Questõessobre Grau dos adjetivos | Adjective degrees

Read the Text 2 and answer the questions from 46 to 50.
TEXT 2  
                                                  Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power
Sergei Supinsky: This storage facility near the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant currently houses nuclear waste. What's nuclear power's biggest advantage? It doesn't depend on fossil fuels and isn't affected by fluctuating oil and gas prices. Coal and natural gas power plants emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change. With nuclear power plants, CO2 emissions are minimal. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the power produced by the world's nuclear plants would normally produce 2 billion metric tons of CO2 per year if they depended on fossil fuels. In fact, a properly functioning nuclear power plant actually releases less radioactivity into the atmosphere than a coal-fired power plant. Plus, all this comes with a far lighter fuel requirement. Nuclear fission produces roughly a million times more energy per unit weight than fossil fuel alternatives. And then there are the negatives. Historically, mining and purifying uranium hasn't been a very clean process. Even transporting nuclear fuel to and from plants poses a contamination risk. And once the fuel is spent, you can't just throw it in the city dump. It's still radioactive and potentially deadly. On average, a nuclear power plant annually generates 20 metric tons of used nuclear fuel, classified as high-level radioactive waste. When you take into account every nuclear plant on Earth, the combined total climbs to roughly 2,000 metric tons a year. All of this waste emits radiation and heat, meaning that it will eventually corrode any container that holds it. It can also prove lethal to nearby life forms. As if this weren't bad enough, nuclear power plants produce a great deal of low-level radioactive waste in the form of radiated parts and equipment. Over time, spent nuclear fuel decays to safe radioactive levels, but this process takes tens of thousands of years. Even low-level radioactive waste requires centuries to reach acceptable levels. Currently, the nuclear industry lets waste cool for years before mixing it with glass and storing it in massive cooled, concrete structures. This waste has to be maintained, monitored and guarded to prevent the materials from falling into the wrong hands. All of these services and added materials cost money -- on top of the high costs required to build a plant. Disponível em: Acesso em: abr. 2011.  

Are social networking sites addictive?

¹With the increasing popularity of wireless devices like smartphones — devices that can move lots of data very quickly — users have access to their social networks 24 hours a day. Most social networking sites have developed applications for your mobile phone, so logging on is always convenient. Social networks also tap into our human desire to stay connected with others. Besides, the rush of nostalgia as you connect with your former grade-school classmate on Facebook can be quite heady and exciting.

²But what's the main reason we find these sites so addictive? Plain old narcissism. We broadcast our personalities online whenever we publish a thought, photo, YouTube video or answer one of those “25 Things About Me" memes. We put that information out there so people will respond and connect to us. And being part of a social network is sort of like having your own entourage that follows you everywhere, commenting on and applauding everything you do. It's very seductive.

³In 2008, researchers at the University of Georgia studied the correlation between narcissism and Facebook users. Unsurprisingly, they found that the more “friends" and wall posts a user had, the more narcissistic he or she was. They noted that narcissistic people use Facebook in a selfpromoting way, rather than in a connective way. It may be an obvious theory, but it also suggests that social networks bring out the narcissist in all of us.

⁴Social networks are also a voyeuristic experience for many users. Following exchanges on Twitter or posts on Facebook and MySpace are akin to eavesdropping on someone else's conversation. It's entertaining and allows you to feel like a “fly on the wall" in someone else's life.

⁵Social networking sites also publicly list your “friends" or “followers" — giving you instant status. How many people do you know online who spend all their time trying to get more friends, more followers, more testimonials? We work hard in real life to elevate our statuses, make friends and search out boosters for our self-esteem. Online social networking provides this to us, and we don't even have to change out of our sweatshirts to get it.

(adapted from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/socialnetworking/information/social-networking-sites-addictive2.htm)

Glossary

addictive: viciante; tap into: explorar/tirar proveito; broadcast: anunciar; entourage: comitiva/séquito; akin to eavesdropping: parecido com bisbilhotar; booster: aquilo que impulsiona; sweatshirts: camisetas

TEXT 1

                             Brazil turns to drones to protect Amazon
                  By Joe Leahy in Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso. April 21,2014.

       Brazilian municipalities are turning to drones as they prepare to implement a tough new law designed to save the Amazon from total deforestation.
      Municipal authorities in the Amazon region, ...........1 ............. of which covers double the size of Scotland, are looking to use drones to map properties and monitor whether farmers and others are maintaining the minimum of forest cover required under the new forest code.
     “With the acquisition of a drone, we would have a better result, we would have a panoramic view of how this process of recuperation is progressing," said Gercilene Meira, a specialist with the state   environmental secretariat in the municipality of Alta Floresta, in Mato Grosso state. “We have done some tests using balloons but it was not sufficient."
      Passed in 2012, Brazil's forest code was hailed as a breakthrough in the country's efforts to protect the Amazon while maintaining its emergence as an agricultural power. It is already one of ...........2 ............. exporters of sugar, coffee, soya beans and beef.
      The law requires farmers in the Amazon to preserve up to 80 per cent of the forest on their land as well as protect springs and rivers. Those who violated previous restrictions on deforestation are required
to recuperate parts of the lost vegetation on their lands.
      The need for the new law was highlighted last year, when deforestation of the Amazon increased for the first time in several years.

                                                                                                                             Adapted from Financial Times

As questões de 4 a 6 referem-se às imagens e aos textos abaixo.



Texto A
Society has always used punishment to discourage would-be criminals from unlawful action. Since society has
the highest interest in preventing murder, it should use the strongest punishment available to deter murder, and
that is the death penalty. If murderers are sentenced to death and executed, potential murderers will think twice
before killing for fear of losing their own life.
The death penalty certainly "deters" the murderer who is executed. Strictly speaking, this is a form of
incapacitation, similar to the way a robber put in prison is prevented from robbing on the streets. Both as a
deterrent and as a form of permanent incapacitation, the death penalty helps to prevent future crime.

Disponível em: . Acesso em: 20 ago. 2010. (Adaptado).

Texto B
Before I get into comedic related issues, a quick statement on the death penalty (due to some Facebook chatter
on my page). I am against the death penalty in all cases. The recent revelation in Texas that an innocent man
was executed for arson and capital murder in 2004 for allegedly setting fire to his home, which killed his two
young children should be huge news. Can you imagine the man’s anguish (he never pleaded guilty)? But I am
against it even when the person is actually guilty (yes even if DNA and videotape corroborate it). I think it is
barbaric. China, parts of the Middle East and the U.S. are the world’s executors. No one else I believe.

Disponível em: . Acesso em: 20 ago. 2010. (Adaptado).

        Text 2

01    Take a dive with hundreds of tropical fish, colorful coral and the world's biggest fish, the
        whale shark, at unspoilt Ningaloo Reef.
        The reef on Western Australia's mid north coast, has gained an impressive reputation as
        one of Earth's last ocean paradise.
05    It's one of the largest fringing reefs in the world and unlike many others; you can get to it
        just by stepping off the beach.
        The marine park stretches 260 kilometers from Bundegi Reef near the town of Exmouth to
        Amherst Point near Coral Bay in the south.
        It reaches nearly 20 kilometers seaward, encompassing a massive 5,000 square
10    kilometers of ocean with 500 species of tropical fish and 220 species of coral in all.
        Nothing can compare to the thrill of swimming beside a whale shark. These docile
        creatures visit the reef each year between April and June.
        Rare turtle species hatch here in late January and February. Watch this amazing natural
        phenomenon on special guided, eco-interactive trails.
15    Accommodation in the area is comfortable and ranges from camping and backpacker style
        to chalets, motels, eco-retreats and self catering apartments.
        It's not all about the water at Ningaloo - go four wheel driving to Cape Range National
        Park to see amazing red rock canyons and gorges.
        Getting there is easy - take a two hour flight north of Perth, or give yourself two days to
        drive there from the capital.
        (www.westernaustralia.com)

According to Text 2, answer the questions below: