Focus On Reading And Writing

Focus on Reading and Writing is a new book by veteran author team Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell and in collaboration with two reading specialists. It provides thorough, integrated instruction on reading and writing essays and includes several effective features to help students make the connection between the reading and writing processes.

~LONGMAN

NorthSta r: Focu s on Readin g and Wriling, High Inrerrnedia rc

© 199 8 by Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

All rights reserved

N o pa rt of this pu blicatio n may be reprod uced,

stored in a retrieva l system , or tra nsmitted

in any form or b any means, electronic, mechan ical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without the prior permission of the publisher.

Addison Wesley Lo ngman, 10 B an k Street, White Pla ins, l'\Y 10606

Edito r a l directo r: Allen Ascher

Senior acquisitio ns editor: Louisa Hcllcgcrs

Directo r of design and productio n: Rhea Banker

Develo pment editor: Penny Laporte

Production man ager: Ma rie Mctcamara

Managing editor: Linda Moser

Senior production editor: Lynn Conrrucci

Man ufactu ring su pervisor: Edith Pullman

Pho to resea rch: Diana No n

Cove r design: Rhea B a nker

Cover illustration: Ro bert Delaunay's Circular Forms, Sun No. 2,

1912 -1 13 Giraudo niArt Reso urce, N Y L&M Services B V Amsterdam 970902

Text design and co mpositio n: D elgado Design, Inc.

Text cr edits : See page xiii

Phot o and art credits: See page x iv

Library of Co gress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

English, Andrew K.

Norch'ear : Focus on reading and writing , high

intermediate/Andrew K English, Laura Monahon English

p em - (No rt hSta r!

ISBN 0-20 1-84669-1 (pbk.)

L English language-Text boo ks fo r foreign spea kers 2 Reading comprehension-Problems, exercises, ere 3 Repo rt wr iting- Pro blems, exercises, etc I English, Andrew II "ide III Series.

Fo r our parents who raised us with booksandfor our litrlemasterpieceof calipedia,Sam.

Introd uction

61

111721

Peeping Tom Jou rnalism, Nancy Day

Focus on Bomb Suspect Brings Tears and a Plea, Rick Bragg

Passive VoiceTopi c Sentences

Reading One: Crimebusting : \Vhat Works? Methods of

Punishing.John DiConsiglio,

J mes Anderson, and PatriciaSmith 3

ReadingTwo: Michael F ay's Caning,Sarah Fenske

Theme: Medicine

Reading One: Dyin g for Th eir Beliefs: Christian

Scient ist Parents on Trial in Girl's Death,

Reading Two: No rman Cousins's Laugh Therapy 63

v

THE CALM AFTER TH E STORM 77

Theme:Natural DisastersReading One: M y F irst Night A / on e in th e Caribbean ,

Read ing Two : T he Story o f an E yewitness,Jack London 8

Theme:ConservationReading One: St Paul Co u ple Give Com pos ting a Worm

Reading Two: Eartbship H om es Catch O ld Ti res

Grammar: Advisab ilityand Obligation in the Pa t 112

Theme:Philant hrop yReadin g One: j ustin L eb o , Phillip Hoose 127Readin gTwo: Mandato ry Vo lunt eer ing 13 4

Theme: EducationReading One: Te a c h i n at Ho m e Hi s Ne w High

wit h I n t erne t ,Dorothy l.ep o wska 155

Reading Two: T he Flat T h e Ha ,Isaac Asimov 1 9

Re ding One: Poor Vi sitor,Jamaica Kincaid

Reading Two: Nosta lgia Virgilio D av il a

Gra mmar: Past Perfect

Style: Comparisonsand Contras ts

247252

231Theme: Technology

Reading One: I n si d e th e H o se, Bill Gates

Reading Two: Th oreau's Ho m e HeneyDavidThoreau

Grammar: Futur e Progressive

Style: Outlining

I T AKE IT OR lE A VE IT

N orthSta ris an innovative four-level, integrated

skillsseriesfor le rners ofEnglish as a Second

or Fo reign Language.The seriesis divided into

two strands:listening/speak ing and

reading/wr iting.There arc four books in each

strand, takingstudents from the Basicto the

Advanced level.The two books at each level

explore differentaspectsofthesame contempo

-rarythemes, which allows for reinforcement of

both voca bulary and grammati cal structures

Each stran dand each book can also functi on

independentl y asa skillscourse builton high

-interest themati c con tent

N or t hStaris designedto work alongside

Addison Wesley Lon gman 's Fo cus o n Grammar

series, and students arereferr ed directly to

F ocus on Gramma rfor furthe rpracticeand

derailed grammatical explanations

N or t hStariswritt en for students with a

cade-mic as wellas perso nal language goals,for

those who want to learn English whilee

xplor-ing en joyable, intellectuallychalle ngingthemes

TheNorthStar series grows out ofour experi

ence as teachers and curriculum designers,

current researc h in second-lang uage acquisition

and pedag gy,as wellas our beliefsaboutlanguage teaching Itis based on fveprinciples.Principle One:In language learni ng, makingmeaning is all-imp ortant The more profou ndly

students arcstimulatedintellectuallyand

emotio allyby what goes on in class,the morelang uage they will use and retai n One waythat classroomteachers canengage students in

making meaning is by organ izing languagestudy thematically

We havetried to identify themesthatarc

up-to-date,sophisticated, and varied in somelighter,somemore serious -on ideas and

tone-issues ofwide concern The forty themesin

N orthStar provide stimulating topics for the

re dings and the listening selections, including

whypeople like dangerous sports, the effect of

food on mood, an Olympic swimmer's fightagainst AIDS,experimental punishments forjuvenileoffenders,people's relationships withtheircars,philanthropy, emotionalintelligence,privacy in theworkplace, and the influenc of

arts education on brain develo pment

Each corresponding unit of theintegratedskillsbooks explorestwo distinct topicsrelated to a single theme as thechart below

ilustrates

ThemeInsects

Personality

Listening/S peak ing Topic

Offbeatprofessor failsat

breedin pests,thenreflec ts

o ex efJence

Shyness, a personaland

culturalview

Reading/Writing Topic

Extractadapted

Principle Two: Second-language learn ers,

par icularlyadults, needand want to learn both

theform and content ofthe language.To

accomplsh this,i is usefultointegrate

lang uage skillswiththe study ofgrammar,

vocabulary,and Americanculture

In N orthStar,we haveintegrated the skillsin

two stran ds: listening/speaking and reading!

writing Further, each thematicunit integrates

the studyofa grammati calpoint wih related

v cabularyand cultural information When

skills are integrated, language useinside ofthe

classroom morecloselymimics language use

outsideof theclassroom.Thismot ivates

students At thesame time, thefocus can shift

back and forth from what is said to h w it is

said to therelatio ship between the two

Students are apt to use more of their senses,

more of themselves.What goeso in thecl

ass-roomcan alsoappealto a greater variety of

learning styles Gradua lly,the integra ted-skils

ap roach narrowsthe gap between the ideas

an feelings students want toexpress in speak

-in an wr tingand their present level of

Englsh proficiency

The link betwe nthe listening/speakingand

read ing/w riing strands isclose enough to allow

studentsto explorethethemes and review

gram mar an reinforce vocabulary,yet it is

distinct enough to sustain their interest Also,

language levelsand grammar points in

N orthStar arekeyed toAdd isonWesley

Longman's F oc u s on G rammar series

Principle Three:Both teachers and stu ents

needto beactivelearn ers.Tea hers must

enco urage students to go beyond whatever level

theyhavereached

With thispr nciple inmind, we have tried to

makethe exercisescreative, active, and varied

Several a tivi ies call for consideredopinion and

criticalthinking Also, the exerc ises offer

students manyopportunities for in ividual

reflection, pair- an small-group learning,as

well as out-of-classassignments for review an

rese rch An answer keyis prnted on perf

o-rated pages in the back of each book so the

teacher or students can removei A teacher'smanual,which accompanieseach book, featuresideas and tip s for tailor n themat erial toindi-vidualgroupsof students, planning the lessons,

managingtheclass, and assessingstudents'progres

Principle Four:Feedback is essential for

lan uage learn ers and tea hers Ifstudents are

to become betterable to expressthemselves in

English,theyneed a responseto both whatthey

are ex ressingand how they are expressingit

N orthStar's exercises offer muliple opportnitiesfor oralan written feedba ck from fellow

u-students and from theteacher An mber of

open-ended opinion an in ference exercisesinvitestu entsto share an discuss their

answers.In informaton gap , fieldwork,and

presentation activities,students must present

an solicitinformation and opinionsfrom theirpeers as wellas membersofthei communiti es

Throughout theseactiviies, te chers may offerfeedback on theforman content of students'language, sometimes on thespot an sometimes

via au io/video recordings or notes

PrincipleFive:The q alityof relationships

among the students and between thestudents

and teacher is impo rtant, particularly in a

languageclass where students arc asked to

express themselveson issues an ide s

The information an activities in No rthStar

promotegen uineinter action, acceptanceof

differences,and authentic communication Bybuilding skills an exploring ideas,the exerciseshelp students participat ein discussions and

wr te essays of an increasingly more complex

and sophisticated nature

DESIGN OF THE UNITS

For clarityan ease ofuse, the listening/speak

-ing an reading/writing strandsfollow the same

unitoutlinegiven below Each uni contains

f om 5 to 8 hoursof classroommaterial

Te chersc n customizethe units b assigning

someexercises for homework and/ or skipping

others.Exercisesin sect ions 1- 4 are essential

forcomprehension ofthetopic, whileteache rs

maywant to select among theact ivitiesin

sections5- 7

1.Approaching the Topic

A warm-up , theseactivitiesintro duce

students to the general context for listening

orreadingandget them personally

connected to thetopic.Typically,students

might react to a visual image, describea

personalexperience, or give an opinion

orally or in writing

2.Preparingto Listen/Prepa ring to Read

Inthis section, students are introduced to

information an language to help them

comprehend the specifictape or text they

will study They mightread an react to

a paragrap h framingthe topic, prioritize

factors, or take a gene ral-knowledge quiz

and share information In the vocabula ry

section, stu ents work with words an

expression s selected to help them with

comprehension

3.Listening OnelReadin gOne

This sequence offour exercisesg ides

stu ents to listen or read with understa ndi ng

and enjoy ment by practicing the skillsof

(a) prediction, (b)comprehension of main

ideas, (c)comprehension ofdetails, an

(d)inference.In activitiesof increasing detail

an complexity, students learn to graspand

interpret meaning The sequenceculminates

in aninference exercisethat gets students to

listen an read between thelines

4.Listening Two/Reading Two

Here stude nts work witha tapeor textthat

buidson ideas from the first lstening/read

-ing.This second tape ortext contrasts with

thefirst in viewpoint, genre, and/or tone

Activities askstudents to explicitly relate the

two pieces, consider consequences, dis

tin-guish andexpress points of view.Intheseexercises,students can attain adeeper und er

sta ndingof the topic

5.Reviewing Language

These exercises help students explore,review,

an play with language from b th of theselections Usingthethematiccontext,

st udents focus on language:pronu nciat ion,

word forms,prefixesand suffixes, word

domains,idiom atic expressions, analogies

The listen ing/speaking strand stressesoralexercises,whilethe reading/writing stran

focuses on written respon ses

6.Skillsfor Expression

Here students practice related gramma r

poin ts across the theme in both topics

The grammar is practicedorallyin the l

sten-ing/speaking strand ,and in writingin the

reading/wr iting strand Foradditionalpra

-rice, teachersc nturn to Addison Wesley

Longman'sFocus on Grammar, to which

NorthStaris keyed by levelan grammar

points.In theStylesection, students practice

functions (listening/speaking) or rhetoric l

styles (eading/writing)that preparethem to

express ideasona hig er level.With ineach

unit, students are led from controlled to freer

practice ofproductive skills

7 On Your Own

These activitiesask students toapplythecontent , language, grammar, and style they

havepracticed inthe unit.The exercises elicit

a higher levelof speaking or writingthan

students were capableofat the start of the

unit Speaking topics include roleplays,surveys, presentato s, and experiments

Writin topicsinclude paragr aphs,letters,

summaries,an acad emic essays

In Fieldwork, the second part ofOn Your

Own, students go outside of theclassro om,

using their knowledge and skills to gatherdata

from person al interviews, librar yresearch ,

and telephone or Internet research Theyreport

and reflect on theda ta in oral or written

presentati on sto the class

AN INVITATION

Wethink of a good rexrbookas a musicalscore

or a moviescript: It tells you the moves and

roughly how quick lyand in wha tsequence to

make them But until youand your stu dents

bring it to life, a hook is silentand static,a

mere possibility.We ho pe tha t Nor thStar

orients ,guides,and interests you as tea chers

Itis our hope that the Nor th Star seriesstim

-ulates yo ur srudcnrs' thinking, which in (urn

stimulates their langu age learni ng, and that

the >' willhave man y opport un ities to reflect o

the viewpoints of journalists, commenta to rs,

researchers, other students ,and people in the

community further,we hope that No rthStar

guides them to develop their own viewpoint on

the many and varied themesencompassed b

thisserie s

We welcome y ur comments and questions

Please send them to usat the publisher

frances Boyd and CarolNumr ich, Edito rs

are wov en into every pa ge of this boo k.To

thesepeopl e we owe great thank s.First, toAllen Ascher for bringing this projectto usand ha ving confidence in us Second, to Carol

Numrich, our sage, for her outstandingpatience, expert ise, and most impo rta ntly herunending suppo rt and enthusiasm Words trulycannot express what a joy and privilege it was

to work with her.Third, tooureditor Pen nyLaporte for her humor in the late stages of edit-ing (when humor is a requirement)and for herdedicati on to her craft Wewou ld also like tothank Diana Non for her enthu siasticsupport

and help resear ch ingthe artscript in theeleventh hour Last, but by all mea ns not least,

we owe a grea t dea l of than ksto our students

at Roxbury Com munity Collegeand BostonUniversityfor their feedback,coopera tion, andinsp iration during the piloting process

AKEand L~lE

Te x t C redits

F or perm ission to u se the selection s r eprinted in t his book , he aut hors a re g ra tefu l to

t he fo llowing p ublishe rs a nd copy right holders:

Pa g e 6, " Peeping T om J ournalism, Mfrom Sensatio nal TV-Trash or Jou rnalism ?by

N ancy D ay R epri nt ed by permissio n of E nslow P ubli s hers Page 11, "Fo cus o n Bomb

Sus pect B rings T ea r s and a Pl ea," by R ick Bragg f rom The New York Times,A ugust 2 7 ,

1 996 Re prin t e d b y p ermission of T he New Yor k Times Pa ge 3 2, "C nm ebusting: W hat

W or ks? M et hods of P uni s h i ng , " from Scholastic Update, Septem ber 1 5, 19 95 i ssue

Copyri ght © 1 995 b y S cholastic In c R eprinted b p ermission o f Sc holastic In c Pa g e 39 ,

"M ich a el F ay's C aning," o riginally titled "Ne xt Corres pondents o n F ay," f o mThe I

Plai n Dealer, p age 2 E, M ay 3 0, 1 94 R eprint e d w ith pe rmission f rom T h e P lain D e al er

© 1 99 4 All righ ts r es er v ed Pa ge 5 , " Dying fo r Th eir B eliefs," edit ed from th e o riginal I

t ext writt en by J e ffrey Go o from T he St Petersburg Times,A pril 9, 198 9 R e p ri n te d

wi th permi ssion by T h e S P etersburg Times Pa ge 8 0, "11y Fi rst N ight Al one in th e

Cari bbean," fro mThe Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Ga rd a M arquez,

transl ated b R andolp h H o gan T ranslation cop yright © 1 986 b y A lfred A K nopf, I n c I

R ep r inte d by p ermission o f the pu blis her P ag e 8 4, " T he S tory of an E yewitness," b y

J a ck Lon don from Colliers,M ay 5, 1906 P ag e 1 02 , "S t P aul Co uple Gi ve C ompos t ing I'

a Wo rm Welcome," o riginally t itled "Sr P aul Co uple Give W orms a Wa rm Welcome,M

by C huck Ha ga from The Star Tribune,M inneapolis- St P aul R eprinte d wi th

p ermission of T he Star T ribune, M inneapolis -St P aul P age 107, " Earthship Ho mes

Ca tch O ld T ire s o n R eboun d ," by Eva Fergu son from The Calgary Herald,D ecember

1 2, 1 994 R e p rinte d wit h perm iss i on of T he Calgary H erald Pa g e 12 8, "J ustin L eb o, "

fro mIt's Our World, Toob P hill ip H oose C opyright © 1 993 by P hillip Ho ose By

perm ission o f L ittle, B rown a nd Co mpany Pa g e 13 5, " Some T a k e th e Tim e Gl adly ," by

Me nsah Dean from The Wa shington Times,M ay 14 , 199 7 R ep ri nte d wi th pe rmission

fr om Th e W as h ington T im es P ag e 136, " Ma ndatory V olunteering for High Sc hool

D i pl o ma Nor a G ood I d e ," from The Sun-Sen tinel, November 8 , 1 996 Re printed w ith

perm ission from Th e Su n-Sentinel, F o rt L a ud erdale, Flor ida P ag e 1 55, "Tea ching at

H ome H i s New H ig h w ith I nt e rn et," b D orothy lep k owska fr omThe Evening

Standard,J an u ary 15, 19 96 R e pr in t ed w i th permissio n from t h e Asso ciated

Newspapers, Lr d., Lo ndon, E ng l and Page 1 0 , "T he Fun T he y H ad," from Earth I

Room Enough, byI a ac A sirnov, Copyrig ht © 1 5 b Isa ac As imov Used by perm

is-sion o f D o b l e d ay , a d ivisio n o f B antam Do ubleday D e ll P ub li shing Group , Inc Page

1 0 , p re-reading letter by M icheil Sco tt Thir d R e p rinted wit h per mission of t he

K ennedy L ibra r y a nd M useu m, B o s to n, Ma ssachusett s Page 1 85, "Fi rst in Spa ce," fro m

Moon Shot, by AlanS hepard a nd D eke S layton C op yright © 1 99 4 by T urn er

P u blis h ing R epr i nted wi th perm ission of T urne r P ublishing , In c Pa ge 19 1, "Pink Sock s

and j cllo," by Sha nnon L uc i d R epr inted w ith p ermission o f Na tional A eronautics and

S pace A dminist r ation P ag e 2 12, " Poor Vi sitor," b y J amaica Kinca id fromLucy.

R eprinted w ith per mission of F arr ar, S tra us & G iroux, Pu blishers I nc P ag e 21 7,

"Nost algia," by Vi rgilio D avila, fromO hras Completes,Insnru ta de Cu lrura

Pu ertor riquena, Sa n Jua n, P uerto Ri co, 1964 R eprinted b p ermission of t he e ditor.

Pa g e 2 36 , "I nside th e Ho use," f rom "P lugged in at Home" (Newsw eek,N ovember 2 7,

1995), from The Road Aheadb Bi ll G at e s Copyrig ht © 1 995 b y W illiam H G a t es III.

Used by p erm is si o n o f V iking P enguin , a d ivision of Penguin P utna m, Inc Pa ge 24 2 ,

" Thorea u's H ome," b H enry D T horeau, from Walden Text is re printed fro m a f irst

e dition o fWalden,or Life in the Woods 1854, published by T icknor an d Fie lds , B os t on.

xiii

Ph oto and A rt C re dit s

P a g e 1, R ue ter slWin Mc n amee, Ar c h ive P hotos P age 3, D avid Shopper P hotogr ap hy , Inc., St ock B oston P age 6 , Dusa n Petric ic Pa ge 2 6, D u s a n P etri ck P age 2 , R o

Chironna Pa g e 3 , © B a r ri e M agu i re P a ge 33, repr inted w ith pe rmission of Macmillan

US A, a Si mon & Sch uste r M acmill an Co mpa ny, fromM acmillan Visual Alma nac,B r uce

S Glassman, Editor , T ext by Jenny T ess ar Co mputer G raphics by D avid C B ell A

B lackbirch P ress Book Co pyright © 1 996 by B la ck b irch P ress Pa g e 3 8, © Da vid W oo,

St ock B oston Pa g e 55, M iche al N ewmanlPhotoE dit Pa ge 63 , c omplim e nts of W i s consin

C enter for F ilm a nd Th eater R easc ar c h P ag e 7 7, Photos co ur tesy of Ame rican R ed Cro ss P age 79, len Shalans k y P age 8 4 , Brow n Br o thers, Sterl ing, P ennsyvania P ag e

97 , P hoto c ourtesy o fR ecycling T o daym agazine P a g e 1 02 , Dusan P erricic P ag e 10 6 ,

A Stegme yer P h ot o r aphy P h ot o cou rt esy of So lar S urv i va l Archirecru r e Pa g e 12 3 ,

Frank Fournier/Contact P ress I mages P age 1 26 , Len Sha lansky P a ge 12 8, from It 's O ur WorldToo ! b Ph i lli p H oo se Co py rig ht © 1 993 b P hillip Ho ose Photo r eprinted w ith permiss ion from Litt le, B rown an d C ompan y P ag e 1 53 , © P at C lear

P hotographylPhotoEdit P a g e 1 62 , © B arrie M aguire P age 1 9, co u r tesy o f N ASA,

L ynd on B J o n so n Space Ce nte r P age 1 91, Newsweekgra ph ic by Dixo n R ohr a nd

C hristoph B lumrich © 1 996, Newsweek , In c A ll r ights reserved R ep r i nt ed by pe sion Pa g e 2 7, (l ef t)G us Bo wer/Compliments of L \1 Gj (midd le)pr inted wi th per missio n

rmis-f ro m R o ert W ootmingt on, phot ographe r;(right)distribu ted by l os An geles TIm es

S yndicate P hoto co urtesy of F a rr ar, Str aus a nd Gi roux P ag e 2 I I , c our tesy of th e S t atue

o f Libe rty Na tional M onument P a g e 2 1, © B ill Layne P a g e 2 33, D on P un c ha tz , fi rst

ap pea re d in B oy 's Lif emagazine Pa g e 235 , Cou rtes y o f l ntergraph P age 2 42 , courtesy

of th e Th r e u Societ y.

CONSEQ l!JENCES

n I A P P R O A C H I N G

A PREDICTING

1.look at the photograph and the title of the unit Take some notes about

the picture.What does itshow? What is happening? How do the

people in the picture feel? What do you think "Untruth and

Consequences" refers to? What do you think this unit willbe about?

2.Work in a small group Discuss the following questions:Where do

people learn about news? Who decides what is news and what is not

news? What news source do you most frequently use-newspapers,

magazines, television, radio? Why?

1

,

U N I T 1

B SHARING INf O RM ATI ON

Work in a small group Rea d the (ollowing q uotations des c ribing news What do )'OU tbinh they mean? Circle the most appropriate interpretatio ns for quotes 1and 2 T hen write your own interpretation of quotes3and 4 Discuss your answers with the group Do you agree with any of these

quotations? Why or why no t?

1."Whena dog bies a man,that isn r news;hut whena man bites adog, thatisnews." - Leo Rosten, politicalscientist andauthor

a News is only aboutexciting or unusua levents

b News is only interesting when ananimal is invo lved

2 "A dogfight in Brooklyn [New York]is bigger than a revolutionin

China." - Broo klyn Ea gle(newspape r)

a.Newsabout theUnitedStates is always morenew swo rth than internationalnews

b.People are more interestedin localnewsthan intern at ional newsevenwhen theinternationalnews is more newsworthy

3 "Goo d newsisn't news Bad news isnew s."

- Henry Luce,fou nder of Time Magazine

This means:

4 "Whatisnews ?Youknow what news is? News iswhat(yo u)news

directo rsinterpret it as News is wha twe at CNN interpretit as.Thepeop le of this countrysee the news thatwe think theyoughta' see.And

quite frankly,a lot of that decision is geared to what'sgonna?keep

them interested ,keepthem at yourstation."

- Ted Turn er, fo under of CNN(Cable News Network)

This mean s:

1ol< ghla:ought to

go nna sgoing

TO READ

A BACKGROUND

oRead this information.

News is everywherean serves many different functions.The newsgives instant coverage ofimportant events News alsoprovidesfacts andinformation Inadd ition, newsis business: a wayto make money by sell-ingadvertisingand/or newspapers an magazines.Sometimes newsis

propaganda ordisinformation: a wayto control a populat ion But wha ever news is,i is allarou nd us.You can't escape it Everydaywe are

t-b mbarded byinformation :newspapers,magazines,television, and theInternet

"News" d esnot always mean somethingthatisunquestion ably true.Althoughthe newsseemsto be basedon fact s,thesefacts are interp retedand reported the way themedia choosesto report them.For example,some information that appearsas news is re llyonlyspeculationortheoriesformed bythereporter Furthermore, manyjournalistsandreporterssensationalizeordramatizea news eventin order to makeastory more interesting Unfortunately,sensatio alsm often bends thetruth andcauses anguish to thepeople it victimizes.Therefore,asconsumers ofnews wemust learnto thinkcriticallyaboutthe news,themedia,and what the truth is

D UN tT 1

8 The news functi o ns in many different ways In yo ur ex perience, can

y o u reca ll the news functioning in any of th e following w ays?

Complete th e chart with your ow n exa m ples Share yo ur exam ples in

• ,

••

••

-if -To makemoney forthe •: - - - - - - - - - - - -

-n ewpaper or r ad io/te levis io n :

- - -if- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-To se nsatio naliz e e vents :

• • ,

•, , ,

B VO C A B U LAR Y FO R COM PREH EN SI O N

W ork with a pa rtne r and gu ess t h e m e an i ng of th e v oc abulary wo rds

U se yo ur dic ti onary i f nece ssary Ch eck ( V') t h e cat egory o r c ategories

y ou as sociate w i th e ach w ord T h e fi rst o ne has b een do ne fo r yo u

V O CA BULA RY W O RDS P RINT MED IA T E L EV I SI O N P O PL E I N TH E NEW S

~-Affiliates -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -·: : :, - - -~ -~ -· , , , ," -} -.

-r -r -r - · · · • , • • ," .

- - -r -r - · · · , , , , , - r -

- - - · · , , r - -r - , , , , - _r - - - -r - - - - -, , - r - - - - - -r - - - - ~ - - - , , .

- -. -~ -· · · · -r, , """" -r -~ -

-R ep rter sconsta ntlystr ugglewithwhat and h w much totell.

Sometimes the facts are clear.Other times, journalistsmustrelyon

theirown judgment

2 Aretiredminister-in a smalltowndoesnot return fro ma fishing

trip Policefind his carparked about halfway tothe lake.Itis locked

and undamaged Ini theyfind ahalf-eatenham sandwic h, fishing

tackle,a gunwitho e shellfired, and a copy ofP enthouse

1Peeping T om;a p e r son who secret ly wat ches o thers

minister a per son w ho perfo rms re li gio us funct ions in a P ro t e t a nt ch urch

(amagazinethat containspicturesof naked women) Theminister ismissing.You'r ethereporterand your story isdue.

3 What do you report?Supposethe minister just went fora walk?Do

you risk embarrassmentand ment ion themagazine?Isrhe gun impor

tan t ?Should yo u proposeanytheor ies abo ut what might have

happ ened?

• The reporter who actuallyfaced thesedecisionsdecided tomention

the gun, thesandwi ch,thefishingtackle, and the conditionofthecar,but not themagazineor anyspeculation Theminister's body was laterfound He had beenkilled by a hitchh iker,who had left the magazine

in theminister's car

j In theold days, reporters knewpoliticians (includ ing presidents)

who slept around moviestars who weregay and publicfigures who

useddrugs orabusedalcohol They justkeptit tothemselves Now atleast inpart because the public seems to have an endless hunger for it,

reporters sometimescover these aspects ofcelebriti es' livesmorethan

any other

Ii Some of theinterest canbe justifiedon thebasisthat character

affects how people perform theirjobs.But whatifthe informati onisn't relevant?For example, does rhcpublic need to know thata sena-

toris gay?\Vhen a famou s person dies,docsthepublichave a right to

all thedetails?Shouldthe publicknowwhich publicfigures arc

unfaithfulto theirspouses?Are thesethings weneed to know or just

things we want to know?

1 WhenGennifer Flowersalleged a twelve-year affairwith PresidentRill Clinton, shefirst sold the story to thetabloid S tar. CNN reported

the story and so did thenetworks and the major newspapersand news

magazines.PeterJennings,anchor for ARC's3"WorldNews Tonight,"

was against broadcasting the Flowers story without furtherrepo rting

by ABCcorrespondents, butsays, "it was madeclearto [me) that

ifyo u didn't go with the story, every[ABC]affiiatein thecountrywould look up and say,'What the hell's going onin thisplace? Don't

theyknow a story when they secit ?' "

8 Somestoriesreceivesuchwide visibility thatto ignorethemisto

"playostrichman," says ShelbyCoffey,editorof T he L os An geles Times."Yo uhave togive your readers some perspective on theinfor-mationthey are getting."

9 Scrutinymaybe the priceone pays for fame.But whatabout

rela-tives of celebrities?Are they fair gametoo? And what about the average person ?

1 When Sara JaneMoore pointed agunat President Ford, a man in

thecrowd knockedher hand, deflecting the shot.Theman, Oliver

W.Sipple,became an instant hero.He wasthirty-three years old and a

Marine veteran.What else did the public want or need to know abo ut

A C : America n Broadcas ting Companies, Inc.; a ma jo r relevisicn network in the United Stares

· U N IT 1

him?Initial reports didnot ment ion Sipple'ssexualorientation.Butwhen a San Fran cisco news colum nist said that local gayle ders werepro ud of Sipple'sactions ,oth er papers beganto rcporrit Sipp lesuedthe columnist and severalnewspa persfor invad ing his privacy.Hesaidthathe suffered "great mental anguish, em barrassment and humilia-tion " Lawyers arguedthat by becominginvolved in an event ofworldwi deimportance, Sipp lehad given up his rightto privacybeca use the public has alegitimate interest in his activity

11 Rosa Lop ez was a maidworking quietly and anonymouslyuntilshebeca me a keywitnessin the 0.] Simpso ntrial "Suddenly,she wasthefocusof inte nse scru tiny.Lopez was houn ded by cameras and

repor ers everywhere she went Her every move wasanalyzed.She

eventuallyreturnedto her nativecountry toescape the pressure,only

tofind that themedia followed her there

11 How many witnesses willcome forward inthe futu re,knowi ngwha tkindof treatment'awaits them ? Do peoplewho accidentally fnd them-selves involvedin such high -profle cases ha verights,or do we deserve

to know everything aboutthem ?

• o.J.S impso n is a fa mous forme r foo tball p laye r actor and sportscas te r w ho was accused o f kill ing his e x-wife and a ma le f riend of h ers H is tri al was fo llowed dosely by t hem edia H e ev entu ally w as

fo und no t gu ilty in cr im in a l co urt b ur gui lty i n civil court

B READING FOR MAI N IDEAS

" Peeping T om J ournalism " can be di vided in to four main i deas What does th e r eading sa y a bout ea ch i dea? Circl e the l etter o f the sentence

t hat gives t he best summary.

1.Repor ting of facts

a.Journalists sometimes use theirown judgmen t and leave out certainfacts when reporting a story

b.Jou rnalistsusually report allthe facts tha t theyk ow about a story

2.Repo rting about famous people

a.In the old days,certainfacts aboutcelebrities wereheld back fromthe public.This is not always thecase today

b In the old days,certainfacts about celebritieswere held back fro mthe public.Thisis still the case today

3.Choosing to report all stories

a The decision to report or not report a story isbased only o thereporter'sjudgment

b.The decision to report or not report a story is influenced by manyfactors Therepo rter'sopinion isjust one ofthese factors

4.Rightto privacy

a All peopleagree that the pub lichas a right to knowabout a famo sperson 'slife

b.Some people believe thatyo ulose the right to privacy when youarc

famous Others disag ree

Find examples or d etails t he a uthor uses to s upport eac h of t he four mai n i deas Comple te th e chart with the supp orting details The first one has been d one for you

1 Reportingof facts case of theretired minister

IIIU N IT 1 •

D READI N G BETW EE N THE LINES

T he r eading r aises so me int eresting q uestions abo ut o ne's r ight t o

p rivacy W ould th e au th or a greeord isagree with e ach of the foll owing

s tatements ? Chec k ( )yo ur an sw er ( N ot ice t hat th e auth or a ddresses

e ach of th ese i ssues but d oes no t ac tually s tate he r o pinion N everth eless,

th rough caref ul read ing i t is p ossible t o i nfer what h er opini on i s.)

Wh en y o u are fin ished, d iscuss yo ur a nsw ers w ith a p artner I f n ecessary,

re fer ba ck to th e t ext t o supp ort y our r eason s for b elieving t h e aut hor

w ould a gree o r di sagree wi th each s tateme nt.

1.Thepublichasthe rght to know about thesexual preferences ofpolitician s

writeragrees_ _ writer disagrees _ _

2.Whena famouspersondies,the p blichas a right to knowall thedetailsof theperson'slifeand death

wr iter agrees_ _ writer disagrees_ _

3.The publicshould know which publicfgures are unfaithful to theirspouses

writer agrees_ _ writer disagrees _ _

4 Anaverage person who suddenlybecomes thefocus ofunwanted

mediaattenti on hasno right topr vacy

writ eragrees_ _ wrier disag rees_ _

S Itwas easier tobea reporter in "theold days."

writer agrees _ _ writer disagrees _ _

6 TheGcnn iferFlowers storysh uld not have be n covered b CNN

and theothermajor networks

writeragrees_ _ writ er disagrees_ _

U N T RU T H A N D CON SEQUENCE SIII

A EX PA N DIN G TH ETO PI C

B efore yo u r ead " Focus o n B om b S uspect B rings Tea rs a nd a Ple a," r ead thi s b ackgro und in formation a bou t the Rich ard J ew ell c ase Wo rk in a

s mall gro up a nd dis cuss the qu estions t hat fo llow.

OnJuly 27, 1996,duringone of the first evening celebrations held attheOlymp icsin Atlanta, Georgia,a bomb explodedinCente nnial OlympicPark.' The bombkilled one per son and injured 111 others Richard

Jewell,a secur ity guard at the parkwho discovered theb mband helped

numerous peopletosa fety,was at first conside red a hero ofthe tragicincide nt La ter, he was accus ed of putt ing thebombthere.Themedia

then surro unded himand scrutinized hisevery action : past and present.Theyleftnothingabou t hispersonallife unto uched He was latercleared

of any suspicions, buthislifewould never be thesame

1.I ny ur opinion, was i legitima tefor the repor ters toscrutinizeandmake speculations about Richard Jewell?

2.Ho w sho uld the media havecond ucted theinves tigation?

ICent ennial Ol ympic P ark:a l ar ge p ar k an d ce nt ral mee ting p lac e l oc a te d in Atl anta , Georgi a, si te o f

t h 1 996 Sum me r O lympic G ames

By Rick B r a gg ( fromThe New Y ork Ti mes)

Barbara Jewell stared into the unblinking eyes

ofthe televisioncameras she has cometo despise

and spoke in tears todayof how lifehad changed

for herson,Richard, sincehe wasnamed a month

ago as a suspect in the bombing in Centennial

Olympic Park "Now my son has no real life,"

said Mrs Jewell, a little gray-haired woman,

speakingout for the first time since her 33-year

-old son was suspected-but never arrested or

charged-in the bombing that killed one personand injured 111others

2 "Heisa prisonerin my home," Mrs.Jewellsaid

at anews conferencethis afternoon "He cannotwork He cannot know any typeof normal life

He can onlysit and wait for thisnightmare toend."

3 She begged President Clintonto clear herson'snameand asked reportersto spread rhewordthat

III U N IT 1

her son was innocent of any wrongdoing in the

July 27 bombing After her tearful request, her

son's lawyers said they would file civillawsuits

over reporting on the casco

4 Richa rd A Jewell, a security gua rd in

Centennial Olym pic Park and a former sheriff's

d p ut y, " was at f irst haile d as a h ro f or d isco ver

ing the bomb and helpingtoclearpeo ple from the

area Th en news acco unts, including a spec ia l

ed i tion of the Atla nta Journ al,3named him as a

suspect.Since then, television andnewsexecutives

have repeated ly d eba ted t he intense attentio n

focused on M r Jew ell, wit h most decidi ng that

t o many peop l e knew h e was a suspect fo r h is

na me to be avoided or suppressed.

5 "Last week, aclose familyfriendof twenty-nine

years took seriously ill," M r s Jewell sai d " While

he was on his deathbed, because R ichard d id n o t

wa nt to s ub jec t h im to t h wo rld atten t ion of the

me dia , he did not go see him Rich ard was not

able t o see his friend b f o re h e die d." H er so n d i d

g t o the fune r al h o me afte r his friend d ie d, she

2 sheriff s dep uty:law enforcer

1Atl anta Jou rnal, newspa per

said "Whe n we returned fro m the funeral ho me,

f o r the firs t time I sa w my son sobbing," M r s Jew ell sa id , brea king into tears her sel f as she recou nted the story H e sai d, " Mama, eve ryb ody was l o kin "

6 " I do not think any of you can even begin to

i magi ne what o ur lives a t e l k Richard i s not a murderer," said M rs Jewell, an insurance claims coordinator. But , she sai d, "He has been convic ted in the court o f public opinio n "

7 M eanw hile, th e J ew ells con tinue to be besieged

by re por ters " T he y have t aken all p ri vacy f rom us," M r s Jewell sa id "T hey have ta ken all p ace They have rente an apartment wh ic h faces o ur home in orde r to keep their came ras traine d on us aro un d the cloc k T hey wa tch an d pho tograph every t h i ng we d We wa ke up to ph otographers,

we go to sleep with photographers We ca nnot look o t the windows We cannot wal k our d ogs witho ut b eing followe d down the sidewa lk."

8 M rs Jewell said she was not just saddene an d

hu rt by t he o rdeal, but was also a ng ry.

C omplete th e rig ht s ide of th e chart show ing how Ri chard Jew ell's life

c hanged a fter he wa s n amed a su spect i n t he b om bing.

U N T R U T H AND CONSfQUfNCESIII

I magine you are Barbara j ewell Comp lete the following letter to the

AtlantaJournal,the newspaper that first named your son as a suspect in the Olym pic bombing In the letter express your anger at being named as

a suspect and explain how your life has changed because of it Address the issue of a person 5 right to privacy Use people mentioned in R e a ing

On e (Ros a Lo pez and Oliver Sipple) as examp les of others whose lives the media has damaged.

sensat ionalism, we demand a formal apology

Barbara Jewell

IR E V I EW IN G

LANGUAGE

A EXPLORING LANGUAGE: Idioms

Y ou kno w yo u ar e readin g an i diom wh en y o under stan d e ach s eparate

w ord in an ex pression, b ut n o ! th e ex pression a s a whol e W ork i n a

s mall group R ead the sent ences tha t f ollow and circle the b est e x tion fo r e ach underli ned idiom

plana-1 In the old da ysreporter s~some inform ation abo ut politicians andmoviestarstothemselves

to keep something tooneself

a to not ta lk aboutsomething

b.tomakea promise

c to carefo r oneself

2 Now, atleast inpart becausethe public seems to ha ve an endless

hunger forit,report erssometimes cover these aspects ofcelebrities'lives morethan any other

tohave anendlesshungerfor

a.to need to constantly c t

b.to havecontinual need for something

c.todislikesomethingimmensely

3 Somestorie sreceive suchwide visibilitytha tto ignorethem isto "play

ostrich man, " saysShelby Coffey, editor ofTh e L os An geles Tim es.

to play ostrich man

a towea r a special birdcostu me

b.to try tofind the tr uth in something

c.toignoresomething that isobvious

4 Scrutinymay be the priceone pays forfa me

to paytheprice

a.to suffer for yo ur actions

b to spend whatyou arenot ableto afford

c.to pay rheamount you are willingto spend

5 But whatabout relatives ofcelebri ies?Aretheyfairgametoo?

fair game

a.victimsof sensationalwriting

b an approvedobjectofattack

c a gamethat is playedat a fair orfestival

6.Lopezwashoundedbycameras and reporters everywhe reshe went

tobeh unde

a.to befound

b.tobefollowed

c.to betreated likea dog

7.Shebegged President Clinton toclear her son'sname andasked

reportersto spread the wo rd that her son wasinnocent ofany

8.Even though RichardJewell's friend was on hisdeathbed, Richard

didn't visithim

to b ony urd athbed

a.to beinthe bed you havechosentodiein

b tob e tre mely sick, dying

c.to b in a deepsleep

9 "RichardJewellis not amurderer," sayshismother, bur"hehas

beenconvicte in thecourtofpublicopinion."

to be convicted in thecourt ofpublicopinion

a.to b considered g ilty by everyonebefore goin totrial

b.to b inaspecialtrialin whic you arefound g ilty

c to beforced to takepan in atrial asamember ofthe jury

10 Reporterswatc edtheJewellfam ilyaround theclock

around thedock

a from sunup tosun own

b twenty-four hours a day

c duringth night

IIIUN IT 1 •

Work in a group or with a partner to determine which of the following people could have made the statements listed below I ndicate the appro- priate letter in the space next to each statement I n some cases, it is possi- ble that more than one of these people could have made the statement Refer to the readings to suppo rt your answers.

a Gennifer Flowers,womanalleged to havehad an affair with President

Clinton

b.Reporter of theminister story

c Shelby Coffey,edito rofT he L os Angeles Times

d.PeterJennings, ABC News anchor

e Rosa Lopez, key witness inthe0.] Simpso n trial

f RichardJewell,theman accusedoftheOlympicPark bombing

_ _ 1 The publicseems to have an endlesshunger for news,and i is

ourrespo nsibility to prov idein formatio to the readers sotheycan formtheir ownopinions

_ _ 2 Iwant thepublic toknow about my life;i the President wants to

keep his private lfetohimself, that'shis b siness._ _ 3 The media can ruin yourlife.Reporter shaven righttoinvade

mypr ivacy by ho nd ingme around theclock

_ _ 4 Even though there aresome stories I wouldrather not report, I

can't play ostrichman allthe time

_ _ 5 I'm glad Iwaited to reportallthe facts, because some of them

mighthave been misinterpreted.Idon' twant anyone tobe

convicted wro nglyin the co urt of publico inion

_ _ 6 Just because I'ma small parr of a news sto ryd esnot mean that

unr elated part sof my life are fairgamefo rrepor er sto wr teabout

UN TRU T H AN D CON SEQ UE N C E SIfI

Voic e

o E x amine each of the following se ts of sentences and ans wer the

q uestions w ith a p artner.

• Theministerhad been killed by

a hitchhiker

• Rosa Lopez was hounded bycamerasand reporters every-wher e

Ahitchhiker had killedtheminister

Cameras and repor ersh undedRosa Lopez everywhere

• Atfirst, RichardJewellwashailed as a hero (b people)

At first, people haied Richard

Jewell asa hero

a Eachofthe sets of sentences has the samemeaning but differentgrammar struct ure.What is the commongrammar structure inthepassive sentences?Isthis the samestructurein theactive sentences?

b List the words in subject positionin thepassive sentences

C. List thewordsinsubject positioninthe activesentences

d.Thecha ngeinsubjectintheactiveto the passivesentences changesthefocu sof he sentence In thea tve sentencesthefocusseems to beo

a hi tchhiker, cameras and reporters, an people The subject inthesesentences performsthe action.What seemsto be the focusof thepassive sentences? Do thewordsin thesubject positioninthesesentences per formthea t ion?

l1li1 UN IT 1 •

Focus ON GRAMMAR

Sec Pass ive in F ocus on

Grammar; High Interm ediate.

Passive Voice

Fo rm of the Passive Voice

Toform the passivevoice,usethe co rrectform ofbe+pastparticiple

At times,t he perso n or t hi ng ( the agent ) resp onsible for d o ing the

action isused Inth isc se use b y+the nameof the agent :

Subject Position 8 e Past Participle ( By+Agent)

• R osa Lop ez Is hounded b ca mer as a nd r epo rters.

• RosaLopez was hounded b ca mer as and report ers.

• Rosa Lopez hasbeen hounded b ycamera s and repo rters.

Use of the Passiv e Voice

A ct ive sent enc es fo cu s o n the per so n o r th in g that p erforms an ac tio n.

Passive se ntence sfocuson the person or thingthat re e ivesor is theresult ofanact io n The meaningofpassiveand active sentences is

usually similar, butthefocus change s

Use the passive voicewhen:

1 yo u don't kno w who isrespo nsible for an action ,oritisnot impor

-tantto know:

• "The minister's bodywas later found."

(Yo u don't know who found the body;it doesn't mailerwhofoundthe body.The importance isthat someone,anyone, foundthe body.)

2 the person responsiblefo r the action isunderstoodfro m thecontext:

• "It wasmade clearto Pete r Jennings that he had to go with the

story."

(It isunderstoodthaia superior, pro bably his boss, made it clear

to him.)

3.yo u don't wantto name the person respo nsible forthe actio n:

• "The FBI said the RichardJewell investigato nwas ca rried out

incorrectly."

(The FBId es not want to name exactlywho in the FBImade

mistakes duringthe investi gatio n.)

UNTRUTH A N D C O NS EQU EN C ESm

~ y ou w ant to make t he re cei ver of the a ction m or e import ant than

I the o ne who performs the a ct ion:

• " Lopez wa s hounded b y came ras an d repor ters ev erywhe re s he

w ent."

( Lop ez is t he f oc u s o f t he senten ce S he i s mor e important t han

the c ameras a d r eporters that h ound ed he r.)

U s e th e pas sive v o ice wit h a n a gent( b y+ nou n ) when th e i nfo rm at i on

is ne cessary t o c om p lete the me anin g, o r w hen i t i s ne w or s urpr ising

i nfor ma tion.

• 'Th e sto ry was r eportedb P eter Jennin gs."

Use the passive voice without an ag entwhen :

t h e ag en t is no t known or i s no t impo rtant.

t h e a gent i s cl ear fro m t he cont ext.

y o w ant to av o i d n am i ng th e a gent.

e C om plete t he f ollow ing se ntences Us e t he ac tive o r p assiue voic e in

the p ast te nse T he firs t o ne h as be en d on e for yo u.

1.Thenews columnist reported on all aspects of Oliver Sipple's

the basisthatcharacteraffectshow peopl eperform their jo bs

3 Some of theinterest in the livesof politicians _ _ -,= cc; on

( n ut r et u rn )

4 The retired minister_ _ = ::-:: ==_ _from hisfishing trip

5 A half-eaten ham sandwich, a gun, fishing tack le,and a magazine

U N IT 1

7.Thereporter's story- - - , - ; c - - -byman people, including the

minister 'srelatives

8.Sara JaneMoore_ _ ,== 3 gun at President Ford

1 RosaLop ez_ _, ,"-= _ _ the UnitedStates toavoid the intense

.Complete t he following sentences Use t he passive voice in th e past

t ense I nclude the agent o nly if iti s n ecessary information T he firs t

o ne ha s been d one (or yo u.

1.Thelocalpoliceforce worked hard.The investigation

(in terv iew lF B I)

( co mp le te/po lice)

2 Richard Jewell -,, , -= = oc - - -a bourwhere he saw the

packagecontain ingthebomb and why hesuspectedthat itcontaineda

bomb

3 Theyinterr uptedthenewstoreportthat the president

( co n vi c t/ m edia)

( sh ot/a n a ssassin)

4 RichardJewell's mother felt Richard- ,-= '"7 -,-,, -

beforeheeven went to trial

{ ma rry/a m iniste r}

5 The celebrity ;=:::::;:-::cc::;;::;;- today at 5:00P M

( wr ite/Pete r Jennings }

6.Thenewspap er story which ;::: :=; ;;:: ::> = = :;- •talks

about therespo nsibility ofthemed iain reporting the news

( fin d gu ilty/a jury )

characterdefamati on after a three-week-longjurytrial

7 Thedefendant,a newsreporter, -", ===-c:-= of

UN T RU T H AN D C ON SE QU ENC ESIJI

B STYLE: Topic Sentences

oExamine this paragra ph from the ba ckground reading, a nd disc uss the ques tio ns with t he class.

News is everywhere and servesman different functio s.Thenews

givesinsrantcoverage of impo rtantevents Newsalso prov ides facts

and information.In addition,news is business: a way to makemon ey

by sellin advertisingandlor newspapersand magazines Sometimes

news ispropa gan daor disinformation:a way to control a population

But whatever new sis,itisall around us You can' tescape it Every

day we are bombarded byinfor mation-newspa pers, magazines,

television, and theInternet

a.What is thetopicof this paragra ph?

b.The first sentence is thetopic sentence What two ideas are

presentedin this sente nce?

c.Howdoesthe co tent of the restoftheparagraph relate to thetopic

sentence?

Topics and Topic Sentences

Thetopic sentence isan essentialpart of awell-writtenparagraph

Thetopic sentencecontro lsthe content of the rest ofthe paragraph:I

introduc s thetopicandstates the main ideas Thiscontrolhelps the

writ erfocuson supportingdetailsin the paragraph that aredirectly

related to the topicsentence

Thefirststep inwriting atopic sentence isto ch osea subject and

findapoint of view oridea aboutthe su ject Forexamp le:

Subject

news

te levision

reading

Topic/Pointof View

News is everywhe re

Television is a bad influence

Readingis goodfor you

T he next ste p is t o narrow t he top ic ev en m ore by findi ng a " co ntro

l-lng idea." The controllingidea is the idea you wantto explain,trate, or describe in the paragraph For example:

Television has a v iolent i nfl ue n ce o n childre n.

Re ad in g h elps y o u e xpand yo u r mi nd

andbroaden your inte rests

eEach of the following paragraphs is missing a topic sentence Circle the topic sentence that best fits the paragrap h D iscuss your c hoices

w ith a part ner.

1.For example,you can't pick up anewspaper these days witho utre

ad-ing abo utsomeoutrageous or gruesome cri me The top televisionnews story isusually about a murder or other violentincident Weneed toreadand hear about the good news stories, too.Otherwise, we

willcontinue sendi ng themessage thato lyviolence is worth r

eport-ing And wha tkind of message isthat for our children?

a Our society is becomingmore an more violentevery day

b Television news coverage focuses onlyon violent news

c Allthemedia has become increas ing lynegative by focusin onlyon

violence

2 As a result of live television, people ca n receive newsasit ha pp ens.For

exam ple, duringthe GulfWar, CNN viewers aro und the worldcould

watc h the war as it wasgoingon Beca useof "live" reporting,people

nowad ays canfeel as though they are pa rticipa tin gin histor y, not justreading or hea ring aboutit afterwards It has cha nged the viewer's role

completely

a.These days there ismor elive television coverage than ever before

b "Live" television reporting has change dtheway we see thenews

c CNN changed the way we saw the news during the GulfWar crisis

U N T RU T H A N D C O NS EQ U E NC ESm

3 Ex erts recommend limitingviewing toonehour per dayduring the

week and up to two hoursperdayon weekends Theprograms sho uld

be educational in content an promotediscussion betw een theparent

andchid Programson animal behavioran family values, and

programs that teach basiclearning skills, arehighlyrecom mended

a.Wat chingtelevisionisn tbad for children

b.Watching televisionis fineforchidren aslong as youlimit the

hou rsand monito r theprog ram s

c Programsfor children should be ed ucationalin content so that the

timespent watchingTVisn t wasted

4.What we seeo thenightlynewshas beencarefully selected b the

newsdepartment atthe televisionstation Because thestation is inter

ested in making mo ey, the news thatis selected is n t necessariythe

mostimportant news but ratherthenewswhichwillattract themost

viewers Asa result, we o ly seethenewsthathas beenchosen for us,

which isnotalwaysthemostinforma tive

a News makesmoney

b.The newsdirectorselects the news

c News isn tsimplywha t we see,but what thenews director at the

television station wantsusto see

• T he t opic sen tences in t he (ollo w ing par agraphs ar e u nd e rlin e d Th ey

ar e r a t h e r w eak T hey do n ot s tate t h e ma in i d ea R e wr ite ea ch t opi c

s ent ence , makin g s ur e t hat th ere is a co ntrolling id ea.

1.Celebrities have jobs.Beinga mo ie starorsports staristheirjob.It is

what theyarc good at They shou ld not be under thecontinual

scrutin ofthemedia justbecauseofthe ir profession.Theyhave a

right to aprivate lifejust lke you and me

Rewr ite: Celebritiesdeserve private liveslike any other person

2 New sisdifferent.In theold days, peopl e got theirnews b word of

mouth As society became moreliterateand printingcostsdecreased,

newspa pers becamethe medium.Radiothen broughta sense of imm

e-diacyto the news.Television addedthe visua limpact Now we have

theInternet,whichgivesu -to-the-second news ab ut anynews event

anytmewewant it Who k ow swhat the news mediumofthefuture

willbe?

mUN I T 1 •

3 Politiciansarepublicfigures As a president, o eis supposed to repr

e-sent thequalitiesof honesty and integrity Remainin faithful to your

h sbandor wife is the purest example ofthesequalities.Ifa president

is unfaithful to hisorher spouse,h wcan we trust thathe or she is

hon estin hisor herpresidential duties?Therefore,the media hasthe

responsibilityto inform us when a public figure isu faithful

4 Readi ng ishard As with any programofexercise, you have to disciplineyourselfand makereadin thenewspaper a part of your every-day routine.And just asexercisemakes your body stronger,readingmakes your mind stronger.Itbroadensyourinterests, gives yo u the

-abilityto think critically aboutimportant issues, andenablesyou to

part icipate ininteresting conversations In conclusio n, reading the

paper,like anyexercise,ist me well spent

A WRITI N G TOPICS

Write a paragraph about one of th e following topics B e sure to use some

of the vocabulary, grammar, and style that you learned in this unit.

1.Doessensationalnewsever havea place in oursociety?Ifyes,be

specificand describewhen an in what place.Ifno,bespecifican

explain why not

2 How canthe media influenc orshape a society's values?Bespecific

an give exam ples

3 Do governmentshave the right to censor televisionprograms(or

nudity and violence,forexample )?Bespecific andexplain why orwh

not

4.Does themedia reflectsociety,or doessociety reflect the media ? Be

specificand give exa mples

in g of th e s tory a nd ca used ang uish t o the p erson(s) invo lved D i s c uss

h ow t he me dia se nsationalized th e s tory and how it sho uld have co vered the s tory i nstead T ak e n otes belo w an d sh are yo ur exam ples wi t h the cla ss.

:I

,.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Becoming a Critical News Hound

Ov er t he course of a f ew d ays, f ind e xamples of sensa tionali zed news events fro m n ewspapers, ma gazines, or t elevision news pro grams T ry to

f ind a rticles ab out t he sa me s to ry co vered in d ifferent ne ws paperor

maga zine so urces Co mpare t he i nformation i n th e d ifferent s ou rces.

B r in g t h e ar t icles or s tories to cla ss an d di scuss t hem in g roups A nswer

t he f ollowing q uestions abo ut eac h st ory.

1.If y u havemorethan one source tha tcovers the same story, isthereany differenceintheinformationpresent edin each news so urce ?What

arc the differences? Whichsource do you feelcovered thestory best?

Why?

2 How was thestory sensationalized?

3.Wh doyou think themedia covered this story?

4.What d csthemedia thinky uwant to know about this sto ry?

5 Does the srory changethe way you feelabout the news even tor thepeopleinvolved in the event?Ifso, how ?

1 loo kat the title of thisunit, the news headline,and the pictu re Discuss

these questions witha partner: What is the problem presented here?

Who isthe person in the picture? Where is she? What has happened

to her?

2.Write a list of problems involving juvenile crime in countries you know.Then make a list of solutions those countries have developed in aneffort to correctthose problems Share your list with the class Do you

think the solutionsare effective?

JUVENILE CRIME LEADS TO SHARP

INCREASE IN ARRESTSThe n umber o f juven ile delin quents

arrested fo r violent crimes has

doubled in the last ten years A

worris ome t rend i s t ha t mo re gi rls

aregetting arrested The number

of girls a rrested went u p f ro m 4 94

f a 722 within the p ast year

CRIME