Questões de Língua Inglesa do ano 0000

Read the text below in order to answer questions 11 to 13.

WEBSITE LEGAL CHECKUP

The explosive development of the Internet and electronic commerce has demonstrated that a corporate website can be extremely valuable. Although Internet exchanges of information and communications occur in cyberspace, they may have real, tangible consequences in the physical world. This means significant legal consequences can arise from the browsing or use of a corporate website.

As with any other interaction, website activities or information may be the basis for a damages claim against a company. Similarly, a company may wish to restrict what a user does with information obtained from a corporate website. In short, a company should view its website like any other communication channel. Therefore, we recommend that a corporate website include specific terms and conditions applicable to the browsing and use of the website.

The author argues that website terms and conditions

• A. are not needed in cyberspace.
• B. have been enforced by the USA and the UK.
• C. should be established in the corporate website.
• D. are not to be enforced against the customers.
• E. ought to be approved by the Internet Society.

Read the text below in order to answer questions 14 to 15.

Software

A substantial proportion of information can be digitized. It seems likely that soon, for example, any type of information that can be perceived, i.e. seen, heard, felt, smelt or tasted, will be reducible to a collection of bits. Once in digital form, the information in question can be stored, processed and displayed by a computer. Furthermore, it can readily and rapidly be transmitted from one computer to any other computer regardless of distance, political frontiers, and physical obstacles. From a digital point of view, there is absolutely no distinction between text, sounds, graphics, photographs, music, animations, videos and…software. To include software in our list, however, may seem rather odd. Why this is so? Computer programs are, after all, only digitized information like the other examples. However, there is one vital difference between software and the rest. While text, sounds, graphics, as well as the other examples given above, are generally passive in nature, software, by contrast, is essentially active. It is information with attitude! As Hart reminds us, "Computer programs are not only texts: they also behave". Software is both form and substance, both symbolic and functional, it both "is" and "does". For this reason, software is conceptually very challenging.

• A. a hardware-oriented world.
• B. software-user's manuals.
• C. the political implications of digital information.
• D. the current intellectual property laws.
• E. the curious nature of software.

Read the text below in order to answer questions 14 to 15.

Software

A substantial proportion of information can be digitized. It seems likely that soon, for example, any type of information that can be perceived, i.e. seen, heard, felt, smelt or tasted, will be reducible to a collection of bits. Once in digital form, the information in question can be stored, processed and displayed by a computer. Furthermore, it can readily and rapidly be transmitted from one computer to any other computer regardless of distance, political frontiers, and physical obstacles. From a digital point of view, there is absolutely no distinction between text, sounds, graphics, photographs, music, animations, videos and…software. To include software in our list, however, may seem rather odd. Why this is so? Computer programs are, after all, only digitized information like the other examples. However, there is one vital difference between software and the rest. While text, sounds, graphics, as well as the other examples given above, are generally passive in nature, software, by contrast, is essentially active. It is information with attitude! As Hart reminds us, "Computer programs are not only texts: they also behave". Software is both form and substance, both symbolic and functional, it both "is" and "does". For this reason, software is conceptually very challenging.

According to the author, distance, political frontiers, and physical obstacles

• A. interfere in the quality of data processing.
• B. interfere in the storage of digital data.
• C. prevent digital data from being transmitted
• D.

  are challenging issues in relation to data processing.

• E. are surmountable in relation to data transmission.

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

Following World War II, the major economic powers of the world negotiated a set of rules for reducing and limiting trade barriers and for settling trade disputes. These rules were called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Headquarters to oversee the administration of the GATT were established in Geneva, Switzerland. Periodically, rounds of multilateral trade negotiations under the GATT were carried out. The 8th round begun in 1986 in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and dubbed the Uruguay Round, was concluded on Dec. 15, 1993, when 117 countries completed a new trade-liberalization agreement. The name for the GATT was changed to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which officially came into being Jan.1, 1995.

According to the text, the former GATT comprised

• A. tariff rules established by third world countries.
• B. trade regulations created prior to World War II.
• C. rules forbidding trade barriers and disputes.
• D. trade rules adopted in Uruguay in 1986.
• E. regulations related to trade issues.

Which of the following statements does not reflect the content of the text?

• A. The GATT members used to gather from time to time.
• B. 117 countries signed a new trade agreement.
• C.

  The World Trade Organization (WTO) used to be called GATT.

• D.

  A new trade agreement may be signed by 117 countries.

• E.

  Reducing trade barriers was one of the main concerns of the GATT.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)

In recent weeks, critics from the right and from the left have launched strident attacks on International Monetary Fund efforts to stem the financial crisis that has swept through Asia like a typhoon. Critics on the right oppose using taxpayers'money to prop up foreign economies that compete with the U.S. They believe that government intervention will mess up the workings of the global financial markets ( although the Asian experience reveals that private actors can create quite a mess themselves). Critics on the left see the IMF as the agent of international capitalists, seeking protection from heavy losses caused by their greed and stupidity. They are also outraged by assistance to governments that violate the U.S. norms of human rights.

These questions will be hotly debated as Congress considers the Clinton Administration's request for $18 billion in additional resources for the IMF. But as usual, the political debate threatens to shed more heat than light on the real policy issues. Although the IMF has made mistakes as it struggles with a crisis whose causes and remedies are not fully understood by anyone, it has played a responsible role in bringing Asia, and the world, back from the brink of a full-fledged financial collapse.

According to the text, the IMF efforts to restrain the Asian financial crisis

• A.

  have resulted in criticisms both from the right and left wings.

• B.

  have produced massive approval in political terms.

• C.

  would have to be examined by political parties in the long run.

• D.

  have been fully supported by the right and left critics.

• E.

  will soon be carefully looked into by political authorities.

The text states that government intervention

• A. has been approved of by critics on the right.
• B.

  might contribute to organise the workings of the world market.

• C. is undoubtedly criticised by the right-wing.
• D. has been postponed on innumerable occasions.
• E. was not rejected by any political wing.

- In the author's point of view, the IMF

• A.

  has played a neglectful role in the Asian crisis.

• B.

  should be held responsible for the Asian crisis.

• C.

  has sponsored Asian countries.

• D.

  has made a serious effort to deal with Asian crisis.

• E.

  has made unforgivable mistakes regarding the Asian issue.

Questions 42-46 refer to the text below.

Which alternative best expresses what the text is about?

• A.

  As fontes geradoras de complexidade dos projetos atuais.

• B.

  O contexto de incerteza e complexidade dos projetos hoje em dia.

• C.

  A falta de informação básica necessária para a tomada de decisão no planejamento.

• D.

  A falta de uma definição clara dos objetivos e métodos para a consecução dos projetos.

• E.

  Meios para reduzir a incerteza e complexidade dos projetos hoje em dia.

Questions 42-46 refer to the text below.

Say whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F) according to the text.

( ) Os projetos atuais estão cercados pela incerteza e complexidade apesar de todos os esforços de avaliação e planejamento.

( ) A informação necessária para a tomada de decisão nem sempre corresponde à complexi-dade do projeto.

( ) A complexidade do projeto e o fato de ele ser muitas vezes um empreendimento singular dificultam a definição dos métodos para a sua consecução.

( ) Ao longo do projeto podem surgir riscos não previstos devido a fatores externos que não chegam a representar ameaças a sua realização.

The correct order of True (T) and False (F) from top to bottom is

• A. T , T , T , T .
• B. F , T , F , T.
• C. T , T , T , F
• D. F , F , F , T.
• E. T , F , T , F.