Assuntos Tratados:

1º Horário:

Análise de texto e resolução de questões.

2º Horário:

Análise de texto e resolução de questões.

1º HORÁRIO

Análise de Textos

TEXTO 1 - Law of public biddings

1 According to the Brazilian Federal Constitution, article 37, item XXI: “With the exception of the
cases specified in law, public works, services, purchases and disposals shall be contracted by
public bidding proceedings that ensure equal conditions to all bidders, with clauses that establish
payment obligations, maintaining the effective conditions of the bid, as the law provides, which
shall only allow the requirements of technical and economic qualifications indispensable to
guarantee the fulfilling 9 of the obligations.” The regulatory law is Law Number 8666, 21st June,
1993.
The Law forbids preference to or differential treatment between Brazilian and foreign companies.
However, when local and foreign 13 competitors offer equivalent conditions in terms of price,
quality and delivery time, the law ensures preference for: goods produced or supplied by a
Brazilian firm of national capital; locally produced; and produced or supplied by Brazilian firms.
The comments below are a very superficial highlight of some important topics of the law.
Article 1 mentions the entities subject to the law: all the three branches; all the three levels of
government (Federal, State, and Municipal); all agencies and foundations; all public companies, 22
including those with private participation (this means that big businesses like PETROBRAS, Banco
do Brasil and others are subject to the law).
• Article 3 mentions that the nationality of the bidders will be considered only as a tie-breaking
criterion: otherwise, Brazilian and foreign companies compete equally. Also, article 3 states that all
the bidding process is open to the public, except, of course, for the value of bidding while not
disclosed.
30 • Article 4: all bids are in national currency, except in the cases prescribed in article 42
(international purchases).
• Article 24 states the situations where bidding is not mandatory. Some examples: purchases of
small value (as defined by law); emergency situations which put people or premises in risk; when
35 previous bidding processes had no bidders; to purchase or rent specific buildings; several
others.
• Article 25 states situations when a bidding process is not feasible. Examples: there is only one
possible contractor for a given product or service (electricity supply, for example); a professional is
so outstandingly better than all the others that a bidding competition would be meaningless.
42 • Article 45 states that, besides the price bid, technical factors may also define the winner.
Internet: <www.V-brazil.com/business> (adapted).

Based on the above text, judge the following items about biddings regulated by law Number 8666,
21st June, 1993.
1) The Portuguese word for public biddings is alienações. FALSO
In a public bidding, all conditions being the same, Brazilian companies have preference over
foreign ones if there is a tie. CORRETO
2) Public companies are exempt from the bidding process. FALSO
3) Only bidders are allowed in all of the bidding process. FALSO
4) By no means shall any bids be expressed in foreign currency. FALSO
5) Contracts to deal with emergency situations may be awarded without an aidding process.
CORRETO
6) However low a price bid may be, it still may not be the winner if technical factors are not up to
standards. CORRETO

In the text,
7) “besides” (R.42) can be correctly replaced by in addition to. CORRETO
8) “shall” (R.3) can be correctly replaced by might. FALSO
9) “those” (R.22) refers to “public companies” (R.21). CORRETO
10) “others” (R.23) stands for other big businesses. CORRETO
11) “premises” (R.34) means the building and land that a business or organization uses.
CORRETO
12) “may” (R. 43) can be correctly substituted by must. FALSO
13) “feasible” (R. 38) is a synonym for viable. CORRETO

TEXTO 2 - Brazil: One Growth Obstacle after Another

Read the text below in order to answer questions 1 to 4.
After just eight months in office, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the left-wing Workers' Party
has won congressional approval for economically critical and politically controversial pension and
tax reforms. Now, however, da Silva faces a bigger challenge: reviving Brazil 's economy. In 2003's
first half, Brazil 's economy fell into recession. Most economists expect growth for the entire year to
be a miserly 1%. And a governmentlinked research group recently embarrassed ministers by
predicting growth of just 0.5% in 2003. Taxes are a serious obstacle to growth. Brazil 's tax burden
is among the highest in the world, equal to 41.7% of salaries.
Reforms now proceeding through Congress will simplify the tax system, but won't reduce the total
burden. That will be possible only if interest rates fall and the government can keep spending in
check, thereby reducing the amount of money needed to pay its own debts. For now, Brazil's
economy is going nowhere.

(By Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo – adapted. From: Business Week September 10, 2003)

1)The picture of the current Brazilian economy given by this article is:
a) highly optimistic.
b) guardedly hopeful.
c) unremittingly positive.
d) faintly negative.
e) distinctly bleak.

2- According to the text, a think tank recently caused the government some embarrassment by
predicting:
a) lower growth than most other economists had forecast.
b) cynicism over the government’s tax reform program.
c) one of the highest tax burdens in the world.
d) stubbornly high interest rates for bank loans.
e) further cuts in the national interest rates for loans.

3- The advantage of the proposed tax reform measures is:

a) particularly fast progress through Congress.
b) a proposed 41.7% reduction in taxation.
c) a welcome simplification of the tax system.
d) the prospect of controlling high inflation.
 e) further political support for the
government

4- According to the last section of the text, taxation will only be reduced if:
a) there are strong signs of growing inflation.
b) Congress passes the new taxation reform bill.
c) Brazil ’s economy goes nowhere soon.
d) the sum needed to meet public debt is reduced.
e) income tax bills cease to be such a heavy burden.

TEXTO 3 - THE BUDGET FOR THE YEAR 2000

Most analysts believe that the budget for the year 2000 presented by the government is feasible,
but many points used to design the budget depend on negotiations with Congress. "If first
impressions are confirmed, the budget corresponds to reality", says former Central Bank President
Affonso Celso Pastore. According to the Chief Economist for Citibank, the budget is
feasible but not easy to accomplish.
Specialists say that the government would have to reduce monthly expenses immediately until the
end of the year from R$ 3.5 billion to R$ 2.87 billion, which would correspond to a 20% reduction.
"It's quite a tight budget", said former Minister Maílson da Nóbrega. The main problem is that state
employees' salaries have been raised and an extra R$ 3.1 billion will have to be paid next year.

2O HORÁRIO

14- Analysts predict:

a) a necessary cut in the public expenditure
b) a further increase in state employees' salaries
c) a considerable surplus for the public sector
d) a substantial change in the fiscal responsibility law
e) a huge technological investment

15- According to the text, the state employees'salaries:

A) must have been reduced
B) have not been negotiated
C) must be taken into account
D) represent a 20% cut in the budget
E) have undoubtedly been neglected

16- In connection to the budget for year 2000, analysts believe that it:
A) ought to be designed by the Congress.
B) might be achieved.
C) is hardly attainable.
D) will be increased by 20%.
E) has been endorsed by the Congress

TEXTO 4 - DEFICIT SPELLS TROUBLE

The US economic expansion, which has already achieved an unprecedented period of unbroken
growth, continues to stride ahead. But there could be trouble on the way.

Robert Siddles, head of the US equities at Gartmore, says: “There has only been one recession in
the last 16 years in the US , where there has been strong growth and unexpectedly low inflation”.
He explains the economic picture has been almost perfect: “Murphy’s law is working in reverse”,
Siddles says about the US economy. He explains: “If it can go right, it will go right”.
 But he is concerned about the level of the
current account deficit, which is running out at about 5% of the
gross domestic product. But Siddles adds: “The problem with the current account deficit may

not be quite as bad as it appears. The government is borrowing less and the health of the economy
is supporting the deficit”.

16- Which aspect of the US economy is seen as worrying?

a) Its foreign policy
b) Its present account deficit
c) Its tax regulations
d) Its stockmarket
e) Its present elections

17- The author says that the US economic expansion continues to stride ahead, which means it
continues to:
a) grow
b) shrink
c) be analysed
d) affect the world
e) dominate

18- Paragraph 2 suggests that an expanding economy might be expected to bring:

a) recession
b) unemployment
c) inflation
d) surplus workers
e) a trade deficit

19- According to Robert Siddles, the government:

A) must borrow less money
B) has increased interest rates
C) should lend more money
D) is lending much less
E) is bearing the deficit

20- The overall picture the text gives of the US economy is one of:
A) absolute euphoria
B) dark pessimism
C) galloping inflation
D) qualified optimism
E) impending recession

TEXTO 5 - HOT AND BOTHERED - MPOG

Despite strict capital controls, China is being flooded by the biggest wave of speculative capital
ever to hit an emerging economy. A popular game this summer among watchers of the Chinese
economy is to guess the size of speculative capital or “hot money” flowing into the country. One
clue is that although China’s trade surplus has started to shrink this year, its foreign-exchange
reserves are growing at an ever faster pace. The bulk of its net foreign-currency receipts now
comes from capital inflows, not the current-account surplus.
According to leaked official figures, China’s foreign-exchange reserves jumped by $115 billion
during April and May, to $1.8 trillion. In the five months to May, reported reserves swelled by $269
 billion, 20% more than in the same period
of last year. But even this understates the true rate at which the
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been piling up foreign exchange.
Massive hot-money inflows present two dangers to China’s economy. One is that capital could
suddenly flow out, as it did from other East Asian countries during the financial crisis a decade ago

and Vietnam this year. China’s economy is protected by its current-account surplus and vast
reserves, but its banking system would be hurt by an abrupt withdrawal.
From The Economist print edition(Adapted)

1. In Paragraph 1, the author says that China’s trade surplus has started to shrink this year. To
shrink means:
A) to grow
B) to decrease
C) to rise
D) to up
E) to jump

2. In paragraph 1, the text refers to:

a) an unwanted rise in current-account surplus
b) a wanted increase in foreign-currency receipts
c) an unexpected flood of speculative money.
d) a steady lack of hot money
e) a persistent capital growth

3- In paragraph 2, the author says that reported reserves swelled by $269 billion, 20% more than in
the same period of last year. In other words, the reported reserves:
A) decreased meaningfully
B) reduced significantly
C) diminished gradually
D) increased modestly
E) declined moderately

4 -In paragraph 2, the author reports that ' the true rate at which the People’s Bank of China
(PBOC) has been piling up foreign exchange.' It means that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)
A) has been increasing foreign exchange.
B) has been achieving foreign exchange.
C) has been raising foreign exchange.
D) has been accomplishing foreign exchange.
E) has been accumulating foreign exchange.

TEXTO 6 - A natural choice

Source: The Economist
Oct 12th 2006 (Adapted)
Born in the trough of the Great Depression, Edmund Phelps, a professor at Columbia University
who this week won the Nobel prize for economics, has spent much of his intellectual life studying
slumps of a different kind. The Depression, which cost both of his parents their jobs, was
exacerbated by the monetary authorities, who kept too tight a grip on the money supply. Mr Phelps
is interested in unemployment that even open-handed central bankers cannot cure.
Most scholars stand on the shoulders of giants. But Mr Phelps won his laurels in part for kicking
the feet from under his intellectual forerunners. In 1958 William Phillips, of the London School of
Economics, showed that for much of the previous hundred years, unemployment was low in Britain
when wage inflation was high, and high when inflation was low. Economists were quick — too
 quick — to conclude that policymakers
therefore faced a grand, macroeconomic trade-off, embodied in
the so-called “Phillips curve”. They could settle for unemployment of, say, 6% and an inflation rate
of 1% — as prevailed in America at the start of the 1960s — or they could quicken the economy,
cutting unemployment by a couple of percentage points at the expense of inflation of 3%

or so —which is roughly how things stood in America when Mr Phelps published his first paper on
the subject in 1967.

24- According to the text, Mr Phelps

a) may be awarded a Nobel prize.
b) earned a high accolade.
c) should have been awarded a Nobel prize.
d) might have received a high accolade.
e) ought to be a Nobel laureate.

25- In paragraph 1, the author refers to the studies carried out by Mr Phelps in relation to ‘slumps
of a different kind’. Hence, his studies refer to economic periods which have Been
a) highly successful.
b) stable and balanced.
c) predictable and worrying.
d) prosperous despite the challenges.
e) much less successful than before.

26- In paragraph 2, Mr Phelps’academic work is featured as

a) shallow.
b) untrustworthy.
c) outdated.
d) original.
e) suspicious.

TEXTO 7
1 The job of the intelligence officer is to identify those strands that are worth pursuing and then to
pursue them until either they are resolved, or they start to look flaky and 4 not worth pursuing, or
there is nothing more that can usefully be done. It is a risk-management process. The number of
potential leads that can be followed is virtually infinite.
7 On the other hand, covert investigation is extremely resource-intensive and impinges1 on the
human rights of the subject.
10 The threshold2 for such investigations is therefore high and the number of investigations
necessarily limited.
Consequently many potential leads have to be discounted. Decisions on which leads to pursue are
vital, but are also complex and rich in judgement.

1 impinge – to have an effect on (something) often causing problems by limiting it in some way.
2 threshold – a point or level at which something begins or starts to take effect.

118 not every piece of information is worth pursuing. CORRETO

119 “On the other hand” (L.7) means out of hand. FALSO
120 “therefore” (L.10) means consequently.CORRETO
121 “that” on (L.2) is referring to “the job of intelligence”.
122 “identify” (L.1) can be replaced by recognize.
123 “until either they are resolved” is a passive voice phrase.
 124 “look flaky” is the same as “look
weak”.
125 “worth” (L. 4) has the same meaning as useless.
126 “risk management” is qualifying process.
127 “on the other hand” (L.7) means the same as “beside this”.
128 “covert” (L. 7) can be substituted by secret.
129 “impinges” (L.8) is a noun.