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"A twinge of fear": ambientalistas apreensivos (Fuvest 2006)

"CHINA has begun to enter the age of mass car consumption. This is a great and historic advance." So proclaimed the state-run news agency, Xinhua, last year. Environmentalists may feel a twinge of fear at this burgeoning romance with motoring. But a rapid social and economic transformation is under way in urban China, and the car is steering it. In 2002 demand for cars in China soared by 56%, far more than even the rosiest projections. The next year growth quickened to 75%, before slowing in 2004 (when the government tightened rules on credit for car purchases) to around 15%. But in a sluggish global market, China's demand remains mesmerising. Few expect this year's growth to dip below 10%. As long as the economy goes on galloping at its current high-single-digit clip, many expect car sales to increase by 10-20% annually for several years to come. The Economist June 4th 2005

Fonte: The Economist, June 4th 2005.

The passage suggests that China's embrace of the car is likely to make environmentalists

  1. A) distressed.
  2. B) angry.
  3. C) scared.
  4. D) startled.
  5. E) apprehensive.
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Resposta correta: E

A frase é "Environmentalists may feel a twinge of fear at this burgeoning romance with motoring", e tudo depende de duas atenuações: "may", que indica possibilidade, e "a twinge of", que é uma pontada, um lampejo. Receio moderado diante do que vem pela frente é "apprehensive", alternativa E. A alternativa C, "scared", é a armadilha óbvia por causa de "fear", mas quem está "scared" sente medo pleno, não uma pontada dele. A alternativa D, "startled", descreve o sobressalto de quem é pego de surpresa, e aqui não há surpresa nenhuma: o crescimento vinha sendo anunciado desde 2002. As alternativas A e B sobem ainda mais o tom, para aflição e raiva, que o texto não sustenta.

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