Text Analysis: Culture, Science, and Literature Snippets

Bermuda Islands: History and Tourism (June 2000)

Original Title: The Bermuda Islands

  • Statement (False): “Spanish explorer Juan de Bermudez… As the story goes, Juan came, saw, left his name and fled.”
  • Statement (False): “Mr. Allen’s aim is to mend the previous government’s neglect of the islands’ main industry and to restore Bermuda to its former glory…”

Vocabulary

  • trapped: snared
  • hungry: starving
  • loss or destruction of a ship at sea: shipwreck
  • initiated: launched

Grammar/Usage

  • a) far; from
  • b) its; since
  • c) to visit; had
  • d) are inhabited; is called

Rhinoceros Lake: An Artist’s Tale (September 2000)

Original Title: Rhinoceros Lake

  • Statement (False): “A good instance of this is provided by Hugh Troy, a well known American artist…”
  • Statement (True): “Excitedly, they followed the rhinoceros tracks. The trail led out onto the ice covering Beebe Lake,…”

Vocabulary

  • wrong ideas: misconceptions
  • example: instance
  • cord: rope
  • erudite: learned

Grammar/Usage

  • a) with; the
  • b) can; from
  • c) who; seeing
  • d) the cleverest; have ever met

Antibiotic Abuse: Global Concerns (June 2001)

Original Title: Abuse of Antibiotics

  • Statement (True): “…In poor countries the biggest problem… They cannot afford a complete course of treatment…”
  • Statement (True): “…Developed nations must drastically reduce antibiotic usage.”

Vocabulary

  • a small cut: scratch
  • survive: remain
  • increased: soared
  • leave: bequeath

Grammar/Usage

  • a) for; killing
  • b) have once been easily cured; stronger to
  • c) should
  • d) have lived; for

Weekend Burglary and Alzheimer’s Care (September 2001)

Original Title: Burglars Move In for the Weekend

  • Statement (False): “She had arranged for her husband Jack, a former financier who now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, to stay in hospital for the weekend while she attended a wedding in London.”
  • Statement (True): “Mrs. Cox has cared for her husband since he became ill in 1984.”

Vocabulary

  • leaving: making off
  • loot: haul
  • closed: locked
  • looked after: cared for

Grammar/Usage

  • a) that; was told
  • b) will visit; about
  • c) if; would
  • d) warned; opened

Autism Indicators: Finger Length Ratios (June 2002)

Original Title: Pointing the Finger

  • Statement (False): “…people with autism have ring fingers that are abnormally long compared with their index fingers.”
  • Statement (False): “early symptoms… are often obvious by the tender age of 18 months.”
Vocabulary
  • lines: creases
  • the look: gaze
  • relationship between two amounts: ratio
  • standard: average
Grammar/Usage
  • a) is fixed; be governed
  • b) although; to
  • c) earlier; easier
  • d) ‘I could never imagine that my fingers could say so many things.’

Beauty Perception: Age vs. Attractiveness (September 2002)

Original Title: Beauty Over Youth

  • Statement (False): “…They showed the picture to three other groups… with the same eight pictures…”
  • Statement (True): “…all three groups of men chose her…”
Vocabulary
  • numerous: countless
  • above all: primarily
  • consider: take into account
  • leave: bequeath
Grammar/Usage
  • a) about; enough
  • b) was done; since
  • c) who; has been
  • d) helping; biggest
Elvis Presley: Fan Encounters and Memorabilia (June 2003)

Original Title: Elvis Lives!

  • Statement (False): “…Elvis, who was serving as an American GI in Germany…”
  • Statement (False): “Even though they realised its value to collectors, they donated the letter to the local Elvis Presley Society.”
Vocabulary
  • fainted: swooned
  • tomb: grave
  • living: staying
  • try to find: tracking
Grammar/Usage
  • a) their; was
  • b) was founded; was cleaned
  • c) to; could
  • d) ‘Karen promised Elvis that she would marry him if he sent her his autograph.’
Dragons in Culture: Chinese Beliefs and Common Traits (September 2003)

Original Title: Dragons

  • Statement (True): “To the Chinese, a dragon was an immensely wise animal which brought good luck.”
  • Statement (False): “All these dragons do have some things in common, however. They tend to be shown…”
Vocabulary
  • clever: wise
  • keeping: guarding
  • look like: resemble
  • hidden: submerged
Grammar/Usage
  • a) have formed; to know
  • b) is seen; because
  • c) largest; bigger
  • d) ‘Steven Spielberg said that dragons had played an important role in his life.’
Coetzee’s Nobel Prize and Literary Context (June 2004)

Original Title: Coetzee Wins Nobel Prize

  • Statement (False): “The Nobel has often been misapplied. It evaded Tolstoy, Chekhov, Joyce, Kafka and Nabokov.”
  • Statement (False): “Coetzee was born in Cape Town in 1940 and trained as a computer scientist, coming to London in the Sixties to work for IBM, a period recollected in a superb autobiographical novel.”
Vocabulary
  • Without doubt: Unquestionably
  • completely: Wholly
  • ideas: Assumptions
  • quickly: Swiftly
Grammar/Usage
  • a) who; last
  • b) winning; received
  • c) whose; wasn’t chosen