Questões de Concursos Inglês

     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.

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.

Working for on demand startups like Uber and TaskRabbit is supposed to offer flexible hours and higher wages, but many workers have found the pay lower and the hours less flexible than they expected. Even more surprising: 8 percent of those chauffeuring passengers and 16 percent of those making deliveries said they lack personal autoinsurance.

Those are among the findings from a survey about the work life of independent contractors for on-demand startups, a booming sector of the tech industry, being released Wednesday.

"We want to shed light on the industry as a whole," said Isaac Madan, a Stanford master s candidate in bioinformatics who worked with two other Stanford students and a recent alumnus on the survey of 1,330 workers. "People need to understand how this space will change and evolve and help the economy."

On-demand, often called the sharing economy, refers to companies that let users summon workers via smartphone apps to handle all manner of services: rides, cleaning, chores, deliveries, car parking, waiting in lines. Almost uniformly, those workers are independent contractors rather than salaried employees.

That status is the main point of contention in a recent rash of lawsuits in which workers are filing for employee status. While the survey did not directly ask

contractors if they would prefer to be employees, it found that their top workplace desires were to have paid health insurance, retirement benefits and paid time off for holidays, vacation and sick days - all perks of full time workers. Respondents also expressed interest in having more chances for advancement, education sponsorship, disability insurance and human relations support. Because respondents were recruited rather than randomly selected, the survey does not claim to be representational but a conclusion one may come to is that flexibility ofnew jobs comes with a cost. Not all workers are prepared for that!

SFChronicle.com and SFGate.com, May 20, 2015. Adaptado

What are the best energy sources? "Best" depends on many factors - how the energy is being used, where it is being used, what energy sources are available, which sources are most convenient and reliable, which5 are easiest to use, what each costs, and the effects on public safety, health, and the environment. Making smart energy choices means understanding resources and their relative costs and benefits. Some energy sources have advantages for specific10 uses or locations. For example, fuels from petroleum are well suited for transportation because they pack a lot of energy in a small space and are easily transported and stored. Small hydroelectric installations are a good solution for supplying power or mechanical energy close15 to where it is used. Coal is widely used for power generation in many fast-developing countries - including China, India, and many others - because domestic supplies are readily available. Efficiency is an important factor in energy costs.20 How efficiently can the energy be produced, delivered, and used? How much energy value is lost in that process, and how much ends up being transformed into useful work? Industries that produce or use energy continually look for ways to improve efficiency, since this is a key to25 making their products morecompetitive. The ideal energy source - cheap, plentiful, and pollution-free - may prove unattainable in our lifetime, but that is the ultimate goal. The energy industry is continuing to improve its technologies and practices, to30 produce and use energy more efficiently and cleanly. Energy resources are often categorized as renewable or nonrenewable. Renewable energy resources are those that can be replenished quickly - examples are solar power,35 biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind power, and fast-reaction nuclear power. They supply about seven percent of energy needs in the United States; theother 93 percent comes from nonrenewables. The two largest categories of renewable energy now in use in the U.S.40 are biomass - primarily wood wastes that are used by the forest products industry to generate electricity and heat - and hydroelectricity. Nonrenewable energy resources include coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium-235, which is used to fuel45 slow-reaction nuclear power. Projections of how long a nonrenewable energy resource will last depend on many changeable factors. These include the growth rate of consumption, and estimates of how much of the remaining resources can be economically recovered. New exploration50 and production technologies often increase theability of producers to locate and recover resources. World reserves of fossil energy are projected to last for many more decades - and, in the case of coal, for centuries.In: http://www.classroom-energy.org/teachers/energy_tour/pg5.html