Bombardeado por notícias e informações diariamente, você não tem tido muito tempo para estudar inglês? Não se preocupe: é possível se manter informado sobre o que acontece no mundo e também se dedicar ao idioma.

Para ajudar você a fazer isso, propomos um exercício de vocabulário em um extrato de artigo publicado no site New Vision que fala sobre a estratégia do Facebook para tentar entrar na China.

A atividade explora o significado das palavras destacadas em negrito por meio de explicação ou sinônimo em inglês. Desta forma, o raciocínio é monolíngue: não recorremos ao português. Isso proporciona a ampliação do seu repertório e acelera seu caminho até a fluência.

Preparado? Leia o texto a seguir e siga as instruções:

Facebook samples China's potential with sneaky app

Facebook's 1. sneaky launch of a photo-sharing app in China, where its social network is 2. banned, gives it a small 3. taste of the massive market's potential, but it may have 4. to settle for just that for now.

The US tech giant acknowledged last week that it 5. was behind the Colorful Balloons application, which is similar to its Moments app but omits any mention of Facebook's brand name. Facebook has 6. strived to 7. breach the "Great Firewall" -- which 8. tightly controls China's internet content -- ever since its 9. flagship social media platform was banned by Beijing in 2009.

Facebook chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has made high-profile visits to China and met with political leaders. He is even studying Mandarin. "We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways," a Facebook representative said last week after the app's origin was revealed by The New York Times.

But analysts voiced doubts that Facebook will fully enter the Chinese market any time soon, and the app has had a 10. humble beginning since it emerged in May. According to San Francisco firm App Annie, Colorful Balloons ranked 46th in the photo and video category for iPhone apps in China and a 11. lowly 758th among all apps.

"Facebook 12. threw a curve ball in getting inside the China market. It may not be effective, but it is certainly a nice try," said Zhang Yi, head of mobile-internet consultancy iiMedia Research Group. "But it will be difficult for Facebook to enter the Chinese market as a whole because it is 13. unlikely China will change its policies and laws any time soon."

Match the words to the right definitions, according to the text above:

1. Sneaky
2. To ban
3. Taste
4. To settle for
5. To be behind
6. To strive
7. To breach
8. Tightly
9. Flagship
10. Humble
11. Lowly
12. To throw a curve ball
13. Unlikely

(    ) very strictly

(    ) to cause to have a lower condition or status; to show modesty in behavior or attitude

(    ) improbable

(    ) to surprise someone with something that is difficult or unpleasant to deal with

(    ) in a low position, rank or status; unpretentious.

(    ) to be responsible for

(    ) to break a law or rule

(    ) brief experience of something

(    ) to officially prohibit or restrict

(    ) done in a secret and clever but unfair way

(    ) to try very hard

(    ) to accept in spite of incomplete satisfaction

(    ) the chief one of a related group; the most important one of a group or system

Respostas

( 8 ) very strictly

( 10 ) to cause to have a lower condition or status; to show modesty in behavior or attitude

( 13 ) improbable

( 12 ) to surprise someone with something that is difficult or unpleasant to deal with

( 11 ) in a low position, rank or status ; unpretentious.

( 5 ) to be responsible for

( 7 ) to break a law or rule

( 3 ) brief experience of something

( 2 ) to officially prohibit or restrict

( 1 ) done in a secret and clever but unfair way

( 6 ) to try very hard

( 4 ) to accept in spite of incomplete satisfaction

( 9 ) the chief one of a related group; the most important one of a group or system

Lígia Velozo Crispino é fundadora e sócia-diretora da Companhia de Idiomas. É coautora do Guia Corporativo Política de Treinamento para RHs e autora do livro de poemas Fora da Linha e organizadora do Sarau Conversar na Livraria Martins Fontes.