Questões de Concurso Sobre voz ativa e passiva | passive and active voice em inglês

Cybersecurity: An overview of cyber challenges facing the nation, and actions needed

Federal agencies and the nation’s critical infrastructure — such as energy, transportation systems, communications, and financial services — depend on Information Technology (IT) systems to carry out operations and process essential data. However, the risks to these IT systems are increasing—including insider threats from witting or unwitting employees, escalating and emerging threats from around the globe, and the emergence of new and more destructive attacks. Rapid developments in new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and ubiquitous Internet and cellular connectivity, can also introduce security issues. Over 28,000 security incidents were reported by federal civilian agencies to the Department of Homeland Security in FY 2019.

Additionally, since many government IT systems contain vast amounts of personally identifiable information (PII), federal agencies must protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of this information—and effectively respond to data breaches and security incidents. Likewise, the trend in the private sector of collecting extensive and detailed information about individuals needs appropriate limits.

To highlight the importance of these issues, Government Accountability Office (GAO) has designated information security as a government-wide high-risk area since 1997. This high-risk area was expanded in 2003 to include the protection of critical cyber infrastructure and, in 2015, to include protecting the privacy of PII.

GAO has made about 3,300 recommendations to federal agencies to address cybersecurity shortcomings—and we reported that more than 750 of these had not been fully implemented as of December 2020. We designated 67 as priority, meaning that we believe they warrant priority attention from heads of key departments and agencies.

Adapted from: https://www.gao.gov/cybersecurity. Available on November 16th, 2022

The Amazon Forest

The Amazon is often called the lungs of the earth and produces 20% of the world’s oxygen. For this reason, many people are trying to stop deforestation in the rainforest. Brazil, for example, is working hard to help the rainforest survive.

A few years ago, the Brazilian government put forward a plan called ARPA (Amazon Region Protected Areas). It had the support of many international agencies, including the World Bank, and the German Development Bank, KfW. The main aim was to build new areas of protected rainforest, maintain areas of the rainforest that hadn’t yet been destroyed, and stop deforestation. Deforestation contributes greatly to global warming because carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when trees get cut down and burned.

One of the first areas to be recognized as part of ARPA was the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park. It is 38,800 km² and is the same size as Switzerland, a small country in Central Europe. It’s the world’s largest protected tropical national park, and the second largest national park. It is home to certain species of jaguar, eagle, and lizard, which can only survive in the rainforest. Many of these species are under threat from climate change and deforestation.

In order to work in the park, conservationists need a reliable map. However, no map existed, and they didn’t have enough knowledge to make one on their own. They came up with the idea of involving local tribes to help them, combining modern and ancient methods to produce a map. The tribes learned to use global positioning system handsets (GPS), in conjunction with their local knowledge of the area, which included fishing and hunting grounds, and places of historical or mythical importance. Aerial photos were a 20useful aid in the process as well. This method of map-making is now the key to the future of rainforests, in Brazil and the rest of the world too.

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President Joe Biden predicted Thursday that student loan borrowers will start receiving relief – which is currently on hold over a court challenge – within weeks, projecting confidence that his administration will win the challenge. “We’re going to win that case. I think in the next two weeks you’re going to see those checks going out”, Biden told a TV news correspondent.

The Biden administration started taking student debt forgiveness applications on October 14 and officials have said it could take weeks to process and grant relief. Eligible borrowers won’t be receiving actual checks. Instead, they will see up to a $ 20,000 reduction in their student debt balances. The Department of Education has told borrowers who are eligible for automatic debt relief, without filing an application, not to expect the debt cancellation before November 14.

A federal appeals court put a temporary hold on the administration’s student loan forgiveness program last week, which barred the government from canceling loans covered under the new policy while the court considers a challenge brought by six Republican-led states. The Biden administration is also facing lawsuits from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and conservative groups such as the Job Creators Network Foundation and the Cato Institute.

Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, first announced in August, aims to deliver debt relief to millions of borrowers before federal student loan payments resume in January after a nearly three-year, pandemic-related pause.

The President made his comments during an interview with a local TV station network during his visit to Syracuse, New York, to tout a new deal on semiconductor manufacturing. With less than two weeks until the midterm elections Biden took questions on the economy, his message to voters, and the stalled student debt relief program. President Joe Biden is canceling some federal student loan debt, making a once pie-in-the-sky idea a reality. The application officially opened Monday, allowing low- and middle-class federal student loan borrowers to apply for up to $ 20,000 in debt relief.

https: <www.edition.cnn.com> (adapted). 

Read the following text and answer question.

Introduction to Climate change

Many people make Climate Change and Global Warming a scary and difficult thing to understand, _______ it’s not.

Scientists have warned that the world's climate has changed a lot, and has affected many living and non-living things. Many places _______ were warmer are now getting colder, and many colder regions are getting much colder or even warmer nown as Global Warming).

For example, _________ 1901 and 2012, it is believed that the earth's temperature has risen by 0.89 °C. Rainfall amounts have also risen in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere since the beginning of the 20th Century. It is also believed that sea levels have risen up to about 19cm globally, with lots of glaciers melting in addition.

Some people do not believe that these are caused by human activities. They think it is all political actions and falsehood intended to cause panic among humans.

Well, whatever it is, we would like to know more, and take a few good points from this confusion, and use them to make our world a better place to live. 

(Adapted from: https://goo.gl/xQnjzZ. Access: 01/22/2018)

Read the text and choose the best alternative for the questions that follow

THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

What is it?

The flipped classroom concept Flipped learning is a form of blended instruction that mixes ''synchronous‘ learning with 'asynchronous‘ independent study. Synchronous learning usually takes place in real time in a physical classroom, though it can also take place in a virtual classroom online. Asynchronous learning is more independent. Content is usually accessed through some form of digital platform. Students can choose when they work, so whilst they can ask questions and share ideas with teachers and classmates, feedback may be delayed.

In a flipped learning model, independent study is used to input core ideas, concepts, or language prior to group study time. In group study time, students focus on practical tasks that enable them to develop a deeper understanding of their new knowledge and extend their skills. The traditional model of a classroom – where students receive input, then complete practice tasks for homework – is therefore 'flipped‘. Video, text, and audio input Video is commonly used as an input medium for self-study as it is accessible and allows students to stop and re-watch content as needed. Text and audio can also be used to develop content knowledge and ensure students are fully prepared for the synchronous class

What does it mean for the ELT classroom?

One of the key benefits of flipped learning is that it gives students more responsibility for their own learning. Outside the classroom, students are able to work at their own pace, whilst lessons become more student-centred. More importantly, it allows the teacher to dedicate more classroom time to practical, engaging, and interactive activities and projects.

Flipped learning means that appropriate amounts of time are given to introducing, clarifying, and practising new language. Language input is taught or revised during the pre-class learning stage, allowing more time for the students to practise interacting with the language in the classroom and to actively develop all of their language skills. Teachers are able to plan more effective lessons which meet the needs of their learners by focusing on additional language input, language revision, and language practice as required.

With more time spent producing language in class through speaking, writing, and project work, teachers have more opportunities to observe their students using the language and identify their strengths and weaknesses. This allows them to adapt the pace and content of their input accordingly, ensuring lessons are personalized and tasks are differentiated for each individual student.

In taking more responsibility for their own learning, students develop more effective independent study skills as they look for solutions and solve problems. This independence can lead to improved self-esteem and, in turn, higher levels of engagement. 

What are the challenges?

Students may need support adjusting to flipped learning since it requires high levels of motivation and self-regulation. They might also need time management tips to help them allocate enough time to work through the pre-class materials. However, since the teacher can never assume that all students will arrive for lessons fully ready for the language practice stage, a certain amount of reviewing and revision should be built into every lesson, allowing for further clarification and peer teaching. In time, students should see the benefits of being prepared for lessons. 

Some students may struggle to understand the input for the lesson without teacher or peer support. The teacher needs to be especially careful to ensure the materials they give are scaffolded well enough that all students gain the knowledge they need to complete the active tasks in the classroom. 

Flipped learning requires teachers to take on more of an observational, supportive role and respond to individual students‘ needs, so further training and support may be needed as they experiment with this new approach.

There are currently relatively few professionally produced materials available which support the learning of English using a flipped model. Depending on what is available, teachers might need to acquire the skills and knowledge to source or produce high-quality, engaging materials for themselves. Rather than starting from scratch, teachers can look for videos that are appropriate for their learners and supplement them with engaging videos of their own as they build up a bank of resources over time.

Teachers need to be able to monitor students during the asynchronous preparation stage to gauge whether they can cope with the practice-orientated tasks in the classroom. To do this, teachers may need to allow extra time for accessing a learning management system (LMS) so they can stay up to date with student progress.

How can this be implemented?

Realistic expectations Whilst careful planning will go some way to ensuring success, be aware that establishing a successful flipped classroom may take time. For the first few classes, you may have students turning up unprepared. If you respond by reverting back to the way you taught previously, then it‘s unlikely that your classroom will flip. Keep persevering with the classes you planned until students adjust to the new way of learning and their new responsibilities. It takes time to create a new habit.

When preparing the asynchronous input, think about it in terms of bite-sized chunks of learning. The optimum length for a video clip is around two and a half minutes. If you can‘t cover what the students need to know in that time, then break down the input into shorter videos. Students are more likely to watch two short videos than one long video.

Passively watching or reading content doesn‘t provide an engaging learning experience, and it‘s easy for students to tune out. So, once you have created your content – whether it‘s text, audio, or video – be sure to design tasks to engage the students and guide them towards the learning outcomes. These could be comprehension-checking tasks or note-taking tasks, or you could establish forums to enable peer interaction around the content. Asking students to create something, like a role-play or short piece of writing, can be a great way for students to show what they have understood.

If you decide to create video content, make use of visuals to help convey meaning. It‘s easy to stand in front of the camera and talk, but that doesn‘t make for interesting or engaging viewing. It‘s far more effective to combine visuals with your words, as you would with your whiteboard in the classroom. An easy way to do this is to use presentation software to build the visuals and then record a voiceover. Most standard presentation applications offer this functionality. 

Building your videos into an LMS will help you to monitor and understand how each student is using the content. You can also use it to build interactive materials that guide students‘ understanding of the content and which give them feedback on what they are learning.

If your classroom has desks in rows, think about how you can rearrange the furniture so that the room is more conducive to group work. For instance, put tables into blocks for students to work in small groups. Make sure that you leave enough space to move between the tables to monitor the work students are doing and to give support when they need it. Think about how and when you intervene in activities and provide correction and support. Be a good listener, make notes of any problems or new language your students need to do the activities more effectively, and set aside time to deal with these issues. 

Adapted from: https://jcj.uj.edu.pl/documents/15103613/146115492/oup-focus-flipped-classroom.pdf/362253c0-07ca-4361-a1da-d740018255e6 (Accessed on 01.24.2022)

Leia o texto a seguir e responda a questão.

“He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin. The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male had stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface.

He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy’s aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat.

Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male fish jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed.”

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea.

Eua: Hueber Verlag, 1952. 108 p.

A Brief and Simplified Description of Papermaking

The paper we use today is created from individual wood fibers that are first suspended in water and then pressed and dried into sheets. The process of converting the wood to a suspension of wood fibers in water is known as pulp making, while the manufacture of the dried and pressed sheets of paper is formally termed papermaking. The process of making paper has undergone a steady evolution, and larger and more sophisticated equipment and better technology continue to improve it.

The Wood yard and Wood rooms

The process at Androscogging began with receiving wood in the form of chips or of logs 4 or 8 feet in length. From 6 AM to 10 PM a steady stream of trucks and railroad cars were weighted and unloaded. About 40 percent were suplied by independents who were paid by weight their logs. The mill also received wood chips from lumber mills in the area. The chips and logs were stored in mammoth piles with separate piles for wood of different species (such as pine, spruce, hemlock).

When needed, logs were floated in flumes......(1).....the wood yard.....(2).....one of the mill’s three wood rooms. There, bark was rubbed......(3)........in long, ribbed debarking drums by tumbling the logs against one another. The logs then fell into a chipper;......(4)......seconds a large log was reduced to a pile of chips approximately 1 inch by 1 inch by 1/4 inch.

The chips were stored in silos. There were separate silos for softwoods (spruce, fir, hemlock, and pine) and hardwoods (maple, oak, beech, and birch). This separate and temporary storage of chips permitted the controlled mixing of chips into the precise recipe for the grade of paper being produced.

The wood chips were then sorted through large, flat vibrating screens. Oversized chips were rechipped, and ones that were too small were collected for burning in the power house. (The mill provided approximately 20 percent of all its own steam and electricity needs from burning waste. An additional 50 percent of total electricity needs was produced by harnessing the river for hydroelectric power.)

Once drawn from the silo into the digesters, there was no stopping the flow of chips into paper. 

Pulpmaking

The pulp made at Androscoggin was of two types: Kraft pulp (produced chemically) and ground wood pulp (produced mechanically). Kraft pulp was far more important to the high quality white papers produced at Androscoggin, accounting for 80 percent of all the pulp used. Kraft pulp makes strong paper. (Kraft is German for strength. A German invented the Kraft pulp process in 1884.) A paper’s strength generally comes from the overlap and binding of long fibers of softwood; only chemically was it initially possible to separate long wood fibers for suspension in water. Hardwood fibers are generally smaller and thinner and help smooth the paper and make it less porous.

The ground wood pulping process was simpler and less expensive than the Kraft process. It took high quality spruce and fir logs and pressed them continuously against a revolving stone that broke apart the wood’s fibers. The fibers, however, were smaller than those produced by the Kraft process and, although used to make newsprint, were useful at Androscoggin in providing “fill” for the coated publication gloss papers of machines 2 and 3, as will be described later.

^(A)The chemical Kraft process worked by dissolving the lignin that bonds wood fibers together. ^(B) It did this in a tall pressure cooker, called a digester, by “cooking” the chips in a solution of caustic soda (NaOH) and sodium sulfide (Na²S), which was termed the “white liquor.” ^(C)The two digesters at Androscoggin were continuous digesters; chips and liquor went into the top, were cooked together as they slowly settled down to the bottom, and were drawn off the bottom after about three hours. ^(D) By this time, the white liquor had changed chemically to “black liquor’’; the digested chips were then separated from this black liquor. ^(E)

In what was known as the “cold blow” process, the hot, pressurized chips were gradually cooled and depressurized. A “cold liquor’’ (170°F) was introduced to the bottom of the digester and served both to cool and to transport the digested chips to a diffusion washer that washed and depressurized the chips. Because so much of the lignin bonding the fibers together had been removed, the wood fiber in the chips literally fell apart at this stage.

The black liquor from the digester entered a separate four-step recovery process. Over 95 percent of the black liquor could be reconstituted as white liquor, thereby saving on chemical costs and significantly lowering pollution. The four-step process involved (1) washing the black liquor from the cooked fiber to produce weak black liquor, (2) evaporating the weak black liquor to a thicker consistency, (3) combustion of this heavy black liquor with sodium sulfate (Na₂SO₄ ), and redissolving the smelt, yielding a “green liquor” (sodium carbonate + sodium sulfide), and (4) adding lime, which reacted with the green liquor to produce white liquor. The last step was known as causticization.

Meanwhile, the wood-fiber pulp was purged of impurities like bark and dirt by mechanical screening and by spinning the mixture in centrifugal cleaners. The pulp was then concentrated by removing water from it so that it could be stored and bleached more economically.

By this time, depending on the type of pulp being made, it had been between 3 1/2 and 5 hours since the chips had entered the pulp mill. 

All the Kraft pulp was then bleached. Bleaching took between 5 and 6 hours. It consisted of a three-step process in which (1) a mix of chlorine (Cl₂ ) and chlorine dioxide (CIO₂ ) was introduced to the pulp and the pulp was washed; (2) a patented mix of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), liquid oxygen, and hydrogen peroxide (H₂ O₂ ) was then added to the pulp and the pulp was again washed; and (3) chlorine dioxide (ClO₂ ) was introduced and the pulp washed a final time. The result was like fluffy cream of wheat. By this time the pulp was nearly ready to be made into paper.

From the bleachery, the stock of pulp was held for a short time in storage (a maximum of 16 hours) and then proceeded through a series of blending operations that permitted a string of additives (for example, filler clay, resins, brighteners, alum, dyes) to be mixed into the pulp according to the recipe for the paper grade being produced. Here, too, “broke” (paper wastes from the mill itself) was recycled into the pulp. The pulp was then once again cleaned and blended into an even consistency before moving to the papermaking machine itself.

It made a difference whether the broke was of coated or uncoated paper, and whether it was white or colored. White, uncoated paper could be recycled immediately. Colored, uncoated paper had to be rebleached. Coated papers, because of the clays in them, could not be reclaimed.

Instructions: Question are based on the following text.

Source: http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=124967

Text II

Pollution