Questões de Inglês

Am I too old to learn a new language?

[1]         Learning a language as an adult could help delay the onset of dementia, research suggests.
[2]  The brain's neuroplasticity decreases with age, but this shouldn't put off older learners – they do have
[3]  some advantages.

[4]         It's often said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Actually, this proverb is, for the most
[5]  part, not true. For much of the history of modern neuroscience, the adult brain was believed to be a
[6]  fixed structure that, once damaged, could not be repaired. But research published since the 1960s has
[7]  challenged this assumption, showing that it is actually a highly dynamic structure, which changes itself

[8]  in response to new experiences, and adapts to injuries – a phenomenon referred to as neuroplasticity.

[9]        Collectively, this body of research suggests that one can never be too old to learn something
[10]  new, but that the older they are, the harder it is for them to do so. This is because neuroplasticity
[11]  generally decreases as a person gets older, meaning the brain becomes less able to change itself in
[12]  response to experiences. Some aspects of language learning become progressively more difficult with
[13]  age, others may get easier. "Older people have larger vocabularies than younger ones, so the chances
[14]  are your vocabulary will be as large as a native," says Albert Costa, a professor of neuroscience who
[15]  studies bilingualism at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. But older learners are less likely to
[16]  have good pronunciation or accent, since the phonemes, or sounds, of a language are picked up
[17]  naturally by children.

[18]        Learning a new language may not always be easy for adults, but there is research to
[19]  suggest that doing so is beneficial for brain health. As we get older, most of us experience an agerelated
[20]  decline in mental functions such as attention and memory, and in some people the acceleration
[21]  of this process leads to the development of Alzheimer's disease or some other form of dementia. A
[22]  number of recent studies suggest that learning a foreign language can slow this inevitable age-related
[23]  cognitive decline.

[24]        "Learning a language later on in life might be more beneficial than learning it earlier because it
[25]  takes more effort," says lead researcher, Thomas Black. Despite the difficulties, Black regards learning
[26]  for ign languag s as fun. “It is lik a puzzl that has to b solved. I'm doing it partly to keep my brain
[27]  active," he says. Besides, learning a foreign language, much like learning to play a musical instrument,
[28]  does indeed appear to be a good way of exercising one's brain, and keeping it healthy, throughout life.

Adapted from: <https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/13/am-i-too-old-to-learn-a-language>. Accessed on March 19, 2018.

Leia o texto para responder à questão

Over-stretching? Yoga
  Half a century after the Beatles meditated in Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, a new wave of spirituality tourists have arrived for this week’s International Yoga Festival. 
  Some 300 million people now practise yoga around the world, according to the International Yoga Federation. Since it became popular in the West in the 1980s it has moved beyond mere activity; in popular language use, it has become a “lifestyle” – on which Americans spent $16 billion in 2016. The yoga market is growing by 7% a year, while novelty yoga proliferates: hot yoga, beer yoga, naked yoga, goat yoga. 
  Some worry the practice is losing its spirituality and that the Instagram generation has made it about posing not poses. Others think it fills a spiritual vacuum in the irreligious West, where navel-gazing is not a tricky yoga move. Devotees defend its health benefits and positive messages of love, compassion and serenity. A noble position to take. 
(https://espresso.economist.com, 03.03.2018. Adaptado.)

Terrorism: Understanding the Global Threat
David J. Whittaker
Longman/Pearson, 2013 - 236 p.

[1]  What is terrorism and where does it come from? Who are the people
[2]  who perpetrate terror? What are their motives? Terrorism is now
[3]  everybody's major and constant fear. This easy-to-read, concise
[4]  account of terrorism provides the essential global guide to
[5]  understanding what the threat is and exactly where it comes from.
[6]  Without this knowledge, argues David Whittaker, there can be no
[7]  way forward in prevention and control. The book looks in particular at
[8]  how terrorism has shaped and been shaped by the past half century,
[9]  the driving forces behind it, the methods, the psychology and the
[10]  money. Originally written in the aftermath of September 11, the book
[11]  has now been updated to reflect how our understanding of and
[12]  reaction to terrorism has moved on in the past few years. The Where
[13]  to Find Out More section at the end will also be thoroughly updated
[14]  to include recent websites and publications on the subject.
Available at: <https://books.google.com.br/books/about/Terrorism.html?id=M9NWTFhQVcYC&redir_esc=y> Acessed on: August 22nd, 2017.

Terrorism: Understanding the Global Threat
David J. Whittaker
Longman/Pearson, 2013 - 236 p.

[1]  What is terrorism and where does it come from? Who are the people
[2]  who perpetrate terror? What are their motives? Terrorism is now
[3]  everybody's major and constant fear. This easy-to-read, concise
[4]  account of terrorism provides the essential global guide to
[5]  understanding what the threat is and exactly where it comes from.
[6]  Without this knowledge, argues David Whittaker, there can be no
[7]  way forward in prevention and control. The book looks in particular at
[8]  how terrorism has shaped and been shaped by the past half century,
[9]  the driving forces behind it, the methods, the psychology and the
[10]  money. Originally written in the aftermath of September 11, the book
[11]  has now been updated to reflect how our understanding of and
[12]  reaction to terrorism has moved on in the past few years. The Where
[13]  to Find Out More section at the end will also be thoroughly updated
[14]  to include recent websites and publications on the subject.
Available at: <https://books.google.com.br/books/about/Terrorism.html?id=M9NWTFhQVcYC&redir_esc=y> Acessed on: August 22nd, 2017.

The challenges of identifying the causes of terrorism

[1]       The causes of terrorism seem almost impossible for anyone to define. Here's why: they change
[2]  over time. Listen to terrorists in different periods and you'll hear different explanations. Then, listen to
[3]  the scholars who explain terrorism. Their ideas change over time too, as new trends in academic
[4]  thinking take hold. Many writers begin statements about "the causes of terrorism" as if terrorism were a
[5]  scientific phenomenon whose characteristics are fixed for all time, like the 'causes' of a disease, or the
[6]  'causes' of rock formations.
[7]        Terrorism isn't a natural phenomenon though. It is the name given by people about other
[8]  people's actions in the social world. Both terrorists and terrorism's explainers are influenced by
[9]  dominant trends in political and scholarly thought. Terrorists—people who threaten or use violence
[10]  against civilians with the hope of changing the status quo—perceive the status quo in ways that accord
[11]  with the era they live in. People who explain terrorism are also influenced by prominent trends in their
[12]  professions. These trends change over time.
[13]      Even if it is uncomfortable to think of people who do terrible things to innocent people as part of
[14]  our same world, I believe it is important to try.
[15]      People who have chosen terrorism in the last century have been influenced by the same broad
[16]  trends that we all have. The difference is, they chose violence as a response.
[17]  1920S - 1930S: SOCIALISM AS A CAUSE: socialism was becoming a dominant way for many people
[18]  to explain the political and economic injustice they saw developing in capitalist societies, and for
[19]  defining a solution. Millions of people expressed their commitment to a socialist future without violence,
[20]  but a small number of people in the world thought violence was necessary.
[21]  1950S - 1980S: NATIONALISM AS A CAUSE: terrorist violence in these years reflected the post-World
[22]  War II trend in which previously suppressed populations committed violence against states that had not
[23]  given them a voice in the political process. Algerian terrorism against French rule; Basque violence
[24]  against the Spanish state; Kurdish actions against Turkey; the Black Panthers and Puerto Rican
[25]  militants in the United States all sought a version of independence from oppressive rule.
[26]  1980S - TODAY: RELIGIOUS JUSTIFICATIONS AS A CAUSE: economic dislocations because of the
[27]  Gulf War in the 1990s caused many Palestinian, Egyptian and other men working in the Persian Gulf to
[28]  lose their jobs. When they returned home, they found women had assumed their roles in households
[29]  and jobs. Religious conservatism, including the idea that women should be modest and not work, took
[30]  hold in this atmosphere. In this way, both West and East saw a rise in fundamentalism in the 1990s.
[31]  FUTURE: ENVIRONMENT AS A CAUSE: new terrorism forms and new explanations are underway,
[32]  however. These are often environmental in nature. Some predict the rise of 'green' terrorism in Europeviolent
[33]  sabotage on behalf of environmental policy. Animal rights activists have also revealed a fringe
[34]  violent edge. Just as in earlier eras, these forms of violence mimic the dominant concerns of our time
[35]  across the political spectrum.
Adapted from:< https://www.thoughtco.com/why-are-the-causes-of-terrorism-so-hard-to-identify-3209054> Acessed on: August 22nd, 2017.

The challenges of identifying the causes of terrorism

[1]       The causes of terrorism seem almost impossible for anyone to define. Here's why: they change
[2]  over time. Listen to terrorists in different periods and you'll hear different explanations. Then, listen to
[3]  the scholars who explain terrorism. Their ideas change over time too, as new trends in academic
[4]  thinking take hold. Many writers begin statements about "the causes of terrorism" as if terrorism were a
[5]  scientific phenomenon whose characteristics are fixed for all time, like the 'causes' of a disease, or the
[6]  'causes' of rock formations.
[7]        Terrorism isn't a natural phenomenon though. It is the name given by people about other
[8]  people's actions in the social world. Both terrorists and terrorism's explainers are influenced by
[9]  dominant trends in political and scholarly thought. Terrorists—people who threaten or use violence
[10]  against civilians with the hope of changing the status quo—perceive the status quo in ways that accord
[11]  with the era they live in. People who explain terrorism are also influenced by prominent trends in their
[12]  professions. These trends change over time.
[13]      Even if it is uncomfortable to think of people who do terrible things to innocent people as part of
[14]  our same world, I believe it is important to try.
[15]      People who have chosen terrorism in the last century have been influenced by the same broad
[16]  trends that we all have. The difference is, they chose violence as a response.
[17]  1920S - 1930S: SOCIALISM AS A CAUSE: socialism was becoming a dominant way for many people
[18]  to explain the political and economic injustice they saw developing in capitalist societies, and for
[19]  defining a solution. Millions of people expressed their commitment to a socialist future without violence,
[20]  but a small number of people in the world thought violence was necessary.
[21]  1950S - 1980S: NATIONALISM AS A CAUSE: terrorist violence in these years reflected the post-World
[22]  War II trend in which previously suppressed populations committed violence against states that had not
[23]  given them a voice in the political process. Algerian terrorism against French rule; Basque violence
[24]  against the Spanish state; Kurdish actions against Turkey; the Black Panthers and Puerto Rican
[25]  militants in the United States all sought a version of independence from oppressive rule.
[26]  1980S - TODAY: RELIGIOUS JUSTIFICATIONS AS A CAUSE: economic dislocations because of the
[27]  Gulf War in the 1990s caused many Palestinian, Egyptian and other men working in the Persian Gulf to
[28]  lose their jobs. When they returned home, they found women had assumed their roles in households
[29]  and jobs. Religious conservatism, including the idea that women should be modest and not work, took
[30]  hold in this atmosphere. In this way, both West and East saw a rise in fundamentalism in the 1990s.
[31]  FUTURE: ENVIRONMENT AS A CAUSE: new terrorism forms and new explanations are underway,
[32]  however. These are often environmental in nature. Some predict the rise of 'green' terrorism in Europeviolent
[33]  sabotage on behalf of environmental policy. Animal rights activists have also revealed a fringe
[34]  violent edge. Just as in earlier eras, these forms of violence mimic the dominant concerns of our time
[35]  across the political spectrum.
Adapted from:< https://www.thoughtco.com/why-are-the-causes-of-terrorism-so-hard-to-identify-3209054> Acessed on: August 22nd, 2017.