Questões de Inglês

Reading strengthens your brain

    A growing body of research indicates that reading literally changes your mind Using MRI Scans, researchers have confirmed that reading involves a complex network of circuits and signals in the brain. As your reading ability matures, those networks also get stronger and more sophisticated.

    In one study conducted in 2013, researchers used functional MRI scans to measure the effect of reading a novel on the brain. Study participants read the novel “Pompeii” over a period of 9 days. As tension built in the story, more and more areas of the brain lit up with activity. Brain scans showed that throughout the reading period and for days afterward, brain connectivity increased, especially in the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain that responds to physical sensations like movement and pain.

Disponível em: https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-reading books#strengthens-the-brain. Acesso em: jan. 2023. (Adaptado)

 

Sobre o segundo parágrafo do texto, é possível afirmar:

Developing World Sees Double Standard in West’s Actions in Gaza and Ukraine

Neil MacFarquhar

 

    For 20 months, the Biden administration has attempted to stake out the moral high ground against Russia, condemning its brutal war on Ukraine for indiscriminately killing civilians. The argument resonated in much of the West, but less so in other parts of the world, which viewed the war as more of a great-power conflict and declined to participate in sanctions or otherwise isolate Russia.

    Now, as Israel bombards the Gaza Strip, killing more than 4,300 people since Oct. 7, the Biden administration’s unwavering support risks creating new headwinds in its efforts to win over global public opinion.

    Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, President Biden tied American support for Ukraine and Israel together, describing both nations as democracies fighting enemies determined to “completely annihilate” them. Russia invaded and seeks to annex Ukraine, while Hamas, the group that controls Gaza and denies Israel’s right to exist, staged a terrorist attack that killed at least 1,400 people in southern Israel.

    Increasingly, the Middle East region is emerging as a renewed front in the struggle for influence in the Global South — the collective name for the developing nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America — pitting the West against Russia and China.

    “The war in the Middle East will drive a growing wedge between the West and countries like Brazil or Indonesia, key swing states of the Global South,” said Clifford Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk assessment organization. “That will make international cooperation on Ukraine, like sanctions enforcement on Russia, even harder.”

    When the war in Ukraine first broke out, Palestinians were elated by the tough stance taken by Western capitals against one country occupying another’s land, said Nour Odeh, a Ramallah-based Palestinian political commentator. “But it seems that occupation is only bad if the guys who are not on your side are doing it.”

    In some ways the Gaza conflict has been a boon to the Kremlin, knocking the spotlight off the Ukraine war and burnishing Russia’s image in the Middle East and Global South. In recent years, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has sought to restore some of the Soviet Union’s lost influence in the Middle East, intervening militarily in civil wars in Syria and Libya. He has greatly strengthened ties with Iran, a country which Israel considers a national security threat.

    China has also been seeking to expand its influence in the Middle East, having recently mediated a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore relations. Russia and China have refused to condemn Hamas. They have instead criticized Israeli treatment of Palestinians, especially its decision to cut off water and electricity to Gaza and the civilian death toll there. They have called for international mediation and a cease-fire before Israel considers that its war has fully begun.

    The Palestinian cause has long thrived in the Global South, so the Gaza war has only added to resentments in Africa, Asia and Latin America that the West is treating Ukraine as a special case because it is a European war. They denounce the money spent on arming Ukraine while international development goals are ignored.

    There is a perception that the West “cares more about Ukrainian refugees, about Ukrainian civilians suffering, than we do when they are suffering in Yemen, in Gaza, in Sudan, in Syria,” said Hanna Notte, a Berlin-based Eurasia analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    That helps illustrate why the West has failed to woo countries like India and Turkey into supporting sanctions against Russia. Given the situation in Gaza, that effort is unlikely to succeed any time soon.

[…]

Source: The New York Times, 23/10/2023

Regarding the language of the text, choose the correct answer.

Developing World Sees Double Standard in West’s Actions in Gaza and Ukraine

Neil MacFarquhar

 

    For 20 months, the Biden administration has attempted to stake out the moral high ground against Russia, condemning its brutal war on Ukraine for indiscriminately killing civilians. The argument resonated in much of the West, but less so in other parts of the world, which viewed the war as more of a great-power conflict and declined to participate in sanctions or otherwise isolate Russia.

    Now, as Israel bombards the Gaza Strip, killing more than 4,300 people since Oct. 7, the Biden administration’s unwavering support risks creating new headwinds in its efforts to win over global public opinion.

    Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, President Biden tied American support for Ukraine and Israel together, describing both nations as democracies fighting enemies determined to “completely annihilate” them. Russia invaded and seeks to annex Ukraine, while Hamas, the group that controls Gaza and denies Israel’s right to exist, staged a terrorist attack that killed at least 1,400 people in southern Israel.

    Increasingly, the Middle East region is emerging as a renewed front in the struggle for influence in the Global South — the collective name for the developing nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America — pitting the West against Russia and China.

    “The war in the Middle East will drive a growing wedge between the West and countries like Brazil or Indonesia, key swing states of the Global South,” said Clifford Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk assessment organization. “That will make international cooperation on Ukraine, like sanctions enforcement on Russia, even harder.”

    When the war in Ukraine first broke out, Palestinians were elated by the tough stance taken by Western capitals against one country occupying another’s land, said Nour Odeh, a Ramallah-based Palestinian political commentator. “But it seems that occupation is only bad if the guys who are not on your side are doing it.”

    In some ways the Gaza conflict has been a boon to the Kremlin, knocking the spotlight off the Ukraine war and burnishing Russia’s image in the Middle East and Global South. In recent years, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has sought to restore some of the Soviet Union’s lost influence in the Middle East, intervening militarily in civil wars in Syria and Libya. He has greatly strengthened ties with Iran, a country which Israel considers a national security threat.

    China has also been seeking to expand its influence in the Middle East, having recently mediated a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore relations. Russia and China have refused to condemn Hamas. They have instead criticized Israeli treatment of Palestinians, especially its decision to cut off water and electricity to Gaza and the civilian death toll there. They have called for international mediation and a cease-fire before Israel considers that its war has fully begun.

    The Palestinian cause has long thrived in the Global South, so the Gaza war has only added to resentments in Africa, Asia and Latin America that the West is treating Ukraine as a special case because it is a European war. They denounce the money spent on arming Ukraine while international development goals are ignored.

    There is a perception that the West “cares more about Ukrainian refugees, about Ukrainian civilians suffering, than we do when they are suffering in Yemen, in Gaza, in Sudan, in Syria,” said Hanna Notte, a Berlin-based Eurasia analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    That helps illustrate why the West has failed to woo countries like India and Turkey into supporting sanctions against Russia. Given the situation in Gaza, that effort is unlikely to succeed any time soon.

[…]

Source: The New York Times, 23/10/2023

According to the information provided in the text, choose the correct answer.

    SLEEP AND HEALTH

 

Erica Jansen - Research Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences March 2, 2020

 

Sleep is an altered state of consciousness where we have limited interactions with our surroundings and 
are relatively quiet and still, depending on the stage of sleep. Contrary to our quiet physical state, the brain 
is very active during sleep, carrying out many important functions. That is why sleep is essential to every 
process in the body, affecting our physical and mental functioning the next day, our ability to fight disease 
[05]  and develop immunity, and our metabolism and chronic disease risk. 

It is well-known that certain substances, such as caffeine, can affect the onset of sleep in a negative way. On 
the other hand, evidence is growing that shows how other foods like tart cherries, kiwi, fatty fish (like salmon 
and tuna), and malted milk may have beneficial effects on sleep. More recently, studies have shown that 
healthy dietary patterns overall—not just specific foods—could be associated with longer sleep duration 
[10]  and shorter time to fall asleep.

Sleep is important for every part of the body. In young children, lack of sleep or poor quality sleep can be 
associated with difficult behaviors, lower capacity to learn and retain information, and a propensity for poor 
eating patterns and weight gain. As for adolescents, they need around 8-10 hours of sleep per night, but 
a high proportion do not get that amount. This has to do with school times. In school districts that have 
[15]  enacted later school start times, research is consistently showing that students get more sleep and as a 
result have better grades and improved mental health.

 Good sleep is essential for maintaining our baseline mental health, as one night of sleep deprivation can 
dramatically affect mood the next day. Chronic exposure to poor sleep quality is associated with depression, 
anxiety, and other conditions. There are also bidirectional associations—meaning that experiencing anxiety 
[20]  and depression very often affects sleep, which then impacts our ability to cope with the anxiety and 
depression, and so on.

Adapted from: https://sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2020posts/why-sleep-is-so-important-to-your-health.html Accessed 20 January 2024.

Observe these questions:

 

1. Should school classes start early?
2. Does what we eat impact our sleep?
3. What is sleep and how does it help us stay healthy?
4. What is the connection between sleep and mental health?

 

Their answers can be found, respectively, in the following paragraphs:

Answer the next question based on the text below.

 

Gluttony: One of the deadly sins that poses serious health risks

We know what a healthy diet looks like, and we certainly do not appreciate being fat, so why is eating less such a troublesome process? It turns out that each choice we make about eating is affected by mental and physiological strengths that are often outside of our awareness and control.

New research is uncovering that those occasional times of overeating and eating for pleasure, instead of out of starvation, can drag us further down the way to gluttony, preparing our brain to want that hedonistic involvement more. People who indulge may create the same patterns of neural action in some part of the brain related to fulfilling experiences as drug addicts do. Being surrounded by a lot of amazingly tasty food plays a key part in activating this fulfilling brain reaction in some individuals.

We may, after all, just be hungry. As a result, specialists have to agree on a definition of habit in this case. And not at all like drugs, food, in general, cannot be defined as an addictive substance. Make sure you're aware of and maintain a strategic distance from situations where you're conditioned to eat. A lot of people eat when they are bored or stressed, so rather than turning to food at those times, prepare your brain to need a more useful remunerate, such as taking a walk. And once you do discover yourself unable to resist the junk food at a party for instance go ahead and have a few, a little indulgence may avoid a far greater fall off the wagon.

Adaptado de: https://nnc.gov.ph/regional-offices/mindanao/region ix-zamboanga-peninsula/9666-gluttony-one-of-the-deadly-sins-that poses-serious-health-risks. Acesso em: 5 abr. 2024.

Studies have shown that

Answer the next question based on the text below.

 

Gluttony: One of the deadly sins that poses serious health risks

We know what a healthy diet looks like, and we certainly do not appreciate being fat, so why is eating less such a troublesome process? It turns out that each choice we make about eating is affected by mental and physiological strengths that are often outside of our awareness and control.

New research is uncovering that those occasional times of overeating and eating for pleasure, instead of out of starvation, can drag us further down the way to gluttony, preparing our brain to want that hedonistic involvement more. People who indulge may create the same patterns of neural action in some part of the brain related to fulfilling experiences as drug addicts do. Being surrounded by a lot of amazingly tasty food plays a key part in activating this fulfilling brain reaction in some individuals.

We may, after all, just be hungry. As a result, specialists have to agree on a definition of habit in this case. And not at all like drugs, food, in general, cannot be defined as an addictive substance. Make sure you're aware of and maintain a strategic distance from situations where you're conditioned to eat. A lot of people eat when they are bored or stressed, so rather than turning to food at those times, prepare your brain to need a more useful remunerate, such as taking a walk. And once you do discover yourself unable to resist the junk food at a party for instance go ahead and have a few, a little indulgence may avoid a far greater fall off the wagon.

Adaptado de: https://nnc.gov.ph/regional-offices/mindanao/region ix-zamboanga-peninsula/9666-gluttony-one-of-the-deadly-sins-that poses-serious-health-risks. Acesso em: 5 abr. 2024.

According to recent studies