Questões de Concursos Inglês

 Generation Y
By Sally Kane, About.com Guide

Born in the mid-1980"s and later, Generation Y legal professionals are in their 20s and are just entering the workforce. With numbers estimated as high as 70 million, Generation Y (also -1- as the Millennials) is the fastest growing segment of today"s workforce. As law firms compete for available talent, employers cannot ignore the needs, desires and attitudes of this vast generation. Below are a few common traits that define Generation Y.

Tech-Savvy: Generation Y grew up with technology and rely on it to perform their jobs better. Armed with BlackBerrys, laptops, cellphones and other gadgets, Generation Y is plugged-in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact and -2- webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based presentations.

Family-Centric: The fast-track has lost much of its appeal for Generation Y who is willing to trade high pay for fewer billable hours, flexible schedules and a better work/life balance. While older generations may view this attitude as narcissistic or lacking commitment, discipline and drive, Generation Y legal professionals have a different vision of workplace expectations and prioritize family over work.

Achievement-Oriented: Nurtured and pampered -3- parents who did not want to make the mistakes of the previous generation, Generation Y is confident, ambitious and achievement-oriented. They have high expectations of their employers, seek out new challenges and are not afraid to question authority. Generation Y wants meaningful work and a solid learning curve

Team-Oriented: As children, Generation Y participated in team sports, play groups and other group activities. They value teamwork and seek the input and affirmation of others. Part of a no-person-left-behind generation, Generation Y is loyal, committed and wants to be included and involved.

Attention-Craving: Generation Y craves attention in the forms of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent praise and reassurance. Generation Y may benefit greatly from mentors who can help guide and develop their young careers.

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     It now seems to me that what matters most in the majority
of organizations is to have reasonably intelligent, hard-working
managers who have a sense of pride and loyalty toward their
organization; who can get to the root of a problem and are inclined
toward action; who are decent human beings with a natural empathy
and concern for people; who possess humor, humility, and common
sense; and who are able to couple drive with stick-to-it-iveness* and
patience in the accomplishment of a goal.
     It is the ability to make positive things happen that most
distinguishes the successful manager from the mediocre or
unsuccessful one. It is far better to have dependable managers who
can make the right things happen in a timely fashion than to have
brilliant, sophisticated, highly educated executives who are excellent
at planning and analyzing, but who are not so good at implementing.
The most cherished manager is the one who says “I can do it,” and
then does.
     Many business schools continue to focus almost exclusively
on the development of analytical skills. As a result, these schools are
continuing to graduate large numbers of students who know a great
deal about analyzing strategies, dissecting balance sheets, and using
computers — but who still don’t know how to manage!
     As a practical matter, of course, schools can go only so far
in teaching their students to manage. Only actual work experience
will fully develop the kinds of managerial traits, skills, and virtues
that I have discussed here.

*the ability and determination to continue doing something despite difficulties.
Wegman, Knezevic, Bernstein. A reading skills book, 3.d
ed. Mac Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. (adapted).

Based on the text above, judge the items below.

Mark Zuckerberg’s 650 Million Friends (and counting)

    Back in June 2009, the globe’s potpourri of social-networking sites was extremely diverse: Google’s Orkut dominated India and Brazil; Central and South America preferred Hi5; Maktoob was king in the Arab world. The Vietnamese liked Zing, the Czechs loved Lidé, South Koreans surfed Cyworld. Two years after that, and Facebook has stolen users away from its rivals very fast. It’s completely knocked Hi5 off the map in former strongholds such as Peru, Mexico, and Thailand. After a tense back-and-forth with Orkut in India, Facebook has emerged victorious. And it’s becoming more popular in Armenia, Georgia, and the Netherlands, where local providers are making a desperate last stand.
   There are some glaring exceptions to Facebook’s colonization kick. Russians continue to use Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki, with Facebook a distant fourth in the rankings. China remains highly committed to domestic sites such as Qzone and Renren. But for the rest of us, we’re living in Zuckerberg’s world.

(endereço eletrônico omitido propositadamente)

The US Department of Energy is giving $120m (£75m) to set up a new research centre charged with developing new methods of rare earth production.

Rare earths are 17 chemically similar elements crucial to making many hi-tech products, such as phones and PCs. The Critical Materials Institute will be located in Ames, Iowa.

The US wants to reduce its dependency on China, which produces more than 95% of the world’s rare earth elements, and address local shortages. According to the US Geological Survey, there may be deposits of rare earths in 14 US states. Besides being used for hi-tech gadgets, the elements are also crucial for manufacturing low-carbon resources such as wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars, said David Danielson, the US assistant secretary for renewable energy.

Rare earth elements are also used for military applications, such as advanced optics technologies, radar and radiation detection equipment, and advanced communications systems, according to a 2011 research report by the US Government Accountability Office. From the 1960s until the 1980s, the Mountain Pass mine in California made the US the world leader in rare earth production, but it was later closed, largely due to competition with the elements imported from China.

At the moment, the regulations surrounding rare earths mining in the US are very strict, an expert on the materials from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden told the BBC. “The Mountain Pass mine was [also] closed down for environmental reasons,” said Prof Ekberg.