De acordo com os dois últimos parágrafos do texto,
Leia o texto para responder à questão.
Do fat people stay warmer than thin people?
Pack on some extra pounds for winter
By Daniel Engber
01.02.2014
At the yearly Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia,
participants often smear their bodies with animal fat for
insulation against the 70-degree water. But their own body fat
also helps to keep them warm, like an extra layer of clothing
beneath the skin. When scientists studied aspects of the event in
2006, they found that swimmers with a greater body mass index
(BMI) appear to be at much lower risk of getting hypothermia.
The same effect has been demonstrated in hospitals
where patients who’ve suffered cardiac arrest are treated
with “therapeutic hypothermia” to stave off brain injury and
inflammation. Studies have shown that it takes longer to induce
hypothermia in obese patients than in their leaner counterparts.
The extra fat seems to insulate the body’s core.
Under certain conditions, though, overweight people might
feel colder than people of average weight. That’s because the
brain combines two signals — the temperature inside the body
and the temperature on the surface of the skin — to determine
when it’s time to constrict blood vessels (which limits heat loss
through the skin) and trigger shivering (which generates heat).
And since subcutaneous fat traps heat, an obese person’s core
will tend to remain warm while his or her skin cools down.
According to Catherine O’Brien, a research physiologist with
the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, it’s
possible that the lower skin temperature would give fatter people
the sense of being colder overall.
But O’Brien points out that many other factors beyond
subcutaneous fat help determine the rate at which we chill.
Smaller people, who have more surface area compared to the
total volume of their bodies, lose heat more quickly. (It’s often
said that women feel colder than men; average body size may
play a part.) A more muscular physique may also offer some
protection against hypothermia, partly because muscle tissue
generates lots of heat. “We have a joke around here that the
person who’s best-suited for cold is fit and fat,” says O’Brien.
(www.popsci.com)
Leia o texto para responder à questão.
Do fat people stay warmer than thin people?
Pack on some extra pounds for winter
By Daniel Engber
01.02.2014
At the yearly Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia, participants often smear their bodies with animal fat for insulation against the 70-degree water. But their own body fat also helps to keep them warm, like an extra layer of clothing beneath the skin. When scientists studied aspects of the event in 2006, they found that swimmers with a greater body mass index (BMI) appear to be at much lower risk of getting hypothermia.
The same effect has been demonstrated in hospitals where patients who’ve suffered cardiac arrest are treated with “therapeutic hypothermia” to stave off brain injury and inflammation. Studies have shown that it takes longer to induce hypothermia in obese patients than in their leaner counterparts. The extra fat seems to insulate the body’s core.
Under certain conditions, though, overweight people might feel colder than people of average weight. That’s because the brain combines two signals — the temperature inside the body and the temperature on the surface of the skin — to determine when it’s time to constrict blood vessels (which limits heat loss through the skin) and trigger shivering (which generates heat). And since subcutaneous fat traps heat, an obese person’s core will tend to remain warm while his or her skin cools down. According to Catherine O’Brien, a research physiologist with the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, it’s possible that the lower skin temperature would give fatter people the sense of being colder overall.
But O’Brien points out that many other factors beyond subcutaneous fat help determine the rate at which we chill. Smaller people, who have more surface area compared to the total volume of their bodies, lose heat more quickly. (It’s often said that women feel colder than men; average body size may play a part.) A more muscular physique may also offer some protection against hypothermia, partly because muscle tissue generates lots of heat. “We have a joke around here that the person who’s best-suited for cold is fit and fat,” says O’Brien.
(www.popsci.com)
Gabarito comentado
Comentário do Gabarito – Interpretação de Texto (Reading Comprehension – Vestibular)
Tema central: O texto aborda como o corpo humano reage ao frio de acordo com características físicas como gordura, massa muscular e tamanho corporal. A questão exige identificar, nos dois últimos parágrafos, o processo fisiológico relacionado à sensação de frio e regulação de calor.
Estratégias de leitura e interpretação usadas:
- Skimming: Identificar rapidamente que o texto discute a relação entre gordura corporal e resistência ao frio.
- Scanning: Procurar por palavras-chave como "brain," "shivering," "constrict blood vessels," e “muscle tissue”.
- Inferência contextual: Entender que a decisão do corpo de tremer/gerar calor é mediada pelo cérebro.
Justificativa da alternativa correta (E): O texto diz: “the brain combines two signals […] to determine when it’s time to constrict blood vessels […] and trigger shivering (which generates heat).” Isso confirma que o cérebro determina o momento de iniciar o tremor, o que gera calor. Assim, a alternativa E está totalmente alinhada com o texto.
Análise das alternativas incorretas:
- A) Erro: O texto não afirma que pessoas acima do peso necessariamente sentem mais frio; ele diz que podem perceber a pele mais fria, mas o núcleo do corpo continua aquecido.
- B) Erro: O texto diz que o ideal é ser “fit and fat”, mostrando que a melhor combinação é entre massa muscular e gordura, não só pessoas em forma.
- C) Erro: A diferença da sensação térmica entre homens e mulheres é atribuída no texto ao tamanho corporal médio e área de superfície, não à taxa de gordura subcutânea.
- D) Erro conceitual: Contração dos vasos diminui a perda de calor, não aumenta, invertendo o processo fisiológico citado.
Pegadinhas e Dicas: Atenção à inversão de causa e efeito (como em D); não confunda a sensação de frio na pele com temperatura do corpo inteiro (erro de A); cuidado com generalizações ou interpretações que vão além do que o texto afirma.
Essas estratégias fazem parte dos maiores manuais de preparação para provas de inglês, como Celso Ferreira/Paschoal (Interpretando Textos), que reforçam a importância de localizar informação específica e evitar inferências não sustentadas.
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