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5 Nome: Turma:
6 Data:
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8 RECYCLING: NOT JUST A 90’s FASHION
9 From: Focus Magazine
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Even though sometimes it seems that the trend for recycling is a new thing it isn’t. It was during
the Second World War that the recycling frenzy really reached its peak. At this time parts of cars
were used to make rifles, aluminium chewing gum wrappers were used for making aircraft and
cooking fat used to make explosives. Indeed, an old Second World War poster shows a German
plane on fire with the caption underneath reading, “Your scrap brought it down.” With wartime
rationing, householders were forced to use their imagination on how to reuse and recycle everything
they owned. Nothing could go to waste.
One American man remembers his life on the farm when his mother made clothes for him out
of old animal feed sacks, rags were made into rugs, and jam jars used as glasses. However, economic
prosperity after the war meant that people stopped worrying about where they could find clothes or
anything else. Everything became available, everything became disposable.
In the world today the rubbish is piling up. In Britain alone, 16 – 20 million tons of rubbish are
thrown away every year. In many countries huge amounts of waste products are buried in landfill
sites. However, space is running out and in some cases so are many natural resources. In this case
governments and environmentalists worldwide have to turn to the option of mass recycling.
Unfortunately not all rubbish can rot away to nothing. Natural materials such as food and most
paper products will break down. So reusing these things in a different form becomes essential. This is
recycling: reclaiming products that may at first appear to have fulfilled their useful life.
As inhabitants of this earth, we all have a duty to protect the environment. Together we can
save endangered species and the rain forests. We should contribute to environmental protection by
finding new ways of using products we throw away.
Nowadays recycling is an industry. As the world’s natural resources run out, manufacturers
must find ways of reusing products. For example, old tyres can be melted down and reshaped.
What can we do to help our environment?
I) We can sort our waste by separating it and then taking it to the appropriate recycling bins.
II) We can reuse things as jars and envelopes.
III) We can buy recycled products like stationery.
IV) We can transform our waste food into a compost heap which we may use as fertilizer for
our gardens later.

Adapted from: EVANS, Virginia & MILTON, James, FCE Listening and Speaking Skills,
p. 96/99, vol. 2, Express Publishing, UK, 2000.
12 The Germans, the French and other nationalities probably don’t envy many things about the
13 English, but they do envy their language. They believe, quite rightly that, if you are a native English
14 speaker, then you don’t have to worry about learning a foreign language. Yet according to an article in a
15 London paper, FINANCIAL TIMES, by Quentin Peel (“The Monotony of the Monoglotian”, 8 th January
16 2001), they should think again.
17 Quentin Peel believes that being monolingual in the modern world is not such a good thing and
18 this, we hope, will provide encouragement to our readers! Peel writes:
19 “The triumph of the English language in the world trade, technology, culture and science, thanks
20 to the overwhelming predominance of America in all those areas, may yet prove to be more of a curse
21 than a blessing for those of us who speak it as a mother tongue.
22 Of course it is a wonderful convenience. We do not have to struggle with all those tiresome
23 foreign languages that others still insist on preserving. We dominate the airwaves, thanks to CNN and
24 BBC and even Deutsche Welle broadcasting in English. English is the first language of computers and
25 Internet, just as it is of finance, diplomacy, popular music and the cinema. What else matters?
26 Where once the working language of the EU was overwhelmingly French, today it is far more
27 often English (thanks, ironically, to the advent of the Scandinavians). It is enough to make General de
28 Gaulle turn in his grave.
29 A senior American diplomat told me last week that he could conduct the affairs of state in English
30 almost anywhere in the world, except in the more remote parts of Latin America and the former Soviet
31 Union. It certainly saves on interpreters’ expenses.
32 What worries me, however, is the consequent collapse of language learning in many parts of the
33 English-speaking world. Precisely because it is no longer perceived as necessary and useful, the study
34 of foreign languages is in danger of being relegated to the same scrap heap of irrelevance as the study
35 of classical Latin and Greek.
36 The English-speaking world has got itself into a dreadful bind. We think that we understand what
37 makes other people tick – but only if they tell us in English. That removes all the subtlety and also the
38 incentive to understand their idiom, their culture and their peculiarities. A monoglot world is a world of the
39 CNN sound bite. (...)
40 If you are British, sitting uncomfortably on the edge of a proudly and persistently polyglot
41 continent, it is both dangerous and perverse. It makes all those continental neighbours much more
42 difficult to comprehend. We really do not understand their culture and their history and their thinking,
43 because we cannot be bothered to learn their language”.

GLOSSARY
1 trend – tendência 0 7 landfill sites – lixões
2 frenzy – delírio 0 8 to rot away – decompor
3 caption – legenda 0 9 to reclaim – recuperar
4 scrap – resto, refugo 10 to sort – classificar
5 rugs – cobertor grosso 11 compost heap – composto orgânico
6 rubbish – lixo 12 stationery – artigos de papelaria

1) The main purpose of the text “Recycling: Not Just a 90’s Fashion” is

A) To give us a slight idea of the rubbish problem in our country nowadays.

B) To give us a slight idea of the rubbish problem in Germany in the future.
C) To give us a general idea of the rubbish problem all over the world.
D) To give us the whole idea of the rubbish problem in England during the Second World War.
E) To give us a slight idea of the rubbish problem all over the world last year.
44 2) The subject of this text is about 100 8) To what conclusion do we come after reading
45 A) Communication 101 this text?
46 B) Health 102 A) Recycling is only a 90’s fashion although it
47 C) Wars 103 has begun during the Second World War.
48 D) Environment 104 B) As recycling becomes a private industry,
49 E) Geography 105 industrial rubbish is piling up all over the world.
50 106 C) Recycling is an important activity only in
51 3) According to the second (2nd) paragraph, 107 European countries where there was a war in
52 “rags were made into rugs” because 108 the past.
53 A) There wasn’t economic prosperity during the 109 D) As all the rubbish of the planet is pilling up it
54 Second World War. 110 is possible to throw away the waste on landfill
55 B) There were a lot of clothes and everything 111 sites.
56 else available. 112 E) As the natural resources lessen we must
57 C) It was possible to exchange jam jars and 113 reclaim used products as well as protect our
58 glasses for clothes. 114 environment.
59 D) There weren’t old animal feed sacks in order 115
60 to make them into new clothes. 116
61 E) Economic prosperity during the war meant a 117 9) Which of the following sentences is FALSE
62 lot of money. 118 according to the information provided by the
63 119 text?
64 4) According to the fourth (4th) paragraph, 120 A) Inhabitants and environmentalists must turn
65 recycling is 121 to the option of mass recycling.
66 A) Reusing old products which might have no 122 B) Space and natural resources are running out
67 more use. 123 in the world.
68 B) Reusing products which are available in a 124 C) Rubbish is buried in landfill sites nowadays.
69 supermarket. 125 D) Manufacturers must find ways of reusing
70 C) Reusing new products which we don’t like. 126 products.
71 D) Reusing products which our kids throw 127 E) Inhabitants of the earth must protect the
72 away. 128 environment.
73 E) Reusing products whose life is long. 129
74 130
75 5) During the Second World War, people were 131 10) The lexical item “ITS” (Line 2) refers to
76 forced to use their imagination in order to reuse 132 A) Second World War
77 and recycle everything. Considering the 133 B) The recycling frenzy
78 information in the text, which pair DOESN’T 134 C) A new thing
79 match? 135 D) Parts of cars
80 A) Sacks – Clothes 136 E) Peak
81 B) Cars – Rifles 137
82 C) Jam jars – Glasses 138
83 D) Chewing gum – Aircraft 139 11) The words “CHEWING” (Line 3) and
84 E) Cooking fat – Explosives 140 “COOKING” (Line 4) are respectively:
85 141 A) Adjective / Noun
86 6) The text was picked up from 142 B) Noun / Noun
87 A) A newspaper 143 C) Verb / Verb
88 B) The Internet 144 D) Adjective / Adjective
89 C) A journal 145 E) Noun / Verb
90 D) A leaflet 146
91 E) A magazine 147
92 148 12) “In many countries huge amounts of waste
93 7) According to the text, nowadays, we can say 149 products ARE BURIED in landfill sites.” (Line
94 that 150 13) In this sentence, the verbal structure is
95 A) Recycling is entertainment. 151 A) Passive Voice in the Simple Past Tense.
96 B) Recycling is old-fashioned. 152 B) Active Voice in the Simple Past Tense
97 C) Recycling is as new as the war. 153 C) Passive Voice in the Simple Present Tense
98 D) Recycling is an industry. 154 D) Active Voice in the Simple Present Tense
99 E) Recycling is a fashion. 155 E) Active Voice in the Simple Future Tense
156 13) The lexical item “WHICH” (Line 28) refers to 212 18) The lexical item “HIM” (Line 8) refers to
157 A) Jars and envelopes 213 A) Man
158 B) Recycling bins 214 B) Life
159 C) Waste food 215 C) Farm
160 D) Recycled products 216 D) Mother
161 E) Compost heap 217 E) Clothes
162 218
163 219
164 14) Which of the words below ISN’T formed by 220 19) The words “ENVIRONMENT” (Line 19),
165 a prefix? 221 “PROTECTION” (Line 20) and
166 A) Recycling 222 “MANUFACTURERS” (Line 22) are classified as
167 B) Nothing 223 A) Link Words
168 C) Unfortunately 224 B) Adjectives
169 D) Reusing 225 C) Verbs
170 E) Transform 226 D) Adverbs
171 227 E) Nouns
172 228
173 15) The Modal Verb “COULD”, in the sentence 229
174 “...where they could find clothes...” (Line 10) was 230 20) Instead of the word “HOUSEHOLDERS”
175 used by the writer to express 231 (Line 6) we can use
176 A) Permission 232 A) Janitors
177 B) Capacity 233 B) Housemaids
178 C) Advice 234 C) Homemakers
179 D) Obligation 235 D) Housemates
180 E) Prohibition 236 E) Houseguests
181 237
182 238
183 16) The Conjunction “SO” (Line 17) suggests 239
184 A) Doubt 240
185 B) Contrast 241
186 C) Condition 242
187 D) Addition 243
188 E) Conclusion 244
189 245
190 246
191 17) The best equivalent, in Portuguese, to the 247
192 sentence “...Indeed, an old Second War poster 248
193 shows a German plane on fire with the caption 249
194 underneath ...” (Lines 4 / 5), is 250
195 A) Por acaso, um poster velho da Segunda 251
196 Guerra mostra um avião alemão pegando 252
197 fogo com uma legenda embaixo... 253
198 B) Por acaso, um poster velho da Segunda 254
199 Guerra mostra um avião alemão pegando fogo 255
200 com a legenda ao lado. 256
201 C) Finalmente, um poster velho da Segunda 257
202 Guerra mostra o avião alemão pegando fogo 258
203 com uma legenda embaixo... 259
204 D) De fato, um poster velho da Segunda Guerra 260
205 mostra um avião alemão pegando fogo com 261
206 a legenda embaixo... 262
207 E) De fato, um poster velho da Segunda Guerra 263
208 mostra um avião alemão pegando fogo com 264
209 uma legenda em cima. 265
210 266
211 267
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