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❑ PROVA DE LÍNGUA INGLESA:
- DIPLOMATA-CACD-WRITING EXAMINATION-2006-CESPE/UnB.
❑ ESTRUTURA-PROVA ESCRITA:
- (1) TRANSLATION | 15 pontos |
- (2) VERSION | 15 pontos |
- (3) SUMMARY & TEXTUAL EXERCISES | 25 pontos |
- (4) COMPOSITION | 45 pontos |
1 - TRANSLATION:
[15 marks]
Translate the following text adapted from Don Cupitt’s The Sea of Faith (London: BBC, 1984) into Portuguese:
The mind's power to innovate and fashion pure fictions was traditionally seen as a source of sin. Saints sallied forth into the desert to do battle against the evil thoughts that rose unbidden in their imaginations. As we now view it, they were actually tussling with their own creativity, not Satan.
Since ancient times, the common theme in mythology is that there are appointed limits to human power and knowledge. Overstepping the bounds the gods had set was tantamount to courting disaster.
So powerfully alluring has been the theme of man’s technological pride being brought low that new myths have continued to be hatched well into the modern age. As late as the 1960s techno-sceptics posited that the space programme might bring down divine wrath upon mankind. This ethic of tradition was patently designed to discourage unbridled innovation and social change.
➽ TRADUÇÃO:
O poder da mente para a inovação e a criação de puras ficções foi tradicionalmente visto como uma fonte de pecado. Santos refugiavam-se no deserto para travar batalha contra os maus pensamentos que emergiam desembaraçadamente na imaginação. Da forma como os vemos hoje, eles estavam em conflito com a sua própria criatividade, não com Satã.
Desde tempos antigos, o tema comum da mitologia é a existência de limites definidos para o poder e o conhecimento humanos. Ultrapassar a linha traçada pelos deuses era equivalente a cortejar o desastre.
O tema do orgulho tecnológico do homem tem sido rebaixado de forma tão poderosamente persuasiva que novos mitos continuaram a surgir mesmo na época moderna. Em plena década de 1960, “tecno-céticos” defendiam que o programa espacial poderia atrair a ira divina contra a humanidade. Esta ética da tradição estava patentemente projetada para desencorajar inovações e mudanças sociais desabridas.
2 - VERSION:
[15 marks]
Translate the following text adapted from an article by Mino Carta in Carta Capital (5th November 2005) into English:
O Velho Mundo fica muito longe
Karl Marx e Alexis de Tocqueville concordavam em um ponto: a extrema pobreza não gera revolta mas apatia.
RaIf Dahrendorf retoma o assunto em artigo recente. "A faixa da população de longe mais crítica — diz ele — é aquela que começou a progredir para novas e melhores condições, mas, lá pelas tantas, encontrou o caminho bloqueado. São estes os grupos que se mobilizam em contestações violentas e acabam por determinar grandes mudanças".
Dahrendorf pressentia, é claro, os desdobramentos da revolta da periferia parisiense, inspiradora de outras turbulências em vários cantos da Europa Ocidental.
Pensei no Brasil, vice-campeão mundial em má distribuição de renda, onde 70% das famílias vivem, no máximo, com dois salários mínimos e 30% dos habitantes vegetam abaixo da linha de pobreza. Sem contar a herança da escravidão que deixou nos lombos nativos a marca funda do chicote.
➽ VERSÃO(Português→Inglês):
The Old World lies very far away
Karl Marx and Alexis de Tocqueville both agreed on one point: extreme poverty does not lead to uprising but rather to apathy.
RaIf Dahrendorf has resumed the issue in a recent article. “The most critical segment of the population by far – says he – is the one which had begun to make progress towards new and better conditions, but, at a certain point, found the path blocked. These are the groups which rally to violent protests and end up bringing about great changes”.
Dahrendorf anticipated, of course, the unfolding of the rising of the Parisian outskirts, which has inspired additional turmoil in several corners of Western Europe.
I thought about Brazil, vice-champion of the world in poor distribution of income, where 70% of the families live, at most, on two minimum wages and where 30% of the population vegetate below the poverty line. Not to mention the heritage of slavery which has left on the native backs the deep scar of the whip.
3 - SUMMARY & TEXTUAL EXERCISES:
Read the following text, adapted from “Radical Islam, Liberal Islam” by M. A. Muqtedar Khan (CURRENT HISTORY, Vol. 102, n. 688, December 2003), and complete the exercises at the end.
[10 marks] Summarise the text, in your own words, in up to 200 words.
[15 marks]
American foreign policy currently faces a critical menace from the Muslim World in the guise of burgeoning, embedded anti-Americanism in the Muslim World. That has already bred a catastrophic attack on America, two wars, and a significant compromise of American democracy. It is therefore of utmost importance that anti-Americanism in the Muslim world be addressed, extenuated and even reversed.
The root of Muslim anti-Americanism is twofold: the manifestly unjust consequences of American foreign policies; and the casting of America as the “designated other” in Islamist discourse. Islamist discourse has concocted the idea of an Islamic civilization diametrically opposed to a caricaturized West. Islamists define the West as imperial, morally decadent, ungodly (secular). Western power and values are vilified as the source of all Muslim grievances. They proceed to envisage a reinvigorated Islamic civilization depicted as just, moral and god-centered. Thus, the routing of the West and the rebuffing of Western values are sine qua non conditions for the revival of Islam.
Independence from the West has ever been the overriding goal of political Islam. Failure to achieve that goal, compounded by real and perceived injustices committed by America and its allies, has grafted vitriolic hatred of America in the hearts of radical Islamists. They and their hate mongering are perverting the moral fabric of the Muslim World and subverting Islam’s message of justice, mercy, submission, compassion and enlightenment.
It is my contention that the best anti-dote to radical Islam is liberal Islam, which is sympathetic to liberal values. Islam is essentially a set of revealed values designed to help prod humanity along the path to enlightenment and virtue. Many such values were nurtured in the heyday of liberal Islam in Islamic Spain, under Emperor Akber in Mughal India and under the Abbasid caliphate in the heartlands of Islam. The atmosphere of religious tolerance under their rule was comparable to the best of times in America. Educational and scientific fervor was at its peak and pluralism was widely practiced. Indeed, Islam was a byword for learning and culture.
“Moderate” is commonly taken to mean lukewarm. This is misleading and demeaning. Moderate Muslims can be best understood as having achieved a negotiated peace with modernity. They treat it as the existential condition of our time while submitting to the message of Islam. By grasping the distinction between historical Islam and Islamic principles, they are able to bridge the gap between text and context through rational interpretation.
Moderate Muslims, who favor peace without being pacifists, are critical of American foreign policy for the Muslim World. They too denounce the prejudiced view of Islam in the West. Muslim moderates refuse, though, to blame the West or modernity for all the afflictions besetting the Muslim World.
Islamists, both moderate and radical, use an imaginary, caricaturized version of the West as a foil for Islamic identity. Islam is the reverse of the West: it is moral, it is just, it is righteous and it is not secular. This image of the West in the minds of many Islamists is partly the consequence of a radical reading of Syed Qutb’s diatribes against secularism and modernity in Nasserite Egypt.
Islamists, however, are not alone in their misrepresentation of Syed Qutb. In a recent article in the New York Times Paul Berman argued that it was Qutb’s philosophy and understanding of Islam that provided the ideological underpinning for Al Qaeda and its affiliates. The revulsion of liberalism and the desire to preserve Islam from the cultural impact of modern secularism combined with a desire to become martyrs in the cause of Islam, Berman argues, are the cornerstones of Qutb’s ideology. He also insists that while Qutb is indeed critical of the US, its perfidious foreign policy and its support for Israel, he does not really focus on it. Qutb, according to Berman, and in my opinion correctly, is more concerned with ideas, values and norms that shape society than with geopolitical conflicts.
Berman also holds that it is not American foreign policy but the challenge of liberalism, particularly its morality that vexes Qutb. By implication, the US ____________ change its foreign policy but those motivated by aversion for liberalism will continue to seek the downfall of the West as long as its culture continues to influence the world, the Muslim World in particular. Berman’s reading not __________ absolves US foreign policy from being a major cause of incitement ___________ rebellion and resistance among Islamic) militants, but also suggests that this is indeed a clash of ivilizations — Islam versus liberalism.
While advancing the notion that there can be alternative readings of Muslim ideologues, I am also arguing that discourse is what we make of it. Ideas have an impact on reality, but reality in turn affects the formation of ideas and how ideas are apprehended. Some Muslims read Qutb and are motivated to use violence against their regimes and the West, whom they perceive as tyrannical. Others read him as an advocate of freedom, social justice and responsible governance.
The different readings of Syed Qutb underscore the diversity within Islam and among Muslims. Profiles of Islam and Muslims cannot be painted with broad brushes. Quick, singlevariable explanations as to why Muslims are angry at the US will not suffice. Muslim realities, like Muslim thinking, are complex, diverse and challenging. As policy makers in Washington rethink the Muslim World, they would do well to remember that ethnocentric interpretations and sweeping judgments will only heighten misunderstanding and lead to bad policy. Bad things ensue from bad policy.
A liberal reading of Qutb reveals him as a philosopher of freedom and justice, not a philosopher of terror. Similarly, a sympathetic view of the Muslim World will reveal a thirst for freedom and justice, not a penchant for violence or hate. American policy makers do recognize the significance and potential of liberal Islam and the strategic value of supporting moderate Muslims. However, they have so far shown interest only in using moderates to lend legitimacy to certain US policies in the Muslim World. They have not taken on board moderate Muslim input in shaping post-September 11 policies nor have they sought their assistance in moderating the government’s rhetoric and messages to the Muslim World. But then the current US administration has proven to be secretive, closed, and insular, excluding even moderate conservatives from policy making. It would be pie in the sky to expect this administration to include diverse opinion. The potential of moderate Muslims thus remains untapped.
4 - TEXTUAL EXERCISES:
a) Fill in the three gaps in the text above with an appropriate word or
phrase.
[6 marks]
“Berman also holds that it is not American foreign policy but the
challenge of liberalism, particularly its morality that vexes Qutb. By
implication, the US __________ change its foreign policy but those
motivated by aversion for liberalism will continue to seek the
downfall of the West as long as its culture continues to influence the
world, the Muslim World in particular. Berman’s reading
not __________ absolves US foreign policy from being a major
cause of incitement __________ rebellion and resistance among
Islamic militants, but also suggests that this is indeed a clash of
civilizations – Islam versus liberalism.”
b) Choose the most appropriate substitute in context for the words underlined:
[4 marks]
I. grafted:
"Failure to achieve that goal, compounded by real and perceived injustices committed by America and its allies, has grafted vitriolic hatred of America in the hearts of radical Islamists."
1) etched
2) transplanted
3) inserted
4) corrupted
5) instilled
👉 Resposta 5
"Failure to achieve that goal, compounded by real and perceived injustices committed by America and its allies, has instilled vitriolic hatred of America in the hearts of radical Islamists."
II. lukewarm: "Moderate is commonly taken to mean lukewarm."
1) aloof
2) half-hearted
3) frail
4) neutral
5) gutless
Resposta
"Moderate is commonly taken to mean half-hearted."
5 - COMPOSITION:
[45 marks]
[Set length 350-450 words]
Awareness that change is a constant feature of human life is as old as civilisation. However, more recently, technological development has greatly enhanced both the prospects for rapid change and the range of its social, political, and cultural impact.
Bearing this in mind, comment on Berman’s contention (in Muqtedar Khan’s text “Radical Islam, Liberal Islam” in section 2 above) that “those motivated by aversion for liberalism will continue to seek the downfall of the West as long as its culture continues to influence the world, the Muslim World in particular”.
➽ REDAÇÃO EM INGLÊS:
Berman’s statement that Muslim radicals will not curb their destructive efforts as long as the West continues to influence the world seems inescapable, at first glance. One could almost be led to believe in a “duel to the death” between two cultures: liberalism, with its core belief in tolerance of individual choices, and Islam, with its own values.
Reality, however, is never as clear-cut as the statement above would imply. Neither the liberal West nor the Muslim World are the absolute, monolithic entities they are often depicted as being.
Islam is less like a centuries-old, undisturbed lake of values and beliefs than it is like a raging river, winding its way though the hills and valleys of history and spawning countless tributaries, each with its own personality and identity. Around the world, from the bazaars of Morocco to the streets of New York, Islam has demonstrated that many of its forms are wholly compatible with tolerance and individual liberties.
Liberalism has revealed itself to be an entity just as complex as Islam. In spite of its guise of Enlightenment rationality, it has in many cases demonstrated that its secularity and “cultural neutrality” are only skin deep, and that the values and precepts of Christianity still lurk below the surface. The tolerance of liberalism can also be called into question, as evidenced by the deep-seated prejudices in many supposedly liberal polities.
These two cultures cannot, therefore, be considered in any way homogenous. Indeed, the disputes within each regarding the ideal way to organize social life make this blindingly obvious: the “European model” and the “American model” which vie for prominence in the liberal world are as dissimilar as the Jordanian and Indonesian experiences in the Muslim one.
It is at the very least misleading, therefore, to speak of a “clash of civilizations”. It is much more accurate to refer to two large, heterogeneous cultures, with no clear leader on either side. These cultures have murky, undefined borders, which frequently overlap, leading to both clashes and creation.
This is not to say, of course, that those who speak of a clash of civilizations do so out of ignorance our naïveté. Leading the charge against the (supposed) enemy is an effective way to gain ascendancy within one’s own group. This tendency has been aggravated by the acceleration of technology. Revolutions in science not only brought us closer together, but allowed the purveyors of fear to convince us that the enemy is forever close by. We have developed tools that can be of great value in reconciling estranged cultures – we have just not learned how to use them properly yet.
