Reading-skill.docx

Reading skill: recognizing the organizational pattern of details1. Space relationshipEach segments of This World was identified by its own color. According to Cherokee doctrine, east was associated with the color red, because it was the direction of the Sun, the greatest deity of all. Red was also the color of fire, believed to be directly connected with the Sun, with blood, and therefore with life. Finally, red was the color of success. The west was the Moon segment; it provided no warmth and was not life-giving as the Sun was. So its color was black. North was the direction of cold, and so its color was blue (sometimes purple), and it represented trouble and defeat. South was the direction of warmth; its color, white, was associated with peace and happiness.Explanation: The first sentence is the topic sentence which states the main idea. And the rest sentences are supporting details which are organized in space relationship. The signal words are east, west, north and south.2. Time sequenceOrpheus had a beautiful wife, Eurydice, and her sisters, the Nymphs of the valley, living near by, accompanied them. Their life was a bright and wonderful one, with the music of Orpheus running through it like a magical thread, till a sudden and terrible thing happened. Eurydice, treading unwittingly on a serpent, was bitten in the foot, and in spite of all that Orpheus and Nymphs could do, after a few hours of suffering, she died, and her spirit fled to the Underworld, where Pluto, the king, and Persephone, the young queen, ruled over those who had died and been carried to Hades.Explanation: The paragraph tells readers the death of Eurydice. All the sentences are organized in time sequence.3. AdditionAirway clearance in first aid:1. Place the victim on his back and support the neck.2. lift the neck and tilt the forehead backward, and then lift the chin upward. Do not lift or lend the neck if you think it might be injured. Push the chin upward without moving the neck.3. listen for breathing by placing your ear near the mouth; meanwhile, watch the chest for signs of movement. If the person is breathing, roll him carefully onto his side.4. if there is no sign of breathing or breathing is inadequate, open the mouth and remove any foreign material that may interfere with resuscitation.Explanation: In this paragraph, steps in the process of airway clearance are listed in the pattern of addition.4. Logic Relationship Details may be organized in certain relationship among themselves.A. Definition: Sometimes, a writer realizes that you may not understand the meaning of a word or a concept. He may help you by defining it.Example:(1)The “standard of living” of any country means the average persons share of the goods and services which the country produces. (2) A countrys standard of living, therefore, depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth. (3) “Wealth” in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money but on things that money can buy: “goods”, such as food and clothing, and “service”, such as transport and entertainment.Explanation: sentence (2) is the topic sentence. Sentence (1) is a detail, definition of “standard of living”.B. IllustrationA writer may use some pictures, figures or examples to help us understand his main idea. Example: (1) There is also a cyclical pattern in fashion. (2) In the 1920s in Europe and America, short skirts became fashionable. (3) After World War II, they dropped to ankle length. (4) Then they got shorter and shorter until the miniskirt was in fashion. (5) After a few more years, skirts became longer again.Explanation: Sentence (1) is the topic sentence. The following sentences are details, providing an example.Example:(1) The worlds forests are disappearing. (2) As much as 1/3 of the total tree cover has been lost since agriculture began some 10,000 years ago. (3) Tropical rain forests once covered 12% of the land of the planet, supporting at least half of the worlds species of plants and animals. (4) But there are other demands on them. (5) For example, much has been cut for timber. (6) An increasing amount of forest land has been used for industrial purposes of for agricultural development such as crop-growing. (7) By the 1990s, less than half of the earths original rain forests remained, and they continued to disappear at an alarming rate every year. (8) As a result, the worlds forests are now facing gradual extinction.Explanation: The first sentence is the topic one. In sentence (2), (3), (7), the writer used some figures and an example - disappearance of tropical rain forests- to explain the main idea.C. Cause and EffectThis pattern is used to explain why and how something happened. The purpose is to show how two or more events are related. It starts with a cause and gives its effects. Or vice versa, it may give an effect or result and then tell what caused it. Explanation: the same above example. Sentence (4), (5), (6) provide the reason for sentence (7).D. Comparison and ContrastSometimes the writer may help you understand his main idea by showing you how two things are alike- comparison, or how they are different-contrast. Example:The size of Vernes spacecraft and the real one were very much alike. Vernes spacecraft was 15 feet high and 9 feet across. The Apollo 11 command ship was just a bit smaller- 10 feet, 7 inches high and 12 feet, 10 inches across.Verne had his spaceship blast off from Florida, only about 140 miles west of Cape Kennedy where the three-man Apollo spacecraft was launched/ and in Vernes story, Texas fought hard for honor of having the blast-off there. As you know, Texas was the home of Mission control.Explanation: contrast relationshipE. RepetitionThe writer may help you understand their point by saying it in different words- usually in a brief, easier-to-understand language.Example:(1) I wish you would discontinue constantly annoying me. (2) Please stop calling me on the phone, writing letters to me, and waiting for me when I leave my place of work. (3) In other words, please stop bothering me.Explanation: The first sentence is the topic one. The second sentence gives an example. The third sentence is repetition of the first one.F. ConclusionA conclusion is a theory, hypothesis, a guess, an opinion. The writer tells a probable outcome or result- something that he thinks /guesses/ opinions will happen.Example:(1) Tom has been studying hard in the science course she is taking. (2) She should earn a top grade. Explanation: the second sentence is the conclusion to the first one. Its the writers opinion.Attention: Sometimes you may tend to confuse conclusion with cause-effect relationship. In cause-effect relationship, something has already happened as a result of something else. While in conclusion, there is only a prediction, or a guess that it may happen.Example:1. Jerry has become busy in the past two weeks. As a result, he doesnt see his friends as often as before- cause-effect relationship2. Sarah just got a job in addition to her other responsibilities. You wont get to see her as much as you used to- conclusion.Practice: Identify the detail patternsParagraph oneThen it began suddenly to slow down, presumably in obedience to signal. For some minutes it crawled along, then stopped; presently it began to move forward again. Another up-train passed them, though with less vehemence than the first one. The train gathered speed again. At that moment, another train, also on a down-line, swerved inwards towards them, for a moment with almost alarming effect. For a time the two trains ran parallel, now one gaining a little, then the other. Mrs. Mc looked from her window through the windows of the parallel carriages. Most of the blinds were down, but occasionally the occupants of the carriages were visible. The other train was not very full and there were many empty carriages.Paragraph twoCities can be frightening places. The majority of the population lives in massive tower blocks, noisy, dirty and impersonal. The sense of belonging to a community tends to disappear when you live fifteen floors up. All you can see from your window is sky, or other blocks of flats. Children become aggressive and nervous-cooped up at home all day, with nowhere to play; their mothers feel isolated from the rest of the world. Strangely enough, whereas in the past, in inhabitants of one street, all knew each other, nowadays people on the same floor in tower block dont even say hello the each other.Paragraph threeTo improve your reading habits, you must understand the correct reading rates of a good reader. First, the good reader usually reads rapidly, of course he doesnt read every piece of material at the same rate. But while he is reading a newspaper or a chapter in a physical text, his reading rate is relatively fast. He has learned to read for ideas rather than single words at a time. Next, the good reader can recognize and understand general ideas and specific details. Last, he is able to comprehend the material with a minimum of effort and maximum of interest. Finally, the good reader has comprehended several special skills which he can rely on to read the problems as they occur.Paragraph fourStudies of human migration speak of push factors, which influence an individuals decision to move from one place to another. Push factors are associated with the place of origin. A push factor can be as simple and mild a matter as difficulty in finding a suitable job, or as traumatic as war, or server famine. Obviously, refugees who leave their homes with guns pointed at their heads are motivated almost entirely by push factors.Paragraph fiveHuman beings have used tools for a very long time. In some parts of the world, you can still find tools that people used more than two million years ago. They made these tools by hitting one stone against another. In this way they broke off piece from one of the stones. These chips of stone were usually sharp on one side. People used them for cutting meat and skin from dead animals, and also for making other tools out of wood. Human beings needed to use tools because they did not have sharp teeth like other meat-eating animals, such as lions and tigers. Tools helped people to get food more easily.Paragraph sixAt the heat of womens changed role in society has been the rise in the number of women at work, particularly married women. As technology and society permit highly effective and generally acceptable methods of family planning, there has been a decline in family size. Women as a result are involved in child-rearing for a much shorter time, and related to this, there has been a rapid increase in the number of women with young children who return to work when the children are old enough not to need constant care and attention.Paragraph sevenThe cotton gin was a machine designed to remove seeds from picked cotton. Before the use of the cotton gin, it took a very long time to separate the seeds from the fibers by hard hand-working, a person could only clean about a pound of cotton a day. Ginning made it possible to process the cotton crop quickly and economically, which meant that many more landowners started to plant cotton.Paragraph eightThe extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an Erector set, it will still stand, no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agdir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it completely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done comparati