Text 01 - Ebola crisis
West Africa is experiencing the biggest outbreak of
the Ebola virus ever known, causing thousands of deaths, devastating fragile
healthcare systems and damaging the economies of countries, some of which are
still recovering from civil war. Infections are thought to be doubling every few
weeks. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there were 13,700 officially registered
cases by the end of October, almost all in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea,
with about 5,000 deaths, but many go unrecorded and the true figure is thought
to be two to three times higher. The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) says
that if nothing changes there could be 1.4 million cases by late January.
The WHO has been criticized for not reacting fast enough
to the outbreak: it took three months to diagnose the first cases, and five
months more before a public health emergency was declared. The exceptional
spread of the disease was probably down to a number of factors including
dysfunctional health systems, high population mobility across state
borders, densely populated capitals and lack of trust in authorities after
years of armed conflict meaning health advice is not heeded. Fear is also a factor.
People are afraid to go to hospital because they think it may be the source of
infection.
Healthcare in the region was fragile before Ebola. Now
there is disintegration as staff become ill or stay away for fear of the
disease. Infection control and hygiene are major issues. Soap and water
are unavailable in some areas. Alcohol hand rubs are needed on a large scale. Isolation
facilities are vital to contain Ebola, as are labs for testing because rapid
diagnosis is very important. Both are in very short supply. In some places,
isolation is nothing more than an area behind a curtain. People with other
diseases and women in childbirth are at risk because hospitals are no longer
functioning properly.
The
Guardian, Oct. 31, 2014. Access on: Nov. 25, 2014. [Adapted]
1. According to the text,
it is correct to affirm that
a) the Ebola crisis is
global.
b) the Ebola crisis has
killed 13,700 people.
c) Ebola is a virus
transmitted to humans from animals.
d) Ebola has reached all
Africa, Spain and the USA.
e) the Ebola crisis has
reached some African countries.
2. According to the text,
it is correct to affirm that
a) bad healthcare
conditions in some African countries are not related to the Ebola crisis.
b) hygiene is not a problem
because they use alcohol for large scale disinfection.
c) authorities have been
quick to diagnose cases and set emergency procedures.
d) the Ebola crisis in some
African countries is related to wars and economy.
e) civil war and other
armed conflicts have made people afraid to go to hospital.
3. According to the text,
the Ebola crisis is caused
a) due to constant civil
wars which made the countries poor and the population vulnerable.
b) because people do not
trust the governments and healthcare systems are bad.
c) by poor hygiene
conditions and high population mobility to the capitals.
d) because the governments
took 5 months to diagnose the cases and inform the population.
e) by a virus that came
from Spain and infected poor areas in Africa.
4. About the first sentence
of the text, it is correct to affirm that
a) the word “Ebola” is the
subject of the sentence.
b) all clauses are in the
present continuous tense.
c) the adjective “biggest”
is in the comparative form.
d) the word “ever” is an
auxiliary verb.
e) the word “still”
indicates consequence.
Text 02
“The media seems to treat epidemics differently, depending
on where they occur, and to whom. I think unfortunately, in the Western media,
there are first-world diseases and third-world diseases, and the attention devoted
to the latter depends on the threat they pose to us, not on a universal measure
of human suffering. A death in Africa or Asia should be as tragic as a death in
Europe or the USA, and it doesn’t seem to be. If an epidemic breaks out in the
USA or Europe, suddenly the reporting is more engaged. I would like to hear
from the people who are affected everywhere. I would like to feel that everyone’s
voices are more equally heard, even if they speak a language that is not mine.”
CARRILHO,
André. The Huffington Post. Available on:
5. According to André Carrilho’s
opinion,
a) European and American
media has treated the Ebola crisis with humor.
b) the Ebola crisis has not
caught Western media’s attention yet.
c) media coverage on
epidemics depends on where it happens and who it affects.
d) Western media only cares
about what happens in Europe and Asia.
e) first-world and
third-world diseases are equally treated by American media.
6. In Carrilho’s point of
view,
a) there are important differences
between first-world diseases and third-world diseases.
b) if epidemics like Ebola
occur in the USA, the media must treat it differently.
c) people from Africa and
Asia do not have access to good media coverage of the Ebola crisis.
d) media has only paid attention
to Ebola because white Western people began to be affected.
e) death cases in Africa and
Asia are less important than in America and Europe.
Analyze the extract from the text:
“I would like to hear from the people who are affected
everywhere. I would like to feel that everyone’s voices are more equally heard,
even if they speak a language that is not mine.”
7. About the extract, it is
correct to affirm that
a) the verbs “affected” and
“heard” are regular verbs.
b) the expression “would
like” indicates simple future.
c) the adverb “even”
expresses opposition.
d) the possessive pronoun “mine”
indicates third person.
e) the first and second
clauses are in the passive voice.
Text 03
OHMAN,
Jack. The Sacramento Bee. Access on: 20 Nov. 2014.
8. About the relation
between the three texts, it is correct to affirm that
a) the points of view
presented in texts 02 and 03 contradict text 01.
b) texts 01 and 03 are
about health problems caused by Ebola on a global scale.
c) they all present different
perspectives on the same subject.
d) the non-verbal elements
of texts 02 and 03 help understand text 01.
e) texts 01 and 02 are
about the economical problems caused by Ebola.
By Milton Franca
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