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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2017 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

What does Yunus mean by “Poor people are like a bonsai tree”?

Read the following interview to answer question.


Giving Capitalism a Social Conscience
David Bornstein


    For more than 40 years, Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi founder of the Grameen Bank and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, has been asserting that the most powerful way to eradicate poverty is to unleash the untapped entrepreneurial capacity of people everywhere. “Poverty is not created by poor people,” he says. “It’s created by the system we built. Poor people are like a bonsai tree. You take the best seed from the tallest tree in the forest, but if you put it in a flower pot to grow, it grows only a meter high. There’s nothing wrong with the seed. The problem is the size of the pot. Society doesn’t give poor people the space to grow as tall as everybody else. This is the crux of the matter.”
    Yunus has recently written a new book, “A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions,” in which he argues that capitalism is in crisis and remains moored in a flawed conception of human motivation. He proposes a far more robust role in the economy for “social businesses,” which he defines as “non-dividend” companies “dedicated to solving human problems.”
    At 77, Yunus shows no signs of slowing down. He reports on an astonishing array of work he has been involved in — supporting and codeveloping social businesses (often in partnership with large corporations) in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, France, Haiti, India, Japan, Uganda and numerous other countries.
    “We need to abandon our unquestioning faith in the power of personal-profit-centered markets to solve all problems and confess that the problems of inequality are not going to be solved by the natural working of the economy as it is currently structured,” Yunus writes.
    “This is not a comfortable situation for anyone, including those who are on top of the social heap at any given time. Do the wealthy and powerful … like having to avert their eyes from the homeless and hungry people they pass on the street? Do they enjoy using the tools of the state — including its police powers and other forms of coercion — to suppress the inevitable protests mounted by those on the bottom? Do they really want their own children and grandchildren to inherit this kind of world?”

Fonte: New York Times. Publicado em 10/10/2017. Disponível em: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/ opinion/giving-capitalism-a-social-conscience.html . Acesso em 06/11/2017. [Excerpt]

A
Poor people do not get enough opportunities to improve in their lives.
B
People with lower incomes are likely to become smaller than the other citizens.
C
Rich and poor people should grow the same bonsai trees.
D
The bonsai seeds are all from good sources.
E
Society should offer larger rooms for poor people to live.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2017 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Which of the statements below is FALSE according to the text above?

Read the following interview to answer question.


Drugs and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro:
Trafficking, Social Networks, and Public Security


INTRODUCTION: Thinking about Social Violence in Brazil


    Recently, drug traffickers based in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas have attacked government buildings, bombed buses, and successfully ordered widespread business closings. Over the past decade, murder rates have averaged 50 per 100,000, in line with the most violent U.S. cities, and overall rates may actually be even higher as a result of increasing rates of disappearances. In poor districts, murder rates can exceed 150 per 100,000 inhabitants. Indeed, riding this wave of criminal and police violence, human rights abuse has increased in Brazil since its transition to democracy two decades ago.
Fonte: ARIAS, Enrique Desmond. Drugs and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro: Trafficking, Social Networks, and Public Security. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. Disponível em: www.jstor. org/stable/10.5149/9780807877371_arias. Acesso em 06/11/2017. [Introduction: p. 1-17]
A
The book is about violence in Brazil.
B
Drug traffickers have done a lot of harm to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
C
The transition to Democracy started 20 years before 2006 in Brazil.
D
Government members were successful in closing business buildings.
E
Some public transport was destroyed by drug traffickers in Rio.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2017 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

It is correct to say that in the last paragraph, Yunus words are:

Read the following interview to answer question.


Giving Capitalism a Social Conscience
David Bornstein


    For more than 40 years, Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi founder of the Grameen Bank and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, has been asserting that the most powerful way to eradicate poverty is to unleash the untapped entrepreneurial capacity of people everywhere. “Poverty is not created by poor people,” he says. “It’s created by the system we built. Poor people are like a bonsai tree. You take the best seed from the tallest tree in the forest, but if you put it in a flower pot to grow, it grows only a meter high. There’s nothing wrong with the seed. The problem is the size of the pot. Society doesn’t give poor people the space to grow as tall as everybody else. This is the crux of the matter.”
    Yunus has recently written a new book, “A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions,” in which he argues that capitalism is in crisis and remains moored in a flawed conception of human motivation. He proposes a far more robust role in the economy for “social businesses,” which he defines as “non-dividend” companies “dedicated to solving human problems.”
    At 77, Yunus shows no signs of slowing down. He reports on an astonishing array of work he has been involved in — supporting and codeveloping social businesses (often in partnership with large corporations) in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, France, Haiti, India, Japan, Uganda and numerous other countries.
    “We need to abandon our unquestioning faith in the power of personal-profit-centered markets to solve all problems and confess that the problems of inequality are not going to be solved by the natural working of the economy as it is currently structured,” Yunus writes.
    “This is not a comfortable situation for anyone, including those who are on top of the social heap at any given time. Do the wealthy and powerful … like having to avert their eyes from the homeless and hungry people they pass on the street? Do they enjoy using the tools of the state — including its police powers and other forms of coercion — to suppress the inevitable protests mounted by those on the bottom? Do they really want their own children and grandchildren to inherit this kind of world?”

Fonte: New York Times. Publicado em 10/10/2017. Disponível em: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/ opinion/giving-capitalism-a-social-conscience.html . Acesso em 06/11/2017. [Excerpt]

A
Amazing
B
Outrageous
C
Frightening
D
Surprising
E
Provocative
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2017 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Examine the following cartoon to answer question.




According to the cartoon, the creation of a better world only makes sense if


A
Sustainability is one among the items mentioned.
B
Global warming is not a fraud.
C
People really care about climate summit.
D
Rainforests are preserved by all citizens.
E
There are not so many items on the hoax list.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2017 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the text, it is possible to imply that:

Read the following interview to answer question.


Drugs and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro:
Trafficking, Social Networks, and Public Security


INTRODUCTION: Thinking about Social Violence in Brazil


    Recently, drug traffickers based in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas have attacked government buildings, bombed buses, and successfully ordered widespread business closings. Over the past decade, murder rates have averaged 50 per 100,000, in line with the most violent U.S. cities, and overall rates may actually be even higher as a result of increasing rates of disappearances. In poor districts, murder rates can exceed 150 per 100,000 inhabitants. Indeed, riding this wave of criminal and police violence, human rights abuse has increased in Brazil since its transition to democracy two decades ago.
Fonte: ARIAS, Enrique Desmond. Drugs and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro: Trafficking, Social Networks, and Public Security. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. Disponível em: www.jstor. org/stable/10.5149/9780807877371_arias. Acesso em 06/11/2017. [Introduction: p. 1-17]
A
More people have been killed in the USA than in Brazil.
B
The poorer the population is, the higher the murder rates get.
C
There is no comparison in terms of murder rates mentioned in this book.
D
The more people die in Rio, the more they are killed in the USA.
E
Fewer rates of disappearances have been reported in Rio de Janeiro.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The ad on the left, produced by the Agency DDB, Paris, was considered one of the best print ads 2012-2013 and has earned it a Gold Lion. Read it and choose the alternative that best shows its main idea.
(Source: http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/advertising-branding/ worlds-best-print-ads-2012-13-150758#gold-lion-anlci-1-of-6-42)

A
The ad was designed to get users to be concerned about safety when buying a new car and they should make it a national fight.
B
The ad was created to call readers to join a national campaign and convince people to write more and sign a petition for it.
C
It is considered so good because it draws the lectors’ attention to the fact that the best products do not need a brand to be advertised.
D
It was produced to make readers realize that many people cannot read in France and to ask them to write a petition to tackle that issue.
E
It was made to support a National Agency to fight against literary illegal copying in France and to ask readers to sign a petition.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Based on the book review, it is correct to affirm about Chico Buarque that

Read the following text to answer question


Spilt Milk by Chico Buarque: review
A mishmash of influences gives rise to a vivid portrait of Brazil
Chico Buarque, bossanovista and novelist, whose latest book is ‘Spilt Milk’ Photo: Sipa Press / Rex Features


By Ian Thomson


Back in the Sixties, Brazil thrilled to a new dance beat called bossa nova. With its languid jazz tones, the music had a hushed intensity and underlying air of sadness. Chico Buarque, a leading bossanovistasongwriter and novelist, is revered in Brazil as a political hero. In 1968, he was imprisoned by the military for “counter-culture activities”.
Spilt Milk, Buarque’s fourth novel, displays a typically Brazilian mishmash of influences ranging from memoir to adventure to political diatribe. A crotchety old man, Eulálio d’Assumpção, lies moribund in a Rio de Janeiro hospital, musing on his life while lashing out at stenographers and “spiteful” orderlies. The food, we learn, reeks unpleasantly of garlic (“Wait till my mother finds out”).
Aged 150, he has come down in the world wretchedly. In pages of rambling monologue, the improbably old narrator describes the decline of his family over generations of Brazilian history. Amid sagas of political tribalism and grievous dictatorship, plantation-owning forebears have squandered fortunes on drink, drugs and armament deals. A souring smell of “spilt milk” hangs over the narrative as it twists round half-remembered family feuds and hatreds.
Along the way, Buarque paints an exceptionally vivid picture of Brazilian high society in the 1890s, with its German governesses, imported French clothes and Chopin waltzes. Though bedbound and drugged, Eulálio recalls the love of his life, Matilde, whose cinnamon-coloured skin and “Moorish eyes” had worked a fatal charm on him years ago. Where is she now? At first glance, Spilt Milk appears to be in narrative disarray, as the book wanders backwards and forwards in time. Eventually, though, the inchoate strands cohere into an absorbing, if bitter, meditation on Brazil.
Just as bossa nova had borrowed from samba and West Coast jazz, so Buarque borrows from Samuel Beckett, Gabriel García Marquez and others. In a now-famous book of 1928, Manifesto Antropófago, Brazil’s leading modernist poet Oswald de Andrade had defined Brazilian literature as anthropophagic, or cannibalistic, “eating” other forms of European and African writing. Spilt Milk, brocaded with a range of literary influences, conforms to the ideal beautifully.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/fictionreviews/9573627/Spilt-Milk-by-Chico-Buarque-review.html

A
he has been writing books and songs for more than three decades and although Spilt Milk is his fourth novel it is the first one in which he blends both his songwriting and political activity
B
bossa nova, Gabriel García Márquez and other writers inspired him to write Spilt Milk main characters and to define their inner values.
C
his previous political activities were paramount in endorsing him to collect his own recall and backing the main structure of the book.
D
he is infamous worldwide for his counter-culture anti-military service activities and is therefore accounted as a hero.
E
he has shown in his fourth novel a literary influence by writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and others.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Choose the statement that is true about the book review.

Read the following text to answer question


Spilt Milk by Chico Buarque: review
A mishmash of influences gives rise to a vivid portrait of Brazil
Chico Buarque, bossanovista and novelist, whose latest book is ‘Spilt Milk’ Photo: Sipa Press / Rex Features


By Ian Thomson


Back in the Sixties, Brazil thrilled to a new dance beat called bossa nova. With its languid jazz tones, the music had a hushed intensity and underlying air of sadness. Chico Buarque, a leading bossanovistasongwriter and novelist, is revered in Brazil as a political hero. In 1968, he was imprisoned by the military for “counter-culture activities”.
Spilt Milk, Buarque’s fourth novel, displays a typically Brazilian mishmash of influences ranging from memoir to adventure to political diatribe. A crotchety old man, Eulálio d’Assumpção, lies moribund in a Rio de Janeiro hospital, musing on his life while lashing out at stenographers and “spiteful” orderlies. The food, we learn, reeks unpleasantly of garlic (“Wait till my mother finds out”).
Aged 150, he has come down in the world wretchedly. In pages of rambling monologue, the improbably old narrator describes the decline of his family over generations of Brazilian history. Amid sagas of political tribalism and grievous dictatorship, plantation-owning forebears have squandered fortunes on drink, drugs and armament deals. A souring smell of “spilt milk” hangs over the narrative as it twists round half-remembered family feuds and hatreds.
Along the way, Buarque paints an exceptionally vivid picture of Brazilian high society in the 1890s, with its German governesses, imported French clothes and Chopin waltzes. Though bedbound and drugged, Eulálio recalls the love of his life, Matilde, whose cinnamon-coloured skin and “Moorish eyes” had worked a fatal charm on him years ago. Where is she now? At first glance, Spilt Milk appears to be in narrative disarray, as the book wanders backwards and forwards in time. Eventually, though, the inchoate strands cohere into an absorbing, if bitter, meditation on Brazil.
Just as bossa nova had borrowed from samba and West Coast jazz, so Buarque borrows from Samuel Beckett, Gabriel García Marquez and others. In a now-famous book of 1928, Manifesto Antropófago, Brazil’s leading modernist poet Oswald de Andrade had defined Brazilian literature as anthropophagic, or cannibalistic, “eating” other forms of European and African writing. Spilt Milk, brocaded with a range of literary influences, conforms to the ideal beautifully.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/fictionreviews/9573627/Spilt-Milk-by-Chico-Buarque-review.html

A
Spilt Milk narration is a blend of images and scents that portrays bossa nova borrowed influence from samba and West Coast jazz as well as its anthropophagic literature.
B
The backwards and forwards in time narrative helps the reader to paint an exceptionally vivid picture of Brazilian high society in 1890s.
C
It is Ian Thomson’s opinion that Spilt Milk originally seems to be a confusing narration and afterwards an engrossing meditation on Brazil.
D
The main character narrates his saga to a range of plantation-owning forebears, German governesses, Matilde and other family feuds and hatreds.
E
The book Spilt Milk displays cannibalistic forms of European and African writing together with a bitter meditation on Brazil through the bed-bound, drugged and fatal charm struck love.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The word ideal in the last sentence of the book review refers to

Read the following text to answer question


Spilt Milk by Chico Buarque: review
A mishmash of influences gives rise to a vivid portrait of Brazil
Chico Buarque, bossanovista and novelist, whose latest book is ‘Spilt Milk’ Photo: Sipa Press / Rex Features


By Ian Thomson


Back in the Sixties, Brazil thrilled to a new dance beat called bossa nova. With its languid jazz tones, the music had a hushed intensity and underlying air of sadness. Chico Buarque, a leading bossanovistasongwriter and novelist, is revered in Brazil as a political hero. In 1968, he was imprisoned by the military for “counter-culture activities”.
Spilt Milk, Buarque’s fourth novel, displays a typically Brazilian mishmash of influences ranging from memoir to adventure to political diatribe. A crotchety old man, Eulálio d’Assumpção, lies moribund in a Rio de Janeiro hospital, musing on his life while lashing out at stenographers and “spiteful” orderlies. The food, we learn, reeks unpleasantly of garlic (“Wait till my mother finds out”).
Aged 150, he has come down in the world wretchedly. In pages of rambling monologue, the improbably old narrator describes the decline of his family over generations of Brazilian history. Amid sagas of political tribalism and grievous dictatorship, plantation-owning forebears have squandered fortunes on drink, drugs and armament deals. A souring smell of “spilt milk” hangs over the narrative as it twists round half-remembered family feuds and hatreds.
Along the way, Buarque paints an exceptionally vivid picture of Brazilian high society in the 1890s, with its German governesses, imported French clothes and Chopin waltzes. Though bedbound and drugged, Eulálio recalls the love of his life, Matilde, whose cinnamon-coloured skin and “Moorish eyes” had worked a fatal charm on him years ago. Where is she now? At first glance, Spilt Milk appears to be in narrative disarray, as the book wanders backwards and forwards in time. Eventually, though, the inchoate strands cohere into an absorbing, if bitter, meditation on Brazil.
Just as bossa nova had borrowed from samba and West Coast jazz, so Buarque borrows from Samuel Beckett, Gabriel García Marquez and others. In a now-famous book of 1928, Manifesto Antropófago, Brazil’s leading modernist poet Oswald de Andrade had defined Brazilian literature as anthropophagic, or cannibalistic, “eating” other forms of European and African writing. Spilt Milk, brocaded with a range of literary influences, conforms to the ideal beautifully.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/fictionreviews/9573627/Spilt-Milk-by-Chico-Buarque-review.html

A
the definition of Brazilian literature in Manifesto Antropófago.
B
bossa nova relation to West Coast jazz.
C
the European and African writing.
D
Brazilian literature and the origin of bossa nova.
E
Samuel Beckett and Gabriel García Márquez’s major work.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2012 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Choose the alternative that best answers the question: Does the Machadian prose reflect any kind of social criticism?

Leia o texto a seguir e responda à questão.


A schematic summary would say as follows: At a founding time, romantic fiction saw the peculiarities of the Brazilian family life under the picturesque and the national identity signs, over which it laid some more or less feuilletonist fabling. The combination, in line with the needs of the young country, was very successful. Although irreverent, the emphasis on mirroring and its somewhat regressive accomplice character formed a positive sign on our particular traits. One generation later, Machado used in a different manner the same thematic, ideological, and aesthetic complexity, this time without the covering mists of local color and patriotic self-congratulation. The large Brazilian family was now observed from the point of view of the enlightened dependent, who was part of it and transformed it into a problem. This is a special system of relationships, with its own structure, resources and problems, which needed to be analyzed. Its difference was a sign of primitiveness, because the tacit measure of the dependent was the Rights of Man, which were effective, in principle, in other regions. The narrator’s fondness shifted to the heroine’s struggles against injustice, which was also portrayed in a feuilletonist fashion. As for the opposing side, it was inevitable that the conflict arrangement, as it developed from book to book, made more visible the negative traits of the landowner. These traits absorbed and reflected precisely, as a fault, the absurd lack of balance between the classes. Using the consequences of this very lack of balance, which gave no signs of internal regeneration, Machado invented the formula that would characterize his mature works and make him a great writer. He did not surrender to the easy delights of romantic picturesqueness. Likewise, he now renounced the unanimous fondness towards the moderate narrator and his good causes.
The new artistic device dealt indirectly with dependents’ frustrations and directly with their abandonment by landowners – the peripheral society incapable of integration resonated. The scope of the formal arrangement, which challenged the secular spirit’s superstitions, especially the trust in progress and in benevolence, is uncomfortable to this day. The insinuating personification of an elite narrator enviably civilized and deeply involved in oppressive relationships, which he arranges and judges himself, is a chess move that disarranges the narrative board, making the game more real. The process challenges readers in every line: it teaches them to think by themselves; to discuss not only the issues, but also their presentation; to consider the narrators and authorities – always the interested party – from a distance, even if they are eloquent; to doubt the civilizing and national commitment of the privileged, particularly in young countries, where this intention plays a major role; to feel an aversion to the imaginary consolations of romanticism, manipulated by the narrative authority to its own benefit. The process teaches, above all, that the combination of the cosmopolitan and the excluded spheres may be stable, without a feasible solution. This demonstration is a juicy one because it illustrates and examines the nation’s “delicious” mechanisms – to use the Machadian term – of the non-bourgeois reproduction of the bourgeois order. However, the demonstration is also universal to some extent, because globally, unlike what it seems, this reproduction is the rule, not the exception.
The heroines of the first novels are not very interesting because their precarious social status is distorted by the romantic cliché. Their vicissitudes, however, stress the antagonistic class traits, whose figure has literary originality. In the novels of the second phase, once the angle is inverted, it is the poor who appear in the subjective mirror of owners, where the prisms are either that of bourgeois individualism or of paternalistic domination, according to the selfish convenience impudence. The dependent becomes extraordinarily relevant in that light. They are portraits of the powerless that get no recognition for the value of work, no rights protected, and no compensation by divine providence. It is the social vacuum generated by modern slavery to freedom without possessions, another issue that, mutatis mutandis, lives on.
In the same line of advanced resonance of the primitiveness, notice how the extra bourgeois aspect of local issues works, and also the narrative relationship itself: at times it is only a shift in the rule; at times it is a movement in its own right, which escapes the dominating definitions and discovers unknown land. To give an idea, compare the part of authority in the definition and dissolution of characters, themselves or others; the relationships between personal separation and the experience of time, between command and insanity – often by the ones in charge; the extra scientific dimensions of science, with its authoritarian and sadistic roles; the overall difference that generates a point of view, etc. In this manner, Machadian fiction and the advanced literature of his time converged – both tried to release other realities under the bourgeois reality. As a mere indication, it is worth mentioning a few similarities, rather at random, in the innovative field, such as Dostoievski, Baudelaire, Henry James, Tchekov, Proust, Kafka, and Borges. Machado’s classical derivations are countless and have led critics to find his merit there, which hinders the understanding of the up-todateness and advanced character of his experimentation. 
A
No, it does not. Machado’s prose is just a reflection of the common romantic cliché.
B
Yes, it does. Machado is specially concerned with the effects of the lack of culture in the upper classes.
C
No, it does not. Machado is not cliché, but he is not concerned with providing a critical reflection on Brazilian society
D
Yes, it does. Machado is specially concerned with the non-bourgeois reproduction of the bourgeois order and the results of the movement from slavery to freedom without possessions.
E
No, it does not. Machado prose reflects the harmoniously structured Brazilian society.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2012 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

“These traits absorbed and reflected precisely, as a fault, the absurd lack of balance between the classes.” This statement taken from the text might be interpreted as:

Leia o texto a seguir e responda à questão.


A schematic summary would say as follows: At a founding time, romantic fiction saw the peculiarities of the Brazilian family life under the picturesque and the national identity signs, over which it laid some more or less feuilletonist fabling. The combination, in line with the needs of the young country, was very successful. Although irreverent, the emphasis on mirroring and its somewhat regressive accomplice character formed a positive sign on our particular traits. One generation later, Machado used in a different manner the same thematic, ideological, and aesthetic complexity, this time without the covering mists of local color and patriotic self-congratulation. The large Brazilian family was now observed from the point of view of the enlightened dependent, who was part of it and transformed it into a problem. This is a special system of relationships, with its own structure, resources and problems, which needed to be analyzed. Its difference was a sign of primitiveness, because the tacit measure of the dependent was the Rights of Man, which were effective, in principle, in other regions. The narrator’s fondness shifted to the heroine’s struggles against injustice, which was also portrayed in a feuilletonist fashion. As for the opposing side, it was inevitable that the conflict arrangement, as it developed from book to book, made more visible the negative traits of the landowner. These traits absorbed and reflected precisely, as a fault, the absurd lack of balance between the classes. Using the consequences of this very lack of balance, which gave no signs of internal regeneration, Machado invented the formula that would characterize his mature works and make him a great writer. He did not surrender to the easy delights of romantic picturesqueness. Likewise, he now renounced the unanimous fondness towards the moderate narrator and his good causes.
The new artistic device dealt indirectly with dependents’ frustrations and directly with their abandonment by landowners – the peripheral society incapable of integration resonated. The scope of the formal arrangement, which challenged the secular spirit’s superstitions, especially the trust in progress and in benevolence, is uncomfortable to this day. The insinuating personification of an elite narrator enviably civilized and deeply involved in oppressive relationships, which he arranges and judges himself, is a chess move that disarranges the narrative board, making the game more real. The process challenges readers in every line: it teaches them to think by themselves; to discuss not only the issues, but also their presentation; to consider the narrators and authorities – always the interested party – from a distance, even if they are eloquent; to doubt the civilizing and national commitment of the privileged, particularly in young countries, where this intention plays a major role; to feel an aversion to the imaginary consolations of romanticism, manipulated by the narrative authority to its own benefit. The process teaches, above all, that the combination of the cosmopolitan and the excluded spheres may be stable, without a feasible solution. This demonstration is a juicy one because it illustrates and examines the nation’s “delicious” mechanisms – to use the Machadian term – of the non-bourgeois reproduction of the bourgeois order. However, the demonstration is also universal to some extent, because globally, unlike what it seems, this reproduction is the rule, not the exception.
The heroines of the first novels are not very interesting because their precarious social status is distorted by the romantic cliché. Their vicissitudes, however, stress the antagonistic class traits, whose figure has literary originality. In the novels of the second phase, once the angle is inverted, it is the poor who appear in the subjective mirror of owners, where the prisms are either that of bourgeois individualism or of paternalistic domination, according to the selfish convenience impudence. The dependent becomes extraordinarily relevant in that light. They are portraits of the powerless that get no recognition for the value of work, no rights protected, and no compensation by divine providence. It is the social vacuum generated by modern slavery to freedom without possessions, another issue that, mutatis mutandis, lives on.
In the same line of advanced resonance of the primitiveness, notice how the extra bourgeois aspect of local issues works, and also the narrative relationship itself: at times it is only a shift in the rule; at times it is a movement in its own right, which escapes the dominating definitions and discovers unknown land. To give an idea, compare the part of authority in the definition and dissolution of characters, themselves or others; the relationships between personal separation and the experience of time, between command and insanity – often by the ones in charge; the extra scientific dimensions of science, with its authoritarian and sadistic roles; the overall difference that generates a point of view, etc. In this manner, Machadian fiction and the advanced literature of his time converged – both tried to release other realities under the bourgeois reality. As a mere indication, it is worth mentioning a few similarities, rather at random, in the innovative field, such as Dostoievski, Baudelaire, Henry James, Tchekov, Proust, Kafka, and Borges. Machado’s classical derivations are countless and have led critics to find his merit there, which hinders the understanding of the up-todateness and advanced character of his experimentation. 
A
The novels by Machado de Assis evaluate the good relationship between classes as a fault.
B
The relationship between classes will result in lack of balance.
C
The relationship between classes is portrayed as good and not faulty.
D
In Machado’s novels, the incredible lack of equilibrium between classes is considered negative.
E
In Machado’s novels, the balance of classes is something obvious
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2012 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

“The romantic fiction saw the peculiarities of the Brazilian family life under the picturesque and the national identity signs, over which it laid some more or less feuilletonist fabling”. By this proposition we could deduce that:

Leia o texto a seguir e responda à questão.


A schematic summary would say as follows: At a founding time, romantic fiction saw the peculiarities of the Brazilian family life under the picturesque and the national identity signs, over which it laid some more or less feuilletonist fabling. The combination, in line with the needs of the young country, was very successful. Although irreverent, the emphasis on mirroring and its somewhat regressive accomplice character formed a positive sign on our particular traits. One generation later, Machado used in a different manner the same thematic, ideological, and aesthetic complexity, this time without the covering mists of local color and patriotic self-congratulation. The large Brazilian family was now observed from the point of view of the enlightened dependent, who was part of it and transformed it into a problem. This is a special system of relationships, with its own structure, resources and problems, which needed to be analyzed. Its difference was a sign of primitiveness, because the tacit measure of the dependent was the Rights of Man, which were effective, in principle, in other regions. The narrator’s fondness shifted to the heroine’s struggles against injustice, which was also portrayed in a feuilletonist fashion. As for the opposing side, it was inevitable that the conflict arrangement, as it developed from book to book, made more visible the negative traits of the landowner. These traits absorbed and reflected precisely, as a fault, the absurd lack of balance between the classes. Using the consequences of this very lack of balance, which gave no signs of internal regeneration, Machado invented the formula that would characterize his mature works and make him a great writer. He did not surrender to the easy delights of romantic picturesqueness. Likewise, he now renounced the unanimous fondness towards the moderate narrator and his good causes.
The new artistic device dealt indirectly with dependents’ frustrations and directly with their abandonment by landowners – the peripheral society incapable of integration resonated. The scope of the formal arrangement, which challenged the secular spirit’s superstitions, especially the trust in progress and in benevolence, is uncomfortable to this day. The insinuating personification of an elite narrator enviably civilized and deeply involved in oppressive relationships, which he arranges and judges himself, is a chess move that disarranges the narrative board, making the game more real. The process challenges readers in every line: it teaches them to think by themselves; to discuss not only the issues, but also their presentation; to consider the narrators and authorities – always the interested party – from a distance, even if they are eloquent; to doubt the civilizing and national commitment of the privileged, particularly in young countries, where this intention plays a major role; to feel an aversion to the imaginary consolations of romanticism, manipulated by the narrative authority to its own benefit. The process teaches, above all, that the combination of the cosmopolitan and the excluded spheres may be stable, without a feasible solution. This demonstration is a juicy one because it illustrates and examines the nation’s “delicious” mechanisms – to use the Machadian term – of the non-bourgeois reproduction of the bourgeois order. However, the demonstration is also universal to some extent, because globally, unlike what it seems, this reproduction is the rule, not the exception.
The heroines of the first novels are not very interesting because their precarious social status is distorted by the romantic cliché. Their vicissitudes, however, stress the antagonistic class traits, whose figure has literary originality. In the novels of the second phase, once the angle is inverted, it is the poor who appear in the subjective mirror of owners, where the prisms are either that of bourgeois individualism or of paternalistic domination, according to the selfish convenience impudence. The dependent becomes extraordinarily relevant in that light. They are portraits of the powerless that get no recognition for the value of work, no rights protected, and no compensation by divine providence. It is the social vacuum generated by modern slavery to freedom without possessions, another issue that, mutatis mutandis, lives on.
In the same line of advanced resonance of the primitiveness, notice how the extra bourgeois aspect of local issues works, and also the narrative relationship itself: at times it is only a shift in the rule; at times it is a movement in its own right, which escapes the dominating definitions and discovers unknown land. To give an idea, compare the part of authority in the definition and dissolution of characters, themselves or others; the relationships between personal separation and the experience of time, between command and insanity – often by the ones in charge; the extra scientific dimensions of science, with its authoritarian and sadistic roles; the overall difference that generates a point of view, etc. In this manner, Machadian fiction and the advanced literature of his time converged – both tried to release other realities under the bourgeois reality. As a mere indication, it is worth mentioning a few similarities, rather at random, in the innovative field, such as Dostoievski, Baudelaire, Henry James, Tchekov, Proust, Kafka, and Borges. Machado’s classical derivations are countless and have led critics to find his merit there, which hinders the understanding of the up-todateness and advanced character of his experimentation. 
A
Romantic fiction portrayed Brazilian society in an objective fashion.
B
Brazilian romantic prose is based on European fables.
C
Romantic fiction does not take Brazilian family as a symbol of national identity.
D
Brazilian romantic prose portrays Brazilian family as European fables used to do and not as a symbol of national identity.
E
Romantic fiction takes the Brazilian family as a symbol of national identity by creating a more or less fictional family life.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2012 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the text, Machado de Assis’ prose might be considered different because:

Leia o texto a seguir e responda à questão.


A schematic summary would say as follows: At a founding time, romantic fiction saw the peculiarities of the Brazilian family life under the picturesque and the national identity signs, over which it laid some more or less feuilletonist fabling. The combination, in line with the needs of the young country, was very successful. Although irreverent, the emphasis on mirroring and its somewhat regressive accomplice character formed a positive sign on our particular traits. One generation later, Machado used in a different manner the same thematic, ideological, and aesthetic complexity, this time without the covering mists of local color and patriotic self-congratulation. The large Brazilian family was now observed from the point of view of the enlightened dependent, who was part of it and transformed it into a problem. This is a special system of relationships, with its own structure, resources and problems, which needed to be analyzed. Its difference was a sign of primitiveness, because the tacit measure of the dependent was the Rights of Man, which were effective, in principle, in other regions. The narrator’s fondness shifted to the heroine’s struggles against injustice, which was also portrayed in a feuilletonist fashion. As for the opposing side, it was inevitable that the conflict arrangement, as it developed from book to book, made more visible the negative traits of the landowner. These traits absorbed and reflected precisely, as a fault, the absurd lack of balance between the classes. Using the consequences of this very lack of balance, which gave no signs of internal regeneration, Machado invented the formula that would characterize his mature works and make him a great writer. He did not surrender to the easy delights of romantic picturesqueness. Likewise, he now renounced the unanimous fondness towards the moderate narrator and his good causes.
The new artistic device dealt indirectly with dependents’ frustrations and directly with their abandonment by landowners – the peripheral society incapable of integration resonated. The scope of the formal arrangement, which challenged the secular spirit’s superstitions, especially the trust in progress and in benevolence, is uncomfortable to this day. The insinuating personification of an elite narrator enviably civilized and deeply involved in oppressive relationships, which he arranges and judges himself, is a chess move that disarranges the narrative board, making the game more real. The process challenges readers in every line: it teaches them to think by themselves; to discuss not only the issues, but also their presentation; to consider the narrators and authorities – always the interested party – from a distance, even if they are eloquent; to doubt the civilizing and national commitment of the privileged, particularly in young countries, where this intention plays a major role; to feel an aversion to the imaginary consolations of romanticism, manipulated by the narrative authority to its own benefit. The process teaches, above all, that the combination of the cosmopolitan and the excluded spheres may be stable, without a feasible solution. This demonstration is a juicy one because it illustrates and examines the nation’s “delicious” mechanisms – to use the Machadian term – of the non-bourgeois reproduction of the bourgeois order. However, the demonstration is also universal to some extent, because globally, unlike what it seems, this reproduction is the rule, not the exception.
The heroines of the first novels are not very interesting because their precarious social status is distorted by the romantic cliché. Their vicissitudes, however, stress the antagonistic class traits, whose figure has literary originality. In the novels of the second phase, once the angle is inverted, it is the poor who appear in the subjective mirror of owners, where the prisms are either that of bourgeois individualism or of paternalistic domination, according to the selfish convenience impudence. The dependent becomes extraordinarily relevant in that light. They are portraits of the powerless that get no recognition for the value of work, no rights protected, and no compensation by divine providence. It is the social vacuum generated by modern slavery to freedom without possessions, another issue that, mutatis mutandis, lives on.
In the same line of advanced resonance of the primitiveness, notice how the extra bourgeois aspect of local issues works, and also the narrative relationship itself: at times it is only a shift in the rule; at times it is a movement in its own right, which escapes the dominating definitions and discovers unknown land. To give an idea, compare the part of authority in the definition and dissolution of characters, themselves or others; the relationships between personal separation and the experience of time, between command and insanity – often by the ones in charge; the extra scientific dimensions of science, with its authoritarian and sadistic roles; the overall difference that generates a point of view, etc. In this manner, Machadian fiction and the advanced literature of his time converged – both tried to release other realities under the bourgeois reality. As a mere indication, it is worth mentioning a few similarities, rather at random, in the innovative field, such as Dostoievski, Baudelaire, Henry James, Tchekov, Proust, Kafka, and Borges. Machado’s classical derivations are countless and have led critics to find his merit there, which hinders the understanding of the up-todateness and advanced character of his experimentation. 
A
It does not use Brazilian family as a theme in his novels.
B
It is deeply patriotic and makes the Brazilian family an example to be followed.
C
It goes deeper in the process of fabling Brazilian Family and makes no social criticism.
D
It uses the same thematic structure as earlier novels, but without the picturesque or the patriotic mist.
E
It portrays Brazilian family in the same fashion as earlier romantic fiction did.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2011 - Inglês - Sinônimos | Synonyms, Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Without loss of meaning, the word “ingrained” could be replaced by:

Read the following passage from “The Chicken”, by Clarice Lispector, and answer question.


“But when everyone was quiet in the house and seemed to have forgotten her, she puffed up with modest courage, the last traces of her great escape. She circled the tiled floor, her body advancing behind her head, as unhurried as if in an open field, although her small head betrayed her, darting back and forth in rapid vibrant movements, with the age-old fear of her species now ingrained. Once in a while, but ever more infrequently, she remembered how she had stood out against the sky on the roof edge ready to cry out. At such moments, she filled her lungs with the stuffy atmosphere of the kitchen and, had females been given the power to crow, she would not have crowed but would have felt much happier. Not even at those moments, however, did the expression on her empty head alter. In flight or in repose, when she gave birth or while pecking grain, hers was a chicken head, identical to that drawn at the beginning of time.”
A
fully fed
B
confined
C
firmly fixed
D
merely casual
E
indifferent
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the text, the chicken:

Read the following passage from “The Chicken”, by Clarice Lispector, and answer question.


“But when everyone was quiet in the house and seemed to have forgotten her, she puffed up with modest courage, the last traces of her great escape. She circled the tiled floor, her body advancing behind her head, as unhurried as if in an open field, although her small head betrayed her, darting back and forth in rapid vibrant movements, with the age-old fear of her species now ingrained. Once in a while, but ever more infrequently, she remembered how she had stood out against the sky on the roof edge ready to cry out. At such moments, she filled her lungs with the stuffy atmosphere of the kitchen and, had females been given the power to crow, she would not have crowed but would have felt much happier. Not even at those moments, however, did the expression on her empty head alter. In flight or in repose, when she gave birth or while pecking grain, hers was a chicken head, identical to that drawn at the beginning of time.”
A
suffers with the stuffy atmosphere of the kitchen and the impossibility to crow.
B
is a very special one because of her innocent colors and thirst for freedom.
C
still shows to be afraid of being caught when hastily circles around the kitchen
D
expresses her pleasure on having been free and sometimes makes new attempts to escape.
E
is an indistinguishable and inexpressive exemplar of a species that does not change.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Read the following extract from “The Chicken”, by Clarice Lispector, and answer question.


“The master of the house, reminding himself of the twofold necessity of sporadically engaging in sport and of getting the family some lunch, appeared resplendent in a pair of swimming trunks and resolved to follow the path traced by the chicken: in cautious leaps and bounds, he scaled the roof where the chicken, hesitant and tremulous, urgently decided on another route. The chase now intensified. From roof to roof, more than a block along the road was covered. Little accustomed to such a savage struggle for survival, the chicken had to decide for herself the paths she must follow without any assistance from her race. The man, however, was a natural hunter. And no matter how abject the prey, the cry of victory was in the air.”


According to the text, the father:

A
did not have any assistance from the chicken race to get his property back.
B
was going to swim when he saw the chicken escaping and decided to chase her.
C
as a professional hunter, would not have any trouble to catch the chicken.
D
has pursued the chicken in order to exercise and to bring food home.
E
was not used to be involved in violent disputes to feed the family.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The sentence “And no matter how abject the prey, the cry of victory was in the air” means that:

A
The man would celebrate victory independently of what was in dispute.
B
The man cried when realized that his victory was on an abject prey.
C
The man asked for God’s help and felt the abject atmosphere of victory.
D
The man would claim for even the most despicable victory
E
The man prayed, but felt abject to be victorious over a flying being.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Consider the two following passages: “For a second the waiter obliterated my view of the elderly gentleman” and “But now he was making another gesture”. They lead to the conclusion that the narrator:

Read the following passage of “The Dinner”, by Clarice Lispector, and answer question.


“I leaned over my meal, lost. When I finally managed to confront him from the depths of my pallid face, I observed that he, too, was leaning forward, his elbows resting on the table, his head between his hands. And obviously he could bear it no longer. His bushy eyebrows were touching. His food must have lodged just below his throat under the stress of his emotion, for when he was able to continue, he made a visible effort to swallow, dabbing his forehead with his napkin. I could bear it no longer, the meat on my plate was raw… and I really could not bear it another minute. But he – he was eating.

The waiter brought a bottle in a bucket of ice. I noted every detail without being capable of discrimination. The bottle was different, the waiter in tails, and the light haloed the robust head of Pluto which was now moving with curiosity, greedy and attentive. For a second the waiter obliterated my view of the elderly gentleman and I could only see his black coattails hovering over the table as he poured red wine into the glass and waited with ardent eyes – because here was a surely man who would tip generously, one of those elderly gentlemen who still command attention… and power. The elderly gentleman, who now seemed larger, confidently took a sip, lowered his glass, and sourly considered the taste in his mouth. He compressed his lips and smacked them with distaste, as if the good were also intolerable. I waited, the waiter waited, and we both leaned forward in suspense. Finally he made a grimace of approval. The waiter curved his shiny head in submission to the man’s words of thanks and went off with lowered head, while I sighed with relief.

He now mingled gulps of wine with the meat in his great mouth and his false teeth ponderously chewed while I observed him… in vain. Nothing more happened. The restaurant appeared to radiate with renewed intensity under the tinkling of glass and cutlery; in the brightly lit dome of the room the whispered conversation rose and fell in gentle waves; the woman in the large hat smiled with half closed eyes, looking slender and beautiful as the waiter carefully poured the wine into her glass. But now he was making another gesture.”


A
Is writing a book or article about other peoples’ reactions to strong emotions.
B
Had met Pluto several times before, in the same restaurant.
C
Is interested in the old man, for a reason that is not clear.
D
Is a detective paid to follow and observe the powerful Pluto.
E
Envies the great strength of an older man.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

“And obviously he could bear it no longer”. In this sentence, the pronoun “it” refers to:

Read the following passage of “The Dinner”, by Clarice Lispector, and answer question.


“I leaned over my meal, lost. When I finally managed to confront him from the depths of my pallid face, I observed that he, too, was leaning forward, his elbows resting on the table, his head between his hands. And obviously he could bear it no longer. His bushy eyebrows were touching. His food must have lodged just below his throat under the stress of his emotion, for when he was able to continue, he made a visible effort to swallow, dabbing his forehead with his napkin. I could bear it no longer, the meat on my plate was raw… and I really could not bear it another minute. But he – he was eating.

The waiter brought a bottle in a bucket of ice. I noted every detail without being capable of discrimination. The bottle was different, the waiter in tails, and the light haloed the robust head of Pluto which was now moving with curiosity, greedy and attentive. For a second the waiter obliterated my view of the elderly gentleman and I could only see his black coattails hovering over the table as he poured red wine into the glass and waited with ardent eyes – because here was a surely man who would tip generously, one of those elderly gentlemen who still command attention… and power. The elderly gentleman, who now seemed larger, confidently took a sip, lowered his glass, and sourly considered the taste in his mouth. He compressed his lips and smacked them with distaste, as if the good were also intolerable. I waited, the waiter waited, and we both leaned forward in suspense. Finally he made a grimace of approval. The waiter curved his shiny head in submission to the man’s words of thanks and went off with lowered head, while I sighed with relief.

He now mingled gulps of wine with the meat in his great mouth and his false teeth ponderously chewed while I observed him… in vain. Nothing more happened. The restaurant appeared to radiate with renewed intensity under the tinkling of glass and cutlery; in the brightly lit dome of the room the whispered conversation rose and fell in gentle waves; the woman in the large hat smiled with half closed eyes, looking slender and beautiful as the waiter carefully poured the wine into her glass. But now he was making another gesture.”


A
The opulent meal, especially the raw meat.
B
The tension of being observed by the narrator.
C
The necessity of eating, drinking and staying in the restaurant.
D
A very intense feeling that disturbed the act of eating.
E
The responsibility of being a powerful man.
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CÁSPER LÍBERO 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The sentence “while I observed him… in vain” suggests that the narrator:

Read the following passage of “The Dinner”, by Clarice Lispector, and answer question.


“I leaned over my meal, lost. When I finally managed to confront him from the depths of my pallid face, I observed that he, too, was leaning forward, his elbows resting on the table, his head between his hands. And obviously he could bear it no longer. His bushy eyebrows were touching. His food must have lodged just below his throat under the stress of his emotion, for when he was able to continue, he made a visible effort to swallow, dabbing his forehead with his napkin. I could bear it no longer, the meat on my plate was raw… and I really could not bear it another minute. But he – he was eating.

The waiter brought a bottle in a bucket of ice. I noted every detail without being capable of discrimination. The bottle was different, the waiter in tails, and the light haloed the robust head of Pluto which was now moving with curiosity, greedy and attentive. For a second the waiter obliterated my view of the elderly gentleman and I could only see his black coattails hovering over the table as he poured red wine into the glass and waited with ardent eyes – because here was a surely man who would tip generously, one of those elderly gentlemen who still command attention… and power. The elderly gentleman, who now seemed larger, confidently took a sip, lowered his glass, and sourly considered the taste in his mouth. He compressed his lips and smacked them with distaste, as if the good were also intolerable. I waited, the waiter waited, and we both leaned forward in suspense. Finally he made a grimace of approval. The waiter curved his shiny head in submission to the man’s words of thanks and went off with lowered head, while I sighed with relief.

He now mingled gulps of wine with the meat in his great mouth and his false teeth ponderously chewed while I observed him… in vain. Nothing more happened. The restaurant appeared to radiate with renewed intensity under the tinkling of glass and cutlery; in the brightly lit dome of the room the whispered conversation rose and fell in gentle waves; the woman in the large hat smiled with half closed eyes, looking slender and beautiful as the waiter carefully poured the wine into her glass. But now he was making another gesture.”


A
Could not get anything else about Pluto’s feelings.
B
Could bear it no longer, because nothing new was going on.
C
Could not find out Pluto’s real identity.
D
Was not capable of calling the gentleman’s attention.
E
Expected the elderly man to do something about his meal.