Questões para Concursos

After two collapses, a third dam at ‘imminent risk of rupture’

A dam holding back mining waste from a Brazilian miner is at risk of collapsing, a government audit says. The same company was responsible for two tailings dam collapses since 2015 that unleashed millions of gallons of toxic sludge and killed hundreds of people in Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais, which has been known worldwide as the Brumadinho Dam Collapse.
The retired Xingu dam at Alegria iron ore mine in Mariana — the same municipality where a tailings dam collapsed in November 2015 in what’s considered Brazil’s worst environmental disaster to date — is at “serious and imminent risk of rupture by liquefaction,” according to an audit report from a local state organ. The report says the Xingu dam “does not present stability conditions.” “It is, therefore, an extremely serious situation that puts at risk workers who perform activities, access or remain on the crest, on the downstream slopes, in the flood area and in the area on the tailings upstream of the dam,” the document says.
The ANM (National Mining Agency) rated the Xingu dam’s safety at level 2 in a September 2020 assessment, after requesting the company to improve the structure. The miner has fulfilled part of the request, but has sought a deadline extension for other repair works, without major changes in the structure. In its most recent inspection, ANM identified structural problems where no corrective measures had been implemented.

Internet: (adapted).

Based on the text above, judge the following items.

Text CB1A2-I

Text CB1A2-II

Based on the texts CB1A2-I and CB1A2-II, judge the following items.

“English is the global language.” — a headline of this kind must have appeared in a thousand newspapers and magazines in recent years. “English Rules” is an actual example, presenting to the world an uncomplicated scenario suggesting the universality of the language’s spread and the likelihood of its continuation. A statement prominently displayed in the body of the associated article, memorable chiefly for its alliterative ingenuity, reinforces the initial impression: “The British Empire may be in full retreat with the handover of Hong Kong. But from Bengal to Belize and Las Vegas to Lahore, the language of the sceptered isle is rapidly becoming the first global lingua franca.” Millennial retrospectives and prognostications continued in the same vein, with several major newspapers and magazines finding in the subject of the English language an apt symbol for the themes of globalization, diversification, progress and identity addressed in their special editions.
A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. To achieve such a status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the world. They must decide to give it a special place within their communities, even though they may have few (or no) mother-tongue speakers.
Salman Rushdie comments that “the English language ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ago”. Indeed, when even the largest English-speaking nation, the USA, turns out to have only about 20 percent of the world’s English speakers, it is plain that no one can now claim sole ownership. This is probably the best way of defining a genuinely global language, in fact: that its usage is not restricted by countries or by governing bodies.

David Crystal. English as a global language .
Cambridge University Press, 2003. pp. 1-2;4;140-141 (adapted).

Judge the following items according to the text above.

Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete. Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from World War II, when a form of delay-line memory was developed to remove the clutter from radar signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line. The first random-access digital storage device was the Williams tube, based on a standard cathode ray tube, but the information stored in it was volatile in that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of nonvolatile computer storage was the magnetic drum, invented in 1932 and used in the Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.
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Information Technology . Internet: (adapted).
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Considering the text above, judge the following items.

In May 2021, a hole was found in a robotic arm aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The suspected culprit was a piece of rogue space junk. While thankfully no astronauts were injured, it has re-focussed attention on the growing problem of orbital debris.
..
How did we get here?
..
It’s easy to forget that just seven decades ago the Moon
was the only thing orbiting the Earth. On 1 January 2021 there
were 6,542 satellites in orbit. Tellingly, only just over half of
them were active. That’s a lot of useless metal careering around
the planet at 28,000 kph — ten times faster than a bullet.
...
How bad is the problem?
..
Very bad and getting worse. Estimates suggest there are
currently half a million pieces of debris the size of a marble or
larger and 100 million pieces of debris above one millimeter
across. Yet only 27,000 pieces are actively tracked by the US
Department of Defense.
..
What is Kessler syndrome?
..
It’s a catastrophic chain of events in which a satellite is
shattered by a piece of space junk (or a collision with another
satellite) and the resulting debris destroys more satellites creating
more junk and so on in a never-ending cascade. It’s a domino
effect – one piece falls and then takes the rest with it – and is
named after NASA scientist Donald Kessler, who outlined the
dangers back in 1978.
...
What can we do about it?
..
Better regulation of new launches would help, as right
now it’s a bit of a free-for-all. There are existing regulations in
place to try and mitigate the dangers, such as a 25-year de-orbit
rule for missions in low-Earth orbit. However, ESA’s Space
Debris Environment Report says that less than 60 per cent of
those flying in low-Earth orbit currently stick to the rules.
...
Colin Stuart. Space Junk : Is it a disaster waiting to happen?
Internet: (adapted).
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Considering the text above, judge the following items.

Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete. Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from World War II, when a form of delay-line memory was developed to remove the clutter from radar signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line. The first random-access digital storage device was the Williams tube, based on a standard cathode ray tube, but the information stored in it was volatile in that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of nonvolatile computer storage was the magnetic drum, invented in 1932 and used in the Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.
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Information Technology. Internet: (adapted).
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Considering the text above, judge the following items.

During a ransomware hack, attackers infiltrate a target’s computer system and encrypt its data. They then demand a payment before they will release the decryption key to free the system. This type of extortion has existed for decades, but in the 2010s it exploded in popularity, with online gangs holding local governments, infrastructure and even hospitals hostage. Ransomware is a collective problem—and solving it will require collaborative action from companies, the government and international partners.
As long as victims keep paying, hackers will keep profiting from this type of attack. But cybersecurity experts are divided on whether the government should prohibit the paying of ransoms. Such a ban would disincentivize hackers, but it would also place some organizations in a moral quandary. For, say, a hospital, unlocking the computer systems as quickly as possible could be a matter of life or death for patients, and the fastest option may be to pay up.
Collective action can help. If all organizations that fall victim to ransomware report their attacks, they will contribute to a trove of valuable data, which can be used to strike back against attackers. For example, certain ransomware gangs may use the exact same type of encryption in all their attacks. “White hat” hackers can and do study these trends, which allows them to retrieve and publish the decryption keys for specific types of ransomware. Many companies, however, remain reluctant to admit they have experienced a breach, wishing to avoid potential bad press. Overcoming that reluctance may require legislation, such as a bill introduced in the Senate last year that would require companies to report having paid a ransom within 24 hours of the transaction.

Internet: (adapted).

Judge the following items according to the text above.

TEXT 9

Answer the questions from 73 to 76 according to the text 9.

MAFALDA: A CLASSIC COMIC STRIP FOR ANY AGE

A kid growing up in a Spanish speaking country in the 1970s and 80s was likely exposed to Mafalda, the comic creation of Argentinian Joaquín Salvador Lavado (also known as Quino). The comic ran in Argentinian papers between 1964 and 1973 and republished into little books that were widely read in Latin America. I loved reading it as a kid, but it wasn't until recently when I read, 10 Años con Mafalda (Tusquets Editores México, 2nd ed. 2009), that I truly appreciated its genius.

Mafalda is a precocious six-year old who worries about world peace and hates soup. She is surrounded by her quirky friends (Felipe, a smart kid who hates homework and tortures himself for his failings; Manolito, a capitalist kid always with a scheme; Susanita, a frivolous antifeminist; Miguelito, a dreamer and philosopher, and Libertad, a tiny kid named "Freedom") and family (her father who's bent on destroying the ants that eat his prized plants; Guille, her baby brother, fan of Bridgett Bardot; and her mother, a housewife).
The comic strip is a true original, but it has elements of early Peanuts (kids wise beyond their years contemplating existential conundrums), Calvin and Hobbes (smarty-pants kid with a huge imagination and skeptical of the world), and Doonesbury (biting social commentary). Quino managed to skewer politics and human nature in a funny and accessible way.
Although the political references are dated (Argentina was under military junta and the Cold War was pretty hot), Mafalda's concerns about political freedom and social inequities are still relevant today and her relationship with her parents are timeless. 10 Años con Mafalda is a treat for anyone. If you are learning or know Spanish, get it in the original. Otherwise, some of the small Mafalda books are available in English.

Available at: http://www.sylvialiuland.com/2012/01/mafaldaclassic-cartoon-for-any-age.html. Access on: Feb. 27th 2022.

TEXT 3

Answer the questions 46 and 47 according to the text 3.

[...] Por fim, a terceira implicação diz respeito a abordagens de ensino. Situar a língua inglesa em seu status de língua franca implica compreender que determinadas crenças – como a de que há um “inglês melhor” para se ensinar, ou um “nível de proficiência” específico a ser alcançado pelo aluno – precisam ser relativizadas. Isso exige do professor uma atitude de acolhimento e legitimação de diferentes formas de expressão na língua, como o uso de ain’t para fazer a negação, e não apenas formas “padrão” como isn’t ou aren’t. Em outras palavras, não queremos tratar esses usos como uma exceção, uma curiosidade local da língua, que foge ao “padrão” a ser seguido. Muito pelo contrário – é tratar usos locais do inglês e recursos linguísticos a eles relacionados na perspectiva de construção de um repertório linguístico, que deve ser analisado e disponibilizado ao aluno para dele fazer uso observando sempre a condição de inteligibilidade na interação linguística. Ou seja, o status de inglês como língua franca implica deslocá-la de um modelo ideal de falante, considerando a importância da cultura no ensino-aprendizagem da língua e buscando romper com aspectos relativos à “correção”, “precisão” e “proficiência” linguística.

Brasil. Ministério da Educação. Base Nacional Comum Curricular . 2017. Adaptado.

TEXT 7

Answer the questions from 67 to 70 according to the text 7.