Questões de Concursos Inglês

by Amanda Gorman

[…]

"When the day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it,

if only we’re brave enough to be it."

Adapted from: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/20/amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem-the-hill-we-climb-fulltext.html.

sampotter25 19 January 2008

An amiable German social sciences teacher has to teach his children about an autocratic government. The children at first seem bored, not wanting to hear any more about The Third Reich and Nazism. The teacher is surprised. "We're too knowledgeable to ever fall into something like that again," say the students. The teacher then decides to show the children what it's like to live in an autocracy, and sets up a simple experiment in class. They elect a leader (him) and he begins to instill in them (merely as an examplE) the virtues and practices that accompany an autocracy ("Strength through discipline", "Work as one"). The students take to it, and become obsessed with it. Soon, what was a simple classroom experiment grows to a social entity all it's own, with the teacher not sure if he can reverse the effects.

The film was very well acted and written, and was seriously creepy. It showed how - easily a society could fall into fascism, if presented to the society in the correct way. Watching the film, I understood why the students enjoyed the new system, but was also privy to the horrors that come with it. A shocking and powerful film. The way the different children reacted and how such a seemingly innocent experiment profoundly affected their lives was incredible and horrifying. Vogel gives a powerful performance as an idealistic teacher who isn't aware of the influence he has on others. Worth seeing.

By Elizabeth Gulino

Although they've only been in the professional sphere for less than a decade, Gen Z has already shaken up work as we know it. They're quiet quitting, overcoming imposter syndrome, taking adult gap years, and fully embracing being the personality hire. But they're also, apparently, not saving enough for retirement.

According to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, a financial services company, only 20 percent of Gen Zers are currently saving for retirement. Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute, says there are a myriad of reasons as to why Gen Z may be behind on starting to save for this milestone: The cost of living is higher, financial pressures are abundant, student debt is climbing, and there's been more of a desire to achieve a healthy work-life balance and flexibility in careers instead of a six-figure salary. And of the 80 percent of respondents who haven't started saving, 35 percent of them admit they don't even know where to start.

A recent Bank of America study provided further confirmation: based on internal deposit account data, the banking institution found that Gen Z on average doesn't have enough saved to cover a month of expenses.

Kolluri says one of the biggest roadblocks in Gen Z's path to retirement is a lack of knowledge. Saving, investing, and the power of compounding aren't exactly taught in schools, and there are enough fin-fluencers and resources out there to make even the most dialed-in Gen Zers feel overwhelmed.

The most common — and easiest — path toward retirement is taking advantage of an employer's 401(k). Lauren, 24, does, but while her current company matches 4 percent of her contributions, she tells PS her former employer didn't match at all. "I didn't even realize that that was such a benefit I was missing," she says. "When I would tell people that they weren't matching it they were like, what? How are they getting away with that? And I had no idea." Now, of course, Lauren is taking full advantage of her employer's plan — but she would've been more ahead in her saving game if she knew what to look for before.

Of the 20 percent of the Gen Zers surveyed currently saving for retirement, 66 percent of them do so throughtheir employer, according to the TIAA. But thanks to dwindling job security and the rise of the gig economy, a chunk of the workforce has been left behind on retirement planning.

Angelina, 27, comes from a family of restaurateurs and is currently partial owner of a restaurant. Currently, she has zero retirement savings. Her dad, however, opened his first restaurant at 36 and was able to retire at 60. "He was able to start something and retire in less than 25 years, which I think gave me a false perception of reality," she says. "I think I'm going to be able to achieve the same thing, but I haven't saved a dime.

"I pay into social security, but that's not necessarily enough to survive on, if that even exists by the time that I'm able to collect it," Angelina adds.

Jane, 25, is at the opposite end of the spectrum: She's currently planning to retire in her 30s — at least, in a way. For most of her working life, she's held two full-time jobs and currently owns a townhouse in downtown Toronto that she rents out to tenants. She lives with her parents to save money and tells PS that 50 percent of her income goes to investments, including retirement.

Right now, she's using Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) as a guide, which follows a formula of saving, investing, and frugal living to reach "financial independence" in a short time frame.

"It's a more flexible variation of retirement," Jane explains. "Retirement doesn't just take one form. There are a lot of different types of it. It's not never working — it's being work-optional, being flexible, being able to take really long breaks."

The first milestone under FIRE is called "barista fire," which Jane is currently working toward obtaining. "It gives you flexibility to be work-optional and gives you flexibility to have enough [saved] that you can be a barista, for example, or work part-time for the rest of your life so you're not dependent on a full 9-to-5 corporate job," she says. "My first FIRE milestone is hopefully saving $700,000. That would enable me to find alternative sources of income as opposed to a full 9-to-5."

Jane's not exactly the norm, however. Kolluri says that employers like Lauren's play a vital role in enabling their workers to get on a strong financial plan, meaning that freelancers or those who are self-employed, like Angelina, need to work that much harder to get themselves started. If you fall into that bucket, he says that looking into individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are a good place to start.

Haley Sacks, a financial influencer known as Mrs. Dow Jones, agrees that endless opportunities to buy and consume don't help very much when it comes to saving. "I think it's really hard when you're constantly bombarded with so much to buy and so much FOMO," she says. "It's very easy for people to spend everything that they make."

Jane, Lauren, and Angelina all cite similar reasons for their age group's lack of retirement funds: the rising cost of living, a shortage of knowledge, and endless opportunities to spend money under capitalism. "We livein a time where our FYPs and our Instagram feeds are perfectly tailored to things we want to purchase and overconsumption is so normalized," Angelina says. "I would say [Gen Z not saving] is more because of overconsumption and the need to shop that's ingrained in us versus not having things like a 401(k), or whatever the hell it's called."

Kolluri says education and instilling confidence among young people when it comes to their money is a must. Saving for retirement is vital — not only for living expenses to be covered with age, but medical expenses, too. "The average couple spends over $300,000 on healthcare in retirement in cash," Sacks says. "The funds that you're saving are not just to live in Boca and play golf all day they're also to take care of yourself as your health deteriorates."

Kolluri says that what's different about Gen Z is they value one thing above all else: freedom. "People in this demographic express interest in wanting to maintain the freedom to pursue their interests and being able to financially manage their lives," he says. "That is a new combination we have not seen in other generations."

Retirement is a long way off for Gen Zers. Angelina, though, is already looking forward to the future. "2025 is my year to get my shit together," she says.

https://www.popsugar.com/money/gen-z-retirement-49425345

(Audrey B. Champagne.)

Science education in the United States of America is in the midst of an unprecedented reform movement-unprecedented because the movement is driven by national standards developed with support from the federal government. The standards for science education are redefining the character of science education from kindergarten to the postgraduate education of scientists and science teachers. Unlike the education in most countries of the world, education of students in kindergarten through grade twelve in the United States is not the responsibility of the federal government but is controlled by the individual states. States have the right toregulate all elements of the curriculum-the content all students are expected to learn, the structural organization of programs across all grades, the structural organization of the yearly curriculum in each subject, teaching methods, and textbooks. Historically, and even now, the states jealously guard all their rights and resist efforts by the federal government to exercise control over matters that are the responsibility of the states. The federal government's involvement in education has been to identify matters of national priority and to provide funds and other resources to the states to meet the national priorities. So, for instance, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the United States felt that its perceived preeminence in scientific research and its national safety were threatened, science education was identified as a national priority. The primary purpose of the federal government's initiatives was to encourage and upgrade the science education of young people who would become practicing scientists. This effort was not perceived by the states as an erosion of their rights because it was a response to a threat to the nation and was targeted on the science education of a relatively few students. The current situation is quite different.

The federal government's underwriting of the development of national standards for education has the potential for shifting the control of the curriculum from the states to the federal government. This initiative, supported by the National Association of Governors, is the result of the concern of political, business and industrial leaders with the poor quality of education across the nation and with the effect this poor quality has on the U.S. position in the world economy. The goal of the standards movement from the prospective of political, business, and industrial leaders is to strengthen education so that the schools will produce graduates with the knowledge and skills required of them to be productive in the workplace.

The pedagogy and attitudes of many teachers and professors alike has been that science is for the few. So little concern or effort was applied to make science interesting or to make learning it easy. Consequently, only highly motivated and highly intelligent students survived science courses. Thus it appears education in the natural sciences develops individuals who reason well, are critical thinkers, are creative problem solvers-in short, are intelligent. But, we must ask, does education in the natural sciences produce smarter people or do smart people survive science as it is taught? While historically the answer to the question may well have been survival, the national standards are based on the beliefs that science is for all and can produce smarter people.

Paramedics in Nova Scotia used naloxone to save 165 people from opioid overdoses in 2018 and 188 people in 2019. In 2020, 102 people were saved as of July 31.

Eight years ago, Matthew Bonn watched his friend turn blue and become deathly quiet as fentanyl flooded his body. Bonn jumped in, performing rescue breathing until paramedics arrived. That was the first time Bonn fought to keep someone alive during an overdose.

But it wouldn't be his last. Over the years, he tried more dangerous ways to snap people out of an overdose.

"I remember doing crazy things like throwing people in bathtubs, or, you know, giving them cocaine. As we know now, that doesn't help," said Bonn, a harm-reduction advocate in Halifax. "But ... in those panic modes, you try to do whatever you can to keep that person alive."

This was before naloxone – a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose – became widely available to the public. In 2017, the Nova Scotia government made kits with the drug available for free at pharmacies.

Whether used by community members or emergency crews, naloxone has helped save hundreds of lives in the province. Matthew Bonn is a program co-ordinator with the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, and a current drug user himself.

Almost every other day in Nova Scotia, paramedics and medical first responders in the province use the drug to reverse an opioid overdose, according to Emergency Health Services (EHS).

(Available in: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/ehs-naloxone-opioids-drug-use-emergency-care-1.5745907.)

Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound, their near-implosion as Mercury's lifestyle spirals out of control, and their triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid, where Mercury, facing a lifethreatening illness, leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. In the process, cementing the legacy of a band that were always more like a family, and who continue to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.

Leia o Texto 5 para responder às questões 48 e 49.

Texto 5

This activity can be set up without the trainees opening their books

1. You need one copy of the text below for each pair of trainees. Stick the copies around the room. One person in each pair should run to the text, read a chunk, go back to their partner and dictate it. The listener should write down what they hear and the runner should go back for the next part. The winners are the first pair to finish. As pairs finish, take a copy of the text off the wall and ask them to compare what they have written with the original. Pairs who finish early can consider the question at the end of the text.

2. Allow the trainees a little time to gather their ideas before reporting back in open class.

THORNBURY, S.; WATKINS, P.The CELTA Course: Trainer's Manual, Cambridge University Press - ELT, 2007. p. 67.

Hotels around the world are increasingly embracing humanoid robots at check-in desks, lobby information points, and even for room service, but the trend is raising eyebrows among guests, researchers and hoteliers alike.

Last week, a viral TikTok video fromTokyo's Henn-na Hotel showed a startled guest stepping back from a humanoid check-in robot. As the machine offered instructions, she stammered, "Don't look at me," a moment that highlights discomfort with robots that mimic—but fail to fully replicate—human behavior. The reaction reflects the classic "uncanny valley" phenomenon, where lifelike machines produce a sense of unease, rather than delight.

Indeed, Henn-na itself has scaled back on its robot deployment: it retired more than half of its original roster of 240 androids by 2019, citing technical glitches and guest complaints. Still, not all experiences are negative. A 2023 survey from Boutique Hotelier found 61% of travelers had favorable reactions to service robots, even if nearly 29% admitted to feeling afraid to approach one.

Investment in hospitality robotics continues to escalate. The global market, valued at approximately $567 million in 2023, is projected to reach $2.2 billion by 2030, with a CAGR near 21.5%. While humanoid receptionists earn the spotlight, many hotels are quietly deploying delivery, luggage-handling, cleaning, and disinfection robots to streamline operations without overshadowing guests.

Major chains have taken note. Marriott and Hilton use Relay and Savioke robots to deliver amenities to guest rooms. Aloft and IHG properties in Asia deploy concierge bots like Connie, powered by IBM Watson. Meanwhile, Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas introduced a version of "Pepper" in 2017 as a lobby greeter, but today it fulfills more of an entertainment role than a functional one.

These varied experiments point to a shifting hospitality mindset. Robots are increasingly seen not as novelties, but as efficiency tools. In many properties, housekeeping tasks are now scheduled via AI-driven work order platforms, predictive maintenance prevents broken door locks before guests arrive, and dynamic pricing engines optimize revenue. Humanoid robots often serve as marketing headlines, while automation remains the real operational focus.

Henn-na's evolution encapsulates this balance. Opened in 2015 in Nagasaki and later franchising globally, the hotel scaled back after staffing and function issues became clear. Today, human staff handle most tasks, with robots reserved for novelty greetings and sample deliveries in select areas. The hybrid model highlights that technology is best embraced when it supports—not replaces—hospitality staff.

Engineers are working to soften the uncanny valley. SoftBank Robotics' latest machines, for instance, sport smoother motions, improved speech recognition, and context-aware gestures. Bt. Robotics, another emerging player, is working to enhance robots' ability to recognize individual guests and understand local cultural cues—a step toward more personalized service.

However, UC Berkeley roboticist Ken Goldberg's old adage still rings true: people are most comfortable when robots look and behave like robots. In hospitality, that means using bots to lift luggage, sanitize rooms, or whisk away towels, while leaving emotional intelligence to human staff. Technology can take on repetitive or hazardous tasks, but empathy and problem-solving remain firmly in the human domain.

That said, humanoid robots aren't disappearing. High-end resorts and tech-forward properties continue experimenting with sophisticated bots as part of their experience narrative. In South Korea, luxury hotels feature robot butlers that can draw a bath or set room ambiance. In China, hotel robots perform room service duties while broadcasting real-time translation for foreign guests.

The challenge for the industry lies in aligning form with function. A futuristic check-in robot may attract press, but if it breaks down mid-shift or stares blankly at guests, the novelty becomes irritation. Meanwhile, back-of-house bots that reliably deliver water bottles—or prevent maintenance issues—create consistent value that can actually enhance service quality.

Looking ahead, hoteliers who thoughtfully combine robotics and human labor with precision and purpose will lead the field. They will use robots not to replace staff, but to elevate them—by making service smoother, freeing human employees to engage deeper with guests, and resetting expectations of what hospitality can be in the contactless age.

https://hoteltechnologynews.com/2025/07/humanoid-robots-in-hotels-sti r-curiosity-and-concern-as-global-use-expands/

By Stephanie Hirschman

October 2, 2023

Flipped learning is very much a buzz word these days, and it’s worth thinking about whether this approach is suitable for your

lessons. It’s quite easy to define: whereas a more traditional model of teaching involves some sort of initial input (for example a

lecture or demonstration) followed by some sort of related output (for example a discussion or experiment) with some homework to follow, in flipped learning, this order is disrupted. Students do their homework before the class meets by watching a recorded lecture or video or reading an article. This enables them to spend the lesson time on activities which make a more significant contribution to their deep understanding and mastery of important ideas, for example, discussion, roleplay or presentations. It sits well within blended learning as the pre-lesson homework is likely to be accessed online, while the class activities are conducted face-to-face.