Questões de Inglês

A war that crosses national boundaries - Iraq and America have pushed back the Islamic State, but it will take much more to quash the threat of it across the wider region.

 

TEN days after America carried out its first air strike on August 8th against the Islamic State (IS) on Iraqi territory, government forces regained control of the biggest dam in the country, near Mosul, the country’s second city. A ferocious al-Qaeda-inspired jihadist group that controls swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and wants to turn the entire region into a caliphate, IS looks as if it is at last on the defensive in northern Iraq.

With American aerial help and the advice of nearly 400 American advisers on the ground, Iraq’s government forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga have made gains elsewhere, too. Most of the tens of thousands of Yazidis stranded on Sinjar mountain since IS raided their towns at the start of August have been carried to safety. Erbil is secure. The Americans, who have now carried out at least 60 air raids on IS, have revived the morale of the Iraqi government forces, who fell apart at the start of the jihadist offensive in June. On August 19th Iraq’s army said it had started a campaign to recapture Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s home town, which lies about 180km (112 miles) north-west of Baghdad.

But IS is far from contained, let alone defeated. It continues to massacre people belonging to non-Sunni sects in a string of villages around Mosul, which it captured in June, and along the border with Kurdistan. In Tikrit it may be beating back the government’s forces. It still holds a slew of towns in Anbar province and along the Euphrates river on both sides of the border with Syria. Even hitherto anti-American Iraqis, such as Hakim al-Zamili, a parliamentarian from Muqtada al-Sadr’s populist Shia movement, want the Americans to increase their air attacks on IS.

The Economist, August 23, 2014. Adapted.

O grupo militar terrorista denominado Estado Islâmico representa uma ameaça iminente aos interesses dos Estados Unidos. De acordo com o texto, que medidas o governo americano tem tomado para conter o grupo militante no Iraque?

Brazilian Presidential Candidate Dies in Plane Crash, Upsetting Race

 

The crash abruptly shifts the dynamics of a race as President Dilma Rousseff seeks re-election during an economic slump. Mr. Campos, 49, who broke last year from the Workers Party’s governing coalition, had been running in third place in public opinion surveys as a left-leaning candidate seeking to appeal to Brazil’s business establishment and environmentalists.

Ms. Rousseff and her top challenger, Aécio Neves, a leader of the centrist Social Democrats who has drifted toward the right, are now expected to vie for Mr. Campos’s supporters. Ms. Rousseff remains well ahead of Mr. Neves in the polls, though a first-round victory in October has appeared increasingly unlikely, potentially setting the stage for a fiercely contested final round of voting.

But the plane crash could also bolster support for Mr. Campos’s running mate, Marina Silva, if his party allows her to run in his place. Ms. Silva, an environmentalist and outspoken critic of Ms. Rousseff’s government, ran for president in 2010, finishing third with about 19 percent of the vote.

“She could lure more votes than Eduardo himself,” said Carlos Pereira, a professor of political science at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a top Brazilian university, who noted that Ms. Silva was better known in Brazil than Mr. Campos. But Mr. Pereira also emphasized that she would need to build support among business leaders who might be more willing throw support behind Mr. Neves.

Ms. Silva, 56, appeared shaken in brief televised comments, expressing condolences for Mr. Campos’s widow and their five children. Ms. Silva was reported to have planned to travel to Santos with Mr. Campos but changed her plans on Wednesday morning, opting to take a commercial flight with several aides.

Mr. Campos served in Mr. da Silva’s cabinet before returning to Pernambuco to build momentum for his own presidential bid. A gifted speaker, he thrived at public appearances while also focusing on the minutiae of political deals needed to cobble together a party with ambitions beyond Pernambuco. He portrayed himself as a leftist, but Mr. Campos was also known for his conservative views on social issues, such as opposing legislation to ease Brazil’s ban on most types of abortion. In one of his most recent interviews, he rejected claims that he had improperly sought to obtain a coveted seat on Brazil’s national auditing court for his mother, Ana Arraes.

Both Ms. Rousseff and Mr. Neves, the leading presidential candidates, said they were temporarily suspending their campaigns as the nation absorbs the death of Mr. Campos. After Mr. Campos’s remains are examined in São Paulo as part of the investigation into the crash, he is expected to be buried alongside his grandfather in a tomb in Recife.

New York Times, August 13, 2014. Adaptado.

 

De acordo com o texto, o acidente que resultou na morte do candidato esquerdista muda abruptamente a dinâmica da corrida eleitoral, por qual razão?

Text

‘King County Kicks Off Bag Recycling Campaign With ‘Bus Full Of Bags’

 

(Retrieved from http://b-townblog.com/2011/10/10/king-county-kicks-off-plastic-bag-recycling-campaign-with-bus-full of-bags/. Access on October 1^st, 2014)

 

Answer question according to Text

It is possible to affirm the advertisement:

In the title of the campaign, ‘Bag your Bags, Bring ‘em Back’, the words in bold are respectively classified as:

Text 

Bag your Bags, Bring 'em Back

 

[1] The best way to recycle your plastic bags and film is to bring

[2] them back to a store that collects them for recycling. Just stuff

[3] them clean and dry into a single plastic bag, tie it up, and drop

[4] it into a plastic bag collection container found at the retail

[5] partners. Note: The stores listed below have partnered with

[6] King County to promote the Bag Your Bag campaign. There

[7] may be other stores not listed that accept plastic bags for

[8] recycling.

[9] Plastic bags and film collected at grocery stores stay cleaner

[10] and are easier for recycling facilities to process than bags

[11] placed in your home recycling collection bin. The bags are

[12] turned into new products like decking, benches, playground

[13] structures, and new plastic bags. And remember to bring along

[14] your reusable bags when you shop.

[15] The Bag your Bags, Bring 'em Back campaign is a partnership

[16] between the King County Solid Waste Division and local

[17] grocery stores to show the best way to recycle plastic bags.

(Retrieved and adapted from http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/garbage-recycling/bag-your-bags.asp. Access on September 28th, 2014)

 

Answer question according to Text.

Traditionally, at a grocery store, you can buy

Top tips for successful study at university

 

When entering at university, you may be wondering how it will be

different from what you are used to. Of course, many things will be

the same, only at a higher academic level. The main differences are:

→ You have more control and independence over what,

when and how you study.

→ Understanding and critical thinking are more important

than remembering.

Here you have some tips that will help you succeed in your

academic studies at university.

1. Firstly, it\\'s up to you to organise your study – both how

you\\'re going to do things and when. You may find that all of

your assignments are due at the same time, so a bit of forward

planning for staggered deadlines will save you a lot of panic at

the last minute.

2. Get yourself informed about things like timetables, room

locations, deadlines and guidelines for assignments. It\\'s your

responsibility to do this – no-one will remind you!

Your programme handbook is the best source of information

about your programme of study. Make sure you know where

you\\'ve put it, or how to access it online – you\\'ll probably need it

later in the term.

3. Make useful notes, not copious ones – if you try to write

down everything the lecturer says you won\\'t be able to focus

on listening. Take notes on selected points and underline or

highlight the important ones to make them more obvious. Add

any thoughts of your own that arise, but make it clear that

they\\'re your own ideas. Check what\\'s going to be in the

handouts – you may not need to note things like dates and

figures.

4. Think critically about everything you read, see or hear –

consider whether you agree or disagree with it and then (most

importantly) work out why you think the way you do. Remember

that just because it\\'s in print (or your lecturer says it), doesn\\'t

mean it must be right.

[…]

5. And finally... grow your skills! Just as you will grow and

flourish at university, your study practices will need to develop

too. You can help this process by learning from the feedback

from your tutors, and by reflecting on what you do well, or could

do better. Reading these tips is just the start.

Good luck, and enjoy your time!

(Retrieved and adapted from https://www.reading.ac.uk/closed/ Welcome/before-you-arrive/fr-ten-top-tips-for-successful-study-atuniversity. aspx. Access on April, 8th, 2015)

 

The pronouns they (line 28) and it (line 32) refer, respectively, to: