Questões de Inglês

Leia o texto para responder a questão.

 

How can consumers find out if a corporation is “greenwashing” environmentally unsavory practices?

June 29, 2013

    In essence, greenwashing involves falsely conveying to consumers that a given product, service, company or institution factors environmental responsibility into its offerings and/or operations. CorpWatch, a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping tabs on the social responsibility (or lack thereof) of U.S.-based companies, characterizes greenwashing as “the phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment.”

    One of the groups leading the charge against greenwashing is Greenpeace. “Corporations are falling all over themselves,” reports the group, “to demonstrate that they are environmentally conscious. The average citizen is finding it more and more difficult to tell the difference between those companies genuinely dedicated to making a difference and those that are using a green curtain to conceal dark motives.”

    Greenpeace launched its Stop Greenwash campaign in 2009 to call out bad actors and help consumers make better choices. The most common greenwashing strategy, the group says, is when a company touts an environmental program or product while its core business is inherently polluting or unsustainable.

    Another involves what Greenpeace calls “ad bluster”: using targeted advertising or public relations to exaggerate a green achievement so as to divert attention from actual environmental problems – or spending more money bragging about green behavior than on actual deeds. In some cases, companies may boast about corporate green commitments while lobbying behind the scenes against environmental laws.

    Greenpeace also urges vigilance about green claims that brag about something the law already requires: “For example, if an industry or company has been forced to change a product, clean up its pollution or protect an endangered species, then uses Public Relations campaigns to make such action look proactive or voluntary.”

    For consumers, the best way to avoid getting “greenwashed” is to be educated about who is truly green and who is just trying to look that way to make more money. Look beyond advertising claims, read ingredient lists or ask employees about the real information on their company’s environmental commitment. Also, look for labels that show if a given offering has been inspected by a reliable third-party. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Certified Organic label can only go on products that meet the federal government’s organic standard. Just because a label says “made with organic ingredients” or “all-natural” does not mean the product qualifies as Certified Organic, so be sure to look beyond the hype.

(www.scientificamerican.com. Adaptado.)

According to the text, Greenpeace

Leia o texto para responder a questão.

 

    These Parasites Really Get Under Your Skin

     

    It is scary enough when parasitic diseases such as malaria and amoebic dysentery get into the body, but molecular biologist Antonio Teixeira of the University of Brasilia has found something even more frightening. At least one parasite — Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), which causes Chagas disease — can worm its way into your DNA, becoming a permanent, heritable part of your genes.

    Though mostly eradicated in the United States, Chagas disease claims 100,000 lives a year in South America. Transmitted by the bites of bugs that live in tropical regions, the protozoan T. cruzi damages or destroys vital organs, especially the heart, over a period of years.

    On a hunch, Teixeira extracted DNA from the hearts of 13 adults infected with T. cruzi. Teixeira then infected chicken eggs with the parasite and examined both the resulting chickens and two generations of its offspring for T. cruzi DNA. Sure enough, he found parasitic DNA in all the offspring of the infected chickens.

    The findings hint that the protozoa responsible for toxoplasmosis, amoebic dysentery, malaria, and other diseases may also insinuate themselves into human genes. If so, we probably all carry remnants of parasitic DNA passed along by infected ancestors. The big question then becomes, what is that parasitic DNA doing to us? “It isn’t proven yet that getting into the DNA is critical to causing Chagas or any other disease,” Teixeira says. “But I’d think it was odd if it didn’t influence anything.”

(www.discovermagazine.com. Adaptado.)

No trecho do último parágrafo – “But I’d think it was odd if it didn’t influence anything.” –, a forma contraída ’d é corretamente substituída por

Leia o texto para responder a questão.

 

    These Parasites Really Get Under Your Skin

     

    It is scary enough when parasitic diseases such as malaria and amoebic dysentery get into the body, but molecular biologist Antonio Teixeira of the University of Brasilia has found something even more frightening. At least one parasite — Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), which causes Chagas disease — can worm its way into your DNA, becoming a permanent, heritable part of your genes.

    Though mostly eradicated in the United States, Chagas disease claims 100,000 lives a year in South America. Transmitted by the bites of bugs that live in tropical regions, the protozoan T. cruzi damages or destroys vital organs, especially the heart, over a period of years.

    On a hunch, Teixeira extracted DNA from the hearts of 13 adults infected with T. cruzi. Teixeira then infected chicken eggs with the parasite and examined both the resulting chickens and two generations of its offspring for T. cruzi DNA. Sure enough, he found parasitic DNA in all the offspring of the infected chickens.

    The findings hint that the protozoa responsible for toxoplasmosis, amoebic dysentery, malaria, and other diseases may also insinuate themselves into human genes. If so, we probably all carry remnants of parasitic DNA passed along by infected ancestors. The big question then becomes, what is that parasitic DNA doing to us? “It isn’t proven yet that getting into the DNA is critical to causing Chagas or any other disease,” Teixeira says. “But I’d think it was odd if it didn’t influence anything.”

(www.discovermagazine.com. Adaptado.)

Segundo o texto, o T. cruzi

‘Diplomatics, from ______ Greek diploma (folded), is ____ study of legal and administrative documents of all kinds. Most attention has been paid to ______ public documents of monarchs, emperors, and popes, which are usually classified separately from_____ many varieties of private documents that exist.’ (CRYSTAL, David (2010). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press).

 

The blanks of this excerpt can be adequately filled by:

Choose the correct alternative.

 

This is not installed correctly. They____________ my instructions.

Choose the correct alternative.

 

We weren’t sure ____________________ or just walk in.