Read the text below and choose the correct alternative

WTO Agreement on Drug Patents

Developing countries won a _____ (1) victory at the World Trade Organization meeting earlier this month in Doha, Qatar. The battle was over the rights of poor nations to produce life-saving drugs during health emergencies.

More than one-hundred-forty countries attended the Doha conference. The group finally reached an agreement after more than a week of debate. It permits developing countries to give so-called "compulsory licenses" during national health emergencies. A compulsory license requires drug manufacturers to share their inventions with competing companies.

_____ a drug company develops a cure or treatment for a disease, it seeks special rights to make and sell the product. This special permission is called a patent. A patent prevents  other companies from making the same drug for a number of years _____ the patent is in force.

Under compulsory licenses, other companies are permitted to produce low-cost generic drugs. These are copies of costly medicines patented by large drug companies.

In the past, a lack of understanding existed over the rights of developing countries to give compulsory licenses. However, this issue was settled by the Doha agreement. Developing countries are now able to give compulsory licenses when dealing with public health crises. These include AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and diseases likely to spread quickly through the population.

Poor countries are not able to pay for costly drugs to treat diseases such as AIDS. So the debate over drug patents is between rich and poor countries. International drug companies in Europe and the United States oppose the Doha agreement. They say it will prevent drug companies from seeking cures for diseases that affect the poor. Drug companies say they are forced to charge high prices for medicines to pay for the high cost of their research. Drug patents are important because they help companies recover money spent developing new medicines.

Developing countries, such as India, Brazil and South Africa, support the Doha agreement. They say poor nations should be able to produce or import less costly generic drugs in times of health crises. They say the goal is to reduce the cost of drugs to treat diseases that kill millions of poor people every year.

(Jill Moss, VOA Special English Development Report, November 26, 2001)

1. The missing word in (1) is
a. (  ) mayor
b. (  ) minor
c. (  ) major
d. (  ) marjoram
e. (  ) majority

2. The conjunctions missing in paragraph 3 are respectively:
a. (  ) Because / when
b. (  ) While / when
c. (  ) When / while
d. (  ) When / because
e. (  ) Since / while

3. The underlined word in the text could be replaced by:
a. (  ) Even though 
b. (  ) Therefore
c. (  ) Meanwhile
d. (  ) So that
e. (  ) Still

4. “Drug patents are important because they help companies recover money spent developing new medicines.”
From the alternatives below choose the one that is also grammatically correct:
a. (  ) help companies to recover
b. (  ) help companies recovering
c. (  ) help companies recovered
d. (  ) helping companies recover
e. (  ) help companies to recovering

5. Select the alternative that does not correspond to the text.
a. (  ) The debate over drug patents was held in Doha, Qatar in November.
b. (  ) In case of national health emergencies, developing countries are now allowed to produce life-saving drugs.
c. (  ) International drug companies worldwide are against the Doha agreement .
d. (  ) According to drug companies the high cost of medicines is due to the high cost of research.
e. (  ) Brazil, among other developing countries, aim at reducing the cost of drugs to treat diseases that kill millions of people yearly.

6. Write T if the statement is True and F if the statement is False
a. (  ) One-hundred-forty countries were present at the Doha conference.
b. (  ) A compulsory license might allow drug manufacturers to share their inventions with competing companies.
c. (  ) Copies of costly medicines are called patents.
d. (  ) Drug patents help companies get back the money invested in developing new drugs.
e. (  ) The Doha agreement was not supported by all nations.

Gabarito Comentado

Questão 1. A alternativa correta é a letra c (major = greater or more important)

Analisemos, então as outras alternativas:

a. a palavra mayor significa prefeito (head of a municipal corporation of a city)

b. a palavra minor significa justamente o contrário de major.

d. a palavra marjoram é uma erva aromática (manjerona).

e. a palavra majority significa maioria, maioridade.

Questão 2. A alternativa correta é a letra c.

Veja que when e while são conjunções subordinadas temporais que significam, respectivamente, quando e enquanto.

Questão 3. A alternativa correta é a letra b. Preste atenção ao contexto em que a palavra é empregada.

É importante lembrar que even though (assim como although) introduz uma oração subordinada concessiva. Portanto, teremos que ter uma oração principal (com sujeito e verbo) e uma oração subordinada (também com sujeito e verbo). O período é composto.

Cuidado também para não confundir so (result) com so (purpose). Analise os seguintes exemplos e preste atenção à pontuação:

Ø      Bob didn’t study, so (therefore/consequently) he flunked. (so = result)

Ø      Scientists are studying the brain so that (in order that) they can understand more about people’s feelings.  (so = purpose)  Vale lembrar que neste exemplo (that) pode ser omitido, sem que altere o significado da sentença. 

Questão 4. A alternativa correta é a letra a.  Com o verbo help podemos ter as seguintes construções: Help someone / something to do something

                ou

                     Help someone / something do something. 

Questão 5. A alternativa que não está de acordo com o texto é a letra c. Veja que worldwide significa mundial, o que invalida a resposta.

Questão 6. As respostas são: F; F; F; T; T.

Analisemos as respostas falsas: alternativa a é falsa, pois o número de países foi superior ao dado na alternativa.

A alternativa b é falsa, pois não se trata de uma possível permissão e sim de uma exigência. Compare: might allow = pode permitir vs  requires = exige que.

A alternativa c é falsa. Veja a definição dada à patente no parágrafo 3 do texto.