Reading Selections ID1111 Focus on Reading PDF

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Focus on Reading Reading Selections ID1111 April-July 2016 9th edition Focus on Reading Compiled and authored by Rubena St. Louis and Silvia Pereira with Gilberto Berríos and Noela Cartaya. Includes selections contributed by various teachers in the Departamento de Idiomas. Departamento de Idiomas Un...

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Focus on Reading Reading Selections ID1111

April-July 2016 9th edition

Focus on Reading Compiled and authored by Rubena St. Louis and Silvia Pereira with Gilberto Berríos and Noela Cartaya. Includes selections contributed by various teachers in the Departamento de Idiomas.

Departamento de Idiomas Universidad Simón Bolívar Apartado 89.000 Caracas 1080A, Venezuela Phone (212) 906-3780 Copyright © 2006 Rubena St. Louis Interior design and production by Gilberto Berríos Editing and proofing by Gilberto Berríos, Noela Cartaya, Yris Casart, Carlos Mayora and Rubena St. Louis. The 7th edition (2012) was adapted and edited by Silvia Pereira to comply with the new English for Science and Technology Reading Program (2010). Departamento de Idiomas – Universidad Simón Bolívar. The 8th edition (2015) has been revised, enriched and edited by Yris Casart, Noela Cartaya, Nelly Fernández, Marianella Quintero, Wilfredo Sequera and Silvia Pereira. Departamento de Idiomas – Universidad Simón Bolívar. This 9th edition (2016) has been revised, enriched and edited by Yris Casart, Noela Cartaya, Nelly Fernández, Marianella Quintero, Wilfredo Sequera and Silvia Pereira. Departamento de Idiomas – Universidad Simón Bolívar.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Fonts used in the book: Arial Narrow 24 pt for chapter headings; Arial Narrow 18 pt and 16 pt for headings and subheads; Century Schoolbook 11 pt for the body copy. The materials in this book have been written and/or selected for their value in helping university students become better readers of science and technology English texts. Credit for selections is given to the respective copyright holders. Please get in touch with us if you think credit is due for any particular section. This handbook is solely intended for compulsory academic use in the courses ID1111, ID-1112 and ID-1113. Commercialization outside the USB is strictly prohibited.

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Table of contents Table of contents ................................................................................................... 2 Inglés científico y técnico: Objetivos ................................................................ 5 Descripción del curso ............................................................................................ 5 Objetivo general de ID1111 .................................................................................. 5 Objetivos específicos de ID1111 ........................................................................... 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 7 Focus on reading................................................................................................... 8 Focus on reading strategies.............................................................................. 10 How many of these reading strategies do you use? ........................................... 13 Exercise 1: Steps to faster reading ................................................................. 14 Focus on skimming and scanning ................................................................... 17 Exercise 2: Skimming ..................................................................................... 17 Exercise 3: Scanning....................................................................................... 18 Focus on the topic, main idea and text organization .................................. 21 Recognizing the topic and main idea ................................................................. 23 Exercise 4: Identifying the topic..................................................................... 24 Exercise 5: Identifying the topic sentence ..................................................... 24 Exercise 6: Identifying the main idea ............................................................ 25 Exercise 7: Identifying the details ................................................................. 27 Exercise 8: Distinguishing major and minor details ..................................... 28 Text organization................................................................................................ 29 Exercise 9: Text organization, topic, main idea ............................................. 30 Focus on reference words ................................................................................. 33 Exercise 10: Understanding personal pronoun references ............................ 34 Exercise 11: Understanding other references ................................................ 36 Focus on inferences ............................................................................................ 38 Exercise 12: Identifying inferable information .............................................. 39 Exercise 13: Justifying the logic behind your inference ................................ 40 Exercise 14: Identifying the correct inference ............................................... 41 Focus on lexical items ........................................................................................ 44 Becoming aware of cognate words ..................................................................... 45 2

Exercise 15: Identifying cognate words.......................................................... 45 Exercise 16: Would you recognize what type of cognate it is? ....................... 48 Exercise 17: Recognizing false cognates or ‘false friends’ .............................. 50 Exercise 18: Some Latin words and their irregular plurals .......................... 53 Becoming aware of word function ...................................................................... 54 Exercise 19: Identifying parts of speech ........................................................ 55 Exercise 20: Using parts of speech to guess meaning from context .............. 56 Becoming aware of word structure .................................................................... 57 Understanding word form .................................................................................. 57 Affixation ............................................................................................................ 57 Prefixes ............................................................................................................... 57 Suffixes ............................................................................................................... 59 Exercise 21: Choosing the right prefix and suffix .......................................... 61 Recognizing word families .................................................................................. 62 Compound words ................................................................................................ 63 Phrasal verbs ...................................................................................................... 64 Words and their meanings ................................................................................. 65 Exercise 22: One word, several meanings ...................................................... 66 Exercise 23: One word, two meanings ........................................................... 68 Guessing meaning from context ......................................................................... 69 Using context clues ............................................................................................. 69 Exercise 24: Identifying context clues ............................................................ 70 Exercise 25: Using context clues to infer meaning ........................................ 71 Using synonyms and antonyms in context ........................................................ 73 Exercise 26: Using synonyms ......................................................................... 73 Exercise 27: Using antonyms ......................................................................... 73 Using definitions, restatements, examples, and explanations .......................... 75 Exercise 28: Using definitions ........................................................................ 75 Exercise 29: Using examples, explanations and restatements ..................... 75 Using the dictionary ........................................................................................... 77 Exercise 30: Putting words in alphabetical order .......................................... 77 Exercise 31: Using guide words...................................................................... 77 Exercise 32: Using phonemic transcription ................................................... 78 Exercise 33: Separating English words into syllables ................................... 78 Focus on compound nouns ............................................................................... 82 Exercise 34: Identifying the head noun ......................................................... 83 Exercise 35: Understanding the form of compound nouns ............................ 84 Exercise 36: Understanding the meaning of compound nouns ..................... 85 Exercise 37: Making and using compound nouns .......................................... 87 Exercise 38: Interpreting –ing and –ed in compound nouns ......................... 88 Focus on linking words ..................................................................................... 90 Emphasis words.................................................................................................. 90 Exercise 39: Recognizing emphasis words ..................................................... 90 Addition words.................................................................................................... 91 Exercise 40: Recognizing addition words ....................................................... 91 Change-of-direction words.................................................................................. 91 Exercise 41: Recognizing change-of-direction words ..................................... 92 Illustration words ............................................................................................... 92 Exercise 42: Recognizing illustration words .................................................. 92 Conclusion words ................................................................................................ 93 Exercise 43: Recognizing conclusion words.................................................... 93 3

Exercise 44: Identifying linking words .......................................................... 93 Exercise 45: Thinking about linking word role .............................................. 93 Exercise 46: Choosing time and sequence linking words .............................. 95 Exercise 47: Choosing addition and contrast linking words.......................... 95 Exercise 48: Choosing the correct linking word ............................................. 96 Final tips ............................................................................................................... 97 References ............................................................................................................ 98 Apéndices ............................................................................................................. 99 Cuestionario sobre estrategias de lectura en inglés (CELI) .................... 100 “¡No entiendo lo que leo en inglés!”............................................................... 104 Aprender vocabulario en ingles ........................................................................ 104 Listas de Vocabulario ....................................................................................... 105 1-1000 Word List .......................................................................................... 106 1001-2000 Word List .................................................................................... 111 Academic Word List...................................................................................... 115 El computador manual de Leitner ................................................................... 118 Procedimientos para la utilización del computador manual de Leitner ..... 118 Reading Selections for ID1111 ....................................................................... 121 What are my Learning Strengths?................................................................... 123 Sound and Acoustics ......................................................................................... 127 Exercises ....................................................................................................... 128 Viruses .............................................................................................................. 131 Exercises ....................................................................................................... 132 Brain Donors..................................................................................................... 136 Exercises ....................................................................................................... 137 Drugs ................................................................................................................ 139 Exercises ....................................................................................................... 140 Poison Birds ...................................................................................................... 142 Exercises ....................................................................................................... 142 Electric Fish...................................................................................................... 144 Exercises ....................................................................................................... 145

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Inglés científico y técnico: Objetivos Descripción del curso Este programa está diseñado para desarrollar destrezas de lectura en inglés científico y técnico. El presente es el primero de tres cursos de 48 horas cada uno (Inglés Científico y Técnico I, II y III: ID1111, 1112 y 1113). Los estudiantes pueden eximir los tres cursos, o ingresar al programa en cualquiera de ellos, con base en los resultados que obtengan en la prueba de ubicación que se administra a cada cohorte al inicio del año académico. Los tres cursos que componen el programa se consideran interdependientes: los objetivos y estrategias especificados para cada uno constituyen la base para los cursos siguientes. El programa está dirigido a los estudiantes de ingeniería y ciencias básicas. Forma parte del plan de estudios del Ciclo Básico ya que se considera que las destrezas de comprensión de lectura en inglés como lengua extranjera tendrán una aplicación inmediata para los estudiantes en las diferentes asignaturas que corresponden al Ciclo Profesional de sus estudios universitarios.

Objetivo general de ID1111 Al finalizar el curso Inglés Científico y Técnico I (ID1111), el estudiante habrá ampliado sus repertorios lingüístico y estratégico iniciales a un nivel que le permita enfrentarse como lector a la información contenida en textos de carácter científico y técnico en inglés.

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Objetivos específicos de ID1111 El énfasis de este curso está en un enfoque de lectura intensiva, el cual plantea la instrucción y práctica en destrezas específicas. A través de la lectura de textos cortos o fragmentos de texto, se espera que el estudiante: 1. Comprenda las unidades léxicas más frecuentemente encontradas en textos de carácter científico y técnico. Para ello, el estudiante debe adquirir un mínimo con el fin de que: 2. Reconozca automáticamente el significado de unidades léxicas de la lengua general que se encuentran con alta frecuencia en el discurso científico y técnico en inglés, y 3. Reconozca automáticamente el significado del léxico semiespecializado o ‘académico’ de mayor frecuencia en el discurso científico y técnico en inglés. 4. Aplique la técnica de lectura más apropiada a sus propósitos como lector en una situación dada. 5. Desarrolle la metacognición, o reflexión sobre el propio conocimiento, como elemento para la aplicación de estrategias de comprensión de lectura en inglés como lengua extranjera. 6. Determine el significado de elementos léxicos desconocidos a partir del contexto. 7. Deduzca las relaciones entre oraciones, y entre partes de un mismo texto, mediante elementos cohesivos. 8. Entienda la información explícita y/o implícita que se presenta. 9. Distinga entre la idea principal y las ideas secundarias. 10. Identifique el propósito principal del autor. 11. Reconozca la organización de un texto. 12. Integre información para llegar a una conclusión. 13. Interprete la información de una tabla o un gráfico. 14. Se familiarice con las expresiones de medida y magnitud para cuantificar las diferentes unidades utilizadas en inglés científico y técnico. 15. Aplique la información obtenida a través de los contenidos del curso a situaciones nuevas. 6

Introduction Welcome to our First Year Reading Program, the purpose of which is to help you become an effective reader. This handbook was prepared to be used in the First Year English courses. Although its content will be covered in the first trimester, that is, in ID1111, the handbook may be used by students in the second and third trimester to review basic concepts and terminology that has been covered in the first term. So get ready to start improving your reading skills. There is a lot you can do on your own to do that, but your teacher will be there to help you as well. The Departamento de Idiomas wishes you a very successful year. You may find useful information in the following webpage: http://usbideststudents.pbworks.com/w/page/39403695/FrontPage Please contact us if you need any additional help or information.

Sección de Inglés Científico y Técnico [email protected] December, 2014

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Focus on reading The reason for writing a text is to communicate ideas. In your reading of scientific and technical texts, knowing how the text is structured will help you to understand what the writer has in mind, i.e., his/her purpose for writing. Most academic writing is structured in the following way: an introduction where the author states the topic to be discussed, a statement on the problem, etc.; the body of the text, made up of several paragraphs, where the writer develops the main idea stated in the introduction; and the conclusion which is a summary of the content of the article and in which the writer may give his own opinion on the subject or make predictions for the future. In order to communicate his ideas, a writer will use and structure language in different ways. He will use different functions of the language. For example, when discussing “New procedures in cloning” the writer might first explain what cloning is by defining the term. He may then go on to classify this scientific term within the procedures used for the reproduction of species. The writer might also give a short chronological summary of the events leading up to the discovery and application of the new technique. Then he may proceed to explain the steps to be taken, i.e., the process involved using description. He may then compare and/or contrast this procedure with previous ones. This new technique will undoubtedly lead to changes in our society and so the writer might discuss the reasons the technique might be used and its consequences, i.e., the causes and their effects, in the future. He may go further on and make predictions based on this knowledge. Therefore, depending on the author’s purpose—to narrate, describe, or explain, he will use the language in different forms. To communicate his ideas, the writer must put them on paper in a coherent manner so that you, the reader, can understand them. The different sentences which make up a paragraph and the paragraphs themselves are linked together in a logical manner through the use of connectives, like ‘and,’ ‘but,’ ‘because,’ which also focus the reader’s attention on specific information in the text. To

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avoid repetition or words or even ideas, the writer also u...