Questões de Inglês

The difficulty for health policy makers the world over
is this: it is simply not possible to promote healthier lifestyles
through presidential decree or through being overprotective
towards people and the way they choose to live. Recent history
has proved that one-size-fits-all solutions are no good when
public health challenges vary from one area of the country to
the next. But we cannot sit back while, in spite of all this, so
many people are suffering such severe lifestyle-driven ill health
and such acute health inequalities.

Internet: (adapted).


In the text above,

the expression "in spite of all this" (L.7) could be replaced correctly by despite of all this.

A resposta correta é:

The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines
diplomacy as “(…) the management of relations between
countries (…) art of or skill in dealing with people; tact (…)”.
Indeed it is the art of convincing others to perceive things your
way, or at least to have second thoughts about theirs. It is the
combination of logic and science on the one hand with the gift
of proper language packaging and presentation necessary to
convince others.

The power of language rests on the fact that it
contains ideas: and ideas are, according to Plato, more
enduring, indeed more permanent than matter. Ideas can be
suppressed, or go underground but unlike a statue or any other
material things they cannot be shattered. They can only be met
and dealt with by other ideas. Historically it is the magic of
words that bewitched, enthralled and sometimes intoxicated
people and led them to great or mean deeds. The language of
diplomacy, often like poetry, has the ability to move people
from mood to mood. Whether demagogy or whether giving
expression to noble ideologies, theories, or even religious
creeds, ordinary language or that of diplomacy has a
momentum and an inner driving force that is ageless.

K.S. Abu Jaber, Language and Diplomacy. In:

J. Kurbalija; H. Slavi (Eds.) Language and

Diplomacy, p. 53. Malta: DiploProjects, 2001.


In relation to the pronouns shown in bold in the text above, judge if the items below are right (C) or wrong (E).

The pronoun "they" [l. refers to "Ideas" [l..

A resposta correta é:

The difficulty for health policy makers the world over
is this: it is simply not possible to promote healthier lifestyles
through presidential decree or through being overprotective
towards people and the way they choose to live. Recent history
has proved that one-size-fits-all solutions are no good when
public health challenges vary from one area of the country to
the next. But we cannot sit back while, in spite of all this, so
many people are suffering such severe lifestyle-driven ill health
and such acute health inequalities.

Internet: (adapted).


In the text above,

the expression "the world over" (L.1) is synonymous with in some parts of the world.

A resposta correta é:

Taking a Cue From Bernanke a Little Too Far


Financial advisers have been fielding calls from
shaken investors in recent weeks, particularly retirees, who are
nervous that a bond market crash is on the horizon.
You can hardly blame them. Investors have been
fleeing bonds in droves; a record $ 76.5 billion poured out of
bond funds and exchange-traded funds since June. That
exceeds the previous record, according to TrimTabs, when
$ 41.8 billion streamed out of the funds in October 2008 and
the financial crisis was in full force.
But the rush for the exits really means one thing:
investors are betting that interest rates are about to begin their
upward trajectory, something that’s been expected for several
years now.

Their cue came from the Federal Reserve chairman,
Ben Bernanke, who recently suggested that the economic
recovery might allow the central bank to ease its efforts to
stimulate the economy. That includes scaling back its bondbuying
program beginning later this year.
So the big fear is that interest rates are poised to rise
much further, driving down bond prices; the two move in
opposite directions.
A Barclays index tracking a broad swath of
investment-grade bonds lost 3.77 percent from the beginning
of May through Thursday, according to Morningstar. United
States government notes with maturities of 10 years or longer,
however, lost an average of 10.8 percent over the same period.

Making a bet on interest rates is no different from
trying to predict the next big drop in stocks, or jumping into
the market when it appears to be poised to surge higher. These
sort of emotional moves are exactly why research shows that
investors’ returns tend to trail the broader market.

And it’s also why many financial advisers suggest
ignoring the noise, as long as you have a smart assortment of
bond funds that will provide stability when stocks inevitably
tumble once again.

“It’s a futile game to base portfolio moves on interest
rate guesses,” said Milo Benningfield, a financial adviser in
San Francisco. “We don’t have to look any further than highly
regarded Pimco manager Bill Gross, whose horrible interest
rate bet against Treasuries in 2011 landed him in the bottom 15
percent of fund managers in his category that year. Investors
should take a strategic approach designed around the reason
they hold bonds — and then sit tight whenever hedge funds
and other institutions shake the ground around them.”

The main reason longer-term investors hold bonds, of
course, is to provide a steadying force. And though today’s
lower yields provide less of a cushion — the 10-year Treasury
is yielding about 2.5 percent — bonds still remain the best, if
imperfect, foil to stocks.

“The role of bonds in a portfolio has always been to
be a ballast or a diversifier to equity risk,” said Francis
Kinniry, a principal in the Vanguard Investment Strategy
Group. “And that is very true today. Yields are low, but this is
what a bear market in bonds looks like.”

Internet: (adapted).


According to the text, judge if the following items are right (C) or wrong (E).

According to at least one financial adviser, it"s naïve to correlate bonds with interest rates.

A resposta correta é:

The difficulty for health policy makers the world over
is this: it is simply not possible to promote healthier lifestyles
through presidential decree or through being overprotective
towards people and the way they choose to live. Recent history
has proved that one-size-fits-all solutions are no good when
public health challenges vary from one area of the country to
the next. But we cannot sit back while, in spite of all this, so
many people are suffering such severe lifestyle-driven ill health
and such acute health inequalities.

Internet: (adapted).


In the text above,

the author suggests that some public health policies that have already been used did not work.

A resposta correta é:

Taking a Cue From Bernanke a Little Too Far


Financial advisers have been fielding calls from
shaken investors in recent weeks, particularly retirees, who are
nervous that a bond market crash is on the horizon.
You can hardly blame them. Investors have been
fleeing bonds in droves; a record $ 76.5 billion poured out of
bond funds and exchange-traded funds since June. That
exceeds the previous record, according to TrimTabs, when
$ 41.8 billion streamed out of the funds in October 2008 and
the financial crisis was in full force.
But the rush for the exits really means one thing:
investors are betting that interest rates are about to begin their
upward trajectory, something that’s been expected for several
years now.

Their cue came from the Federal Reserve chairman,
Ben Bernanke, who recently suggested that the economic
recovery might allow the central bank to ease its efforts to
stimulate the economy. That includes scaling back its bondbuying
program beginning later this year.
So the big fear is that interest rates are poised to rise
much further, driving down bond prices; the two move in
opposite directions.
A Barclays index tracking a broad swath of
investment-grade bonds lost 3.77 percent from the beginning
of May through Thursday, according to Morningstar. United
States government notes with maturities of 10 years or longer,
however, lost an average of 10.8 percent over the same period.

Making a bet on interest rates is no different from
trying to predict the next big drop in stocks, or jumping into
the market when it appears to be poised to surge higher. These
sort of emotional moves are exactly why research shows that
investors’ returns tend to trail the broader market.

And it’s also why many financial advisers suggest
ignoring the noise, as long as you have a smart assortment of
bond funds that will provide stability when stocks inevitably
tumble once again.

“It’s a futile game to base portfolio moves on interest
rate guesses,” said Milo Benningfield, a financial adviser in
San Francisco. “We don’t have to look any further than highly
regarded Pimco manager Bill Gross, whose horrible interest
rate bet against Treasuries in 2011 landed him in the bottom 15
percent of fund managers in his category that year. Investors
should take a strategic approach designed around the reason
they hold bonds — and then sit tight whenever hedge funds
and other institutions shake the ground around them.”

The main reason longer-term investors hold bonds, of
course, is to provide a steadying force. And though today’s
lower yields provide less of a cushion — the 10-year Treasury
is yielding about 2.5 percent — bonds still remain the best, if
imperfect, foil to stocks.

“The role of bonds in a portfolio has always been to
be a ballast or a diversifier to equity risk,” said Francis
Kinniry, a principal in the Vanguard Investment Strategy
Group. “And that is very true today. Yields are low, but this is
what a bear market in bonds looks like.”

Internet: (adapted).


According to the text, judge if the following items are right (C) or wrong (E).

The main contention of the article is that investors should be skeptical about Bernanke"s remark in relation to the effects of the American economic recovery.

A resposta correta é:

Taking a Cue From Bernanke a Little Too Far


Financial advisers have been fielding calls from
shaken investors in recent weeks, particularly retirees, who are
nervous that a bond market crash is on the horizon.
You can hardly blame them. Investors have been
fleeing bonds in droves; a record $ 76.5 billion poured out of
bond funds and exchange-traded funds since June. That
exceeds the previous record, according to TrimTabs, when
$ 41.8 billion streamed out of the funds in October 2008 and
the financial crisis was in full force.
But the rush for the exits really means one thing:
investors are betting that interest rates are about to begin their
upward trajectory, something that’s been expected for several
years now.

Their cue came from the Federal Reserve chairman,
Ben Bernanke, who recently suggested that the economic
recovery might allow the central bank to ease its efforts to
stimulate the economy. That includes scaling back its bondbuying
program beginning later this year.
So the big fear is that interest rates are poised to rise
much further, driving down bond prices; the two move in
opposite directions.
A Barclays index tracking a broad swath of
investment-grade bonds lost 3.77 percent from the beginning
of May through Thursday, according to Morningstar. United
States government notes with maturities of 10 years or longer,
however, lost an average of 10.8 percent over the same period.

Making a bet on interest rates is no different from
trying to predict the next big drop in stocks, or jumping into
the market when it appears to be poised to surge higher. These
sort of emotional moves are exactly why research shows that
investors’ returns tend to trail the broader market.

And it’s also why many financial advisers suggest
ignoring the noise, as long as you have a smart assortment of
bond funds that will provide stability when stocks inevitably
tumble once again.

“It’s a futile game to base portfolio moves on interest
rate guesses,” said Milo Benningfield, a financial adviser in
San Francisco. “We don’t have to look any further than highly
regarded Pimco manager Bill Gross, whose horrible interest
rate bet against Treasuries in 2011 landed him in the bottom 15
percent of fund managers in his category that year. Investors
should take a strategic approach designed around the reason
they hold bonds — and then sit tight whenever hedge funds
and other institutions shake the ground around them.”

The main reason longer-term investors hold bonds, of
course, is to provide a steadying force. And though today’s
lower yields provide less of a cushion — the 10-year Treasury
is yielding about 2.5 percent — bonds still remain the best, if
imperfect, foil to stocks.

“The role of bonds in a portfolio has always been to
be a ballast or a diversifier to equity risk,” said Francis
Kinniry, a principal in the Vanguard Investment Strategy
Group. “And that is very true today. Yields are low, but this is
what a bear market in bonds looks like.”

Internet: (adapted).


According to the text, judge if the following items are right (C) or wrong (E).

The bond market is in such a predicament due to misjudgment on the part of the American central bank"s chairperson.

A resposta correta é:

Taking a Cue From Bernanke a Little Too Far


Financial advisers have been fielding calls from
shaken investors in recent weeks, particularly retirees, who are
nervous that a bond market crash is on the horizon.
You can hardly blame them. Investors have been
fleeing bonds in droves; a record $ 76.5 billion poured out of
bond funds and exchange-traded funds since June. That
exceeds the previous record, according to TrimTabs, when
$ 41.8 billion streamed out of the funds in October 2008 and
the financial crisis was in full force.
But the rush for the exits really means one thing:
investors are betting that interest rates are about to begin their
upward trajectory, something that’s been expected for several
years now.

Their cue came from the Federal Reserve chairman,
Ben Bernanke, who recently suggested that the economic
recovery might allow the central bank to ease its efforts to
stimulate the economy. That includes scaling back its bondbuying
program beginning later this year.
So the big fear is that interest rates are poised to rise
much further, driving down bond prices; the two move in
opposite directions.
A Barclays index tracking a broad swath of
investment-grade bonds lost 3.77 percent from the beginning
of May through Thursday, according to Morningstar. United
States government notes with maturities of 10 years or longer,
however, lost an average of 10.8 percent over the same period.

Making a bet on interest rates is no different from
trying to predict the next big drop in stocks, or jumping into
the market when it appears to be poised to surge higher. These
sort of emotional moves are exactly why research shows that
investors’ returns tend to trail the broader market.

And it’s also why many financial advisers suggest
ignoring the noise, as long as you have a smart assortment of
bond funds that will provide stability when stocks inevitably
tumble once again.

“It’s a futile game to base portfolio moves on interest
rate guesses,” said Milo Benningfield, a financial adviser in
San Francisco. “We don’t have to look any further than highly
regarded Pimco manager Bill Gross, whose horrible interest
rate bet against Treasuries in 2011 landed him in the bottom 15
percent of fund managers in his category that year. Investors
should take a strategic approach designed around the reason
they hold bonds — and then sit tight whenever hedge funds
and other institutions shake the ground around them.”

The main reason longer-term investors hold bonds, of
course, is to provide a steadying force. And though today’s
lower yields provide less of a cushion — the 10-year Treasury
is yielding about 2.5 percent — bonds still remain the best, if
imperfect, foil to stocks.

“The role of bonds in a portfolio has always been to
be a ballast or a diversifier to equity risk,” said Francis
Kinniry, a principal in the Vanguard Investment Strategy
Group. “And that is very true today. Yields are low, but this is
what a bear market in bonds looks like.”

Internet: (adapted).


According to the text, judge if the following items are right (C) or wrong (E).

In general, bonds provide stability to an investor"s portfolio.

A resposta correta é:

How bacteria could solve China’s rush-hour blues


As the largest city in southern China, with a population of

around 13 million, Guangzhou has traffic so bad it’s legendary. One
way to alleviate it would be to increase the intelligence of traffic
lights — converting them from dumb beasts that beat out the same
rhythm all day long into dynamic managers of vehicle flow.
And now two Chinese researchers have proved, at least

theoretically, that insights borrowed from the lowly bacterium
Escherichia coli could increase the throughput of a real-world
traffic light in Guangzhou. No one knows what effect this could
have if it were applied to an entire city, but it’s fitting that a solution
from a class of algorithms that seek to mimic the collective behavior
of organisms should be applied to the teeming masses of
Guangzhou’s trucks and automobiles.
Traffic lights around the world, from Guangzhou to

Geneva, are managed by computerized systems in a metal cabinet
at the side of the road, which regulate the cycle of changes from red
to green to red either through fixed time periods, or through sensors
in the road that can detect when a car is stationary. Both options
work well when traffic is low, less so during rush hour, as any
driver will tell you.
The solution proposed for improving flow during high

traffic periods is what’s known as a bacterial foraging Optimization
(BFO) algorithm. The algorithm varies when and for how long a
given light is red or green. So, for example, the algorithm has an
almost traffic cop-like sense for which road at an intersection has a
higher volume of traffic, and when to strategically deprioritize
traffic that may be waiting on a less-used road. Simulations of a
Guangzhou intersection showed that BFO-regulated lights reduce
the average delay of vehicles by over 28% compared with those
regulated by a fixed time cycle.

Internet: (adapted).


Based on the text above, judge the items below.

A controlled experiment indicated that the idea presented by two chinese researchers might be able to reduce the waiting time of cars on red lights.

A resposta correta é:

How bacteria could solve China’s rush-hour blues


As the largest city in southern China, with a population of

around 13 million, Guangzhou has traffic so bad it’s legendary. One
way to alleviate it would be to increase the intelligence of traffic
lights — converting them from dumb beasts that beat out the same
rhythm all day long into dynamic managers of vehicle flow.
And now two Chinese researchers have proved, at least

theoretically, that insights borrowed from the lowly bacterium
Escherichia coli could increase the throughput of a real-world
traffic light in Guangzhou. No one knows what effect this could
have if it were applied to an entire city, but it’s fitting that a solution
from a class of algorithms that seek to mimic the collective behavior
of organisms should be applied to the teeming masses of
Guangzhou’s trucks and automobiles.
Traffic lights around the world, from Guangzhou to

Geneva, are managed by computerized systems in a metal cabinet
at the side of the road, which regulate the cycle of changes from red
to green to red either through fixed time periods, or through sensors
in the road that can detect when a car is stationary. Both options
work well when traffic is low, less so during rush hour, as any
driver will tell you.
The solution proposed for improving flow during high

traffic periods is what’s known as a bacterial foraging Optimization
(BFO) algorithm. The algorithm varies when and for how long a
given light is red or green. So, for example, the algorithm has an
almost traffic cop-like sense for which road at an intersection has a
higher volume of traffic, and when to strategically deprioritize
traffic that may be waiting on a less-used road. Simulations of a
Guangzhou intersection showed that BFO-regulated lights reduce
the average delay of vehicles by over 28% compared with those
regulated by a fixed time cycle.

Internet: (adapted).


Based on the text above, judge the items below.

Even though Guangzhou is the largest city in southern China, its bad traffic is nothing but a legend.

A resposta correta é: