the comics below.

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the text carefully and then answer the questions from 33 to 38 by choosing the correct alternative.

Brazil corruption scandals: All you need to know

For the past three years, Brazil has been gripped by a scandal which started with a state-owned oil company and grew to encapsulate people at the very top of business - and even presidents.

On the face of it, it is a straightforward corruption scandal - albeit one involving millions of dollars in kickbacks and more than 80 politicians and members of the business elite.

But as the tentacles of the investigation dubbed Operation Car Wash fanned out, other scandals emerged.

It has led to some of those who have found themselves accused claiming they are the victims of political plots, designed to bar them from office.

What is Operation Car Wash?

Operation Car Wash began in March 2014 as an investigation into allegations that Brazil's biggest construction firms overcharged state-oil company Petrobras for building contracts.

Investigators accused directors at the firm - named the world's most ethical oil and gas company in 2008 - of skimming the extra money off the top as a bribe for awarding the contract.

Which is bad enough - but then the Workers' Party found itself dragged into the corruption scandal amid allegations of having funneled some of these funds to pay off politicians and buy their votes and help with political campaigns.

Among those accused in the scandal were dozens of politicians, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - the country's extremely popular former president, known affectionately as "Lula".

Read the article and answer the following three questions.

Trump aide cites 'massacre' that never occurred to defend immigrant ban

A Trump administration aide corrected herself on Friday after a wave of criticism for referencing a 2011 "massacre" in Kentucky that never occurred to defend President Donald Trump's temporary ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

During an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday, White House counselor and spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said Trump's recent executive order was justified in part because of the "Bowling Green massacre" of 2011, which never took place.

Conway corrected herself on Friday in a post on Twitter, saying: "Honest mistakes abound."

The phrase "Bowling Green massacre" was the top trending topic on Twitter on Friday morning as thousands of social media users mocked Conway's error.

On television late on Thursday, Conway spoke about two Iraqis who came to the United States and were radicalized, adding, erroneously, "and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre."

She then said: "Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

In fact, in May 2011, two Iraqi men were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and charged with attempting to send weapons and money to al Qaeda in Iraq. They admitted to using improvised explosive devices against U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in prison and to 40 years in prison, respectively. Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States, prosecutors said.

Conway said on Twitter that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists" on the show. She also slammed a network reporter for criticizing her.

"NBC reporter texted me at 632am re:a diff story; never asked what I meant on @Hardball b4 slamming me on @TODAYshow Not cool, not journalism," Conway (@KellyannePolls) wrote.

“Tomato crisis” spreads panic in Nigeria

Making jollof rice, a beloved traditional dish in Nigeria, has suddenly become very expensive. Tomatoes, one of its main ingredients and a staple of Nigerian cuisine, are going for $2 each ____ local markets, with wholesale baskets costing as much as N42,000, or $212, Kaduna state agriculture commissioner Manzo Daniel told AFP.

The culprit is a moth called Tuta absoluta, which has destroyed crops in the northern Kaduna state, forcing the local government to declare a state of emergency. “It is a serious problem. The disease has affected production and consumption, prices are continuing to rise and there is no availability,” Shehu Sani, Senator for Kaduna Central, told CNN.

The area, which contributes strongly to Nigeria’s overall production, has already seen losses of millions of dollars, according to Sani. “Many depend ____ tomato farming for their livelihood and tomatoes are an indispensable part of the diet. People cannot do without them,” he said.

The tomato crisis comes on the heels of a recent fuel shortage and a general rise in commodity prices due to inflation and a lack of foreign currency. In local towns, the problem has been labeled “Tomato Ebola”. “People are panicking, because attaching that name to a staple food has worsened the situation,” said Sani. Even those who can afford to buy find it difficult to trust any tomato product, and some have started buying imported tinned tomatoes. “Nobody knows now which tomatoes are safe to eat and some people are avoiding them altogether.”

Nigerians have taken to Twitter to lament the situation, pointing out ____ playful disbelief that while they have to pay dearly for tomatoes, at an annual festival in Spain they are wasted for fun. The next ‘La Tomatina’ festival isn’t due until August, but ____ then Nigerians hope they’ll have gone back to tomato-normality.

Adapted from CNN. Accessed on May 27, 2016.

Read the comic strip below and answer questions 30 and 31.

Read the text below and answer questions 28 and 29. 

Read the text and answer questions 22 to 25.

TEXT II

Like Castles In An Aquarium, Offshore Drilling Platforms Are Sprawling With Residents

Just beneath the ocean’s surface, there’s an unseen world that most people will never have the opportunity to witness firsthand. A place where nature and mankind have struck a balance – a mutual respect, a friendship of sorts.

Offshore drilling platforms have become home to vast communities of sea life. Florid carpets of coral encrust their massive pylons, along with sponge, sea urchins, crabs, and snails. Swimming in the sanctuary of their enormous risers are schools of rockfish, bright orange garibaldi and angel fish. And splashing about on the surface is the occasional sea lion.

Now scientists have confirmed what some had suspected all along. Most of the sea life was actually created at the rig rather than having come from other parts of the ocean and settled there, according to the National Academy of Sciences. And fish that would otherwise perish in vast expanses of open ocean, settle within the safety of the structures.

Like castles in an aquarium, offshore platforms are sprawling with underwater residents. Scientists say these are the richest marine ecosystems on the entire planet. They are even more productive than coral reefs and estuaries, according to marine biologists.

The first thing anyone – trained scientist or casual recreational diver – notices around a rig is the big fish -- lots of them, say marine researchers and divers, alike.

For a decade and a half, researchers used submersibles to survey fish at 16 different platforms. When the researchers tabulated the data, they were surprised to discover that, by one standard, California’s oil rigs are among the most productive marine habitats ever recorded.

At the end of their production, however, the offshore rigs must be decommissioned. Scientific insight is adding momentum to efforts to convert some of these rigs into artificial reefs […].

(From http://thesurge.com/stories/like-castles-aquarium-offshore-drilling-platformssprawling-residents. Accessed July 18th, 2017)

TEXT I

Breaking the habit: From oiloholics to e-totallers

What changes in driving habits and improved batteries might do to oil demand

It has been a bad couple of years for those hoping for the death of driving. In America, where cars are an important part of the national psyche, a decade ago people had suddenly started to drive less, which had not happened since the oil shocks of the 1970s. Academics started to talk excitedly about “peak driving”, offering explanations such as urbanisation, ageing baby-boomers, car-shy millennials, ride-sharing apps such as Uber and even the distraction of Facebook.

Yet the causes may have been more prosaic: a combination of higher petrol prices and lower incomes in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Since the drop in oil prices in 2014, and a recovery in employment, the number of vehicle-miles travelled has rebounded, and sales of trucks and SUVs, which are less fuel-efficient than cars, have hit record highs.

This sensitivity to prices and incomes is important for global oil demand. More than half the world’s oil is used for transport, and of that, 46% goes into passenger cars. But the response to lower prices has been partially offset by dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency in America and elsewhere, thanks to standards like America’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), the EU’s rules on CO₂ emissions and those in place in China since 2012.

The IEA says that such measures cut oil consumption in 2015 by a whopping 2.3m b/d. This is particularly impressive because interest in fuel efficiency usually wanes when prices are low. If best practice were applied to all the world’s vehicles, the savings would be 4.3m b/d, roughly equivalent to the crude output of Canada. This helps explain why some forecasters think demand for petrol may peak within the next 10-15 years even if the world’s vehicle fleet keeps growing.

Occo Roelofsen of McKinsey, a consultancy, goes further. He reckons that thanks to the decline in the use of oil in light vehicles, total consumption of liquid fuels will begin to fall within a decade, and that in the next few decades driving will be shaken up by electric vehicles (EVs), self-driving cars and car-sharing. […]

(Dated Nov 24th, 2016. From https://www.economist.com/news/specialreport/21710635-what-changes-driving-habits-and-improved-batteries-might-dooil-demand-coming. Accessed July 18th, 2017)

O texto a seguir apresenta lacunas numeradas de 41 a 51, das quais foi omitida uma ou mais palavras. Assinale a alternativa que apresenta a palavra ou expressão que completa corretamente cada uma das lacunas numeradas, tanto quanto à correção gramatical como quanto ao sentido e estruturação do texto.

Why talk about language teaching methods at all? In recent years, a number of writers have criticized the very concept of (41) in our field. “Let’s just focus on learners and teachers and everything else will fall into place,” they seem to suggest. Some say that teachers see methods as prescriptions for classroom behavior and follow them too (42) , too inflexibly. By contrast, others argue that in planning their lessons, (43) don’t really think about codified methods at all. In the one view, methods and the prefabricated materials that embody them (44) teachers to mere technicians; in the other, teachers are mere improvisers in the here-and-now, with no use for general statements about how (45) acts may fit together. Either view should make any writer about methods and materials stop and think.

Having stopped and (46) , I find myself giving a single reply to both of the above objections: Language teachers are simply not “mere.” They are neither mere technicians (47) mere improvisers. They are professionals who make their own decisions, informed by their own (48) but informed also by the findings of researchers and by the accumulated, distilled, crystallized experience of their peers.

Let me then suggest three questions that we might well ask about “method,” together with my proposed answers:

What is a “method”? A method is more concrete than (49) . An approach is a set of understandings about what is at stake in learning and also about the equipment, mechanical or neurological, that is at work in learning. At the same time, a method is more abstract than a teaching act, which is a one-time event that can be recorded on videotape and on the neurocortexes of learners.

Is it possible to evaluate or to profit from an approach without embodying it in some kind of (50) ? Possible, perhaps, to some limited degree, but not easy.

Is it possible to improvise teaching acts apart from some more or less conscious approach? Possible, perhaps, but rare.

“Method,” then, seems to occupy a strategic mid-position between approach and (51) . For this reason, whoever would either think usefully about teaching or would teach thoughtfully can profit from learning about methods.

_{(E. W. Stevick, Working with Teaching Methods)}