CESPE/UnB – 2004 – DIPLOMATA – CACD – 1ª FASE – TPS – LÍNGUA INGLESA – CONCURSO DE ADMISSÃO À CARREIRA DE DIPLOMATA – PROVA COM GABARITO.

Welcome back to another post!

➧ PROVA DE LÍNGUA INGLESA: CESPE/UnB-2004-MRE-DIPLOMATA-TPS-CACD-20/03/2004.

➧ ESTRUTURA-TPS 2010-TESTE DE PRÉ-SELEÇÃO:

➭ 20 True False Questions.

➭ Text (1) – (7 questions) – A taxing battle | Finance & economics. 

➭ Text (2) – (3 questions) – Finance & economics.

➭ Text (3) – (6 questions) – Environmental Issues.

➭ Text (4) – (4 questions) – International Relations.

➧ PROVA:

➧ TEXT I: items 01 to 07

A taxing battle

           

Nobody wants to pay taxes. No wonder, then, that so many companies spend so much effort trying to avoid them. Almost every big corporate scandal of recent years, from Enron to Parmalat, has involved tax-dodging in one form or another.
           
In the latest revelation on January 26th, Dick Thornburgh, the man appointed to look at the collapse of World-Com, released a report claiming that, as well as the slew of other crooked dealings of which the bankrupted telecoms company is guilty, it also bilked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes through a tax shelter cooked up by KPMG, its auditor.
           
Tax authorities around the world rightly fret that such cases are the tip of a large iceberg, and they are starting to act. In America, home to many of the best-known corporate-tax scams of recent years, the Bush administration has announced a series of anti-tax-dodging measures in its new budget, which will be presented to Congress on February 2nd, including an extra $300 million to boost enforcement and the shutting of corporate-tax dodges that could bring in, it reckons, up to $45 billion over the next ten years.

The Economist, January 31st - February 6th, 2004, p.71

(with adaptations).

Judge if each item below presents a correct rewriting of the information contained in lines 6 to 12 of text I.

01. In the latest revelation on 26th January, Dick Thornburgh, the man nominated to examine the fall of World-Com, delivered a report saying that, as well as a lot of other dishonest transactions of which the insolvent telecoms company is blameworthy, it also swindled the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes by means of a tax shelter dishonestly invented by KPMG, its auditor.

02. In the last revelation on January 26th, Dick Thornburgh, the man accredited to look into the breach of World-Com, reported that, as well as a slew of other false dealings for which the undermined telecoms companies are to be criticised, it also defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of heaps of dollars through a tax cover created by KPMG, its accountant.

03. In the latest revelation, Dick Thornburgh, the man in charge of evaluating the failure of World-Com, issued hearsay evidence stating that, not only many other crooked dealings are to be attributed to broken telecoms company, but that it also deprived the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of great sums of dollars using a tax device invented by KPMG, its auditor.

Still in relation to text I, judge the following items.

04. The expression "fret that such cases are the tip of a large iceberg" (L13-14) means that many other similar cases have been found.

05. The substitution of the phrase "slew of" (L.9) and the verb "boost" (L.19) by mess of and soar respectively would keep the same semantic and syntactic relations as those presented in the text.

06. The author’s purpose is to show that governments around the world are scrabbling for scarce corporate taxes.

07. According to the graph, from 1970 to 2001, accumulated corporate income tax receipts in North American countries displayed better results than the European ones.

➧ TEXT II: items 08 to 10.        

The world’s major economies are __Ø__  and 2004 looks likely to be the best growth year for the United States since the tech bubble __Ù__. There are signs that Japan and Germany may finally be turning the corner after years of __Ú__. Yet doubt still hangs over the big economies like a cloud, producing an increasingly joyless recovery. As global chieftains gather this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos to mull over the theme of prosperity and security, they are finding that prosperity is returning most brightly outside the major markets, in places like China, Southeast Asia and even parts of Latin America and Africa. There is still plenty of talk of bubbles and overheating in some emerging markets, but not all markets are created equal, and a pack of bulls believes a new golden age is falling on these countries as a whole. “This is turning out to be the best period for emerging markets since 1993,” says Ruchir Sharma, co-head of global emerging markets at Morgan Stanley.
           
The economic forecasters back up the bulls. Southeast Asia is predicted to grow faster than 6 percent, Russia and Poland more than 5 percent, Africa better than 4 percent, and even beleaguered Latin America is expected to rise above 3 percent. According to Global Insight’s research, the growth rebound will be most dramatic in current or former pariah economies: Venezuela will snap back from a 10 percent recession in 2003 to top 5 percent this year, and growth in war-torn Iraq will jump from negative 21.2 percent to a positive 39.7 percent.

Newsweek, January 26th, 2004

(with adaptations).

Considering the ideas and expressions found in text II, judge the following items.

08. Blanks numbered Ø, Ù and Ú can be properly filled in with picking up, burst and sluggishness respectively.

09. From the text, it can be inferred that the global recovery is oddly joyless in big markets, newly confident in emerging ones.

10. According to the economic forecasters, in 2004 Southeast Asia will grow faster than Russia, which will grow more than Africa and Latin America. Venezuela will decrease 5 percent this year and Iraq will jump 60.9 percent from 2003 to 2004.

➧ TEXT III: items 11 to 16.

Every year forests four times the size of Switzerland are1 lost because of clearing and degradation. In the 1980s, an average of 38 million acres of tropical forest were destroyed each year, those trends have shown no signs of decreasing in the4 1990s. Subsistence farming, unsustainable logging, unsound development of large-scale industrial projects, and national policies that distort markets and subsidize forest conversion to other uses are causing deforestation worldwide, from Cambodia to Colombia, from Cameroon to Western Canada and the Western United States.

          
The loss of forests has major implications for the world. Forests are home to 70 percent of all land-living animals and plants. They replenish the Earth’s atmosphere and provide the planet with fresh air by storing carbon and producing oxygen. They help filter pollution out of the water and protect against flooding, mudslides and erosion. Forests provide timber, medicines, food, and jobs.
            
The United States has an enormous stake in the sustainable management of the world’s forests. We are a major forest products importer and exporter. Our growing pharmaceutical and food processing industries have a vested interest in protecting the source materials for new medicines, pharmaceuticals, and food additives. Forests and their ability to absorb carbon dioxide lower the rate of global climate change.
            
The President of the United States has committed to the goal of achieving sustainable management of our forests by the year 2004.  And the State Department and other agencies have been working closely with our global partners to slow deforestation around the world.

Document from the US State Department (with adaptations).

In relation to the text above, judge the following items.

11. In line 6, the word "unsound" means unheard.

12. In line 13, the word "replenish" is synonymous with fill up.

13. In line 18, the  phrase  "an enormous stake" indicates that the United States is facing huge financial losses to keep up the sustainable management of the world’s forests.

14. In lines 21-22, the phrase "a vested interest in protecting" can be correctly replaced by a particular reason to protect.

15. The text can be associated with the following statement: The leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.

16. The main idea of the text can be correctly said to be: The problem of deforestation seems to overcome the human capability of finding a final solution to it. Lots of economic interests prevail over the unquestionable need to control the sensible use of the forests worldwide. Forest management turns out to be a crucial factor not only for rural but also for urban life. The effect of the pharmaceutical industry on forest resources is rather alarming, and that is the reason why the USA is so keen on trying to maintain the sustainable management of the world’s forests.

➧ TEXT IV: items 17 to 20.

Israel is in the dock again. The International Court of1 Justice (ICJ) is investigating the legality of the security fence b

eing raised on the West Bank. Even a number of Israel’s traditional friends are alarmed by the policy. Some worry that the fence will harm the Palestinian economy, cutting off workers from their factories and farms. Others see it as an attempt to extend Israel’s border beyond its pre-1967 limit and feel that such walls have no place in the modern world.
            
These are major objections and they deserve to be answered separately. First, though, it is worth asking why this question should have come before the Hague judges at all. The ICJ is not a supreme court; it is an arbitration panel. It provides a mechanism whereby two states can, by mutual agreement, refer a dispute to third-party lawyers. By sending this case to the Hague, the UN is striking at the principle of territorial jurisdiction that ultimately underpins diplomatic relations. That principle is already threatened by the European courts at Strasbourg and Luxembourg, and by the refusal of Spanish and Belgian judges to recognise national sovereignty. We are slowly returning to the pre-modern idea that lawmakers need not be accountable to the people, but rather to abstract ideals.
            
Faced with a choice between international disapprobation and more Israeli deaths, Mr Sharon has understandably opted for the former. He believes that the fence would have prevented yesterday’s atrocity in Jerusalem, and he is almost certainly right. Gaza is already cordoned off, and no Palestinian terrorists have penetrated the barrier in the past three years (although two British Muslims were able to do so on the strength of their UK passports).

Daily Telegraph,

London, February 23rd, 2004
(with adaptations).

Concerning the text above, judge the following items.

17. In line 1, the phrase "in the dock" means accused in court, and, in line 16, "underpins" can be correctly replaced by supports.

18. In the text, the original phrase "should have come before the Hague judges at all" (R.11) can be correctly replaced by should have come before the Hague judges in the first place.

19. The verbal phrase "striking at"(R.15) indicates that the UN is striving to establish the principle of territorial jurisdicition.

20. It is correct to conclude from the text that its author seems to favour Mr Sharon’s decision to raise a fence on the West Bank, despite the reaction of some Israel’s traditional friends. Although the author himself refers to some points which could have negative effects on the Palestinians, he does not show a counterargument to them.