***

(PUCRS/Porto Alegre Concurso Vestibular 2002/1)

***

Emotional ride to ‘Central Station‘

-

The first time I saw Walter Salles’s brilliant

Brazilian film Central Station (Central do Brasil) was

on the same day I had to see Robin Williams’s Patch

Adams, which is more or less its American

counterpart.

Both films tackle the more treacherous emotional

regions of movies – always a risky proposition -

attempting to connect psychologically with their

respective audiences. Both are about optimism in the

face of adversity, with Salles dealing with the

reformation of a cynical woman, while Wiliams strives

to regenerate the entire medical profession. There

was an immediate dilemma: Did Central Station look

so good because “Patch Williams” was so glaringly

bad? The second viewing cinched it. Central Station

is a truly great movie, with or without the stark contrast

of Patch Adams. Salles provides a textbook example

of how to toy with our emotions, how to involve and

move us, without necessarily condescending to us

or insulting us.

The trick is that the young filmmaker does the

opposite of what the Williams film does. Had he made

Patch Adams, Salles would have focused on the

medical profession rather than on Williams’s slaphappy

character. In Central Station, Salles makes the

villain the center of his piece and goes a step further,

giving his villain a very human face.

-

Joe Baltake

Sacramento Movie Club

***

26. De acordo com o autor, os dois filmes são

A) diametralmente opostos.

B) bastante correspondentes.

C) relativamente complementares.

D) totalmente condescendentes.

E) extremamente harmônicos.

-

27. When Baltake says that “Salles makes the villain the

center of his piece and goes a step further” (lines 25-

26), he means that Salles

A) makes the villain the center of his piece in spite

of her seemingly human face.

B) goes beyond making the villain the center of his

piece.

C) gives a villain’s face to the otherwise nice

character the woman would have been.

D) brings to Central do Brasil a slap-happy character

similar to Patch Adams.

E) portrays neither villainy nor humanity to a

satisfactory degree for the cinema.

-

28. The sentence “Had he made Patch Adams , Salles

would have focused on the medical profession…”

(lines 22-25) could be rewritten, without change in

meaning, as

A) If Salles focused on the medical profession, he

would have made Patch Adams.

B) Salles would focus on the medical profession if

he would have made Patch Adams.

C) If Salles had focused on the medical profession,

he would have made Patch Adams.

D) If Salles made Patch Adams, he would focus on

the medical profession.

E) Salles would have focused on the medical

profession if he’d made Patch Adams.

-

29. A palavra “while” (linha 11) é usada com o mesmo

sentido no texto e na alternativa

A) We must have been burgled while we were

asleep.

B) You can go swimming while I am working on this

paper.

C) While I am willing to help, I do not have too much

time available.

D) While you are good at science, your friend is

absolutely hopeless.

E) They chatted for a while before they walked into

the theater.

-

30. A melhor tradução para “strives” (linha 11) é

A) se empenha.

B) ensina.

C) consegue.

D) se arrisca.

E) negocia.

-

31. A expressão “rather than” (linha 24) pode ser substituída por

A) together with.

B) better than.

C) instead of.

D) by preference.

E) more precisely.

-

32. A alternativa que não contém a mesma seqüência

de classes gramaticais da expressão “human face” (linha 27) é

A) respective audiences.

B) advertising proposition.

C) risky business.

D) very condescending.

E) heavy training.

-

RESPOSTAS DOS EXERCÍCIOS SOBRE VERBOS MODAIS DA UNIDADE 15:

***

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.D

5.C

6.B

7.B

8.D

9.A

10.B

11.D

12.C

13.A

14.B

15.C

16.D

17.A

18.C

19.B

20.A

21.C

22.C

23.D

24.A

25.B

26.B

27.B

28.E

29.D

30.A

31.C

32.D

***