Interpretação de Texto - Puccamp

An Eye for an Eye?

The choice regarding Timothy Mc-Veigh is not between mercy and vengeance but between mercy and justice ("Should Mc-Veigh Die?," U. S. Affairs, June 16).

Vengeance is based on anger and getting even. But justice seeks a fair and appropriate penalty for the offense. The premeditated killing of 168 innocent people calls for a severe punishment. Mercy may be an appropriate response, but to suggest the death penalty is vengeance rather than justice is shallow and blind.

Kenneth McGarvey
Pierceton, Indiana

What makes us think we have the right to play God and take a human life? We were put on this earth to love and take care of people, not to condemn them to death.

What good will it do to kill McVeigh? Is it to give people the satisfaction of saying "We got him real good"? I don't understand what's wrong with life imprisonment without parole. I wish the United States would stop killing people as a form of justice.

Sarah Shonyo
Rochester, Minnesota

Newsweek, July 14, 1997

Vocabulário do texto:

1. In both letters above, the main topic is

a) the most appropriate punishment for McVeigh.
b) the death penalty in the U.S.
c) how to take revenge on McVeigh.
d) our right to take other people's lives.
e) the blindness of justice.

Resposta correta: a

Resolução: O assunto de ambas as cartas é a punição de McVeigh. A primeira carta apoia a pena de morte. Já a segunda se opõe a essa forma de punição. A resposta correta é, portanto, a alternativa a: the most appropriate punishment for McVeigh (a punição mais adequada para McVeigh).

2. It can be inferred from both letters that

a) Mr. McGarvey does not agree with Ms. Shonyo, who hopes McVeigh will be condemned to death.
b) Ms. Shonyo does not agree with Mr. McGarvey, who believes the death penalty is justice.
c) both writers agree that life imprisonment without parole would be the most appropriate penalty for McVeigh's premeditated murder of 168 innocent people.
d) both writers agree that McVeigh should be sentenced to death.
e) as Ms. Shonyo believes we don't have the right to condemn people to death, she agrees with Mr. McGarvey, who is sure mercy is the best response in McVeigh's case.

Resposta correta: b

Resolução: A carta de Kenneth McGarvey revela que ele apoia a pena de morte para McVeigh. Ele acredita que condená-lo à morte é a reação adequada: constitui justiça, não vingança. Já Sarah Shonyo discorda: ela afirma que não cabe ao humano executar qualquer pessoa. Ela defende a ideia de que McVeigh deve ser condenado à prisão perpétua, mas não à pena de morte.
A resposta correta é, portanto, a alternativa b: a senhorita Shonyo não concorda com o senhor McGarvey, que acredita que a pena de morte constitui uma forma de justiça.

Avalie a aula