Choose the letter that best defines the phrase bygone times in the passage.
TEXT 2
Gabriel García Márquez was a Literary Giant
With a Passion for Journalism
By Karla Zabludovsky Friday, April 18,2014
The late Gabriel García Márquez holds a special place in the hearts of journalists.
Like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway — or contemporaries like Pete Hamill and Tom Wolfe — García Márquez, a titan of 20th century literature, honed his writing skills as a reporter
before he became a celebrated novelist.
Even as his literary star rose, García Márquez, known colloquially across Latin America as Gabo, spoke proudly, tenderly and frequently about journalism.
“Those who are self-taught are avid and quick, and during those bygone times, we were that to a great extent in order to keep paving the way for the best profession in the world… as we ourselves called
it," said García Márquez during a speech about journalism at the 52nd Assembly of the Inter American Press Association in 1996.
Newsweek Magazine
Gabriel García Márquez was a Literary Giant
With a Passion for Journalism
By Karla Zabludovsky Friday, April 18,2014
The late Gabriel García Márquez holds a special place in the hearts of journalists.
Like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway — or contemporaries like Pete Hamill and Tom Wolfe — García Márquez, a titan of 20th century literature, honed his writing skills as a reporter
before he became a celebrated novelist.
Even as his literary star rose, García Márquez, known colloquially across Latin America as Gabo, spoke proudly, tenderly and frequently about journalism.
“Those who are self-taught are avid and quick, and during those bygone times, we were that to a great extent in order to keep paving the way for the best profession in the world… as we ourselves called
it," said García Márquez during a speech about journalism at the 52nd Assembly of the Inter American Press Association in 1996.
Newsweek Magazine
Gabarito comentado
Resposta correta: C
Tema central: vocabulário em contexto — interpretar o sentido de uma expressão (here, bygone times) a partir do texto. Isso é essencial em provas de reading comprehension: saber inferir significado por pistas lexicais e contextuais.
Resumo teórico: palavras e expressões podem ser entendidas por (1) significado lexical (dicionário), (2) contexto imediato (frases ao redor) e (3) morfologia/etimologia. Ferramentas úteis: procurar sinônimos, antonímos e palavras associadas. Dicionários como Merriam‑Webster definem bygone como “belonging to an earlier time; past” (ou seja, algo do passado).
Justificativa da alternativa C (a period time in the past): o trecho diz “during those bygone times, we were that to a great extent…”, indicando claramente um período anterior à fala — um tempo no passado. Assim, C descreve corretamente “a period of time in the past” (mesmo faltando a preposição “of”, o sentido é esse).
Análise das alternativas incorretas:
- A – by the present time: indica “até o presente”, oposto de “bygone” (passado).
- B – occurring at this time: refere‑se ao presente; incompatível com “those … times” (tempos anteriores).
- D – a short time ago: traz a ideia de passado recente; bygone normalmente remete a um passado mais remoto/anterioso, não necessariamente “há pouco”.
- E – most recent time: também indica o mais recente, contradizendo a ideia de “tempos passados” mais distantes.
Estratégias práticas para provas: (1) Leia a frase inteira buscando pistas temporais (“during”, “those”); (2) compare alternativas que indiquem presente vs. passado; (3) desconfie de respostas que só mudam um advérbio (“recent” vs “past”) — verifique concordância com o contexto.
Fonte rápida: definição de “bygone” — Merriam‑Webster: “of an earlier time; former” (ou seja, pertencente a um tempo passado).
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