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