Questões para Concursos

Read the text below and answer the next question: Gaia Pope: Family appeals for art in memory of teenager The family of teenager Gaia Pope are appealing for people to create and donate artwork to honour her memory a year after her death. The 19-year-old was reported missing from Swanage on 7 November. Her body was found 11 days later near the Dorset coast path. Her family said as the anniversary of her disappearance approached they were "asking people to make something to show she is not forgotten". The artwork will be displayed online. Miss Pope, from Langton Matravers, near Swanage, made an allegation she was raped two years before her death. Her family claimed an alleged failed police investigation "severely affected Gaia's mental and physical state". Art, particularly pyrography (woodburning), became a form of therapy for the teenager, her family said. Her mother Natasha Pope said: "I don't speak about my daughter in the past tense - I utter her name as I always have because I know she is still with me, every moment, in all we're doing. "Gaia's art and poetry, inspired by the beauty of nature and the strength of femininity, is her way of connecting with her true self. In spite of all she's been through she is not defined by that. "Our Gaia would want to provide a forum for others to find their voice and create." Miss Pope's cousin Marienna Pope-Weidemann added: "Some things are so big, run so deep, they can only be expressed through art. Our love and our grief for Gaia feels that way. "The love we've felt from the community felt that way too. We want to honour that, make it visible, maybe do something to show other survivors, families who's lost someone too soon, that they are not alone." The family said the project was inspired by the #JusticeForLB social media campaign and want people to share their art on Twitter via #JusticeForGaia. The #JusticeForLB campaign was set up by Dr Sara Ryan - the mother of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk, who had epilepsy and drowned in a bath after having a seizure in Oxford. Dorset Police is being investigated over the way it handled the rape allegation and its response to Miss Pope's disappearance. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset45571415

We do not know how art began any more than we know how language started. If we take art to mean such activities as building temples and houses, making pictures and sculptures, or weaving patterns, there is no people in all the world without art. If, on the other hand, we mean by art some kind of beautiful luxury, something to enjoy in museums and exhibitions or something special to use as a precious decoration in the best parlour, we must realize that this use of the word is a very recent development. We can best understand this difference if we think of architecture. There is scarcely any building in the world which was not erected for a particular purpose. Those who use these buildings as places of worship or entertainment, or as dwellings, judge them first and foremost by standards of utility. But apart from this, they may like or dislike the design or the proportions of the structure, and appreciate the efforts of the good architect to make it not only practical but right. In the past the attitude to paintings and statues was often similar. They were not thought of as mere works of art but as objects which had a definite function. Similarly, we are not likely to understand the art of the past if we are quite ignorant of the aims it had to serve. The further we go back in history, the more definite but also the more strange are the aims which art was supposed to serve. The same applies if we leave towns and cities and go to the peasants or, better still, if we travel to the peoples whose ways of life still resemble the conditions in which our remote ancestors lived. Among them there is no difference between building and image-making as far as usefulness is concerned. Their huts are there to shelter them from rain, wind and sunshine and the spirits which produce them; images are made to protect them against other powers which are, to them, as real as the forces of nature. Pictures and statues, in other words, are used to work magic. E. H. Gombrich. The story of art . New York, Phaidon, 2024. 16th ed. p. 9-10 (adapted).

For the first time, 2025 will see quantum computers leave labs and research institutions and actually deploy into the networks and data centers of real-world customers. For quantum computing companies, this will be a real test of steel. It’s one thing to have a groundbreaking, powerful quantum computer that only works on its very best day — when the lab conditions are perfect and when the team of PhDs operating it are at the top of their game. But the reality is that quantum computers need to work on their worst days too — in the real world, in real organizations. The quantum computing companies that land on top will be the ones that have built for this challenge since day one. People tend to hear the words “quantum computing” and jump straight to science fiction or the multiverse. And while it seems daunting, we’ve actually reached a point where the “quantum” part of quantum computing is the easiest bit — it’s the “computing” that is inherently complex. For those on the front lines of building powerful quantum computers, this means it’s no longer a physics challenge — it’s an engineering one. Companies won’t need to know the ins and outs of quantum computers in order to leverage its unprecedented power — they’ll simply benefit from its ability to solve the problems that could never be solved on classical computers. Internet: (adapted).

Researchers have unveiled long “hidden” and finely detailed tattoo designs on the skin of ancient mummies from Peru, a study reports. Tattoos were a prevalent art form in pre-Hispanic South America, as attested by the discovery of mummified human remains in the region with preserved skin decoration that date back centuries, and even millennia. While such body art works can provide insights into ancient cultures, tattoos are known to fade and bleed over time — a process compounded in mummies by the decay of the body. This often means that the original designs are difficult to make out. In the latest study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , a team of researchers used a technique known as laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) to examine tattoos on mummified individuals belonging to the pre-Hispanic Chancay culture of what is now coastal Peru. The mummified remains that team of researchers examined were originally discovered in 1981 at the Cerro Colorado cemetery archaeological site in the Huaura Valley of Peru. The LSF technique revealed “exceptionally fine” and previously unknown details of the ancient tattoos. The team managed to identify intricate geometric and zoomorphic (representing animal forms) designs that were “very surprising” because they demonstrate a higher degree of artistic complexity than any other existing Chancay artwork, including on pottery and the culture's renowned textiles. The art of tattooing was clearly important to the Chancay, as evidenced by the high proportion of tattooed individuals among known mummified remains from the ancient culture. Hidden Tattoos Revealed on 750-Year-Old Ancient Mummies: ‘Very Surprising’. Internet: (adapted).

Climate change poses significant challenges to cattle farming, a sector vital to global food security. Among the most pressing concerns is the increasing frequency and intensity of droughts. Reduced rainfall diminishes pasture quality and availability, limiting feed for livestock and increasing water scarcity. This can lead to decreased animal growth rates, reduced milk production, and increased mortality rates. Moreover, prolonged droughts can contribute to desertification, shrinking available grazing land and forcing farmers to adopt costly alternative feeding strategies. Beyond drought, other climate-related impacts include heat stress, which can significantly impact animal health and productivity. Rising temperatures can exacerbate heat stress, leading to decreased feed intake, reduced fertility, and increased mortality in livestock. Furthermore, extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall and flooding, can cause infrastructure damage, contaminate water sources, and lead to the loss of livestock. The cattle farming sector itself contributes to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions, primarily methane produced during animal digestion and nitrous oxide from manure management. Deforestation for pasture expansion also releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide. To address these challenges, a multi-pronged approach is crucial. • Genetic selection: Breeding programs focused on developing drought-resistant livestock breeds are vital. and heat-tolerant • Sustainable feeding strategies: Implementing precision feeding techniques, improving feed efficiency, and exploring alternative drought-resistant forage livestock resilience. feed sources, varieties, such as can enhance • Integrated farming systems: Integrating crop and livestock production, such as through agroforestry systems, can improve soil health, enhance water retention, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. • Technological innovations: Utilizing technologies such as precision livestock farming, remote sensing for pasture monitoring, and renewable energy sources can improve resource efficiency and redu Furthermore, strong policy support, including incentives for sustainable farming practices, investments in research and development, and improved access to climate information services, are essential for the long-term sustainability of the cattle farming sector. Addressing the challenges posed by climate change requires a collaborative effort involving farmers, researchers, policymakers, and consumers. By embracing innovative solutions, prioritizing sustainable practices, and fostering a collective understanding of the importance of climate-resilient livestock production, we can ensure a future when this vital sector continues to thrive while minimizing its environmental impact. Internet: (adapted).

Text 1A4-I By the middle years of the 20 th century, the optimistic story of limitless progress through scientific and technological advance came to be rivalled and sometimes overshadowed by a much more pessimistic, even apocalyptic vision of the trajectory of the modern project. It began to seem increasingly possible that technology would come to master its creators and carry humanity toward unforeseen and possibly catastrophic outcomes. Premonitions of technological wizardry leading to disasters are extremely old, dating back at least to the myth of Icarus, who is said to have fatally fallen into the sea after flying too close to the sun on wings his father, Daedalus, constructed. As the Industrial Revolution gathered steam, dark anticipations became increasingly widespread, in works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus and Karel Capek’s R.U.R. Perhaps technology, not man, was “in the saddle,” as Henry Adams worried. And perhaps machines, becoming ever more capable and interconnected, were the next step in the evolution of life, destined to dominate and eventually eliminate humanity, as Samuel Butler warned. The contours of the future, H. G. Wells announced in one of his famous lectures, “The Discovery of the Future,” were difficult to discern but would surely be unlike the past or the present, and definitely included disasters of new types and magnitudes. In the ghastly world wars, technological advances empowered barbarism on a new scale, destroying the credibility of the simple modernist faith that more potent tools are a straight path to human betterment. Rather, technological advance has produced a cornucopia of double-edged swords, with amplified possibilities for both progress and disaster. A growing herd of horsemen of the anthropogenic apocalypse have ominously appeared on the human horizon of possibility: nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, total surveillance despotism, runaway artificial intelligence, and rampant environmental decay. Daniel Deudney. Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity . New York: Oxford University Press, 2020 (adapted).

Text CB1A2 Spending time in space and having an unrivalled view of planet Earth is an experience many of us dream of, but the human body evolved to function in the gravity of Earth. So fully recovering from spending time in the weightlessness of space can take years. “It’s a fact that space is by far the most extreme environment that humans have ever encountered and we’ve just not evolved to handle the extreme conditions,” Professor Damian Bailey, who studies human physiology, says. To begin with, the heart and blood vessels have an easier time as they no longer have to pump blood against gravity — and they start to weaken. And the bones become weaker and more brittle. There should be a balance between the cells breaking down old bone and those making new, but that balance is disrupted without the feedback and resistance of working against gravity. “Every month, about 1% of bones and muscles are going to wither away — it’s accelerated ageing,” Professor Bailey says. Microgravity also distorts the vestibular system, which is how you balance and sense which way is up. In space, there is no up, down or sideways. It can be disorientating when you go up — and again when you return to Earth. James Gallagher. What nine months in space does to the human body. Internet: (adapted).