Developing Your Reading Efficiency Unit One Efficient Reading Lesson 1 Developing Your Reading Efficiency

Graduate students are pressed for time because so many activities demand their valuable time. One of the best ways to handle the demands and pressures of university life is to become more efficient—to get more done in less time. Many students think that the only way to become more efficient is to read faster. This is, however, not the case. Reading efficiency means more than saving time by reading rapidly. Reading effectively includes understanding the ideas the writer is trying to send and organizing those ideas logically to remember them. Your reading efficiency will increase as you develop techniques that improve your comprehension and retention. These in turn will enable you to use your time most economically.

Analyzing Your Reading Efficiency Are you an efficient reader? Here are some questions that will help you assess your reading efficiency. Answer Yes or No to the questions provided. Do you set goals and time limits for yourself at the beginning of each reading study session? 2. Do you have particular questions in mind when you begin to read an assignment? 3. Do you try to understand the author’s ideas instead of comprehending the literal meaning of each word? 4. Do you pay attention to the paragraphs and how they are organized?

5. While reading, do you try to predict or anticipate what the writer will say next? 6. Are you on the alert to words and phrases that signal change or continuation in thought? 7. Do you sort out more and less important details as you read? 8. When you meet a new word, do you try to figure out its meaning from the way it is used in the sentence? 9. Do you regularly use underlining, summary notes, and marginal notations to identify important information? 10. When you finish reading an assignment, do you take a few minutes to review what you have read and the writer’s purpose of writing? 11. Do you find reading an easy and enjoyable task?

If you answer Yes to all or most of the above questions, you are on your way to becoming an efficient reader.

Lesson 1 Reading Selection A World English: A Blessing or a Curse?

CATALOGUE About the Author Warm-up Activities Background Information Language Points Keys

About the Author Dr. Tom McArthur is founder editor of the Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) and the quarterly English Today: The International Review of the English Language (Cambridge, 1985— ). His more than 20 published works include the Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English (1981), Worlds of Reference: Language, Lexicography and Learning from the Clay Tablet to the Computer (1986), and The English Languages(1998). He is currently Deputy Director of the Dictionary Research Centre at the University of Exeter.

Warm-up Activities Do you think it is good for us to have a world language? Is it necessary? Why? 2. If you were asked to choose a world language from the existing languages, which one do you prefer? Give you reasons.

Background Information I. A World Language  English has gained status as a world language. Roughly 1/3 of the world’s population has English as its mother tongue. Seventy-five percent of the world’s mail is in English.  English is the official language or is widely used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, United Arab Emirates, Canada, the United States, Panama, Surinam, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya in addition to several other countries. 

Background Information Why has English become a World Language?   The British colonized large parts of the world, spreading their language to new areas.  The United Kingdom and the United States are both important nations in the world of trade, business and technology. When engaged in trade and business with these nations, knowing English is an advantage. As non-English-speaking countries realized that, industry and business hired people who knew English, or required their workers to attend language courses.  English is the international language of technology. 

Background Information Any negative effects?   With English being so widespread, it can make those who come from English-speaking countries already feel that they don’t need to learn a foreign language, because the world already speaks English. This is unfortunate because one learns to understand a culture better if one knows the language, and one may also enjoy reading literature in the original language. By knowing only one language (not necessarily English), one misses out on these pleasures.  One’s language is a large part of one’s culture, and it would be a shame if languages were erased as a result of  “the English invasion”. 

Background Information II. How Many Languages? There is no agreed total for the number of languages spoken in the world today. Most reference books give a figure of 5,000 to 6,000, but estimates have varied from 3,000 to 10,000. An obvious reason for the uncertainty over numbers is that even today new peoples, and therefore languages, continue to be discovered in the unexplored regions of the world—especially in the Amazon basin, Central Africa, and New Guinea.

Background Information Against this steady increase in the world language total, there is a major factor which decreases it. The speed with which a language can die in the smaller communities of the world is truly remarkable. The Amazonian explorations led to the discovery of many new languages, but they also led to their rapid death, as the Indians became swallowed up by the dominant western culture. Within a generation, all traces of a language can disappear. In the 19th century, there were thought to be over 1,000 Indian languages in Brazil; today, there are less than 200. A quarter of the world’s languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers; half have fewer than 10,000.

Background Information It is likely that most of these languages will die out in the next 50 years, and only1,000 or so languages may remain by the 22nd century. The speed of this decline is largely a consequence of the political and economic pressures which are motivating people to replace their traditional language by one which gives them access to the languages of more powerful cultures. How many languages have there been? Based on what is known about the rate of language change at which new languages develop from a common origin, it is possible to speculate about the number of languages which may have existed since the emergence of a human language faculty. Cautious estimates suggest 30,000; radical ones, over 500,000.

Background Information III. How Many Speakers? Speaker estimates for the world’s top 10 languages (given in millions) 1. Chinese (1071) (Mandarin Chinese:726) 2. English (427) 3. Spanish (266) 4. Hindi (182) (with Urdu: 223) 5. Arabic (181) 6. Portuguese (165) 7. Bengali (162) 8. Russian (158) 9. Japanese (124) 10. German (121) (French is the next with 116 million speakers. The table does not include second-language totals.) (From The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, David Crystal, 1997)

Language Points 1. point up emphasize; highlight 强调；清楚说明 (line 2, para. 2) ① 美国官员强调了这些政策的种种相似之处。 US officials pointed up the similarities in these policies. ② 约翰尼的成绩单清楚地表明他的数学才能。 Johnny’s report card points up his talent for maths.

Language Points *take in include 包括 (line 8, para. 2) ① 这一真理兼容了两种极端看法。 The truth takes in both extremes. ② 每个人都上了名单。 The list takes in everybody.

Language Points *take in understand 理解；领会 ① 学生们发现他教的课容易理解。 The students find it easy to take in what he teaches. ② 我不清楚她对他作出的解释理解了多少。 I’m not sure how much of his explanation she took in. *take in deceive; trick 欺骗；使上当受骗 即使阅历最深的人在某些场合也会上当。 Even the most experienced eye may be taken in on certain occasions.

Language Points 3. for good or ill whether the effect will be good or bad 不论结局好坏；不管结果如何 (line 1, para. 3) ① 他觉得还想留在队中，不论结局怎样。 He felt he wanted to remain part of the team, for good or ill. ② 我们必须仔细审视这项决定对其他人可能产生的影响， 不论是好的还是坏的。 We must examine the effect this decision may have on other persons, for good or ill. ③ 那些掌权的人总是利用机会行使自己的权利，不管是好 是坏。 Those who have power will always take the opportunity to exercise it, for good or ill.

Language Points 4. by and large on the whole 大体上，总的说来，一般来说 (line 3, para. 3) ① 总的来说，这是一本好书。 By and large, it is a good book. ② 总的来说，我认为重要的是招聘合适的人。 By and large I think the emphasis should be on recruiting the right people.

Language Points 5. *benign kind, gentle, harmless; friendly 善良的，宽厚的，慈祥的 (line 3, para. 3) 和蔼的教师 a benign teacher a benign creature from space 友善的太空生物 *benign A benign tumor is one that will not cause death or serious illness（肿瘤）良性的 检验表明肿块是良性的。 Tests showed the lump to be benign.

Language Points *benign A benign climate, environment, system, etc. is one that it is easy or pleasant to live in or with（气候，环境， 制度等）宜人的，温和的 a benign climate 温和的气候

Language Points 6. die out become less and less common and eventually disappear completely 完全消失；灭绝；绝种 (line 14, para. 5) ① 这个部落的传统生活方式正在逐渐消失。 The tribe’s traditional way of living is dying out. ② 现今超市林立，传统的杂货店正在迅速消失。 Traditional grocers’ shops are fast dying out now that there are so many supermarkets. ③ 这些物种目前几乎已灭绝。 These species have now almost died out.

Language Points 7. lay sth. at sb’s door. lay the blame/responsibility (for sth.) on sb 将（谋事的）责任归咎于某人；认为某人对某事负有责任 (line 2, para. 6) ① 罢工的责任被认为在顾主方。 Responsibility for the strike was laid at the door of the employers. ② 国会议员拜恩指责军方隐瞒事实的真相。 Congressman Bain lays the cover up at the door of the armed forces.

Language Points 8. leave aside not want to discuss or take into account a particular subject or aspect of something 姑且不谈，暂不考虑 (line 1, para. 7) ① 且不说经费问题，你真的认为你的提议能解决我们的 问题吗？ Leaving aside the financial implications, do you really believe your proposal will solve our problem? ② 我们暂时别讨论不利的方面，先来看看有利的一面吧。 Leaving aside for a moment a discussion of the disadvantages, let’s turn to the advantages.

Language Points 9. crystal clear extremely obvious or easy to understand 显而易见的；非常清楚的；极易懂的 (line 2, para. 10) ① 她的动机现在很明显：她是想找条出路。 Her motives were now crystal clear: she wanted a way out. ② 我非常清楚地表明了自己的立场，我决不会同意投他 的票。 I made my position crystal clear that I would never agree to vote for him. ③ 凡是他认为不清楚的地方，他都逐一提出了异议。 He challenged every point which he did not find crystal clear.

Language Points 10. *invoke feelings of a particular kind cause somebody to have these feelings 引起，唤起 (the last line, para. 10) 他们尽力激发人们对这项改革的热情。 They did their best to invoke popular enthusiasm for the reform. *invoke a principle, a wise saying, etc. quote or refer to it in order to persuade people to do something 援引，援用 ① 这些原则被援用来与金融改革的提议相抗衡。 These principles were invoked in opposition to proposals for financial form. ② 她援用法律为自己辩护。 She had invoked the law in her own defense.

Keys I. READING COMPREHENSION A. 1.B 2. B 3. C 4. D 5. A 6. D 7. C 8. D 9. C 10. A B. McArthur quotes Price’s assertion and cites Pillipson’s viewpoint on the spread of English as sort of cons to initiate his argument. Cons are usually popularly believed arguments or opinions that are against the author’s point of view. Cons are commonly used writing techniques and are often employed in order to appeal the audience and highlight the author’s viewpoint.

Keys 2. No. McArthur’s opinion is different from Price and Pillipson’s arguments. He doesn’t believe that English is a killer and should be blamed for the extinction of smaller languages. He sees English as both a blessing and a curse, maybe as a blessing more than a curse. After introducing Price and Pillipson’s viewpoints, McArthur writes about his own ideas on the issue of English as a world language. From the sentence “For good or for ill, there has never been a language quite like English”, we can learn that McArthur does not curse English like Price and Pillipson and he has a different point of view.

Keys 3. No. This sentence is a kind of justification. Although McArthur literally justifies the fact that there are situations where people might call English a curse, he doesn’t believe that English is virtually a curse. By adding the word “certainly” McArthur shows his intent. 4. “For good or for ill”(paragraph 3) /“however” (paragraph 4) /“But”(paragraph 5) / “At the same time, however”(paragraph 6) /“Yet”(paragraph 7)

Keys 5. Three parts. Part One: paragraphs 1 and 2. These two paragraphs introduce the situation that many academics argue against English as a world language. Part Two: paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Paragraph three is a transitional paragraph that initiates McArthur’s own argument. In these paragraphs McArthur argues that English is not only a curse as many people have believed, but a blessing as well. Part Three: paragraph 10. McArthur concludes in the last paragraph that English may be a curse or a blessing depends on different situations and we should make advantages of world languages and avoid their disadvantages.

Keys Ⅱ. VOCABULARY A. 1.B 2.A 3.D 4.C 5.B 6.D 7.A 8.B 9.A 10.C B. 1.for good or ill 2.laid at the door of 3.endanger 4.descent 5.points up 6.taking in 7.by and large 8.leave aside 9.crystal clear 10.die out Ⅲ. CLOZE 1.B 2.D 3.C 4.A 5.C 6.B 7.A 8.D 9.D 10.C

Keys Ⅳ. TRANSLATION 1因为英语是个杀手。正是英语造成了康瑞克、康尼施、 诺恩、曼科斯等语言的消亡。在其中一部分岛上还有相当 多的人使用在英语到来之前就已存在的语言。然而，英语 在日常生活中无处不在。所有的人或几乎所有的人都懂英 语。英语对现存的凯尔特语——爱尔兰语、苏格兰盖尔语 及威尔士语的威胁是如此之大，它们的未来岌岌可危。 2同时，他认为这些政策和他称之为语言歧视（和种族 歧视、性别歧视的情况类似）的偏见密切相关。在菲利普 森看来，在以白人英语为主导的世界，最重要的机构和个 人（有意或无意地）鼓励或者至少是容忍了（肯定没有反 对）英语霸权主义式的传播。这种传播始于三个世纪之前 的经济及殖民扩张。

Keys 3总的来说，我们现在或多或少地把这些语言看作有利 的语言。在谈到与之相关的文化及其为世界所做的贡献时， 我们常怀有崇敬与赞赏，而且这样做也没有太大的风险， 因为这些语言现在已不会构成什么威胁。 4然而，许多人把英语看成是一件幸事。在此，我暂且 不谈任何世界语言所具有的明显优势，例如广泛的通信网， 强大的文化传媒体系，及强有力的文化教育机构。 5讲英语的南非英国后裔并不强烈反对种族隔离政权， 而黑人反对力量，其成员讲多种语言，在初期软弱无力且 缺乏组织。 6这一象征表明这种世界通用语的使用者应充分发掘这 一幸事为我们带来的好处,同时尽能避免招来灾难。

Keys Ⅴ. ORAL PRACTICE AND DISCUSSION 1. Why did Glanville Price say that English is a killer? Because it has caused extinction of lots of small languages, such as Cumbric, Cornish, Norn and Manx, and it also threatens the existence of remaining Celtic languages.

Keys 2. According to the author, in what way is English different from other “world languages?” Generally people view “world languages”, such as Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit as more or less benign, and often talk with admiration and appreciation about the cultures associated with them and what they have given to the world. And the author believes it is fairly safe to do this, because none of these languages now poses much of a threat. English however is another case. It is probably too close for us to be able to analyze and judge it as dispassionately as we may now discuss the influence of Classical Chinese on East Asia or of Classical Latin on Western Europe. We may not have the last word on its influence until centuries later.

Keys 3. Why does the author say that English is “a curse for the indigenous peoples of Australia and something of a blessing for those in South Africa?” When the first Europeans arrived in Australia, there were hundreds of languages. Now many of these languages have died out, many more are in the process of dying out, and these dead and dying languages have been largely replaced by either kinds of pidgin English or general Australian English. However, in South Africa the black opposition, whose members had many languages, was at first weak and disorganized. It was English that helped opposition gain strength and organization. Instead of being a language of oppression, English became for them the key language of freedom and unity.

Keys 5.Do you think that teaching English to speakers of other countries is an act of linguistic imperialism? The influence of the US and Britain on the rest of the world, past and present, cannot be denied, and the teaching of English can never be entirely neutral. Language is never a neutral vehicle for communication; the context comes with it, like it or not. English is a double-edged sword, so to speak. There is an element of cultural imperialism, given that—even if one doesn’t teach culture, per se—culture is still nonetheless encoded in language in a very real sense.

Keys On the other hand, the student either needs, wants or is required to learn English, and therefore learning English has some perceived benefit for the student. Furthermore the spread of English has brought about the extinction of many minority languages. The question of whether teaching ESL or EFL can be considered linguistic imperialism is controversial.

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