Question

Global Food Crisis

If you've been shopping for food lately, I don't have to tell you that prices are going through the roof. In
some cases world prices have more than tripled in recent months, "going from, in December, a price of $300
a ton to just this week over $1,000 a ton."
Robert Zeigler of the International Rice Research Institute is talking about rice, a basic staple food across
Asia, of course. Prices surged dramatically after China, Vietnam, and India limited exports to ensure they
had enough supplies for their own people. Other food products have also seen alarming increases.
The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, the FAO, says wheat prices have doubled in Senegal.
Bread prices doubled in Tajikistan. The cost of corn in Uganda rose 65 percent in just six months. One
reason: farmers are passing on their higher costs, particularly the rising cost of energy. "Fertilizers become
more and more unaffordable for the small farmers, who are at the center of a response to the world food
crisis," notes Joachim von Braun, who heads the International Food Policy Research Institute in
Washington. "And transport costs have become higher and higher, so the cost side of agriculture will keep
food prices high, even if we make major efforts to increase production."
Other reasons for the run-up in prices include natural causes like drought and pest outbreaks and
speculation in the commodities market.
And as world oil prices hover around $120 a barrel, more food crops are ending up in fuel tanks. In the
United States, about one-quarter of the corn crop is now being used to make ethanol, which is blended with
gasoline to make a motor fuel. Soybean farmers are switching to corn, which drives up soy prices, and so
on.
Rising living standards also play a role. Particularly in India and China, where hundreds of millions of
people are having access to the middle class, more people are buying more food higher up the food chain,
says Carlos Seré of the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi.
"We know that consumers, when they move, let's say, from $2 to $10 a day per capita, they largely
expand the consumption of vegetables, oils, and animal products. This is happening in big countries around
the world. This has a big impact."
But in many cases the poorest of the poor are paying the price for the good fortune of the emerging
middle class.
Analysts like Robert Zeigler of the Rice Research Institute are starting to assess the damage. "Now what
are the consequences of this? Well, there are some estimates that say that if present trends continue for
very long, we can expect 100 million people to be pushed back into poverty." And Joachim von Braun of the
Food Policy Research Institute says that higher food prices today can cause long-term damage as people
change their eating habits.
"The high food prices lead poor people to limit their food consumption and shift to even less balanced
diets with harmful effects on health in the short and long run. The child who is not appropriately nourished
under the age of three for a couple of months will be harmed for the rest of its life."
The three experts spoke in a telephone conference organized by the International Agricultural Research
Group, whose research centers have some 8,000 scientists working on food issues.
(Adapted from http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-05-09-voa21.cfm. Retrieved on May 13th, 2008.)
PROCESSO SELETIVO 2009 1O DIA GABARITO 1 17
Answer the following questions according to the text:

41. All of the following are causes for the increase in the prices of food, EXCEPT:
a) transportation costs.
b) advertising campaigns.
c) natural disasters.
d) higher life standards.

42. It is CORRECT to say that high oil prices make:
a) farmers use their crops to make fuel.
b) consumers buy more fuel.
c) crops have a lower price.
d) farmers plant more soy.

43. One consequence of high food prices is:
a) balanced diets.
b) more food consumption.
c) health problems.
d) good nourishment.

44. The expression going through the roof (line 1) can be best replaced by:
a) falling.
b) decreasing.
c) freezing.
d) rising.

48. The referent to the word whose (line 37) is:
a) experts.
b) Group.
c) scientists.
d) centers.

50. The referent to the pronoun its (line 35) is:
a) rest.
b) age.
c) life.
d) child.

Answer 1

oloko meu ,traduz aí pfv