Questões de Inglês - Vocabulary - Idiomatic expressions
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Discoveries of aquifers — underground earth formations that hold water — often create excitement around their ability to ease water scarcity in a region. The United States recently announced the discovery of five aquifers in Niger, one of Africa’s most water scarce countries, containing over 600 billion cubic metres of water. To put it into perspective, Egypt’s current water demand is 114 billion cubic metres of water per year.
These are welcome announcements. Due to a changing climate and the increasing demands of a growing population, many of Africa’s surface water resources — such as dams and rivers — are facing serious risks. They’re being overused and slowly decreasing.
Alternative water sources, like aquifers, need to be explored. They are highly prevalent across the African continent, but they’re not always going to help address water scarcity. For instance, early research findings deemed Kenya’s Turkana aquifer water unfit for use due to high salinity. It’s important to bear these challenges in mind so that expectations can be managed. It is also useful for planners and governments, as they need to think of other ways around the water scarcity problem.
(Gaathier Mahed. https://theconversation.com, 21.03.2023. Adaptado.)
In the excerpt from the first paragraph “To put it into perspective, Egypt’s current water demand is 114 billion cubic metres of water per year”, the underlined expression means to
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Some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) researchers are calling for a pause on research into AI, claiming that safety issues must first be urgently addressed. If not, the outcomes could be devastating for humanity. Others say any pause in development would not only be impractical to enforce on a global scale, but could also stand in the way of advances that could both improve and save lives.
The AI that is currently available already has the power to radically alter society, in new ways that we are seeing every day. So how might it progress over the coming years? Are we on the brink of an artificial intelligence-powered utopia or dystopia?
Firstly, technology has been automating jobs since the Industrial Revolution, though never before has it happened on this scale. Everyone from truck drivers to voice over artists are at risk of being replaced by AI. A recent study found that just over 30 jobs are considered safe from automation in the near future. They range from mechanics to athletes, though they represent just a sliver of the current labour market. While new jobs will be created, there is a significant chance that the majority of the population will be left jobless. This could either lead to:
Utopia: A new leisure class emerges, living off a universal basic income funded by taxes on robots and the companies that operate them.
Dystopia: Mass unemployment results in social unrest, similar to the way laid off factory workers trashed the machines that replaced them. With so many jobs at risk and the potential for huge wealth inequality, some fear it could ultimately result in societal collapse.
Secondly, artificial intelligence is already contributing to major scientific advances, dramatically accelerating the time it takes to make discoveries. It has been used to invent millions of materials that did not previously exist, find potential drug molecules 1,000 times faster than previous methods, and improve our understanding of the universe. This could either lead to:
Utopia: Cancer and all other life-threatening diseases are cured, leading to a new age of health and prosperity. Scientists are already using AI tools to make breakthroughs in longevity medicine, which aims to end or even reverse ageing.
Dystopia: The same AI-enabled technology could be used for malevolent purposes, creating entirely new diseases and viruses. These could be used as bioweapons, capable of devastating populations that don’t have access to cures or the tech needed to develop them.
(Anthony Cuthbertson. www.independent.co.uk, 03.05.2023. Adaptado.)
No contexto apresentado pelo texto, a frase que indica uma situação hipotética é:
THE BENEFITS OF SLOWING DOWN
Hustle culture uses speed as a measure of performance. How fast can you ship a new feature? How many
prospective clients can you call in an hour? How much of your day can you devote to work? If you’re not
fast, are you even being productive? This harmful mindset results in burnout, poor decision-making and
bad communication.
[5] It may seem counterintuitive, but slowing down can be a faster way to achieve your goals. Fighting our
urge to live and work faster can lead to clearer thinking, deeper connections and better mental health. The
illusory imperative to keep up with everyone else is hurting us. Faster is not always better – far from it. By
slowing down, you can build three key pillars to rely on in your life and work.
When we focus on speed, we may blindly follow a path that may not be the most efficient one to reach our
[10] goals – whether it’s a path dictated by others, or one that seems the most obvious. Slowing down allows us
to be more intentional when making decisions and executing our plans.
Being fast allows us to do more. But “doing more” does not equal “doing what’s best”. Doing things slower
means we can achieve a substantial increase in positive results, and even sometimes in the experience
itself. Would you design a more polished feature if you had two days, or if you had two weeks? Would
[15] you enjoy a landscape better if you are driving over the speed limit, or if you are taking a leisurely walk?
Would you learn more about a friend if you had a quick chat or a long conversation? Of course, we may
not always have the luxury of slowness, but we should make a conscious effort to question artificial time
constraints.
Consistent effort over time is more sustainable than pushing your limits to work as fast as possible. To do
[20] our best work, we need mental downtime, space for self-reflection, and a realistic schedule we can actually
keep up with.
Overall, slowing down will help you make better decisions, connect deeper with people, have more
meaningful experiences, all while improving your mental well-being by avoiding burnout. You may go
slower, but you will go further.
[25] Whatever area of your life you are targeting, making space for self-reflection is crucial. Helpful methods
to slow down include journaling, meditation and taking breaks. Speed may sometimes be a goal in and of
itself, but it should be an intentional goal rather than an automatic need to “keep up” with others.
An easy trick to slow down is to ask “Why the rush?” and to take a step back. Is speed really adding to the
quality of the output?
ANNE-LAURE LE CUNFF Adaptado de nesslabs.com.
Helpful methods to slow down include journaling, (l. 25-26)
The underlined word may be substituted, without significant change in meaning, by the words below:
This text refers to question.
Pelé
Pelé, the nickname of the late football legend, has officially entered the dictionary as a synonym for ‘unique’.
Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, died in December aged 82.
He was the only player to have won the World Cup three times, and is widely considered to be the best footballer in history.
The Portuguese-language Michael’s dictionary, one of the most popular in Brazil, added “pelé” as a new adjective to its online edition.
The inclusion came after a campaign by the Pelé Foundation to honour the football star gathered more than 125,000 signatures.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cril0ZdNtOa/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng
Pouca gente associa o Edson Arantes do Nascimento a uma imagem ou mesmo a um tema. Ao ouvir ou ver o nome Pelé, entretanto, o mundo passou a vinculá-lo imediatamente ao esporte mais conhecido do planeta: o futebol. Declará-lo, portanto, como o rei do futebol tornou-se comum. O texto da BBC de Londres vai além. Afirma que o termo Pelé, por intermédio do dicionário Michaellis, assume um outro significado.
O novo significado para Pelé é
Match the words according to their synonyms:
1 – strong ( ) clever
2 – hungry ( ) powerful
3 – gorgeous ( ) beautiful
4 – intelligent ( ) starving
Leia o pôster de uma campanha do grupo “Dementia Together Northern Ireland” para responder à questão.
(www.publichealth.hscni, 20.01.2017.)
In the excerpt “you can help to support them”, the underlined word can be replaced, without meaning change, by
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