Level 3 Integrated Skills: Chapter 4 Reading

Reading Skills: Skimming

Reading will make up 20% of your final grade in Level 3, but it’s usually a skill that students

struggle with. In fact, for most UAEU Foundation students, reading is also their lowest score on

the IELTS exam. So, what do we do about this? Well, there are a few skills we can develop to

improve our reading.

1. Skimming

2. Scanning

3. Reading for Detail

In this chapter of the iBook, we will focus on skimming. You skim when you need to read a text

or part of a text quickly, while trying to get the gist, or general idea of what the text is about.

While you read, look for information and words that you already know, as they can help you

understand the main topic or topics of the text. Also, try to find the topic sentence of each

paragraph. So, to review:

1. Read quickly.

2. If it’s a longer text, make sure you read the introduction and conclusion.

3. Look for words or information that you already know.

4. Try to find the topic sentence for each paragraph.

5. Try to get the general idea, or gist, of the text or paragraph.

Skimming Practice

Quickly skim the text below and then answer the questions 1-3 below

It starts with getting a credit card. Then comes the loan for a fancy car, a fancy house and then

comes trouble. Debts rise and there is no money to repay, there is barely enough to survive.

These days, more and more USA nationals are falling into the debt trap. They are lured by the

discovery that every luxury under the sun is available here, made possible by the discovery of

oil, which transformed the land from a farming country to an advanced paradise. Some have

fallen victim to the keeping up with the Joneses syndrome and others say that they have

demanding spouses who want a comfortable life. The stories are many and have different

outcomes - of families parting, men being imprisoned or fleeing the country. However, many

people reported exactly the same feeling - being trapped by debt.

1. What is this paragraph about?

a) health problems

b) house and car problems

c) financial (money) problems

d) marriage problems

2. What is the best topic sentence for this paragraph?

a) It starts with getting a credit card.

b) These days, more and more USA nationals are falling into the debt trap.

c) They are lured by the discovery that every luxury under the sun is available here...

d) The stories are many - of families parting, men being imprisoned or fleeing the country.

3. What is the gist of this passage?

a) Using credit cards to buy things is bad

b) Buying too many expensive things can cause problems

c) It is easy to borrow money but difficult to pay it back

d) Don't worry about what other people can afford

Quickly skim the passage below and then answer questions 4-5.

Flowers are the reproductive parts of a plant, and a flower usually has both male and female

parts. The male parts are the stamens, which consist of filaments and anthers. Filaments are

like little stalks that support the anthers. Anthers produce tiny dust-like grains called pollen.

However, in order for reproduction to happen, the female parts must also become involved. The

female part of the flower is called the carpel. This consists of an ovary, ovules, a syle and a

stigma. The ovary is hidden in a bulb-shaped receptacle at the base of the flower. Inside the

ovary are one or more ovules, which become seeds if the flower is fertilized. In order for a flower

to have a chance at fertilization, pollen must be transferred from the male stamen to the female

stigma.

4. What is this passage about?

a) types of flowers

b) how plants reproduce

c) male parts of a flower

d) female parts of a flower

5. What would be the topic sentence of this passage?

a) Flowers are the reproductive parts of a plant...

b) The female part of the flower is called the carpel.

c) The male parts are the stamens, which consist of filaments and anthers

d) In order for a flower to be fertilized, pollen must be transferred from the male

stamen to the female stigma.

Quickly skim the passage below and answer questions 6-8

A. It is easy to understand the calendar we use today, but it was not always so easy. People

had to try for thousands of years before they knew how to put together days, weeks, months,

and years.

B. More than 2,000 years ago, scientists in Egypt made a calendar. There were 10 days in a

week, three weeks in a month, and 12 months in a year. This calendar showed a way to count

weeks and months, but it was not scientific. It does not matter how many days are in a week, or

in a month; any number can be used. No one, however, can decide how long a day or a year

should be. A sun year, also called a solar year, is exactly the length of time the earth takes to

travel around the sun one time. The Egyptians did not think about these scientific facts. For

them, 12 of their 30-day months made a year, but in fact, 360 days do not make a full year. To

fix this problem, they made a five-day holiday at the end of each year. But even adding five

holidays did not make the Egyptians’ yearly calendar right. It takes the earth a little more than

365 days to travel around the sun. To be exact, it takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46

seconds. For a long time people did not add these extra hours and minutes and seconds.

C. Many years later in Rome, Julius Caesar tried to fix the calendar. He thought that a year

should be 365 days and 6 hours long. One feature he added was an extra day every four

years. The year with an extra day is called leap year. The year is really 365 days, 5 hours, 48

minutes and 46 seconds long. Julius Caesar’s calendar was almost twelve minutes too

fast. Twelve minutes is not much, but by the year 1582 scientists showed that the calendar was

about 10 days faster than the sun so it was decided to change the calendar to fit the solar year

better. A few changes were made after this, but they were minor changes.

D. This is the plan we use currently. Our calendar is called the Gregorian Calendar after the

man who decided the old Roman calendar was not working and so needed changing. It is still

not exactly correct. It is 26 seconds fast each year by sun time, but our calendar will not be fast

by a whole day for at least 3,000 years.

6. What is this passage about?

a) Time

b) Egyptians and Romans

c) Leap years

d) Our calendar

7. Which sentence from the text - red, blue, or green - is the topic sentence?

a) red

b) blue

c) green

8. What is the gist of this passage?

a) It was difficult to make a calendar without modern tools.

b) Neither the Egyptian calendar nor the Roman calendar was accurate.

c) Our calendar today is very accurate, and will not be fast for 3000 years.

d) Our current calendar has changed and improved over thousands of years.

Maps

You are going to read about maps

Before you read, discuss these questions below:

Why are maps flat when the world is round?

Why is North at the top of maps?

The world’s first map was a map of what?

Find five words in this Word Map that you do not know. Write them down and find out what

they mean.

Label the pictures below;

1. A map written in Greece

2. the first map

3. a painting of the stars

4. an upside down map

5. a “normal” map

6. a map showing the correct sizes of the continents

1. Since the early days of human history, maps have been critical in our understanding and exploration of the world around us. The oldest known maps were painted by cavemen 17,000 years ago on the walls of the Lascaux Caves in Dordogne, France. Obviously the technology was simple, but the maps are remarkably accurate. This was possible only because the map was of the sky, which is easy to see. It would have been impossible to create a map of the world, since at that time no one really knew much about the shape of the Earth beyond their own local area. The history of mapmaking developed together with mankind’s understanding of the world.

2. The oldest known maps of land were made in approximately 2500 BCE in Babylon, Mesopotamia, where Iraq is located today. They were drawn on clay tablets so they were easy to carry. These local and regional maps were created mainly for practical purposes, such as describing trade routes or showing which land belonged to specific individuals (i.e. to establish legal ownership). 3. In contrast to these local maps, early world maps focused less on specific jobs. Their main purpose was to display and share knowledge. With these maps, people could learn about the size, shape, and location of mountains, rivers, cities, and so forth. But at that time, people were aware of only a small fraction of the world, and their “world maps” could show only what they knew. The oldest known map of the world also comes from Babylon, around 600 BCE. On this map, Babylon is in the center of a flat circular world, with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and local mountains. All of this is surrounded by ocean. The Greek mapmaker Anaximander made a world map in around 500 BCE which has Greece at the center of a world including Europe, Asia, and Libya. As with the Babylonian map, all is surrounded by ocean. 4. As knowledge of the world advanced, world maps also improved and their function changed. Of course they could display knowledge of the earth, but people began using that knowledge for the specific purposes. Maps became necessary tools of trade and empire. Romans, Chinese, Arabs and Europeans created increasingly extensive and accurate maps over the centuries. Then, in 1569, the Belgian mapmaker, Gerardus Mercator, published the world map that most people recognize today because it solved the biggest problems for travelers who lost their way using previous maps.

5. Throughout mapmaking history, one fundamental problem has always been how to represent the round, spherical shape of the earth on a flat surface. The result was inaccurate maps and great difficulty for travelers trying to find their way. Then came Mercator’s advancements. Mercator used mathematical techniques that adjusted theS curves of the earth to flat paper. Now, sailor could simply draw lines on the map, and by using a compass plus the sun and stars, they could calculate their exact location. They could go wherever they wanted with near perfect accuracy. Mercator’s map was by far the most useful map ever for travelers, and it remains so today. 6. However, even the Mercator map had problems. First, Europeans hadn’t yet discovered Australia when Mercator created his map, so it didn’t appear in early versions. The biggest problem, though, was that Mercator maps do not show the correct size of countries in comparison with each other. For example, Greenland in the real world is one-tenth the size of South America, and one-fourteenth the size of Africa. On Mercator maps, however, it looks bigger than both continents. While good for sailing, they were still inaccurate. 7. Much more recently in the 1970s, a German scientist named Arno Peters pointed out that the Mercator maps unfairly show most developing countries as smaller than their actual size. This makes their relative importance in the world also seem unfairly small. In 1973, he created a map called the Peters Map, which was much better at showing the correct size of countries in proportion to each other. However the Peters Map also had problems. While it does a good job of showing the comparative sizes of countries, it does a poor job of showing their shapes and locations. So while the Peters Map accurately illustrates the relative sizes of countries, sailors still prefer Mercator maps because their main interest is in location. 8. Nowadays, technology is responsible for most of our maps. In the last 30 years there has been a revolution in mapmaking. We now put electronic eyes – cameras – in the sky to look down at the earth. This view has given us extremely accurate and detailed maps – maps that the cavemen who made that first map back in France could have never imagined. Skimming and Scanning Review Questions:

Maps Reading – Level 3 Final Exam Practice Questions

Flow Chart Completion

Instructions: Complete the flow chart showing the history of map making. Write no

more than ONE word or a number for each gap.

The earliest maps were of the (1) ______________, not land.

The oldest known maps of land made in Babylon in (2) ______________

BCE

The earliest world map showed (3) ______________ as the center of the

world.

As they became more advanced, maps became (4)________ of

commerce and power.

With the Mercator Map, sailors could find their location using only a

(5)__________ and what they saw in the sky.

Countries and Sentences

Instructions: Match each country/region with one of the sentences below.

1. France

2. Mesopotamia

3. Greece

4. Australia

5. Greenland

A A map that included Europe, Asia and Libya was written here.

B This was the birthplace of Gerardus Mercator.

C Small maps showed information of interest to some people.

D Thousands of years ago people drew maps showing the sky.

E This country was added to Mercator's world map later.

F Arnos Peters came from this country.

G On Mercator's map this country appears bigger in size than whole continents.

Table Completion

Instructions: Complete the table with no more than two words or a number for each gap.

Mercator's Map Peter's Map

Nationality of

map’s creator

(11) ______________ German

Year it was

created

1569 (12) ______________

What he tried to

do

Show the round Earth on a

(13) __________________

Show the real size of countries

Problems Some countries not included until

later.

Some countries look

(14) _____________ than they

really are

(15) ______________ and

location of countries are not

accurate

ANSWERS

Skimming and Scanning Review

Heading to Paragraph

1. 5

2. 1

3. 6

4. 8

5. 3

Sentence Completion:

6. Babylon

7. Extensive, accurate

8. (Gerardus) Mercator

9. location

10. sky

Final Exam Practice

Flowchart

1. sky

2. 2500

3. Babylon

4. tools

5. compass

Matching countries/ regions to sentences

1. D

2. C

3. A

4. E

5. G

Table Completion

1. Belgian

2. 1973

3. flat surface

4. bigger

5. shape/s