Unit 2 |
Section I Match each underlined word in the following passage with a suitable definition from the list give below. Write the word (or groups of words) you choose for each item in the table provided. THE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE The American Field Service is a(1) private organization designed to promote international friendship and understanding. It sponsors an international educational exchange program from senior high school students of various countries to study the culture and traditions of the United States. In return, American students live and study abroad. Without either religious or political (2) affiliations, the organization is supported through contributions from members, both private individuals and groups, either in the front of financial aid or donated facilities. The AFS, headquartered in New York, has more than sixty (3) agencies overseas. Its activities in Thailand began in 1961 when a group of fourteen Thai high school students spent one year in the U.S. Since then 1,400 Thai students have been awarded AFS grants and about 1,000 American students have come to Thailand under the program. American awardees are classified into two (4) categories: those who spend one year attending the 11th or 12th grades in a Thai secondary school, and those who stay in Thailand about ten weeks during their summer vacation. They all stay with Thai families who volunteer to (5) care for them and who have children of about the same age. While the experience of living overseas demands, adjustment, most (6) grantees return home with an awareness and appreciation of a foreign culture far beyond that obtained on briefer visits. AFS recently became AFS International. As a result, not all Thai students go to the U.S., but some go to eight other countries in Europe and Asia. Also not all AFS students now coming to Thailand are American. List of possible definitions
Section II Read the following passage and look at the table and diagram which follow it. Complete the table by writing labels for the diagram. Alternative energy sources are becoming increasingly attractive as the energy crisis becomes more severe. Solar heating systems, which use the sun's radiation as a source of energy, are a promising alternative energy source. Nuclear power plants are already in operation in several parts of the country. Government and private industry are even investigating the possibility of capturing the power of ocean waves and tides for conversion into usable energy. Coal is once again becoming an acceptable fuel as the nation searches for solutions to the energy shortage. Even garbage is seen as a potential source of energy. In some communities, garbage is burned to heat buildings and light city streets.
Section III Use the information in the following text to answer the questions which follow it. Write your answers in the space provided. GOODNESS OF HUMANITY The future cannot be better if people in general are not fundamentally good and improvable. Americans assume that human nature is basically good, not basically evil. Foreign visitors will see them doing many things that are based on the assumption that people are good and can make themselves better. Some examples: Getting more education or training. Formal education is not just for young people, but for everyone. Education institutions offer "extension classes," night classes, correspondence courses, and television courses so that people who have full-time jobs or who live far from a college or university have the opportunity to get more education. Many post-secondary students are adults who seek to "improve themselves" by learning more. "Non-formal" educational opportunities in the form of "workshops," seminars, or training programs are widely available. Through them people can learn about a huge array of topics, from being a better parent to investing money more wisely to behaving more assertively. Rehabilitation. Except in extreme cases where it would clearly be futile. efforts are made to rehabilitate people who have lost some physical capacity as a result of injury or illness. A person who "learned to walk again" after a debilitating accident is widely admired. Rehabilitation is not just for the physically infirm, but for those who have failed socially as well. Jails, prisons, and detention centers are intended as much to train inmates to be socially useful as they are to punish them. A widespread (but not universally-held) assumption is that people who violate the law do so more because of adverse environmental conditions such as poverty than because they themselves are evil individuals. Belief in democratic government. We have already discussed some of the assumptions that underlie the American belief that a democratic form of government is best - assumptions about individualism, freedom, and equality. Another assumption is that people can make life better for themselves and others through the actions of governments they choose. Voluntarism. It is not just through the actions of government or other formal bodies that life can be improved, but through the actions of citizen volunteers as well. Many foreign visitors are awed by the array of activities Americans support on a voluntary basis : parent-teacher organizations in elementary and secondary school, community "service clubs" that raise money for worthy causes, organizations of families that play host to foreign students, "clean-up, paint-up, fix-up" campaigns to beautify communities, organizations working to preserve wilderness areas, and on and on. Education campaigns. When Americans perceive a social problem they are likely (often on a voluntary basis) to establish an "educational campaign" to "make the public aware" of the dangers of something and induce people to take preventative or corrective action. Thus there are campaigns concerning smoking, drugs, alcohol, child abuse, and many specific diseases. Self-improvement. Americans assume themselves to be improvable. We have already mentioned their participation in various educational and training programs. Mention should also be made of the array of "how-to" books Americans buy, and the number of group activities they join in order to make themselves "better." Through things they read or group they join Americans can stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, lose weight, get into better physical condition, manage their time more effectively, manage their money more effectively, become better at their jobs, and improve themselves in countless other ways. "Where there's a will, there's a way," the Americans say. People who want to make things better can do so if only they have a strong enough motivation. 1. How do Americans regard human nature? ______________________________________________________________________ Section IV Read the following passage and then circle the best alternative for each question. 1. Being a Learner Being aware of good study habits, and putting them into practice, is crucial factor in the determination of your success. Every tertiary student should aim to become a conscious, independent learner. Exactly what does this mean for you? And how to you go about achieving this ideal state? Quite simply, it means that you are in control of actively planning your learning situation. You can take marvelous notes, read your handouts and attend every lecture, but all of this will amount to very little unless you become an organised student. You will benefit greatly from following these steps: study in periods of between 40-60 minutes. After each period of study, have a short break in which you do something you enjoy - watch TV; listen to music. Set your self a definite task or goal before each session. Be lively in your learning. Repeat points aloud, make notes, highlight important points, summarise main ideas and concentrate on your goals. Spend the last few minutes of your study time typing to recall the main issues of the topic. This recall is very important and needs to be repeated at later sessions. Try to over learn your material. Even if you feel sure you know everything you need to know about a topic and you can recall this knowledge, continue to go over and over and it in subsequent sessions. Now read the following anecdote about one successful learner. 2. Happy Ending # 1: The boy who didn't drop his bundle Timothy did all the right things. He submitted his Prehistory assignments on time, went to classes religiously, took notes and read widely. In fact, he was a lecturer's delight. He started his exam preparation a good month before the semester ended and had done a preliminary review of all his subjects by then. During swot vac he rewrote, recited and revised - working through all the memory tricks for recall during his exams. Lucky he did. Another student also recognised his talent for organised study and quality work. On Thursday of swot week Timothy decided to have a coffee in the library coffee shop. He left his bags outside, had his vienna, and emerged ready for another couple of hours of study. No bag! Panic, fright, horror, shock. Not daunted he sat down right there and then and recreated all his condensed notes from memory. What he did was test his memory under highly stressful conditions similar to exam conditions. He was able to reconstruct nearly all his notes and only had to check references wherever there were small gaps. He passed with two A's a B and a C. The moral: Studying consistently will always stand you in good stead in an emergency. And now?: He's doing Honours and looks set to continue into post-graduate study. 1. Article no. 1 "Being a learner" would normally be found in
2. The aim of the first article is to
3. Which of the following steps is a student not advised to follow?
4. What does the title of the anecdote 'The boy who didn't drop his bundle' mean?
5. Timothy's case is an example of a student who
6. What do you think the expression
Section V Read the following passage and then circle best alternative for each question.
1. Pottery is the name given to
2. The early making of pottery ..........
3. A foot-operated potter's wheel was in use in Egypt ..........
4. The three ways of making pottery articles are ..........
5. The time taken for firing pottery varies according to ..........
6. The glaze on a pottery vessel ..........
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