Questões de Concurso Comentadas para fundep (gestão de concursos)

Leia o texto a seguir, para responder à questão. 

No fundo, todos estamos nos transformando um

pouco em gatos

“Você acredita que os patos sabem que é Natal?” Essa foi a pergunta que meu amigo Miguel me fez em uma véspera de Ano Novo, enquanto atravessávamos o Campo de São Francisco, em Oviedo. Nem as horas nem o frio convidavam a ficar lá filosofando sobre o assunto, mas o debate continuou ao longo do caminho. Demos como certo que os peixes nos tanques certamente não; os patos e perus, talvez um pouco (tampouco muito); mas os que certamente estavam a par eram os cães e os gatos (não entramos na fauna selvagem, já que o trajeto era curto. Era Oviedo, não Nova York).

Anos depois, nós dois adotamos uma gata. Na quarta-feira de manhã eu lhe mandei uma mensagem perguntando se Lola, a dele, sabia que algo estava acontecendo (obviamente, falando da crise do coronavírus). “Sim, sim, sim, mais carinhosa que nunca, se for possível. Alucinada porque estamos o dia todo em casa”, foi sua resposta.

Mía e Atún — meus gatos — também estão surpresos. Na verdade, fui pegar as roupas da máquina de lavar e, quando saí, encontrei os dois me esperando no corredor, sentados juntos, olhando para mim com cara de “ei, por que você está passando o dia inteiro em casa? Tem algo a nos contar?” Normalmente, quando chego em casa, os dois vêm me encontrar e me fazem um pouco de festa (se deitam de barriga, se esfregam em mim). Estes dias se dedicam a me seguir pelo apartamento, como se suspeitassem de meus atos. E me fazem festa quando saio de casa para levar o lixo ou ir às compras, é claro. Percebo uma certa cara de insatisfação quando veem que volto em cinco minutos.

Há quem diga que quem, como eu, convive com animais e esteja um pouco fraco da cabeça lhes atribui capacidades humanas que eles não têm. Pode ser. Mas o fato é que percebem alguma coisa. Vamos ver, você não precisa ser um gênio para se dar conta de que seu dono está há trocentos dias sem sair de casa, de que na rua só se vê gente com cachorros (falaremos sobre isso mais tarde) ou que se pode ouvir perfeitamente os pássaros ou os sinos das igrejas. Não sei como é com vocês, mas, comigo, quando choro, Mía se aproxima e coloca sua cara contra a minha. Não sei se percebe ou o quê, mas as mudanças de humor chamam sua atenção.

Esses dias também estão servindo para conhecer melhor nossos animais de estimação. Os donos de gatos muitas vezes se perguntam o que eles fazem quando não estamos em casa. Eu já te digo: dormem, basicamente. Dormem de 12 a 16 horas por dia. Ou seja, são seres quase perfeitos para o isolamento. O que não sei é se, quando estou em casa, param de fazer as coisas que normalmente fazem. Nos últimos dias não os vi arranhar o sofá em nenhum momento. Talvez não queiram nos deixar rastros.

Eles também estão se dando melhor. Mía tem quatro anos e Atún, dez meses. Passam o dia às turras. Quando não é um, é o outro. Atún tem a energia da infância e Mía é diligentemente sinuosa para criar problemas: sempre faz Atún parecer culpado. Ultimamente as brigas são mais esporádicas. Até dormem juntos e limpam um ao outro.

Mas, cuidado, isso não quer dizer que vão se adaptar às novas circunstâncias. Atún me acorda todos os dias às 7h25, ou seja, cinco minutos antes do que o despertador normalmente faz. Dizia Jim Davis: “Os gatos sabem instintivamente a hora exata em que seus donos vão acordar, e eles os acordam dez minutos antes”. Atún me deixa esses cinco minutos de cortesia, mas, mesmo em confinamento, ainda continua sendo escrotamente gato.

Porque não deixam de ser gatos, é claro. Nos últimos dias comecei um jogo de xadrez virtual, mas real, com meu amigo Jaime. Isto é: o tabuleiro é físico, e enviamos fotos um ao outro com os movimentos de ambos, de tal forma que é necessário mover as brancas e as pretas (já deixo claro). Bem, agora minha casa é um xadrez. Uma torre no quarto, um peão no banheiro, o rei forçosamente sob cobertura atrás de uma planta e Mía, é claro, sentada no centro do tabuleiro, entre as pretas e as brancas. Xeque-Mate.

Também há dias para aprofundar o debate sobre se é melhor ter como mascote um cão ou um gato. Não vamos nos deixar levar pela euforia do momento. Hoje, os cães são um bem valioso, porque te permitem sair a caminhar. Uma espécie de salvo-conduto. Tenho amigos que saem com ele cinco vezes por dia. Mas não são tempos de confronto, e sim para estar unidos. Os cães, pelo que me dizem, também surtam com o que está acontecendo. Eles só veem cães na rua e os parques estão fechados. Também não é preciso ser um lince (felino) para perceber que está acontecendo alguma coisa. Da altivez que provém da convivência com um gato, nós, que compartilhamos a vida com um, cumprimentamos os donos de cães e nos congratulamos que os ajudem nessa situação que, mesmo que seja pequena, compensa de alguma forma por todo esse cair da cama e essas noites de chuva em que também é preciso sair à rua.

São dias estranhos. De 24 horas em casa. Dos gatos aparecendo nas reuniões de teletrabalho (e arrancando um sorriso dos participantes), e já se sabe que não há nada que deva ser interposto entre a atenção de um e o felino. No fundo, todos estamos nos transformando um pouco em gatos. Agora sabemos como é difícil racionar as visitas à geladeira-comedor se você fica o dia inteiro em casa. E como é fácil cair no sono no sofá assim que o dia de trabalho termina. Mas são dias precisamente para isso: para ser gatos. Não é uma estratégia tão ruim: é o único animal que conseguiu dominar a internet sem precisar manejar a tecnologia. Por alguma razão estará dando tão certo para eles.

Disponível em: <https://bit.ly/2xwO2YZ>.

Acesso em: 27 mar. 2020 (Adaptado).

Leia o texto a seguir, para responder à questão. 

No fundo, todos estamos nos transformando um

pouco em gatos

“Você acredita que os patos sabem que é Natal?” Essa foi a pergunta que meu amigo Miguel me fez em uma véspera de Ano Novo, enquanto atravessávamos o Campo de São Francisco, em Oviedo. Nem as horas nem o frio convidavam a ficar lá filosofando sobre o assunto, mas o debate continuou ao longo do caminho. Demos como certo que os peixes nos tanques certamente não; os patos e perus, talvez um pouco (tampouco muito); mas os que certamente estavam a par eram os cães e os gatos (não entramos na fauna selvagem, já que o trajeto era curto. Era Oviedo, não Nova York).

Anos depois, nós dois adotamos uma gata. Na quarta-feira de manhã eu lhe mandei uma mensagem perguntando se Lola, a dele, sabia que algo estava acontecendo (obviamente, falando da crise do coronavírus). “Sim, sim, sim, mais carinhosa que nunca, se for possível. Alucinada porque estamos o dia todo em casa”, foi sua resposta.

Mía e Atún — meus gatos — também estão surpresos. Na verdade, fui pegar as roupas da máquina de lavar e, quando saí, encontrei os dois me esperando no corredor, sentados juntos, olhando para mim com cara de “ei, por que você está passando o dia inteiro em casa? Tem algo a nos contar?” Normalmente, quando chego em casa, os dois vêm me encontrar e me fazem um pouco de festa (se deitam de barriga, se esfregam em mim). Estes dias se dedicam a me seguir pelo apartamento, como se suspeitassem de meus atos. E me fazem festa quando saio de casa para levar o lixo ou ir às compras, é claro. Percebo uma certa cara de insatisfação quando veem que volto em cinco minutos.

Há quem diga que quem, como eu, convive com animais e esteja um pouco fraco da cabeça lhes atribui capacidades humanas que eles não têm. Pode ser. Mas o fato é que percebem alguma coisa. Vamos ver, você não precisa ser um gênio para se dar conta de que seu dono está há trocentos dias sem sair de casa, de que na rua só se vê gente com cachorros (falaremos sobre isso mais tarde) ou que se pode ouvir perfeitamente os pássaros ou os sinos das igrejas. Não sei como é com vocês, mas, comigo, quando choro, Mía se aproxima e coloca sua cara contra a minha. Não sei se percebe ou o quê, mas as mudanças de humor chamam sua atenção.

Esses dias também estão servindo para conhecer melhor nossos animais de estimação. Os donos de gatos muitas vezes se perguntam o que eles fazem quando não estamos em casa. Eu já te digo: dormem, basicamente. Dormem de 12 a 16 horas por dia. Ou seja, são seres quase perfeitos para o isolamento. O que não sei é se, quando estou em casa, param de fazer as coisas que normalmente fazem. Nos últimos dias não os vi arranhar o sofá em nenhum momento. Talvez não queiram nos deixar rastros.

Eles também estão se dando melhor. Mía tem quatro anos e Atún, dez meses. Passam o dia às turras. Quando não é um, é o outro. Atún tem a energia da infância e Mía é diligentemente sinuosa para criar problemas: sempre faz Atún parecer culpado. Ultimamente as brigas são mais esporádicas. Até dormem juntos e limpam um ao outro.

Mas, cuidado, isso não quer dizer que vão se adaptar às novas circunstâncias. Atún me acorda todos os dias às 7h25, ou seja, cinco minutos antes do que o despertador normalmente faz. Dizia Jim Davis: “Os gatos sabem instintivamente a hora exata em que seus donos vão acordar, e eles os acordam dez minutos antes”. Atún me deixa esses cinco minutos de cortesia, mas, mesmo em confinamento, ainda continua sendo escrotamente gato.

Porque não deixam de ser gatos, é claro. Nos últimos dias comecei um jogo de xadrez virtual, mas real, com meu amigo Jaime. Isto é: o tabuleiro é físico, e enviamos fotos um ao outro com os movimentos de ambos, de tal forma que é necessário mover as brancas e as pretas (já deixo claro). Bem, agora minha casa é um xadrez. Uma torre no quarto, um peão no banheiro, o rei forçosamente sob cobertura atrás de uma planta e Mía, é claro, sentada no centro do tabuleiro, entre as pretas e as brancas. Xeque-Mate.

Também há dias para aprofundar o debate sobre se é melhor ter como mascote um cão ou um gato. Não vamos nos deixar levar pela euforia do momento. Hoje, os cães são um bem valioso, porque te permitem sair a caminhar. Uma espécie de salvo-conduto. Tenho amigos que saem com ele cinco vezes por dia. Mas não são tempos de confronto, e sim para estar unidos. Os cães, pelo que me dizem, também surtam com o que está acontecendo. Eles só veem cães na rua e os parques estão fechados. Também não é preciso ser um lince (felino) para perceber que está acontecendo alguma coisa. Da altivez que provém da convivência com um gato, nós, que compartilhamos a vida com um, cumprimentamos os donos de cães e nos congratulamos que os ajudem nessa situação que, mesmo que seja pequena, compensa de alguma forma por todo esse cair da cama e essas noites de chuva em que também é preciso sair à rua.

São dias estranhos. De 24 horas em casa. Dos gatos aparecendo nas reuniões de teletrabalho (e arrancando um sorriso dos participantes), e já se sabe que não há nada que deva ser interposto entre a atenção de um e o felino. No fundo, todos estamos nos transformando um pouco em gatos. Agora sabemos como é difícil racionar as visitas à geladeira-comedor se você fica o dia inteiro em casa. E como é fácil cair no sono no sofá assim que o dia de trabalho termina. Mas são dias precisamente para isso: para ser gatos. Não é uma estratégia tão ruim: é o único animal que conseguiu dominar a internet sem precisar manejar a tecnologia. Por alguma razão estará dando tão certo para eles.

Disponível em: <https://bit.ly/2xwO2YZ>.

Acesso em: 27 mar. 2020 (Adaptado).

Leia o texto a seguir, para responder à questão. 

No fundo, todos estamos nos transformando um

pouco em gatos

“Você acredita que os patos sabem que é Natal?” Essa foi a pergunta que meu amigo Miguel me fez em uma véspera de Ano Novo, enquanto atravessávamos o Campo de São Francisco, em Oviedo. Nem as horas nem o frio convidavam a ficar lá filosofando sobre o assunto, mas o debate continuou ao longo do caminho. Demos como certo que os peixes nos tanques certamente não; os patos e perus, talvez um pouco (tampouco muito); mas os que certamente estavam a par eram os cães e os gatos (não entramos na fauna selvagem, já que o trajeto era curto. Era Oviedo, não Nova York).

Anos depois, nós dois adotamos uma gata. Na quarta-feira de manhã eu lhe mandei uma mensagem perguntando se Lola, a dele, sabia que algo estava acontecendo (obviamente, falando da crise do coronavírus). “Sim, sim, sim, mais carinhosa que nunca, se for possível. Alucinada porque estamos o dia todo em casa”, foi sua resposta.

Mía e Atún — meus gatos — também estão surpresos. Na verdade, fui pegar as roupas da máquina de lavar e, quando saí, encontrei os dois me esperando no corredor, sentados juntos, olhando para mim com cara de “ei, por que você está passando o dia inteiro em casa? Tem algo a nos contar?” Normalmente, quando chego em casa, os dois vêm me encontrar e me fazem um pouco de festa (se deitam de barriga, se esfregam em mim). Estes dias se dedicam a me seguir pelo apartamento, como se suspeitassem de meus atos. E me fazem festa quando saio de casa para levar o lixo ou ir às compras, é claro. Percebo uma certa cara de insatisfação quando veem que volto em cinco minutos.

Há quem diga que quem, como eu, convive com animais e esteja um pouco fraco da cabeça lhes atribui capacidades humanas que eles não têm. Pode ser. Mas o fato é que percebem alguma coisa. Vamos ver, você não precisa ser um gênio para se dar conta de que seu dono está há trocentos dias sem sair de casa, de que na rua só se vê gente com cachorros (falaremos sobre isso mais tarde) ou que se pode ouvir perfeitamente os pássaros ou os sinos das igrejas. Não sei como é com vocês, mas, comigo, quando choro, Mía se aproxima e coloca sua cara contra a minha. Não sei se percebe ou o quê, mas as mudanças de humor chamam sua atenção.

Esses dias também estão servindo para conhecer melhor nossos animais de estimação. Os donos de gatos muitas vezes se perguntam o que eles fazem quando não estamos em casa. Eu já te digo: dormem, basicamente. Dormem de 12 a 16 horas por dia. Ou seja, são seres quase perfeitos para o isolamento. O que não sei é se, quando estou em casa, param de fazer as coisas que normalmente fazem. Nos últimos dias não os vi arranhar o sofá em nenhum momento. Talvez não queiram nos deixar rastros.

Eles também estão se dando melhor. Mía tem quatro anos e Atún, dez meses. Passam o dia às turras. Quando não é um, é o outro. Atún tem a energia da infância e Mía é diligentemente sinuosa para criar problemas: sempre faz Atún parecer culpado. Ultimamente as brigas são mais esporádicas. Até dormem juntos e limpam um ao outro.

Mas, cuidado, isso não quer dizer que vão se adaptar às novas circunstâncias. Atún me acorda todos os dias às 7h25, ou seja, cinco minutos antes do que o despertador normalmente faz. Dizia Jim Davis: “Os gatos sabem instintivamente a hora exata em que seus donos vão acordar, e eles os acordam dez minutos antes”. Atún me deixa esses cinco minutos de cortesia, mas, mesmo em confinamento, ainda continua sendo escrotamente gato.

Porque não deixam de ser gatos, é claro. Nos últimos dias comecei um jogo de xadrez virtual, mas real, com meu amigo Jaime. Isto é: o tabuleiro é físico, e enviamos fotos um ao outro com os movimentos de ambos, de tal forma que é necessário mover as brancas e as pretas (já deixo claro). Bem, agora minha casa é um xadrez. Uma torre no quarto, um peão no banheiro, o rei forçosamente sob cobertura atrás de uma planta e Mía, é claro, sentada no centro do tabuleiro, entre as pretas e as brancas. Xeque-Mate.

Também há dias para aprofundar o debate sobre se é melhor ter como mascote um cão ou um gato. Não vamos nos deixar levar pela euforia do momento. Hoje, os cães são um bem valioso, porque te permitem sair a caminhar. Uma espécie de salvo-conduto. Tenho amigos que saem com ele cinco vezes por dia. Mas não são tempos de confronto, e sim para estar unidos. Os cães, pelo que me dizem, também surtam com o que está acontecendo. Eles só veem cães na rua e os parques estão fechados. Também não é preciso ser um lince (felino) para perceber que está acontecendo alguma coisa. Da altivez que provém da convivência com um gato, nós, que compartilhamos a vida com um, cumprimentamos os donos de cães e nos congratulamos que os ajudem nessa situação que, mesmo que seja pequena, compensa de alguma forma por todo esse cair da cama e essas noites de chuva em que também é preciso sair à rua.

São dias estranhos. De 24 horas em casa. Dos gatos aparecendo nas reuniões de teletrabalho (e arrancando um sorriso dos participantes), e já se sabe que não há nada que deva ser interposto entre a atenção de um e o felino. No fundo, todos estamos nos transformando um pouco em gatos. Agora sabemos como é difícil racionar as visitas à geladeira-comedor se você fica o dia inteiro em casa. E como é fácil cair no sono no sofá assim que o dia de trabalho termina. Mas são dias precisamente para isso: para ser gatos. Não é uma estratégia tão ruim: é o único animal que conseguiu dominar a internet sem precisar manejar a tecnologia. Por alguma razão estará dando tão certo para eles.

Disponível em: <https://bit.ly/2xwO2YZ>.

Acesso em: 27 mar. 2020 (Adaptado).

Text 

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just how very much she admired him.

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.” 

“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment.”

“Did not you? I did for you. But that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”

“Dear Lizzy!”

“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.”

“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”

“I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design – to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone. And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

“Certainly not – at first. But they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.”

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother’s fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice, chapter 4. Available at:

<https://www.gutenberg.org>. Accessed on: October 29th, 2018.

Text 

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just how very much she admired him.

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.” 

“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment.”

“Did not you? I did for you. But that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”

“Dear Lizzy!”

“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.”

“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”

“I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design – to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone. And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

“Certainly not – at first. But they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.”

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother’s fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice, chapter 4. Available at:

<https://www.gutenberg.org>. Accessed on: October 29th, 2018.

Text 

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just how very much she admired him.

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.” 

“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment.”

“Did not you? I did for you. But that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”

“Dear Lizzy!”

“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.”

“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”

“I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design – to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone. And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

“Certainly not – at first. But they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.”

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother’s fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice, chapter 4. Available at:

<https://www.gutenberg.org>. Accessed on: October 29th, 2018.

Text 

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister just how very much she admired him.

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.” 

“I was very much flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment.”

“Did not you? I did for you. But that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”

“Dear Lizzy!”

“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.”

“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”

“I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design – to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone. And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

“Certainly not – at first. But they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.”

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother’s fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice, chapter 4. Available at:

<https://www.gutenberg.org>. Accessed on: October 29th, 2018.

Text 

What is applied linguistics?

Vivian Cook, Newcastle University

Polish Translation 

If you tell someone you’re an applied linguist, they look at you with bafflement. If you amplify – it’s to do with linguistics – they still look baffled. You know, linguistics the science of language? Ah so you speak lots of languages? Well no, just English. So what do you actually do? Well I look at how people acquire languages and how we can teach them better. At last light begins to dawn and they tell you a story about how badly they were taught French at school.

The problem is that the applied linguists themselves don’t have much clearer ideas about what the subject consists of. They argue over whether it necessarily has anything to do with language teaching or with linguistics and whether it includes the actual description of language. All of these views exist among applied linguists and are reflected in the MA courses available at British universities under the label of applied linguistics.

The language teaching view of applied linguistics parallels TESOLorTEFL, by looking at ways of improving language teaching, backed by a more rigorous study of language. The motivation is that better teaching will be based on a better understanding of language. However, in British universities language teaching itself is not highly valued, often carried out by ancillary staff, because it does not lend itself easily to the kind of research publications that university careers now depend upon.

The closeness of the link to linguistics is also crucial. At one extreme you need the latest ideas hot from MIT on the principle that information about linguistics must be up-to-date – and linguistic theories change so fast that undergraduates discover their first year courses are out of date by their final year. It’s up to the end-users how they make practical use of the ideas, not the applied linguists.

This raises the issue whether other disciplines are as important as linguistics for applied linguistics. Psychology enters into many courses, as does education, particularly ideas about testing and about language learning. To some applied linguists the discipline draws on any subject with anything to say about language teaching or language learning. To others linguistics is the sole source of ideas. Sometime this is referred to as the issue of ‘autonomous applied linguistics’; is it a separate discipline or a poor relative of linguistics?

To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions of words of English are applied linguistics, as are the descriptions of social networks or of gender differences (but not usually descriptions of grammar). Once applied linguistics seemed boundless, including the study of first language acquisition and computational linguistics. To many, however, applied linguistics has become synonymous with SLA (though never linked to first language acquisition). SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research has had an enormous growth over the past decades. It enters into all of the above debates. Some people are concerned with classroom language acquisition because of its teaching implications, drawing mostly on psychological models of language and language processing and on social models of interaction and identity; others are concerned with SLA in natural settings. On another dimension, SLA can be seen as providing data to test out linguistic theories rather than to increase our knowledge of SLA itself; they are then more like linguists who happen to use SLA data than investigators of SLA in its own right. On a third dimension the linguistic world is more or less divided between those who see language as masses of things people have said and those who see it as knowledge in people’s minds. Some SLAresearchers analyse large corpora of learner’s utterances or essays; others test their ideas against the barest minimum of data; neither side really accept that the other has a valid point of view.

Applied linguistics then means many things to many people. Discovering what a book or a course in applied linguistics is about involves reading the small print to discover its orientation. Those with an interest in linguistic theory are going to feel frustrated when bombarded with classroom teaching techniques; those who want to handle large amounts of spoken or written data will be disappointed by single example sentences or experiments. Of course many people discover unexpected delights. One of my students who came to an MA course as an EFL course-writer ended up doing a Ph.D. thesis and book on learnability theory. This does not mean that most prospective MA students should not look very carefully, say checking the titles of the modules that actually make up the degree scheme, before they back a particular horse.

Available at: <http://www.viviancook.uk>.

Accessed on: November 2nd, 2018 (Adapted).

Text 

What is applied linguistics?

Vivian Cook, Newcastle University

Polish Translation 

If you tell someone you’re an applied linguist, they look at you with bafflement. If you amplify – it’s to do with linguistics – they still look baffled. You know, linguistics the science of language? Ah so you speak lots of languages? Well no, just English. So what do you actually do? Well I look at how people acquire languages and how we can teach them better. At last light begins to dawn and they tell you a story about how badly they were taught French at school.

The problem is that the applied linguists themselves don’t have much clearer ideas about what the subject consists of. They argue over whether it necessarily has anything to do with language teaching or with linguistics and whether it includes the actual description of language. All of these views exist among applied linguists and are reflected in the MA courses available at British universities under the label of applied linguistics.

The language teaching view of applied linguistics parallels TESOLorTEFL, by looking at ways of improving language teaching, backed by a more rigorous study of language. The motivation is that better teaching will be based on a better understanding of language. However, in British universities language teaching itself is not highly valued, often carried out by ancillary staff, because it does not lend itself easily to the kind of research publications that university careers now depend upon.

The closeness of the link to linguistics is also crucial. At one extreme you need the latest ideas hot from MIT on the principle that information about linguistics must be up-to-date – and linguistic theories change so fast that undergraduates discover their first year courses are out of date by their final year. It’s up to the end-users how they make practical use of the ideas, not the applied linguists.

This raises the issue whether other disciplines are as important as linguistics for applied linguistics. Psychology enters into many courses, as does education, particularly ideas about testing and about language learning. To some applied linguists the discipline draws on any subject with anything to say about language teaching or language learning. To others linguistics is the sole source of ideas. Sometime this is referred to as the issue of ‘autonomous applied linguistics’; is it a separate discipline or a poor relative of linguistics?

To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions of words of English are applied linguistics, as are the descriptions of social networks or of gender differences (but not usually descriptions of grammar). Once applied linguistics seemed boundless, including the study of first language acquisition and computational linguistics. To many, however, applied linguistics has become synonymous with SLA (though never linked to first language acquisition). SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research has had an enormous growth over the past decades. It enters into all of the above debates. Some people are concerned with classroom language acquisition because of its teaching implications, drawing mostly on psychological models of language and language processing and on social models of interaction and identity; others are concerned with SLA in natural settings. On another dimension, SLA can be seen as providing data to test out linguistic theories rather than to increase our knowledge of SLA itself; they are then more like linguists who happen to use SLA data than investigators of SLA in its own right. On a third dimension the linguistic world is more or less divided between those who see language as masses of things people have said and those who see it as knowledge in people’s minds. Some SLAresearchers analyse large corpora of learner’s utterances or essays; others test their ideas against the barest minimum of data; neither side really accept that the other has a valid point of view.

Applied linguistics then means many things to many people. Discovering what a book or a course in applied linguistics is about involves reading the small print to discover its orientation. Those with an interest in linguistic theory are going to feel frustrated when bombarded with classroom teaching techniques; those who want to handle large amounts of spoken or written data will be disappointed by single example sentences or experiments. Of course many people discover unexpected delights. One of my students who came to an MA course as an EFL course-writer ended up doing a Ph.D. thesis and book on learnability theory. This does not mean that most prospective MA students should not look very carefully, say checking the titles of the modules that actually make up the degree scheme, before they back a particular horse.

Available at: <http://www.viviancook.uk>.

Accessed on: November 2nd, 2018 (Adapted).

Text 

What is applied linguistics?

Vivian Cook, Newcastle University

Polish Translation 

If you tell someone you’re an applied linguist, they look at you with bafflement. If you amplify – it’s to do with linguistics – they still look baffled. You know, linguistics the science of language? Ah so you speak lots of languages? Well no, just English. So what do you actually do? Well I look at how people acquire languages and how we can teach them better. At last light begins to dawn and they tell you a story about how badly they were taught French at school.

The problem is that the applied linguists themselves don’t have much clearer ideas about what the subject consists of. They argue over whether it necessarily has anything to do with language teaching or with linguistics and whether it includes the actual description of language. All of these views exist among applied linguists and are reflected in the MA courses available at British universities under the label of applied linguistics.

The language teaching view of applied linguistics parallels TESOLorTEFL, by looking at ways of improving language teaching, backed by a more rigorous study of language. The motivation is that better teaching will be based on a better understanding of language. However, in British universities language teaching itself is not highly valued, often carried out by ancillary staff, because it does not lend itself easily to the kind of research publications that university careers now depend upon.

The closeness of the link to linguistics is also crucial. At one extreme you need the latest ideas hot from MIT on the principle that information about linguistics must be up-to-date – and linguistic theories change so fast that undergraduates discover their first year courses are out of date by their final year. It’s up to the end-users how they make practical use of the ideas, not the applied linguists.

This raises the issue whether other disciplines are as important as linguistics for applied linguistics. Psychology enters into many courses, as does education, particularly ideas about testing and about language learning. To some applied linguists the discipline draws on any subject with anything to say about language teaching or language learning. To others linguistics is the sole source of ideas. Sometime this is referred to as the issue of ‘autonomous applied linguistics’; is it a separate discipline or a poor relative of linguistics?

To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions of words of English are applied linguistics, as are the descriptions of social networks or of gender differences (but not usually descriptions of grammar). Once applied linguistics seemed boundless, including the study of first language acquisition and computational linguistics. To many, however, applied linguistics has become synonymous with SLA (though never linked to first language acquisition). SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research has had an enormous growth over the past decades. It enters into all of the above debates. Some people are concerned with classroom language acquisition because of its teaching implications, drawing mostly on psychological models of language and language processing and on social models of interaction and identity; others are concerned with SLA in natural settings. On another dimension, SLA can be seen as providing data to test out linguistic theories rather than to increase our knowledge of SLA itself; they are then more like linguists who happen to use SLA data than investigators of SLA in its own right. On a third dimension the linguistic world is more or less divided between those who see language as masses of things people have said and those who see it as knowledge in people’s minds. Some SLAresearchers analyse large corpora of learner’s utterances or essays; others test their ideas against the barest minimum of data; neither side really accept that the other has a valid point of view.

Applied linguistics then means many things to many people. Discovering what a book or a course in applied linguistics is about involves reading the small print to discover its orientation. Those with an interest in linguistic theory are going to feel frustrated when bombarded with classroom teaching techniques; those who want to handle large amounts of spoken or written data will be disappointed by single example sentences or experiments. Of course many people discover unexpected delights. One of my students who came to an MA course as an EFL course-writer ended up doing a Ph.D. thesis and book on learnability theory. This does not mean that most prospective MA students should not look very carefully, say checking the titles of the modules that actually make up the degree scheme, before they back a particular horse.

Available at: <http://www.viviancook.uk>.

Accessed on: November 2nd, 2018 (Adapted).

Text 

What is applied linguistics?

Vivian Cook, Newcastle University

Polish Translation 

If you tell someone you’re an applied linguist, they look at you with bafflement. If you amplify – it’s to do with linguistics – they still look baffled. You know, linguistics the science of language? Ah so you speak lots of languages? Well no, just English. So what do you actually do? Well I look at how people acquire languages and how we can teach them better. At last light begins to dawn and they tell you a story about how badly they were taught French at school.

The problem is that the applied linguists themselves don’t have much clearer ideas about what the subject consists of. They argue over whether it necessarily has anything to do with language teaching or with linguistics and whether it includes the actual description of language. All of these views exist among applied linguists and are reflected in the MA courses available at British universities under the label of applied linguistics.

The language teaching view of applied linguistics parallels TESOLorTEFL, by looking at ways of improving language teaching, backed by a more rigorous study of language. The motivation is that better teaching will be based on a better understanding of language. However, in British universities language teaching itself is not highly valued, often carried out by ancillary staff, because it does not lend itself easily to the kind of research publications that university careers now depend upon.

The closeness of the link to linguistics is also crucial. At one extreme you need the latest ideas hot from MIT on the principle that information about linguistics must be up-to-date – and linguistic theories change so fast that undergraduates discover their first year courses are out of date by their final year. It’s up to the end-users how they make practical use of the ideas, not the applied linguists.

This raises the issue whether other disciplines are as important as linguistics for applied linguistics. Psychology enters into many courses, as does education, particularly ideas about testing and about language learning. To some applied linguists the discipline draws on any subject with anything to say about language teaching or language learning. To others linguistics is the sole source of ideas. Sometime this is referred to as the issue of ‘autonomous applied linguistics’; is it a separate discipline or a poor relative of linguistics?

To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions To some, applied linguistics is applying theoretical linguistics to actual data. Hence the construction of dictionaries or the collection of ‘corpora’ of millions of words of English are applied linguistics, as are the descriptions of social networks or of gender differences (but not usually descriptions of grammar). Once applied linguistics seemed boundless, including the study of first language acquisition and computational linguistics. To many, however, applied linguistics has become synonymous with SLA (though never linked to first language acquisition). SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research has had an enormous growth over the past decades. It enters into all of the above debates. Some people are concerned with classroom language acquisition because of its teaching implications, drawing mostly on psychological models of language and language processing and on social models of interaction and identity; others are concerned with SLA in natural settings. On another dimension, SLA can be seen as providing data to test out linguistic theories rather than to increase our knowledge of SLA itself; they are then more like linguists who happen to use SLA data than investigators of SLA in its own right. On a third dimension the linguistic world is more or less divided between those who see language as masses of things people have said and those who see it as knowledge in people’s minds. Some SLAresearchers analyse large corpora of learner’s utterances or essays; others test their ideas against the barest minimum of data; neither side really accept that the other has a valid point of view.

Applied linguistics then means many things to many people. Discovering what a book or a course in applied linguistics is about involves reading the small print to discover its orientation. Those with an interest in linguistic theory are going to feel frustrated when bombarded with classroom teaching techniques; those who want to handle large amounts of spoken or written data will be disappointed by single example sentences or experiments. Of course many people discover unexpected delights. One of my students who came to an MA course as an EFL course-writer ended up doing a Ph.D. thesis and book on learnability theory. This does not mean that most prospective MA students should not look very carefully, say checking the titles of the modules that actually make up the degree scheme, before they back a particular horse.

Available at: <http://www.viviancook.uk>.

Accessed on: November 2nd, 2018 (Adapted).