Questõesde MACKENZIE sobre Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

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MACKENZIE 2014 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The question that the promoters were asked and whose answer can be found in the phrase from $5.50 to $8.50 was probably:

The Rolling Stones Impose High Ticket Prices for U.S. Tour
“Is that a lot?” says Mick Jagger
By Jerry Hopkins November 15, 1969

Mick Jagger performing on stage circa 1969.

LOS ANGELES—The Rolling Stones have returned to the United States for their first tour in more than three years.

It begins with two evening shows at the Forum in Los Angeles November 8th, with tickets priced from $5.50 to $8.50. (This compares to a $7.50 top price for a Blind Faith concert in the same arena, a $6.50 top for the Doors. And in both those concerts, tickets started at $3.50.) In arranging this show, a previously-set hockey game between the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers was rescheduled – at the request of the man who owns both the Forum and the Kings.

Acts appearing at the concerts here will include Terry Reid, who will appear on all the dates, and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Negotiations were continuing to have Ike and Tina, B. B. King and Chuck Berry join the Stones in several other cities.

Promoters of the L.A. concerts said the gross for the evening would exceed $275,000 if the Stones filled the 18,000 seats in the Forum both shows. Similar grosses, on a per show basis, were expected throughout the tour, with the Stones getting guarantees of $25,000 a concert and up, against take home percentages running close to $60,000.

Although figures such as these are not unusual for tours by groups of this magnitude, they did bring strong criticism from, among others, Ralph Gleason in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Can the Rolling Stones actually need all that money?” Gleason asked. “If they really dig the black musicians as much as every note they play and every syllable they utter indicates, is it possible to take out a show with, say, Ike and Tina and some of the older men like Howlin’ Wolf and let them share in the loot? How much can the Stones take back to Merrie England after taxes, anyway? How much must the British manager and the American manager and the agency rake off the top?”

“Paying five, six and seven dollars for a Stones concert at the Oakland Coliseum for, say, an hour of the Stones seen a quarter of a mile away because the artists demand such outrageous fees that they can only be obtained under these circumstances, says a very bad thing to me about the artists’ attitude towards the public. It says they despise their own audience.”

When Mick Jagger was confronted by this criticism at a press conference at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, he left the door slightly open to giving a free concert sometime during the 13-city, 18-concert tour, but his tone didn’t seem too promising.

“There has been talk of that,” he said. “I should think toward the end. We’ll have to see how things go. I don’t want to plan that right now, ‘cause we’re gonna be here some while. We’ve got time for all that. I don’t want to say that’s what we want to do or not do. I’m leaving it rather blurry. I’m not committing myself.”

And about the ticket cost, he strongly indicated that if some people thought prices were high, they might have been a lot worse.

“We were offered a lot of money to do some very good dates – money in front in Europe, before we left, really a lot of bread. We didn’t accept because we thought they’d be too expensive on the basis of the money we’d get. We didn’t say that unless we walk out of America with X dollars, we ain’t gonna come. We’re really not into that sort of economic scene. Either you’re gonna sing and all that crap, or you’re gonna be an economist. I really don’t know whether this is more expensive than recent tours by local bands. I don’t know how much people can afford. I’ve no idea. Is that a lot? You’ll have to tell me.”

www.rollingstone.com
A
How much the ticket cost will be?
B
How much cost the tickets to the Stones’ next concert?
C
What is the ticket prices?
D
Will the ticket prices to be worse than the prices to see other bands?
E
What’s the price range for a concert ticket?
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MACKENZIE 2014 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the text, the Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones Impose High Ticket Prices for U.S. Tour
“Is that a lot?” says Mick Jagger
By Jerry Hopkins November 15, 1969

Mick Jagger performing on stage circa 1969.

LOS ANGELES—The Rolling Stones have returned to the United States for their first tour in more than three years.

It begins with two evening shows at the Forum in Los Angeles November 8th, with tickets priced from $5.50 to $8.50. (This compares to a $7.50 top price for a Blind Faith concert in the same arena, a $6.50 top for the Doors. And in both those concerts, tickets started at $3.50.) In arranging this show, a previously-set hockey game between the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers was rescheduled – at the request of the man who owns both the Forum and the Kings.

Acts appearing at the concerts here will include Terry Reid, who will appear on all the dates, and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Negotiations were continuing to have Ike and Tina, B. B. King and Chuck Berry join the Stones in several other cities.

Promoters of the L.A. concerts said the gross for the evening would exceed $275,000 if the Stones filled the 18,000 seats in the Forum both shows. Similar grosses, on a per show basis, were expected throughout the tour, with the Stones getting guarantees of $25,000 a concert and up, against take home percentages running close to $60,000.

Although figures such as these are not unusual for tours by groups of this magnitude, they did bring strong criticism from, among others, Ralph Gleason in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Can the Rolling Stones actually need all that money?” Gleason asked. “If they really dig the black musicians as much as every note they play and every syllable they utter indicates, is it possible to take out a show with, say, Ike and Tina and some of the older men like Howlin’ Wolf and let them share in the loot? How much can the Stones take back to Merrie England after taxes, anyway? How much must the British manager and the American manager and the agency rake off the top?”

“Paying five, six and seven dollars for a Stones concert at the Oakland Coliseum for, say, an hour of the Stones seen a quarter of a mile away because the artists demand such outrageous fees that they can only be obtained under these circumstances, says a very bad thing to me about the artists’ attitude towards the public. It says they despise their own audience.”

When Mick Jagger was confronted by this criticism at a press conference at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, he left the door slightly open to giving a free concert sometime during the 13-city, 18-concert tour, but his tone didn’t seem too promising.

“There has been talk of that,” he said. “I should think toward the end. We’ll have to see how things go. I don’t want to plan that right now, ‘cause we’re gonna be here some while. We’ve got time for all that. I don’t want to say that’s what we want to do or not do. I’m leaving it rather blurry. I’m not committing myself.”

And about the ticket cost, he strongly indicated that if some people thought prices were high, they might have been a lot worse.

“We were offered a lot of money to do some very good dates – money in front in Europe, before we left, really a lot of bread. We didn’t accept because we thought they’d be too expensive on the basis of the money we’d get. We didn’t say that unless we walk out of America with X dollars, we ain’t gonna come. We’re really not into that sort of economic scene. Either you’re gonna sing and all that crap, or you’re gonna be an economist. I really don’t know whether this is more expensive than recent tours by local bands. I don’t know how much people can afford. I’ve no idea. Is that a lot? You’ll have to tell me.”

www.rollingstone.com
A
have been selling more tickets to their concerts than bands like the Doors.
B
have been overcharging the tickets to their concerts in order to be able to make ends meet.
C
are considering giving a concert free of charge in the middle of the tour.
D
might have Howlin’ Wolf opening for them and being paid half the money cost of the tickets.
E
have been planning a brand new tour based on their latest Merrie England CD.
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MACKENZIE 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The meanings of the words “bounty hunter”, “run-of-the-mill” and “redneck” in the text are, respectively,


Django Unchained review:
A truly wild Western with a killer line-up
Review of Oscar-nominated film by Sunday Mirror film critic Mark Adam.


SONY PICTURES

THE STARS
Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Walton Goggins, Kerry Washington.
THE STORY
    Two years before the start of the Civil War, the unlikely partnership of German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Waltz) and Django (Foxx) – the slave he recently freed – set about making money tracking and killing outlaws.
    But Django also has plans to rescue his wife Broomhilda (Washington) from charismatic but cruel Mississippi plantation owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio).
THE VERDICT
    When Quentin Tarantino decides to make a Western, you know it’s going to be epic, violent, funny, exciting and challenging. And this wonderfully irreverent and distinctively bloody take on the wild Wild West hits the spot, brimming with delightfully oddball characters and racy style.
    This is obviously not your run-of-the-mill cowboy tale. Instead, Tarantino flies close to controversy by setting his story against the violent and brutal backdrop of the slave trade.
    As usual his casting is spot on. Waltz (who won an Oscar for his evil Nazi role in Tarantino’s last film Inglourious Basterds) is smooth perfection as a German dentist/bounty hunter and is wonderfully complemented by Jamie Foxx’s steely-eyed former slave.
    The early bonding scenes of them tracking redneck villains (Django relishes the fact he can make money killing “white folk”) are amusingly and snappily shot.
    Initially, Tarantino pokes fun at the rampant and casual racism of the period – hilariously so in a scene involving a Ku Klux Klan mob complaining about eye holes in their hoods??– but things turn nastier when Schultz and Django attempt to rescue Broomhilda.
    Leonardo DiCaprio has a fine old time as the brutal Candie and absolutely oozes slippery cruelty. But he manages to be out-acted by Tarantino regular Samuel L Jackson, playing an elderly slave and close confidant of Candie who is as menacing and controlling as his supposed master.
A
a person or animal that seeks out and kills or captures other people or animals; lacking moral sensibility; characterized by, feeling, or showing sympathy or understanding.
B
one who travels throughout the country in search of money stolen from him/ her; a fugitive; someone who is regularly wearing a hat as protection from the sun.
C
a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in criminal or amoral behavior; pleasing or distinctive; a variable color that lies beyond red in the spectrum.
D
one who pursues a criminal or fugitive for whom a reward is offered; not special or outstanding; a poor uneducated white farm worker.
E
an officer of a county or an administrative region, charged mainly with judicial duties; causing repugnance or aversion, disgusting; a person serving as an agent for another by carrying out specified orders or functions.
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MACKENZIE 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the cartoon,



A
the passenger should have turned on his laptop computer during the flight.
B
“Excel” could surely have been used to prevent the plane from falling down.
C
the plane control is usually transferred to the passengers when something goes wrong.
D
had the passenger turned on his laptop computer during takeoff, nothing would have happened.
E
if the plane had already landed, the passenger’s computer would have been turned on by him already.
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MACKENZIE 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the movie review,


Django Unchained review:
A truly wild Western with a killer line-up
Review of Oscar-nominated film by Sunday Mirror film critic Mark Adam.


SONY PICTURES

THE STARS
Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Walton Goggins, Kerry Washington.
THE STORY
    Two years before the start of the Civil War, the unlikely partnership of German bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Waltz) and Django (Foxx) – the slave he recently freed – set about making money tracking and killing outlaws.
    But Django also has plans to rescue his wife Broomhilda (Washington) from charismatic but cruel Mississippi plantation owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio).
THE VERDICT
    When Quentin Tarantino decides to make a Western, you know it’s going to be epic, violent, funny, exciting and challenging. And this wonderfully irreverent and distinctively bloody take on the wild Wild West hits the spot, brimming with delightfully oddball characters and racy style.
    This is obviously not your run-of-the-mill cowboy tale. Instead, Tarantino flies close to controversy by setting his story against the violent and brutal backdrop of the slave trade.
    As usual his casting is spot on. Waltz (who won an Oscar for his evil Nazi role in Tarantino’s last film Inglourious Basterds) is smooth perfection as a German dentist/bounty hunter and is wonderfully complemented by Jamie Foxx’s steely-eyed former slave.
    The early bonding scenes of them tracking redneck villains (Django relishes the fact he can make money killing “white folk”) are amusingly and snappily shot.
    Initially, Tarantino pokes fun at the rampant and casual racism of the period – hilariously so in a scene involving a Ku Klux Klan mob complaining about eye holes in their hoods??– but things turn nastier when Schultz and Django attempt to rescue Broomhilda.
    Leonardo DiCaprio has a fine old time as the brutal Candie and absolutely oozes slippery cruelty. But he manages to be out-acted by Tarantino regular Samuel L Jackson, playing an elderly slave and close confidant of Candie who is as menacing and controlling as his supposed master.
A
Quentin Tarantino’s favorite kind of movie is western, specially the epic ones, where challenge and excitement outstand.
B
the cast on a Tarantino movie is normally exactly right.
C
as far as Django is concerned, killing white people is not his business, and neither does he appreciate it.
D
the scene of the Ku Klux Klan mob complaining is a clear example of racism against the black and the German citizens.
E
except for Jamie Foxx, no other actor in the movie does a better job than Leonardo DeCaprio.
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MACKENZIE 2013 - Inglês - Vocabulário | Vocabulary, Adjetivos | Adjectives, Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension, Uso dos adjetivos | Use of adjectives

The adjectives that properly fill in blanks I, II, III, IV, V and VI, in the text, are


Behind the Meaning of the Pope’s Names
The new pope’s choice of ‘Francis’ hints at the direction of his reign.
    Enter Pope Francis. The first Jesuit pope. The first from Latin America. It is, indeed, a historic moment for the papacy. Those who waited for a leader from the new Catholic world will no doubt be __( I )__ by the choice, but his new status as the leader of a global church requires a different persona and a new mode of action. The new pope speaks not only for Argentina, Latin America, and the Jesuits, but also for the entire Roman Catholic world.


The first Jesuit pope. The first from Latin America. (Enrique Marcarian/Reuters)

    It is precisely for this reason that cardinals shed their names along with their brightly __( II )__ vestments. Historically, the tradition of selecting a new papal name dates back to the sixth century, when Pope John II swapped his awkwardly __( III )__ name Mercurius for the solidly Christian John. At the same time the selection of religious names is more than an opportunity to symbolically cast aside individual identity. Papal names chart a course for the future by summoning up the past. The new pope assumes either the mantle of religious heroes and leaders from days gone by or the virtues of the Innocents and the Piuses. The selection of the name both forges a new identity and signals how the pope wishes to be seen and remembered. It is, in essence, not only the answer to the __( IV )__ question “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” but also a way of preemptively writing one’s own reviews.
    Traditionally popes have been __( V )__ of reaching too high, of appearing too self-congratulatory. The office of the pope is built, literally and metaphorically, on the legacy of St. Peter, the apostle of Christ, whose remains lie beneath the papal seat in the Vatican. But there has been no Pope Peter II. Thus far, no pope has had the audacity to present himself as standing in continuity with the favored disciple of Jesus. Nor would Pope Francis have been able to select the name of the founder of his own order. A Pope Ignatius—after Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola—would have appeared self-serving.
    At first blush, Pope Francis’s selection of a previously __( VI )__ papal name—he is no 23rd anything—marks a break with the past and augurs well for those looking for a move away from deeply entrenched institutionalism. The new pope symbolically clears the deck for a new period of Catholic history. For a church desperately in need of an administrative makeover, it creates a nominally blank slate for the pale-garbed pontiff.
Newsweek

A
thrilled / colored / pagan / classic / wary / unused
B
surprised / reddish / foreign / topic / determined / famous
C
shocked / sophisticated / international / grammatical / responsible / gorgeous
D
unusual / light / dubious / vocabulary / accused / brilliant
E
intrigued / funny / unheard / structure / encouraged / innovative
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MACKENZIE 2013 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The article clearly states that


Behind the Meaning of the Pope’s Names
The new pope’s choice of ‘Francis’ hints at the direction of his reign.
    Enter Pope Francis. The first Jesuit pope. The first from Latin America. It is, indeed, a historic moment for the papacy. Those who waited for a leader from the new Catholic world will no doubt be __( I )__ by the choice, but his new status as the leader of a global church requires a different persona and a new mode of action. The new pope speaks not only for Argentina, Latin America, and the Jesuits, but also for the entire Roman Catholic world.


The first Jesuit pope. The first from Latin America. (Enrique Marcarian/Reuters)

    It is precisely for this reason that cardinals shed their names along with their brightly __( II )__ vestments. Historically, the tradition of selecting a new papal name dates back to the sixth century, when Pope John II swapped his awkwardly __( III )__ name Mercurius for the solidly Christian John. At the same time the selection of religious names is more than an opportunity to symbolically cast aside individual identity. Papal names chart a course for the future by summoning up the past. The new pope assumes either the mantle of religious heroes and leaders from days gone by or the virtues of the Innocents and the Piuses. The selection of the name both forges a new identity and signals how the pope wishes to be seen and remembered. It is, in essence, not only the answer to the __( IV )__ question “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” but also a way of preemptively writing one’s own reviews.
    Traditionally popes have been __( V )__ of reaching too high, of appearing too self-congratulatory. The office of the pope is built, literally and metaphorically, on the legacy of St. Peter, the apostle of Christ, whose remains lie beneath the papal seat in the Vatican. But there has been no Pope Peter II. Thus far, no pope has had the audacity to present himself as standing in continuity with the favored disciple of Jesus. Nor would Pope Francis have been able to select the name of the founder of his own order. A Pope Ignatius—after Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola—would have appeared self-serving.
    At first blush, Pope Francis’s selection of a previously __( VI )__ papal name—he is no 23rd anything—marks a break with the past and augurs well for those looking for a move away from deeply entrenched institutionalism. The new pope symbolically clears the deck for a new period of Catholic history. For a church desperately in need of an administrative makeover, it creates a nominally blank slate for the pale-garbed pontiff.
Newsweek

A
the name of the new pope was chosen taking into consideration the fact that he is a Jesuit and a Christian from the new Catholic Church.
B
religious heroes have been more and more common in Latin America, and since Pope Peter II no other pope has been encouraged to use unusual names.
C
popes have never wanted to look down on people. On the contrary, they have always served as apostles of Christ and have been able to reach high posts in the Vatican.
D
Pope Ignatius would never have chosen a different name due to his intentions of breaking with the past and of cleaning up the name of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
E
the new pope has been praised for having chosen a brand new name, which has never been adopted before in the history of the Catholic Church and which will likely bring high hopes of future changes in the same Church.
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MACKENZIE 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to teacher Stephan Hughes,


HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR TEACHERESE?
By Stephan Hughes
    Why is it that most of our students whine that they are able to almost fully understand what we say in the classroom but when faced with English in a real-life situation, the level of comprehension falls to near bottom, leading to their puzzlement, frustration and despair (in that order)?
    Some reasons for the phenomenon: teachers use a special language called teacherese. It is tailored form of the English language, which allows students to follow and obtain at least a global comprehension of what is being uttered. The speed is toned down somewhat, the lexis is full of Portuguese-like cognates so as to help students make necessary associations and/or simultaneous translations. Its linguistic variation is limited, especially at lower proficiency levels.
    __( I )__ what is most noteworthy of teacherese is that its inability to stretch students’ listening skills may lie more in the fact that teachers, non-native in particular, barely use the rich idiomatic language that is used in magazines, newspapers, TV shows, movies, songs – in short, in real life situations that they usually face. The lexis may not necessarily be second nature to ELT professionals, __( II )__ its absence in everyday use in the classroom.
    Another reason: apart from using teacherese, most teachers don’t have any legitimate speaking opportunities outside of the classroom, __( III )__ reducing their oral skills to instructional and explanatory phrases or typical fixed expressions prescribed in the course book. Giving these educators opportunities to use the language naturally – be it in conversational settings arranged by the institutions or with native speakers in loco or online – may be crucial to whittle away at the problem.
    A third and final reason: familiarity breeds ease, which in turn breeds comprehension. The more time students stay with a said teacher, the easier it might be for them to understand them and get used to their accent, intonation, lexical choice and pace. This is a point that cannot be ignored and is worth looking into.
    __( IV )__ the question we need to ask ourselves is: how effective is the language we use in the classroom and to what extent this effectiveness plays a vital role in helping our students understand the world around them in English? __( V )__, in a communicative context, the teacher is but should not be the ultimate language model for the students, so students should not gauge their listening competence by the teacher. The catch is exposing students to more and more real language in the classroom and fostering effective listening strategies.
Braz-Tesol Newsletter
A
teacherese is quite complex and only spoken by native teachers of English and similar languages.
B
teachers who are skillful in speaking a language are able to perform simultaneous translations much better than educators who are not exposed to the mother tongue.
C
students should be encouraged to use teacherese as often as possible in class.
D
what is recommended is that students listen to and use more authentic materials.
E
comprehension of instructional phrases can lead to a proficiency level never before reached in teacherese.
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MACKENZIE 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The GMT-Master II

THE P I L O T ’S W A T C H
No other watch is engineered quite like a Rolex. The GMT-Master, introduced in 1955, __( I )__ in collaboration with Pan Am to meet the needs of their international pilots. The GMT-Master II __( II )__ to be even more invaluable as it features a rotatable 24-hour graduated bezel that allows those who travel the world to read three different time zones. Two simultaneously. The 40 mm GMT-Master II __( III )__ with a virtually scratch-resistant black Cerachrom disc and is presented here in Rolex signature Rolesor, a unique combination of 904L steel and 18 ct yellow gold.
________ THE G M T – M A S T E R I I _________

A
is protected against surface damage.
B
was developed to be used by travelers to the three corners of the world simultaneously.
C
is much more expensive than the GMT-Master for bringing a rotatable 24- hour graduated device, which enables anybody to travel anywhere in the world.
D
first came out intending to help an airplane company workers.
E
is purely made of gold, quite different from the GMT-Master.
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MACKENZIE 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension, Advérbios e conjunções | Adverbs and conjunctions



‘I have always made it __( I )__
every woman feels… special.’
SILVIO BERLUSCONI,
Italy’s prime minister, dismissing protests against
him shortly before a judge ordered him to stand trial on
charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.
Newsweek

The blank I, in the text, must be correctly completed with

A
nevertheless (indicating concession).
B
therefore (indicating consequence).
C
so that (indicating purpose).
D
furthermore (indicating addition).
E
in order to (indicating obligation).
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MACKENZIE 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The bodies found in the Rue Morgue,

The Murders in the Rue Morgue 
By Edgar Allan Poe

    “…The apartment was in the wildest disorder - the furniture broken and thrown about in all directions. There was only one bedstead; and from this the bed had been removed, and thrown into the middle of the floor. On a chair lay a razor, besmeared with blood. On the hearth were two or three long and thick tresses of grey human hair, also dabbled in blood, and seeming to have been pulled out by the roots. Upon the floor were found four Napoleons, an ear-ring of topaz, three large silver spoons, three smaller of métal d’Alger, and two bags, containing nearly four thousand francs in gold. The drawers of a bureau, which stood in one corner, were open, and had been, apparently, rifled, although many articles still remained in them. A small iron safe was discovered under the bed (not under the bedstead). It was open, with the key still in the door. It had no contents beyond a few old letters, and other papers of little consequence.
    Of Madame L’Espanaye no traces were here seen; but an unusual quantity of soot being observed in the fire-place, a search was made in the chimney, and (horrible to relate!) the corpse of the daughter, head downward, was dragged therefrom; it having been thus forced up the narrow aperture for a considerable distance. The body was quite warm. Upon examining it, many excoriations were perceived, no doubt occasioned by the violence with which it had been thrust up and disengaged. Upon the face were many severe scratches, and, upon the throat, dark bruises, and deep indentations of finger nails, as if the deceased had been throttled to death.
    After a thorough investigation of every portion of the house, without farther discovery, the party made its way into a small paved yard in the rear of the building, where lay the corpse of the old lady, with her throat so entirely cut that, upon an attempt to raise her, the head fell off. The body, as well as the head, was fearfully mutilated - the former so much so as scarcely to retain any semblance of humanity.
    To this horrible mystery there is not as yet, we believe, the slightest clew…”
Edgar Allan Poe – The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A
were all neat and clean.
B
had been awfully mistreated.
C
had all been decapited.
D
had all been found in the chimney of the place.
E
had all been missing for more than a week.
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MACKENZIE 2011 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The excerpt, from The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, is describing

The Murders in the Rue Morgue 
By Edgar Allan Poe

    “…The apartment was in the wildest disorder - the furniture broken and thrown about in all directions. There was only one bedstead; and from this the bed had been removed, and thrown into the middle of the floor. On a chair lay a razor, besmeared with blood. On the hearth were two or three long and thick tresses of grey human hair, also dabbled in blood, and seeming to have been pulled out by the roots. Upon the floor were found four Napoleons, an ear-ring of topaz, three large silver spoons, three smaller of métal d’Alger, and two bags, containing nearly four thousand francs in gold. The drawers of a bureau, which stood in one corner, were open, and had been, apparently, rifled, although many articles still remained in them. A small iron safe was discovered under the bed (not under the bedstead). It was open, with the key still in the door. It had no contents beyond a few old letters, and other papers of little consequence.
    Of Madame L’Espanaye no traces were here seen; but an unusual quantity of soot being observed in the fire-place, a search was made in the chimney, and (horrible to relate!) the corpse of the daughter, head downward, was dragged therefrom; it having been thus forced up the narrow aperture for a considerable distance. The body was quite warm. Upon examining it, many excoriations were perceived, no doubt occasioned by the violence with which it had been thrust up and disengaged. Upon the face were many severe scratches, and, upon the throat, dark bruises, and deep indentations of finger nails, as if the deceased had been throttled to death.
    After a thorough investigation of every portion of the house, without farther discovery, the party made its way into a small paved yard in the rear of the building, where lay the corpse of the old lady, with her throat so entirely cut that, upon an attempt to raise her, the head fell off. The body, as well as the head, was fearfully mutilated - the former so much so as scarcely to retain any semblance of humanity.
    To this horrible mystery there is not as yet, we believe, the slightest clew…”
Edgar Allan Poe – The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A
how to fill drawers and closets with objects which can resemble Napoleon and his métal d’Alger.
B
how disorder can be spread after hooligans break into a bureau.
C
how someone gets rid of a few people in an apartment building.
D
how investigation finally figures out who and how the crimes really happened.
E
how a bloody razor can be used to scratch and disengage any sight of criminality in a house.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Vocabulário | Vocabulary, Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension, Advérbios e conjunções | Adverbs and conjunctions

In the title of the article, the word nigh


The Boom Is Nigh
Why the coming recovery will hurt like hell.

By Gregg Easterbrook

    Home prices keep falling, but productivity is rising fast. GDP grew 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter, yet unemployment remains stubbornly high. Inflation is nonexistent, while the consumer confidence index just rose to 55.9 from 53.6—whatever that means. Can’t make sense of these economic indicators? Don’t worry, because nobody else can, either.
    Here is what you really need to know: a Sonic Boom is coming. It will be caused by globalization. And while globalization may be driving you crazy, it’s just getting started. Thirty years ago, Shenzhen, China, did not exist; today, it has nearly 9 million residents, roughly the same as New York City. In a single generation, it has grown from a village of tarpaper shacks into an important urban center. It has become the world’s fourth-busiest port, busier than Los Angeles and Long Beach combined. Never before has a great city been built so fast, nor a productive economy established from so little.
    The international recession that began in 2008 has made the Sonic Boom quieter, but history shows that when a crisis ends, the larger trends in place before the crisis usually resume. Shenzhen represents the larger trend of growth, change, and transformation at unprecedented velocity. Thanks to vast increases in productivity, worldwide economic growth soon will pick up, creating rising prosperity and higher living standards for most people in most nations. The world will be far more interconnected, leading to better and more affordable products, as well as ever better communication among nations.
    But there’s a big catch: just as favorable economic and social trends are likely to resume, many problems that have characterized recent decades are likely to get worse, too. Job instability, economic insecurity, a sense of turmoil, the fear that even when things seem good a hammer is about to fall—these are also part of the larger trend. As world economies become ever more linked by computers, job stress will become a 24/7 affair. Frequent shakeups in industries will cause increasing uncertainty. The horizon has never been brighter, but we may not feel particularly happy about it.
www.newsweek.com
A
is an adjective meaning “nocturnal”.
B
is an adverb meaning “near”.
C
is an adjective meaning “up”.
D
is a noun meaning “recovery”.
E
is a verb meaning “coming”.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension


Illustration by David Simond

www.economist.com
According to the cartoon,

A
the characters can’t have made up their minds about getting a new job.
B
the lawyer may have been leaving home.
C
the law office should have been named after its owner.
D
both of the characters had better stand up to their bosses.
E
the beggar must have been laid off.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The article states that


The Boom Is Nigh
Why the coming recovery will hurt like hell.

By Gregg Easterbrook

    Home prices keep falling, but productivity is rising fast. GDP grew 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter, yet unemployment remains stubbornly high. Inflation is nonexistent, while the consumer confidence index just rose to 55.9 from 53.6—whatever that means. Can’t make sense of these economic indicators? Don’t worry, because nobody else can, either.
    Here is what you really need to know: a Sonic Boom is coming. It will be caused by globalization. And while globalization may be driving you crazy, it’s just getting started. Thirty years ago, Shenzhen, China, did not exist; today, it has nearly 9 million residents, roughly the same as New York City. In a single generation, it has grown from a village of tarpaper shacks into an important urban center. It has become the world’s fourth-busiest port, busier than Los Angeles and Long Beach combined. Never before has a great city been built so fast, nor a productive economy established from so little.
    The international recession that began in 2008 has made the Sonic Boom quieter, but history shows that when a crisis ends, the larger trends in place before the crisis usually resume. Shenzhen represents the larger trend of growth, change, and transformation at unprecedented velocity. Thanks to vast increases in productivity, worldwide economic growth soon will pick up, creating rising prosperity and higher living standards for most people in most nations. The world will be far more interconnected, leading to better and more affordable products, as well as ever better communication among nations.
    But there’s a big catch: just as favorable economic and social trends are likely to resume, many problems that have characterized recent decades are likely to get worse, too. Job instability, economic insecurity, a sense of turmoil, the fear that even when things seem good a hammer is about to fall—these are also part of the larger trend. As world economies become ever more linked by computers, job stress will become a 24/7 affair. Frequent shakeups in industries will cause increasing uncertainty. The horizon has never been brighter, but we may not feel particularly happy about it.
www.newsweek.com
A
job instability is still feared.
B
a Sonic boom in China is about to happen as soon as the big catch takes over.
C
thirty years ago China did not exist.
D
globalization has grown recently, becoming nonexistent and turning China’s inflation into an important economic feature.
E
the recovery of China is compared to New York City’s power to develop itself throughout hard and shady times.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

If a person is assertive,


Get into a comfortable, relaxed position. / Shut your eyes and turn your attention inwards. / Think about that assertive experience (real or imagined, yours or someone else’s) and really get into it. / Re-live it as though you are there all over again. / See everything there is to see, / the face of the other person or people / and how they’re responding to you. / Hear the sound of your own voice as you speak. / Hear the sound of any other voices. / Feel really good about the situation. / Feel confident and assertive / and enjoy the feeling. / And when you’re deeply involved in those feelings, capture them for a few seconds with your word, image or gesture. / Stay in the experience a while longer but take away the word, image or gesture. / And now come slowly and gently back to the room.

Success Over Stress by Jane Revell
A
he/she works hard and conscientiously in order to achieve good results.
B
he/she makes a decision or forms a conclusion based on the facts only and does not allow himself/herself to be influenced by his/her own personal feelings or experiences.
C
he/she makes sensible decisions and is good at dealing and solving problems.
D
he/she makes his/her own decisions about his/her life, without relying on others for help, advice or further support.
E
he/she speaks and acts firmly and confidently in company, or in his/her relations with others, so that people listen to him/her and take notice of him/her.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the text, “Lula, Son of Brazil”


Brazil’s presidential biopic
Lula, sanitised
SÃO PAULO

A film for the campaign trail


    ONCE upon a time it was considered indecent to turn living people into myths, or even into films, with too much haste. The cycle seems to be shorter now. Gandhi had to wait until 34 years after his death before he appeared on cinema screens around the world. George Bush junior, by contrast, was the victim of an Oliver Stone biopic during the last year of his presidency. Now a Brazilian director, Fábio Barreto, has done the same for Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as he starts his final year of office.
    “Lula, Son of Brazil” is the tale of a poor boy made good, his flaws left on the cutting table and his virtues in close-up. Since Lula hopes to secure the election of his chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, in October, it is controversial. The film “promotes the worship of a political myth,” said Eugênio Bucci, a critic and journalism professor. Before it was even released Veja, a magazine, pointed out that many of the companies that funded its production (the most expensive in the history of Brazilian cinema) have either won or hope to win contracts from the government.
    For all that, the film is very watchable. It opens in the poor north-east, where Lula was born into a landscape of bright red soil and cacti, and ends with his rise as a metalworkers’ union leader in the industrial belt of São Paulo in the 1970s. This is a candyfloss version of the story, however. Lula’s reverses are shown: the little finger lost to a lathe, the death of his first wife and child in childbirth. But he is too good to be true: a perfect student, perfect husband and political moderate who abhorred violence.
    The book on which the film is based, by contrast, quotes Lula as approving of an incident in which a director of a factory that is on strike is thrown out of a window. In the film he runs from the factory appalled. That is a shame. A more nuanced telling would not detract from Lula’s remarkable life story and achievement.
    The film is doing well at the box office. Its producers say it is running more strongly in the north-east than in the populous south-east, which means it mirrors Ms Rousseff’s fortunes in the polls. There are plans to show the film on mobile screens in places with no cinema. It may get an airing on television, though there is no such deal in place yet.
    All this helps a process of mythmaking around Lula that is already well under way. Catching some of Lula’s stardust is Ms Rousseff’s best hope for capturing the presidency in October, and there are some signs that this is happening. The gap between her and José Serra, her main rival, halved between March and December last year and now stands at 14 points. Competing against a celluloid legend is not easy.
www.economist.com
A
shows how a metalworkers’ union leader hits the big time during the last year of his presidency.
B
has been considered responsible for favoring specific companies in the government as well as Veja magazine.
C
tells an exaggeratedly sentimental side of Lula’s story.
D
was based on a book co-written by the president.
E
is watchable due to its expensive production, superb cinematography and actors’ work.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Read the following statements about the text and choose the appropriate alternative.

I. Not only Fábio Barreto but also Oliver Stone have turned living politicians into myths.
II. Dilma Rousseff will surely benefit from the release of the movie.
III. An incident that took place in a factory is depicted differently from the way it really happened.
IV. The film is about to be available for cell phones next year.
V. Until now producers have had no idea of how well the film is doing in the movie theaters.


Brazil’s presidential biopic
Lula, sanitised
SÃO PAULO

A film for the campaign trail


    ONCE upon a time it was considered indecent to turn living people into myths, or even into films, with too much haste. The cycle seems to be shorter now. Gandhi had to wait until 34 years after his death before he appeared on cinema screens around the world. George Bush junior, by contrast, was the victim of an Oliver Stone biopic during the last year of his presidency. Now a Brazilian director, Fábio Barreto, has done the same for Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as he starts his final year of office.
    “Lula, Son of Brazil” is the tale of a poor boy made good, his flaws left on the cutting table and his virtues in close-up. Since Lula hopes to secure the election of his chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, in October, it is controversial. The film “promotes the worship of a political myth,” said Eugênio Bucci, a critic and journalism professor. Before it was even released Veja, a magazine, pointed out that many of the companies that funded its production (the most expensive in the history of Brazilian cinema) have either won or hope to win contracts from the government.
    For all that, the film is very watchable. It opens in the poor north-east, where Lula was born into a landscape of bright red soil and cacti, and ends with his rise as a metalworkers’ union leader in the industrial belt of São Paulo in the 1970s. This is a candyfloss version of the story, however. Lula’s reverses are shown: the little finger lost to a lathe, the death of his first wife and child in childbirth. But he is too good to be true: a perfect student, perfect husband and political moderate who abhorred violence.
    The book on which the film is based, by contrast, quotes Lula as approving of an incident in which a director of a factory that is on strike is thrown out of a window. In the film he runs from the factory appalled. That is a shame. A more nuanced telling would not detract from Lula’s remarkable life story and achievement.
    The film is doing well at the box office. Its producers say it is running more strongly in the north-east than in the populous south-east, which means it mirrors Ms Rousseff’s fortunes in the polls. There are plans to show the film on mobile screens in places with no cinema. It may get an airing on television, though there is no such deal in place yet.
    All this helps a process of mythmaking around Lula that is already well under way. Catching some of Lula’s stardust is Ms Rousseff’s best hope for capturing the presidency in October, and there are some signs that this is happening. The gap between her and José Serra, her main rival, halved between March and December last year and now stands at 14 points. Competing against a celluloid legend is not easy.
www.economist.com
A
Only I is correct.
B
III and IV are incorrect.
C
Only II is correct.
D
I, II and III are correct.
E
Only V is incorrect.
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MACKENZIE 2010 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

According to the text, choose the right alternative.


Get into a comfortable, relaxed position. / Shut your eyes and turn your attention inwards. / Think about that assertive experience (real or imagined, yours or someone else’s) and really get into it. / Re-live it as though you are there all over again. / See everything there is to see, / the face of the other person or people / and how they’re responding to you. / Hear the sound of your own voice as you speak. / Hear the sound of any other voices. / Feel really good about the situation. / Feel confident and assertive / and enjoy the feeling. / And when you’re deeply involved in those feelings, capture them for a few seconds with your word, image or gesture. / Stay in the experience a while longer but take away the word, image or gesture. / And now come slowly and gently back to the room.

Success Over Stress by Jane Revell
A
The text will teach you to be deeply involved in your feelings through a technique that works your assertiveness through relaxation and gestures meant to focus on question-response activities.
B
The text is instructing you to remember a time when you were able to be honest with someone, or a time when you felt really confident about saying something to someone.
C
The text is showing you how to relax before you really have the chance to get involved with someone’s image or self-esteem for a period of time.
D
The text shows you how to capture someone’s image or gesture as soon as this person is out of sight and his/her assertive personality interferes in your attention inwards.
E
The text helps you test your ability to go further into your feelings and experiment with your five senses: speaking, hearing, smelling, seeing and touching. The result will make you feel more confident and assertive.
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MACKENZIE 2012 - Inglês - Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

The pronoun who in “80% of those who are blind don’t have to be” can be replaced by

The following advertisement refers to question.


A
whom or that.
B
which or that.
C
only that.
D
whose or that.
E
whom, that or whose.