4 Questões de Língua Inglesa do UFPR 2009

Maya Angelou is hailed as one of the great voices of American literature and as a remarkable Renaissance woman. Being a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, Dr. Angelou continues to travel the world making appearances, and spreading her legendary wisdom. Born April 4, 1928 in Saint Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou`s given name was Marguerite Johnson. In her early twenties she was given the name Maya Angelou after her debut performance as a dancer at the Purple Onion Cabaret. The author`s father, Bailey Johnson, was a naval dietician, and her mother was Vivian Johnson. She has one sibling, a brother named Bailey after their father. When she was about three years old, their parents divorced and the children were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou claims that her grandmother, whom she called “momma”, had a deep-brooding love that hung over everything she touched. Growing up in Stamps, Angelou learned what it was like to be a black girl in a world whose boundaries were set by whites. She learned what it meant to have to wear old hand-me-downs from a white woman. And she also learned the humiliation of being refused treatment by a white dentist. As a child, she always dreamed of waking to find her “nappy black hair” metamorphosed to a long blond bob, because she felt life was better for a white girl than for a black girl. Despite the odds, her grandmother instilled pride in Angelou with religion as an important element in their home. After five years of being apart from their mother, the children were sent back to Saint Louis to be with her. This move eventually took a turn for the worst, when Angelou was raped by her mother`s boyfriend. The devastating act of violence committed against her caused her to become mute for nearly five years. She was sent back to Stamps because no one could handle the grim state Angelou was in. With the constant help of a woman named Mrs. Flowers, Angelou began to evolve into the young girl who had possessed the pride and confidence she once had. Again in 1940, her brother and her were sent to San Francisco to live with their mother. Life with her mother was a constant disorder. Living with her mother soon became too much for her, so she ran away to be with her father and his girlfriend in their rundown trailer. Finding that life with him was no better, she ended up living in a graveyard of wrecked cars that mainly housed homeless children. It took her a month to get back home to her mother. Angelou`s dysfunctional childhood, spent moving back and forth between her mother and grandmother, caused her to struggle with maturity. She became determined to prove she was a woman and began to rush toward maturity. Angelou soon found herself pregnant, and at the age of sixteen she delivered her son, Guy. According to the text:

1. A) At the time Angelou lived with her grandmother, she did not face discrimination.
2. B) Angelou`s grandmother was a very affectionate woman.
3. C) Angelou disliked her grandmother because she used to be quite violent.
4. D) Maya Angelou used to call her grandmother “momma” because her mother Vivian had died.

Sont-ils dangereux pour la santé? Les chercheurs tentent de savoir si les OGM peuvent rendre malade. Problème: jusqu’à aujourd’hui, les tests ont été insuffisants. L’argument revient sans cesse, comme s’il devait clore à jamais le débat des risques pour la santé: voilà plus de dix ans que les Américains mangent des OGM, et ils ne sont pas malades pour autant! Monsanto, le fabricant du maïs désormais interdit en France, le répète encore dans sa lettre au ministère de l’agriculture. «Aucun effet néfaste sur la santé n’a été observé au cours des onze années pendant lesquelles les variétés de maïs MON 810 ont été consommées», écrit Jean-Michel Duhamel, président de la filiale française. C’est vrai. Mais si les autorités sanitaires américaines n’ont rien remarqué d’inquiétant, c’est notamment parce qu’elles n’ont rien… cherché. Aucune étude n’a été lancée auprès des populations exposées dans ce pays. Pour une raison simple: les variétés génétiquement modifiées de soja, de maïs et de colza y sont mélangées aux autres. Impossible donc de savoir qui a mangé des OGM et en quelles quantités. Certes, chacun peut constater que l’introduction de ces cultures n’a pas rayé de la carte la nation américaine. Mais des conséquences moins spectaculaires ont très bien pu passer inaperçues, qu’il s’agisse de réactions allergiques ou d’effets toxiques sur le long terme. Sur ces deux points, des institutions comme l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) et l’Autorité européenne de sécurité des aliments (Efsa) rejoignent des organisations citoyennes telles que le Comité de recherche et d’information indépendantes sur le génie génétique (Criigen). Toutes réclament que les fabricants fournissent des études plus poussées que celles prévues dans la réglementation actuelle. Considérez les affirmations suivantes: 1. Les autorités sanitaires américaines n’ont pas trouvé de preuve définitive de la nocivité des OGM. 2. Les Américains ne séparent pas les variétés génétiquement modifiées de soja, de maïs et de colza des autres. 3. Les OGM peuvent avoir provoqué des réactions qui n’ont pas été remarquées par les autorités sanitaires américaines. 4. Les fabricants des OGM doivent exiger un changement dans les réglementations actuelles concernant ces produits. Quelle(s) affirmation(s) présente(nt) le point de vue d’Estelle Saget sur le sujet en question?

1. A) Seule l’affirmation 1 est vraie.
2. B) Seules les affirmations 1 et 2 sont vraies.
3. C) Seules les affirmations 1, 2 et 3 sont vraies.
4. D) Seules les affirmations 3 et 4 sont vraies.