Questões de Concursos Inglês

Leia o texto para responder às questões de números 65 a 70.

What is organized crime?

Organized crime was characterised by the United Nations, in 1994, as: " group organization to commit crime; hierarchical links or personal relationships which permit leaders to control the group: violence, intimidation and corruption used to earn profits or control territories or markets; laundering of illicit proceeds both in furtherance of criminal activity and to infiltrate the legitimate economy; the potential for expansion into any new activities and beyond national borders; and cooperation with other organized transnational criminal groups." It is increasingly global. Although links between, for example, mafia groups in Italy and the USA have existed for decades, new and rapid means of communication have facilitated the development of international networks. Some build on shared linguistic or cultural ties, such as a network trafficking drugs and human organs, which links criminal gangs in Mozambique, Portugal, Brazil, Pakistan, Dubai and South Africa. Others bring together much less likely groups, such as those trafficking arms, drugs and people between South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia, or those linking the Russian mafia with Colombian cocaine cartels or North American criminal gangs with the Japanese Yakuza. Trafficked commodities may pass from group to group along the supply chain; for instance heroin in Italy has traditionally been produced in Afghanistan, transported by Turks, distributed by Albanians, and sold by Italians. Organized crime exploits profit opportunities wherever they arise. Globalization of financial markets, with free movement of goods and capital, has facilitated smuggling of counterfeit goods (in part a reflection of the creation of global brands), internet fraud, and money-laundering. On the other hand, organized crime also takes advantage of the barriers to free movement of people across national borders and the laws against non-medicinal use of narcotics: accordingly it earns vast profits in smuggling migrants and psychoactive drugs. Briquet and Favarel have identified deregulation and the " rolling back of the state" in some countries as creating lacunae that have been occupied by profiteers. The political changes in Europe in the late 1980s fuelled the growth in criminal networks, often involving former law enforcement officers. Failed states, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sierra Leone, have provided further opportunities as criminal gangs smuggle arms in and commodities out, for example diamonds, gold, and rare earth metals, often generating violence against those involved in the trade and in the surrounding communities. Finally, there are a few states, such as the Democratic Republic of Korea and Burma and Guinea-Bissau (once described as a narco-state) where politicians have been alleged to have played an active role in international crime. Organized criminal gangs have strong incentives. Compared with legitimate producers, they have lower costs of production due to the ability to disregard quality and safety standards, tax obligations, minimum wages or employee benefits. Once established, they may threaten or use violence to eliminate competitors, and can obtain favourable treatment by regulatory authorities either through bribes or threats.

(www.globalizationandhealth.com. Adaptado)

Read the text below which is entitled The global union in
order to answer questions 25 to 27.

The global union
Source: Newsweek Special Edition
Dec 2005 Feb 2006 (Adapted)

What would a global union look like? Think more
corporate partnership than class struggle. Today, capital is
global and employers are global. Companies, not countries,
make the rules. To survive, unions need to find their niche.
Global companies are going to need an organization that,
in a sense, will manage their labor and protect workers
rights. A global union would set standard practices and
codes of conduct perhaps even minimum wages and
work hours.
My critics in the labor movement cringe when I use
words like partnership and value added. The reality is
that unions need to add value or corporations will ignore
us. If we want an equitable stake in the company, we need
to define what our goals are. We cant just demand a raise
in pay withoutoffering an incentive to the company. Were
already far behind multinational corporations in the global
game. We made the mistake of transferring the industrial
model of unionism of the last country to the 21st. We lost
market share: in 1960, one in four workers was in a union;
now its one in 12.

Mr. Law´s invention

Less than a year ago the judges on the reality programme Dragon´s Den rejected his invention. Now inventor Rob Law is having the last laugh after a product considered "worthless" on the BBC television programme for young entrepreneurs has proved a huge commercial hit. Mr. Law, 29, from Bath, spent 11 years – and 17,000 pounds of his own money – refining his design for a wheelie suitcase which doubles up as a child´s ride-on toy. The plastic Trunki case is designed to allow youngsters aged three to six to take their own bag on holiday – and sit on it when they are tired. But when Mr. Law appeared on Dragons´ Den last September, he was given a hard time by the famously unfriendly panel of investors. Businessman Theo Paphitis ridiculed the product after managing to pull off one of the straps. His colleague Deborah Meadon, head of a holiday firm, declared bluntly that there was no market for the case. And the notoriously brusque tele-communications tycoon Peter Jones declared: "I meet people like you all the time – you think you have something. I tell you, you don´t". The panel declined Mr. Law´s offer to give up 10 percent of his new company in return for a 100,000 pounds investment – an offer which valued the firm at 1 million. However, it now appears that the experts were wrong. After a succession of positive press reviews, Mr. Law has sold 85,000 of his trunki suitcases. It is marketed in 22 countries via a network of distributors. Retailing at 25 pounds, it has proved a hit at several high street stores. Mr Law said: "When I went on to the programme I was full of confidence that I was going to get the investment I needed. But they were rude and obnoxious and just focused on the strap, which was actually something that was easily fixed. I was terrified that by appearing on the programme I may have ruined my company before it even started. But afterwards we had loads of hits on the website from people who said they thought it was a brilliant idea. Now I am absolutely delighted to have proved the Dragons wrong. It just goes to show you should never give up. Mr. Law also revealed that during filming he managed to sell two of the suitcases to Australian panellist Richard Farleigh, who wanted to invest 100,000 pounds in return for half of the company. But Mr. Law rejected the deal. He declined to say exactly how much the company – which is 100% owned by him - is now worth, but said it was more than a million.

(Adapted from New English File Upper, Oxford, 1996)