Questões de Inglês

Greenhouse gases arise from a wide range of

sources and their increasing concentration is largely

related to the compound effects of increased

population, improved living standards and changes

in lifestyle. From a current base of 5 billion, the

United Nations predicts that the global population

may stabilise in the twenty-first century between 8

and 14 billion, with more than 90 per cent of the

projected increase taking place in the world's

developing nations. The associated activities to

support that growth, particularly to produce the

required energy and food, will cause further

increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The

challenge, therefore, is to attain a sustainable

balance between population, economic growth and

the environment.

The major greenhouse gas emissions from

human activities are carbon dioxide (CO₂),

methane and nitrous oxide. Chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs) are the only major contributor to the

greenhouse effect that does not occur naturally,

coming from such sources as refrigeration, plastics

and manufacture. Coal’s total contribution to

greenhouse gas emissions is thought to be about 18

per cent, with about half of this coming from

electricity generation.

The worldwide coal industry allocates

extensive resources to researching and developing

new technologies and ways of capturing greenhouse

gases. Efficiencies are likely to be improved

dramatically, and hence CO₂ emissions reduced,

through combustion and gasification techniques

which are now at pilot and demonstration stages.

Clean coal is another avenue for improving fuel

conversion efficiency. Investigations are under way

into super-clean coal (35 per cent ash) and

ultraclean coal (less than 1 per cent ash). Superclean

coal has the potential to enhance the

combustion efficiency of conventional pulverised

fuel power plants. Ultraclean coal will enable coal

to be used in advanced power systems such as

coal-fired gas turbines which, when operated in

combined cycle, have the potential to achieve much

greater efficiencies.

Defendants of mining point out that,

environmentally, coal mining has two important

factors in its favour. It makes only temporary use of

the land and produces no toxic chemical wastes. By

carefully preplanning projects, implementing

pollution control measures, monitoring the effects

of mining and rehabilitating mined areas, the coal

industry minimises the impact on the neighbouring

community, the immediate environment and longterm

land capability.

Dust levels are controlled by spraying roads and

stockpiles, and water pollution is controlled by

carefully separating clean water runoff from runoff

which contains sediments or salt from mine

workings. The latter is treated and reused for dust

suppression. Noise is controlled by modifying

equipment and by using insulation and sound

enclosures around machinery.

Since mining activities represent only a

temporary use of the land, extensive rehabilitation

measures are adopted to ensure that land capability

after mining meets agreed and appropriate standards

which, in some cases, are superior to the land’s premining

condition. Where the mining is

underground, the surface area can be

simultaneously used for forests, cattle grazing and

crop raising, or even reservoirs and urban

development, with little or no disruption to the

existing land use. In all cases, mining is subject to

stringent controls and approvals processes.

Fonte: http://www.ielts.org/pdf/115024_General_Training_Reading_sample_task_-_Multiple_choice.pdf 

Greenhouse gases arise from a wide range of

sources and their increasing concentration is largely

related to the compound effects of increased

population, improved living standards and changes

in lifestyle. From a current base of 5 billion, the

United Nations predicts that the global population

may stabilise in the twenty-first century between 8

and 14 billion, with more than 90 per cent of the

projected increase taking place in the world's

developing nations. The associated activities to

support that growth, particularly to produce the

required energy and food, will cause further

increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The

challenge, therefore, is to attain a sustainable

balance between population, economic growth and

the environment.

The major greenhouse gas emissions from

human activities are carbon dioxide (CO₂),

methane and nitrous oxide. Chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs) are the only major contributor to the

greenhouse effect that does not occur naturally,

coming from such sources as refrigeration, plastics

and manufacture. Coal’s total contribution to

greenhouse gas emissions is thought to be about 18

per cent, with about half of this coming from

electricity generation.

The worldwide coal industry allocates

extensive resources to researching and developing

new technologies and ways of capturing greenhouse

gases. Efficiencies are likely to be improved

dramatically, and hence CO₂ emissions reduced,

through combustion and gasification techniques

which are now at pilot and demonstration stages.

Clean coal is another avenue for improving fuel

conversion efficiency. Investigations are under way

into super-clean coal (35 per cent ash) and

ultraclean coal (less than 1 per cent ash). Superclean

coal has the potential to enhance the

combustion efficiency of conventional pulverised

fuel power plants. Ultraclean coal will enable coal

to be used in advanced power systems such as

coal-fired gas turbines which, when operated in

combined cycle, have the potential to achieve much

greater efficiencies.

Defendants of mining point out that,

environmentally, coal mining has two important

factors in its favour. It makes only temporary use of

the land and produces no toxic chemical wastes. By

carefully preplanning projects, implementing

pollution control measures, monitoring the effects

of mining and rehabilitating mined areas, the coal

industry minimises the impact on the neighbouring

community, the immediate environment and longterm

land capability.

Dust levels are controlled by spraying roads and

stockpiles, and water pollution is controlled by

carefully separating clean water runoff from runoff

which contains sediments or salt from mine

workings. The latter is treated and reused for dust

suppression. Noise is controlled by modifying

equipment and by using insulation and sound

enclosures around machinery.

Since mining activities represent only a

temporary use of the land, extensive rehabilitation

measures are adopted to ensure that land capability

after mining meets agreed and appropriate standards

which, in some cases, are superior to the land’s premining

condition. Where the mining is

underground, the surface area can be

simultaneously used for forests, cattle grazing and

crop raising, or even reservoirs and urban

development, with little or no disruption to the

existing land use. In all cases, mining is subject to

stringent controls and approvals processes.

Fonte: http://www.ielts.org/pdf/115024_General_Training_Reading_sample_task_-_Multiple_choice.pdf 

Greenhouse gases arise from a wide range of

sources and their increasing concentration is largely

related to the compound effects of increased

population, improved living standards and changes

in lifestyle. From a current base of 5 billion, the

United Nations predicts that the global population

may stabilise in the twenty-first century between 8

and 14 billion, with more than 90 per cent of the

projected increase taking place in the world's

developing nations. The associated activities to

support that growth, particularly to produce the

required energy and food, will cause further

increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The

challenge, therefore, is to attain a sustainable

balance between population, economic growth and

the environment.

The major greenhouse gas emissions from

human activities are carbon dioxide (CO₂),

methane and nitrous oxide. Chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs) are the only major contributor to the

greenhouse effect that does not occur naturally,

coming from such sources as refrigeration, plastics

and manufacture. Coal’s total contribution to

greenhouse gas emissions is thought to be about 18

per cent, with about half of this coming from

electricity generation.

The worldwide coal industry allocates

extensive resources to researching and developing

new technologies and ways of capturing greenhouse

gases. Efficiencies are likely to be improved

dramatically, and hence CO₂ emissions reduced,

through combustion and gasification techniques

which are now at pilot and demonstration stages.

Clean coal is another avenue for improving fuel

conversion efficiency. Investigations are under way

into super-clean coal (35 per cent ash) and

ultraclean coal (less than 1 per cent ash). Superclean

coal has the potential to enhance the

combustion efficiency of conventional pulverised

fuel power plants. Ultraclean coal will enable coal

to be used in advanced power systems such as

coal-fired gas turbines which, when operated in

combined cycle, have the potential to achieve much

greater efficiencies.

Defendants of mining point out that,

environmentally, coal mining has two important

factors in its favour. It makes only temporary use of

the land and produces no toxic chemical wastes. By

carefully preplanning projects, implementing

pollution control measures, monitoring the effects

of mining and rehabilitating mined areas, the coal

industry minimises the impact on the neighbouring

community, the immediate environment and longterm

land capability.

Dust levels are controlled by spraying roads and

stockpiles, and water pollution is controlled by

carefully separating clean water runoff from runoff

which contains sediments or salt from mine

workings. The latter is treated and reused for dust

suppression. Noise is controlled by modifying

equipment and by using insulation and sound

enclosures around machinery.

Since mining activities represent only a

temporary use of the land, extensive rehabilitation

measures are adopted to ensure that land capability

after mining meets agreed and appropriate standards

which, in some cases, are superior to the land’s premining

condition. Where the mining is

underground, the surface area can be

simultaneously used for forests, cattle grazing and

crop raising, or even reservoirs and urban

development, with little or no disruption to the

existing land use. In all cases, mining is subject to

stringent controls and approvals processes.

Fonte: http://www.ielts.org/pdf/115024_General_Training_Reading_sample_task_-_Multiple_choice.pdf 

In the first year or so of Web business, most of

the action has revolved around efforts to tap the

consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved

to be more than a fashion, companies have started to

buy and sell products and services with one another.

Such business-to-business sales make sense because

business people typically know what product

they’re looking for.

Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate to

use the Web because of doubts about its reliability.

“Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway

between them and the supplier,” says senior analyst

Blane Erwin of Forrester Research. Some

companies are limiting the risk by conducting online

transactions only with established business partners

who are given access to the company’s private

intranet.

Another major shift in the model for Internet

commerce concerns the technology available for

marketing. Until recently, Internet marketing

activities have focused on strategies to “pull”

customers into sites. In the past year, however,

software companies have developed tools that allow

companies to “push” information directly out to

consumers, transmitting marketing messages

directly to targeted customers. Most notably, the

Pointcast Network uses a screen saver to deliver a

continually updated stream of news and

advertisements to subscribers’ computer monitors.

Subscribers can customize the information they

want to receive and proceed directly to a company’s

Web site. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are

already starting to use similar technologies to push

messages to customers about special sales, product

offerings, or other events. But push technology has

earned the contempt of many Web users. Online

culture thinks highly of the notion that the

information flowing onto the screen comes there by

specific request. Once commercial promotion

begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction

between the Web and television fades. That’s a

prospect that horrifies Net purists.

But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the

Web will need to resort to push strategies to make

money. The examples of Vineyards, Amazon. com,

and other pioneers show that a Web site selling the

right kind of products with the right mix of

interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract

online customers. And the cost of computing power

continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any

enterprise setting up shop in silicon. People looking

back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why

so few companies took the online plunge.

Taken from: http://www.hrexam.com/words2.htm

In the first year or so of Web business, most of

the action has revolved around efforts to tap the

consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved

to be more than a fashion, companies have started to

buy and sell products and services with one another.

Such business-to-business sales make sense because

business people typically know what product

they’re looking for.

Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate to

use the Web because of doubts about its reliability.

“Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway

between them and the supplier,” says senior analyst

Blane Erwin of Forrester Research. Some

companies are limiting the risk by conducting online

transactions only with established business partners

who are given access to the company’s private

intranet.

Another major shift in the model for Internet

commerce concerns the technology available for

marketing. Until recently, Internet marketing

activities have focused on strategies to “pull”

customers into sites. In the past year, however,

software companies have developed tools that allow

companies to “push” information directly out to

consumers, transmitting marketing messages

directly to targeted customers. Most notably, the

Pointcast Network uses a screen saver to deliver a

continually updated stream of news and

advertisements to subscribers’ computer monitors.

Subscribers can customize the information they

want to receive and proceed directly to a company’s

Web site. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are

already starting to use similar technologies to push

messages to customers about special sales, product

offerings, or other events. But push technology has

earned the contempt of many Web users. Online

culture thinks highly of the notion that the

information flowing onto the screen comes there by

specific request. Once commercial promotion

begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction

between the Web and television fades. That’s a

prospect that horrifies Net purists.

But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the

Web will need to resort to push strategies to make

money. The examples of Vineyards, Amazon. com,

and other pioneers show that a Web site selling the

right kind of products with the right mix of

interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract

online customers. And the cost of computing power

continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any

enterprise setting up shop in silicon. People looking

back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why

so few companies took the online plunge.

Taken from: http://www.hrexam.com/words2.htm

Beyond Boundaries

[1] A pioneering neuroscientist shows how the

long-thought merger of brains with machines is about

to become a paradigm-shifting reality.

Imagine living in a world where people use their

[5]  computers, drive their cars, and communicate with one

another simply by thinking. In this stunning and inspiring

work, the award-winning neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis

shares his revolutionary insights into how the brain

creates thought and the human sense of self — and how

[10]  this might be augmented by machines. It sounds like

something out of science fiction but it is real. It is the

next frontier in understanding the power of the brain.

Beyond Boundaries is the first book to chronicle

the science behind the creation of these brain-machine

[15]  interfaces, a revolutionary technology that has the

capacity to transform human society and shape a new

“industry of the brain”, a potential trillion-dollar global

enterprise. This is one of the great adventures of

contemporary science, and Nicolelis offers a unique

[20]  front-row seat.

As we observe Nicolelis in his lab, he describes

with cinematic precision his experiments training rats

to sense the world magnetically, rather than with their

whiskers and sensory organs, and his work successfully

[25]  teaching monkeys to use their brains alone to control

the movements of a robotic arm thousands of miles away.

Such brain-machine interfaces, or BMIs, may one

day restore mobility to severely paralyzed patients —

through the use of membrane-like “exoskeletons” that

[30]  patients will wear like suits — and they offer a path to a

cure for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s

disease. There are also fascinating implications for

deep-sea and deep-space exploration emergency

response, and long-distance communication.

[35]  Beyond Boundaries promises to reshape our

concepts of the technological future to a world filled with

promise and hope.

Beyond Boundaries. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 10 out. 2012. Adaptado.