Questões de Inglês - Reading/Writing - Opinion article
Read the text below.
What’s your sign?
Neil J. Anderson
Thousands of years ago, the ancient people of Babylon and Egypt studied the stars in the sky and created the zodiac. It was first used to keep track of time. Later, many used the stars to describe a person’s personality and to say what would happen in the future.
A person’s zodiac sign is connected to his or her birth date. Some believe this sign can tell us about a person’s personality. (...)
In Asia, a person’s blood type is also used to describe personality. People with the blood type A are calm and serious, but they can be selfish. Type Bs are independent but can be lazy. ABs are honest, and type Os are loving and talkative.
Not everybody believes that your blood type or birth sign describes your personality. In fact, some people disapprove of using the zodiac; they say it is just foolishness. (...)
Active Skills for Reading, 2nd Edition, Student Book 1
According to the text, write T for true and F for false to the statements related to the zodiac. After, choose the alternative with the right sequence.
( ) It was originally created to reveal the future.
( ) It is linked to the day a person was born.
( ) It is considered silly by some people.
( ) It was created to name the stars.
Human beings are relentlessly capable of reflecting on themselves. We might do something out of habit, but then we can begin to reflect on the habit. We can habitually think things, and then reflect on what we are thinking. We can ask ourselves (or sometimes we get asked by other people) whether we know what we are talking about. To answer that we need to reflect on our own positions, our own understanding of what we are saying, our own sources of authority. Cosmologists have to pause from solving mathematical equations with the letter t in them, and ask what is meant, for instance, by the flow of time or the direction of time or the beginning of time. But at that point, whether they recognize it or not, they become philosophers.
(Simon Blackburn. Think: A compelling introduction to philosophy, 1999. Adaptado.)
No texto, o autor explicita a presença da atitude filosófica a partir
Read the text to answer question
In the late 1960s, following the Apollo 11 Moon landings, the three astronauts were waiting to be picked up inside their capsule floating in the Pacific Ocean — and they were hot and uncomfortable. NASA officials decided to make things more pleasant for their three national heroes. The downside? There was a small possibility of unleashing deadly alien microbes on Earth.
When humanity first made plans to send probes and people into space in the mid-20th Century, the issue of contamination came up. Firstly, there was the fear of “forward” contamination — the possibility that Earth-based life might accidentally hitch a ride into the cosmos. Spacecraft needed to be sterilised and carefully packaged before launch. If microbes silently moved onboard, it would confuse any attempts to detect alien life. And if there were extra-terrestrial organisms out there, we might end up inadvertently killing them with Earth-based bacteria or viruses. These concerns matter just as much today as they did back in the Space Race era.
A second concern was “back” contamination. This was the idea that astronauts, rockets or probes returning to Earth might bring back life that could prove catastrophic, either by consuming all our oxygen or outcompeting Earth organisms. What if the astronauts brought back something dangerous? At the time, the probability was not considered high, but still, the scenario had to be explored. “Maybe it’s sure to 99% that Apollo 11 will not bring back lunar organisms,” said one influential scientist at the time, “but even that 1% of uncertainty is too large to be complacent about.”
NASA put several quarantine measures in place — in some cases, a little reluctantly. Concerned officials from the US Public Health Service argued for stricter measures than initially planned, pointing out that they had the power to refuse border entry to contaminated astronauts. NASA then agreed to install a costly quarantine facility on the ship that would pick up the men from their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. It was also agreed that the lunar explorers would then spend three weeks in isolation before they could hug their families or shake the hand of the president.
(Richard Fisher. www.bbc.com, 18.02.2021. Adapted.)
The first paragraph mentions
Essential reading on, and beyond, Indigenous Peoples Day
Formerly known as Columbus Day, today is Indigenous Peoples Day in more than 80 (and counting)
cities, counties and states. While official recognition of this day began in the late ‘70s, with the UN
discussing the replacement of Columbus Day, resistance and challenge to said “holiday” existed in
the hearts and minds of indigenous and native peoples long before cities or states began to observe
[5] Indigenous Peoples Day.
As land defenders − people who are working for indigenous territories to be protected from
contamination and exploitation − we see Indigenous Peoples Day as progress; it signals a crucial
shift in our culture to recognize the dark past of colonization. No longer are our communities,
towns, cities and states remaining silent and complacent in celebrating the cultural genocide that
[10] ensued after Christopher Columbus landed on Turtle Island (a.k.a. North America). Today also
means that the erasure of our narrative as indigenous peoples is ending and our truths are rising
to the surface. These truths include: Christopher Columbus was not a hero; he was a murderer.
The land we all exist on is stolen. The history we’ve been taught is not accurate or complete. And
perhaps most important among those truths, indigenous lands are still being colonized, and our
[15] people are still suffering the trauma and impacts of colonization.
Across the country, we continue to see the violation of our rights and treaties as extractive projects
are proposed and constructed. Across the nation, we continue to grieve our missing and murdered
indigenous women, victims of violence brought to their communities by extractive oil and mining
projects. We continue to bear the brunt of climate change as our food sovereignty is threatened
[20] by dying ecosystems and as our animal relatives are becoming extinct due to land loss, warmer
seasons and/or contamination. And now, we are fighting for the very right to resist as anti-protest
laws emerge across the country, which aim to criminalize our people for protecting what is most
sacred to us.
Yet, despite these challenges, our people and communities are demonstrating incredible bravery
[25] and innovation to bring forth healing and justice. Through the tireless work of indigenous
organizers, activists, knowledge keepers and artists, we are learning about what is working and
what our movements need more of to dismantle systems like white supremacy and systemic racism
that colonization has imposed on our communities.
So while we could dive into the stories of how our people are still being attacked by the many forms
[30] of colonization, we find it important on this day, a day that symbolizes progress and evolution,
to acknowledge what is working in our communities and in our movements. All too often, our
people are framed as victims, and while there’s truth in those narratives, it’s also critical, for our
self-actualization as indigenous peoples, to have our strengths, our resilience and our creativity
seen and honored.
JADE BEGAY AND DALLAS GOLDTOOTH sierraclub.org, 08/10/2018
In relation to the process of colonization described in the second paragraph, the text implies the following idea:
If you spend time on social media, you have probably found yourself comparing your own life to your friends, family, total strangers, and celebs. You might find yourself thinking that everyone else seems to be leading a fuller, richer, or more exciting life based on the tiny, curated glimpse you see on their Instagram or Facebook posts. As the saying goes, comparison really can be the thief of joy. Detoxing from your social connections can be a good way to focus on what’s important in your own life without comparing yourself to others. Fear of missing out, known as FOMO, is the fear that you are missing the experiences that everyone else is having. Constant connectivity can feed this fear. You might find yourself overcommitting to social events out of the fear that you’ll be left behind. FOMO can also keep you constantly checking your device out of fear that you are going to miss an important text, message or post.
Doing a digital detox is one way to set limits and reduce your fear of missing out. The key is to do it in a way that doesn’t leave you feeling cut off from what’s happening in your digital world. Some might suggest that a true digital detox would involve predefined abstinence from any and all digital devices and social media connections, but it is important to make your device usage work for your own life and demands.
Detaching from your devices can benefit your mental well-being but doing a digital detox does not have to involve a complete separation from your phone and other tech connections. The process is often more about setting boundaries and making sure that you are using your devices in a way that benefit, rather than harm, your emotional and physical health. If you can do a complete digital detox for a certain amount of time, it might be something you want to try. Being completely disconnected can feel liberating and refreshing for some people. For a lot of people, completely forgoing all forms of digital communication might not be possible, particularly if you really do rely on staying connected for work, school, or other obligations. This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the benefits of a digital detox; the key is to make disconnecting something that works for your schedule and your life.
Disponível em: https://www.verywellmind.com. Acesso em: nov. 2021. Adaptado.
Analyze the alternatives:
I. It has been suggested that social media overuse can be harmful.
II. People can benefit from a period of avoiding using electronic devices.
III. It’s important to limit the screen time in order to build a healthy relationship with technology.
IV. The author believes that, for a digital detox to work, you must stop using electronic devices once and for all.
One can say that
Art which is based on images of mass consumer culture. Pop art was initially regarded as a reaction from abstract expressionism because its exponents brought back figural imagery and made use of impersonal handling. It was seen as a descendant of Dada because it debunked the seriousness of the art world and embraced the use or reproduction of commonplace subjects. Comic books, advertisements, packaging, and images from television and the cinema were all part of the iconography of the movement.
(Ian Chilvers e John Glaves-Smith (orgs.). Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, 2009. Adaptado.)
Uma obra representativa do movimento artístico retratado no texto está reproduzida em:
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