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Questão de Inglês — Vocabulário | Vocabulary — CESPE / CEBRASPE 2023

InglêsVocabulário | Vocabulary
Código
ce156869
Banca
CESPE / CEBRASPE
Órgão
MRE
Ano
2023
Nível
Superior
Cargo
Oficial de Chancelaria
Text 1A2-III


     In January 1948, before three pistol shots put an end to his life, Gandhi had been on the political stage for more than fifty years. He had inspired two generations of Indian patriots, shaken an empire and sparked off a revolution which was to change the face of Africa and Asia. To millions of his own people, he was the Mahatma — the great soul — whose sacred glimpse was a reward in itself.

       By the end of 1947 he had lived down much of the suspicion, ridicule and opposition which he had to face, when he first raised the banner of revolt against racial exclusiveness and imperial domination. His ideas, once dismissed as quaint and utopian, had begun to strike answering chords in some of the finest minds in the world. “Generations to come, it may be,” Einstein had said of Gandhi in July 1944, “will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon earth.”

      Though his life had been a continual unfolding of an endless drama, Gandhi himself seemed the least dramatic of men. It would be difficult to imagine a man with fewer trappings of political eminence or with less of the popular image of a heroic figure. With his loin cloth, steel-rimmed glasses, rough sandals, a toothless smile and a voice which rarely rose above a whisper, he had a disarming humility. He was, if one were to use the famous words of the Buddha, a man who had “by rousing himself, by earnestness, by restraint and control, made for himself an island which no flood could overwhelm.”

        Gandhi’s deepest strivings were spiritual, but he did not — as had been the custom in his country — retire to a cave in the Himalayas to seek his salvation. He carried his cave within him. He did not know, he said, any religion apart from human activity; the spiritual law did not work in a vacuum, but expressed itself through the ordinary activities of life.

       This aspiration to relate the spirit of religion to the problems of everyday life runs like a thread through Gandhi’s career: his uneventful childhood, the slow unfolding and the near-failure of his youth, the reluctant plunge into the politics of Natal, the long unequal struggle in South Africa, and the vicissitudes of the Indian struggle for freedom, which under his leadership was to culminate in a triumph not untinged with tragedy.

B. R. Nanda. Gandhi: a pictorial biography, 1972 (adapted). 
The word “quaint” (second sentence of the second paragraph), in its use in text 1A2-III, means
  1. Astupid.
  2. Bsimple.
  3. Cimpractical.
  4. Dstrange.
  5. Evisionary.
Revelar gabarito e comentário

GabaritoD — strange.

Comentário gerado por IA. É um apoio ao estudo, ancorado em fontes, mas pode conter imprecisões — confira sempre na fonte oficial (lei, súmula, edital e gabarito da banca). Encontrou um erro? Use “Reportar”.

Interpretação de vocabulário: “quaint” em contexto

Gabarito: letra D. No texto, “quaint” é usado para descrever ideias que foram inicialmente descartadas como antiquadas ou estranhas – o sentido mais próximo entre as opções é “strange” (estranho/peculiar). A frase no segundo parágrafo diz:

His ideas, once dismissed as quaint and utopian, had begun to strike answering chords in some of the finest minds in the world.

A palavra “quaint” carrega a conotação de algo pitoresco ou peculiar, frequentemente com um toque de antiguidade, mas não tem o sentido pejorativo de “stupid” (burro), “simple” (simples) ou “impractical” (impraticável). Tampouco é “visionary” (visionário), que seria positivo e oposto ao tom de descarte inicial.

Alternativa A — ❌ Incorreta

“Stupid” (burro) é um termo muito mais forte e negativo; “quaint” não expressa falta de inteligência, mas sim algo curioso ou antiquado.

Alternativa B — ❌ Incorreta

“Simple” (simples) pode ser um traço, mas não capta a ideia de estranheza ou peculiaridade que “quaint” transmite no contexto.

Alternativa C — ❌ Incorreta

“Impractical” (impraticável) se aproxima um pouco, mas não é sinônimo direto; “quaint” foca mais no aspecto curioso/antiquado do que na falta de praticidade.

Alternativa D — ✅ Correta ⟵ GABARITO

“Strange” (estranho) é o sinônimo mais adequado: ideias “quaint” são vistas como estranhas ou peculiares por quem as descarta.

Alternativa E — ❌ Incorreta

“Visionary” (visionário) é um elogio, enquanto “quaint” era usado de forma depreciativa no início; o texto contrapõe o descarte inicial à posterior admiração.

PEGA ESSA DICA!

Em questões de vocabulário, procure sempre o contexto imediato da palavra e o tom do parágrafo. “Quaint” pode ter outros significados (como “pitoresco”), mas aqui aparece ao lado de “utopian” e “dismissed”, indicando uma conotação de estranheza.

Gabarito: letra D.

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