Questões de Inglês

The perfectionism trap

    We’re holding ourselves to impossible standards, no matter the circumstances.

    According to psychoanalyst Josh Cohen, perfectionism is a “fundamentally childish attitude”, ultimately holding many of us back from enjoying our lives. Moreover, with accelerating competition in the job market and housing becoming increasingly insecure, many of us are spreading ourselves hopelessly thin to gain a hopeless advantage.

    The arrival of the pandemic saw a reassessment of circumstances and a re-evaluation of priorities for many. But, old habits die hard, and this has often been short-lived. Here, Cohen urges us to hold on to this shift in perspective and find ways to enjoy ourselves more.

Disponível em: https://curio.io/publications/1843/josh-cohen/the-perfectionism-trap. Acesso em: 30 ago. 2022.

 

Em uma expressão idiomática do inglês, busca-se o sentido da oração, evitando a sua tradução literal.

 

Considerando isso, marque a opção que melhor apresenta o sentido da expressão “old habits die hard” extraída do texto.

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

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 text discusses

T E X T

 

Nearly Half of Covid Patients Haven’t Fully Recovered Months Later, Study Finds

 

    A study of tens of thousands of people in
Scotland found that one in 20 people who had been sick
with Covid reported not recovering at all, and another
four in 10 said they had not fully recovered from their
[5] infections many months later.
    The authors of the study, published in the journal
Nature Communications, tried to home in on the longterm risks of Covid by comparing the frequency of
symptoms in people with and without previous Covid
[10] diagnoses.
    People with previous symptomatic Covid
infections reported certain persistent symptoms, such
as breathlessness, palpitations and confusion or
difficulty concentrating, at a rate roughly three times as
[15] high as uninfected people in surveys from six to 18
months later, the study found. Those patients also
experienced elevated risks of more than 20 other
symptoms relating to the heart, respiratory health,
muscle aches, mental health and the sensory system.
[20]     The findings strengthened calls from scientists
for more expansive care options for long Covid patients
in the United States and elsewhere, while also offering
some good news.
    The study did not identify greater risks of long

[25] term problems in people with asymptomatic
coronavirus infections. It also found, in a much more
limited subset of participants who had been given at
least one dose of Covid vaccine before their infections,
that vaccination appeared to help reduce if not
[30] eliminate the risk of some long Covid symptoms.
    People with severe initial Covid cases were at
higher risk of long-term problems, the study found. “The
beauty of this study is they have a control group, and
they can isolate the proportion of symptomatology that
[35] is attributable to Covid infection,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly,
chief of research at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System
and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in
St. Louis, who was not involved in the research. “It also
tracks with the broader idea that long Covid is truly a
[40] multisystem disorder,” Dr. Al-Aly said, one that resides
“not only in the brain, not only in the heart — it’s all of
the above.”
    Jill Pell, a professor of public health at the
University of Glasgow who led the research, said the

[45] findings reinforced the importance of long Covid
patients being offered support that extends beyond
health care and also addresses needs related to jobs,
education, poverty and disability. “It told us that Covid
can appear differently in different individuals, and it can
[50] have more than one impact on your life,” Dr. Pell said.
“Any approach to supporting people has to be, firstly,
personalized and also holistic. The answer doesn’t just
lie within the health care sector.
    Long Covid refers to a constellation of problems
[55] that can plague patients for months or longer after an
infection. Over the last year, researchers have given
more attention to understanding the daunting
aftereffects as the number of Covid cases exploded and
health systems learned to better manage the initial
[60] stages of an infection. U.S. government estimates have
indicated that between 7.7 million and 23 million people
in the United States could have long Covid.
    Globally, “the condition is devastating people’s
lives and livelihoods,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
[65] the director general of the World Health Organization,
wrote in an article for The Guardian. He called on all
countries to devote “immediate and sustained action
equivalent to its scale.”
    The authors of the study in Scotland tracked
[70] 33,000 people who had tested positive for the virus
starting in April 2020 and 63,000 who had never been
diagnosed with Covid. In six-month intervals, those
people were asked about any symptoms they had,
including tiredness, muscle aches, chest pain and
neurological problems, and about any difficulties with
[75] daily life.
    Of those with previous Covid cases, 6 percent
said on their most recent follow-up survey that they had
not recovered at all and 42 percent said that they had
[80] only partly recovered. Women, older people and those
living in poorer areas faced more serious aftereffects
from a Covid infection. So, too, did those with preexisting health problems, including respiratory disease
and depression.
[85]     Only a small portion of the study participants —
about 4 percent — had been vaccinated before their
infections, and many of those with only a single dose.
“We’re now really heavily reliant upon vaccination,” Dr.
Pell said, “which does confer some protection, but it’s
[90] not absolute.”

Adapted from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/

At a global level, according to the director of the World Health Organization, the effects of long Covid on people’s lives is considered

T E X T

 

Nearly Half of Covid Patients Haven’t Fully Recovered Months Later, Study Finds

 

    A study of tens of thousands of people in
Scotland found that one in 20 people who had been sick
with Covid reported not recovering at all, and another
four in 10 said they had not fully recovered from their
[5] infections many months later.
    The authors of the study, published in the journal
Nature Communications, tried to home in on the longterm risks of Covid by comparing the frequency of
symptoms in people with and without previous Covid
[10] diagnoses.
    People with previous symptomatic Covid
infections reported certain persistent symptoms, such
as breathlessness, palpitations and confusion or
difficulty concentrating, at a rate roughly three times as
[15] high as uninfected people in surveys from six to 18
months later, the study found. Those patients also
experienced elevated risks of more than 20 other
symptoms relating to the heart, respiratory health,
muscle aches, mental health and the sensory system.
[20]     The findings strengthened calls from scientists
for more expansive care options for long Covid patients
in the United States and elsewhere, while also offering
some good news.
    The study did not identify greater risks of long

[25] term problems in people with asymptomatic
coronavirus infections. It also found, in a much more
limited subset of participants who had been given at
least one dose of Covid vaccine before their infections,
that vaccination appeared to help reduce if not
[30] eliminate the risk of some long Covid symptoms.
    People with severe initial Covid cases were at
higher risk of long-term problems, the study found. “The
beauty of this study is they have a control group, and
they can isolate the proportion of symptomatology that
[35] is attributable to Covid infection,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly,
chief of research at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System
and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in
St. Louis, who was not involved in the research. “It also
tracks with the broader idea that long Covid is truly a
[40] multisystem disorder,” Dr. Al-Aly said, one that resides
“not only in the brain, not only in the heart — it’s all of
the above.”
    Jill Pell, a professor of public health at the
University of Glasgow who led the research, said the

[45] findings reinforced the importance of long Covid
patients being offered support that extends beyond
health care and also addresses needs related to jobs,
education, poverty and disability. “It told us that Covid
can appear differently in different individuals, and it can
[50] have more than one impact on your life,” Dr. Pell said.
“Any approach to supporting people has to be, firstly,
personalized and also holistic. The answer doesn’t just
lie within the health care sector.
    Long Covid refers to a constellation of problems
[55] that can plague patients for months or longer after an
infection. Over the last year, researchers have given
more attention to understanding the daunting
aftereffects as the number of Covid cases exploded and
health systems learned to better manage the initial
[60] stages of an infection. U.S. government estimates have
indicated that between 7.7 million and 23 million people
in the United States could have long Covid.
    Globally, “the condition is devastating people’s
lives and livelihoods,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
[65] the director general of the World Health Organization,
wrote in an article for The Guardian. He called on all
countries to devote “immediate and sustained action
equivalent to its scale.”
    The authors of the study in Scotland tracked
[70] 33,000 people who had tested positive for the virus
starting in April 2020 and 63,000 who had never been
diagnosed with Covid. In six-month intervals, those
people were asked about any symptoms they had,
including tiredness, muscle aches, chest pain and
neurological problems, and about any difficulties with
[75] daily life.
    Of those with previous Covid cases, 6 percent
said on their most recent follow-up survey that they had
not recovered at all and 42 percent said that they had
[80] only partly recovered. Women, older people and those
living in poorer areas faced more serious aftereffects
from a Covid infection. So, too, did those with preexisting health problems, including respiratory disease
and depression.
[85]     Only a small portion of the study participants —
about 4 percent — had been vaccinated before their
infections, and many of those with only a single dose.
“We’re now really heavily reliant upon vaccination,” Dr.
Pell said, “which does confer some protection, but it’s
[90] not absolute.”

Adapted from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/

Among the recurrent symptoms reported by people with long Covid who participated in the study, the text mentions, among others, problems related to

T E X T

 

Nearly Half of Covid Patients Haven’t Fully Recovered Months Later, Study Finds

 

    A study of tens of thousands of people in
Scotland found that one in 20 people who had been sick
with Covid reported not recovering at all, and another
four in 10 said they had not fully recovered from their
[5] infections many months later.
    The authors of the study, published in the journal
Nature Communications, tried to home in on the longterm risks of Covid by comparing the frequency of
symptoms in people with and without previous Covid
[10] diagnoses.
    People with previous symptomatic Covid
infections reported certain persistent symptoms, such
as breathlessness, palpitations and confusion or
difficulty concentrating, at a rate roughly three times as
[15] high as uninfected people in surveys from six to 18
months later, the study found. Those patients also
experienced elevated risks of more than 20 other
symptoms relating to the heart, respiratory health,
muscle aches, mental health and the sensory system.
[20]     The findings strengthened calls from scientists
for more expansive care options for long Covid patients
in the United States and elsewhere, while also offering
some good news.
    The study did not identify greater risks of long

[25] term problems in people with asymptomatic
coronavirus infections. It also found, in a much more
limited subset of participants who had been given at
least one dose of Covid vaccine before their infections,
that vaccination appeared to help reduce if not
[30] eliminate the risk of some long Covid symptoms.
    People with severe initial Covid cases were at
higher risk of long-term problems, the study found. “The
beauty of this study is they have a control group, and
they can isolate the proportion of symptomatology that
[35] is attributable to Covid infection,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly,
chief of research at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System
and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in
St. Louis, who was not involved in the research. “It also
tracks with the broader idea that long Covid is truly a
[40] multisystem disorder,” Dr. Al-Aly said, one that resides
“not only in the brain, not only in the heart — it’s all of
the above.”
    Jill Pell, a professor of public health at the
University of Glasgow who led the research, said the

[45] findings reinforced the importance of long Covid
patients being offered support that extends beyond
health care and also addresses needs related to jobs,
education, poverty and disability. “It told us that Covid
can appear differently in different individuals, and it can
[50] have more than one impact on your life,” Dr. Pell said.
“Any approach to supporting people has to be, firstly,
personalized and also holistic. The answer doesn’t just
lie within the health care sector.
    Long Covid refers to a constellation of problems
[55] that can plague patients for months or longer after an
infection. Over the last year, researchers have given
more attention to understanding the daunting
aftereffects as the number of Covid cases exploded and
health systems learned to better manage the initial
[60] stages of an infection. U.S. government estimates have
indicated that between 7.7 million and 23 million people
in the United States could have long Covid.
    Globally, “the condition is devastating people’s
lives and livelihoods,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
[65] the director general of the World Health Organization,
wrote in an article for The Guardian. He called on all
countries to devote “immediate and sustained action
equivalent to its scale.”
    The authors of the study in Scotland tracked
[70] 33,000 people who had tested positive for the virus
starting in April 2020 and 63,000 who had never been
diagnosed with Covid. In six-month intervals, those
people were asked about any symptoms they had,
including tiredness, muscle aches, chest pain and
neurological problems, and about any difficulties with
[75] daily life.
    Of those with previous Covid cases, 6 percent
said on their most recent follow-up survey that they had
not recovered at all and 42 percent said that they had
[80] only partly recovered. Women, older people and those
living in poorer areas faced more serious aftereffects
from a Covid infection. So, too, did those with preexisting health problems, including respiratory disease
and depression.
[85]     Only a small portion of the study participants —
about 4 percent — had been vaccinated before their
infections, and many of those with only a single dose.
“We’re now really heavily reliant upon vaccination,” Dr.
Pell said, “which does confer some protection, but it’s
[90] not absolute.”

Adapted from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/

The text mentions that in the United States, according to statistics, people affected by long Covid reach the mark of