Questões de Inglês

Brazil cotton deal perpetuates an unhealthy status quo of subsidies

Published by The Washington Post (The text below has been slightly modified to better suit the exam)

 

1. When is a victory for the United States not a victory for the American taxpayer? When it’s an international agreement like the one the Obama administration has just reached to settle a long-running dispute with Brazil over cotton subsidies. The roots of that dispute lie in this country’s history of showering federal funds on crop producers, including cotton growers. That particular business received $32.9 billion from Washington between 1995 and 2012, according to the Environmental Working Group, largely through programs that had the effect of rewarding farmers for increasing production. The extra supply dampened 9 prices on the world market, so, in 2002, Brazil complained to the World Trade Organization, which ruled that US cotton subsidies were indeed “trade-distorting” and authorized Brazil to retaliate against US exports. The United States avoided sanctions — not by reforming its programs but by agreeing in 2010 to pay Brazil’s cotton farmers $147.3 million per year.

 

2. In short, the US government bought off Brazil’s cotton farmers so that it could keep on buying off its own. Under the new settlement, announced Wednesday, Brazil agreed to drop its case at the WTO and to forgo any new ones during the five-year term of the farm bill Congress enacted last year. In return, the United States agreed to trim the modest US cotton export credit subsidy program and, most important, to pay Brazil one last dollop of taxpayer cash, in the amount of $300 million.

 

3. This is good news to the extent that it fortifies US-Brazil relations on the eve of a new presidential term in that country and that it spares US exporters from the threat of Brazilian retaliation, which could have reached a total of $829 million per year. Yet, in essence, the new deal perpetuates the unhealthy status quo whereby the United States pays Brazil ____ the right ____ continue propping _____ a domestic cotton industry that can ____ should learn to compete ____ its own.

What does buy off mean as used in the text?

Brazil cotton deal perpetuates an unhealthy status quo of subsidies
Published by The Washington Post (The text below has been slightly modified to better suit the exam)

 

1. When is a victory for the United States not a victory for the American taxpayer? When it’s an international agreement like the one the Obama administration has just reached to settle a long-running dispute with Brazil over cotton subsidies. The roots of that dispute lie in this country’s history of showering federal funds on crop producers, including cotton growers. That particular business received $32.9 billion from Washington between 1995 and 2012, according to the Environmental Working Group, largely through programs that had the effect of rewarding farmers for increasing production. The extra supply dampened prices on the world market, so, in 2002, Brazil complained to the World Trade Organization, which ruled that US cotton subsidies were indeed “trade-distorting” and authorized Brazil to retaliate against US exports. The United States avoided sanctions — not by reforming its programs but by agreeing in 2010 to pay Brazil’s cotton farmers $147.3 million per year.

 

2. In short, the US government bought off Brazil’s cotton farmers so that it could keep on buying off its own. Under the new settlement, announced Wednesday, Brazil agreed to drop its case at the WTO and to forgo any new ones during the five-year term of the farm bill Congress enacted last year. In return, the United States agreed to trim the modest US cotton export credit subsidy program and, most important, to pay Brazil one last dollop of taxpayer cash, in the amount of $300 million.

 

3. This is good news to the extent that it fortifies US-Brazil relations on the eve of a new presidential term in that country and that it spares US exporters from the threat of Brazilian retaliation, which could have reached a total of $829 million per year. Yet, in essence, the new deal perpetuates the unhealthy status quo whereby the United States pays Brazil ____ the right ____ continue propping _____ a domestic cotton industry that can ____ should learn to compete ____ its own.

 

Who did not benefit from the settlement reached between the US and Brazil, according to the text?

Brazil cotton deal perpetuates an unhealthy status quo of subsidies

Published by The Washington Post (The text below has been slightly modified to better suit the exam)

 

1. When is a victory for the United States not a victory for the American taxpayer? When it’s an international agreement like the one the Obama administration has just reached to settle a long-running dispute with Brazil over cotton subsidies. The roots of that dispute lie in this country’s history of showering federal funds on crop producers, including cotton growers. That particular business received $32.9 billion from Washington between 1995 and 2012, according to the Environmental Working Group, largely through programs that had the effect of rewarding farmers for increasing production. The extra supply dampened 9 prices on the world market, so, in 2002, Brazil complained to the World Trade Organization, which ruled that US cotton subsidies were indeed “trade-distorting” and authorized Brazil to retaliate against US exports. The United States avoided sanctions — not by reforming its programs but by agreeing in 2010 to pay Brazil’s cotton farmers $147.3 million per year.

 

2. In short, the US government bought off Brazil’s cotton farmers so that it could keep on buying off its own. Under the new settlement, announced Wednesday, Brazil agreed to drop its case at the WTO and to forgo any new ones during the five-year term of the farm bill Congress enacted last year. In return, the United States agreed to trim the modest US cotton export credit subsidy program and, most important, to pay Brazil one last dollop of taxpayer cash, in the amount of $300 million.

 

3. This is good news to the extent that it fortifies US-Brazil relations on the eve of a new presidential term in that country and that it spares US exporters from the threat of Brazilian retaliation, which could have reached a total of $829 million per year. Yet, in essence, the new deal perpetuates the unhealthy status quo whereby the United States pays Brazil ____ the right ____ continue propping _____ a domestic cotton industry that can ____ should learn to compete ____ its own.

Who had the legal power to decide whether the US subsidies, described in the text, were acceptable or not?

Brazil cotton deal perpetuates an unhealthy status quo of subsidies

Published by The Washington Post (The text below has been slightly modified to better suit the exam)

 

1. When is a victory for the United States not a victory for the American taxpayer? When it’s an international agreement like the one the Obama administration has just reached to settle a long-running dispute with Brazil over cotton subsidies. The roots of that dispute lie in this country’s history of showering federal funds on crop producers, including cotton growers. That particular business received $32.9 billion from Washington between 1995 and 2012, according to the Environmental Working Group, largely through programs that had the effect of rewarding farmers for increasing production. The extra supply dampened 9 prices on the world market, so, in 2002, Brazil complained to the World Trade Organization, which ruled that US cotton subsidies were indeed “trade-distorting” and authorized Brazil to retaliate against US exports. The United States avoided sanctions — not by reforming its programs but by agreeing in 2010 to pay Brazil’s cotton farmers $147.3 million per year.

 

2. In short, the US government bought off Brazil’s cotton farmers so that it could keep on buying off its own. Under the new settlement, announced Wednesday, Brazil agreed to drop its case at the WTO and to forgo any new ones during the five-year term of the farm bill Congress enacted last year. In return, the United States agreed to trim the modest US cotton export credit subsidy program and, most important, to pay Brazil one last dollop of taxpayer cash, in the amount of $300 million.

 

3. This is good news to the extent that it fortifies US-Brazil relations on the eve of a new presidential term in that country and that it spares US exporters from the threat of Brazilian retaliation, which could have reached a total of $829 million per year. Yet, in essence, the new deal perpetuates the unhealthy status quo whereby the United States pays Brazil ____ the right ____ continue propping _____ a domestic cotton industry that can ____ should learn to compete ____ its own.

According to the information provided in the text, why did the US government have a dispute with Brazil?

ABOUT #125STORIES

 

(1) #125Stories, your chance to join in with the Agatha Christie 125th Anniversary celebrations, was ins-

(2) pired by the discovery, in the Agatha Christie Archive, of a collection of very personal letters written to Agatha

(3) Christie throughout the 20th century from fans around the world. Some of these letters are witty and amusing,

(4) while others reveal intimate details of daily lives. Others still provide the modern day reader with an insight into

(5) the political situation of post-war Europe, of the Iron Curtain, and of how Christie’s books provided escapism for

(6) those in the most desperate of conditions.

(7) These letter writers took the time to let Agatha Christie know how important she was in their own lives –

(8) and now you too can share your stories of how the world’s most famous crime writer changed your life.

(9) What story should you share?

(10) Maybe you acted in a play once, and something went wrong on stage…

(11) Perhaps you were inspired to write after reading her novels…Have you ever written a screen play after

(12) watching Poirot on tv?…

(13) Or maybe Agatha Christie herself has been your inspiration – as a traveller, a surfer, an archaeologist, a

(14) musician, a wife, mother, daughter…

(15) Whatever it is, we want to know.

(16) And if you tell us your story, you’ll be in with the chance of being selected to have it exhibited in Septem-

(17) ber at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, England, as one of 125 Stories.

(18) We’ll be running #125Stories for the whole of 2015 – so if you are not selected for the exhibition but want

(19) to share your experiences of the September birthday celebrations and the rest of the year with us, then you’ll

(20) be able to right up until Christmas.

(21) Take the time to read others’ stories too – you never know what you might uncover.

 

(Disponível em http://125stories.com/feed/collection/94793. Acesso em 30 abr. 2015. Adaptação.)

Na linha 21 do texto, há uma indicação para o/a leitor/a. Em “Take the time to read others’ stories too – you never know what you might uncover.”, o termo “others’ stories” refere-se, neste texto,

ABOUT #125STORIES

 

(1) #125Stories, your chance to join in with the Agatha Christie 125th Anniversary celebrations, was ins-

(2) pired by the discovery, in the Agatha Christie Archive, of a collection of very personal letters written to Agatha

(3) Christie throughout the 20th century from fans around the world. Some of these letters are witty and amusing,

(4) while others reveal intimate details of daily lives. Others still provide the modern day reader with an insight into

(5) the political situation of post-war Europe, of the Iron Curtain, and of how Christie’s books provided escapism for

(6) those in the most desperate of conditions.

(7) These letter writers took the time to let Agatha Christie know how important she was in their own lives –

(8) and now you too can share your stories of how the world’s most famous crime writer changed your life.

(9) What story should you share?

(10) Maybe you acted in a play once, and something went wrong on stage…

(11) Perhaps you were inspired to write after reading her novels…Have you ever written a screen play after

(12) watching Poirot on tv?…

(13) Or maybe Agatha Christie herself has been your inspiration – as a traveller, a surfer, an archaeologist, a

(14) musician, a wife, mother, daughter…

(15) Whatever it is, we want to know.

(16) And if you tell us your story, you’ll be in with the chance of being selected to have it exhibited in Septem-

(17) ber at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, England, as one of 125 Stories.

(18) We’ll be running #125Stories for the whole of 2015 – so if you are not selected for the exhibition but want

(19) to share your experiences of the September birthday celebrations and the rest of the year with us, then you’ll

(20) be able to right up until Christmas.

(21) Take the time to read others’ stories too – you never know what you might uncover.

 

(Disponível em http://125stories.com/feed/collection/94793. Acesso em 30 abr. 2015. Adaptação.)

As 125 histórias participantes escolhidas estarão em exibição em um evento especial. De acordo com o texto, esse evento