Questões de Concursos Sinônimos Synonyms

TEXT I

Why do birds sing so loudly in the morning in spring? It’s the ‘dawn chorus’

As spring begins, so does a fresh song at daybreak, unique to the season. Just before the sun rises, birds start singing their melodies, creating a chirpy symphony.

This phenomenon is known as the dawn chorus, and it’s special for a number of reasons: There are more birds singing at this time of year, and they also sing more often. This energetic burst of birdsong is often louder than usual too. The dawn chorus’ early morning explosion of sounds has even inspired multiple poems and songs.

“It's the epitome of spring,” says Jordan E. Rutter, an ornithologist at the American Bird Conservancy. After the long and cold winter, “all of a sudden you have this influx of so many beautiful birds coming back and singing.”

This harmony of birdsong at dawn happens during a fundamental time of the year. The dawn chorus is, in fact, mostly composed of birds of both genders singing to find a mate so they can breed (though males may sing more).

“There is such a large increase in quantity of song by individuals and the collective,” Rutter says. “These birds sing louder to literally be heard. They need to compete with each other as well, and the louder the better in regards to who is the most impressive mate.”

During this time, males also sing to assert their dominance and claim their territory. “Those songs are how they communicate to other males of the same species, or even just other birds and predators in general, and say, ‘This is my home,’” says Rutter.

In the United States and Canada, the dawn chorus can be heard roughly from March through May, when many bird species migrate there from their winter homes to breed. Peak dawn chorus times might depend on where you live, Rutter says. For example, April is peak for the southern U.S., but birds in Washington, D.C., will put on the best show in early May. (Alternatively, in the tropics, the dawn chorus can be heard almost any time of year, as many birds have a prolonged breeding season in those warmer climates.)

Why is it a ‘dawn’ chorus?

But why birds sing in the early morning is still “an open question,” says Mike Webster, an ornithologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “There's a lot of debate, and I don't think there's any consensus on exactly why it is that everything happens at dawn."

One hypothesis is that weather conditions at daybreak make it easier for birdsong to travel.

“In general, sound travels farther when the air is cooler and more dense. Sound also transmits more clearly (and very slightly faster) when humidity is higher so that details of the song do not degrade as much over distance,” says Heather Williams, a professor at Williams College who has studied the neuroscience of birdsong. She notes that wind may also impede sound transmission. “At dawn, the cooler air results in decreased winds at ground level, so coupled with the higher humidity, sound carries farther and more clearly, with less distortion.”

Extract from

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/birds-dawn-chorus (Accessed on 14 April 2025.)

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

While plastic refuse littering beaches and oceans draws high-profile attention, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Assessment of agricultural plastics and their sustainability: a call for action suggests that the land we use to grow our food is contaminated with even larger quantities of plastic pollutants. “Soils are one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics and are known to contain larger quantities of microplastics than oceans”, FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo said in the report’s foreword.

According to data collated by FAO experts, agricultural value chains each year use 12.5 million tonnes of plastic products while another 37.3 million are used in food packaging. Crop production and livestock accounted for 10.2 million tonnes per year collectively, followed by fisheries and aquaculture with 2.1 million, and forestry with 0.2 million tonnes. Asia was estimated to be the largest user of plastics in agricultural production, accounting for almost half of global usage. Moreover, without viable alternatives, plastic demand in agriculture is only set to increase. As the demand for agricultural plastic continues surge, Ms. Semedo underscored the need to better monitor the quantities that “leak into the environment from agriculture”.

Since their widespread introduction in the 1950s, plastics have become ubiquitous. In agriculture, plastic products greatly help productivity, such as in covering soil to reduce weeds; nets to protect and boost plant growth, extend cropping seasons and increase yields; and tree guards, which protect young plants and trees from animals and help provide a growth-enhancing microclimate. However, of the estimated 6.3 billion tonnes of plastics produced before 2015, almost 80 per cent had never been properly disposed of. While the effects of large plastic items on marine fauna have been well documented, the impacts unleashed during their disintegration potentially affect entire ecosystems.

(https://news.un.org, 07.12.2021. Adaptado.)

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse (Tasunke Witko, 1840-1877) was an Oglala Lakota Sioux warrior and warband leader considered among the greatest defenders of Sioux lands against the forces of the US government in the 19th century. He is one of the most famous Native American figures in history and among the Sioux's most honored heroes. Although he is often referred to as a "chief", Crazy Horse was actually a "Shirt Wearer" – a kind of "subchief" – who carried out the decisions of the council and also served as a war chief of a given band of warriors. Even so, Crazy Horse inspired such devotion in his followers that he was regarded as a "chief" and is referenced as such by others.

His name, Tasunke Witko (Crazy Horse), is accurately translated as "His Crazy Horse" or "His Horse is Crazy" and was his father's and grandfather's name, seemingly referencing a horse that behaved erratically. According to Black Elk, however, the name correlated to Crazy Horse's famous vision in which he saw his horse dancing as though "made only of shadow" in a strange or "crazy" way.

Crazy Horse dedicated himself to opposing the US military as early as 1854 following the Grattan Fight (Grattan Massacre) and the subsequent massacre of Little Thunder's camp in 1855 by Colonel William S. Harney. He continued his resistance over the next eleven years and was named a "Shirt Wearer" in 1865. He fought in the Battle of Plate River Bridge (1865), Red Cloud's War (1866-1868), the Battle of the Rosebud (1876), and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876). His last full-scale engagement with US forces was the Battle of Wolf Mountain in January 1877.

World History Encyclopedia. Adaptation.

Scientists study the world’s oldest person

1. After being bewildered by the “super grandmother’s” great health at 116 years old,
2. scientists are studying Maria Branyas, the world’s oldest person, in an attempt to unearth the
3. secret to a long life. Mr. Branyas was born __ San Francisco __ 1907, and __ the age of eight,
4. she moved __ Catalonia, Spain, where her family was originally from. Ms. Branyas, known to her
5. X followers as the “Super Catalan Grandma”, has lived in the region ever since and has resided
6. in the same nursing home, Residència Santa María del Tura, for the last 22 years.
7. She has agreed to undergo scientific testing, which researchers hope will further their
8. understanding of certain illnesses associated with old age, such as neurodegenerative or
9. cardiovascular diseases. Despite her age, Ms. Branyas has no health complications other than
10. mobility issues and hearing (she suffered permanent hearing loss when she was a child). She also
11. still has a great memory: “She has a completely lucid head,” scientist Manel Esteller told ABC, a
12. Spanish outlet. “She remembers with impressive clarity episodes of her when she was only four
13. years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people.”
14. Esteller, who studies genetics and how it applies to health conditions, became curious about how
15. Ms. Branyas’ genetic makeup might affect her aging. After a long talk with Ms. Branyas, Mr.
16. Esteller believes there must be more to her longevity than meets the eye.
17. The remarkable woman has not had an easy life; she survived an earthquake while she
18. was in the US, a major fire, both world wars, the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish Flu pandemic,
19. and more recently, COVID-19 in 2020. Despite the various pandemics, wars, and family losses
20. she has endured, her longevity has made scientists question what her secret could be. “We know
21. Maria’s chronological age, 116 years, but we must determine her biological age,” Esteller said to
22. ABC, believing that “she is much younger” physically. The scientist has taken biological samples
23. of saliva, blood, and urine from Ms. Branyas, which are thought to be the “longest-lived” biological
24. samples and have great scientific value, Josep Carreras, the head of a leukemia research institute,
25. said to ABC. The samples will be compared with the 116-year-old’s middle daughter, who is 79
26. years old.
27. Ms. Branyas often has been asked what her secret is to her long life, and she uses her X
28. account to post her advice for others. She attributed her longevity to “order, tranquillity, good
29. connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no
30. regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people”. However, she also credits a great
31. amount of luck. “It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members
32. of her family who are over 90 years old,” said Esteller. The rare biological samples will assess her
33. genes, which will hopefully advance the research of drugs that could help diseases associated
34. with age and cancer. As for Ms. Branyas, she said on her X account that she is “very happy she
35. can be useful for research and progress”.

(Available in: https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/lifestyle/maria-branyas-oldest-person-alive-spain-b2436228.html – text especially adapted for this test).

Text 7A1-II

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost. The Road Not Taken. 1916 (adapted).

Text 9A3-I

If you were to judge 2018’s most important legal technology by looking at conference agendas and media coverage, you’d probably say it was the continuing development of artificial intelligence. But if you judge the most important technology by its direct impact on the practice of law, then it would have to be analytics. As I suggested in a recent column, we could be nearing the point where it would be malpractice for a lawyer not to use analytics.

Internet: <lawsitesblog.com> (adapted).