Questões

The difficult journey to Olympic success

For Jessica Morgan, a young athlete New Zealand, a typical day starts early. Most mornings, she gets up 4:30 a.m., while her family is still bed, and trains before school. As an elite rower, she is one the best in her country, and she aims to compete in the next Olympic Games.

Jessica’s weekly schedule is grueling. She trains twice a day, six days a week, and competes in rowing events on the weekends. However, she’s also a normal schoolgirl, and like every other sixteen-year-old at high school, she regularly does her homework, too. Jessica’s motivation is impressive. She never hangs out with friends or takes a vacation. She isn’t only an amazing athlete – she usually gets good grades in school, too. Of course, it isn’t easy to become successful. Being the best at your sport requires hard work, determination, and the help of family and coaches. Young athletes’ relationships with their family and coaches can influence their success in the future. Jessica’s parents usually spend hours every week taking her to training and competitions, and they help her to eat a healthy diet. Her coach plans her training and enters her for competitions. But both parents and coach must offer emotional support, too – for example, when Jessica loses a competition or she gets an injury. Luckily for Jessica, she has a good relationship with both her coach and family. But in other cases, these relationships can place too much pressure on young athletes. For this reason, some of them lose their motivation to do well. For Jessica, the most important factor in her future success is her own desire to win. “I know talented young athletes who give up because they feel lonely without their friends,” she says. “But I prefer not to think negatively.” Jessica believes she is responsible for securing her future success. “It’s my decision to train every morning and go back to it again every afternoon. It’s my decision not to have a social life, and never to take a vacation.” Not everyone can cope with this kind of lifestyle. But each day Jessica moves one step closer to achieving her Olympic dream.

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the text carefully and then answer the questions from 33 to 38 by choosing the correct alternative.

Brazil corruption scandals: All you need to know

For the past three years, Brazil has been gripped by a scandal which started with a state-owned oil company and grew to encapsulate people at the very top of business - and even presidents.

On the face of it, it is a straightforward corruption scandal - albeit one involving millions of dollars in kickbacks and more than 80 politicians and members of the business elite.

But as the tentacles of the investigation dubbed Operation Car Wash fanned out, other scandals emerged.

It has led to some of those who have found themselves accused claiming they are the victims of political plots, designed to bar them from office.

What is Operation Car Wash?

Operation Car Wash began in March 2014 as an investigation into allegations that Brazil's biggest construction firms overcharged state-oil company Petrobras for building contracts.

Investigators accused directors at the firm - named the world's most ethical oil and gas company in 2008 - of skimming the extra money off the top as a bribe for awarding the contract.

Which is bad enough - but then the Workers' Party found itself dragged into the corruption scandal amid allegations of having funneled some of these funds to pay off politicians and buy their votes and help with political campaigns.

Among those accused in the scandal were dozens of politicians, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - the country's extremely popular former president, known affectionately as "Lula".

            How Telecommuting Works

Telecommuting, which is growing in popularity, allows

employees to avoid long commutes.

“Brring,” the alarm startles you out of a deep sleep. It’s

8 a.m. on Monday morning. Time to head to the office.

You roll out of bed, brush your teeth and stumble your

way to the kitchen to grab some coffee.

Moments later, you head to the office, still wearing

your pajamas and fluffy slippers. Luckily for you, you

don’t have to go far – you work at home.

Telecommuting, or working at home, has grown in

popularity over the last 20 years.

On an increasing basis, workers are saying “no” to

long commutes and opting to work at home. In fact,

the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the number of

employees working from home grew by 23 percent

from 1990 to 2000.

Telecommuting workers revel in making their own

schedule – allowing them to schedule work around

family and personal commitments. With the ready

availability of technology tools, like the Internet and

home computers, companies are more willing to let

employees work from home.

    ( Adaptedfrom : < http: //home.howstuffworks.com/telecommuting.htm>Access on 18th January, 2014) 

The Reasons Why We Dance

1. As a choreographer, I get asked to share my opinion about a myriad of dance-related
2. topics, from the practical, like “How can dance help you get in shape?” to the existential, like “Is
3. my dancing a projection of my self-image?”. But the question I think matters most is: why do
4. people dance? What is about moving our bodies to a song we love that is so joyfully Pavlovian?
5. Why do we watch videos and take lessons on something that could be labeled as trivial? Why do
6. we love it so?
7. There are the obvious answers. We dance for physical fitness, mental clarity, emotional
8. stability, and other such pluses. However, all these benefits could be attained by other means –
9. though I confess I have yet to find a better alternative than a great “cha cha”* to lift both one’s
10. heart rate and spirits. There must be something glorious about dancing that is more than just
11. intangible. We cannot seem to explain it, yet we all know it so well that we do not hesitate to
12. tap our feet to a Gershwin melody or pulse with the percussion of a samba rhythm.
13. Perhaps dance is the way we express ourselves when words are insufficient. The joy we
14. feel over newfound love, the determination we have in the face of great sorrow or adversity, the
15. passionate fire of our youth, and the peacefulness of our softer and more graceful years – maybe
16. they are never expressed more fully than through a waltz, or a tango, or a jive. We all want to
17. be understood, and if we could truly speak the words that describe our feelings, how deep and
18. powerful they would surely be. But alas, those words never seem to come to us just right. Maybe
19. dance is simply a translator for the human heart.
20. Perhaps dance is the medium through which we show the world who we truly are and who
21. we can be. All of us, if we are honest, believe deep down that we are not ordinary. We know
22. ourselves to be wonderfully unique, with many layers of personality and talent woven in such a
23. way that no one on earth could possibly have our same make-up. We know it. We just do not
24. always know how to prove it. Maybe dance gives us the opportunity. And perhaps dance is how
25. we choose to remember, how we hold on to the past. It is how we relive __ fun-filled days of
26. our youth or __ time we looked into their eyes and knew they were the one. It is our tribute to
27. the heroes of yesterday who jitterbugged like carefree boys and girls, when tomorrow they would
28. march as men and women to defend freedom’s cause. It is the chance to be __ princess again,
29. waiting for __ outstretched hand and the call to __ romance that is graceful, true, and not as
30. forgotten as the cynics say. When we dance, we can remember them all a little better, feel the
31. butterflies once again, and if only for a moment, return to the purest part of our lives when time
32. was of no matter…for we were dancing.
33. Why do we dance? Every answer will be different, and that is as it should be. Perhaps the
34. better question is, “Why would we not?”

*Cha Cha: an energetic modern dance.

(Available in: https://dancewithmeusa.com/why-we-dance-the-reasons/ – text especially adapted for this test).