(UFSM - 2006)
HISTORY OF LOUIS BRAILLE
Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809, in Coupvray, 13a small town near Paris, France. His father was a saddler, and the young Louis enjoyed playing in his father's workshop. When he was three, Louis accidentally punctured his eye with an awl, a sharp tool used to punch holes in leather. Infection 14eventually set in and spread to his other eye, leaving him 9completely blind. Louis developed the braille system by the time he was 15.
With the support of a local priest and schoolteacher, Louis' parents were determined to allow him to develop his 2demonstrated intelligence. He was enrolled in a regular school where he learn by listening and excelled in his studies. By the age of 10, he earned a scholarship to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. There he learned to read letters that were raised on a page. 15Since these letters were made by pressing shaped copper wire onto a page, it was impossible for people who were blind to write anything for themselves.
At the Institution, Louis was first 3introduced to a coded system of 1raised dots. 10In 1821, 11a French army captain, Charles Barbier de la Serre, visited the school to introduced his invention, "Night Writing". Night Writing was designed for soldiers to communicate at night without speaking. In his system, a series of 12 raised dots were used to represent sounds that, when combined, would form words. It proved to be too 4complicated, and the army eventually rejected it.
Barbier adapted his system for use by people who are blind, but the 12-dot phonetic system still prove cumbersome. Recognizing how useful this tactile system could be, Louis set out to experiment with a 5simplified version. Eventually, he settled on a system based on normal spelling using six dots to represent the standard alphabet.
7Louis Braille went on to become an 6admired and respect teacher at the Institution. 16But even though his system allowed people who are blind to write using a simple stylus, braille was not widely used. Plagued by ill health, Louis died of tuberculosis on January 6, 1852. In 1868, Dr. Thomas Armitage and a group of four blind men founded the British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature for the Blind. This organization grew to become the Royal National Institute of the Blind, the largest publisher of braille in Europe and Britain's largest organization for people who are blind or visually impaired.
The braille code was eventually recognized for its practicality and simplicity and became a worldwide standard. Today, braille literacy is as essential as print 8literacy.
In 1952, the accomplishments of Louis Braille were fully recognized by the French government. His body was exhumed and reburied in the Pantheon, 12the resting place of France's national heroes.
http://www.cnib.ca/school-package/4.htm - 07/6/05
Alguns verbos podem tornar-se qualificadores. No texto há o caso do verbo "raise" (ref. 1), que pode tornar-se o qualificador "raised". Esta mesma configuração ocorre nos verbos destacados, EXCETO
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(FATEC - 2006)
GRAND THEFT IDENTITY
Millions of people now have a new reason to dread the mailbox. In addition to the tried-and-true collection of Letters You Never Want to See - the tax audit, the high cholesterol reading, the college-rejection letter - there is now the missive that reveals 1you are on the fast track to becoming a victim of identity theft. Someone may have taken possession of your credit-card info, bank account or other personal data that would enable him or her to go on a permanent shopping spree - leaving you to deal with the financial, legal and psychic bills. Deborah Platt Majoras got the pain letter recently, from DSW Shoe Warehouse. Hers was among more than a million credit-card numbers that the merchant stored in an ill-protected database. So when hackers busted in, they got the information to buy stuff in her name - and 1.4 million other people's names. "It's scary", she says. "Part of it is the uncertainty that comes with it, not knowing whether sometime in the next year my credit-card number will be abused". Now she must take steps to protect herself, including re-examining charges closely, requesting a credit report and contacting the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to put her complaint into its ID-theft database. The latter step should be easy for her, since Majoras is the FTC chairman.
(Newsweek, September 6, 2005)
Assinale a alternativa que apresenta o uso correto do gerúndio após a preposição TO como em "you are on the fast track to becoming a victim of identity theft" (ref. 1).
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(PUC-Rio - 2006)
KIDS AND TV: PARENTS DON'T PRACTICE WHAT EXPERTS PREACH
One-third of the youngest children in the United States - babies through age 6 - 20live in homes where the television is on almost all the time, says a study that 2highlights the immense disconnect between what pediatricians advise and what parents allow.
TV in the bedroom is not even that rare for the youngest children anymore. Almost one child in five under 2 has a set, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against any TV watching at that age.
Eight in 10 children younger than 6 watch TV, play video games or use the computer on a typical day. They average about two hours of screen time, compared with 48 minutes when they are being read to, the 14Kaiser Family Foundation concludes in a study released Wednesday.
The number of youngsters glued to the screen has not changed much since the foundation's first report on the topic in 2003. However, in this follow-up, Kaiser asked parents - in a survey and in focus-group sessions - why they and their children use TV and other electronic media the way 8they do.
Instead, a generation of parents raised on TV is largely encouraging the early use of television, video games and computers by their own children, often starting in infancy.
These parents say TV teaches how to share and the ABCs when they do not have the time. Television 3provides time for parents to cook or take a shower. 1They use screen time as a reward or, paradoxically, to help kids wind down at bedtime.
7Despite studies that link bedroom TVs to kids' sleep problems, the most common reason cited for giving children their own set was that 9it freed up other TVs so parents or their other children could watch shows of their choice.
The report by 15the California-based foundation, 10which analyzes health care 4issues, comes at a time of great debate about the impact of TV and other multimedia on youngsters. Just last week, 16specialists called together by the National Institutes of Health urged more research on how electronic media affect children at different ages.
Those specialists sigh at the notion that parents could not get by without TV. "People have made dinner for millennia, but we've only had television for 50 years," said Dr. Dimitri Christakas of the University of Washington. "Television's not inherently good or bad. ... The real 5goal now has to be not to de-technologize childhood, but how to optimize children's experiences with 11it."
The pediatrics group recommends no TV or other electronic media for kids younger than 2 - advice that just 26 percent of parents followed, Kaiser found - and no more than two hours of total "screen time" daily for older children.
17The organization is not anti-TV, said 18Dr. Daniel Broughton of the Mayo Clinic, an academy member who co-wrote the recommendations. But before age 2 is the time of the brain's most rapid development, and interaction - the live give-and-take that TV cannot provide - is crucial during that period, he said.
Some studies also link TV watching at younger ages to youngsters' attention disorders. After a child reaches 2, the idea is to 6balance a little TV with riding bikes, playing with friends, household chores and the other activities of childhood, Broughton said.
"We want parents to watch with their kids," he added. 13One reason is that viewing ethnic stereotypes or bad behavior on TV can become instructive, when parents explain why children should not copy what 12they saw.
Adapted from http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting. May 24, 2006
In the expression "(...) live in homes where the television is on almost all the time" (ref. 20), "where" could be rephrased CORRECTLY with:
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(PUC Minas - 2006)
TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG
The web log or blog, where internet pioneers first recorded their daily lives in on-line diaries, has been a significant part of the internet since 1999, when a software from blogger.com put blogging within the reach of all web-users, no matter how limited their technical skills. There are now as many as a million blogs out there in cyberspace.
But last year the blog experienced a Cinderella-like transformation due to a young Iraqi architecture graduate writing under the pseudonym Salam Pax. His blog, "Where is Raed?", providing an eyewitness account of life in Baghdad during and after the final months of the Saddam regime, became extremely popular for a huge international audience. It finally gave the web log, according to Richard Clark, the editor of "Web User", the UK's best-selling internet magazine, the prominence it deserves. Salam Pax has created a precedent many people hope will be followed. But in reality, few blogs provide insight on global events. For many bloggers, the objective is simply to entertain.
In the vast world of blogs - 1which now includes photoblogs for amateur photographers and moblogs, updated in real time with photos from mobile phones - Richard Clark's own personal favorites are chosen 2for their literary appeal. His regular reads include a cynical account of working life as a manager in a call centre, an Australian student's views on British culture and the difficulties of a British woman in Belgium with what she claims is an intensely annoying boyfriend. To find the blogs that amuse you, he recommends following the links on the page of a popular blog: most bloggers compulsively link to other blogs, but there are also lots of sites that list blogs according to popularity.
If, 3on the other hand, you actually want to make your own contribution to the blogging universe, Clark advises you to make sure they're interesting and to update them regularly - ideally, every day, or every two days - because that's the only reason people come back.
(FROM: Speak Up, April 2004. Adapted)
The word WHICH in "which now includes..." (ref. 1) refers to
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(PUC-Rio - 2006)
Orkut is a virtual community designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Today, "virtual community" is loosely used and interpreted to indicate a variety of social groups connected in some ways by the Internet. 8It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members. 2An email distribution list on Star Trek may have close to one hundred members, 3and the communication 9which takes place there could be either one-way (the list owner making announcements) or merely informational (questions and answers are posted, but members stay relatively strangers and uninterested to each other). The membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.
5Similar to Friendster, Orkut goes a step further by permitting "communities" of users. It is also invitation-only: 4Users must be invited to join the community by someone already there.
Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004 by Google, the search engine company. The service was created by Google employee Orkut Büyükkokten, 10who had developed a similar system, InCircle, for 11his previous employer, Affinity Engines. 6InCircle was intended for use by 13former university students.
With regard to copyrights, their terms of service 14state: "By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the Orkut.com service, you automatically grant to us a 15worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, 16irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials".
1Originally, the Orkut community was felt to be elite, because 12its membership is by invitation only. However, at the end of July 2004 Orkut surpassed the 1,000,000 member mark, and at the end of September it surpassed the 2,000,000 mark. As of September 2004, 57% of Orkut's members were from Brazil, followed by 14% from the United States and 6% from Iran. Brazilians were below 50% from August 9 to August 20, 2004. It is believed that this happened because 7a lot of them changed their nationality to something else due to a rumor that users with their countries set 18to Brazil got slower speeds and a greater chance of getting an error page.
Invitations to Orkut are obtainable, with a few minutes' (or days') worth of diligence, 17via the web.
From "http://www.whatis.tv/Orkut.html" (with slight adaptations)
Mark the only correct statement.
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(UFRGS - 2006)
"Seattle has a deep wateriness", says British-born author and avid sailor Jonathan Raban, who has been a resident of the Washington city for more than a decade. "It's a basic constituent of the architecture that 1everything is reflected. The sight of the city 'sittting' on Elliott Bay on a calm day is extraordinary."
Indeed, water is the soul of Seattle. From Elliott Bay, in the city's west side, ferries set sail for Bainbridge Island and container and cruise ships dock. Lake Union rests in the center of the city, and its arms cut off the north end. To the east lies vast Lake Washington, a physical barrier between Seattle and its 2expansive suburbs. Most 3vantage points include a glimpse of water, either still and shimmering or angry and capped with white. When the clouds can hold no more moisture, water rains down, washing the pavements clean and drenching the green lawns and elaborate gardens of the city.
The peculiar and complex intersections of land and water in Seattle have created geographical and philosophical boundaries and divisions. One result is in the city's many distinct and self-contained neighborhoods. It's not uncommon to meet someone who has lived in a single area since birth, and Seattleites are fiercely loyal to their neighborhoods. No one is prouder than a local of the isolated hamlet of 4Magnolia or the former hippie redoubt of 5Wallingford, for instance. Residents in each neighborhood still consider it to be the center of universe. There is a neighborhood for everyone.
Even 6if natives should treasure an urge to get out and see the world, it seems more than likely that they will eventually return. It's as if the soft rains and mild temperatures that allows trees and plants to flourish so abundantly somehow also permeate those who live here, encouraging familial roots to take hold.
In 1851, it was water that first attracted Arhur Denny's clan, among the first settlers who left Illinois by covered wagon to seek riches in the Oregon Territory. 7After learning of plentiful resources to the north, Denny and his group sailed to 8what is now Alki Beach in West Seattle. They eventually established 9what became Pioneer Square. 11History may be young in this 12port town, but its 13grasp on the collective 14Northwest spirit is possibly 10stronger than that in any older, more storied 15East Coast city.
Adapted from: Elle Decor, v. 16, p. 66-80, Mar. 2005
Considere o uso do pronome WHAT nas referências 8 e 9.
Em quais das frases a seguir o pronome WHAT é usado corretamente?
I - What impresses the visitor about Seattle is its wateriness.
II - What time does the ferry boat leave for Bainbrigde Island?
III - Seattle offered plentiful resources, what attracted Arthur Denny's clan.
(UNESP - 2006)
Terrorism
The term "terrorism" is controversial and has many definitions, none of which are universally accepted. The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as "a policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation; the fact of terrorizing or condition of being terrorized". It is almost always used in a pejorative sense, to describe the violence of an enemy as being immoral or wanton. No known group describes itself as "terrorist".
Theories on the causes of terrorism include:
- sociological explanations which focus on the position of the perpetrators in society
- conflict theory which includes their relationship to those in power
- ideological explanations which focus on the differences in ideology, and the different goals of the ideologies
- media theory explanations which treat terrorist acts as a form of communication
Some anti-terrorist commentators refuse to consider the causes, since that implies justification. For them, the terrorists are simply evil people. Some theories of the ethics of terrorism also exist, and they too are concerned with moral judgment on terrorism and specific actions. They do not attempt to explain its origins. They often treat terrorism as a form of warfare, and refer to the just war theory, and to war crimes law.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism)
Indique a alternativa em que os termos denotam, respectivamente, o mesmo significado das expressões destacadas na sentença:
Terrorism is ALMOST ALWAYS used in a PEJORATIVE sense.
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(Ufpb 2006)
FROM: Suzana Ramos
TO: Angela Smith
SUBJECT: Telecenters
DATE: November 10, 2005
Dear teacher,
How are you? Do you remember me? I took computer lessons with you at SESC last year. Now, I have a dream. im interesting in creating a Telecenter in my community for the local youth so that we could somehow cut down the digital divide that pervades our society.
I live in a very poor suburb in João Pessoa, Paraíba. There are many teenagers who urgently need training and professional guidance, and mainly hope.
What should I do to make this dream come true? I remember you once told me something about agencies that developed digital inclusion projects in disadvantaged areas. 1How could I get in contact with those agencies? What kind of support do they provide?
Any information would be of great help. Thank you very much for your support. I look foward to hearing from you soon.
Yours,
Suzana Ramos.
According to the text, Suzana intends:
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(PUC-Rio - 2006)
Orkut is a virtual community designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Today, "virtual community" is loosely used and interpreted to indicate a variety of social groups connected in some ways by the Internet. 8It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members. 2An email distribution list on Star Trek may have close to one hundred members, 3and the communication 9which takes place there could be either one-way (the list owner making announcements) or merely informational (questions and answers are posted, but members stay relatively strangers and uninterested to each other). The membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.
5Similar to Friendster, Orkut goes a step further by permitting "communities" of users. It is also invitation-only: 4Users must be invited to join the community by someone already there.
Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004 by Google, the search engine company. The service was created by Google employee Orkut Büyükkokten, 10who had developed a similar system, InCircle, for 11his previous employer, Affinity Engines. 6InCircle was intended for use by 13former university students.
With regard to copyrights, their terms of service 14state: "By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the Orkut.com service, you automatically grant to us a 15worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, 16irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials".
1Originally, the Orkut community was felt to be elite, because 12its membership is by invitation only. However, at the end of July 2004 Orkut surpassed the 1,000,000 member mark, and at the end of September it surpassed the 2,000,000 mark. As of September 2004, 57% of Orkut's members were from Brazil, followed by 14% from the United States and 6% from Iran. Brazilians were below 50% from August 9 to August 20, 2004. It is believed that this happened because 7a lot of them changed their nationality to something else due to a rumor that users with their countries set 18to Brazil got slower speeds and a greater chance of getting an error page.
Invitations to Orkut are obtainable, with a few minutes' (or days') worth of diligence, 17via the web.
From "http://www.whatis.tv/Orkut.html" (with slight adaptations)
The passive voice is used in "Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004". Find the sentence that is also in the passive voice.
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(UNESP - 2006)
How do terrorist organizations use the internet?
The internet is an increasingly useful tool for terrorists, whose online activities include information-sharing, propaganda, and possibly, cyber terrorism. Over the last ten years, the number of terrorist sites has jumped from less than 100 to as many as 4,000. "This has particularly taken off since the war in Iraq, as many of the insurgency groups there have many sites and message boards to help their network", says SITE Institute, a Washington DC-based terrorist-tracking group. "The greatest advantage [of the internet] is stealth", says John Arquilla, professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. "[Terrorists] swim in an ocean of bits and bytes". But the same anonymity that draws terrorists into the cyber world may also enable law-enforcement officials to spy on them undetected.
(...)
Today, terrorists give orders, plan attacks, and even send funds via online message boards and chat rooms. Terrorist sites also serve as virtual training grounds, offering tutorials on making bombs, firing surface-to-air missiles, shooting at U.S. soldiers, and sneaking into Iraq from abroad. The internet also provides a venue for terrorists to disseminate their message, experts say. Terrorist sites broadcast propaganda videos designed to boost morale, raise funds, or recruit new members.
(...)
There is some debate within the counterterrorism community about how to combat terrorist sites. Some experts say monitoring websites can provide valuable information about terrorist activities. "You can see who's posting what and who's paying for it", one expert says. (...) Other experts advocate a more aggressive approach; they say shutting down websites, even temporarily, can disrupt a terrorist group's activities.
The United States have tried to prosecute webmasters who run terrorist websites in the West, but has run into opposition from free speech advocates. "Sites that tell the terrorist side of the story go right up to the brink of civil liberties", Arquilla says.
http://cfrterrorism.org/home
Indique a alternativa que preenche corretamente a sentença: "John Arquilla declared that the greatest advantage of the internet .............. stealth, and that terrorists .............. in an ocean of bits and bytes".
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