Questões sobre Vocabulário

O significado de likelihood (6º parágrafo), conforme empregado no texto, é

• A. possibilidade
• B. desejo
• C. certeza
• D. gosto
• E. preferência

O significado de willfully no texto é

• A. deliberadamente
• B. distraidamente
• C. corretamente
• D. intuitivamente
• E. automaticamente

A synonym for ‘rather than’, as used in the text, is

• A. but also
• B. better than
• C. instead of
• D. as usual
• E. preferably

Um sinônimo para unveiled (2º parágrafo), conforme usado no texto, é

• A. revealed.
• B. mentioned.
• C. proposed.
• D. sustained.
• E. denied.

Read the text below in order to answer questions 15 to 18:

THE GOLDILOCKS SCENARIO CONTINUES

As the new Millennium gets under way, the US economy completes its ninth year of expansion. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times last year to temper the economy's expansion, which is the longest in US history. The benchmark lending rate was 5.5% at the start of the new year.

Analysts have been predicting that US interest rates would go up again when the Federal Open Market Committee meets. The economy's performance in the past calendar years (1996 to 1999) has surpassed all but the most optimistic predictions at the beginning of the period.

Growth of the economy has exceeded 4% in each of these years – with the exception of 1999 for which figures have yet to be announced, although 4% looks increasingly likely.

Few analysts thought the economy could sustain a growth performance like this without an increase in inflation. This situation has been dubbed the Goldilocks scenario.

The author states that the present US growth "has been dubbed the Goldilocks scenario", which means it is

• A. absolutely favourable
• B. a dubious growth
• C. undoubtedly temporary
• D. absolutely unsustained
• E. likely to collapse

Read the text below in order to answer questions 19 to 22:

IMF COMPLETES BRAZIL FIFTH REVIEW

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the fifth review under the Stand-By credit for Brazil. As a result, Brazil will be able to draw, if needed, up to the equivalent of SDR 814.05 million ( about US$1,066 million ) from the IMF.

In commenting on the Executive Board's discussion of the review, Stanley Fischer, First Deputy Managing Director, made the following statement:

"Executive Directors commended the authorities for the performance of the Brazilian economy under the Government's program and noted with satisfaction that developments in the Brazilian economy since the completion of the fourth review at the end of November 1999 have been better than projected under the program, and that Brazil has continued to make progress in its macroeconomic adjustment and structural reforms. In particular, Directors noted that activity is recovering at a sustained pace, unemployment continues to decline gradually and inflation is decelerating in line with targets. They also welcomed the strong expansion in export in recent months".

The Brazilian authorities have been commended for the performance of the Brazilian economy, which means they have been

• A. questioned
• B. congratulated
• C. criticized
• D. disapproved of
• E. cross-examined

A synonym for once is:

• A.

  while

• B.

  as soon as.

• C.

  although.

• D.

  until

Read the text below in order to answer questions

24 to 27:

The politics of administrative reform

Most countries of Latin America stabilized and opened their economies in the first generation of market oriented reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now they face a much more costly and protracted task of rebuilding state capacity to deliver social services, regulate the economy, avoid recurrent fiscal crises, and improve the overall functioning of government. Why have some countries progressed further on administrative reform than other countries? Administrative reform usually starts with small groups of reformers within the executive branch. Among factors that facilitate reform are: balance of payments and fiscal crises, middle class and rural support, and the effective packaging of reform initiatives. Contrary to much of the literature, the nature of the party system ( cohesion, discipline and parity) does not explain much of the variation in reform experiences.

The "recurrent fiscal crises" mentioned by the author are fiscal crises that

• A. are happening at the moment
• B. happen repeatedly
• C. can be predicted and avoided
• D. were predicted by fiscal analysts
• E. presently affect the economy

Questions 42-46 refer to the text below.

In the sentence "... and seemingly unimportant risks pose new threats " (line 12), the underlined word can be replaced without any change in meaning by

• A. certainly
• B. similarly
• C. apparently
• D. reasonably
• E. rarely

The word sleek in "…high-capacity disks housed in sleek enclosures…" (lines 5-6) means that their enclosures are:

• A.

  unusual;

• B.

  transparent;

• C. unbreakable;
• D.

  refined;

• E.

  air-tight.