Questões de Concursos Inglês

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.)

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).

READ TEXT IV AND ANSWER THE QUESTION THAT FOLLOWS IT:

TEXT IV

What is the global situation in relation to literacy?

Great progress has been made in literacy with most recent data (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) showing that more than 86 per cent of the world’s population know how to read and write compared to 68 per cent in 1979. Despite this, worldwide at least 754 million adults still cannot read and write, two thirds of them women, and 250 million children are failing to acquire basic literacy skills. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the worst disruption to education in a century, 617 million children and teenagers had not reached minimum reading levels.

Acquiring literacy is not a one-off act. Beyond its conventional concept as a set of reading, writing and counting skills, literacy is now understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world.

Literacy is a continuum of learning and proficiency in reading, writing and using numbers throughout life and is part of a larger set of skills, which include digital skills, media literacy, education for sustainable development and global citizenship as well as jobspecific skills. Literacy skills themselves are expanding and evolving as people engage more and more with information and learning through digital technology.

Literacy is a continuum of learning and proficiency in reading, writing and using numbers throughout life and is part of a larger set of skills, which include digital skills, media literacy, education for sustainable development and global citizenship as well as jobspecific skills. Literacy skills themselves are expanding and evolving as people engage more and more with information and learning through digital technology.

Adapted from https://www.unesco.org/en/literacy/need-know