Inglês
Prova objetiva realizada no dia 11/12/98
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Text 1

At the start of the 20th century, immigrant labor and
innovation helped turn the U.S. into a powerful manufacturing
nation. Today, foreign-born engineers jam the corridors of
Silicon Valley, abetting America's information-technology
boom. And as the 21st century dawns, yet another wave of
immigrants will once again help transform the economy.

During the next decade, barring a change in government
policy, nearly a million immigrants are expected to arrive in the
U.S. every year. Most, both legal and illegal, will continue to
come from Latin America and Southeast Asia, but every
foreign land will be represented. So will every level of skill,
education, and talent. New arrivals will make up hotel beds,
start their own shops, and pursue pathbreaking medical
research.

And they'll play a critical role in providing the workers
needed to keep the economy healthy. As baby boomers age
and domestic birthrates stagnate, only foreign-born workers
will keep the labor pool growing. By 2006, in fact, immigrants
will account for half of all new U.S. workers; over the next 30
years, their share will rise to 60%.

It's not all about sheer numbers, of course. To lift productivity
and stimulate growth, immigrants must provide creativity,
entrepreneurial energy, or simple initiative that America
couldn't find otherwise. "If all you did was bring in people who
are exactly the same as those we have here, there would be
no economic benefit," says Rand Corp. economist James P.
Smith. "You'd just have more people."

Just as crucial, the array of education and skills immigrants
bring could fit neatly with the supply of jobs over the next
decade. According to Linda Levine at the Congressional
Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress, 60%
of the jobs created through 2005 will require some post-
secondary education. But, she adds, low-skill jobs will still
represent about half the total employment.

Compare that job market to the prospective immigrant
labor force. Of recent arrivals, only 63% have finished high
school. No surprise that, while immigrants make up only 12%
of today's workforce, they clean half the restaurant tables in the
U.S. Yet immigrants also are 50% more likely than Americans
to have a graduate degree. And a staggering 23% of U.S.
residents holding PhDs in science and engineering are
foreign born, according to the National Science Foundation.

Indeed, foreign-born workers have shown an extraordinary
ability to assimilate and flourish. Certainly, some less skilled
workers will remain at the bottom economic rung all their lives.
Yet others will catch up quickly.

That, of course, will raise immigrants' living standards,
delivering foreign-born workers and their families into
America's middle and upper classes. More important, it will
help drive innovation and entrepreneurship, key engines of
the 21st Century Economy.

 

 
Extracted and reduced from a text by Howard

Gleckman in Business Week; August 31, 1998.

 

 


16

The best title for this text is...

(A) A Powerful Manufacturing Nation

(B) Cultural Diversity in the U.S.

(C) The Changing Face of Immigrants

(D) Immigration Drives Workforce Growth

(E) American Information - Technology Boom

 



17

According to the passage...

(A) all immigrants have difficulty in adjusting to life in the U.S.

(B) the lives of today's immigrants in the U.S are extremely difficult and dangerous.

(C) less skilled immigrants are more likely to obtain low-skill jobs.

(D) foreign workers are more creative and educated than most native Americans.

(E) immigrants from Latin America and South Asia will work mainly in restaurants.

 



18

From what we read in this text, we can infer that the author's intention was to...

(A) comment on the increasing importance of immigrant labor to the U.S. economy.

(B) criticize prejudice against immigrants in the U.S.

(C) discuss the pros and cons of Latin American immigration to the U.S.

(D) inform the reader about the new wave of Asian immigrants to the U.S.

(E) exemplify typical jobs taken by immigrant engineers in Silicon Valley.

 



19

The text you have just read was published as part of...

(A) a chronicle on ethnic violence in the U.S.

(B) an essay about ethnic wars in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

(C) a newspaper article about ethnic cleansing in the U.S.

(D) a short story about ethnic minorities in the American labor force.

(E) a magazine article about ethnic diversity in the American labor force.

 



20

The pronoun "those" in "... the same as those we have here ..." (line 25) refers to the word "people" (line 24). Identify the item which contain an INCORRECT correspondence.

(A) "they" (line 15) refers to "new arrivals" (line 12)

(B) "their" (line 20) refers to "the next 30 years" (lines 19-20)

(C) "she" (line 33) refers to "Linda Levine" (line 30)

(D) "they" (line 38) refers to "immigrants" (line 37)

(E) "their" (line 45) refers to "some less skilled workers" (lines 44-45)

 



21

In "Just as crucial, the array of education...could fit neatly with the supply..." (lines 28-30), the modal could indicates that the writer tries to transmit an idea of ...

(A) certainty

(B) impossibility

(C) obligation

(D) ability

(E) probability

 



22

The only option in which make up has the same meaning as "... while immigrants make up only 12% of today's workforce ..." (lines 37-38) is...

(A) "The committee is made up of representatives from all the university".

(B) "You must make up what you owe before the end of the month".

(C) "She never goes without making herself up first".

(D) "I can make up a bed for you on the floor".

(E) "He made up an incredible story about his holiday".

 



23

The sentence "Yet immigrants also...degree" (lines 39-40) introduces ...

(A) a conclusion. (B) a definition.

(C) a contrast. (D) a result.

(E) an example.

 



24

The sentence "Indeed, foreign-born workers have shown an extraordinary ability to assimilate and flourish" (lines 43-44) means that ...

(A) immigrant workers are indeed remarkably similar to American ones.

(B) immigrant workers have shown a remarkable ability to assimilate English.

(C) foreign workers go to the U.S. to learn English and to work with flowers.

(D) foreign-born workers are outstanding gardeners.

(E) immigrant workers have a talent for mixing and succeeding.

 



25

Check the only word from the text that could be used in the plural form.

(A) information (line 4)

(B) land (line 11)

(C) research (line 14)

(D) energy (line 23)

(E) employment (line 34)








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Text 2

As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one
of the wonders of the natural world. For you and I belong to a
species with a remarkable ability: we can shape events in
each other's brains with exquisite precision. I am not referring
to telepathy or mind control or the other obsessions of fringe
science; even in the depictions of believers these are blunt
instruments compared to an ability that is uncontroversially
present in every one of us. That ability is language. Simply by
making noises with our mouths, we can reliably cause
precise new combinations of ideas to arise in each other's
minds. The ability comes so naturally that we are apt to forget
what a miracle it is.

Language is so tightly woven into human experience that
it is scarcely possible to imagine life without it. Chances are
that if you find two or more people together anywhere on earth,
they will soon be exchanging words. When there is no one to
talk with, people talk to themselves, to their dogs, even to their
plants. In our social relations, the race is not to the swift but
to the verbal - the spellbinding orator, the silver-tongued
seducer, the persuasive child who wins the battle of wills
against a brawnier parent. Aphasia, the loss of language
following brain injury, is devastating, and in severe cases
family members may feel that the whole person is lost forever.

 

Extracted and reduced from The Language Instinct by

Steven Pinker. 1995.

 

26

The writer believes that...

(A) telepathy is an artistic activity.

(B) mind control is an obsessive science.

(C) language is a noisy phenomenon.

(D) reading is one of the wonders of the natural world.

(E) language is a remarkable human ability.

 



27

According to the text, in our social relationships...

(A) the brawny parent wins the game.

(B) articulate speakers tend to be the most successful people.

(C) aphasia is an element of success.

(D) the silver-tongued seducer defeats the spellbinding orator.

(E) swift children are likely to beat their parents.

 



28

When the writer says "For you and I belong to a species ... precision." (lines 2-4), the conjunction for can be understood as

(A) however.

(B) already.

(C) and.

(D) because.

(E) therefore.



29

The suffix -ly in words like uncontroversially (line 7), simply (line 8), reliably (line 9), and tightly (line 13) indicates...

(A) manner.

(B) frequency.

(C) emphasis.

(D) comparison.

(E) quality.



30

Which of the words below has a negative conotation as it is used in the text?

(A) wonders (line 2)

(B) remarkable (line 3)

(C) exquisite (line 4)

(D) blunt (line 6)

(E) miracle (line 12)