Questões de Inglês

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  Laughter is regularly promoted as a source of health and well being, but it has been hard to pin down exactly why laughing until it hurts feels so good. The answer, reports Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, is not the intellectual pleasure of cerebral humor, but the physical act of laughing. The simple muscular exertions involved in producing the familiar ha, ha, ha, he said, trigger an increase in endorphins, the brain chemicals known for their feel-good effect.

 

  His results build on a long history of scientific attempts to understand a deceptively simple and universal behavior. “Laughter is very weird stuff, actually,” Dr. Dunbar said. “That’s why we got interested in it.” And the findings fit well with a growing sense that laughter contributes to group bonding and may have been important in the evolution of highly social humans.

 

  In five sets of studies in the laboratory and one field study at comedy performances, Dr. Dunbar and colleagues tested resistance to pain both before and after bouts of social laughter. The pain came from a freezing wine sleeve slipped over a forearm, an ever tightening blood pressure cuff or an excruciating ski exercise. 

 

  The findings, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, eliminated the possibility that the pain resistance measured was the result of a general sense of well-being rather than actual laughter. And, Dr. Dunbar said, they also provided a partial answer to the ageless conundrum of whether we laugh because we feel giddy or feel giddy because we laugh. “The causal sequence is laughter triggers endorphin activation,” he said. What triggers laughter is a question that leads into a different labyrinth.

 

  Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of “Laughter: A Scientific Investigation,” said he thought the study was “a significant contribution” to a field of study that dates back 2,000 years or so. It has not always focused on the benefits of laughter. Both Plato and Aristotle, Dr. Provine said, were concerned with the power of laughter to undermine authority. 

 

  The results of Dr. Dunbar’s experiments, when analyzed, showed that laughing increased pain resistance, whereas simple good feeling in a group setting did not. Pain resistance is used as an indicator of endorphin levels because their presence in the brain is difficult to test; the molecules would not appear in blood samples because they are among the brain chemicals that are prevented from entering circulating blood by the so-called blood brain barrier.  

 

  Dr. Dunbar thinks laughter may have been favored by evolution because it helped bring human groups together, the way other activities like dancing and singing do. Those activities also produce endorphins, he said, and physical activity is important in them as well. “Laughter is an early mechanism to bond social groups,” he said. “Primates use it.”

Adapted from “Scientists hint at why laughter feels so good.” September 13, 2011, www.nytimes.com.

 

According to Dr. Dunbar’s studies on the reasons why laughter makes human beings feel so good, the explanation lies in the fact that the physical act of laughing

INSTRUCTIONS – Read the following text carefully and then choose the correct alternatives that answer the questions or complete the statements placed after it. Attention: take your answers from the text!

 

WORLD MS DAY: WORKING TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE

 

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis

Article Date: 29 May 2012 - 9:00 PDT

Today (May 30th) is World MS day (WMSD), an annual global awareness raising campaign for multiple sclerosis - a debilitating disease which affects the lives of more than two million people around the world. 

 

In the run-up to WMSD, patient advocacy groups from twenty countries met last weekend in Zurich, Switzerland (May 24th) at a unique Patient Summit which brought together MS societies, activists, MS bloggers and social media experts to learn from each other about how to communicate the challenges of living and working with MS to a wider audience. 

 

MS is the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults.

 

Symptoms usually start between the ages of 25 and 31 - a time when adult life is just beginning, when careers are being launched and when plans are being laid for the future. One of the most devastating consequences of MS in this relatively young population is unemployment. A key objective of the Patient Summit was to debate how best to convince employers and policy makers that helping people with MS to remain actively employed is good for both patients and for society. 

There is growing evidence that helping people with MS continue to work can play a vital role in their well-being,, said Christoph Thalheim, Deputy CEO & Director of External Affairs for the European MS Platform (EMSP) which represents the interests of 38 MS Societies and more than half a million people affected by MS. 

Mr Thalheim presented poignant photographs and stories collected as part of the 'UNDER PRESSURE' exhibition, which launched last month at the European Parliament, Brussels. The moving images of patients and their carers together with their personal testimonies vividly demonstrate how national health and social policies influence - for better or worse - those living with MS.

 

Further MS testimonies are being collected as part of World MS Day, which this year is built around the '1000 Faces of MS' concept. This puts people with MS at the heart of the campaign. People living with and affected by MS can create an on-line 'postcard' to share their story with the world.

 

At the Zurich meeting, Mr Thalheim said that although progress has been made in improving MS care, many EU countries still have far to go. The EMSP has been tracking the wide disparities in MS care which currently exist between eleven EU countries - such as the continuing shortage of neurologists in Ireland, inconsistent access to treatment in the UK, low access to medication in Belarus and Poland. In Greece the MS Society has made many gains, but fears these may lost due to the current economic crisis, he said. 

Available on: www.isaude.net

In many European countries

INSTRUCTIONS – Read the following text carefully and then choose the correct alternatives that answer the questions or complete the statements placed after it. Attention: take your answers from the text!

 

WORLD MS DAY: WORKING TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE

 

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis

Article Date: 29 May 2012 - 9:00 PDT

Today (May 30th) is World MS day (WMSD), an annual global awareness raising campaign for multiple sclerosis - a debilitating disease which affects the lives of more than two million people around the world. 

 

In the run-up to WMSD, patient advocacy groups from twenty countries met last weekend in Zurich, Switzerland (May 24th) at a unique Patient Summit which brought together MS societies, activists, MS bloggers and social media experts to learn from each other about how to communicate the challenges of living and working with MS to a wider audience. 

 

MS is the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults.

 

Symptoms usually start between the ages of 25 and 31 - a time when adult life is just beginning, when careers are being launched and when plans are being laid for the future. One of the most devastating consequences of MS in this relatively young population is unemployment. A key objective of the Patient Summit was to debate how best to convince employers and policy makers that helping people with MS to remain actively employed is good for both patients and for society. 

There is growing evidence that helping people with MS continue to work can play a vital role in their well-being,, said Christoph Thalheim, Deputy CEO & Director of External Affairs for the European MS Platform (EMSP) which represents the interests of 38 MS Societies and more than half a million people affected by MS. 

Mr Thalheim presented poignant photographs and stories collected as part of the 'UNDER PRESSURE' exhibition, which launched last month at the European Parliament, Brussels. The moving images of patients and their carers together with their personal testimonies vividly demonstrate how national health and social policies influence - for better or worse - those living with MS.

 

Further MS testimonies are being collected as part of World MS Day, which this year is built around the '1000 Faces of MS' concept. This puts people with MS at the heart of the campaign. People living with and affected by MS can create an on-line 'postcard' to share their story with the world.

 

At the Zurich meeting, Mr Thalheim said that although progress has been made in improving MS care, many EU countries still have far to go. The EMSP has been tracking the wide disparities in MS care which currently exist between eleven EU countries - such as the continuing shortage of neurologists in Ireland, inconsistent access to treatment in the UK, low access to medication in Belarus and Poland. In Greece the MS Society has made many gains, but fears these may lost due to the current economic crisis, he said. 

Available on: www.isaude.net

According to the text, multiple sclerosis

SHARKS - THE ADAPTABLE OLD-TIMERS

By Peter T. Pugliese and John Heinerman

 

  Sharks are cartilaginous fish (i.e., having a skeleton wholly or largely composed of cartilage). They vary greatly in size, behavior, and in the way they reproduce. They are found at all depths in all the oceans of the world except the Antarctic. However, they are most abundant in tropical and subtropical waters. A few species of shark inhabit freshwater lakes and rivers, and some migrate regularly from salt to freshwater.

  Sharks are remarkably successful animals, with few parasites or diseases and almost no enemies except other sharks. As predators and scavengers, sharks play a major role in the ecosystems of the world‟s oceans. 

  Paleontologists believe that sharks evolved from some primitive, heavily armored, sluggish placoderm that became extinct about 350 million years ago, at the end of the Devonian era. This is approximately when the first shark-like creatures appeared. Sharks almost identical to those living today evolved about 160 million years ago, during the Jurassic period (same time period as represented in the movie Jurassic Park). His species has survived unchanged for 160 million years. In contrast, we poor Homo Sapiens have been around for less than one million years.

  Well-attuned to most of the waters of the world, sharks appear to dominate the depths. Swimmers, water skiers, snorkelers, scuba divers, and sea fishermen are invading their habitats in ever-increasing numbers. Sharks have responded with predictable reflex reactions: they have attacked. The resulting notoriety has given sharks a bad reputation. The mass media have embellished the image, and now most people react with alarm to the word “shark”. However, the facts don‟t support this dread of sharks. Of the 100 or so unprovoked attacks that occur worldwide every year, fewer than 35 are fatal. 

  Internally, sharks are different than bony fish. Sharks have cartilaginous skeletons, skulls without sutures, no air ladder, and reserve rows of teeth attached to the skin of the jaws. Sharks‟ teeth are often found in the wounds of those attacked. An abundance of fossil teeth does not necessarily indicate the presence of multitudes of sharks. Instead, it may indicate multitudes of teeth that were frequently lost and replaced. 

From Devour Disease with shark liver oil. Green Bay: IMAKT, 1999. 

 

Usually sharks attack as a result of

INSTRUCTIONS – Read the following text carefully and then choose the correct alternatives that answer the questions or complete the statements placed after it. Attention: take your answers from the text! 

 

SHARKS - THE ADAPTABLE OLD-TIMERS

By Peter T. Pugliese and John Heinerman

 

  Sharks are cartilaginous fish (i.e., having a skeleton wholly or largely composed of cartilage). They vary greatly in size, behavior, and in the way they reproduce. They are found at all depths in all the oceans of the world except the Antarctic. However, they are most abundant in tropical and subtropical waters. A few species of shark inhabit freshwater lakes and rivers, and some migrate regularly from salt to freshwater.

  Sharks are remarkably successful animals, with few parasites or diseases and almost no enemies except other sharks. As predators and scavengers, sharks play a major role in the ecosystems of the world‟s oceans. 

  Paleontologists believe that sharks evolved from some primitive, heavily armored, sluggish placoderm that became extinct about 350 million years ago, at the end of the Devonian era. This is approximately when the first shark-like creatures appeared. Sharks almost identical to those living today evolved about 160 million years ago, during the Jurassic period (same time period as represented in the movie Jurassic Park). His species has survived unchanged for 160 million years. In contrast, we poor Homo Sapiens have been around for less than one million years.

  Well-attuned to most of the waters of the world, sharks appear to dominate the depths. Swimmers, water skiers, snorkelers, scuba divers, and sea fishermen are invading their habitats in ever-increasing numbers. Sharks have responded with predictable reflex reactions: they have attacked. The resulting notoriety has given sharks a bad reputation. The mass media have embellished the image, and now most people react with alarm to the word “shark”. However, the facts don‟t support this dread of sharks. Of the 100 or so unprovoked attacks that occur worldwide every year, fewer than 35 are fatal. 

  Internally, sharks are different than bony fish. Sharks have cartilaginous skeletons, skulls without sutures, no air ladder, and reserve rows of teeth attached to the skin of the jaws. Sharks‟ teeth are often found in the wounds of those attacked. An abundance of fossil teeth does not necessarily indicate the presence of multitudes of sharks. Instead, it may indicate multitudes of teeth that were frequently lost and replaced. 

From Devour Disease with shark liver oil. Green Bay: IMAKT, 1999. 

 

According to the text, all the following are characteristics of sharks, EXCEPT

Artist Detained In Growing Crackdown

BEIJING 

 

[1] Ai Weiwei, China’s most prominent dissident after imprisoned Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, was detained April 3 at the Beijing airport as  

he tried to board a flight to Hong Kong. Perhaps best known for codesigning the 2008 Beijing Olympic stadium known as the Bird’s  

Nest, Ai is an outspoken critic of the government an has been detained several times. During one period in custody, he was allegedly  

beaten so badly that he required brain surgery. This arrest comes amid a widespread crackdown touched off by online calls for a  

[5] Tunisian-style ―jasmine revolution" Over the past several weeks, at least 26 activists have been detained, 200 have been put under  

house arrest, and more than 30 have disappeared. 

Time, April 18, 2011. 

 

Segundo o texto,