Questões de Inglês

INSTRUCTION: Answer question in relation to text.

TEXT

The agency has no official plans for a mission to the
Jovian moon, whose icy crust covers a watery ocean in
which life could theoretically exist. But spurred by intense
congressional interest and several recent discoveries,
[5] NASA is seeking ideas for instruments that could fly on
a mission to Europa.

The groundswell of enthusiasm is likely to be bolstered by
the latest big news, reported on 7 September, that there
may be giant plates of ice shuffling around on Europa
[10] – much as plates of rock do on Earth (S. A. Kattenhorn
and L. M. Prockter Nature Geosci. 2014). Such active
geology suggests that Europa’s icy surface is connected
to its buried ocean – creating a possible pathway for salts,
minerals and maybe even microbes to get from the ocean
[15] to the surface and back again.

Kattenhorn and Prockter propose a system of plate
tectonics that involves a shell of ice a few kilometers thick
sliding around on warmer, more fluid ice. When one plate
hits another and begins to dive downwards – or subduct
[20] – it melts and becomes incorporated in the underlying
ice, the duo proposes.

Places have already been spotted on Europa where fresh
ice crust is being born, but the latest research is the first

to pinpoint where it might be going to die.

[25] But without high-resolution images from more areas,
researchers cannot tell whether subduction might also be
happening in other locations. If it turns out to be common,
it might mean that the moon could be cycling life-friendly
compounds between the surface and the deep, and
[30] that substantially increases the chance that its ocean is
habitable, says Michael Bland, a planetary scientist at the
US Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The discovery adds to excitement set off in December,
when scientists reported plumes of water vapour spurting
[35] out at Europa’s south pole. The plumes have not been
seen since, and they may or may not be related to
Europa’s newly appreciated system of plate tectonics.
NASA now needs to figure out what kind of mission might
best explore these discoveries.
Adapted from http://www.scientifi camerican.com/article (acesso em setembro de 2014).

INSTRUCTION: Answer question according to text.

TEXT

As the familiar story goes, not long ago there was an
orphan who on his 11th birthday discovered he had
a gift that set him apart from his preteen peers. Over
the years he endured the usual adolescent challenges
[5] – maturation, relationships, social conflicts, general
teenage neuroses. He also faced the less common
challenge of battling a murderous, psychopathic
wizard set on establishing a eugenic police state.
I’m referring to the young wizard Harry Potter, the
[10] protagonist in author JK Rowling’s wildly popular
fantasy book series; his nemesis is Lord Voldemort,
the story’s malevolent antagonist. And new research
suggests that Rowling’s world of house-elves, half-

giants and three-headed dogs has the potential to
[15] make us nicer people.

For decades it’s been known that an effective means of
improving negative attitudes and prejudices between
differing groups of people is through intergroup contact
– particularly through contact between “in-groups,”
[20] or a social group to which someone identifies, and
“out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or
perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories
about friendship between in- and out-group characters
is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized
[25] groups in children. A new study ______ in the Journal
of Applied Social Psychology ______ that reading
the Harry Potter books in particular _______ similar
effects, likely in part because Potter is continually in
contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no
[30] respect in the wizarding world as they lack any magical
ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards
and witches descended from only one magical parent
– don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort
character believes that power should only be held by
[35] “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler in a cloak.

Sep 9, 2014, By Bret Stetka http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/bret-stetka/ (adapted)

INSTRUCTION: Answer question according to text.

TEXT

As the familiar story goes, not long ago there was an
orphan who on his 11th birthday discovered he had
a gift that set him apart from his preteen peers. Over
the years he endured the usual adolescent challenges
[5] – maturation, relationships, social conflicts, general
teenage neuroses. He also faced the less common
challenge of battling a murderous, psychopathic
wizard set on establishing a eugenic police state.
I’m referring to the young wizard Harry Potter, the
[10] protagonist in author JK Rowling’s wildly popular
fantasy book series; his nemesis is Lord Voldemort,
the story’s malevolent antagonist. And new research
suggests that Rowling’s world of house-elves, half-

giants and three-headed dogs has the potential to
[15] make us nicer people.

For decades it’s been known that an effective means of
improving negative attitudes and prejudices between
differing groups of people is through intergroup contact
– particularly through contact between “in-groups,”
[20] or a social group to which someone identifies, and
“out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or
perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories
about friendship between in- and out-group characters
is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized
[25] groups in children. A new study ______ in the Journal
of Applied Social Psychology ______ that reading
the Harry Potter books in particular _______ similar
effects, likely in part because Potter is continually in
contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no
[30] respect in the wizarding world as they lack any magical
ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards
and witches descended from only one magical parent
– don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort
character believes that power should only be held by
[35] “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler in a cloak.

Sep 9, 2014, By Bret Stetka http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/bret-stetka/ (adapted)

INSTRUCTION: Answer question according to text.

TEXT

As the familiar story goes, not long ago there was an
orphan who on his 11th birthday discovered he had
a gift that set him apart from his preteen peers. Over
the years he endured the usual adolescent challenges
[5] – maturation, relationships, social conflicts, general
teenage neuroses. He also faced the less common
challenge of battling a murderous, psychopathic
wizard set on establishing a eugenic police state.
I’m referring to the young wizard Harry Potter, the
[10] protagonist in author JK Rowling’s wildly popular
fantasy book series; his nemesis is Lord Voldemort,
the story’s malevolent antagonist. And new research
suggests that Rowling’s world of house-elves, half-

giants and three-headed dogs has the potential to
[15] make us nicer people.

For decades it’s been known that an effective means of
improving negative attitudes and prejudices between
differing groups of people is through intergroup contact
– particularly through contact between “in-groups,”
[20] or a social group to which someone identifies, and
“out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or
perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories
about friendship between in- and out-group characters
is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized
[25] groups in children. A new study ______ in the Journal
of Applied Social Psychology ______ that reading
the Harry Potter books in particular _______ similar
effects, likely in part because Potter is continually in
contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no
[30] respect in the wizarding world as they lack any magical
ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards
and witches descended from only one magical parent
– don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort
character believes that power should only be held by
[35] “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler in a cloak.

Sep 9, 2014, By Bret Stetka http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/bret-stetka/ (adapted)

INSTRUCTION: Answer question according to text.

TEXT

As the familiar story goes, not long ago there was an
orphan who on his 11th birthday discovered he had
a gift that set him apart from his preteen peers. Over
the years he endured the usual adolescent challenges
[5] – maturation, relationships, social conflicts, general
teenage neuroses. He also faced the less common
challenge of battling a murderous, psychopathic
wizard set on establishing a eugenic police state.
I’m referring to the young wizard Harry Potter, the
[10] protagonist in author JK Rowling’s wildly popular
fantasy book series; his nemesis is Lord Voldemort,
the story’s malevolent antagonist. And new research
suggests that Rowling’s world of house-elves, half-

giants and three-headed dogs has the potential to
[15] make us nicer people.

For decades it’s been known that an effective means of
improving negative attitudes and prejudices between
differing groups of people is through intergroup contact
– particularly through contact between “in-groups,”
[20] or a social group to which someone identifies, and
“out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or
perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories
about friendship between in- and out-group characters
is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized
[25] groups in children. A new study ______ in the Journal
of Applied Social Psychology ______ that reading
the Harry Potter books in particular _______ similar
effects, likely in part because Potter is continually in
contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no
[30] respect in the wizarding world as they lack any magical
ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards
and witches descended from only one magical parent
– don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort
character believes that power should only be held by
[35] “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler in a cloak.

Sep 9, 2014, By Bret Stetka http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/bret-stetka/ (adapted)

INSTRUCTION: Answer question in relation to text.

TEXT 

If you think the food airline companies serve up is bland
or unappetising, it’s not necessarily their fault. Essentially,
you leave your normal sense of taste behind at the airport
departure gate. Get on board a plane and cruise to a level
[5] of thousands of feet, and the flavour of everything from
a pasta dish to a mouthful of wine becomes manipulated
in a whole host of ways that we are only beginning to
understand.

Taste buds and sense of smell are the first things to go at
[10] 30,000 feet, says Russ Brown, director of In-flight Dining
& Retail at American Airlines. “Flavour is a combination
of both, and our perception of saltiness and sweetness
drop when inside a pressurised cabin.”

Everything that makes up the in-flight experience affects
[15] how your food tastes. There are several reasons for this:
lack of humidity, lower air pressure, and the background
noise. The combination of dryness and low pressure
reduces the sensitivity of your taste buds to sweet and
salty foods by around 30%, according to a 2010 study.
[20] Interestingly, the study found that we take leave of our
sweet and salty senses only. Sour, bitter and spicy
flavours are almost unaffected.

But it’s not just about our taste buds. Up to 80% of what
people think is taste, is in fact smell. We need evaporating
[25] nasal mucus to smell, but in the parched cabin air our
odour receptors do not work properly, and the effect is
that this makes food taste twice as bland.

So airlines have to give in-flight food an extra kick, by
salting and spicing it much more than a restaurant on the
[30] ground ever would. “Proper seasoning is key to ensure
food tastes good in the air,” says Brown at American
Airlines. “Often, recipes are modified with additional salt
or seasoning to account for the cabin dining atmosphere.”

By Katia Moskvitch http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150112-why-in-flight-foodtastes-weird (adapted)