FUNDEP — 2016 — PMU/MG — PROFESSOR— CONCURSO PÚBLICO — PREFEITURA MUNICIPAL DE UBERABA/MG — PROVA COM GABARITO.

Welcome back to another post!

➧ NESTE POST: PROVA de INGLÊS da FUNDEP-2016-PREFEITURA MUNICIPAL DE UBERABA-PROFESSOR, APLICADA EM 23/01/2016.

➧ COMPOSIÇÃO DA PROVA:  15 (Quinze) questões do tipo (A,B,C,D).

➧ GABARITO:

01-A, 02-B, 03-D, 04-A, 05-C

06-D, 07-B, 08-B, 09-B, 10-D

11-C, 12-A, 13-A, 14-B, 15-C

➧ PROVA:

➧ TEXT I: Read the following text carefully and then answer questions 01 to 08.

Why learn a foreign language?

Benefits of bilingualism 

Learning a foreign language is more than just a boost to your CV or handy for travelling.

By Anne Merritt

(EFL lecturer currently based in South Korea)

Physiological studies have found that speaking two or more languages is a great asset to the cognitive process. The brains of bilingual people operate differently than single language speakers, and these differences offer several mental benefits.

You become smarter

Speaking a foreign language improves the functionality of your brain by challenging it to recognize, negotiate meaning, and communicate in different language systems. This skill boosts your ability to negotiate meaning in other problem-solving tasks as well. Students who study foreign languages tend to score better on standardized tests than their monolingual peers, particularly in the categories of math, reading, and vocabulary.

You build multitasking skills

Multilingual people, especially children, are skilled at switching between two systems of speech, writing, and structure. According to a study from the Pennsylvania State University, this “juggling” skill makes them good multitaskers, because they can easily switch between different structures. In one study, participants used a driving simulator while doing separate, distracting tasks at the same time. The research found that people who spoke more than one language made fewer errors in their driving.

You stave off Alzheimer’s and dementia

For monolingual adults, the mean age for the first signs of dementia is 71.4. For adults who speak two or more languages, the mean age for those first signs is 75.5. Studies considered factors such as education level, income level, gender, and physical health, but the results were consistent. 

Your memory improves

Educators often liken the brain to a muscle, because it functions better with exercise. Learning a language involves memorizing rules and vocabulary, which helps strengthen that mental “muscle.” This exercise improves overall memory, which means that multiple language speakers are better at remembering lists or sequences. Studies show that bilinguals are better at retaining shopping lists, names, and directions. 

Your decision-making skills improve

According to a study from the University of Chicago, bilinguals tend to make more rational decisions. Any language contains nuance and subtle implications in its vocabulary, and these biases can subconsciously influence your judgment. Bilinguals are more confident with their choices after thinking it over in the second language and seeing whether their initial conclusions still stand up.

Available on: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/

educationopinion/10126883/Why-learn-a-foreign-languageBenefits-of-bilingualism.html> (Edited).

01 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

According to the text, learning a foreign language offers all the following benefits, EXCEPT:

A) It improves reading and math skills much more than increases vocabulary.

B) Learning another language helps memorizing shopping lists or sequences.

C) Bilingual people tend to make decisions rationally and they are more confident.

D) Multilingual people are not as easily distracted as monolingual people.

02 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

According to the text, speaking a foreign language affects how your brain works.

This happens because

A) it makes you live longer than people who only speak one language.

B) the brain is challenged to negotiate meaning in a different language system.

C) learning a second language can transform your brain into muscle tissue.

D) multilingual people develop new abilities such as better driving skills.

03 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

What does the author define as a “juggling” skill?

A) The capacity of making fewer errors when writing and reading.

B) The capacity of driving in a simulator while doing many tasks.

C) The capacity of thinking in two languages at the same time. D) The capacity of easily switching between language systems.

04 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

According to the text, if you are a multilingual adult you are more likely to

A) postpone Alzheimer’s.

B) avoid getting dementia.

C) live longer and happier.

D) have a better education.

05 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Learning a foreign language has an impact on memory.

This means that a bilingual person is usually good at

A) making decisions subconsciously.

B) creating her own rules and vocabulary.

C) remembering lists and directions.

D) memorizing exercises for the brain.

06 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Read this sentence from the text and analyze its structure.

“The research found that people who spoke more than one language made fewer errors in their driving.”

This sentence presents an example of a possessive determiner. In general, determiners can assume the form of a pronoun.

In this case, the possessive determiner “their” would have the following form as a possessive pronoun:

A) these.

B) they.

C) them.

D) theirs.

07 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Read this phrase from the text and analyze its structure.

“You stave off Alzheimer’s and dementia”

The element “stave off” is a phrasal verb and means “to prevent something unpleasant from happening for a period of time”.

“Stave off” could be replaced without change of meaning by all the following phrasal verbs, EXCEPT:

A) fend off

B) blow off

C) hold off

D) ward off

• VÊ RESOLUÇÃO DA QUESTÃO 07.

08 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

The present perfect is used to refer to events taking place in a past time-frame that connects with the present. Therefore it can, for instance, be used to refer to events that happened in an unspecified time:

“Physiological studies have found that speaking two or more languages is a great asset to the cognitive process.”

Take into consideration the rules for employing the present perfect tense, then choose the following alternative in which this tense is CORRECTLY used.

 

A) The room has smelt of smoke when we arrived last night. B) I have read that book but I don’t remember much about it. C) She has identified herself when she answered the phone. D) He was mad and has written a letter to the company yesterday.

➧ TEXT II: Read the following text carefully and then answer questions 09 to 15.

What are the origins of the English Language?

The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down.

The period of Middle English extends roughly from the twelfth century through the fifteenth. The influence of French (and Latin, often by way of French) upon the lexicon continued throughout this period, the loss of some inflections and the reduction of others (often to a final unstressed vowel spelled -e) accelerated, and many changes took place within the phonological and grammatical systems of the language.

The period of Modern English extends from the sixteenth century to our own day. The early part of this period saw the completion of a revolution in the phonology of English that had begun in late Middle English and that effectively redistributed the occurrence of the vowel phonemes to something approximating their present pattern.

Other important early developments include the stabilizing effect on spelling of the printing press and the beginning of the direct influence of Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek on the lexicon. Later, as English came into contact with other cultures around the world and distinctive dialects of English developed in the many areas which Britain had colonized, numerous other languages made small but interesting contributions to our word-stock.

The historical aspect of English really encompasses more than the three stages of development just under consideration. English has what might be called a prehistory as well. As we have seen, our language did not simply spring into existence; it was brought from the Continent by Germanic tribes who had no form of writing and hence left no records. Philologists know that they must have spoken a dialect of a language that can be called West Germanic and that other dialects of this unknown language must have included the ancestors of such languages as German, Dutch, Low German, and Frisian. They know this because of certain systematic similarities which these languages share with each other but do not share with, say, Danish. However, they have had somehow to reconstruct what that language was like in its lexicon, phonology, grammar, and semantics as best they can through sophisticated techniques of comparison developed chiefly during the last century.

Similarly, because ancient and modern languages like Old Norse and Gothic or Icelandic and Norwegian have points in common with Old English and Old High German or Dutch and English that they do not share with French or Russian, it is clear that there was an earlier unrecorded language that can be called simply Germanic and that must be reconstructed in the same way. Still earlier, Germanic was just a dialect (the ancestors of Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit were three other such dialects) of a language conventionally designated Indo-European, and thus English is just one relatively young member of an ancient family of languages whose descendants cover a fair portion of the globe.

Available on: <http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq/

history.htm> (Edited).

09 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Analyze what has been stated in the text about the different periods in the history of English.

I. The history of English is usually divided into Old English, Middle English, and Modern English.

II. The Anglo-Saxon period has left no records at all.

III. There were great changes in phonology between the end of Middle English and the beginning of Modern English.

Then consider the following statements and choose the CORRECT alternative.

A) Only I is correct.

B) I and III are correct.

C) II and III are correct.

D) I and II are correct.

10 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

The printing press had an important role in the history of English. How did the printing press affect the English language?

A) It allowed the dissemination of books and knowledge.

B) It allowed the imposition of English in British colonies.

C) The printing press helped to spread the influence of Latin.

D) The printing press helped to limit spelling variations.

11 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

The history of English language also includes some sort of prehistoric period. All the following alternatives about this period are correct, EXCEPT:

A) Ancient English was brought to British territory by Germanic tribes.

B) English probably shares a common ancestor with German and Dutch.

C) Ancient English shares certain systematic similarities with Danish.

D) There are no records from the language spoken by Germanic tribes.

12 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

According to the text, there was an earlier unrecorded language called simply Germanic. Which fact from the text supports this claim?

A) The fact that ancient and modern languages share similarities with English, for example, but not with French.

B) The fact that Old Norse and Gothic are very similar to Old English, Old High German, and Russian.

C) The fact that late Germanic was just a dialect along with the ancestors of Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit.

D) The fact that the existence of a language conventionally designated Indo-European has been proved.

13 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Read the following sentence from the text.

“The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English.”

Adverbs can be used in different positions in a sentence. For example, adjuncts of indefinite frequency such as “usually” most typically occupy mid position when they take the form of adverb phrases.

Choose the following alternative which presents an adverb of indefinite frequency being used in its most typical position.

A) They sometimes ask about your project.

B) I remember always to do my homework.

C) She died peacefully in Hartley on Sunday.

D) A few workers angrily protested yesterday.

14 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Prepositions express a relation in time between two events or a relation in space between two (or more) things or people. They can also express a variety of abstract relations.

Read this sentence from the text.

“The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D. [...]”

“From” is one of the most common prepositions in English and it was used in this example to indicate the starting point in a movement.

Choose the following alternative in which the preposition “from” is being used to express the same idea as in the example above.

A) I am originally from the United States of America.

B) We walked from the airport to the Eagle Mountain.

C) The new shop is open from Tuesdays to Saturdays.

D) From the Senator, I give you best wishes for success.

15 – (FUNDEP-2016-PMU/MG-PROFESSOR)

Read this sentence from the text.

“Later, as English came into contact with other cultures around the world and distinctive dialects of English developed in the many areas which Britain had colonized, numerous other languages made small but interesting contributions to our word-stock.”

The word “word-stock” could be replaced without change of meaning by

A) grammar.

B) history.

C) vocabulary.

D) literature.