Question

POR FAVOR, ME AJUDEM, URGENTE!
Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011

2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal

By Lev Grossman

(…), Kurzweil believes that we’re approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity – our bodies, our minds, our civilization – will be completely and irreversibly transformed. He believes that this moment is not only inevitable but imminent. According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it is about 35 years away.

Computers are getting faster. Everybody knows that. Also, computers are getting faster faster – that is, the rate at which they’re getting faster is increasing.

True? True.

So if computers are getting so much faster, so incredibly fast, there might conceivably come a moment when they are capable of something comparable to human intelligence. Artificial intelligence. All that horsepower could be put in the service of emulating whatever it is our brains are doing when they create consciousness – not just doing arithmetic very quickly or composing piano music but also driving cars, writing books, making ethical decisions, appreciating fancy paintings, making witty observations at cocktail parties.

If you can swallow that idea, and Kurzweil and a lot of other very smart people can, then all bets are off. From that point on, there’s no reason to think computers would stop getting more powerful. They would keep on developing until they were far more intelligent than we are. Their rate of development would also continue to increase, because they would take over their own development from their slower-thinking human creators. Imagine a computer scientist that was itself a super-intelligent computer. It would work incredibility quickly. It could draw on huge amounts of data effortlessly. It wouldn’t even take breaks to play Farmville.

(…)

Questão 1. De acordo com o texto,

A ( ) Kurzweil está convencido de que os novos computadores poderão conduzir nossa mente e nosso corpo.

B ( ) é possível que, num futuro próximo, supercomputadores se desenvolvam independentemente de seus criadores humanos.

C ( ) Kurzweil acredita que o fim da civilização humana poderá acontecer em 35 anos.

D ( ) computadores, cada vez mais rápidos, igualar-se-ão ao cérebro humano.

E ( ) a Ciência da Computação ocupa-se, atualmente, do desenvolvimento de superinteligências.

Questão 2. From that point on (marked), refere-se a

A ( ) whatever it is our brains are doing.

B ( ) all bets are off.

C ( ) Kurzweil and a lot of other very smart people can.

D ( ) if you can swallow that idea.

E ( ) they would keep on developing.

Questão 3. Na sentença They would keep on developing until they were far more intelligent than we are (marked) (linhas 14 e 15), o vocábulo grifado poderia ser substituído por

A ( ) far away.

B ( ) incredible.

C ( ) much.

D ( ) distant.

E ( ) many.

Grammar

Choose the verbs form that Best completes each setence.

1) They could not hear the Bell because they ______ to the radio.

a) Are listening

b) Was listening

c) Listened

d) Were listening

e) Were listenning

2) When she entered the house, she ____ the phone ringing.

a) Hear

b) Was hearing

c) Had hear

d) Hears

e) Heard

3) Three weeks ago he _____ the house that he _____ before.

a) Bought/ had seen

b) Had bought/ seen

c) Had bought/ had seen

d) Had bought/ saw

e) Bought/ was seen

4) They ______ long distances when they were younger.

a) Walk

b) Used walk

c) Used to walk

d) Had walk

e) Wass walking

5) When her father ____ home yesterday, she ____ him the truth.

a) Lived / had already told

b) Left/ had already told

c) Had left/ already told

d) Left/ already told

e) Left/ is already telling

​

Answer 1

Questões sobre o Texto

1- B) É possível que, num futuro próximo, supercomputadores se desenvolvam independentemente de seus criadores humanos.

2- if you can swallow that idea

3- (Não tem nada marcado no que você mandou, mas eu imagina que seja o 'far') A alternativa correta é a C) more

Questões de Gramática

1- d) were listening

2- e) heard

3- a) bought/had seen

4- c) used to walk

5- b) had already told