Questões de Inglês

23 February 2012 Last update at 16:53 GMT BBC World Service

 

J. K. Rowling to pen first novel for adults

Author J. K. Rowling has announced plans to publish her first novel for adults, which will be “very different” from the Harry Potter books she is famous for.

The book will be published worldwide although no date or title has yet been released. “The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s sucess has brought me,” Rowling said.

All the Potter books were published by Bloomsbury, but Rowling has chosen a new publisher for her debut into adult fiction. “Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world,” she said, in a statement. “I’m delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life.”

Disponível em: www.bbc.co.uk. Acesso em: 24 fev. 2012 (adaptado). 

 

J. K. Rowling tornou-se famosa por seus livros sobre o bruxo Harry Potter e suas aventuras, adaptados para o cinema.

 

Esse texto, que aborda a trajetória da escritora britânica, tem por objetivo

Dude Is a Rock Star

Gustavo Dudamel is the Elvis of the orchestra world, and he has the sold-out concerts to prove it. Meet the L.A. Philharmonic conductor who’s bridging the generation gap – and saving classical music.

By Chris Lee

 

  Meet the maestro called the savior of classical music. “The Dude,” as he’s come to be known, is widely hailed as “the rock-star conductor,” the classical world’s answer to Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson. The __( I )__ conductor is a __( II )__ figure in symphonic music, whose cultural influence belies his relatively young 31 years. With his __( III )__ mane of corkscrew curls, ecstatic podium presence, and unabashedly __( IV )__ interpretations of __( V )__ orchestral works, Dudamel has  unleashed a flood of new interest in classical music, bridging the generation gap between pension-age high-culture appreciators and younger listeners.

   And the show is just beginning. “The Mahler Project is immense,” says Deborah Borda, president and chief executive of the L.A. Phil. “When we planned it, I don’t think the two of us completely took in how big it would turn out to be.” It is the kind of bar-raising command performance that audiences have come to expect from the Venezuelan wunderkind – a musician who, whether taking on a Sibelius violin concerto or a Strauss symphony, makes a policy of raising the roof whenever he performs.

  The grueling project also underscores Dudamel’s commitment to El Sistema – “The System” – Venezuela’s tough-love musical-outreach program for youth that made the conductor what he is and still counts him as its most forward face. “An orchestra is a model for an ideal global society – a symbol,” he says in his heavily accented English. “You have to create harmony. Everyone has to listen to each other, this large, complex group of people with different personalities that has to communicate. You have to have discipline. This is where The System works! The point is not to build better musicians. It’s to build better citizens, to see children building their lives from music.”

Newsweek

 

According to the text, Gustavo Dudamel

“You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive. Once you start doing only what you __( I )__ you can do, you __( II )__ on the road to death.”

Jerry Seinfeld

 

The verb forms that correctly complete the blanks I and II in the quotation are

Go Easy on Yourself

By Stuart Bradford

 

Do you treat yourself as well as you treat your friends and family?

That simple question is the basis for a new area of psychological research called self-compassion — how __( I )__ people view themselves. People who find it

__( II )__ to be supportive and understanding to others often score

__( III )__ low on self-compassion tests. They get __( IV )__ with

themselves for perceived failures like being overweight or not exercising.

ANXIOUS

The research suggests that accepting our imperfections may be the first step toward better health. People who score high on tests of selfcompassion have less depression and anxiety, and tend to be happier

and more optimistic. Preliminary data suggest that self-compassion can even influence how much we eat and may help some people lose weight. This idea does to contrast with the advice of many doctors and self-help books, which suggest that willpower and self-discipline are the keys to better health. But Kristin Neff, a pioneer in the field, says self-compassion is not to be confused with self-indulgence or lower standards.

“I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more selfcompassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent,” said Dr. Neff, an associate professor of human development at the University of Texas at Austin. “They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”

www.nytimes.com

 

The words that properly fill in the blanks I, II, III and IV in the text are

 American Genius Steve Jobs – How He Changed Our World

By Alan Deutschman

 

  If ever there was a showman who knew how to end on a high note - leaving his awed and adoring audience begging for more - it is the man in the trademark black mock turtleneck. Even as an ailing Steve Jobs announced to the world last week that “unfortunately, that day has come” for him to step down as chief executive officer of Apple, his timing was - yet again - _( I )_. In the 14 years since Jobs regained control of his company in the summer of 1997 after a long, _( II )_ exile, Apple shares have increased a _( III )_ 57-fold. Having surpassed rival Microsoft a year ago, Apple’s $350 billion in market capitalization places it behind only ExxonMobil as the most _( IV )_ company in the world. Apple has made money so quickly and so prodigiously that it holds an _( V )_ $76 billion in cash and investments - an _( VI )_ sum thought to be parked in an obscure subsidiary, Braeburn Capital, located across the California border in Reno because the state of Nevada doesn’t have corporate or capital-gains taxes.

 In his second time around at Apple, Jobs ultimately achieved what had eluded him in his early years there, from 1976 to 1985, when he was acclaimed as a visionary and a brilliant promoter but wasn’t respected as a businessman - not even by his board of directors, who pushed him aside for a more experienced executive. Now Jobs, 56, retires, having closely rivaled (or some might say eclipsed) Bill Gates as the most highly regarded business figure of our times. He proved himself the ultimate willful leader, forging his singular vision through a combination of inspiration, unilateralism, and gut instinct. Jobs didn’t just create products that instilled lust in consumers and enriched his company. He upended entire industries. Personal computing. The music business. Publishing. Hollywood. All have been radically transformed because of Steve Jobs.

www.newsweek.com

 

The right sequence of adjectives that properly fill in blanks I, II, III, IV, V and VI in the text are

Longevity: Habits May Extend Life Only So Much

By Nicholas Bakalar

August 8, 2011

 

The eating, drinking and exercise habits of extremely old but healthy people differ little from those of the rest of us, a new study has found. Gerontologists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine recruited 477 Ashkenazi Jews ages 95 to 112 who were living independently. The researchers took blood samples, did physical examinations and obtained detailed personal and medical histories from each participant. Thenthey compared them with 1,374 non-Hispanic white adults, ages 65 to 74, from the general population. For both men and women, consumption of alcohol, amount of physical activity and the percentage of people on low-calorie or low-salt diets were almost identical in the two groups. 

Long-lived men were less likely to be obese than their younger counterparts, although no less likely to be overweight. The oldest women were more likely to be overweight and less likely to be obese. More men among the oldest were nonsmokers, but smoking habits were not significantly different among the women. 

43 that it all depends on genes, and we might as well eat, drink and be merry? No, according to the senior author, Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “For most of us who 44 genes for longevity,” he said, “if you follow the healthy lifestyle the medical community has put forth, you are 45 to live past 80.” 

The study was published online last week in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 

(www.nytimes.com. Adaptado.)

Instrução: Assinale as alternativas que completam corretamente a lacuna referente ao número 45 no texto.