Matching Feature
Success in mastering multiple languages is enhanced
with greater cognitive ability. This has been
demonstrated experimentally. In Quebec, psychologist
Fred Genesee tested English-speaking students learning
French as a second language. His tests revealed that
performance in reading comprehension and language
usage was clearly correlated with IQ. Linguist Paul
Pimsleur accepted this and felt that a student's grades in
all subjects would predict his or her success in language
learning. Charles Spearman went even further. ' To
Spearman, success in language learing necessitated a
dual process involving not iust intelligence but also
knowledge. Whereas intelligence corresponded to
'general ability', knowledge referred to the specific skills,
such as understanding of grammar.
Language learning success requires a two-part process.
A Fred Genesee
B Paul Pimsleur
C Charles Spearman
Exercise 1
Languages do not last forever, and today they are
disappearing at an increasing rate. Linguists like David
Harrison, who has travelled all over the world to learn
more about rare languages, want to document and
preserve endangered languages. In one instance,
Harrison lived with the Tuvan people in Siberia, where he
worked with them and became a goat herder. While
there, he learned the Tuvan language, which has only
280,000 speakers in the whole world. Similarly,
Harrison's friend Bud Lane has worked to inform people
about Siletz, the language of the Siletz Indians in Oregon.
He is a member of a Siletz tribe, and the last fluent
speaker of Siletz. Lane has helped to create an online
dictionary with 14,000 Siletz words and hopes that
scholars and other Native Americans will become
interested in learning the language.
1. helped make an online Siletz dictionary
2. worked in Siberia with Tuvan people
Exericse 2
The Greek mathematician Euclid is known as the founder
of geometry. For most of history, his version of geometry
was accepted as the only possible for and this original
type of geometry is called 'Euclidean' In Euclid's textbo
The Elements, he established the fundamental principles
that are taught schools today. By the 19th century,
however, mathematicians began to pursue geometry in
new ways. Carl Gauss, for example, began to criticise
Euclid geometry. Gauss suggested that while Euclidean
geometry was based on flat universe, the universe could
actually be curved. If the universe was curve! some
assumptions of Euclidean geometry would not work. For
example, Eucli assumed that parallel lines always remain
the same distance from one another. But in a curved
universe, they would become closer together, or further
apart as they stretch through space.
3. suggested that the universe might not be flat
4. created the basic rules that are taught in today's schools
Exercise 3
Economists often assume that consumers make rational
decisions. However, marketing professor Drazen Prelec
believes that spending behaviour is not always rational,
and he demonstrated this in an experiment with two
groups.
The first group was offered basketball tickets but could
only pay in cash, and the second group was given the
same offer but had to pay with a credit card.
Prelec found that the second group was willing to pay
twice as much as the first group for the same product
just because themethod of payment was different.
Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert thinks one reason
people make such poor spending decisions is that they
do not take into account the disadvantages of owning
something. For example, buying a cabin in the mountains
might seem exciting for many people, but actually living
in a mountain cabin could be as boring as it is peaceful.
5. used an experiment to show that spending behaviour is sometimes irrational
6. believes people do not think about the negative side of owning something
7. discovered that the payment method influenced how much people were willing to pay
Exercise 4
Academic publishing concerns the publication of articles
and research papers by academics and scholars. The field
has recently been the focus of a debate as universities
have complained that publishers are charging too much
to print their journals. Academics have also criticised
publishers who charge authors to be published in the
journals. Most academic publishers do not pay authors,
and many do not pay for the peer reviewing that
guarantees a journal's quality.
The issue was brought to light by the Cambridge
academic Tim Gowers, who said that he would refuse to
write or review for one of the major science and
technology publishers, Elsevier. Gowers stated that he
hoped his protest would effect a change in the
publisher's business model.
On the other hand, Stephen Lotinga of the Publishers
Association suggested that the fees were justified
because academic publishers invest 'heavily in scholarly
communication' and 'offer value to institutions'. Lotinga
claims that there are many areas of publishing that 'the
individual researcher isn't aware of. This has been
contested by numerous scholars including Adrian Sutton,
a physicist at Imperial College, who said that academics
'are all slaves to publishers'. With academics and
publishers holding such opposing beliefs, it appears
unlikely that this issue will be resolved any time soon.
8. He stopped writing for an academic publisher as a protest.
9. He compared academic publishing to slavery.
10. He thinks that people do not know about many parts of academic publishing.
Exercise 5
Most tourists come to Canada to experience its natural
beauty, but it also has a range of intriguing museums.
One of the most popular is the Canadian Museum of
Nature. This museum is split into seven galleries, each of
which represents a particular aspect of natural history.
The Fossil Gallery, for example, is notable for its dinosaur
models. The Water Gallery, meanwhile, features a blue
whale sketeton.
In recent decades, there has been more focus on
Canada's diversity, which is evident in the Canadian
Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. This museum
occupies an ocean liner terminal that was once a
processing facility for immigrants. Otten compared to
New York's Ellis Island, Pier 21 was utilised as an
immigration facility between 1928 and 1971, during
which time over one million immigrants were processed
at the pier. The museum at Pier 21 does not simply tell
the story of Canadian immigration but rather shows how
waves of migrants have shaped the nation's culture.
Another of Canada's major institutions is The Canadian
Museum for Human Rights. The building was designed by
the architect Antoine Predock, who created an
innovative spiral structure topped with a tower known as
the Tower of Hope. However, its opening was
accompanied by controversy. Firstly, the building was
built on an aboriginal graveyard, and secondly, critics
said the museum did not address Canada's treatment of
its indigenous peoples.
A The Canadian Museum of Nature
B The Canadian Museum of Immigration
C The Canadian Museum for Human Rights
[Link] features an inventive architectural design.
12. It has been compared to a similar location in New York.
Exercise 6
In the early 20th century, airplanes revolutionised the
way people sent and received mail. The first airmail
planes were originally designed for warfare by British
aviation engineer Geoffrey de Havilland. De Havilland's
DH-4 aircraft were purchased all over the world. Yet they
had to be modified for use in airmail. This required not
only converting the front cockpit to a cargo area, but
also overhauling the steering system. The US postal
service purchased a hundred of the modified airplanes
and used them to establish an airmail service between
San Francisco and New York.
In 1926, Bill Boeing unveiled his Model 40A airplane,
which featured an air-cooled engine. This engine offered
a significant advantage over previous water-cooled
engines because it was 91 kilograms lighter. When it was
used to carry airmail, the lightweight design allowed for
more weight - up to 450 kilograms - to be carried by a
single aircraft. 1926 also marked the last year in which a
unified, government-run airmail service existed in
America. From 1927 onwards, the airmail service was
split into five routes and commercial companies were
invited to bid to run them.
One of the most interesting ideas came from Lytle
Adams, a dentist and aviation enthusiast. Knowing it
would not be profitable for postal airlines to stop in
small towns, Adams dekeloped a system whereby mail
could be delivered and picked up from rural areas
without stopping. Planes simultaneously dropped mail
cargo while using a hook to grab a bag of mail suspended
on a line between two posts in the ground. The scheme
was adopted in the US in 1938, and expanded rapidly
during World War II, as the volume of mail skyrocketed.
It was abandoned soon after the war however, as mail
began to be transported by truck.
13 developed a non-stop airmail system for rural places
14. revealed an airplane featuring an engine cooled by air
15 designed warplanes that were later altered for use in airmail
