College English Reading Course Book IV

College English Reading Course Book IV Unit Seven

Reading Skills: • Easier - There are different styles of reading for different situations. The technique you choose will depend on the purpose for reading. For example, you might be reading for enjoyment, information, or to complete a task. If you are exploring or reviewing, you might skim a document. If you're searching for information, you might scan for a particular word. To get detailed information, you need to adjust your reading speed and technique depending on your purpose.

Many people consider skimming and scanning search techniques rather than reading strategies. However when reading large volumes of information, they may be more practical than reading. For example, you might be searching for specific information, looking for clues, or reviewing information.

Harder - Web pages, novels, textbooks, manuals, magazines, newspapers, and mail are just a few of the things that people read every day. Effective and efficient readers learn to use many styles of reading for different purposes. Skimming, scanning, and critical reading are different styles of reading and information processing.

Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word, instead you're scanning the text. Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research.

There are many strategies that can be used when skimming. Some people read the first and last paragraphs using headings, summarizes and other organizers as they move down the page or screen. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading, and illustrations. Consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This technique is useful when you're seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension. Skimming works well to find dates, names, and places. It might be used to review graphs, tables, and charts.

Scanning is a technique you often use when looking up a word in the telephone book or dictionary. You search for key words or ideas. In most cases, you know what you're looking for, so you're concentrating on finding a particular answer. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases. Scanning is also used when you first find a resource to determine whether it will answer your questions. Once you've scanned the document, you might go back and skim it.

When scanning, look for the author's use of organizers such as numbers, letters, steps, or the words, first, second, or next. Look for words that are bold faced, italics, or in a different font size, style, or color. Sometimes the author will put key ideas in the margin. • Reading off a computer screen has become a growing concern. Research shows that people have more difficulty reading off a computer screen than off paper. Although they can read and comprehend at the same rate as paper, skimming on the computer is much slower than on paper.

Layered Reading • In addition to using your subconscious mental radar, you can read books more selectively by using a layered reading approach. Here are four phases that commonly show up in layered reading strategies:

Overview: Look over the entire book at the rate of 1 second per page to determine its organization, structure and tone. Try to finish the overview in 5 minutes. • Preview: Should you decide to read further, preview the first chapter at the rate of 4 seconds per page. Pay particular attention to beginnings and endings such as the introduction and conclusion, and the first sentences of paragraphs and sections. Mark key sections with Post-it tabs or a yellow marker.

Read: If any part of the chapter warrants closer attention, go back and read it at whatever speed seems appropriate. • Review: As discussed in the following section on memory, doing short reviews periodically after reading new ideas can significantly increase the amount of detailed information that makes it into long term memory.

There are several advantages to having seen every page of a document. It partially eliminates the intimidation of the unknown. It is also much easier to comprehend material at rapid speeds when your eyes have already seen the material twice, even if only briefly. And lastly, your right brain is a lot happier about the whole situation because it has at least some idea of the context or overall picture in which the material is being presented.

Saying that someone has one reading speed is like having a car that only goes one speed. Different material calls for different speeds. Layered reading is about being flexible in the strategy you use to extract useful ideas from written material. • Here are some additional suggestions for reading more selectively:

Focus on key words and ignore filler words. As discussed in the previous chapter, most of the meaning in sentences is transferred by a few key words. Many times it is unnecessary to read all the "is's" and "the's". • Skip what you already know. As you transfer more and more knowledge from an area into long term memory, the sections you can skip will become larger and thus accelerate your journey along the compound learning curve.

Skip material that doesn't apply to you. • Skip material that seems particularly confusing and come back to it if necessary after reading other sections. Books are linear while their subject matter is often multi-dimensional. As Hannah Arendt put it, "Nothing we use or hear or touch can be expressed in words that equal what we are given by the senses." It may be far easier to understand the material in light of information that follows. Giving your subconscious time to incubate the material might help as well.

Text 19. “I Ended Up in the Right Place”I. Information Related to the Text 1. Aon Corporation • Headquartered in Chicago, Aon is a Fortune 500 company that is a world leader in risk management, retail, reinsurance and wholesale brokerage, claims management, specialty services, and human capital consulting services. A key advantage is its broad view of the insurance industry. It has an employee base of 55,000 people working in 600 offices in more than 125 countries.

2. Salvation Army • The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 by W. Booth, with the aim of feeding and housing the poor of London. He adopted the name Salvation Army in 1878 and established the organization on a military pattern. Members are called soldiers, and officers earn ranks that range from lieutenant to brigadier. Converts are required to sign Articles of War and to volunteer their services. Doctrines are similar to those of other evangelical Protestant denominations, though Booth saw no need for sacraments. The meetings are characterized by singing and hand clapping, instrumental music, personal testimony, free prayer, and an open invitation to repentance. Headquartered in London, the Salvation Army now provides a wide variety of social services in more than 100 countries.

3. The Circle of Honor • At the center area of Ground Zero, a wooden structural circle was assembled as a temporary memorial, called “The Circle of Honor”. On the first anniversary of September 11 terrorist attacks, family members of the victims lined up to place flowers and flags on the memorial to mourn for the dead.

4. Ground Zero • Ground Zero originally means the point of impact of a conventional missile or the point of detonation of an atomic device. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Ground Zero has come to be used to mean the site where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood.

5. City Hall Park Facing City Hall at Park Row and Broadway, New York, NY., this beautifully maintained park has an illustrious history. City Hall Park played a central part in New York’s history. Five days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this important document was read to George Washington and his troops in City Hall Park.

6. Dockers jeans • Blue jeans made by Levi Strauss Dockers. 7. Velcro • A trademark used for a fastening tape consisting of a strip of nylon with a surface of minute hooks that fasten to a corresponding strip with a surface of uncut pile, used especially on cloth products, such as outerwear, luggage, and athletic shoes.

II. General Comprehension of the Text • 1) Why doesn’t Guerrero like to talk about the dead he saw on September 11? How does he express his feelings for his cousin? • 2) Do you think it is only luck that determines who will survive and who will die in a disaster? Explain your answer.

III. Difficult language points in the text • 1. Ask him about September 11, and he doesn’t mention the bodies he saw. (Line 1) • Paraphrase: If you ask him about September 11, he doesn’t mention the bodies he saw. • Translation: 如果问他关于9月11日的事,他对自己所看到的尸体只字不提。

2. He talks instead of the woman he spotted as he emerged that day from the subway station near the World Trade Center who fell as she was running toward him trying to dodge debris from the Twin Towers. (Line 3) • Paraphrase: Instead he talks about the woman he saw as he got out of the subway station that day near the World Trade Center; the woman fell down as she was running toward him trying to escape being hit by the debris from the Twin Towers. • Translation: 相反，他谈到了那天他从世贸大厦附近的地铁站出来时看到的那位妇女，她正向他这边跑来，在努力躲闪着从世贸双塔掉落下来的瓦砾时，摔倒在地了。

3. It was a special suit, and not just for sentimental reasons. Its material was fire-resistant. (Line 91) • Paraphrase: It was a special suit, not only because it shows the feelings between him and his cousin. It was also fire-proof. • Translation: 这是一套特殊的制服，这样说不仅仅出于感情上的缘故。其材料还是防火的。

Key to the Exercises I. 1. D 2. B 3. D 4. B II. 1. 他对她一无所知，只知道首先是因为她，他才在看到第二架飞机在一街区撞穿南塔楼时没有转身逃跑。是因为她，当数十名满身灰尘的男男女女从他身边跑过时，他却朝着世贸中心跑去。 2．他们俩有着共同的强烈信仰，都有歌唱方面的天赋和爱好，都十分喜欢白玫瑰，他们在过生日和特殊场合都是互送白玫瑰。

3．当一个与你如此亲近的人在那天死去了，你知道自己本可能在那儿却实际上没在那儿，这不会使你心里感觉舒服些。3．当一个与你如此亲近的人在那天死去了，你知道自己本可能在那儿却实际上没在那儿，这不会使你心里感觉舒服些。 4．他开始是作为一个感恩节宴会的志愿协调员，后来又组织了一次为受世贸中心灾难影响的数百名儿童举行的玩具免费赠送活动，最后受雇成为全职的助理社工，帮助那些因恐怖袭击而失去工作和亲人的人。 Key to the Reading-skill Exercises 1. A 2. C 3. B 4. C 5. B

Text 20. Keeping the Net Secure I. Information Related to the Text 1. Reed Hundt Reed E. Hundt is a senior advisor on information industries to McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm. His work with McKinsey has focused on helping senior management and boards address a wide range of strategic and other leadership challenges. Mr. Hundt also serves on the board of directors of Allegiance Telecom, Inc., Expedia, Polyserve, and Intel Corp. He is a special advisor to Blackstone Group and a venture partner at Benchmark Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in investments in high-tech companies. He teaches a seminar cross-listed at the Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management, where he serves as a member of the advisory committee.

Mr. Hundt served four years as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), from 1993 to 1997. He is especially proud of his role in making the largest single national commitment to K-12 education in America’s history: the Snowe-Rockefeller program that dedicates more than $2 billion annually to connect all classrooms in the country to the Internet. Mr Hundt is the author of, “You Say You Want A Revolution: A Story of Information Age Politics.” (Yale University Press, 2000).

He has also been Co-Chairman of The Forum on Communications and Society at The Aspen Institute. Mr. Hundt is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College and a graduate of Yale Law School (1974) where he was a member of the executive board of the Yale Law Journal. He clerked for the late Chief Judge Harrison L. Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and is a member of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and California bars. Prior to his position as Chairman of the FCC, Mr. Hundt was a partner in the Washington, DC office of Latham & Watkins, a national and international law firm.

2. Verizon A Fortune 10 company, Verizon Communications is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wire line and wireless communications in the United States. It is the third largest long-distance carrier for U.S. consumers, with 13.2 million long-distance lines, and the company is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. With more than $67 billion in annual revenues and 227,000 employees, Verizon’s global presence extends to the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

3. the five boroughs of New York City New York City consists of five boroughs, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, separated by different watercourses. Brooklyn and Queens occupy the western portion of Long Island, while Staten Island and Manhattan are completely on their own land masses. The Bronx, to the north, is attached to the New York State mainland.

4. Williams Communications Williams Communications changed its name to WilTel Communications in October 2002. WilTel Communications is a next-generation network services provider offering a comprehensive portfolio of network and broadband media services to companies whose businesses require intensive amounts of bandwidth. By offering efficient, cost-effective network access and services, WilTel enables customers to focus on their own core competencies. WilTel is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with approximately 3000 employees worldwide. The company’s advanced technology and approach to network architecture enable cost-efficiencies and technological improvements for customers.

5. AT&T AT&T is among the world's premier voice, video, and data communications companies, serving consumers, businesses, and government. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, AT&T runs a worldwide, sophisticated communications network. AT&T is a leading supplier of data and Internet services and offers outsourcing, consulting, and networking-integration to large businesses.

AT&T uses the EMC information infrastructure to provide AT&T Ultravailable Data Storage Services to its customers. This offering includes EMC SAN and NAS services that start at 99.99 percent availability, as well as business continuance and backup and restore services. AT&T offers all of these services from its Internet Data Centers, as well as the resources to build these in-house services for large enterprises and service providers.

6. AOL America Online, Inc., the world’s leading interactive services company, and RSA Security Inc. (NASDAQ: RSAS), a leading provider of solutions that secure and manage online identities, today announced the launch of AOL PassCode, a new premium service that offers members a second level of AOL account protection through the use of a keychain-sized device that generates and displays a unique six-digit numeric code every 60 seconds.

7.ITXC Founded in 1997, ITXC Corp.(R) is one of the world's largest carriers based on minutes of international traffic. The company sells wholesale long distance voice services that are carried over the company's own global VoIP network -- ITXC.net(R) -- which transmits millions of minutes every day between more than 175 countries worldwide.

Based on minutes of international voice traffic carried, ITXC ranks as one of the world's leading voice carriers: According to TeleGeography 2003, ITXC holds approximately 20% of the international Voice over IP (VoIP) calling market, making it the global market share leader. ITXC was also named the Fastest Growing Technology Company in North America by the 2002 Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 ranking.

8. Yahoo’s PC to Phone • PC to Phone is a new technology that enables you to place phone calls from your PC to any telephone number in the world, at a very low rate (U.S. domestic calls cost only 2 cents per minute). PC to Phone lets any Internet user with a sound-equipped PC initiate calls from a computer and transmit them over the Internet to telephone switches. These switches automatically relay the call to its final destination (your friend’s telephone). The result is real-time, uninterrupted, full-duplex voice communication between two parties.

9. voice over IP IP is the Internet Protocol. The Internet Protocol(IP) is the most widely-used method for transporting data within and between communications networks. Voice over IP (VoIP), or Internet Telephony, is technology that uses data packets to transmit voice over the Internet.

10. Intel Intel Corporation, leading manufacturer of microprocessors and integrated circuits. The company invented the microprocessor, which powers personal computers. More than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers use Intel microprocessors. The company also makes computer network products, memory products, servers, and supercomputers. Intel is based in Santa Clara, California.

II. General Comprehension of the Text 1) What role did the Internet play after the 9.11 terrorist attacks? What role will it play in the future in defending national security? Do you think terrorists will directly target the Internet in future attacks? 2) For what purposes do you use the Internet? What does the security of the Internet mean to you?

III. Difficult language points in the text 1. Verizon employees and those of many other telecommunications carriers worked night and day, alongside the firemen, the police, and volunteers, at their own recovery job. (Line 5) Paraphrase: Verizon employees and those of many other telecommunications companies worked night and day on their own rescue attempt, at the same time as the firemen, the police and volunteers, were working on theirs. Translation: Verizon 的员工及其他许多电信运营公司的员工们，与消防员、警察、志愿者们一起并肩日夜奋战，致力于电信服务的修复工作当中。

2. So it was not surprising—although it was staggering—to see that on September 11 more than 1.2 billion instant messages were sent by AOL users alone. (Line 36) • Paraphrase: Although it was enormously impressive that on September 11 more than 1.2 billion instant messages were sent by AOL users alone, it was not surprising that it happened. • Translation: 因此，在9月11日单美国在线就发送出超过12亿条的短信息，这一现象虽然令人难以置信，但却并不令人感到奇怪。

3. Slipping past the congested voice networks onto the PC screens of friends and family around the globe were the ties that bind us in the modern world: “R U OK?” “ALRIGHT?” “U THERE?” (Line 39) • Paraphrase: Rather than calling through the congested voice networks, people sent the instant text messages we have become used to using to keep in touch, phrased in their characteristic abbreviated style. • Translation: 迅速经过拥堵的语音网络传到全球各地朋友和亲人的电脑屏幕上的是这样的一些信息：“你好吗？”“你怎么样？”“你在那儿吗？”这些信息纽带将我们在这个现代世界中紧紧联系起来。

4. However our current war against terrorism ends, along the way the United States and its allies will undoubtedly make a variety of economic promises to the Central Asian States whose support we need. (Line 96) • Paraphrase: No matter how our war against terrorism turns out, in the course of the battle, the United States and its allied countries will certainly make a lot of economic promises to the Central Asian states because we need their support. • Translation: 不管目前的反恐战争如何结束，在这个过程中美国及其盟国无疑将要向中亚国家做出多种承诺，我们需要这些国家（对反恐战争）的支持。

5. The Internet has a rising number of co-location facilities where many fiber cables are aggregated. (Line 129) Paraphrase: The Internet has more and more facilities located at the same place where many fiber cables are gathered together. Translation: 因特网的设施越来越集中，许多光纤电缆集结在一起。

Key to the Exercises: I. 1. C 2. D 3. C 4. B II. 1. 但是尽管尽了很大努力保持它们的正常运作，但在9。11事件的超常压力下，纽约地区和华盛顿特区的传统语音电信系统――有线的和无线的――都承受着过重的负荷。 2．就好比超高速公路的一条车道只容许一辆车通行，这条线路即使此刻无人在说话也专用于通话。

3．从9.11事件得出的一个教训是：为了能在任何灾难面前保持一个有效的通讯系统，我们应该将因特网作为一个重要网络加以促进和保护，鼓励私有部门并利用公有部门的资源使其更快速、更可靠、更普遍、更好地与其他媒体结合。3．从9.11事件得出的一个教训是：为了能在任何灾难面前保持一个有效的通讯系统，我们应该将因特网作为一个重要网络加以促进和保护，鼓励私有部门并利用公有部门的资源使其更快速、更可靠、更普遍、更好地与其他媒体结合。 4．恐怖分子虽然没有将我们的通讯网络作为直接攻击的目标，但这些网络是他们攻击的民主资本主义体制不可分割的一部分。

Text 21. So Long to the Ugly American I. Information Related to the Text: 1. The Ugly American • The Ugly American is a novel written by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer and first published in 1958. The novel became a runaway national bestseller for its slashing expose of American arrogance, incompetence, and corruption in Southeast Asia. Thirty years ago that title was routinely used to describe the Americans abroad.

College English Reading Course Book IV