(PUC - RS -1999) Its a Miracle Tourists traveling to Israel to mark a certain 2,000th birthday will be able to celebrate in New Testament style. In September, the National Parks Authority is planning to open a 1$4.5 million submerged, crescent-shaped bridge in the Sea of Galilee. On it, as many as 280 pilgrims at a time will be able to walk on water - or at least wade in two inches of 3it. Bubbles rising at the edges of the 12-foot-wide transparent platform will be 4the only markers preventing pilgrims from taking a 5plunge. Is the structure sacrilegious? The Roman Catholic Church says no. It will not improve faith, hope and love, says Pietro Sambi, 6the popes ambassador to Jerusalem. But from the touristic point of view, it could be just a nice idea. Newsweek, March 99. The indefinite article, as in a $4.5 million (...) bridge (ref.1), is used INCORRECTLY in
(PUC - PR -1999) Fill in the balloons with the right interrogative pronouns. Relate the numbers given to the pronouns.
(PUC - RS -1999) TEXT Sylvia, a plump, pint-sized sexagenarian who 1may even be 2slightly septuagenarian, was indignant, Hay-on-Wye is a town, not a village!, she says. Sylvia claims to have a typical Welsh face. In other words, the features of a 3rather special ethnic group that looks upon the nearby English with scornful disdain. 4This town of 1,500 has acquired a unique status because of the 500,000 people who visit the place each year. 5Local tourist brochures say that Hay, located at the foot of the verdant Radnorshire Hills, is 6the northernmost point in Brecon Beacons National Park south of the Wye river and has the Black Mountains to 7its south and west. But 10neither the park nor the mountains are enough to explain why Hay attracts so many visitors. Even Golden Valley, which 8stretches eastward into English - in other words, foreign - territory is not sufficient. The exotic Welsh language - strings of consonants with an occasional stray vowel tossed in here and there - can also be 9ruled out. No, the real reason is that Hay has 31 bookstores for a population of 1,500. Thirty-two if you count the beekeepers shop located on the edge of town, where a hundred or so books on bees stand next to jars of honey. (Air France Magazine, March 99.) The correct passive form of This town of 1,500 has acquired a unique status (ref.4) is A unique status...
(PUC-Rio -1998) Lies are so commonplace, they almost seem like the truth 1 Everyone lies. Little lies, perhaps, which may not cause serious problems, but still they are lies. We fudge on how old we are, how much we weigh, what we are paid. Some people tell their children that Santa Claus will come on Christmas Eve. 2 Consider the last time you got a phone call from someone you didnt want to talk to. Did you perhaps claim falsely that you were just on your way out the door? That your newborn (youre childless) needed you? 3 Did you ever promise anyone, Well do lunch, when you knew that youd never get together? 4 Did you ever reach for the phone to call in sick to work, then leap from bed to enjoy the day? 5 Did you ever tell someone you owed money to that the check was in the mail when it wasnt? 6 Few behaviors serve as many purposes as lying. We grow up to use lies - or at least half truths - to avoid things that should be done, to get people to believe us, to get what we want, to buy time, to end conversations, to keep relationships going. 7 Lying is also exciting, said Margaret Summy, a professional counselor in Forth Worth, Texas. Its living dangerously. Besides, we all want to be important, so we change our stories to make them more interesting. 8We also lie to make people agree with us, without realizing that were doing so, said clinical psychologist David Welsh. 9 In working with relationships such as parent-child or husband-wife, each person has a different memory, one which helps them. Theyll accuse each other of lying, he said. But both are telling their own understanding of the truth. 10 Perhaps the most understandable reason people lie is so they dont hurt others feelings. Most guests at a dinner party wouldnt want to say that they didnt like a specially prepared meal, even if it was terrible. 11 But even though people lie for good reasons, lying can be harmful. If we act on false information, we can be hurt. If we lie and are discovered, it can destroy the trust necessary for strong relationships. Besides, lying is hard on the brain because one lie leads to another, and we always have to remember our false story. In his Discourses on Government, Algemon Sidney said, Liars ought to have good memories. 12 For most of us, though, lying is hard on us physically. We breathe faster, our hearts beat harder, and our blood pressure goes up. 13 The truth can be hard on the body too, of course - especially if were admitting to a lie. Just about the most difficult thing for any human being to do is to tell others that he or she lied to them. Its very stressful. Terry L. Goodrich. Seattle Post-Intelligencer; October 29, 1990, C1 In the sentence Everyone lies (par. 1), the present tense is being used to express a fact that will never change in time (historical present). In which of the alternatives below is the present tense being used to express a similar idea?
(PUC-Rio -1998) TEXTO PARA A PRXIMA QUESTO: All communication is a two-way process involving a speaker or writer and listeners or readers (the audience). In written communication, because the audience is not present, the audience is easy to ignore. However, the kind of audience you write for determines what you write and how you write. In describing the World Series baseball championship to a British reader, you would have to include definitions, explanations, and facts that a reader in the United States would not need. Similarly, if you write about cricket (a British sport) for an audience in the United States, you would need to include a lot of basic information. If you wrote about the international banking systems for bankers, your language and information would be more technical than a paper written for readers who dont know much about the subject. A discussion of acid rain written for an audience of environmentalists would be quite different from one written for factory owners. (Adapted from: Coyle W. (1990) The Macmillan Guide for Writing Research Papers (p.8). New York: Mecmillian.) In the sentence If you wrote about the international banking systems for bankers, your language and information would be more technical(...), the author intends to transmit an idea of:
(PUC - PR -1996) Fill in the blanks with the definite article: ______ Brazil is ______ most industrial country in ______ South America, while ______ United States holds ______ same position in ______ North America. Choose the correct alternative:
(PUC - PR -1996) Choose the alternative that best completes the dialogue below: Mr. Wilson is applying for a job. Right now, he is being interviewed by Mrs. Taylor, head of the personnel department. Mrs. Taylor: ______ is your full name, please? Mr. Wilson: Thomas Wilson. Mrs. Taylor: ______ are you from? Mr. Wilson: Canada. Mrs. Taylor: ______ were you born? Mr. Wilson: I was born on March 7, 1956. Mrs. Taylor: ______ did you know about our job offer? Mr. Wilson: Through the ad you put in the newspaper.