Questões de Inglês

Read the text below and answer questions 37-38:

Small talk means pleasant conversation about things that aren’t very important. North Americans often make small talk with people such as business acquaintances, neighbors, or others that they don’t know very well. They even make small talk while waiting for a bus or standing in line, just to pass the time or be friendly. In North America, one very common topic for small talk with strangers is the weather. You can start a conversation just by saying, “It’s really hot today, isn’t it?”

Source: JOHANNSEN, K.L. English for the Humanities. Professional English. Boston: Thomson ELT, 2006, p. 67.

Friends are Good for Your Health

July 28, 2010

  Having good social relationships – friends, marriage or

children – may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as

quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, US

researchers have reported.

  People with strong social relationships were 50 percent

less likely to die early than people without such support, the

team at Brigham Young University in Utah found. They suggest

that policymakers look at ways to help people maintain social

relationships as a way of keeping the population healthy. “A lack of

social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes

a day,” psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study,

said in a telephone interview.

  Her team conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examine

social relationships and their effects on health. They looked at 148

studies that covered more than 308,000 people for their analysis,

published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Having low levels of social interaction was equivalent to being an

alcoholic, was more harmful than not exercising and was twice

as harmful as obesity.

  Social relationships had a bigger impact on premature death

than getting an adult vaccine to prevent pneumonia, than taking

drugs for high blood pressure and far more important than

exposure to air pollution, they found. “I certainly don’t want to

downplay these other risk factors because of course they are very

important,” Holt-Lunstad said. “We need to start taking social

relationships just as seriously.”

  Her team found some troubling evidence that Americans are

becoming more isolated, and thus losing the support and care that

love and friendship provide. “For instance, trends reveal reduced

intergenerational living, greater social mobility, delayed marriage,

dual-career families, increased single-residence households, and

increased age-related disabilities,” they wrote. “More specifically,

over the last two decades there has been a three-fold increase in

the number of Americans who report having no confidant,” they

added. “Such findings suggest that despite increases in technology

and globalisation that would presumably foster social connections,

people are becoming increasingly more socially isolated.”

(www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/3965008/Friends-are-good-for-your-health. Adaptado) 

Friends are Good for Your Health

July 28, 2010

  Having good social relationships – friends, marriage or

children – may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as

quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, US

researchers have reported.

  People with strong social relationships were 50 percent

less likely to die early than people without such support, the

team at Brigham Young University in Utah found. They suggest

that policymakers look at ways to help people maintain social

relationships as a way of keeping the population healthy. “A lack of

social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes

a day,” psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study,

said in a telephone interview.

  Her team conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examine

social relationships and their effects on health. They looked at 148

studies that covered more than 308,000 people for their analysis,

published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Having low levels of social interaction was equivalent to being an

alcoholic, was more harmful than not exercising and was twice

as harmful as obesity.

  Social relationships had a bigger impact on premature death

than getting an adult vaccine to prevent pneumonia, than taking

drugs for high blood pressure and far more important than

exposure to air pollution, they found. “I certainly don’t want to

downplay these other risk factors because of course they are very

important,” Holt-Lunstad said. “We need to start taking social

relationships just as seriously.”

  Her team found some troubling evidence that Americans are

becoming more isolated, and thus losing the support and care that

love and friendship provide. “For instance, trends reveal reduced

intergenerational living, greater social mobility, delayed marriage,

dual-career families, increased single-residence households, and

increased age-related disabilities,” they wrote. “More specifically,

over the last two decades there has been a three-fold increase in

the number of Americans who report having no confidant,” they

added. “Such findings suggest that despite increases in technology

and globalisation that would presumably foster social connections,

people are becoming increasingly more socially isolated.”

(www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/3965008/Friends-are-good-for-your-health. Adaptado) 

Friends are Good for Your Health

July 28, 2010

  Having good social relationships – friends, marriage or

children – may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as

quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, US

researchers have reported.

  People with strong social relationships were 50 percent

less likely to die early than people without such support, the

team at Brigham Young University in Utah found. They suggest

that policymakers look at ways to help people maintain social

relationships as a way of keeping the population healthy. “A lack of

social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes

a day,” psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study,

said in a telephone interview.

  Her team conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examine

social relationships and their effects on health. They looked at 148

studies that covered more than 308,000 people for their analysis,

published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Having low levels of social interaction was equivalent to being an

alcoholic, was more harmful than not exercising and was twice

as harmful as obesity.

  Social relationships had a bigger impact on premature death

than getting an adult vaccine to prevent pneumonia, than taking

drugs for high blood pressure and far more important than

exposure to air pollution, they found. “I certainly don’t want to

downplay these other risk factors because of course they are very

important,” Holt-Lunstad said. “We need to start taking social

relationships just as seriously.”

  Her team found some troubling evidence that Americans are

becoming more isolated, and thus losing the support and care that

love and friendship provide. “For instance, trends reveal reduced

intergenerational living, greater social mobility, delayed marriage,

dual-career families, increased single-residence households, and

increased age-related disabilities,” they wrote. “More specifically,

over the last two decades there has been a three-fold increase in

the number of Americans who report having no confidant,” they

added. “Such findings suggest that despite increases in technology

and globalisation that would presumably foster social connections,

people are becoming increasingly more socially isolated.”

(www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/3965008/Friends-are-good-for-your-health. Adaptado) 

Friends are Good for Your Health

July 28, 2010

  Having good social relationships – friends, marriage or

children – may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as

quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, US

researchers have reported.

  People with strong social relationships were 50 percent

less likely to die early than people without such support, the

team at Brigham Young University in Utah found. They suggest

that policymakers look at ways to help people maintain social

relationships as a way of keeping the population healthy. “A lack of

social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes

a day,” psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study,

said in a telephone interview.

  Her team conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examine

social relationships and their effects on health. They looked at 148

studies that covered more than 308,000 people for their analysis,

published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Having low levels of social interaction was equivalent to being an

alcoholic, was more harmful than not exercising and was twice

as harmful as obesity.

  Social relationships had a bigger impact on premature death

than getting an adult vaccine to prevent pneumonia, than taking

drugs for high blood pressure and far more important than

exposure to air pollution, they found. “I certainly don’t want to

downplay these other risk factors because of course they are very

important,” Holt-Lunstad said. “We need to start taking social

relationships just as seriously.”

  Her team found some troubling evidence that Americans are

becoming more isolated, and thus losing the support and care that

love and friendship provide. “For instance, trends reveal reduced

intergenerational living, greater social mobility, delayed marriage,

dual-career families, increased single-residence households, and

increased age-related disabilities,” they wrote. “More specifically,

over the last two decades there has been a three-fold increase in

the number of Americans who report having no confidant,” they

added. “Such findings suggest that despite increases in technology

and globalisation that would presumably foster social connections,

people are becoming increasingly more socially isolated.”

(www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/3965008/Friends-are-good-for-your-health. Adaptado) 

Friends are Good for Your Health

July 28, 2010

  Having good social relationships – friends, marriage or

children – may be every bit as important to a healthy lifespan as

quitting smoking, losing weight or taking certain medications, US

researchers have reported.

  People with strong social relationships were 50 percent

less likely to die early than people without such support, the

team at Brigham Young University in Utah found. They suggest

that policymakers look at ways to help people maintain social

relationships as a way of keeping the population healthy. “A lack of

social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes

a day,” psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study,

said in a telephone interview.

  Her team conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examine

social relationships and their effects on health. They looked at 148

studies that covered more than 308,000 people for their analysis,

published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Having low levels of social interaction was equivalent to being an

alcoholic, was more harmful than not exercising and was twice

as harmful as obesity.

  Social relationships had a bigger impact on premature death

than getting an adult vaccine to prevent pneumonia, than taking

drugs for high blood pressure and far more important than

exposure to air pollution, they found. “I certainly don’t want to

downplay these other risk factors because of course they are very

important,” Holt-Lunstad said. “We need to start taking social

relationships just as seriously.”

  Her team found some troubling evidence that Americans are

becoming more isolated, and thus losing the support and care that

love and friendship provide. “For instance, trends reveal reduced

intergenerational living, greater social mobility, delayed marriage,

dual-career families, increased single-residence households, and

increased age-related disabilities,” they wrote. “More specifically,

over the last two decades there has been a three-fold increase in

the number of Americans who report having no confidant,” they

added. “Such findings suggest that despite increases in technology

and globalisation that would presumably foster social connections,

people are becoming increasingly more socially isolated.”

(www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/3965008/Friends-are-good-for-your-health. Adaptado)