Passo ao quinto e último texto da prova de inglês do TPS 2013.

Each of the options below presents an excerpt taken from the text and a version of the same excerpt. Choose the one which has retained most of the original meaning found in the text.

A. “One curious snippet of information came from the United States later that same year, when it was noted rather laconically that two of Minor’s family had recently killed themselves…” (l.19-22) / One odd piece of information came from the United States that same year, when it was noted rather verbosely that two of Minor’s relatives had recently killed themselves…

Snipet of information não quer dizer o mesmo que odd piece of information, nem laconically o mesmo que verbosely.

B. “In the year following the disclosure about his relatives, the files speak of Minor’s having started to take walks out on the Terrace in all weathers, angrily denouncing those Who tried to persuade him to come back in…” (l.36-39) / In the year after the revelation about his relatives, the archives show that Minor had started to take walks out on the Terrance during any kind of whether, angrily extolling people who tried to convince him to come back in…

Denounce não quer dizer o mesmo que extol. Sem mencionar que during the weather não é nada idiomático – não há qualquer ocorrência no BNC (British National Corpus) ou no COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English).

C. “He was replaced by Doctor Brayn, a man selected (…) by a Home Office that felt a stricter regime needed to be employed at the asylum.” (l.5-8) / He was substituted by Doctor Brayn, a man picked over (…) by a Home Office who believed a more rigid regimen needed to be established at the asylum.

Pick over não quer dizer select. Além disso, o pronome relativo who não poderia fazer referência a Home Office, já que não se trata de uma pessoa – apesar de não me parecer muito justo cobrar isso em uma questão que não fala nada sobre gramaticalidade. Por fim, regime não é sinônimo de regimen.

D. “Brayn was indeed a martinet, a jailer of the old school who would have done well at any prison farm” (l.9-10) / Brayn was really punctilious, a traditional jailer who would have been successful working at any prison farm.

Alternativa CORRETA. O substantivo martinet tem um sentido próximo daquele do adjectivo punctilious. Old school quer dizer o mesmo que traditional. Por fim, o verbo do, quando intransitivo, pode ser usado para falar de saúde ou de sucesso.

E. “There were no escapes during his term of office (…), and in the first year two hundred thousand hours of solitary confinement were logged by the more fractious inmates.” (l.11-15) / No one escaped while he was in office (…), and in the first year of his mandate two hundred thousand hours of solitary confinement were registered by the more ingratiating prisoners.

Fractious não é o mesmo que ingratiating.

Cheers!