UNICAMP 2002 Inglês - Questões

CULTURE

Marriage,

Italian Style

Italian men have a legendary devotion to their mothers. But a new survey pushes that image even further. The February issue of the magazine 20 Anni reported that one in three men would prefer to have their mothers choose their fiancées. Why? Many said they’d feel more at peace knowing that Mom approved of the match. Others had less noble intentions. If the relationship failed, they said, they could just blame it on Mom.

Mamma mia.

(Newsweek, 21/02/2000.)

Por que grande parte dos italianos prefeririam que as próprias mães escolhessem suas noivas?

O que segue são os parágrafos iniciais de "Ghosts", um conto de Paul Auster pubicado em The New York Trilogy, em 1990, pela Penguin Books Inc. Leia-os e responda à pergunta.

FIRST of all there is Blue. Later there is White, and then there is Black, and before the beginning there is Brown. Brown broke him in, Brown taught him the ropes, and when Brown grew old, Blue took over. That is how it begins. The place is New York, the time is the present, and neither one will ever change. Blue goes to his office every day and sits at his desk, waiting for something to happen. For a long time nothing does, and then a man named White walks through the door, and that is how it begins.

The case seems simple enough. White wants Blue to follow a man named Black and to keep an eye on him for as long as necessary. While working for Brown, Blue did many tail jobs, and this one seems no different, perhaps even easier than most.

Blue needs the work, and he listens to White and doesn’t ask many questions. He assumes it’s a marriage case and that White is a jealous husband. White doesn’t elaborate. He wants a weekly report, he says, sent to such and such a postbox number, typed out in duplicate on pages so long and so wide. A check will be sent every week to Blue in the mail. White then tells Blue where Black lives, what he looks like, and so on. When Blue asks White how long he thinks the case will last, White says he doesn’t know. Just keep sending the reports, he says, until further notice.

(Ghosts, Paul Auster. The New York Trilogy, 1990.)

Quais são os personagens que aparecem nesse trecho? Como esses personagens se inter-relacionam?

O texto abaixo é parte de uma entrevista dada por Joseph Campbell, um intelectual americano falecido em 1987. Leia-o e responda à questão.

Those who seem happiest have a certain unity in their lives; work and leisure are integrated...

Well, again I can look at it only in terms of an individual. I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money - has turned himself into a slave. Work begins when you don’t like what you’re doing. There’s a wise saying: make your hobby your source of income. Then there’s no such thing as work and there’s no such thing as getting tired. That’s been my own experience. I did just what I wanted to do. It takes a little courage at first, because who the hell wants you to do just what you want to do; they’ve all got a lot of plans for you. But you can make it happen. I think it’s very important for a young person to have the courage to do what seems to him significant in his life, and not just take a job in order to make money. But this takes a bit of prudence and very careful planning, and may delay financial achievement and comfortable living. But the ultimate result will be very much to his pleasure.

But there’s an incredible amount of pressure to conform.

I know it. But there is a margin, too. There are plenty of ways to coast along until you find your center. I don’t mean going on relief: I don’t have much respect for people who expect society to support them while they’re finding their feet. There are other ways to work that out. If you have a job, for instance, which allows you time enough to develop your own system of ideas for the future, and the boss offers you more money for extra hours, then you refuse that because it would take away from your free time. Do you see what I mean?

(An Open Life — Joseph Campbell in conversation with Michael Toms. New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1990.)

Neste texto, Campbell contrapõe dois modos de ver o trabalho. Que modos são esses e qual deles Campbell defende?

O texto abaixo é parte de uma entrevista dada por Joseph Campbell, um intelectual americano falecido em 1987. Leia-o e responda à questão.

Those who seem happiest have a certain unity in their lives; work and leisure are integrated...

Well, again I can look at it only in terms of an individual. I think the person who takes a job in order to live - that is to say, for the money - has turned himself into a slave. Work begins when you don’t like what you’re doing. There’s a wise saying: make your hobby your source of income. Then there’s no such thing as work and there’s no such thing as getting tired. That’s been my own experience. I did just what I wanted to do. It takes a little courage at first, because who the hell wants you to do just what you want to do; they’ve all got a lot of plans for you. But you can make it happen. I think it’s very important for a young person to have the courage to do what seems to him significant in his life, and not just take a job in order to make money. But this takes a bit of prudence and very careful planning, and may delay financial achievement and comfortable living. But the ultimate result will be very much to his pleasure.

But there’s an incredible amount of pressure to conform.

I know it. But there is a margin, too. There are plenty of ways to coast along until you find your center. I don’t mean going on relief: I don’t have much respect for people who expect society to support them while they’re finding their feet. There are other ways to work that out. If you have a job, for instance, which allows you time enough to develop your own system of ideas for the future, and the boss offers you more money for extra hours, then you refuse that because it would take away from your free time. Do you see what I mean?

(An Open Life — Joseph Campbell in conversation with Michael Toms. New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1990.)

Campbell prevê que alguns obstáculos terão que ser vencidos por quem decidir colocar em prática a visão de trabalho defendida por ele. Que obstáculos são esses?

O texto abaixo descreve um sistema de segurança para computadores desenvolvido por pesquisadores da Universidade Estadual do Novo México. Considere-o para responder à questão.

S E C U R I T Y

Personality Type

ONE SIMPLE way to improve computer security may lie at your fingertips - but it’s not your fingerprints. Rather, your typing style may someday be the key to keeping snoops out of your computer.

At least that’s the conclusion of New Mexico State University professor Juris Reinfelds, who contends that the way a person tickles the computer keyboard is a highly individual trait, and one that remains stable over time. Reinfelds and two colleagues have developed a security system that uses typing rhythms to guard against unauthorized computer access.

The system works by monitoring the pace of keystrokes. A timing device traps keyboards signals before they reach the computer processor. This box then sends out two signals of its own - one that goes to the computer, and another that shows how many milliseconds have elapsed since the last keystroke. If the typing pattern varies from the recognized one, the computer prompts you to type a few lines of text. If the patterns still don’t match, further access is denied. The researchers claim the system spots intruders 99 percent of the time and even detects unauthorized users after you have entered a password.

- Linda Wasmer Smith

(New Scientist, 20/07/1996.)

O que os pesquisadores tomaram como base para elaborar o sistema? Por quê?