UFRGS FIS LIT ING ESP 2018

........ September 11, 2001, at 8:46 A.M., a  

hijacked airliner crashed into the north tower  

of the World Trade Center in New York. At  

9:03 A.M. a second plane crashed into the  

[5] south tower. The resulting infernos caused  

the buildings to collapse, the south tower  

after burning for an hour and two minutes, the  

north tower twenty-three minutes after  

that. The attacks were masterminded by 

[10] Osama bin Laden in an attempt to intimidate  

the United States and unite Muslims for a  

restoration of the caliphate. 

9/11, as the happenings of that day are now  

called, has set off debates on a vast array of  

[15] topics. But I would like to explore a lesser-

known debate triggered by it. Exactly how 

many events took place in New York on that  

morning ........ September? 

It could be argued that the answer is one.  

[20] The attacks on the two buildings were part of  

a single plan conceived by one man in service  

of a single agenda. They unfolded ........ a few  

minutes and yards of each other, targeting  

the parts of a complex with a single name,  

[25] design, and owner. And they launched a  

single chain of military and political events in  

their aftermath. 

Or it could be argued that the answer is two.  

The towers were distinct collections of glass  

[30] and steel separated by an expanse of space,  

and they were hit at different times and went  

out of existence at different times. The  

amateur video that showed the second plane  

closing in on the south tower as the north  

[35] tower billowed with smoke makes the twoness  

unmistakable: while one event was frozen in  

the past, the other loomed in the future.  

The gravity of 9/11 would seem to make this  

discussion frivolous to the point of impudence,  

[40] a matter of mere "semantics," as we say, with  

its implication of splitting hairs. But the  

relation of language to our inner and outer  

worlds is a matter of intellectual fascination  

and real-world importance. 

[45] ______ "importance" is often hard to  

quantify, ........ this case I can put an exact  

value on it: 3,5 billion dollars. That was the  

sum in a legal dispute for the insurance  

payout to Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of  

[50] the World Trade Center site. Silverstein’s 

insurance policies stipulated a maximum  

reimbursement for each destructive "event."  

If 9/11 comprised a single event, he stood to  

receive 3,5 billion dollars; if two, he stood to  

[55] receive 7 billion. In the trials, the attorneys  

disputed the applicable meaning of the term  

event. The lawyers for the leaseholder defined  

it in physical terms (two collapses); those for  

the insurance companies defined it in mental  

[60] terms (one plot). There is nothing "mere"  

about semantics! 

Adapted from: PINKER, Steven. The Stuff of Thought. New York: Penguin, 2007. p. 1-2.  

Consider the following propositions for rephrasing the sentence The attacks were masterminded by Osama bin Laden in an attempt to intimidate the United States and unite Muslims for a restoration of the caliphate (l. 09-12).

I - Attempting to intimidate the United States and unite Muslims for a restoration of the caliphate, Osama bin Laden has masterminded the attacks.

II - Osama bin Laden masterminded the attacks in an attempt to intimidate the United States and unite Muslims for a restoration of the caliphate.

III- In an attempt to intimidate the United States and unite Muslims for a restoration of the caliphate, the attacks have been masterminded by Osama bin Laden.

If applied to the text, which ones would be correct and keep the literal meaning?