Questões para Concursos

Electoral accountability is a distinctively democratic form of accountability. Since officials typically seek reelection or election to a higher office, this potential sanction is regarded as a powerful inducement for them to explain their actions to electorates and serve their electorates’ interests. In this conventional view, much of the activity of elected officials takes place “in the shadow of elections,” with the awareness that potential opponents may publicize their actions, if these seem likely to be unpopular with their electorates.
On the other hand, some recent work suggests that even in democracies, there is much less retrospective electoral accountability than the conventional view suggests. In a sense, this failure should not be surprising in light of democratic theory. Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill emphasized in the mid-19th century the importance, for effective control of government, of alert and involved citizens. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that “the inhabitant of New England is attached to his township not so much because he was born there as because he sees in that township a free and strong corporation that he is a part of and that is worth his trouble to seek to direct.” Democracy, in Tocqueville’s view, also relies on the existence of multiple voluntary associations, linked to political associations in multiple ways. In the words of John Stuart Mill, “the rights and interests of every or any person are only secure from being disregarded when the person is himself able, and habitually disposed, to stand up for them.”

Robert O. Keohane. The Concept of Accountability in World Politics and the Use of Force. Internet: (adapted).

Considering the preceding text, judge the following items.

Text 11A1-IV

The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

Dr. Seuss. I can read with my eyes shut! New York: Random House, 1987.

Text 11A2-I

The exploration of bilingual education in Brazil reveals a landscape filled with significant challenges and promising possibilities. Inequalities between private institutions and the public sector perpetuate socioeconomic gaps and limited access to it.
Despite the increasing presence of bilingual education, many programs continue to operate under a monolingual mindset that emphasizes strict separation between languages and prioritizes linguistic accuracy over communicative practices. This perspective limits students’ opportunities to engage dynamically with multiple languages and hinders their development of linguistic mobility. To move beyond these limitations, it is crucial to foster intercultural competences. To do so, creating spaces where students can appreciate and interact with cultural and linguistic diversity becomes essential.
Central to this discussion is the concept of “funds of perezhivanie”, which integrates various theoretical and practical elements, encompassing experiences, knowledge, potentials, values, and emotions of individuals or groups accumulated throughout their lives. By recognizing these diverse experiences, educators can create a more inclusive and responsive educational environment that values the cultural and experiential diversity of students.
The concept of “interculturality” is also significant for our context. By exploring strategies for intercultural education, we conceive bilingual education as a possibility for the formation of subjects with an intercultural stance and with greater willingness and knowledge to face the inequalities imposed by our society. Crafting bilingual identities, in this sense, means forging spaces for the construction of intercultural and critical curricula. So interculturality, from the perspective we adopt, is not a theoretical position or a dialogue between cultures or philosophical traditions but a “position” or “disposition,” a “way of life”. An attitude of willingness to live “our” identity references in relation to “others” that opens the human experience toward a process of relearning and of cultural and contextual relocation, which allows us to perceive cultural illiteracies.
This leads us to the second challenge faced by public bilingual schools that can contribute to the formation of empowered and agentive global citizens: the need to move toward heteroglossic perspectives.
Heteroglossia is here understood in a broad sense, drawing on Bakhtin’s view of language as inherently plural, layered, and dynamic. According to Busch, this concept encompasses three interrelated dimensions: 1) Multidiscursivity refers to the coexistence of distinct speech types or discourses associated with particular social spheres, time periods, professions, or communities; 2) Multivoicedness highlights the presence of diverse individual voices within these discursive spaces. Every utterance is situated on the boundary between self and other and becomes meaningful only when appropriated and reaccentuated by the speaker; and 3) Linguistic diversity points to the multiplicity of languages and language varieties shaped by social differentiation.
Framing bilingual education through heteroglossic lenses challenges dominant monolingual and homogenizing ideologies. It invites schools to cultivate spaces where varied discourses, voices, and languages can coexist, interact, and contribute to the construction of knowledge.

Internet: (adapted).

The role of the police in a healthy democracy is radically different from their role in authoritarian societies. In autocratic regimes, the police serve mainly to protect not the people, but the regime. The police are therefore typically politicized, with appointments being part of the patronage system that rewards regime loyalists. Police officers spend a great deal of time spying on the populace to unmask political opposition; crime against citizens is less of a concern. Abuse and corruption are usually rife, because police are not held accountable for their actions. Rather, political leaders tolerate abuses by the police in return for police loyalty to the regime.
By contrast, in democratic societies the primary mission of the police is to protect citizens against crime and disorder, including illegal or corrupt behavior by officials. In democracies, police have carefully circumscribed roles that require close and positive relations with ordinary citizens. The use of arms and pursuit of criminals are rare and take up only a tiny fraction of police time. Instead, police officers spend the vast bulk of their time building relationships with the community through patrols, community-enhancing activities, and listening to citizens. The goal of democratic policing is to build a web of relationships between the community and the police that helps to control crime by making police aware of the persons and activities in the communities that they are assigned to protect and by inclining citizens to trust and cooperate with police. This also achieves the primary goal of making citizens feel secure in their daily activities, thereby fostering a climate that encourages increased legitimate business activity, investment, and planning for the future.

Michael D. Wiatrowski and Jack A. Goldstone. The ballot and the badge: democratic policing. In: Journal of Democracy, Volume 21, Number 2. Internet: (adapted).

Concerning the previous text, judge the following items.

The role of the police in a healthy democracy is radically different from their role in authoritarian societies. In autocratic regimes, the police serve mainly to protect not the people, but the regime. The police are therefore typically politicized, with appointments being part of the patronage system that rewards regime loyalists. Police officers spend a great deal of time spying on the populace to unmask political opposition; crime against citizens is less of a concern. Abuse and corruption are usually rife, because police are not held accountable for their actions. Rather, political leaders tolerate abuses by the police in return for police loyalty to the regime.
By contrast, in democratic societies the primary mission of the police is to protect citizens against crime and disorder, including illegal or corrupt behavior by officials. In democracies, police have carefully circumscribed roles that require close and positive relations with ordinary citizens. The use of arms and pursuit of criminals are rare and take up only a tiny fraction of police time. Instead, police officers spend the vast bulk of their time building relationships with the community through patrols, community-enhancing activities, and listening to citizens. The goal of democratic policing is to build a web of relationships between the community and the police that helps to control crime by making police aware of the persons and activities in the communities that they are assigned to protect and by inclining citizens to trust and cooperate with police. This also achieves the primary goal of making citizens feel secure in their daily activities, thereby fostering a climate that encourages increased legitimate business activity, investment, and planning for the future.

Michael D. Wiatrowski and Jack A. Goldstone. The ballot and the badge: democratic policing. In: Journal of Democracy, Volume 21, Number 2. Internet: (adapted).

Concerning the previous text, judge the following items.

As prominent artificial intelligence (AI) researchers eye limits to the current phase of the technology, a different approach is gaining attention: using living human brain cells as computational hardware. These "biocomputers" are still in their early days. They can play simple games such as Pong, and perform basic speech recognition.
But the excitement is fueled by three converging trends. First, venture capital is flowing into anything adjacent to AI, making speculative ideas suddenly fundable. Second, techniques for growing brain tissue outside the body have matured, with the pharmaceutical industry jumping on board. Third, rapid advances in brain‒computer interfaces have seen growing acceptance of technologies that blur the line between biology and machines.
Nevertheless, plenty of questions remain. Are we witnessing genuine breakthroughs, or another round of tech-driven hype? And what ethical questions arise when human brain tissue becomes a computational component? For almost 50 years, neuroscientists have grown neurons on arrays of tiny electrodes to study how they fire under controlled conditions.
By the early 2000s, researchers attempted rudimentary two-way communication between neurons and electrodes, planting the first seeds of a bio-hybrid computer. But progress stalled until another strand of research took off: brain organoids.
In 2013, scientists demonstrated that stem cells could self-organise into three-dimensional brain-like structures. These organoids spread rapidly through biomedical research, increasingly aided by “organ-on-a-chip” devices designed to mimic aspects of human physiology outside the body.
Today, using stem-cell-derived neural tissue is commonplace ⸺ from drug testing to developmental research. Yet the neural activity in these models remains primitive, far from the organised firing patterns that underpin cognition or consciousness in a real brain. While complex network behaviour is beginning to emerge even without much external stimulation, experts generally agree that current organoids are not conscious, nor close to it.

Internet: (adapted).

About the previous text, judge the following items.

The changes to Earth’s natural patterns reveal an interconnected web of ecological systems that are undergoing profound changes beyond what many researchers have predicted. Scientists say the culprit is clear: Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the relentless burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas has been adding heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere, leading to a sharp rise in global temperatures. The hottest year in recorded history was 2024, and each of the 10 warmest years on record have come in the past decade.
Since 1997, when nations agreed to limit planet-warming gases as part of the landmark Kyoto Protocol, humanity has released more greenhouse gases than in all prior history. The temperature rise associated with the growing volume of heat-trapping gas has kicked in, and it is continuing to rise. And at the same time, the ability of the planet’s natural systems to absorb planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide appears to be diminishing.

David Gelles. One thing’s for sure, the weather is getting wilder. The New York Times International Edition, Nova York, 21-22 mar. 2026, p. 2 (adapted).

Considering the preceding text, judge the following items.

A new study suggests that the number of children a woman has might affect her rate of ageing and her lifespan. Research from the University of Helsinki in Finland found that women who had five children or more, or no children, aged faster than those who had a small number of kids. Researcher Mikaela Hukkanen said: "From an evolutionary biology perspective, organisms have limited resources, such as time and energy. When a large amount of energy is invested in reproduction, it is taken away from bodily maintenance and repair mechanisms, which could reduce lifespan." She added that the finding of shorter lifespans of women who never gave birth was "surprising".
The researchers used historical data in their analysis of parenthood and ageing. They analysed the health data on 14,836 women. Researchers examined DNA data and blood samples, then modelled the effects of reproduction on women’s rates of ageing and longevity. Ms. Hukkanen postulated that having a smaller number of pregnancies could have favourable effects on a mother’s health. One benefit is a possible lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer. However, the "wear and tear" and physical demands of multiple childbirths can negate this lowered risk. Another factor that could increase longevity is the increased social support a mother receives from the state for having children.

Internet: < b r e a k i n g n e w s e n g l i s h . c o m > (adapted).
Based on the preceding text, judge the following items.

A new study suggests that the number of children a woman has might affect her rate of ageing and her lifespan. Research from the University of Helsinki in Finland found that women who had five children or more, or no children, aged faster than those who had a small number of kids. Researcher Mikaela Hukkanen said: "From an evolutionary biology perspective, organisms have limited resources, such as time and energy. When a large amount of energy is invested in reproduction, it is taken away from bodily maintenance and repair mechanisms, which could reduce lifespan." She added that the finding of shorter lifespans of women who never gave birth was "surprising".
The researchers used historical data in their analysis of parenthood and ageing. They analysed the health data on 14,836 women. Researchers examined DNA data and blood samples, then modelled the effects of reproduction on women’s rates of ageing and longevity. Ms. Hukkanen postulated that having a smaller number of pregnancies could have favourable effects on a mother’s health. One benefit is a possible lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer. However, the "wear and tear" and physical demands of multiple childbirths can negate this lowered risk. Another factor that could increase longevity is the increased social support a mother receives from the state for having children.

Internet: < b r e a k i n g n e w s e n g l i s h . c o m > (adapted).
Based on the preceding text, judge the following items.

The claim to reason or rationality is the ultimate validation of the affirmation and assertion of the human condition. Aristotle’s definition of man as "a rational animal" was not spoken of the African and the Amerindian. Little did he realise that his definition of "man" laid down the foundation for the struggle for reason between colonialists and colonized peoples.
Aristotle’s definition of man was deeply inscribed in the social ethos of those communities and societies which undertook the so-called voyages of discovery apparently driven by innocent curiosity. It seems then that the entire process of decolonisation has upheld and not jettisoned the questionable belief that "man is a rational animal" was not spoken of the African and of the Amerindian.
The term African philosophy renders the idea that history repeats itself easy to believe. The term tends to revive innate skepticism on the one hand and to stimulate ingrained condescension on the other. The skeptic, unswervingly committed to the will to remain ignorant, is simply dismissive of any possibility let alone the probability of African philosophy. Impelled by the will to dominate, the condescendor is often ready to entertain the probability of African philosophy provided the judgement pertaining to the experience, knowledge and truth about African philosophy is recognised as the sole and exclusive right of the condescendor. The self-appointed heirs to the right to reason have thus established themselves as the producers of all knowledge and the only holders of the truth.

Mogobe B. Ramose. African philosophy through Ubuntu. Harare, Zimbabwe: Mond Books Publishers, 2005, pp. 5-6 (adapted).

Considering the preceding text, judge the following items.