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ID: 1024057•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
AMEOSC•
Prefeitura de São Miguel do Oeste SC•
PSS•
2024

O texto seguinte servirá de base para responder a questão.


HVAC Contractors Need to Adapt to Repair Market


Repair or replace is a question homeowners often need to answer, and it greatly impacts an HVAC contractor's business. During COVID, the residential HVAC industry saw a replacement market boom. But in 2023 and now the beginning of 2024, there has been a shift to a repair market that HVAC contractors need to be aware of as they run their businesses.


According to numbers from the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), shipments of unitary air conditioners and heat pumps were down 16.7% in 2023, compared to 2022. Gas furnaces were down 23%.


"The replacement market is performing worse when you strip out new construction," said industry leader Matt Michel. "Housing starts were down around 5%, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, so the replacement market for unitary air conditioners and heat pumps was down in the low 20s."


Distributors are seeing similar numbers, according to the Heating, Air-conditioning, & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI).


"We definitely are seeing a shift here. And that shift has actually been visible for some time," said Tim Fisher, HARDI director of market intelligence.


HARDI receives data from FieldEdge on the invoice and quote trends exhibited by their users. Invoices reflect work that has been completed, whereas quotes reflect potential future work and are most often provided for new system installations. HARDI has found that, over time, the ratio of new invoices to new quotes is a useful indicator of whether a market is trending more toward repair than replace and vice versa.


The numbers show the annual growth rate bottomed out in the spring of 2022 but remained negative through most of the year, indicating that replacement trends were broadly higher in 2022 than in 2021. That figure increased through 2023, peaking in May but generally remaining positive for most of the year. While the three-month growth rate has slowed in recent months — an encouraging sign — they don't expect much of a negative drift in 2024, meaning that repair versus replace trends will broadly remain similar to where they were in 2023.


So why is this change happening? It can't be attributed to any single factor but rather a combination of items. Certainly, higher costs of both HVAC systems and housing in general play a role.


"Adapting to the economy is something contractors need to do. We can't just assume people are going to reach into their pocket and replace," said ACCA CEO Bart James. "Contractors need to help customers get through the current need. People are slowing down on theirspending. People are worried about what is coming and how they are preparing for it. Wages and other things are not keeping up with how fast prices are going up."


James said reading the numbers shows there is a shift in the home improvement market.


"Just look at the Walmart and Home Depot quarterly projections. Walmart did well with more visits but had smaller purchases, while Home Depot did not hit their numbers. That tells you that people are handling investments into housing differently. That will catch up with HVAC, too. "Contractors need to prepare by making investments in their team to meet the needs of the customer. And that need is not always a replacement option but also can be a repair option," James continued.


The sluggish home resale market is another reason for the shift towards a repair market. "Home improvement spending, in aggregate, tends to follow existing home sales totals nationally," Fisher said. "People invest more in their homes prior to selling to boost its value, and new homeowners spend more in their first year of moving than homeowners who stay put. This has major implications for HVAC replacement demand, which, historically, peaks when existing home sales are at their highest and falls off when existing home sales decline.


"Both the 3-month and 12-month growth rates bottomed out earlier in 2023, and while still negative, have slowed significantly," he continued. "We believe that home sale totals are at or nearing their trough, and over the duration of 2024 should steadily improve and finish at or ahead of 2023 totals."


The final reason is the cyclical nature of HVAC. It reflects the shipment cliff from 15 years ago, when the industry contracted 40% after peak shipments in 2005. Contractors cannot replace what was never installed.


How do HVAC contractors deal with this shift? Michel believes they should embrace the repair market.


"The money is better in replacements," he said. "It always has been and always will be. However, margins are better in service. For the next couple of years, anyway, contractors should focus on building up their service business and making money on it."


Since service involves more labor, and labor carries more overhead than equipment and material, keeping a close watch on overhead expenses is a must.


"Contractors need to build the service base, watch your marketing expenses drop, and down the road, the replacement margins and close rates to a satisfied service base will rise," Michel said. "Once we get past the shipment cliff, the replacement market will begin a decade-long run with every year being better than the year before it. We know this because it's what happened in the past, and when it comes to replacements, the past truly is a prologue."


Contractors in most parts of the country are already feeling the pinch of a slower market, and their experiences in 2024 are unlikely to be much different from their experiences in 2023 though rebounds from themilder temperatures we saw during peak months last year would go a long way in improving demand in 2024.


HARDI advises contractors should consider the following six tactics in '24:


  • •Offer financing options: Any homeowner considering a new system is likely going to feel some sticker shock if it's been a few years since they
  • last bought a system. Financing a new system helps to alleviate that shock, making the big sticker prices much more palatable monthly payments.
  • •Protect margins: Work to ensure that your pricing for jobs is consistent with market trends, and attempt to pass through as much of the higher system costs as possible. Likewise, now is a critical time to manage operating expenses closely. Together, good cost  management and smart pricing can help protect business margins in 2024.
  • •Educate homeowners: Many homeowners may not fully understand the long-term benefits of replacing their HVAC system versus frequent repairs. Offer educational materials, such as blog posts, videos, or pamphlets, explaining the advantages of a new system 
  • in terms of energy efficiency, lower maintenance costs, and improved IAQ. Also, be sure to make clear to your customers which incentives they may qualify for through IRA or other state-level rebate/incentive programs. 
  • •Focus on value proposition: Emphasize the value proposition of a new HVAC system, highlighting its reliability, longevity, and performance. Help homeowners understand that investing in a replacement now can save  them money and hassle in the long run.
  • •Offer maintenance packages: Create maintenance packages that bundle regular servicing with discounts on repairs or replacements. This can encourage homeowners to invest in preventive maintenance and build a long-term relationship with your company. 
  • •Diversify services: Explore diversifying your services beyond just HVAC installations and repairs. For example, you could offer IAQ assessments, smart thermostat installations, or energy audits to provide additional value to homeowners and generate new revenue streams.


https://www.achrnews.com/articles/154324-hvac-contractors-need-to-ad apt-to-repair-market

Evaluate the role of consumer spending behavior and housing market trends in shaping the HVAC industry's response to market changes, as outlined in the text. Which statement best summarizes this dynamic?

ID: 1023300•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
CESGRANRIO•
Transpetro•
Eletricista•
2023

Forthcoming innovation & trends in shipping industry


1 The shipping trends play a vital role in global trade, transporting goods worth trillions of dollars yearly. Population growth and continued urbanization will also lead to an increase in demand for maritime shipping services. The maritime shipping industry must continue to innovate and adopt new technologies to meet this increased demand. The following are some of the most promising trends and innovations currently taking place in the maritime shipping industry:

2 1. Green Technology - One of the most critical trends in maritime shipping is the move toward green technology. With increasing public awareness of the need to protect the environment, it is becoming increasingly crucial for maritime companies to adopt green practices. Maritime companies invest in cleaner-burning fuels such as LNG (liquefied natural gas). LNG produces significantly lower emissions than traditional marine fuels such as heavy fuel oil (HFO) and diesel. Some maritime companies are also experimenting with battery-powered ships to reduce emissions further. While battery-powered ships are not yet commercially viable on long voyages, they show great promise for use on shorter routes.

3 2. Electric Ships - Global maritime transport emits around 900 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, accounting for 2-3% of the world’s total emissions. As the push for decarbonization gathers momentum, it is only a matter of time before electric ships become the norm.

4 3. Autonomous Ships - Another exciting trend in maritime shipping is the development of autonomous ships. Autonomous ships have the potential to revolutionize the industry. They offer many advantages over traditional vessels, including reduced operating costs, increased efficiency, and improved safety by reducing the need for manual labor onboard ships. In addition, automated systems are less susceptible to human error than their manual counterparts. While there are many regulatory hurdles to overcome before autonomous vessels can be deployed commercially, they are expected to eventually become a common sight in the world’s oceans.

5 4. Blockchain - Blockchain technology is also beginning to make its way into the maritime shipping industry. Blockchain offers several potential benefits for maritime companies, including improved tracking of shipments and real-time visibility of their location- this would minimize delays caused by lost or misplaced cargo, reduce paperwork, and increase transparency throughout the supply chain. Moreover, blockchain-based smart contracts could automate many administrative tasks related to shipping, such as documentation and billing.

6 5. Big data and predictive analytics - Another major trend transforming maritime shipping is the increasing use of big data and predictive analytics. The shipping industry generates vast amounts of data that can be extremely valuable if analyzed correctly. Big data analytics can improve everything from route planning to fuel consumption. By harnessing the power of data, shipping companies can optimize their operations, reduce costs, and enhance safety and security. Predictive analytics is particularly valuable for identifying potential problems before they occur, such as equipment failures or weather hazards.

7 6. Cybersecurity - Cybersecurity is a growing concern for maritime companies due to the increased reliance on digital systems and networks. As the shipping industry becomes increasingly digitized, companies must implement robust cybersecurity measures to protect their vessels and cargo from attack. Ships are now equipped with everything from satellite communications to remote monitoring capabilities, all of which create potential cyber vulnerabilities.

8 Conclusion - The maritime shipping news is undergoing a period of significant change, with new technologies and trends emerging that have the potential to revolutionize the way that we ship goods around the world.


Available at: https://maritimefairtrade.org/6-forthcoming-innovation-
-trends-in-the-shipping-industry/ Retrieved on April 22, 2023. Adapted.
In the fragment in the fourth paragraph of the text “While there are many regulatory hurdles to overcome before autonomous vessels can be deployed commercially, they are expected to eventually become a common sight in the world’s oceans”, the word they refers to

ID: 1022021•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
SELECON•
Prefeitura de Lucas do Rio Verde MT•
Professor de Língua Portuguesa Inglesa•
2024

TEXT:


How students can make rapid progress by reading
independently


By Stephanie Hirshman
January 2, 2024



Let me start with a true story. When I was seven years old, my family spent a year in France, and I had to go to school there. The only thing was, I didn’t speak French. Luckily my mother was fluent in that language, and she set out to prepare me a few months before we left. Armed only with a second-hand copy of a little picture book called Totor et Tristan, she sat me down on the sofa with her a few times a week for around 10 minutes. Sometimes she read the book to me while I followed the text silently and sometimes I had to read a page myself. She asked me questions in French and I answered in French, or she corrected my pronunciation. That was it.


My first day at school in France was memorable for many reasons, but one of these was that I was the only child in a class of native French speakers to score 100% on our first spelling test! Everyone was amazed, me most of all because I didn’t even know what most of the words meant.


So, what made this possible? I think it was reading with my mother – I guess had read more in French than my classmates and thus was able to recognize the tricky relationship between sound and spelling. My confidence was sky high and I was fluent within four months.


Exploring a written text for fun, on your own terms, is called extensive reading, and teachers can support their students to realize its many benefits.


Graded readers


Graded readers are books which have been adapted to be suitable for specific levels of language learners to enjoy. They can be classics (The Phantom of the Opera), film adaptations (Rain Man) or original works of fiction or non-fiction. They can be purchased online or at bookshops, or you can obtain them from libraries or even find some on websites.


There are many reasons for making them available to students. First, reading is fun. It’s also magic learning. Students who have a sustained habit of extensive reading see improvements in a range of areas: lexical, grammatical and spelling as well as reading speed, which is vital for success in academic and work contexts. Being able to select their own reading material gives students a sense of ownership.


Choosing a book


It’s helpful if a teacher initially introduces students to graded readers and explains how to choose and use them. Students should examine both covers carefully, using the picture and the blurb to determine the genre and read a basic description of the story. Additional information can be found inside the book, in the Introduction.


While it’s not necessary to have 100% comprehension of the text, choosing a book which is too difficult or too easy will not lead to an enjoyable experience. Most books are labelled with a level, but no two intermediate readers will have the same needs. Therefore, a simple test can be performed: the student should choose one page at random and read it to see how many unknown words they encounter. If the answer is seven or fewer, this book will be suitable. More than seven, and it’ll be too hard to get a good flow going when reading.



Activities


While students are reading, they should try to work out the meaning of unfamiliar items from context. They should also be made aware of the Glossary at the back of some books and, of course, they can use a dictionary if they really need to. However, some items do notreally need further exploration - making decisions about what’s important and what’s not is an important skill for language learners. Some books also have comprehension questions at the back.


However, the main aim is to get into and enjoy the story without lots of interruptions and checks. Encourage students to read ten minutes a day on a regular basis (perhaps in bed or while commuting). Results will not be immediate, but within a few weeks, students should recognize the improvements.


Conclusion


A collection of readers is well worth investing in. Be creative when looking for material – why not try a graphic novel? Even authentic texts not intended for language learners can be worthwhile for advanced students or those with a special interest in or knowledge of a topic.


Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/blog/post/how-students-can-make-rapid-progress-by-reading-independently
Acesso em 04/11/2024

De acordo com o texto, a leitura extensiva é definida como o ato de ler:

ID: 1022792•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
CEV URCA•
Prefeitura de Brejo Santo CE•
Professor de Inglês•
2025

Which reading comprehension technique is most effective when analyzing persuasive texts?

ID: 1023562•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
AMEOSC•
Prefeitura de São Miguel do Oeste SC•
Professor de Língua Inglesa•
2023

O texto seguinte servirá de base para responder às questões de 1 a 4.

A doll to place your dreams on...

(1º§) "Someday I'm gonna be, exactly like you... till then... I'll make believe I'm you." So went the dulcet tones of Barbie's first ever TV advert in 1959. That year, what would come to be toy company Mattel's most significant and long-lasting creation, Barbie, arrived.

(2º§) She was the brainchild of Ruth Handler; the co-founder, along with her husband Eliot, of Mattel in 1945. According to one of two origin stories (the other involving an adult novelty doll called Bild Lilli, handed out at bachelor parties), Handler noticed her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls and decided she wanted to give her a doll that was not a baby, but a woman she could aspire to. Barbie, named after her daughter, was born and she premiered at the annual Toy Fair in New York in March 1959. In the first year, 300,000 Barbie dolls were sold.

(3º§) She was 'petite' as the advert chimes, with all the latest clothes and accessories. Among these was, of course, a wedding dress. Her immediate MO was clearly as a stylish and sophisticated style maven, the kind of svelte, pretty woman young girls wanted to be − at least in 1959. Her first ever outfit − as exemplified in Gerwig's initial teaser trailer for the Barbie movie − was a black and white swimsuit, with white heels and white-rimmed sunglasses. Unsurprisingly, by 1961, she was 'going steady' with Ken (oddly named after the Handlers' son).

Courting controversy

(4º§) By the 1960s, Barbie was already attracting criticism for being a 'sex symbol'. To counteract this, the Handlers gave her a little sister, Skipper (originally a child and now sold as a teenager), and a best friend, Midge − who would go to have her own chequered history. Fashioned as a 'homelier' friend for Barbie (with red hair and freckles) Midge would disappear after 1967, returning in the 1980s along with a husband, kids and a 'Happy Family Line' of toys, which even included Pregnant Midge (with a detachable womb!). The line courted scandal from every angle − among which was outrage that Midge was pregnant without a wedding ring. Cannily, Gerwig has lined up Emerald Fennell to play Midge. Yes, Pregnant Midge.

(5º§) Though to many Barbie was too conventional − with her improbable proportions and origins as a doll who aspires to, essentially, marry Ken − to many she was too progressive. Indeed, as early as 1968, nine years after Barbie's invention, Mattel introduced their first Black doll, Christie, a friend of Barbie. Christie arrived at a fecund point in American politics, just as the Civil Rights Act of 1968 − enshrining the illegality of racial discrimination − was passed.

(6º§) It would not be until 1980, however, that Mattel would produce its first Black Barbie. She was designed by Kitty Black Perkins, who was then chief designer for Barbie. She bought her first Barbie doll aged 28, when interviewing for the position, when she was asked to create a whole new wardrobe for the doll. She was chief designer for more than 30 years and, in 1979, she was asked to design the first ever Black Barbie. When she arrived, she was wearing a red disco jumpsuit and came with the tagline: "She's Black! She's beautiful! She's dynamite!"

(adapted) https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/entertainment/a44129282/

What inspired Ruth Handler to create Barbie?

ID: 1022539•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
VUNESP•
Prefeitura de Itapevi SP•
Inglês•
2025

Leia o texto para responder à questão.


Practice often receives an unfair treatment in the field of applied linguistics. Most laypeople simply assume that practice is a necessary condition for language learning without giving the concept much further thought, but many applied linguists deliberately avoid the term practice. For some, the word conjures up images of repetitive drills in the factories of foreign language learning, while for others it means fun and games to entertain students on Friday afternoons.

Practice is by no means a dirty word in other domains of human endeavor, however. Parents dutifully take their kids to soccer practice, and professional athletes dutifully show up for team practice, sometimes even with recent injuries. Parents make their kids practice their piano skills at home, and the world’s most famous performers of classical music often practice for many hours a day, even if it makes their fingers hurt. If even idolized, spoiled, and highly paid celebrities are willing to put up with practice, why not language learners, teachers, or researchers?


(DEKEYSER, Robert. Practice in a second language. Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology. Cambridge, 2007. Adaptado)
“Images of repetitive drills in the factories of foreign language learning” (paragraph 1) can be most closely associated to

ID: 1024079•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
FGV•
Prefeitura de Niterói RJ•
Gestão Governamental•
2024

Text I


Embarking on the ESG journey


Efforts to mitigate the accelerating effects of climate change and address perceived historical social inequities are two powerful issues driving change globally. These movements have enhanced awareness of how all organizations impact, influence, and interact with society and the environment.
They also have spurred organizations to better recognize and manage ESG risks (i.e., risks associated with how organizations operate in respect to their impact on the world around them). This broad risk category includes areas that are dynamic and often driven by factors that can be difficult to measure objectively, such as inclusion, ethical behavior, corporate culture, and embracing sustainability across the organization.
Still, there is growing urgency for organizations to understand and manage ESG risks, particularly as investors and regulators focus on organizations producing high-quality reporting on sustainability efforts. What’s more, that pressure is being reflected increasingly in executive performance as more organizations tie incentive compensation metrics to ESG goals.
Additional risk areas associated with ESG are varied and can include reliance on third-party data, potential reputational damage from faulty reporting, and the real possibility that an organization’s explicit commitments to meet specific sustainability goals could grow into a material weakness.
As ESG reporting becomes increasingly common, it should be treated with the same care as financial reporting. Organizations need to recognize that ESG reporting must be built on a strategically crafted system of internal controls and accurately reflect how an organization’s ESG efforts relate to each other, the organization’s finances, and value creation. […] Seeking out objective assurance on all ESG-related risk management processes from a qualified, independent, and properly resourced internal audit function should be part of any ESG strategy.


Adapted from: https://www.theiia.org/globalassets/documents/ communications/2021/june/white-paper-internal-audits-role-in-esg-reporting.pdf
The phrasal verb that may replace “mitigate” in “Efforts to mitigate” (1st paragraph), without significant change in meaning, is

ID: 1024083•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
FGV•
Prefeitura de Niterói RJ•
Gestão Governamental•
2024

Text I


Embarking on the ESG journey


Efforts to mitigate the accelerating effects of climate change and address perceived historical social inequities are two powerful issues driving change globally. These movements have enhanced awareness of how all organizations impact, influence, and interact with society and the environment.
They also have spurred organizations to better recognize and manage ESG risks (i.e., risks associated with how organizations operate in respect to their impact on the world around them). This broad risk category includes areas that are dynamic and often driven by factors that can be difficult to measure objectively, such as inclusion, ethical behavior, corporate culture, and embracing sustainability across the organization.
Still, there is growing urgency for organizations to understand and manage ESG risks, particularly as investors and regulators focus on organizations producing high-quality reporting on sustainability efforts. What’s more, that pressure is being reflected increasingly in executive performance as more organizations tie incentive compensation metrics to ESG goals.
Additional risk areas associated with ESG are varied and can include reliance on third-party data, potential reputational damage from faulty reporting, and the real possibility that an organization’s explicit commitments to meet specific sustainability goals could grow into a material weakness.
As ESG reporting becomes increasingly common, it should be treated with the same care as financial reporting. Organizations need to recognize that ESG reporting must be built on a strategically crafted system of internal controls and accurately reflect how an organization’s ESG efforts relate to each other, the organization’s finances, and value creation. […] Seeking out objective assurance on all ESG-related risk management processes from a qualified, independent, and properly resourced internal audit function should be part of any ESG strategy.


Adapted from: https://www.theiia.org/globalassets/documents/ communications/2021/june/white-paper-internal-audits-role-in-esg-reporting.pdf
The text concludes with a

ID: 1023317•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
CESGRANRIO•
Transpetro•
Junior Ênfase 1 Administração•
2023

How space technology is bringing
green wins for transport


1 Space technology is developing fast, and, with every advance, it is becoming more accessible to industry. Today, satellite communications (satcoms) and space-based data are underpinning new ways of operating that boost both sustainability and profitability. Some projects are still in the planning stages, offering great promise for the future. However, others are already delivering practical results.

2 The benefits of space technology broadly fall into two categories: connectivity that can reach into situations where terrestrial technologies struggle to deliver and the deep, unique insights delivered by Earth Observation (EO) data. Both depend on access to satellite networks, particularly medium earth orbit (MEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites that offer low-latency connectivity and frequently updated data. Right now, the satellite supplier market is booming, driving down the cost of access to satellites. Suppliers are increasingly tailoring their services to emerging customer needs and the potential applications are incredible – as a look at the transportation sector shows.

3 Satellite technology is a critical part of revolutionizing connectivity on trains. The Satellites for Digitalization of Railways (SODOR) project will provide low latency, highly reliable connectivity that, combined with monitoring sensors, will mean near realtime data guides operational decisions. This insight will help trains run more efficiently with fewer delays for passengers. Launching this year, SODOR will help operators reduce emissions by using the network more efficiently, allowing preventative maintenance and extending the lifetime of some existing trains. It will also make rail travel more attractive and help shift more passengers from road to rail (that typically emits even less CO2 per passenger than electric cars do).

4 Satellite data and communications will also play a fundamental role in shaping a sustainable future for road vehicles. Right now, the transport sector contributes around 14% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, of which 91% is from road vehicles – and this needs to change.

5 A future where Electric Vehicles (EV) dominate will need a smart infrastructure to monitor and control the electricity network, managing highly variable supply and demand, as well as a large network of EV charging points. EO data will be critical in future forecasting models for wind and solar production, to help manage a consistent flow of green energy.

6 Satellite communications will also be pivotal. As more wind and solar installations join the electricity network – often in remote locations – satcoms will step in to deliver highly reliable connectivity where 4G struggles to reach. It will underpin a growing network of EV charging points, connecting each point to the internet for operational management purposes, for billing and access app functionality and for the users’ comfort, they may access the system wherever they are.

7 Satellite technology will increasingly be a part of the vehicles themselves, particularly when automated driving becomes more mainstream. It will be essential for every vehicle to have continuous connectivity to support real-time software patches, map updates and inter-vehicle communications. Already, satellites provide regular software updates to vehicles and enhanced safety through an in-car emergency call service.

8 At our company, we have been deeply embedded in the space engineering for more than 40 years – and we continue to be involved with the state-of-the-art technologies and use cases. We have a strong track record of translating these advances into practical benefits for our customers that make sense on both a business and a sustainability level.


Available at: https://www.cgi.com/uk/en-gb/blog/space/how-space-technology-is-bringing-green-wins-to-transport. Retrieved on April 25, 2023. Adapted.
From the fifth paragraph of the text, one can infer that models for wind and solar production can provide sources of

ID: 1024097•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
AMEOSC•
Prefeitura de São João do Oeste SC•
Professor de Inglês•
2024

O texto seguinte servirá de base para responder à questão.


Archaeologists conduct first 'space excavation' on International Space Station

By Justin St. P. Walsh and Alice Gorman, The Conversation | Published: August 15, 2024 | Last updated on August 20, 2024

New results from the first archaeological fieldwork conducted in space show the International Space Station is a rich cultural landscape where crew create their own "gravity" to replace Earth's, and adapt module spaces to suit their needs.

Archaeology is usually thought of as the study of the distant past, but it's ideally suited for revealing how people adapt to long-duration spaceflight.

In the SQuARE experiment described in our new paper in PLOS ONE, we re-imagined a standard archaeological method for use in space, and got astronauts to carry it out for us.

Archaeology ... in ... spaaaaace!

The International Space Station is the first permanent human settlement in space. Close to 280 people have visited it in the past 23 years.

Our team has studied displays of photos, religious icons and artworks made by crew members from different countries, observed the cargo that is returned to Earth, and used NASA's historic photo archive to examine the relationships between crew members who serve together.

We've also studied the simple technologies, such as Velcro and resealable plastic bags, which astronauts use to recreate the Earthly effect of gravity in the microgravity environment − to keep things where you left them, so they don't float away.

Most recently, we collected data about how crew used objects inside the space station by adapting one of the most traditional archaeological techniques, the "shovel test pit".

On Earth, after an archaeological site has been identified, a grid of one-metre squares is laid out, and some of these are excavated as "test pits". These samples give a sense of the site as a whole.

In January 2022, we asked the space station crew to lay out five roughly square sample areas. We chose the square locations to encompass zones of work, science, exercise and leisure. The crew also selected a sixth area based on their own idea of what might be interesting to observe. Our study was sponsored by the International Space Station National Laboratory.

Then, for 60 days, the crew photographed each square every day to document the objects within its boundaries. Everything in space culture has an acronym, so we called this activity the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment, or SQuARE.

The resulting photos show the richness of the space station's cultural landscape, while also revealing how far life in space is from images of sci-fi imagination.

The space station is cluttered and chaotic, cramped and dirty. There are no boundaries between where the crew works and where they rest. There is little to no privacy. There isn't even a shower.

What we saw in the squares

Now we can present results from the analysis of the first two squares. One was located in the US Node 2 module, where there are four crew berths, and connections to the European and Japanese labs. Visiting spacecraft often dock here. Our target was a wall where the Maintenance Work Area, or MWA, is located. There's a blue metal panel with 40 velcro squares on it, and a table below for fixing equipment or doing experiments.

NASA intended the area to be used for maintenance. However, we saw hardly any evidence of maintenance there, and only a handful of science activities. In fact, for 50 of the 60 days covered by our survey, the square was only used for storing items, which may not even have been used there.

The amount of velcro here made it a perfect location for ad hoc storage. Close to half of all items recorded (44%) were related to holding other items in place.

The other square we've completed was in the US Node 3 module, where there are exercise machines and the toilet. It's also a passageway to the crew's favourite part of the space station, the seven-sided cupola window, and to storage modules.

This wall had no designated function, so it was used for eclectic purposes, such as storing a laptop, an antibacterial experiment and resealable bags. And for 52 days during SQuARE, it was also the location where one crew member kept their toiletry kit.

It makes a kind of sense to put one's toiletries near the toilet and the exercise machines that each astronaut uses for hours every day. But this is a highly public space, where others are constantly passing by. The placement of the toiletry kit shows how inadequate the facilities are for hygiene and privacy.

What does this mean?

Our analysis of Squares 03 and 05 helped us understand how restraints such as velcro create a sort of transient gravity.

Restraints used to hold an object form a patch of active gravity, while those not in use represent potential gravity. The artefact analysis shows us how much potential gravity is available at each location.

The main focus of the space station is scientific work. To make this happen, astronauts have to deploy large numbers of objects. Square 03 shows how they turned a surface intended for maintenance into a halfway house for various items on their journeys around the station. Professor de Inglês - 1 1

Our data suggests that designers of future space stations, such as the commercial ones currently planned for low Earth orbit, or the Gateway station being built for lunar orbit, might need to make storage a higher priority.

Square 05 shows how a public wall space was claimed for personal storage by an unknown crew member. We already know there is less-than-ideal provision for privacy, but the persistence of the toiletry bag at this location shows how crew adapt spaces to make up for this.

What makes our conclusions significant is that they are evidence-based. The analysis of the first two squares suggests the data from all six will offer further insights into humanity's longest surviving space habitat.

Current plans are to bring the space station down from orbit in 2031, so this experiment may be the only chance we have to gather archaeological data.


https://www.astronomy.com/space-exploration/archaeologists-conduct-fi rst-space-excavation-on-international-space-station/
According to the article, how does the International Space Station serve as a "rich cultural landscape"?

ID: 1021796•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
FGV•
EPE•
Administração Geral Administração•
2024

Text I


Office Culture



Companies are clawing to bring back pre-pandemic perks and that 'family' feeling – but employees want something more tangible.


Many employers are calling employees back into offices, trying to restore the workplace of pre-pandemic days. Along with filling seats, they're also looking to bring back another relic: office culture.


Pre-2020, office culture was synonymous with the 'cool' office: think places to lounge, stocked pantries and in-office happy hours that went all out; or luxe retreats and team-building exercises meant to foster the feeling of 'family'. In past years, these perks drew many workers to the office – in some cases, entire companies defined themselves by their office cultures.


The world of work looks and feels entirely different than just a few years ago – yet many companies are still intent on recreating the office cultures workers left behind as they abandoned their desks in 2020. While these companies are making some gestures to adapt – for instance, redesigning spaces to accommodate new preferences and hybrid-work habits – many are still set on bringing back what lured in workers before the pandemic.


Yet swaths of employees simply aren't interested in going backward. Instead of trust-falls and cold brew on tap, employees are demanding flexible work, equitable pay and a focus on humanity in the workplace that transcends the perks they sought years earlier.

Workers' shifting priorities are a natural consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, says Georgina Fraser, head of human capital for global commercial real-estate firm CBRE. "The pandemic gave us autonomy in a way that we haven't had previously," she says. "It gave us the opportunity to choose how we structured our working days."


And now that workers have experienced that level of work-life balance, they won't settle for less. Fraser adds: "Post-pandemic, we saw a resurgence of people being very vocal about what they wanted and needed, not just from office culture, but from the wider world."


Now, she says, workers aren't shy about "wanting to be seen as a whole human – and that filters down to their physical location, how [employers] manage them, what support they receive and how [employers] integrate technologies between home and office in order to support them".


One major factor in this changing attitude is that many employees feel office culture simply isn't applicable in a remoteand hybrid-first world, where the physical office can feel superfluous. Now that the workplace doesn't serve as the culture hub it once did, "companies have really struggled to redefine the role of the office", says Lewis Beck, CBRE's head of workplace for Europe. Office culture that was once meant to get employees excited doesn't have the same pull when workplaces are only onethird full.



Adapted from: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240229-office-culture-isdead
If stocked pantries (2nd paragraph) are available in the office, peckish employees will have a place where they can grab a(n)

ID: 1024362•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
COMPERVE UFRN•
Prefeitura de Natal RN•
Professor de Inglês•
2025

Considere o seguinte texto para responder à questão.


Babies cry with an accent


A study found newborns cry with the melody of their parent’s language.


By ABC News


Think newborns just eat, sleep and wail the same way across the world? That’s not so, according to a new study which found that babies cry with an accent within the first week of life.

By recording cries of 60 babies born to French or German parents, researchers discovered that babies cry with the same “prosody” or melody used in their native language by the second day of life.

French newborns in the study ended their cries with a lilt at the end typically heard in French. German babies, however, started their cries intensely and dropped off at the end – much like the emphasis their German parents put in a sentence, according to a study published Thursday in Current Biology.

Experts in child development say the most exciting part of this discovery is not that infants recognize the melody of their language, but that the newborns may have the ability to use what they heard in the womb to then control their cries.


Adaptado de: https ://abcnews .go.com/Health/MindMoodNews /newborns -cry -accent-study-finds /story? id=9006266. Acesso em: 08 nov. 2024.
Segundo o estudo mencionado no texto, os bebês recém-nascidos choram

ID: 1024107•
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Técnico Judiciário•
2024

“Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic...”, began a recent article inSurfaces and Interfaces, a scientific journal. Attentive readers might have wondered who exactly that bizarre opening line was addressing. They might also have wondered whether the article was written by a human or by a machine. It is a question ever more readers of scientific papers are asking. LLMs (Large Language Models) are now more than good enough to help write a scientific paper. They can breathe life into dense scientific prose and speed up the drafting process, especially for non-native English speakers. Such use also comes with risks: LLMs are particularly susceptible to reproducing biases, for example, and can churn out vast amounts of plausible nonsense.
Internet:<economist.com>(adapted).

According to the information stated in the preceding text and the vocabulary used in it, judge the following item.

The expression “churn out” (last sentence of the text) could be replaced with crank out, without harming the correctness of the sentence or its original meaning.

ID: 1024109•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
CESPE CEBRASPE•
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Técnico Judiciário•
2024

The Internet, as anyone who works deep in its trenches will tell you, is not a smooth, well-oiled machine. It’s a messy patchwork that has been assembled over decades, and it is held together with the digital equivalent of duct tape and bubble gum. Much of it relies on open-source software that is thanklessly maintained by a small army of volunteer programmers who fix the bugs.
Internet: <www.nytimes.com> (adapted).

Considering the previous text and its linguistic aspects, judge the following item.

The word “it”, in the last sentence of the text, refers to “bubble gum”, mentioned in the prior sentence.

ID: 1024110•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
CESPE CEBRASPE•
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Técnico Judiciário•
2024

The Internet, as anyone who works deep in its trenches will tell you, is not a smooth, well-oiled machine. It’s a messy patchwork that has been assembled over decades, and it is held together with the digital equivalent of duct tape and bubble gum. Much of it relies on open-source software that is thanklessly maintained by a small army of volunteer programmers who fix the bugs.
Internet: <www.nytimes.com> (adapted).

Considering the previous text and its linguistic aspects, judge the following item.

The author suggests that the Internet is, metaphorically speaking, a malfunctioning machine.

ID: 1023857•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
COSEAC•
Prefeitura de Maricá RJ•
Docente I Língua Estrangeira Inglês•
2024

Answer question according to TEXT 1 below.

TEXT 1
TRUE STORIES – The School teacher

1 IT'S HAPPENED TO me half a dozen times, lately. I'm walking home through the Edinburgh Gardens and I see them heading towards me. Heavy kids, eight of them, maybe ten. I keep walking, but I keep my eyes on them, and my feet wait for the sign to take off.
2 They are Greeks and Italians, all adolescents, all wearing green or maroon cardigans with a double black stripe round the chest, Levis or Wranglers that fit just right, showing a bit of sock and reddish shoes with big heels. I move across to the outside of the footpath to let them pass. They spread out a little. They're close enough now in the almost-dark for me to see their faces.
3 And it's all right, because the front one is Chris, from Fitzroy High, and he says, 'Hello, miss!' and the others are kids who have grinned and nodded at me a hundred times in the yard at school.
4 I had taught migrants before, but Fitzroy High is one of those legendary inner-suburban schools which can no longer be properly described as Australian. In none of the classes I took were there more than four kids with Australian names. A blond head was a surprise. The administration battled to assimilate these kids into recognizable moulds. In a hundred subtle ways they were defeated.
5 Most of the girls had pierced ears and had worn gold earrings since they were babies. The line was that plain gold sleepers were the only ear decorations allowed. At the time when it was fashionable, in Australia, to wear a zillion colored plastic bangles up your arm, teachers strove hopelessly to prevent this display of gaiety at school. The girls went on wearing them and pulled their sleeves down when they saw a senior mistress coming.
6 There were weekly segregated assemblies. I don't know what they told the boys, but at one girls' assembly I actually heard the senior mistress say, 'As girls we must be modest, quiet, hardworking and well-groomed at all times'.
7 What astonished me was the stubbornness of the kids' resistance to the rules. They didn't organize or protest. They defied. If the pressure got too much for them, they stayed away. And yet they hated to be suspended. One boy was suspended for a week, and every day I'd see him leaning against my front fence, staring wistfully at the school where his mates were tight-roping their way dangerously through the day.
8 In the three other schools I'd taught at, I'd been an authoritarian, a good disciplinarian. It wasn't only political or educational thinking that changed my attitude at Fitzroy High. It was the kids themselves. I suppose I fell in love with the whole nine hundred of them. In other schools, I'd known kids who were 'trouble-makers' or 'over-achievers', or ‘irresponsible' or 'antisocial. But somehow the kids at Fitzroy cut right through those categories.
9 To begin with, they made me laugh. I can't remember ever knowing such exuberant, merry kids. Every class had more than its share of natural clowns. The plays they invented were full of hilarious delight. In a second-form class I had for a year, two Italian boys called Claudio and Joseph used to present weekly plays so excruciatingly funny that we lay across the desks aching and wiping our eyes.
10 A kid called Ilya wrote wonderful, magical stories; he could write fairy tales his grandparents had told him in Yugoslavia. Lemonia could break your heart with a story about a lost fountain pen, and Dora with an account of her dreams. Their English may have been rocky, but there was a pure, delicate humour lying bone-deep in them that nothing could corrupt.

GARNER, Helen. True Stories. Melbourne, Australia: The Publishing Company, 2013, pp. 26-28. Adapted.
The two overall themes which emerge from the narrative in text 1 are:

ID: 1048433•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
FGV•
Prefeitura de São Lourenço da Mata PE•
Professor de Língua Inglesa•
2024

Atenção! Leia o texto a seguir para responder à questão.


The research paper published in ‘Humanities & Social Sciences Communications’ — an open-access journal, distributed by Springer Nature — examines the impact of AI on “loss in decisionmaking and privacy concerns among university students in Pakistan and China”.

The rise of AI has also exposed students and teachers to a number of challenges, particularly data hacking and systemic and racial biases. “Many people are now concerned with the ethical attributes of AI systems and believe that the security issue must be considered in AI system development,” the researchers claimed. In order to mitigate safety concerns, the paper said there was a need to “continuously re-evaluate and re-design” security practices. However, academia is poorly equipped to deal this issue due to a shortage of funding and technical staff. “No one can run from the threat of AI concerning cybersecurity, it behaves like a double-edged sword.”

As per the research, AI has the potential to revolutionise the education sector but with certain drawbacks. In order to effectively harness this technology, the paper called for steps to ensure AI does not cause at least “severe ethical concerns”, and technology backed by secure algorithms to ensure data security and minimisation of AI’s bias. It also recommended measures to curtail overreliance on AI to address “laziness” and cognitive deficiency.


ABBAS, Zaki. AI making students lazy, impairing cognition: study. Disponível em: https://www.dawn.com/news/1759121/ai-making-students-lazy-impairingcognition-study. Acesso em: 12 jul. 2024. Adaptado.

De acordo com o texto, a pesquisa publicada no ‘Humanities & Social Sciences Communications’ avalia o impacto da IA

ID: 1022326•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
FGV•
SEEC RN•
Professor de Língua Inglesa•
2025

READ TEXT I AND ANSWER THE QUESTION THAT FOLLOWS IT:

TEXT I

Decolonizing English Language Teaching for Brazilian Indigenous Peoples


In an era of increasing contact between citizens of the diverse nations of the world, the far-reaching impacts of globalization are often linked to the propagation of English as a language for international communication in a variety of settings, including international trade, academic and scientific discourses, and diplomacy, among others. Given its status as an international language, English is also a highly-valued foreign language in Brazil, and its influence represents, at least symbolically, greater access to both national and global markets. As such, federal curricular standards require all students in Brazilian public schools to study English as a foreign language from middle to high school.


These standards also apply to the indigenous populations of Brazil. However, additional federal legislation regulates the ways that English and other subjects must be taught in indigenous communities. The Brazilian Constitution, ratified in 1988, represents a significant landmark in this respect, providing for the inclusion of 'specific, bilingual, differentiated, and intercultural' educational practices within indigenous school settings, thus guaranteeing each indigenous group the right to integrate their traditional knowledge, cultures, and languages into primary and secondary education curricula (Brazil, 1988).


As such, the question of how to teach English in indigenous settings in a way that values traditional cultures and knowledge in accordance with the specific, differentiated, and intercultural approach mandated by federal legislation must be addressed. The status of English as the language of globalization, along with its long history as an instrument of colonial imperialism, poses an ethical dilemma in the Brazilian indigenous educational context, given that its inclusion in indigenous school curricula presents an implicit risk of recreating and reinforcing neocolonial hierarchies of knowledge production that favor Western perspectives over traditional indigenous systems of knowledge.


In an effort to adapt English language teaching to the needs and demands of indigenous communities, contributions from the fields of postcolonial theory, English language teaching, and sociocultural approaches to language teaching will be connected to current Brazilian laws governing indigenous education. The aim is to investigate the possibilities for the teaching of a decolonized, local English that values traditional indigenous knowledge systems over neocolonial global influences which are often associated with English.


Adapted from: https://www.scielo.br/j/edreal/a/43bj8bSQDpQYPjQTX9jK9jb/

Based on Text I, mark the statements below as TRUE (T) or FALSE (F).

( ) Globalization and the spread of English as an international language go hand in hand.
( ) Current Brazilian federal legislation has neglected indigenous communities.
( ) The issue of how to include English in indigenous school curricula is still under way.

The statements are, respectively,

ID: 1024633•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
Avança SP•
Prefeitura de Nova Odessa SP•
Inglês•
2024

Hailing from the early 19th century United States, this visionary’s legacy is deeply rooted in the American literary tradition. Emerging from a tumultuous life marked by personal loss and struggle, his experiences in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston reflect in the vivid settings and melancholic undertones of his work. Imbued with a unique blend of eloquence and darkness, etches tales of unparalleled imagination and psychological depth. With a keen eye for the human condition, he weaves narratives that delve into themes of death, love lost, and existential despair, often against settings that are as haunting as they are enchanting. His profound influence extends beyond the realm of literature, into the very fabric of modern storytelling, inspiring generations of writers and artists. His explorations of the supernatural and the subconscious predate and pave the way for the psychological horror genre, making him an indelible icon of literary innovation.
Mark the option that presents the described author:

ID: 1022590•
Inglês•
Interpretação de texto Reading comprehension•
FGV•
EPE•
Bioenergia•
2024

Text I


Shock of the old: Believe it or not, battery-powered vehicles
have been around since Victorian times.

The history of the electric car is surprisingly enraging. If you imagine early electric vehicles at all (full disclosure: I didn’t until recently), it will probably be as the quixotic and possibly dangerous dream of a few eccentrics, maybe in the 1920s or 1930s, when domestic electrification became widespread. It’s easy to imagine some stiff-collared proto-Musk getting bored of hunting and affairs, eyeing his newly installed electric lights speculatively, then wreaking untold havoc and mass electrocutions. The reality is entirely different.

By 1900, a third of all cars on the road in the US were electric; we’re looking at the history of a cruelly missed opportunity, and it started astonishingly early. The Scottish engineer Robert Anderson had a go at an electric car of sorts way back in the 1830s, though his invention was somewhat stymied by the fact rechargeable batteries were not invented until 1859, making his crude carriage something of a one-trick pony (and far less useful than an actual pony).

It’s debatable whether or not Scotland was ready for this brave new world anyway: in 1842, Robert Davidson (another Scot, who had, a few years earlier, also tried his hand at an electric vehicle) saw his electric locomotive Galvani “broken by some malicious hands almost beyond repair” in Perth. The contemporary consensus was that it was attacked by railway workers fearful for their jobs.

Despite this unpromising start, electric vehicles had entered widespread commercial circulation by the start of the 20th century, particularly in the US. Electric cabs crisscrossed Manhattan, 1897’s bestselling US car was electric and, when he was shot in 1901, President McKinley was taken to hospital in an electric ambulance. London had Walter Bersey’s electric taxis, and Berlin’s fire engines went electric in 1908; the future looked bright, clean and silent.

By the 1930s, however, the tide had definitively turned against electric, cursed by range limitations and impractical charging times while petrol gained the upper hand thanks partly – and ironically – to the electric starter motor. The Horseless Age magazine, which vehemently backed the petrol non-horse, would have been delighted. There was a brief resurgence of interest in the late 1960s, when the US Congress passed a bill promoting electrical vehicle development, but nothing much actually happened until the Nissan Leaf sparked interest in 2009. Electric still isn’t quite there yet, battling infrastructure and battery problems that might have been familiar to Anderson and friends.


Adapted from The Guardian, Tuesday 24 October 2023, p. 6 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/shock-of-the-old/2023/oct/24/all
The idiom in “the tide had definitively turned” (5th paragraph) implies that the course of events had:
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