Questão 19 | UERJ 2008

UERJ 2008 – Questão 19

Linguagens / Inglês / Degrees of comparison / Comparison using positive adjectives and adverbs

U.N. draft cites humans in effects of climate shift

The latest United Nations assessment of the role of humans in global warming has found with “high confidence” that greenhouse gas emissions are at least partly responsible for a host of changes already under way¹, including longer growing seasons and shrinking glaciers.

A summary of the working draft of the report was provided to The New York Times yesterday by several people involved in reviewing it. It is a detailed follow-up to a February report by the United Nations group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was the fourth assessment since 1990 of the basic science that points to a human hand on the planet’s thermostat. The new report describes the specific effects of climate changes on people and ecology, identifies those species and regions at greatest risk and describes options for limiting risks. Some of the changes could be beneficial, but most will prove harmful in the long run, the report says.
It finds that global warming caused by humans has most certainly contributed to recent shifts in ecosystems, weather patterns, oceans and icy regions, and that it will have large and lasting effects on human affairs and on the planet’s web of life in this century. It predicts a variety of health effects as well, with “increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts²”, but also “some benefits to health such as fewer deaths from cold”.
Also in the plus column, higher concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas, are contributing to a greener world, according to the draft³. Based on satellite observations since the early 1980's, there is high confidence that there has been a trend in many regions towards earlier greening of vegetation in the spring and increased net primary production linked to longer growing seasons and increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. But warming in cool regions can bring mixed results, the draft says.

For example, while temperate and higher latitudes could be friendlier to farming, they are also proving friendlier to weeds⁴, as well as insect pests and wildfires that are likely to imperil forests.

In the long run, most regions are likely to be more harmed than helped by the changes, the draft says.

For example, projections for coming decades foresee intensifying drought and downpours, as well as a relentless intrusion of rising seas – at an uncertain rate – along crowded coasts and around low-lying islands. Water supplies fed by alpine snows or ice sheets are already experiencing changes and could be greatly disrupted, it said.

Scientists and government officials sparred over the wording of the draft with disagreements on the level of certainty in projections of health and ecological consequences of warming. But over all, the report is expected to provide significant new detail on a world increasingly influenced by human actions, most notably the buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted mainly by burning fossil fuels and forests.

ANDREW C. REVKIN
http://college3.nytimes.com

In argumentative writing, the presence of transitions is crucial to make the text both cohesive and coherent.

An instance of transition by means of contrast is found in:

a) “greenhouse gas emissions are at least partly responsible for a host of changes already under way,” (ref.1)

b) “a variety of health effects as well, with ‘increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods,

storms, fires and droughts’,” (ref.2)

c) “higher concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas, are contributing to a greener world,

according to the draft.” (ref.3)

d) “while temperate and higher latitudes could be friendlier to farming, they are also proving friendlier to

weeds,” (ref.4)

Veja outras questões semelhantes:

Base dudow 2000 – Questão 61

Assinale a alternativa correta: a) James has arrived at home yet b) James has arrive at home yet c) James have arrived at home yet d) James hasn´t arrived at home yet. e) James have arrive at home yet.

UNIFESP port e inglês 2010 – Questão 35

No trecho final do último parágrafo – They think that by 2050 average life expectancy in the best-performing country could easily reach the mid-90s. – a expressão best-performing country refere-se ao país que a) for o mais rico da Europa. b) tiver o recorde de longevidade em 2050. c) tiver mais idosos acima de 90 anos. d) apresentar um aumento de longevidade média de pelo menos três meses ao ano. e) demonstrar dados consistentes de 1840 a 2050.

Base dudow 2000 – Questão 63

Como concordar com: "I don´t like doing the market". a) Nor I do b) I do neither c) I do so d) So do I e) Neither do I

FGV Economia 2011 – Questão 77

According to the text, IPEA forecasts that a) by 2016 the poverty rate might come to only four percent in Brazil. b) there should be a 33.6% reduction in poverty rate due to Lula’s poverty reduction program. c) the present poverty reduction plan targets five states in the northern region by 2014. d) there might be further poverty reduction initiatives so that it will be eliminated in four years. e) seven states in Brazil will wipe out poverty by 2014.

Base dudow 2000 – Questão 48

Our kitchen’s a mess. We_______ any cleaning for weeks. a) didn't do. b) haven't been doing. c) have done. d) haven't done. e) isn´t cleaning.