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Questão de Inglês — Sinônimos | Synonyms — CESPE / CEBRASPE 2025

InglêsSinônimos | Synonyms
Código
ce193337
Banca
CESPE / CEBRASPE
Órgão
AEB
Ano
2025
Nível
Superior
Cargo
Analista em Ciência e Tecnologia Júnior – Especialidade: Cooperação Internacional
Text 1A4-I


   By the middle years of the 20th century, the optimistic story of limitless progress through scientific and technological advance came to be rivalled and sometimes overshadowed by a much more pessimistic, even apocalyptic vision of the trajectory of the modern project. It began to seem increasingly possible that technology would come to master its creators and carry humanity toward unforeseen and possibly catastrophic outcomes.

   Premonitions of technological wizardry leading to disasters are extremely old, dating back at least to the myth of Icarus, who is said to have fatally fallen into the sea after flying too close to the sun on wings his father, Daedalus, constructed. As the Industrial Revolution gathered steam, dark anticipations became increasingly widespread, in works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus and Karel Capek’s R.U.R. Perhaps technology, not man, was “in the saddle,” as Henry Adams worried. And perhaps machines, becoming ever more capable and interconnected, were the next step in the evolution of life, destined to dominate and eventually eliminate humanity, as Samuel Butler warned. The contours of the future, H. G. Wells announced in one of his famous lectures, “The Discovery of the Future,” were difficult to discern but would surely be unlike the past or the present, and definitely included disasters of new types and magnitudes.

   In the ghastly world wars, technological advances empowered barbarism on a new scale, destroying the credibility of the simple modernist faith that more potent tools are a straight path to human betterment. Rather, technological advance has produced a cornucopia of double-edged swords, with amplified possibilities for both progress and disaster. A growing herd of horsemen of the anthropogenic apocalypse have ominously appeared on the human horizon of possibility: nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, total surveillance despotism, runaway artificial intelligence, and rampant environmental decay.


Daniel Deudney. Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020 (adapted).  
Considering the meaning of the expressions used in text 1A4-I, choose the correct option.
  1. AIn the first sentence of the third paragraph, the word “ghastly” could be correctly replaced with great without this changing the meaning of the text.
  2. BIn the last sentence of the text, the word “ominously” could be correctly replaced with prominently without this changing the meaning of the fragment.
  3. CIn the first sentence of the second paragraph, “wizardry” means mythology.
  4. DIn the second sentence of the second paragraph, the fragment “gathered steam” has the same meaning as lost ground.
  5. EIn the third sentence of the second paragraph, the replacement of the expression ‘in the saddle’ with in control would maintain the meaning of the excerpt.
Revelar gabarito e comentário

GabaritoE — In the third sentence of the second paragraph, the replacement of the expression ‘in the saddle’ with in control would maintain the meaning of the excerpt.

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”.

Sinonímia contextual: expressões no texto

Gabarito: letra E. A expressão "in the saddle" no contexto significa "no controle" (in control), portanto a substituição mantém o sentido original. As demais alternativas propõem trocas que alteram o significado ou são incorretas.

A questão cobra a compreensão de expressões idiomáticas e vocabulário em contexto. É preciso verificar se o sinônimo proposto se encaixa no sentido do trecho.

Alternativa A — ❌ Incorreta

A palavra "ghastly" (no trecho "In the ghastly world wars") significa horrível, terrível, não "great" (grande). A substituição altera completamente o sentido.

Alternativa B — ❌ Incorreta

"Ominously" ("have ominously appeared") significa ameaçadoramente, não "prominently" (proeminentemente). A troca descaracteriza o tom de presságio negativo.

Alternativa C — ❌ Incorreta

No trecho "Premonitions of technological wizardry", "wizardry" refere-se a habilidades mágicas ou tecnológicas avançadas, não a "mythology" (mitologia). O texto menciona mitos, mas o termo não os designa.

Alternativa D — ❌ Incorreta

"Gathered steam" ("As the Industrial Revolution gathered steam") é uma metáfora para ganhar impulso, acelerar. O oposto de "lost ground" (perder terreno).

Alternativa E — ✅ Correta ⟵ GABARITO

"In the saddle" ("Perhaps technology, not man, was 'in the saddle'") é uma expressão idiomática que significa estar no controle, no comando. A substituição por "in control" preserva exatamente esse sentido.

Gabarito: letra E.

Link permanente: /questoes/ce193337