I - Prova de Proficiência de Inglês

Texto A WHY AMERICA NEEDS WAR

Jacques R. Pauwels ( www.irak.be/ned/Pawelsjacques.htm)

01 Wars are a terrible waste of lives and resources, and for that reason most people are in
02 principle opposed to wars.
03 This system - America’s brand of capitalism - functions first and foremost to make extremely
04 rich Americans even richer. Without warm or cold wars, however, this system can no longer
05 produce the expected result in the form of the ever-higher profits the moneyed and powerful
06 of America consider as their birthright.
07 The great strength of American capitalism is also its great weakness, namely, its extremely
08 high productivity. In the historical development of the international economic system that
09 we call capitalism, a number of factors have produced enormous increases in productivity,
10 for example, the mechanization of the production process introduced by Henry Ford.
11 The productivity of the great American enterprises rose spectacularly; for example,
12 already in the twenties countless vehicles rolled off the assembly lines of the automobile
13 factories of Michigan every single day. But who was supposed to buy all those cars?
14 Most Americans at the time did not have sufficiently robust pocket books for such
15 a purchase. Other industrial products similarly flooded the market, and the result
16 was the emergence of a chronic disharmony between the ever-increasing economic
17 supply and the lagging demand. Thus arose the economic crisis generally known as
18 the Great Depression. It was essentially a crisis of overproduction. Unemployment
19 exploded, and so the purchasing power of the American people shrunk even more, making
20 the crisis even worse.
21 It cannot be denied that in America the Great Depression only ended during, and because
22 of, the Second World War. Economic demand rose spectacularly when the war which had
23 started in Europe, and in which the USA itself was not an active participant before 1942,
24 allowed American industry to produce unlimited amounts of war equipment. Between 1940
25 and 1945, the American state would spend no less than 185 billion dollar on such equipment,
26 and the military expenditures’ share of the GNP (gross national product) thus rose between
27 1939 and 1945 from an insignificant 1,5 per cent to approximately 40 per cent. The key problem
28 of the Great Depression -- the disequilibrium between supply and demand -- was thus resolved.
29 However, America -- corporate America, the America of the super-rich -- urgently needed
30 a new enemy in order to justify the titanic expenditures for “defense” which were needed
31 to keep the wheels of the nation’s economy spinning at full speed. It is for this reason that
32 the Cold War was unleashed in 1945, not by the Soviets but by the American “military-
33 -industrial” complex, as was called that elite of wealthy individuals and corporations that
34 knew how to profit from the “warfare economy.”
35 In this respect, the Cold War exceeded their fondest expectations. More and more martial
36 equipment had to be cranked out, because the allies within the so-called “free world”,
37 which actually included plenty of nasty dictatorships, had to be armed to the teeth with
38 US equipment.
39 Later, America, or rather, corporate America, was orphaned of its useful Soviet enemy,
40 and urgently needed to conjure up new enemies and new threats in order to justify a high level
41 of military spending. It is in this context that in 1990 Saddam Hussein appeared on the scene like
42 a kind of deus ex machina. This dictator, previously perceived and treated by the Americans
43 as a good friend, had been armed to the teeth so that he could wage a nasty war against Iran;
44 it was the USA - and allies such as Germany - who originally supplied him with his infamous
45 weapons of mass destruction.

Marque a resposta correta, de acordo com o texto acima.

1- O grande impulso inicial dado à indústria americana foi: (0,5 ponto)

a) A eleição de Henry Ford para a presidência dos EUA.
b) A mecanização do processo de produção introduzida por Henry Ford.
c) O desenvolvimento de um sistema econômico internacional.
d) Os lucros cada vez mais altos dos americanos.
e) A quantidade de veículos fabricados.

2- Qual a palavra que poderia substituir pocket books, na linha 14, sem modificar o sentido
da mesma, no contexto onde se encontra? (0,5 ponto)
a) little books
b) check book
c) income
d) employment
e) checking account

3- Qual a explicação dada pelo autor do texto para a ocorrência da Grande Depressão?
(0,5 ponto)
a) A desarmonia entre a grande oferta e pequena demanda no mercado americano.
b) O alto preço dos automóveis nos EUA.
c) O desemprego.
d) A falta de mão-de-obra especializada.
e) O desequilíbrio da bolsa de valores.

4- Segundo o autor, o que contribuiu para o fim da Grande Depressão? (0,5 ponto)
a) A diminuição do número de automóveis fabricados.
b) O fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial.
c) A participação do exército americano na Segunda Guerra Mundial.
d) O desempenho da bolsa de valores entre anos 40 e 45.
e) A fabricação de equipamento bélico durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial.

5- O pronome their (linha 06) refere-se a: (0,5 ponto)

a) This system (linha 03)
b) the ever-higher profits (linhas 05)
c) warm and cold wars (linha 04)
d) the moneyed and powerful of America (linhas 05-06)
e) Americans (linha 04)

6- O que Saddam Hussein representou para os EUA nos anos 90? (0,5 ponto)
a) A derrubada do poder soviético.
b) A nova ameaça que justificaria novos gastos militares.
c) Uma ameaça à paz mundial.
d) A oportunidade de o governo americano aliar-se à Alemanha.
e) Um novo aliado dos Irã contra os EUA.

7- Traduza em bom português as frases que seguem.

a) This system – America’s brand of capitalism – functions first and foremost to make extremely
rich Americans even richer. Without cold and warm wars, however, this system can no longer produce the
expected result in the form of the ever-higher profits the moneyed and powerful of
America consider as their birthright. (linhas 03-06) (1 ponto)

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b) It is for this reason that the Cold War was unleashed in 1945, not by the Soviets but by the
American “military-industrial” complex, as was called that elite of wealthy individuals and
corporations that knew how to profit from the “warfare economy.” (linhas 31 a 34) (1 ponto)

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Texto B: Collapsing Colonies

Gunter Latsch – March 28th, 2007

01 01 A mysterious decimation of bee populations has worried German

beekeepers, while a
02 similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions.
03 The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous. Is the mysterious
04 decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops?
05 Walter Haefeker director of the German Beekeepers Association says one cause of
06 the problem may be the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with
07 herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker,
08 is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.
09 As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to a journal with an Albert
10 Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only
11 have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more
12 animals, no more man."
13 Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it
14 eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the
15 United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since
16 late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent.
17 In an article in its business section in late February, the New York Times calculated
18 the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died out. Experts at Cornell University in
19 upstate New York have estimated the value bees generate -- by pollinating fruit and
20 vegetable plants, almond trees and animal feed like clover -- at more than $14 billion.
21 A number of universities and government agencies have formed a Working Group to
22 search for the causes of the calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. They
23 are already referring to the problem as a potential "AIDS for the bee industry."
24 Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the Working Group, told The Independent newspaper
25 that researchers were "extremely alarmed," adding that the crisis "has the potential to
26 devastate the US beekeeping industry."It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the
27 bees' death is accompanied by a set of symptoms "which does not seem to match
28 anything in the literature."
29 In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in
30 the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five
31 or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi -- a sign, experts say,
32 that the insects' immune system may have collapsed.
33 The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually leave the
34 abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or parasites would normally raid
35 the honey and pollen stores of colonies that have died for other reasons, such as
36 excessive winter cold. "This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony
37 itself which is repelling them," says Cox-Foster.
38 Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number
39 of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used
40 in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role.
41 According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern
42 Germany, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the
43 surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites
44 to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know."

Marque a alternativa correta.

1 - O tema central do texto acima é:

a) Um estudo comparativo, feito sobre a população de abelhas nas costas leste e oeste
dos Estados Unidos (EU).
b) O ataque das abelhas sobre a plantação de frutas e verduras nos EU.
c) O que está misteriosamente dizimando a população de abelhas nos EU e na Alemanha.
d) A descoberta de um novo vírus que está matando os insetos responsáveis pela polinização.
e) Uma experiência com a toxina bacteriana que permite a entrada de parasitas nos intestinos
das abelhas.
2 - Qual a melhor tradução para a expressão, the widespread practice (linha 06)?
a) a prática do espargimento
b) a difundida prática
c) a prática contrária à monocultura
d) a questão prática
e) o conhecimento prático

3 - Nos EU, o declínio da população de abelhas, desde o último novembro

a) só se assemelha à incidência de eclipses.
b) foi precedida por outros casos de mortandade.
c) foi menor do que 60%, na costa leste dos EU.
d) sobrepuja todos os casos anteriores de mortandade em massa.
e) foi maior do que 70% na costa oeste dos EU.

4 - Qual das alternativas não está correta: O Working Group (linhas 21 e 24)
a) é formado por universidades e agências governamentais.
b) não teve sucesso na busca das causas da calamidade.
c) é o grupo ao qual pertence Diana Cox-Foster.
d) se referiu ao problema como “AIDS for the bee industry”.
e) pertence ao jornal The Independent.

5 - Qual a alternativa que contém as traduções corretas (na mesma ordem) das expressões:
growing (linha 08) – Working (linha 24) – adding (linha 25) – weakening (linha 43),
no contexto em que se encontram?

a) crescente – de trabalho – acrescentando – enfraquecendo

b) crescente – de trabalho – aumentando – dizimando
c) crescendo – trabalhando – aumentando – repelindo
d) crescendo – trabalhando - acrescentando – exterminando
e) aumentando – trabalhando – crescendo – por enfraquecer

6 - A que se referem os pronomes its (linha 17) e them (linha 37), respectivamente? A
a) an article (linha 17) e scientists (linha 29)
b) business section (linha 17) e the abandoned hives (linhas 33, 34)
c) the New York Times (linha 17) e nearby bee populations or parasites (linha 34)
d) the New York Times (linha 17) e the honey and pollen stores of colonies (linha 35)
e) US agriculture (linha 18) e the colony itself (linhas 36,37)

7 - Traduza em bom português, as frases que seguem:

As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to a journal with an Albert Einstein quote: “If
the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more
bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” (linhas 09 a 12)

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8- It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees’ death is accompanied by a set of symptoms
“which does not seem to match anything in the literature.” (linhas 26, 27, 28)

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