‫‪English for Academic Purposes‬‬
‫לשימוש פנימי ולצורכי לימוד בלבד‬
‫‪0‬‬
The Greening of the Aged
Exercise 1: Skimming Questions
1. Which paragraph(s) introduce the topic of the article? ______________
2. Which paragraph(s) discuss the research that was done? _______________
3. What question did the researchers try to answer?
________________________________________________________________
4. What was the answer? _______________
5. What is the function of the last paragraph?
___________________________________
6.
How do you think the title is connected to the ideas in the article?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
1.
A visit to most homes for the aged is so depressing that second visits are uncommon.
The men and women we see there are listless, unresponsive, and often incapable of
performing simple tasks. They appear unmotivated, uninterested, and turned away
from others. Their debilitated physical and emotional condition is not a necessary
consequence of old age. Rather, it is the inevitable result of being treated like a
passive object in an institutional setting.
2.
Recently, two young researchers from Yale University, Ellen Langer and Judith
Rodin, decided to see whether they could reverse the debilitated condition of
residents in one of these old-age homes (1976). Their sample consisted of 91
residents, aged 65 to 90, all well enough to be walking about. The investigators
reasoned that the crucial psychological process missing in such institutions was
taking responsibility for one’s own decisions. To be an actor in life’s drama, we must
act, decide, and be responsible for the consequences. To let others decide for us is
to lose the main ingredient in self-esteem and competence.
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1.
How are the residents of old age homes described in paragraph 1?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2. According to the author, what is the reason for their poor condition?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3.
(par. 2) What was the researchers’ hypothesis; i.e., what idea was their
research based on?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4.
(par. 2) What is the main ingredient in self-esteem and confidence?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3.
Accordingly, about half of the participants in the study were randomly assigned to a
situation in which they received instructions that emphasized the need for them to
take more responsibility for caring for themselves and for improving the quality of life
in the home. They were then asked to choose a plant from among a box of them as a
present – but they were told they had to care for it. In contrast, the second group of
patients was given instructions that stressed the responsibility of the staff to provide
good services for the residents. They were handed a plant as a present and informed
that the nurses would water it for them.
4.
The results of the enhanced sense of personal responsibility were dramatic. On
questionnaire ratings and behavioral measures, the experimental group (“I’ll do it
myself”) showed significant improvement over the comparison group (“let George do
it for you”) on alertness, active participation, and general sense of well-being.
5. Explain the difference between the treatment of the two groups in the study.
The participants in the first group had to be __________________ for
themselves as well as for making life in the home _________________. In
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contrast, the message for the subjects in the second group was that the
_________________ was responsible for them.
6.
(par. 4) How did the researchers measure the results of the study?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
7.
Which group improved more, group 1 or group 2?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
8.
In what areas did the better group show improvement?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
5.
Eighteen months later, these positive results still persisted, as indicated by the
nurses’ higher ratings of the happiness, sociability, and vigor of the personally
responsible group. But most startling of all, encouraging the residents to be
responsible for themselves and their plants made them live longer! The overall death
rate for the entire nursing home during an eighteen-month period prior to the
experiment was 25 percent. Following the experiment, only 15 percent of the
personally responsible residents died, compared to twice as many for the noresponsibility group.
6.
In conclusion, psychological interventions of this kind not only improve mood and
attitudes; they seem to affect the very process of life and death itself.
9.
Did the treatment have long-term effects? YES / NO
Quote from the text to support your answer.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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10.
(par. 5) How were results measured 18 months later?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
11.
What was the most surprising finding of the study?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
12. Which 2 conclusions were drawn based on the study?
a. _____________________________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________________________
OPTIONAL:
Exercise 3: Summary Cloze
Fill in one word in each blank to complete the following summary of the article.
The author describes the __________________ condition of old people in homes,
and states that the reason for this condition is because they are treated like they are
___________________. A research study was done to try to _________________
the condition of these old people. All of the subjects in the study were given a plant
as a gift. The first group was told that __________________ would care for their
plants, and the second group was told that __________________ would care for
their plants. The results showed that the condition of the __________________
group improved remarkably; these results __________________ eighteen months
later. Surprisingly, the experimental group also __________________ longer. It
seems that this type of _________________ is extremely beneficial to old people.
4
How People Communicate
1.
There is an ancient Chinese proverb which says “Beware of a man whose stomach
does not move when he laughs.” We reveal a great deal of what we are thinking and
feeling by the movements which we make quite unconsciously. When children are
bored they start to fidget; tapping with the foot or drumming the fingers are sure signs
of impatience; a man shows his nervousness by constantly adjusting his tie or patting
his hair, particularly if he is waiting for an interview, or is about to meet his girlfriend.
Sometimes you can work out what people are talking about, or at least determine
what kind of mood they are in, even if you cannot hear a word they are saying, by the
gestures they use. Occasionally it is even possible to identify a person's nationality:
nobody shrugs quite like a Frenchman, or gesticulates quite like an Italian, or bows
quite like a Japanese. Some say you can tell an Englishman by the fact that he
hardly gestures at all!
2.
All these are obvious, stereotyped gestures, widely recognized and understood. The
only thing to watch out for is that a gesture which is perfectly polite and reasonable
in one country might turn out to be very offensive in another. For example, an
Englishman gives a “thumbs up” sign to show approval, but in some countries the
same gesture is obscene and offensive. But we make many much more subtle
movements when we are talking which betray our attitude, or define our relationship
to others. Take for example the ways people sit leaning back, relaxed, sitting forward,
earnest and interested, legs crossed and arms folded, hostile or insecure. There are
many touching movements which, if you can read them, will tell you what someone is
thinking, quite independently of what he is saying: stroking the chin, pulling the ear,
scratching the head, tapping the nose, and so on. Then there are hand movements
which give you away: hand-wringing, fist-clenching, steepling the fingers.
5
QUESTIONS
1. (par. 1) What can we guess about people from their movements? (Give
general ideas; do not give specific examples).
a. _____________________________ and _____________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________________
d. ______________________________________________________________
2. (par. 2) A “thumbs-up” sign in different countries is an example of
a. identical gestures that are interpreted differently in different countries
b. a universal sign of approval
c. differences in gestures in different countries
d. similar interpretation of gestures throughout the world
3.
It is also very interesting to consider how much meaning we convey sometimes quite
deliberately, with our eyes. I remember once being on a bus and looking at a
stranger. He suddenly looked back at me -- i.e. our eyes met. My instinctive reaction
was to avert my gaze. It occurred to me that if I had continued to maintain eye
contact, I would have been accused of staring, which would have been rude and
aggressive. You can observe the same phenomenon in zoos, where apes will refuse
to look you in the eye after a short interval. Of course if a man stares at a woman in a
bus and refuses to avert his gaze, his intentions are quite clear: he wishes to let her
know that he is admiring her. The normal pattern of eye contact when two people are
engaged in conversation is that the speaker only looks at the listener from time to
time, in order to assure himself that the latter is listening and grasping what is being
said. The listener, on the other hand, will look more or less continuously at the
speaker (except perhaps in such unnatural situations as in a car) as a sign that he is
paying attention.
3. (par. 3) The polite thing to do when you make eye contact with a stranger is
to ______________________________________________________________
4.
Why does the author tell us of his experience on the bus ride?
________________________________________________________________
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4.
If a person looks you in the eye continuously while he is speaking to you, you are
likely to be disconcerted. It is as if he were trying to dominate you. A bad liar usually
gives himself away by looking too long at his victim, in the mistaken belief that to
“look a man straight in the eye” is a sign of honest dealing. It may be that the
opposite is true, however. In fact, continuous eye contact is usually confined to
lovers, who may gaze into each other's eyes for an eternity, conveying meanings that
words cannot express, and baffling onlookers into the bargain. There is even
meaning to be found in how close people stand to each other and at what angle. We
may stand side by side, or face to face, which is more intimate, or at some
intermediate angle in between. An interesting experiment is to stand back to back
with someone and try to have a conversation: it is quite unnerving not to be able to
see or to establish contact with the other person, even though we have learned to
have conversations with people we cannot see, as on the telephone.
7. To “look a man straight in the eye” is
a. a sign of honesty
b. a sign that you are in love
c. a sign of dishonesty
d. both a and b
e. both b and c
8. It is unnerving to
a. have a telephone conversation
b. stare into someone’s eyes while talking
c. have body contact with the person you are speaking to
d. stand back to back while conversing
5.
Careful studies have been made of all these non-verbal forms of communication, and
there is no doubt that what we say with words is only a part of the message we
convey. It is important however, to realize that gestures, like words, tend to come in
clusters, and furthermore are often capable of more than one interpretation. You
must look at the whole combination of words, facial expression, gesture, and stance.
If you learn to read the signs you can tell whether what a person says is what he
really means, or whether, like the man whose stomach does not move when he
laughs, he is trying to deceive you.
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9. According to the article the two forms of communication are
________________________ and __________________________.
10. In paragraph 5, the author compares gestures and words because both
a. ______________________________________________________________
and
b. ______________________________________________________________
11. One should observe body movements because
a. they are expressions of the words people say
b. they relay the true meaning of what a person feels
c. they express the opposite of what a person means to convey
d. people usually don’t mean what they say
12. Why should one beware of a person whose stomach does not move when he
laughs?
________________________________________________________________
OPTIONAL:
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
The article discusses two forms of ___________________ communication:
______________________ and ___________________ contact. Gestures can tell
us about a person’s ____________________ and _________________. In addition,
gestures are related to ___________________. Thus, a gesture may be polite in
one
country
and
____________________
in
another.
People
can
also
_________________ with their eyes. In most situations, ____________________ is
considered impolite but it is quite natural with _____________________. The author
concludes by saying that we should
be aware of different forms of non-verbal
communication if we want to _____________________ the true meaning of what a
person says.
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Exercise 3: Communicating Through Gestures
1. Column A presents examples of specific gestures, and column B provides
their interpretations. Match each gesture with its interpretation.
Column A
Column B
1. tapping one’s foot
a. nervousness
2. adjusting one’s tie
b. thinking
3. leaning back
c. impatience
4. stroking one’s chin
d. relaxation
5. fidgeting
e. boredom
2. a. Which gesture shows that someone is earnest and interested?
______________________
b. Which gesture shows that someone is hostile and insecure?
_______________________
3. Be prepared to demonstrate the following gestures in class:
a. drumming your fingers
b. patting your hair
c. shrugging
d. making a “thumbs-up” sign
e. scratching your head
4. In what situations do you think that people make the following gestures?
a. clenching their fists?
________________________________________________________________
b. wringing their hands?
________________________________________________________________
c. steepling their fingers?
_______________________________________________________________
9
Language Acquisition
1.
Children display an amazing ability to become fluent speakers of any language
consistently spoken around them. Every normal human child who is not brought up in
virtual isolation from language use soon comes to speak one or more languages
natively.
2.
The child's acquisition of his native language is not dependent on any special
tutoring. Parents may spend many hours "reinforcing" every bit of their child's verbal
activity with a smile or some other reward. But there is no particular reason to believe
that such activity affects the child's ultimate success in becoming a native speaker of
his parents' language. Children can pick up a language by playing with other children
who happen to speak it just as well as they can through the concentrated efforts of
doting parents. All they seem to need is sufficient exposure to the language in
question.
Exercise 1: Close Reading Questions
1. Under what condition can a child acquire a native language?
________________________________________________________________
2.
Circle:
TRUE / FALSE
Parents need to teach children their native language.
Support your answer by quoting from the text.
________________________________________________________________
3.
(par. 2) “But there is no particular reason to believe that such activity
affects the child’s ultimate success….” Which activity is the author referring
to? _____________________________________________________
3.
This capacity for acquiring language is remarkable for a number of reasons. It is
remarkable first because of its uniformity throughout the human race. There simply
are no cases of normal children who, when they are given the chance, fail to acquire
a native language. By way of comparison, it is not at all unusual for a child to fail to
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master arithmetic, reading, swimming, or gymnastics despite a considerable amount
of instruction. Language acquisition, in other words, is species uniform.
4.
It is also species specific. Every normal person learns a human language, but no
other animal, not even the most intelligent ape, has been shown to be capable of
making the slightest progress in this direction, although some animals can learn to
solve problems, use tools, and so on. Language acquisition thus appears to be
different in kind from acquisition of the other skills mentioned.
5. (par. 3) Complete the following sentence:
It is normal for a child to fail in _________________, __________________,
and _________________, but not to fail in ____________________________.
6. What does the term “species uniform” mean?
Complete: “Species uniform” means that ____________________ succeeds
in _____________________.
7. Define the term “species specific.”
________________________________________________________________
8. (par. 4) Complete the following sentence:
Some ______________ animals can _________________or
_______________, but they aren’t able to _____________________.
5.
The progress is further remarkable for its comparative speed and perfection. When
we actually attempt to take a language apart to see how it works, we find it is
extraordinarily complex and that it involves highly abstract organizational principles.
Yet, within the first few years of his
life, every human child has succeeded in
mastering at least one such system. Furthermore, the linguistic system that the child
masters is identical to the one employed by the people around him. If children are
regularly exposed to two languages, they will very probably learn both; moreover,
they will succeed in keeping the two linguistic systems separate, which is a
considerable achievement in itself.
4. (par. 3-5) Why is the child’s capacity to acquire a native language so
exceptional? Give three reasons:
a. ______________________________________________________________
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b. ______________________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________________
9. a. What is the relationship between paragraphs 4 and 5?
a. contrast
b. cause-effect
c. addition
d. illustration
b. Which word helped you find the answer? ______________________
10. (par. 5) Complete the following sentence.
Children learn their native language ________________ and
________________ even though language is _________________.
11. What is the main idea of the text?
a. Even intelligent animals cannot learn a language.
b. Every child has a unique ability to acquire language through exposure to
it.
c. Children can only learn a language if the parents tutor them all the time.
d. It is unusual for a child to fail to learn a native language.
OPTIONAL:
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
Every _______________child is able to learn a ____________________ if he is
_______________ to it. He doesn’t need any special tutoring by _______________.
His language learning ability is __________________ for several reasons. First, no
normal child _________________ to acquire a language although they may not
acquire other _______________. Moreover, in contrast to other _______________,
only ________________ can learn language. Finally, a child not only learns his
native language _________________, but he is even able to acquire
_____________ languages and keep the different _________________separate.
12
Effects of Childhood Isolation
1.
For many centuries people have wondered what human beings would be like if they
were raised in isolation from human society. Some speculated that such children
would be mere brutes, revealing, in essence, our real "human nature." Others felt
that they would be perfect beings, perhaps speaking the language of Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden. Today there are obvious ethical considerations that make any
experiment involving the deliberate isolation of children impossible, but earlier ages
were not always under such moral inhibitions.
2.
It has been proved beyond doubt that children need more than mere physical care if
they are to survive and prosper. They need emotional attachments with at least one
other person. Without this bond, socialization is impaired, and irreversible damage
may be done to the
personality. Evidence for this view comes from four main
sources: reports of so-called feral (untamed) children who were allegedly raised by
wild animals; studies of children who were deliberately reared in isolation by their
own families; studies of children in institutions; and experiments that study the effects
of isolation.
QUESTIONS
1.
What are the two main opinions about children raised in isolation?
a. ______________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
2. Reports of feral children and studies of children raised in isolation show
that:
a. In order to prosper, children need strong emotional bonds with at least one
other person.
b. In order to prosper, children need only physical care and nourishment.
c. In order to prosper, children need emotional attachments with other children.
d. In order to prosper, children need bonds and socialization gained in
institutions.
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“Feral" Children
3.
The evidence relating to "feral" children is highly dramatic but also highly unreliable.
Many societies have myths about children raised by animals. The Romans for
example, believed that the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, had been raised
by a wolf. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, a few cases
of the discovery of children whose behavior seemed more like that of animals than
human beings were reported from India, France, and elsewhere (Singh and Zingg,
1942; Malson, 1972; H. Lane, 1976; McLean, 1978; Shattuck, 1980). In each case
the children could not speak, reacted with fear and hostility towards human beings,
slouched or walked on all fours, and tore ravenously at their food. Attempts to
socialize the children are said to have met with little success, and all died at a young
age.
4. There are two difficulties with these reports. The first is that the subjects were never
systematically examined by trained investigators, and the second is that we know
nothing about the history of the children before they were discovered. It seems highly
improbable that they had been raised by wild animals. It is far more likely that they had
been abandoned by their own parents shortly before they were discovered by other
people. It is also possible that the children were already mentally disturbed, autistic, or
had been raised in some form of isolation before being abandoned (Bettelheim, 1959).
QUESTIONS
3. (par. 3) Circle the correct word.
The attempts to socialize feral children were SUCCESSFUL /
UNSUCCESSFUL.
Quote from the text to support your answer.
________________________________________________________________
4. (par. 4) Why are the reports on feral children unreliable?
a. ______________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
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Children Raised in Isolation
5.
Much more convincing evidence comes from studies of children who were
deliberately raised in isolation by their own families. Two such instances, both
occurring in the United States, have been reported by Kingsley Davis (1940, 1947).
6.
The first child, Anna, was discovered at the age of six. She had been born
illegitimate, and her grandfather had insisted that she be hidden from the world in an
attic room. Anna received a bare minimum of physical care and attention and had
virtually no opportunities for social interaction. When she was found she could not
talk, walk, keep herself clean, or feed herself, and she was totally apathetic,
expressionless, and indifferent to human beings. In fact, those who worked with her
believed at first she was deaf and possibly blind as well. David (1948) comments:
"Here, then, was a human organism which had missed nearly six years of
socialization. Her condition shows how little her purely biological resources, when
acting alone, could contribute to making her a complete person.”
7.
Attempts to socialize Anna had only limited success. The girl died four-and-a-half
years later, but in that time she was able to learn some words and phrases, although
she could never speak sentences. She also learned to use building blocks, to string
beads, to wash her hands and brush her teeth, to follow directions, and to treat a doll
with affection. She learned to walk but could only run clumsily. By the time of her
death at almost eleven she had reached the level of socialization of a child of two or
three.
8.
The second child, Isabelle, was discovered about the same time as Anna and was
approximately the same age, six-and-a-half. She too was an illegitimate child, and
her grandfather had kept her and her mother, a deaf-mute, in a dark room most of the
time. Isabelle had an advantage over Anna, of social interaction with her mother, but
she had no chance to develop speech; the two communicated with gestures. When
Isabelle was discovered, her behavior toward other people, especially men, was
"almost that of a wild animal." At first it was thought that she was deaf, for she did
not appear to hear the sounds around her, and her speech was a strange croaking
sound. The specialists who worked with her pronounced Isabelle feebleminded and
did not expect that she could ever be taught to speak.
15
9.
Unlike Anna, however, Isabelle had the advantage of being treated by a skilled team
of doctors and psychologists. After a slow start, she suddenly spurted through the
stages of learning that are usually characteristic for the first six years of childhood,
taking every stage in the usual order but at much greater speed than normal. By the
time she was eight-and-a-half years old she had reached an apparently normal level
of intellectual development and was able to attend school with other children. Her
greater progress seems to be related to the skill of her trainers, and the fact that her
mother was present during the isolation, and the fact that, unlike Anna, she was able
to gain the use of language.
QUESTIONS
5. Paragraphs 6-9 describe two cases of children brought up in isolation.
Complete the following sentences about these cases.
a. The attempt to socialize ANNA / ISABELLE were more successful than
the attempt to socialize ANNA / ISABELLE.
b. According to David (1948), Anna’s case shows that human socialization
does not depend only on _________________ factors.
6. (par. 9) What three factors enabled Isabelle to be socialized successfully?
a. ______________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
c. ______________________________________________________________
Institutionalized Children
10. The socialization of children who are raised in orphanages and similar institutions
differs from that of other children in one very important respect. Institutionalized
children rarely have the chance to develop close emotional ties with specific adults,
for although the children may interact with a large number of staff members, the
attendants simply do not have the time to devote much personal attention to any one
individual. The standard of nutrition and other physical care in institutions is
sometimes good and comparable to that in private homes, but relationships between
child and adult are usually minimal.
11. In 1945, the psychologist Rene Spitz published an influential article on the effects
that these conditions have on children's personalities. Spitz compared infants living
16
with their mothers with infants of the same age who had been placed in the care of
an orphanage. The infants living with their mothers had plenty of opportunity for close
social interaction, but those in the institution received only routine care at mealtimes
and when their clothing or bedding was changed. Spitz found that the infants in the
orphanage were physically, socially, and emotionally retarded compared with the
other infants – a difference, moreover, that increased steadily as the children grew
older.
12. Spitz's report was followed by a large number of studies on the effects of
institutionalization on infants and children, most of which arrived at similar
conclusions (Bowlby, 1969; Rutter, 1974). William Goldfarb (1945), for example,
compared forty children who had been placed in foster homes soon after birth with
forty children who had spent the first two years of their lives in institutions before
being transferred to foster homes. He found that the institutionalized children suffered
a number of personality defects that persisted even after they had left the institutions.
They had lower IQ scores, seemed more aggressive and distractable, showed less
initiative, and were emotionally cold. Many other studies had reported similar
depressing effects on physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development, and
have confirmed that such disabilities suffered in early childhood tend to persist or
even grow worse in later years (for example, Provence and Lipton, 1962; Yarrow,
1963; Dennis, 1960; Dennis and Najaran, 1957).
QUESTIONS
7.
a. In what way is socialization in an institution different from
socialization at home?
__________________________________________________________
b. Why does this happen?
________________________________________________________________
8. Why does the author discuss Spitz’s study?
To show that conditions in ______________________ can lead to
_____________________ development in children.
9. a. List four personality defects that institutionalized children have:
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a. ___________________________
b. ___________________________
c. ___________________________
d. ___________________________
b. Do these effects disappear when children grow up? YES / NO
Support your answer by quoting from the text.
________________________________________________________________
Monkeys Raised in Isolation
13. Harry Harlow and his associates at the University of Wisconsin have conducted a
series of important experiments on the effects of isolation on rhesus monkeys
(Harlow, 1958, 1965; Harlow and Harlow, 1962; Harlow and Zimmerman, 1959).
Harlow's work has shown that even in monkeys, social behavior is learned, not
inherited. The monkeys raised in isolation in his labs behave in a way that is similar
to that of human psychotics. They are fearful of, or hostile to, other monkeys, make
no attempt to interact with them, and are generally withdrawn and apathetic.
Monkeys reared in isolation do not know how to mate with other monkeys and usually
cannot be taught how to do so. If female monkeys who have been isolated since
birth are artificially impregnated, they become unloving and abusive mothers, making
little or no attempt to take care of their offspring. In one experiment Harlow provided
isolated monkey infants with two substitute mothers - one made of wire and
containing a feeding bottle and one covered with soft cloth but without a bottle. The
infant monkeys preferred the soft, cuddly "mother" to the one that fed them. This
wretched substitute for affection seemed more important to them than even food.
14. Like all animal studies, Harlow's experiments must be treated with caution when
inferences are made for human behavior. After all, we are not monkeys. His studies
show, however, that without socialization, monkeys cannot develop normal social,
sexual, emotional, or maternal behavior. Since we know that human beings rely
much more heavily on learning than monkeys do, it seems fair to conclude that the
same would be true for us.
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QUESTIONS
10. What idea does Harlow’s experiment with substitute mothers illustrate?
________________________________________________________________
11. Paragraph 14 states “the same would be true for us.” What would be true for
us?
________________________________________________________________
15. The evidence from these varied sources, then, points overwhelmingly in the same
direction: without socialization, we are almost devoid of personality and are utterly
unable to face even the simplest challenges of life. Lacking the instincts that guide
the behavior of other animals, we can become social and thus fully human only by
learning through interaction with other people.
QUESTION
12. What is the main idea of the article?
a. Children who grow up in isolation do not have enough physical care.
b. Children raised in orphanages are retarded compared to other children.
c. Both people and monkeys learn social behavior in groups.
d. Emotional attachment is critical for human development.
19
Nature or Nurture?
1. People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are
formed. It’s not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or
why one is cooperative and another is competitive.
2. Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They
want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors.
There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have
developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from one
another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The
controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature/nurture.”
_____________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
1. What question is discussed in this text? (Fill in the blanks.)
The question of what causes peoples’ ______________ and
_______________
2. a. In paragraph 2, what are “schools of
thought”?_________________________
b. What other word in the paragraph means the same
thing?________________
3. In paragraph 2, what 2 words are used to mean “argument”?
____________________
and _____________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and
behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our
environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics, and
behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our
behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely
governed by our instincts.
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4. Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim
that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in
determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B.F. Skinner, sees humans as beings
whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists’
view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines,
humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.
_____________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
4. Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that
___________________________ determine how we behave. According to them,
________________ doesn’t influence our behavior and characteristics.
5.
Those who support the “nurture” side of the conflict believe that
_____________________ determines how we behave.
6.
What is another name for “nurture” supporters?
__________________________
7.
a. What are humans compared to in paragraph 4?
___________________________
b. In what way are the two the same?
_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
5. Let us examine the different explanations about one human characteristic,
intelligence, offered by the two theories. Advocates of the “nature” theory, of course,
maintain that we are born with a certain capacity for learning that is biologically
determined. Needless to say, they don’t believe that factors in the environment have
much influence on what is basically a predetermined characteristic. On the other
hand, behaviorists argue that our intelligence levels are the product of our
experiences. They suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there
are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will
experience greater intellectual development than one who is raised in a stimulusdeprived environment.
21
_____________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
8.
What is the purpose of paragraph 5?
a. to explore the debate about two common theories about intelligence
b. to explain what will happen to children brought up without stimuli
c. to explain the two theories of behavior through an example
d. to compare the nature/nurture debate with the debate on intelligence
9. Which group would agree with the following statement, nature or nurture
supporters? NATURE
/
NURTURE
People can improve their scores on intelligence tests.
Support your answer by quoting from the text.
_______________________________________________________________
6. The social and political implications of these two theories are profound. In the United
States, for example, Hispanics often score below whites on standardized intelligence
tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that Hispanics are generally
inferior to whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that the differences in scores are due
to the fact that Hispanics are often deprived of many of the cultural and other
environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not
develop the same responses that whites do.
7.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is
quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes.
That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.
_____________________________________________________________________
22
QUESTIONS
10. In the U.S., Hispanics often get low scores on standardized intelligence
tests. How would each of the following groups explain this phenomenon?
NATURE:________________________________________________________
NURTURE:______________________________________________________
11. Which side of the conflict does the author agree with? ____________________
Quote from the text to support your answer.
________________________________________________________________
Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
This article discusses the question of what causes people to
________________ as they do. Supporters of the nature theory believe that
________________ determines our behavior while those who believe in the
nurture theory argue that ________________ decides our actions. According to
nature proponents, people are smart because of their ________________.
However, nurture supporters say people are smart because they have many
________________ in their environments. The ________________ of the
theories are discussed. The author concludes that ________________ theory can
entirely explain human behavior. He believes that the answer to the question is a
________________ of the two theories.
23
Exercise 3: Sentence Structure
Mark the subjects, verbs, and complements of the following sentences. Then
answer the questions that follow.
1. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics,
and behavior is central to this theory.
What is the main principle of the theory being discussed?
______________________________________________________________
2. The child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which
develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater
intellectual development than one who is raised in a stimulus-deprived environment.
a. Which two groups of children are compared in this sentence?
1. ________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________
b. Which words signal the comparison? ___________________________
c. What is the difference between the two groups?
They have different __________________________________________
3. The social and political implications of these two theories are profound.
What is profound? (ONE word) ___________________
4. Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior.
Based on the two theories that are discussed, can we completely understand
human behavior? YES / NO
5. That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.
What is the author convinced of? ___________________________________
24
Exploring the Traits of Twins
by: John Leon
from: Time Magazine, January 12, 1987
Exercise 1: Skimming Questions
Write the appropriate paragraph numbers next to each topic from the article.
1. Introduction – par. _______ to par. _______
2. The findings of the study – par. _______ to par. _______
3. Reactions to the study – par. _______ to par. _______
1.
Like many identical twins reared apart, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer found they have
been leading eerily similar lives. Separated four weeks after birth in 1940, the Jim
twins grew up 45 miles apart in Ohio and were reunited in 1979. Eventually they
discovered that both drove the same model blue Chevrolet, chain smoked Salems,
chewed their fingernails and owned dogs named Toy. Each had spent a good deal of
time vacationing at the same three-block strip of beach in Florida. More important,
when tested for such personality traits as flexibility, self-control, and sociability, the
twins responded almost exactly alike.
2.
The two Jims were the first of 348 pairs of twins studied at the University of
Minnesota, home of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research. Much of
the investigation concerns the obvious question raised by siblings like Springer and
Lewis: How much of any individual’s personality is due to heredity? The center’s
answer: about half.
3.
The project, summed up in a scholarly paper that has been submitted to the Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, is considered the most comprehensive of its
kind. The Minnesota researchers report the results of six-day tests of their subjects,
including 44 pairs of identical twins who were brought up apart. Well-being,
alienation, aggression, and the shunning of risk or danger were found to owe as
much or more to nature as to nurture. Of eleven key traits or clusters of traits
25
analyzed in the study, researchers estimated that a high of 61% of what they called
“social potency” (a tendency toward leadership or dominance) is inherited, while
“social closeness” (the need for intimacy, comfort, and help) was lowest, at 33%.
4.
The study finds that even a penchant for conservatism seems to have a genetic
base. One of the eleven traits, traditionalism (respect for authority, rules, standards
and high morals), was discovered to be 60% inherited. Among other traits listed at
more than 50% were vulnerability or resistance to stress, dedication to hard work and
achievement, and the capacity for being caught up in imaginative experiences.
1. (par. 1) Circle the correct word. The traits of flexibility, self-control, and
sociability are the result of HEREDITY / ENVIRONMENT.
Explain your choice.
________________________________________________________________
__
2. (par. 2-4) a. Fill in the chart below to show which of the personality traits
mentioned in the text are mainly inherited. For each trait, write what
percentage is inherited.
Inherited Personality Trait
Percentage Inherited
1. alienation
2.
3.
4. tendency towards leadership
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. resistance to stress
10.
11.
b. Which trait mentioned in the text is mainly due to the environment?
______________________________________
26
5.
The director of the study, Thomas Bouchard, cautions that the numbers so far may
not be strictly accurate. “In general,” he says, “the degree of genetic influence tends
to be around 50%.” Attributing the 28-point gap between potency and closeness to
possible sampling errors, he predicted that “social potency will drop and social
closeness will creep up.”
6.
All the twins took several personality tests, answering more than 15,000 questions on
subjects ranging from personal interests and values to phobias, aesthetic judgment,
and television and reading habits. Twins reared separately also took medical exams
and intelligence tests and were queried on life history and stresses. Not all pairs
matched up as well as the two Jims. California twins Ann Blandin and Barbara
Parker, 40 showed only minor similarities. Said Blandin: “Bouchard said we were the
most different set of twins in the study.”
7.
Psychologist David Lykken, one of the Minnesota researchers, thinks the study will
shove the pendulum further away from the “radical environmentalism” of those who
believe the characters of children are more or less created by their parents and
environment. Lykken says test pilot Chuck Yeager is daring because he was
“genetically endowed with a low scale of fearlessness,” a trait that might have been
redirected or tamped down but not eradicated. Says psychologist Nancy Sega, a
member of the project: “Parents can work to make a child less fearful, but they can’t
make a child brave.”
8.
Adam Matheny of the Louisville Twin Study, the oldest of U.S. twin study groups,
says the “mechanism for change is laid down the moment a child is conceived” and
that the genes provide a “rough sketch of life.” Some psychologists who stress the
influence of genes on behavior often speak as if nurture were a by-product of
nature.” “All of us make our own environment,” says developmental psychologist
Sandra Scarr of the University of Virginia. Lykken makes the same point: “The
environment molds your personality, but your genes determine what kind of
environment you have, seek, and attend to." Since the early 1960’s, several twin
studies have reported that identical twins reared apart are actually more alike than
those raised in the same home. Scarr thinks the reason is that parents faced with
identical twins try hard to stress differences between siblings. Says she: “Living with
the same family seems to increase intellectual similarity and decrease resemblance
in personality.”
27
3. (par. 7) The two quotes by Lykken and Sega show that both researchers
believe in the idea that _____________________ has the strongest influence
on behavior.
4. (par. 8) “Nurture is a by-product of nature” means that our genes influence
which _____________________ we choose.
5. Why are twins raised together more different from each other than twins
raised apart?
______________________________________________________
9.
Some scholars, such as Princeton psychologist Leon Kamin, fear that the Minnesota
results will be used to blame the poor and downtrodden for their own condition.
Political liberals have long believed that crime and poverty are largely by-products of
destructive environments. As a result, they are usually suspicious of biological or
genetic explanations for behavior. “These are very ambiguous data that can be
interpreted any way you want to,” says Kamin. “I’m not saying that anyone is
falsifying facts or anything, just that we really know very, very little.” For the
Minnesota researchers and their allies, however, their study is just one more proof
that parenting has its limits. Says psychologist and twin researcher David Rowe of
the University of Oklahoma: “Parents should be blamed less for kids who have
problems and take credit for kids who turn out well.”
6. (par. 9) Political liberals believe that _______________________ is largely
responsible for our behavior, while the Minnesota researchers believe that
_________________________ mainly determines our behavior.
28
Turning to Drugs in the Far East –
Some Israelis Do, and Some Don’t
In 1998, Dr. Rachel Erhard went to the Far East to find out why young Israelis
use drugs there.
1.
Although the drug habits of Israeli travelers in the Far East have already
gained wide exposure in the media, there has been hardly any academic
research of the subject. One of the first studies, and the first to check the
phenomenon on location, in India and Thailand, has only recently been
completed. In 1998, Dr. Rachel Erhard, head of the Counseling Education
Department in the School of Education at Tel Aviv University, traveled to the
Far East and handed out research questionnaires to 133 Israeli tourists.
2.
The study confirmed what is already known: Drug use among travelers in the
Far East is significantly higher than among the same age group in Israel. Some
62.1 percent of the young people said that they used cannabis (hashish and
marijuana), as opposed to 5.6 percent in Israel; some 33.8 percent said they
used so-called “hard” drugs (a category which included LSD, ecstasy,
amphetamines/speed, opium, cocaine, heroin, and crack), as opposed to 1.2
percent in Israel.
Exercise 1: Close Reading Questions
1. What method did Dr. Erhard use to gather information?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
2. What idea do the statistics in paragraph 2 support?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
29
3.
“On the one hand,” says Erhard, “there is truth in the popular image that in the
Far East there is far more drug use – 30 times as much use of hard drugs is a
huge amount. On the other hand, there is a very large group who are not
users.” The study tried to explain the difference between the two groups – why
some of the travelers use drugs, while others do not, and what causes some to
use drugs more than others. The difference doesn’t depend on “personality”
traits, according to the study.
4.
According to Erhard, the professional literature is familiar with several such
variables, e.g. a search for excitement. “In this study,” she says, “not even a
single such variable could explain the difference.” Another interesting finding is
that even the duration of the visit to the Far East has no connection to the
extent of drug use. “I examined several types of travelers. I distributed
questionnaires to those just boarding the plane at Ben-Gurion Airport, as well
as to those who have been traveling for a year or two,” says Erhard. “We had
a theory that the longer one stays in the Far East, the greater the possibility of
drug use. But that turned out to be mistaken. There are some who are there for
a long time, and do not use drugs, while others were looking even before they
disembarked from the plane.”
5.
The study found that family background and education have no influence on
drug use, either. Another explanation that was rejected was peer pressure,
which is one of the most common explanations for beginning to use drugs in
adolescence. According to the study, this phenomenon does not exist at all in
the far East.
3. (par. 3) What was the purpose of Erhard’s study? Fill in the blanks.
The purpose of the study was to understand the difference between
__________________________ and _________________________ and
to explain the _______________________ for the difference.
30
4. (par. 3-5) List 5 factors that did NOT influence drug use according to
the study.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
6.
Erhard says that the variable which distinguishes between those who use
drugs and those who do not – especially hard drugs – is “behavioral
intentions,” i.e. the intention to use drugs. What this means is that those who
use drugs are, for the most part, those who wanted to do so in the first place.
“There are kids who already in the plane told me ‘I am going to try anything
they offer me.’ Those who tell you on the plane that there’s no chance that
they’ll use drugs – won’t use them. It’s something that’s decided before the
trip,” she says.
7.
Erhard emphasizes the distinction between “behavioral intentions” and
“attitudes towardss drugs.” These variables are of course related, but a positive
attitude towards drugs doesn’t necessarily mean the intention of using them.
“The attitudes,” she explains, “are formed at an early stage, at the beginning of
adolescence. The behavioral intentions are an additional factor, which is
decided on a short time before the journey."
8.
The attitudes themselves, as the study shows, do not have a direct influence
on the use of so-called hard drugs. However, they do have a direct influence
on the use of soft drugs – a traveler with a positive attitude is likely to
experiment with them when the opportunity arises. “Only those with a stated
intention will use hard drugs. As far as other drugs are concerned, even a
positive attitude alone is likely to have an influence,” says Erhard.
31
9.
This conclusion, she says, is of great significance when planning drugprevention programs: “Should we engage only in creating negative attitudes or
should we actually deal with behavioral intentions? In other words, not only say
that drugs are bad, but ‘what will you do if you are in such a situation?’”
5. What factor DOES affect drug use in the far East?
__________________________________________
6. What is the difference between “behavioral intentions” and “attitudes
towards drugs”?
a. Behavioral intentions are decided long before attitudes towards drugs.
b. Attitudes towards drugs are decided long before behavioral intentions.
c. Behavioral intentions are negative whereas attitudes are positive.
d. A positive attitude towards drugs means the intention to use them.
7. (par. 6-8) Which drugs will the following types of people probably
use:
hard drugs, soft drugs, or no drugs?
a. no behavioral intentions, positive attitude to drugs
__________________
b. no behavioral intentions, negative attitude to drugs
__________________
c. behavioral intentions, positive attitude to drugs
_____________________
8. What conclusions did Erhard draw from the study?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
10. Erhard herself traveled to the Far East to distribute the questionnaires, and the
trip proved to her the importance of the study. “The most painful part was at the
end of the trip,” she says. “I returned on a flight from Bombay, and while
waiting for the plane, a young Israeli guy started to go wild. The flight was
delayed and we took him to a hotel. He tore off his clothes and ran to the pool.
32
His brother, who was with him, said that he had taken an entire cocktail of
drugs before going home.
11. “At the airport I met his parents, and after a while they phoned to say that he
was not doing well. That is the danger – there is a certain percentage for whom
the experience causes an outbreak of mental illness, and the damage is
irreversible. Maybe that’s what happened to the young man. For most of the
young people, it’s a passing episode. But that serious case is what made me
want to try to help those who have suffered irreversible damage.”
12. The solution suggested by the study, she says, reinforces the importance of
education at a young age. “There was a time when they tried to give the
travelers at the airport a brochure against drug use. But in the study, we see
that the travelers don’t really lose their heads in the Far East – it’s actually a
fairly long process. Therefore, it’s important to form negative attitudes at a very
young age, and parents and the school system play an important role here.”
9. (par. 10-11). Erhard brings the example of the young Israeli to show
how experimenting with drugs can lead to
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
10.
Why does Erhard think that giving out brochures about the Far East
will not prevent travelers’ drug use?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
11. Based on your reading of the text, do you think this research is
important?
YES / NO Explain.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
33
OPTIONAL:
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the following summary of the article.
Dr. Rachel Erhard recently completed her ____________________ on the drug habits
of Israeli travelers in the Far East. She found that drug use among Israelis in the Far
East is significantly ______________________ than among the same age group in
Israel. This is true for the use of both ______________________drugs like marijuana
and _____________________ drugs like heroin. On the other hand, there still are
many Israelis who ________________________ use drugs in the Far East. The study
tried to explain the _______________________ between the drug users and non-users.
It suggests that this does not depend on such __________________ as personality
traits and duration of a visit, but rather on a traveler’s ________________________ to
try drugs even before going on the trip. The study further found that a person’s early
_____________________ towards drugs has an influence. It is therefore important for
_____________________ and ______________________ to emphasize anti-drug
education.
34
Ethnocentrism
From Mosaic, pp. 197-200
1.
Culture shock can be an excellent lesson in relative values and in understanding human
differences. The reason culture shock occurs is that we are not prepared for these
differences. Because of the way we are taught our culture, we are all ethnocentric. This
term comes from the Greek root ethnos, meaning a people or group. Thus, it refers to
the fact that our outlook or world view is centered on our own way of life. Ethnocentrism
is the belief that one's own patterns of behavior are the best: the most natural, beautiful,
right, or important. Therefore, other people, to the extent that they live differently, live by
standards that are unhuman, irrational, unnatural, or wrong.
2.
Ethnocentrism is the view that one's own culture is better than all others; it is the way all
people feel about themselves as compared to outsiders. There is no one in our society
who is not ethnocentric to some degree, no matter how liberal and open-minded he or
she might claim to be. People will always find some aspect of another culture
distasteful, be it sexual practices, a way of treating friends or relatives, or simply a food
that they cannot manage to get down with a smile. This is not something we should be
ashamed of, because it is a natural outcome of growing up in any society. However, as
anthropologists who study other cultures, it is something we should constantly be aware
of, so that when we are tempted to make value judgments about another way of life, we
can look at the situation objectively and take our bias into account.
QUESTIONS
1. According to the definition of ethnocentrism in the article, people view their
own culture as ____________________. In contrast, they often view foreign
cultures as _____________________.
2. Ethnocentrism is a way of thinking that:
a. we are born with
b. we learn in school
c. we learn in our society
d. develops in some cultures
35
3. (par. 2) Who is not ethnocentric?
a. liberal people
b. anthropologists
c. open-minded people
d. nobody
4. a. Does the author think it is normal for one to regard his or her own culture as
the best? YES / NO
Quote from the text to support your answer.
________________________________________________________________
b. Does the author think that people should ignore the existence of
ethnocentrism? YES / NO
Why? ___________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.
Ethnocentrism can be seen in many aspects of culture-myths, folktales, food, and even
language. In many languages, especially those of non-Western societies, the word used
to refer to one's own tribe or ethnic group literally means "mankind" or "human." This
implies that members of other groups are less than human. For example, the term
Eskimo, used to refer to groups that inhabit the arctic and subarctic regions, is an Indian
word used by neighbors of the Eskimos who observed their strange way of life but did
not share it. The term means "eaters of raw flesh," and as such is an ethnocentric
observation about cultural practices that were normal to one group and repulsive to
another. On the other hand, if we look at one subgroup among the Alaskan natives we
find them calling themselves “Inuit,” which means "real people" (they obviously did not
think eating raw flesh was anything out of the ordinary). Here, then, is a contrast
between one's own group, which is real, and the rest of the world, which is not so "real."
Both terms, Eskimo and Inuit, are equally ethnocentric--one as an observation about
differences, the other as a self-evaluation.
4.
Another example of ethnocentrism in language can be found in the origin of the English
term barbarian. Originally a Greek word, it was used to refer to the tribes that lived
around the edge of ancient Greek society. The Greeks referred to these people as
"barbars" because they could not understand their speech. "Bar-bar" was the Greek
word for the sound a dog makes, like our word "bow-wow." The Greeks, in a classic
36
example of ethnocentrism, considered those whose speech they could not understand
to be on the same level as dogs, which also could not be understood. They did not grant
such people the status of human being, much as the word Eskimo gives those people
subhuman status.
QUESTIONS
5. “Eskimo” and “Inuit” are two terms used to describe the same people. Which
of the following is true about these terms?
a. The first is ethnocentric while the second is not ethnocentric.
b. The first has a negative meaning, and the second has a positive meaning
c. Both terms show understanding and tolerance of other people.
d. These terms are essentially identical in meaning and usage.
6.
At the end of paragraph 4, a comparison is made between the use of two
ethnocentric terms: ____________________ and ______________________. These
terms are alike in that both imply that other people are
_________________________ (1-3 WORDS).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5.
Shifting from language to myths and folktales, we find a good example of ethnocentrism
in the creation myth of the Cherokee Indians. According to this story, the Creator made
three clay images of a man and baked them in an oven. In his haste to admire his
handiwork, he took the first image out of the oven before it was fully baked and found
that it was too pale. He waited a while and then removed the second image; it was just
right, a full reddish brown hue. He was so pleased with his work that he sat there and
admired it, completely forgetting about the third image. Finally he smelled it burning, but
by the time he could rescue it from the oven it had already been burnt, and it came out
completely black!
6.
Food preferences are perhaps the most familiar aspect of ethnocentrism. Every culture
has developed preferences for certain kinds of food and drink, and equally strong
negative attitudes towards others. It is interesting to note that much of this
ethnocentrism is in our heads and not in our tongues, for something can taste delicious
until we are told what it is. We have all heard stories about people being fed a meal of
snake or horse meat or something equally repugnant in American culture and
37
commenting on how tasty it was--until they were told what they had just eaten; as a
result, they turned green and hurriedly asked to be excused from the table.
QUESTIIONS
7. Complete the sentence by circling the correct words.
The Cherokee Indian creation myth is similar to the word INUIT / ESKIMO
because both illustrate POSITIVE / NEGATIVE evaluations of one’s own
group.
8. (par. 6) What point is illustrated by the examples of meals of snake and horse
meat? __________________________________________________________
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7.
Certain food preferences seem natural to us. We usually do not recognize that they are
natural only because we have grown up with them; they are quite likely to be unnatural
to someone from a different culture. In southeast Asia, for example, the majority of
adults do not drink milk. To many Americans it is inconceivable that people in other
parts of the world do not drink milk, since to us it is a "natural" food. In China, dog meat
is a delicacy; but the thought of eating a dog is enough to make most Americans feel
sick. Yet we can see how this is part of a cultural pattern. Americans keep dogs as pets
and tend to think of as almost human. Therefore, we would not dream of eating dog
meat. Horses, too, sometimes become pets, and horse meat is also rejected by most
Americans, although not because of its taste. You may have eaten it without even
knowing it, and you probably would not recognize it if someone didn't tell you what you
were eating. On the other hand, we generally do not feel affection for cows or pigs, and
we eat their meat without any feeling of regret. In India a cow receives the kind of care
that a horse or even a dog receives in our country, and the attitude of Indians towards
eating beef is similar to our feeling about eating dog meat. On the other hand, in China
dogs are not treated as kindly as they are in the United States. Since they are not pets,
the attitude of Chinese people towards dogs is similar to our attitude towards cows.
QUESTIONS
9. (par. 7) Why don’t Indians eat cow meat?
________________________________________________________________
38
10. Based on your reading of the article, which of the following statements are
true? Choose TWO.
a. We tend to like things that are familiar to us and to dislike things that we do not
understand.
b. Unfortunately, because of their lack of education, some people acquire the bad habit
of ethnocentrism.
c. Certain ethnic groups have inferior customs that are inhuman, unnatural, or wrong.
d. It is normal for people to consider their own culture as the best or most beautiful.
e. The foods of certain cultures are naturally pleasing to most humans.
11. What is the main purpose of this article?
a. to tell us about the development of culture shock
b. to explain the concept of ethnocentrism
c. to specify the advantages and disadvantages of ethnocentrism
d. to show how problematic ethnocentric behavior is
39
The Balance of Nature
Adapted from Karl Von Frisch, Biology: The Science of Life, New York; Harper & Row, 1963
1.
The members of a living community exist together in a particular balanced relationship,
or ecosystem. One animal species eats another animal species which in turn eats
another. Over years, a balance is worked out among the plants and animals in a
community and it remains basically stable. It is like a huge puzzle with all the bits in their
proper places. However, at times this balance is disturbed, resulting in a number of
unforeseen effects. Perhaps a disease results in the near extinction of one species,
leaving another with no natural predator. The result could be a terrific increase in that
one species population. This could further result in the devastation of a shared food
supply, which could in turn affect another species. It is possible for the disruption in the
balance of nature to have natural causes: disease, drought, fire. Sometimes, however,
human beings intervene in a natural environment, perhaps only slightly and with good
intentions. The result is the same. The balance of nature becomes unbalanced and
results in an entire chain reaction of unforeseen and unwanted effects.
________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
1. What is an “ecosystem”?
________________________________________________________________
2. Name at least 4 factors that can upset the balance of nature.
a. ______________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________________________
d. _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2.
A good example of this occurred in the Antilles in the 1870's. Sugar cane was a major
crop there, but rats were eating and nesting in the cane, causing a great deal of
damage. The mongoose, a foot and a half long mammal of the East Indies, was known
to be an excellent rat hunter. Several males and females were imported in 1872, and
laws were established that forbade the killing of them or their offspring. The mongoose
flourished in the Antilles. After ten years, they had multiplied abundantly and
40
significantly reduced the rat population. Consequently, damage to the cane fields was
greatly reduced and it seemed that the scheme had been successful.
________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
3. Why does the writer tell us about the mongoose and the rats?
a. to illustrate the economic damage to the sugar cane crop
b. to show the effects of hunting laws on the balance of nature
c. to demonstrate the results of upsetting the ecosystem
d. to explain why the mongoose became such a terrible pest
4. (par. 2) “A good example of this.…” What does the word “this” refer to?
________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3.
However, that is not the end of the story. The influence of the mongoose did not stop
there. As the rat population decreased and the mongoose population increased, the
mongoose needed to enlarge its menu. It attacked young pigs and goats, game, and
poultry and began to destroy maize, bananas, and pineapples. Because the mongoose
could not be hunted, its number increased rapidly and it became a terrible pest. All of
the indigenous animals suffered damage. The mongoose learned to enjoy the native
birds, lizards, snakes, turtles, and their eggs. Now it was specifically these animals that
kept the local insect population in check. There were in the ecosystem of the Antilles a
number of beetles, borers, and other insects that lived on the sugar cane. Until that
time, they had not caused significant damage to the cane, because they were the
natural food of so many animals that kept their numbers down. However, as the birds,
snakes, lizards, and turtles disappeared, the insect population began to increase. With
no natural predators to keep them in check, the insects began to do more and more
damage to the cane fields.
________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
5. The mongoose were brought to the Antilles in order to
_____________________
6. Why did the mongoose begin to eat snakes and turtles?
________________________________________________________________
41
7. What was the advantage to the people of Antilles of having snakes and
turtles?
_________________________________________________________________
8. (par. 3) “Until that time….” Which time is the writer referring to?
a. until they destroyed the sugar cane
b. until the mongoose ate the birds, snakes, etc.
c. until the ecosystem failed
d. until the snakes and lizards increased
______________________________________________________________________
4.
Finally, the people of the Antilles realized that the introduction of the mongoose had
caused a finely and delicately balanced system to go awry. The law against killing
mongoose was rescinded, and the mongoose population was reduced. Gradually, the
different members of the plant and animal community came back into balance with each
other and equilibrium was re-established. However, the human members of the
community would not soon forget that a single change in the ecosystem can cause a
chain reaction that results in completely unforeseen and sometimes unwanted effects.
________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
9. The laws concerning the killing of mongoose are mentioned twice in this text.
For
each case state what the law said and explain the reason for the law.
a. law: __________________________ reason: ____________________________
b. law: __________________________ reason: ____________________________
10. What is the pattern of organization of this article?
a. a description of different species
b. a comparison and contrast of two items
c. the presentation of a main idea and an example
d. a list of the consequences of something
11. What is the main purpose of the article?
a. to define the term “ecosystem”
b. to explain how an ecosystem works
c. to show us why the mongoose flourished
d. to tell a story about the Antilles
42
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the text.
The writer defines the term __________________and explains how its ___________________
can be disturbed. The writer emphasizes ___________________ as a factor which disturbs the
balance of nature. The example of the Antilles shows how a __________________ in an
ecosystem can cause ___________________ results. Mongoose were brought to the Antilles in
order to save sugar cane from rats. As the rat population __________________, the mongoose
population __________________, and it started to hunt animals other than rats. These animals
ate _________________. Since the mongoose hunted them, the __________________
population increased. This caused great damage to the __________________. When people
realized that the ecosystem had become unbalanced, they started hunting the mongoose. In
time, the ___________________ and ________________ were balanced again, and
equilibrium was re-established.
43
Managing Conflicts in Relationships
by Rudolph F. Verderber
1.
Will your relationships grow, be strengthened, and stabilize, or will they wither and
ultimately die? The answer depends a great deal on how you manage conflict with
them. Conflict is the clash of opposing attitudes, ideas, behaviors, goals, and needs.
Although many people view conflict as bad (and, to be sure, conflict situations are likely
to make us anxious and uneasy), conflict is sometimes useful in that it forces people to
make choices and to test the relative merits of their attitudes, behaviors, needs, and
goals.
2.
Conflicts include clashes over ideas (“Charley was the first one to talk.” “No, it was
Mark” or “Your mother is a battle-ax.” “What do you mean, a ‘battle-ax’?”); over values
(“Bringing home pencils and pens from work is not stealing.” “Of course it is.” or “The
idea that you have to be married to have sex is completely outdated.” “No, it isn’t.”);
and, perhaps the most difficult to deal with, over ego involvement (“Listen, I’ve been a
football fan for thirty years, I ought to know what good defense is.” “Well, you may be a
fan, but that doesn’t make you an expert.”).
QUESTIONS
1. Why are conflicts not always negative?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. What things do people come into conflict about? (Give general ideas - NOT
examples.)
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
44
Patterns of Dealing with Conflict
3.
People engage in many behaviors to cope with or manage their conflicts. Some are
positive and some are negative. These many ways may be discussed under five major
patterns. Let’s consider each in turn.
4.
Withdrawal One of the most common – and certainly one of the easiest – ways to deal
with conflict is to withdraw. Withdrawal is physical or psychological removal from the
situation.
5.
Physical withdrawal is, of course, easiest to identify. Dorie and Tom are in conflict over
Tom’s smoking. When Dorie says, “Tom, I thought you told me that whether you
stopped smoking completely or not, you weren’t going to smoke around the house. Now
here you are lighting up!” Tom may withdraw physically, saying, “I don’t want to talk
about it” as he goes to his basement workshop.
6.
Psychological withdrawal may be more difficult to detect but every bit as common.
Using the same example, when Dorie speaks to Tom about his smoking, Tom sits
quietly in his chair looking at Dorie, but while she is speaking, he is thinking about the
poker game he will be going to the next evening.
7.
Both of these common withdrawal behaviors are negative. Why? Because they neither
eliminate nor attempt to manage the nature of the conflict. For instance, when Tom
withdraws physically, Dorie may follow him to the basement, where the conflict will be
resumed; if not, the conflict will undoubtedly surface later – probably in an intensified
manner – when Dorie and Tom try to cope with another issue. When Tom ignores
Dorie’s comments, Dorie may force Tom to cope with the smoking issue, or she may go
along with Tom’s ignoring her but harbor a resentment that will surface later.
8.
There appear to be two types of situations where withdrawal may work. The first is
when the withdrawal is temporary disengagement used for the purpose of letting the
heat of the conflict cool down. When Bill and Margaret begin to argue over having Bill’s
mother for Thanksgiving dinner, Margaret feels herself get angry about what her
mother-in-law had said to her recently about the way she and Bill were raising their
45
daughter. Margaret says, “Hold it a minute, let me make a pot of coffee. We can both
relax a bit and then we’ll talk about this some more.” A few minutes later she returns,
temper intact and ready to approach the conflict more objectively. Margaret’s action is
not true withdrawal; it is not meant as a means of avoiding confrontation. It provides a
cooling-off period that will probably benefit both of them. The second case where
withdrawal may work is when a conflict occurs between people who communicate
infrequently. Jack and Mark work in the same office. At two office gatherings they have
gotten into arguments about whether the company really cares about its employees. At
the next office gathering Mark avoids sitting near Jack. Withdrawal is a negative pattern
only when it is a person’s major way of managing conflict.
QUESTIONS
3.
The example in paragraph 5 illustrates _____________________________
while the example in paragraph 6 illustrates
________________________________.
4. (par. 7) We can infer that a positive way to deal with conflict would be
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
5. According to paragraph 7, if there is no immediate solution to a conflict, what might
happen?
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6.
When is withdrawal positive?
a. ____________________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
9.
Surrender Surrender means giving in immediately to avoid conflict. Some people are
so afraid of being in conflict that they will do anything to avoid it. For instance, Jeff and
Marian are discussing their vacation plans. Jeff would like just the two of them to go
somewhere together, but Marian has talked with two of their friends who are vacationing
the same week about going together. After Jeff mentions that he’d like the two of them
to go alone, Marian says, “But I think it would be fun to go with another couple, don’t
46
you?” Jeff replies, “OK, whatever you want.” In this example Jeff really wants the two of
them to go alone, but rather than describe his feelings or give reason for his position, he
gives in to avoid conflict.
10. Surrender is negative for at least two reasons: (1) Decisions should be made on merits
and not to avoid conflict. If one person gives in, there is no evaluation of the decision –
no one knows what would really be best. (2) Surrender can infuriate the other person.
When Marian tells Jeff her thoughts, she would probably like Jeff to see her way as the
best. But if Jeff surrenders, Marian will perceive Jeff not as liking her plan but as
martyring himself. His unwillingness to present his reasons could cause even more
conflict.
11. Aggression The use of physical or psychological coercion to get one’s way is
aggression. Through aggression people attempt to force others to accept their ideas.
Through aggression a person may “win,” but it seldom does anything positive for a
relationship. Aggression is an emotional reaction to conflict. Thought is short-circuited,
and the person lashes out physically or verbally. Aggression never deals with the merits
of the issue – only who is bigger, can talk louder, or is nastier.
QUESTIONS
7. Why do some people surrender?
____________________________________________
8. Surrender is bad because the final decisions are not _____________________
and because it could lead to more _______________________.
_________________________________________________________________________
12. In each of the above patterns, conflict is escalated or obscured. In none is it managed.
13. Persuasion Persuasion is the attempt to change either the attitude or the behavior of
another person. At times during a conflict one person might try to persuade the other
that a particular action is the right one. Doris and Jack are considering buying a car.
Doris says, “Don’t we need room?” Jack, her husband, might reply, “Enough to get us
into the car together, but I don’t see why we need more than that.” At this point, Doris
47
and Jack’s conflict comes into focus. Now Doris might say, “Jack, remember the other
day when you were cussing out our present car because it doesn’t have much backseat room? We carry a lot of stuff. I do food shopping, you’re always carrying equipment
for men at the lodge, and there are lots of times when we invite another couple to go
somewhere with us.” Statements like this one are attempts at resolving the conflict
through persuasion.
14. When persuasion is open and reasonable, it can be a positive means of resolving
conflict. But persuasion can degenerate into manipulation. Although persuasive efforts
may fuel a conflict, if that persuasion has a solid logical base, it is at least possible that
the persuasion will resolve the conflict.
QUESTIONS
9. a. In paragraph 12, what does the term “the above patterns” refer to?
____________________________________________________________________
b. What happens in each of “the above patterns”?
Instead
of
being
_______________________,
conflict
is
________________________.
10. What are the disadvantages of persuasion? (list 2)
a. ________________________________________________________________
b. ________________________________________________________________
15. Discussion Discussion is verbal problem solving. It involves weighing and considering
the pros and cons of the issues in conflict. Discussion is the most desirable means of
dealing with conflict in a relationship; nevertheless, it is often difficult to accomplish.
16. Problem-solving might follow the formal method of defining the problem, analyzing the
problem, suggesting possible solutions, selecting the solution that best fits the analysis,
and working to implement the decision. For instance, if Jeff and Marian were discussing,
they might focus on the problem of how they should spend their vacation. They would
seek to identify the goals they hoped to meet. They would suggest places to go and the
possibilities of going there with or without others. They would consider how each
possibility would meet their goals. Then they would select the place and whether to go
with their friends.
48
QUESTIONS
11. What
does
the
example
in
paragraph
16
illustrate?
_____________________________
12. Does discussion always work? YES / NO
Quote from the text to support your answer. _________________________
______________________________________________________________
Exercise 2: Skimming and Scanning Questions
1. What is conflict?
_________________________________________________________
2. Fill in the chart to describe 5 different ways of dealing with conflict. Define each one,
and then write whether it is positive, negative, or both.
Pattern
of
with conflict
dealing
Positive / Negative
Definition
(Circle the correct words.)
1.
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
2.
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
3.
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
4.
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
5.
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
49
Exercise 3: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the following summary of the article.
_________________ is the clash of opposing ideas and attitudes. In most cases, it is
__________________, but sometimes it can be __________________. There are
_________________ different __________________ of dealing with conflict. The first is
_______________, which means _________________ or ____________________
removal from the situation. The second pattern is _______________ in order to
________________ conflict. The third is _________________ through which people
_________________ others to accept their opinions and attitudes. However, these
three strategies don’t _______________ conflict, but rather ________________ it. In
contrast to the first three patterns, the last two are _____________________ ways of
resolving conflict.
One
is ________________,
by which
people attempt
to
__________________ other people’s ideas. The last pattern is ___________________,
which makes people think about the __________________ and ___________________
of the issues in conflict; it is _________________ problem solving. The writer concludes
by stating that although it is not always ___________________ to implement, the last
pattern is the most __________________ means of managing conflict.
50
The Causes of Conflict
Adapted from Personal Aggressiveness and War
by E.F.M. Durbin and John Bowlby
In Michael Swan, Inside Meaning, Cambridge University Press
___________________________________________________________________
Exercise 1: Skimming Questions
1. Skim the text and name three causes of aggression. Write down in which
paragraph(s) each cause is discussed.
a. _________________________________ par. number _________
b. _________________________________ par. number _________
c. _________________________________ par. number _________
2. What is the purpose of this article?
a. to contrast human beings with monkeys
b. to define the meaning of possession
c. to explain reasons for aggression
d. to explore the nature of frustration
1.
The evidence taken from the observation of apes and children suggests that there are
three simple causes for fighting and aggressiveness. One of the most common ones,
among both children and apes, was over possession of external objects. The disputed
ownership of any desired object – food, clothes, toys, females, and even the affection of
others--was sufficient grounds for the use of force. In one group of monkeys, disputes
over females were responsible for the deaths of thirty out of thirty-three of them. Two
points are of particular interest in these fights for possession.
2.
First, they are often carried to such an extreme that they end in the complete
destruction of the objects of common desire. Toys are torn to pieces. Females are
literally torn limb from limb. So overriding is the aggression once it has begun that it not
only overflows all reasonable boundaries of selfishness but utterly destroys the object
for which the struggle was begun and even the self for whose advantage the struggle
was undertaken.
51
3.
In the second place, it is observable, at least in children, that the object for whose
possession the aggression started is desired by one person only because it is also
desired by someone else. In many cases, toys and other objects which had been
discarded as useless were violently defended by their owners when some other child
expressed a desire for them. Such apparently irrational possessiveness commonly
resulted in the most ruthless use of force among children and apes.
_______________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
1.
Food, toys, females, and the affection of others are examples of
_________________ _________________ (TWO words).
2. (par. 2) What are “often carried to such an extreme…”?
________________________________________________________________
3. Which two points are particularly interesting about fights for possession?
a. Fights for possession often result in
__________________________________
b. The reason children sometimes fight over possession of an object is that
________________________________________________________________
4. (par. 3) a. According to the writer, what kind of possessiveness is
“irrational”?
________________________________________________________________
b. What may be the consequence of such irrational possessiveness?
________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4.
One of the commonest kinds of object arousing possessive desire is the notice, good
will, affection, and service of other members of the group. Among children one of the
commonest causes of quarreling was jealousy -- the
desire for the exclusive
possession of the interest and affection of someone else, particularly the adults in
charge of the children. This form of behavior is sometimes classified as a separate
cause of conflict under the name of "rivalry" or "jealousy." But it seems to be only one
variety of possessiveness. The only difference is that in this case the object of desire is
not a material object but rather the interest or affection of other persons. Jealousy and
52
rivalry are fundamentally similar to the desire for the uninterrupted possession of toys
or food. Indeed, very often the persons desired are the providers of the toys and food.
_______________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
5. (par. 4) a. What can cause possessive desire?
________________________________________________________________
b. Which type of possessiveness is described in this paragraph (ONE word)?
____________________
6. According to the writers, jealousy and rivalry are basically like wanting
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5.
Another cause of aggression is the tendency for children and apes to greatly resent the
intrusion of a stranger into their group. A new child in the class may be laughed at,
isolated, disliked, and even pinched and bullied. A new monkey may be poked and
bitten to death. It is interesting to note that it is only strangeness within a similarity of
species that is resented. Monkeys do not mind being joined by a goat or a rat. Children
do not object when animals are introduced to the group. Indeed, such novelties are
often welcomed. But when monkeys meet a new monkey or children a strange child,
aggression often occurs. This suggests strongly that the reason for the aggression is
fundamentally possessiveness. The competition of the newcomers is feared. The
present members of the group feel that there will be more rivals for the food or for the
attention of the adults.
_______________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
7. Paragraph 5: “…such novelties are often welcomed.” Which novelties may be
welcomed? _______________________________________________________
8. TRUE / FALSE: If a group of apes is joined by a dog, fighting will begin.
Bring evidence from the text to support your answer:
________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
53
6.
Finally, another common source of fighting among children is a failure or frustration in
their own activity. A child may be prevented either by natural causes such as bad
weather or illness or by the opposition of some adult from doing something he wishes to
do – sail his boat or ride his bicycle. The child may also frustrate itself by failing,
through lack of skill or strength, to complete successfully some desired activity. Such a
child will then be in a bad temper. And, what is of interest from our point of view, the
child will indulge in aggression – attacking and fighting other children or adults.
Sometimes the object of aggression will simply be the cause of frustration, a
straightforward reaction. The child will kick or hit the nurse who forbids the sailing of his
boat. But frequently the person or thing that suffers the aggression is quite irrelevant
and innocent of offense. The angry child will stamp the ground or box the ears of
another child when neither the ground nor the child attacked is even remotely
connected with the irritation or frustration.
7.
It is not really obvious why revenge should be taken on entirely innocent objects, since
no good can come of it to the aggressor, or why children who are miserable should seek
to make others miserable also. It is just a fact of human behavior. Nevertheless, it is of
very great importance to our research, for it shows how it is possible, at the simplest
and most primitive level, for aggression to spring from an entirely irrelevant and partially
hidden cause. Fighting to possess a desired object is straightforward and rational,
however disastrous its consequences, compared with fighting that occurs because
some frustration has barred the road to pleasure.
_______________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS
9. Why do the writers tell us about bad weather and the opposition of adults to a
child’s activity?
a. to present examples of natural causes that frustrate a child and lead to
aggression
b. to show that an innocent object may sometimes become a target of
aggression
c. to explain how a child may become frustrated and ultimately, aggressive
d. to tell us that adults often prevent children from accomplishing what they
desire
54
10. (par. 7) a. What is of great importance to the writers in their research?
________________________________________________________________
b. Why is it important?
________________________________________________________________
11. a. What two types of aggressive behavior are compared in the last sentence of
the article?
a. ______________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
Which type is more logical? __________________________________________
Exercise 3: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
In the article, the writers _________________ three main causes of aggressive
behavior among monkeys and _________________. One of the reasons is the desire to
_________________ an object which may be may be either tangible, or it may be the
_________________ of another person. Another cause of aggression is the resentment
and fear of ___________________ who belong to the same __________________.
Children may also become aggressive as a result of __________________. In the latter
case, they can attack a person who __________________ them from achieving their
goals.
Sometimes,
however,
the
object
of
aggression
is
completely
__________________. The writers conclude by saying that the causes of conflict are
often ____________________ to explain logically.
55
Exploring the Tea Bag Factor
by Anastasia Toufexis
From Time, August 26, 1991
Emotional and intellectual traits are crucial to how well people survive the hot water of
captivity.
1.
When American hostage Edward Tracy emerged from nearly five years of captivity in
Lebanon last week, every minute of his confinement seemed to be graven in his body
and spirit. Though he declared himself “in perfect health” and “ready to do the 100-yard
dash,” he appeared weary, bewildered, and at times incoherent. He reportedly denied
that Edward Tracy was his real name, claimed he was 63 though his birth certificate
makes him 60, and hoped his “wives would rise from the dead” even though he has
married but once and his ex-wife is still living. At the U.S. Air Force hospital in
Wiesbaden, Germany, where he was first taken, and in Boston where he checked into a
VA hospital at midweek, Tracy remained secluded.
2. In dramatic contrast, John McCarthy, who was also held for five years, bounced back into
freedom looking as if he had just been away for the weekend. Trim and fit, the 34-yearold Briton fielded questions with grace and humor and seemed more than ready to
resume his private life and even his public duties as a television reporter. Back in Britain
at the Royal Air Force base in Lyneham, McCarthy took time out from being examined to
deliver a letter from his captors to the U.N. Secretary-General, ride around the base in a
borrowed car and try out a flight simulator. Everywhere he went he waved cheerily.
QUESTIONS
1. (par. 1) Give 2 examples that illustrate Edward Tracy’s impaired mental
condition after he was released.
a. ______________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________
56
________________________________________________________________________
3.
What accounts for the apparent differences in the two men’s physical and mental
condition? How well hostages cope with captivity depends partly on how long and how
roughly they are held. The more brutal the conditions, the more brutalized the body and
mind. Tracy and McCarthy suffered much the same deprivations, and were also both
beaten and threatened with death. For some of their imprisonment they were chained
and blindfolded, and each spent time in harrowing solitary confinement.
4.
But survival also depends on the physical and psychological resources hostages bring
to the ordeal. Youth is an advantage in weathering physical hardships. More crucial,
however, are a person’s emotional and intellectual traits. “It really depends on what you
came in with, what your life experience has been,” stresses Bruce Laingen, who a
decade ago was held hostage in Iran for 444 days. “Human beings are like tea bags.
You don’t know your own strength until you get into hot water.”
QUESTIONS
2. (par. 4) Although the _____________________ of the prisoner affects his
chances for coping with hardship, the most essential factors are the person’s
_____________________ and _____________________ characteristics.
3. (par. 4) a. Human beings in prison are compared to _______________________
because in both cases _____________________________________________.
b. “Hot water” for the prisoner means __________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
5.
More resilient hostages have a firm sense of identity, self-confidence, and optimism.
They tend to hold strong beliefs, political or religious. And they have stable ties to family
and friends, which give them a reason to live and comfort that they have not been
forgotten. In captivity they are able to forge new bonds with other hostages and often
make sacrifices for the others’ benefit. Says psychologist Julius Segal, a former director
of the National Institute of Mental Health: “Prisoners have told me that the best thing
you can do in captivity is share that last morsel of food. It brings you outside of
yourself.”
57
6.
Hardy hostages have a vivid imagination, which helps them withstand the tedium of
confinement and restores some sense of control over their lives. Such prisoners invent
new games or languages, retrace a journey, or set aside a specific time of the day for
positive fantasizing. Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor at Michigan State
University, recalls two men who were kidnapped by terrorists for nearly 19 weeks: “The
one who came out in excellent condition had designed buildings in his head and
planned exotic menus at various restaurants. His cellmate, who lacked that ability, was
in much worse shape.”
7.
These same factors affect how quickly a hostage will readjust to freedom. Re-entering
the world can be as rude a shock as leaving it. In a flash, hostages go from solitude to
spotlight, from having no choices to having too many, from being deprived of all
stimulation to being bombarded. Said Tracy on once again seeing a tree and hearing a
plane: “I am amazed and baffled by it.” Prisoners often need time alone after their
release, because they are not used to being the center of attention and they want to sort
out their feelings. Sometimes they have to deal with devastating news. McCarthy’s
mother died two years ago.
QUESTIONS
4. (par. 5-6) a. List 3 of the personality traits that help hostages survive in
captivity:
1. ___________________ 2. ____________________ 3. __________________
b. Which prisoner possessed most of these traits? TRACY / MCCARTHY
5. According to paragraphs 6 and 7, physical and psychological resources play
an important role in how the prisoners cope with captivity as well as in how
they
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
58
8.
By most measures, McCarthy seems to have strengths to draw on. Family and
colleagues describe him as a fun-loving young man who was close to his parents and
elder brother. “He’s a born optimist, a fighter, with a huge zest for life,” says his father
Patrick. That description is echoed by former cellmate Brian Keenan, an Irishman who
was released last year. Says Keenan: “He is the daftest, craziest man I ever met.” And
a marvelous mimic too: “I never knew if I was playing dominoes against Sigmund Freud
or Peter Sellers. Without him I don’t think I would have made it.”
9.
Tracy on the other hand has led a chaotic existence, wandering through 10 countries
before settling in Lebanon in 1976 and doing everything from writing poetry to selling
books. Tracy has not been to Vermont to see his mother Doris, now 83, in 26 years.
10. Tracy’s mental condition before his kidnapping is unclear. His ex-wife has reported
receiving some odd letters from him, including one in which he said he was “father of
5,000 motorcycles.” His doctors have revealed that Tracy was treated in the past for
psychological difficulties, but they say he is in better shape than expected and retains a
robust sense of humor.
11. Among hostages so far, McCarthy seems especially fortunate, but no one should
suppose that he has escaped unscathed. “His family and friends think they have him
back, but that is an illusion,” says psychologist James Thompson of the University
College in London. “They have a close relative of his back.”
QUESTIONS
6. (par. 10) Why does the author bring information about Tracy’s past life?
________________________________________________________________
7. (par. 11) Explain what is implied by the psychologist’s remark:
“His family and friends think they have him [McCarthy] back, but that is an
illusion. They have a close relative of his back.”
________________________________________________________________
59
Exercise 2:
Fill in the following chart about Edward Tracy and John McCarthy according to
information in the whole article.
Edward Tracy
Length of Captivity
Age at Release
Physical Appearance
Psychological State
Family Ties
Treatment in Prison
60
John McCarthy
Exercise 3: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the following summary of the article.
The comparison of the cases of two former
_______________________ in
Lebanon shows that emotional and intellectual factors affect the chances for
____________________ in captivity. Such factors as self-confidence, having
strong _______________________ and a vivid _______________________ as well
as close ______________________ with family are crucial. They are important for
both _____________________ with the hardships of imprisonment as well as for
______________________
to
normal
life.
Thus,
the
physical
and
_____________________ state of Edward Tracy at his release was much
_____________________ than that of John McCarthy. The extreme conditions to
which a prisoner is subjected in captivity test how mentally and emotionally
_____________________ a person is. Yet, undoubtedly, even the strongest
hostages are _______________________ by the plight of confinement.
61
Obedience: Milgram’s Controversial Studies
by Mary M. Gergen et al.
Exercise 1: Before Reading
This article raises the question of obedience to authority. There are times when we must
follow the orders of people in authority
and times when we must follow our own
conscience. The activities below will help you expore this issue of the conflict between
authority and conscience.
Question 1. The following individuals are authority figures in most cultures. Indicate the
extent to which they should be obeyed. Compare your responses to those of others
in your class.
Authority Figure
Most Obedience         Least
Obedience
a. employer
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
b. police officer
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
c. friend
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
d. grandmother
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
e. mother
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
f. teacher
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
g. judge
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
h. father
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
62
i. military officer
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
j. religious leader
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
k. grandfather
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______
_______
2.
TRUE / FALSE Authority figures should be obeyed even when they order you
to do something you disagree with.
3. What do you mean when you use the word obedience?
a. Are there situations when one should unquestioningly obey an authority? List
occasions when this is true.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
b. Are there times when children should not obey their elders?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Exercise 2: Skimming Questions
Divide the article into 4 sections that match the following topics:
1.
a. Introduction
Paragraph(s) ________
b. Description of Experiment
Paragraph(s) ________
c. Results and Discussion
Paragraph(s) ________
d. Conclusion
Paragraph(s) ________
One of the most direct forms of social influence is the demand for obedience: people
follow orders because an authority figure tells them to. In most societies, obedience
plays a critical role in social control. We obey parents, teachers, police, and other
officials. Since many rules, laws, and commands from authority have a positive value,
obedience is a major foundation of social life and behavior. However, obedience can go
too far! Soldiers in Nazi Germany obeyed the orders of their superiors and, as a result,
millions of people were slaughtered. More recently, 900 men, women, and children died
63
in a mass suicide in Guyana. The leader of the community, James Jones, gave the
order for everyone to drink a poisoned juice, and they did.
2.
In these two instances, we seem to be observing extreme cases of blind obedience.
Some might say that instances of blind obedience where the commands of authority
contradict moral and human principles are extremely rare. But are they? Social
psychologist Stanley Milgram set out to find out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTIONS
1. Why is obedience so important?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2.
Why does the author mention the mass suicide in Guyana?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What was Milgram’s goal in the experiments?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.
In a series of experiments, Milgram solicited subjects drawn from all walks of life
through newspaper advertisements. In the ads, subjects were told they would be paid
for participating in a psychology study at Yale University. Volunteers were paired and
were told that one would be the “teacher” and the other the “learner” in a study to test
the effect of shock on learning. The person designated as learner and the person
designated as teacher were seemingly determined by random draw. Then the learner
was seated in an adjoining room, and his arms were strapped to his chair. Electrodes
were attached to his arms. At this point, the learner (actually a confederate of Milgram’s)
mentioned that he had a slight heart condition.
4.
The teacher was then escorted to a separate room and seated in front of an impressive,
complicated-looking machine, which the experimenter referred to as a shock generator.
The machine had a series of switches with labels from 15 volts (“slight shock”) to 450
volts (“danger – severe shock”).
64
5.
The teacher was given a somewhat painful sample shock (45 volts) so he or she could
have an idea of what the learner would be experiencing. After the sample shock, the
experimenter told the teacher to read over the intercom a list of pairs of words so the
learner could memorize them. The experimenter then instructed the teacher to read one
word of each pair along with four alternatives. It was now the learner’s job to pick out
the right response. If the response was correct, the teacher was to proceed to the next
word. If the response was incorrect, the teacher’s task was to give the learner a shock.
the teacher was told to start at 15 volts and to proceed up the scale towards 450 volts.
6.
During the experiment, the learner got some items right and others wrong. However, as
the experiment progressed, the learner made errors more and more frequently. Each
error increased the amount of shock given. In one condition of this experiment, the
learner made no response to the shocks until they reached the 300-volt level; then he
yelled and complained about the shock and pounded on the wall, shouting “Let me out
of here.” The learner did this on several occasions. Finally, he stopped responding to
the test. Regardless of what the learner said or did, the experimenter told the teacher to
continue to read the words and to test for the right answer; if the learner gave an
incorrect answer or no answer, the teacher was instructed to administer the next higher
level of shock.
7.
As the learner began to scream with pain, the teachers usually became upset and
jittery. Many broke out in nervous laughter. Some threatened to quit the experiment.
What would you have done? What do you think the average subject did? Would they go
on or would they stop? Milgram was curious about this question and asked a group of
psychiatrists to predict what percentage they thought would obey the experimenter’s
demands. They estimated that only half of 1 percent (that is, 1 person in 200) of the
population would be sadistic enough to obey. But they were clearly wrong.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTIONS
4. (par. 3) What did the “teacher” think the purpose of the experiment was?
______________________________________________________________________
65
5. (par. 3-7) Put the following steps of the experiment in the correct order by
writing a number (1-10) next to each one.
1. The teacher read one word of each pair along with four
alternatives, and the learner had to choose the correct
________
answer.
2. The learner’s arms were strapped to a chair and
electrodes were attached to his arms.
3. The learner gave an incorrect answer or no answer.
________
________
4. When the shock reached 300 volts, the learner started
to yell and scream and asked to be released.
________
5. The teacher read a list of pairs of words over the
intercom so the learner could memorize them.
________
6. Volunteers were paired and were told that one would
7.
be the “teacher” and the other the “learner.”
________
The learner stopped responding to the test.
________
8. The teacher went to a separate room and was seated in
front of a shock generator, where he was given a
________
sample shock.
8.
9. The amount of the electric shock increased.
________
10. The learner mentioned that he had a heart condition.
________
Readers are usually surprised to learn that 65 percent of the subjects who served as
teachers obeyed the experimenter’s commands and delivered shocks up to the
maximum (450 volts), even though the learner objected, screamed, and begged to be
released. Of course, in actuality, the learner was a confederate of Milgram’s, never
actually received any shocks, and answered the word-pair questions according to a
prearranged schedule. However, the confederate was well-trained, and his faked pain
and protests were well-staged and seemed quite real to the subject.
9.
The findings that two-thirds of the subjects went along with the experimenter’s
commands suggests that obedience is not just to be found in Nazi Germany or in
66
Jonestown. Rather, obedience seems to be a common response to the commands of
authorities. In fact, after examining hundreds of sessions, Milgram failed to find any
background, socioeconomic, or personality factors that predicted who would obey the
experimenter’s commands and who would not.
10. The important question, of course, is why did so many people obey? Milgram thought
that people obeyed because they perceived the experimenter to be a legitimate
authority; he had the right to dictate behaviors and demands because he was in the role
of a scientist. Presumably, obedience to legitimate authorities is something we learn
early in life and retain throughout adulthood. As long as we recognize the authority as
legitimate, we are subject to its influence.
11. Milgram’s research has been strongly criticized for being unethical and misleading. For
example, certain critics have objected to his misuse of people as subjects. They argue
that the subjects should not have been led to believe that they may have killed
someone. Other critics have suggested that the laboratory experiments were not
adequate demonstrations of obedience in real life because the subjects would have felt
it was a “science game” and would simply have been playing a cooperative role.
However, despite these objections, Milgram’s work seems to have had a substantial
social impact. It would appear that people rather readily acquiesce to authority figures,
whether they are army officers, religious leaders, or scientists. Given the consequences
of obedience, Milgram’s work stands out as an important contribution to psychology and
as a warning for our society.
6.
Circle the correct word:
The result of the experiment AGREES / DOESN’T AGREE with the predictions.
Support your answer by quoting from the text:
______________________________________________________________________
7.
What can we conclude about obedience based on the results of Milgram’s
experiment?
______________________________________________________________________
67
8.
TRUE / FALSE
There is no correlation between socioeconomic factors and obedience.
Justify your answer by quoting from the text.
______________________________________________________________________
9.
Which sentence best expresses the main idea of paragraph 10?
a. Scientists are authority figures and therefore have the right to dictate behavior.
b. Milgram concluded that people tend to obey anyone they recognize as a
legitimate authority.
c. Milgram wondered why so many people obeyed the experimenter in his
experiment.
d. Milgram was surprised to be considered a legitimate authority figure.
10. Why were Milgram’s experiments criticized? (Give general ideas; not
examples.)
a. ____________________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________________
11.
Does the author completely agree with the criticism? YES / NO
Support your answer by quoting from the text.
______________________________________________________________________
12.
What is the main idea of the article?
a. Psychological experiments can reveal much about human behavior in various
situations.
b. Milgram has conducted psychological research that has been strongly
criticized for being unethical and misleading.
c. An experiment conducted by Milgram showed that people will often blindly
obey authority.
d. Electrical shocks should not be administered as part of a psychological
experiment.
68
OPTIONAL:
Exercise 4: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
_________________ is a basic requirement of society. It usually has a
________________ value, but sometimes it can be very ____________________. For
instance, many people were killed due to the ___________________ of soldiers in Nazi
Germany. Some people claim that this __________________ obedience doesn’t occur
very often since it _____________________ ethical and human values. However,
experiments conducted by the social psychologist _________________ showed that
this claim is _________________. In his experiments he paired volunteers and
designated one as the _________________ and one as the ___________________.
The latter was attached to ___________________, and for every wrong answer he got
an electric ___________________. Contrary to the psychiatrists’ _________________,
most teachers __________________ the experimenter’s demands and intensified the
electrical shocks in spite of the learner’s increasing _____________________. Thus,
these experiments show that people often blindly obey _____________________.
69
Perspiration Beats Inspiration
by Michael Howe
from New Scientist December 1988
Geniuses may be made rather than born. But dilettantes will lose out--only people
with an obsessive interest in a subject have a chance to turn intelligence into
genius.
1.
Can anybody be a genius? After investigating the causes of exceptional abilities, I am
no longer so sure that the correct answer is an unequivocal "No." What strikes us most
forcibly about people of genius is how different they are from everyone else. Their
brilliance is dazzling: their exceptional powers of creativity make them seem like a race
apart, not only superior but inherently superior to other people. But a preoccupation with
the sheer extraordinariness of outstanding individuals can be counterproductive. It
forms an obstacle to understanding excellence, and hinders our efforts to explain how a
few people become capable of remarkable achievement.
2. Take the case of Mozart, a genius if ever there was one. Even as a young child,
according to some accounts, he was not only a brilliant performer but also an
accomplished composer. The conclusion that the cause of his achievement lay in powers
that were innately exceptional seems inescapable. Surely, someone like that must have
been born with special gifts or talents. Yet a closer examination of Mozart's life suggests
otherwise. It establishes that, as Thomas Edison put it, there is no substitute for hard
work, not even for as dazzling a creative genius as Mozart. Even the abilities that underlie
the greatest human achievements are acquired, not
inherent. For example, Mozart
produced none of his lasting compositions until the twelfth year of his musical career.
During those 12 long years of hard training, music was his whole life.
QUESTIONS
1. Why is a preoccupation with genius unconstructive?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
70
2. Thomas Edison is mentioned in paragraph 2
a. as support for the writer’s point
b. as an example of a hard worker
c. as a contrast to Mozart
d. as another brilliant inventor
3. The word “yet” in paragraph 2 is used to express a reservation about the fact that
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3.
An analysis of the early careers of 70 eminent composers showed that they all had to
undergo a similarly long period of arduous musical education. No composer has created
a great work of music without having dedicated at least 10 years to mastering the craft.
There are no short cuts to genius, either in music or in any other field of endeavor.
4.
However, the belief that individuals of genius are set firmly apart from ordinary people
persists -- perhaps because it is so hard to imagine how anyone without extraordinary
powers could be capable of the most remarkable of all human achievements. Most
people assume that we can readily distinguish between the special feats of a genius
and those more ordinary tasks that virtually anyone can aspire to after receiving the
necessary training. But consider the following example. It challenges this assumption by
showing that given the right circumstances, ordinary people can perform impressively.
QUESTIONS
4. What idea is illustrated by the example about Mozart at the end of paragraph
2? ________________________________________________________________
5. What is the relationship between paragraphs 2 and 3?
Paragraph 3 __________________ paragraph 2.
a. contradicts
b. exemplifies
c. supports
d. challenges
71
6. (Par. 4) Why do we continue to believe that geniuses are different from everyone
else?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
5.
Researchers in psychology discovered that a
young man of average ability could
remember lists of up to 80 random digits. After looking at a list once, he recalled the
whole sequence correctly. This achievement is remarkable because most people can
recall a list of only eight or nine items without error. Experimental psychologists also
insist that people's natural ability to retain items in memory is unchangeable. So the
young man was regularly remembering about ten times more information than most
people. How can this extraordinary achievement be explained? There seems to be no
other conclusion but that the man had an inherently exceptional capacity to remember.
6.
Like people of genius, the individual that I have described could achieve things that are
far beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. And, as with geniuses, his startling ability
tempts us to deduce that he had innate talents or special gifts. But we would be wrong. I
know that he was an ordinary, average, person, with no inherent superiority of any kind.
7.
This young man who could recall lists of 80 digits was someone whom researchers had
selected, more or less at random, to take part in an experiment lasting two years. He
was paid to spend an hour every day memorizing lists. At first, his performance was no
better than average, but gradually he developed skills and techniques that led to high
levels of performance. Incredible as his skill appeared, the chances are that many other
people, had they received the same lengthy training, would have done as well.
QUESTIONS
7. What idea is illustrated by the example of the young man who could remember
lists of 80 random digits? ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
72
The end of paragraph 5 states: “There seems to be no other conclusion but
8.
that the man had an inherently exceptional capacity to remember.”
Does the author agree with this conclusion?
YES / NO
Justify your answer by quoting from the text.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
9. a. Who is compared in paragraph 6?
______________________________ and ______________________________
b.
What
is
similar
______________________
addition,
they
about
them?
(List
2
things)
They
all
___________________________________.
make
us
think
In
that
________________________________________________________________
c. Which 2 words indicate the comparison? ______________ _______________
8.
Even though an amazing feat was being performed, it does not justify the conclusion
that the person who performed it had an inherent gift or talent. What was unusual was
the person's experiences and opportunities to learn. People can acquire special
abilities, but only after a lengthy period of learning.
9.
There is every reason to suppose that the same is true of those people who create
works of genius. There also seems to be almost no limit to what most people are
capable of achieving, if their experiences of life and their opportunities for learning are
wide enough.
73
QUESTIONS
10. (par. 8) “Even though an amazing feat was being performed….”
Which
amazing feat was being performed?
________________________________________________________________
11. Paragraph 9 states: “There is every reason to suppose that the same is true of
those people who create works of genius.”
What
is
true
of
those
people
who
create
works
of
genius?
________________________________________________________________
12. The writer concludes by stating that two factors are necessary for
extraordinary achievement. What are they?
a. _________________________________
b. _________________________________
13. The word “perspiration” in the title could be replaced by:
a. genius
b. persistence
c. intellect
d. sweat
14. The writer begins by asking a question: “Can anyone be a genius?”
What is his answer?
YES / NO
Support your answer with evidence from the text.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
15. What is the purpose of the article?
a. to compare musical talents with mathematical ability
b. to present the life history of Mozart as a musical genius
c. to try to understand what makes some people so remarkable
d. to contrast the life of Mozart with that of an ordinary person
74
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
People tend to believe that geniuses are ___________________ from everyone else.
But this thought can ________________ people from understanding how to become
___________________. People believe that Mozart was a genius because he was
____________________ that way, but in reality, he had to __________________ very
hard to achieve what he did. Similarly, the story of a young man who could memorize
long lists of numbers shows that __________________ people can achieve
__________________ things through hard work. The author concludes that with the
right ___________________, people can achieve almost anything.
75
The Other Difference Between Boys and Girls
by Richard M. Restak
1.
There is no denying it: Boys think differently from girls. Even though recent brain
research evidence is controversial, that conclusion seems inescapable. I know how
offensive that will sound to feminists and others committed to overcoming sexual
stereotypes. But social equality for men and women really depends on recognizing
these differences in brain behavior.
2.
At present, schooling and testing discriminate against both sexes, ignoring differences
that have been observed by parents and educators for years. Boys suffer in elementary
school classrooms, which are ideally suited to the way girls think. Girls suffer later,
when they must take scholarship tests that are geared for male performance.
QUESTIONS
1. “At present, schooling and testing discriminate against both sexes….”
Circle the correct words: SCHOOLING / TESTING discriminates against boys
because ________________________________________________________, and
SCHOOLING / TESTING discriminates against girls because
_______________________________________________________________.
_______________________________________________________________________
3.
Anyone who has spent time with children in a playground or school setting is aware of
differences in the way boys and girls respond to similar situations. For example, at a
birthday party for five-year-olds, it’s not usually the girls who pull hair, throw punches, or
smear each other with food.
4.
Typically, such differences are explained on a cultural basis. Boys are expected to be
more aggressive and play rough games, while girls are presumably encouraged to be
76
gentle and non-assertive. After years of exposure to such expectations, the theory goes,
men and women wind up with widely varying behavioral and intellectual repertoires. As
a corollary, many people believe that if child-rearing practices could be equalized and
sexual stereotypes eliminated, most of these differences would eventually disappear.
The true state of affairs is not that simple.
5.
Undoubtedly, many differences traditionally believed to exist between the sexes are
based on stereotypes. But evidence from recent brain research indicates that some
behavioral differences between men and women are based on differences in brain
functioning that are biologically inherent and unlikely to be changed by cultural factors
alone.
QUESTIONS
2.
According to the cultural explanation of behavior, boys behave differently
from girls because of different ___________________ (ONE word).
2. (par. 1-5) What is the author’s position on the difference between boys and
girls?
a. Girls and boys think in basically the same way.
b. Girls and boys think differently as a result of cultural training.
c. Girls and boys have biologically different brain patterns.
d. The differences between girls and boys are based on stereotypes.
4. a. If we accept the cultural explanation, it follows that boys’ and girls’
behavior could be changed by
__________________________________________ and
______________________________________________.
b. Does the author agree with this theory? YES / NO / PARTLY
Quote from the text to support your answer:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
77
6.
One clue to brain differences between the sexes came from observations of infants.
One study found that from shortly after birth, females are more sensitive to certain types
of sounds, particularly to a mother’s voice. In a laboratory, if the sound of a mother’s
voice is displaced to another part of the room, female babies react while males seem
oblivious to the displacement. Female babies are also more easily startled by loud
noises.
7.
Tests show girls have increased skin sensitivity, particularly in the fingertips, and are
more proficient at fine motor performance. Females are also generally more attentive to
social contexts: faces, speech patterns, subtle vocal cues. By five months, a female can
distinguish photographs of familiar people, a task rarely performed well by boys of that
age. At five to eight months, girls will babble to a mother’s face, seemingly recognizing
her as a person, while boys fail to distinguish between a face and a dangling toy,
babbling equally to both.
8.
Female infants speak sooner, have larger vocabularies, and rarely demonstrate speech
defects. Stuttering, for instance, occurs almost exclusively among boys. Girls exceed
boys in language abilities, and this early linguistic bias often prevails throughout life.
Girls read sooner, learn foreign languages more easily, and, as a result, are more likely
to enter occupations involving language mastery.
9.
Boys are clumsier, performing poorly at something like arranging a row of beads, but
excel at other activities calling on total body coordination. Their attentional mechanisms
are also different. A boy will react to an inanimate object as quickly as he will to a
person. A male baby will often ignore the mother and babble to a blinking light, fixate on
a geometric figure, and, at a later point, manipulate it and attempt to take it apart.
10. A study of preschool children by psychologist Diane McGuiness of Stanford University
found boys more curious, especially in regard to exploring their environment. Her
studies also confirmed that males are better at manipulating three-dimensional space.
When boys and girls are asked to mentally rotate or fold an object, boys overwhelmingly
outperform girls. “I folded it in my mind” is a typical male response. Girls are likely to
78
produce elaborate verbal descriptions which, because they are less appropriate to the
task, result in frequent errors.
QUESTIONS
5. What is the author’s main purpose in paragraphs 6-10?
a. to show that girls are better than boys in verbal activities while boys
outperform girls in manipulating three-dimensional space
b. to present evidence from research on babies and children that points to the
differences in brain functioning between the sexes
c. to support the claim that differences between males and females can be largely
explained by social and cultural factors
d. to prove that there are differences in how young girls and boys perform on
different tasks
__________________________________________________________________________
11. There is evidence that some of these differences in performance are differences in brain
organization between boys and girls. Overall, verbal and spatial abilities in boys tend to
be “packaged” into different hemispheres: the right hemisphere for non-verbal tasks, the
left for verbal tasks. But in girls non-verbal and verbal skills are likely to be found on
both sides of the brain. The hemispheres of women’s brains may be less specialized for
these functions.
12. These differences in brain organization and specialization are believed by some
scientists to provide a partial explanation of why members of one sex or the other are
under-represented in certain professions. Architects, for example, require a highly
developed spatial sense, a skill found more frequently among men. Thus, the
preponderance of male architects may
be partially caused by the more highly
developed spatial sense that characterizes the male brain.
79
13. Psychological measurements of brain functioning between the sexes also show
unmistakable differences. In eleven subtests of the most widely used general
intelligence test, only two reveal similar mean scores for males and females. These sex
differences are so consistent that the standard battery of this intelligence test now
contains a masculinity-femininity index to offset sex-related proficiencies and
deficiencies.
14. Most thought-provoking of all are findings by Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Nagy Kacklin
of Stanford University on personality traits and intellectual achievement. They found that
intellectual development in girls is fostered among individuals who are assertive and
active, and have a sense that they can control, by their own actions, the events that
affect their lives. These factors appear to be less important in the intellectual
development of boys.
QUESTIONS
6.
“These differences in brain organization and socialization….” Which
differences are being referred to? Fill in the blanks.
Whereas in _________________ verbal and non-verbal abilities are usually
located in different ________________ of the brain, no such differentiation
exists in ________________.
7. a. The author mentions architects as an example of
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b.The writer suggests that there are few women architects because
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
80
15. Recent studies even suggest that high levels of intellectual achievement are associated
with cross-sex typing: the ability to express traits and interests associated with the
opposite sex. Educational psychologist E.P. Torrance of the University of Georgia
suggests that sexual stereotypes are a block to creativity,
since creativity requires
sensitivity – a female trait – as well as independence – a trait usually associated with
males. M.P. Honzik and J.W. McFarlane of the University of California at Berkeley
support Torrance’s speculation with a 20-year follow-up on subjects who demonstrated
significant IQ gains. Those with the greatest gains displayed less dependence on
traditional sex roles than those whose IQs remained substantially the same.
16. It’s important to remember that we’re not talking about one sex being generally superior
or inferior to another. In addition, the studies are statistical and don’t tell us a lot about
individuals. The findings are controversial, but they can help us establish true social
equity.
17. One way of doing this might be to change such practices as nationwide competitive
examinations. If boys, for instance, truly excel in right hemisphere tasks, scholastic
aptitude tests should be substantially redesigned to assure that both sexes have an
equal chance. Some of the tests now are weighted with items that virtually guarantee
superior male performance.
18. Attitude changes are also needed in our approach to “hyperactive” or “learning disabled”
children. The evidence for sex differences here is staggering. More that 90 percent of
hyperactives are males. This is not surprising since the male brain is primarily visual,
while classroom instruction demands attentive listening. The male brain learns by
manipulating its environment, yet the typical student is forced to sit still for long hours in
the classroom. There is little opportunity, other than during recess, for gross motor
movements or rapid muscular responses. In essence, the classrooms in most of our
nation's primary grades are geared to skills that come naturally to girls but develop very
slowly in boys. The result shouldn’t be surprising: a “learning disabled” child who is also
frequently “hyperactive.”
19. We now have the opportunity, based on the emerging evidence of sex differences in
brain functioning, to restructure elementary grades so that boys find their initial
educational contacts less stressful. At more advanced levels of instruction, teaching
81
methods could incorporate verbal and linguistic approaches to physics, engineering,
and architecture (to mention only three fields where women are conspicuously underrepresented).
20. The alternative is to do nothing about brain differences. There is something to be said
for this approach, too. In the recent past, enhanced social benefit has usually resulted
from stressing the similarities between people rather than their differences. We ignore
brain-sex differences, however, at the risk of confusing biology with sociology, and
wishful thinking with scientific fact.
QUESTIONS
8. a. (par. 15) According to research, which characteristic helps people achieve
well intellectually?
______________________
____________________
b. Define this characteristic: ________________________________________
9. Why are sexual stereotypes a block to creativity? ________________________
________________________________________________________________
10. (par. 17-19) a. What changes does the author recommend at the end of the
article?
Changes in _____________________, changes in ____________________ to
________________________, and changes in ____________________
___________________ and at more _____________________ levels.
b. What is the purpose of these changes?
________________________________________________________________
11. a. What 2 approaches to differences between boys and girls does the author
present in his conclusion?
i. ____________________________________________________________
ii. _____________________________________________________________
82
b. Which approach does the writer think is better? Explain.
________________________________________________________________
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
The writer of the article ___________________ the idea that boys and girls think
differently. This conclusion, however, is still being ignored in schools, and there
is ___________________ against both sexes in schooling and testing. Although
some of the differences between boys and girls can be explained on a
________________ basis, there is evidence from brain research that there are
___________________ differences in brain functioning between the sexes. The
assumption is that male hemispheres specialize for verbal and non-verbal
abilities, i.e., the right hemisphere specializes for ___________________ abilities,
and the left hemisphere for ____________________ abilities. But in women, both
hemispheres ____________________ verbal and non-verbal abilities. It was
further
found
that
certain
personality
_____________________
(e.g.,
assertiveness) are more important for the ______________________ development
of girls than they are for boys. Moreover, sexual stereotypes may inhibit
_______________________ in both sexes. In conclusion, the writer suggests that
_____________________ should be made to assure an equal chance for both girls
and boys.
Exercise 3: Comparison and Contrast
Read paragraphs 6-15, and fill in the following table to show the differences in
brain functioning between boys and girls.
-List the areas in which they differ and indicate paragraph numbers.
-Indicate whether the area is mainly associated with girls or boys by marking the
appropriate column.
-Write down the words that helped you find the contrast.
83
Area
Girls
Boys
Contrast Words
1. sensitivity to
certain types of
X
more sensitive
sounds (par. 6)
2.
3.
4. social
contexts
(par. 7)
more attentive
X
while
5.
6.
7.
8.
84
Exercise 4: References
Fill in the following table to show comprehension of references in the text.
Reference word
Par.
1. that conclusion
1
2. such
4
Who or what the word refers to
differences
3. such
4
expectations
4. that age
7
5. both
7
6. it
9
7. her
10
8. they
10
9. these functions
11
10. these factors
14
11. those
15
12. this
17
85
Singles
by Christine B. Whelan
from National Review, September 1998
1.
When 14-year-old Cydnee Couch was in an ordinary public school in New York City,
she tried hard to keep up with her schoolwork, but it was a losing battle. The boys’
spitballs, incessant chatter, and frequent tugs on her ponytail were constant
distractions. Then, at the beginning of seventh grade, she transferred to the Young
Women’s Leadership School, a newly started all-girls charter public school in East
Harlem, and she immediately noticed the difference. “I can concentrate,” she says.
2.
While opponents of single-sex education claim that the benefits are unproven, students
like Cydnee are testimony to its value for the girls and boys who choose it. A grassroots
push for single-sex public school education is under way across the country. Several
states are experimenting with single-sex classrooms, with New York and California
taking the lead.
3.
But the schools have faced not only educationist opposition but also legal challenges.
The National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union don’t want
public-school kids to have the option of single-sex education. They say students are
hurt, not helped, by single-sex classrooms, and that separate schooling for boys and
girls in unconstitutional – that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment. For these lobbies, separation by sex is as inherently unequal as
separation by race.
86
QUESTIONS
1. What does the story of Cydnee Couch illustrate?
_____________________________________________________________
2. The single-sex school movement has faced both educationist and legal
opposition. Give an example of each argument.
a. Educationist:
_____________________________________________________________
b. Legal: ___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4.
In fact, the case for single-sex schooling does not depend on anecdotal evidence like
Cyndnee’s. Scores of studies worldwide have shown that girls in single-sex high
schools demonstrate a significantly higher rate of improvement on reading-achievement
and science-aptitude tests between sophomore and senior years than their co-educated
peers. And boys who attend single-sex high schools have higher self-confidence, are
more involved in extracurricular activities, and take more foreign languages and English
classes than their counterparts in co-ed schools.
5.
Important as these findings are, they are secondary to the real issue: freedom. If
parents want to send their children to single-sex academies, why shouldn’t they have
that choice?
QUESTIONS
3. (par. 4-5) List 3 arguments in support of single-sex education.
a. _________________________________________________________________
b. ________________________________________________________________
c. _________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6.
Whether our current courts would rule this form of school choice constitutional is an
open question. The issue has not come before the Supreme Court in just that way. The
Fourth Amendment says no person may be denied the “equal protection of the laws,”
87
and Brown v. Board of Education held that separate cannot be equal in the public
schools when race is the division line. But the courts have never treated sexual
classifications as demanding the “strict scrutiny” afforded to racial classifications.
7.
Brown was based on sociological studies which found that single-race schooling
inherently hurts black educational achievement and thus produces inequality. Those
findings have later been persuasively disputed even when race is the issue. And as we
have seen, sexual segregation has been shown to produce superior results for many
students of both sexes.
8.
Detractors cite the recent Supreme Court decision ordering the all-male Virginia Military
Institute to admit women as proving that sexual segregation in educational settings is
unconstitutional. But the VMI case, whatever the wisdom of the outcome, involved a set
of circumstances that does not apply in most instances of single-sex education. The
Court ruled that no comparable school could be created for women, and that no
justification for VMI’s all-male status that the school’s administrators had been able to
produce outweighed that fact.
QUESTIONS
4. What is the difference between separate race schooling and separate sex
schooling? Separate race schooling leads to ________________________,
while separate sex schooling leads to ____________________________.
5. a. What argument against separate sex schooling is presented in paragraph 8?
Single-sex schooling is _____________________.
b. How does the author refute that argument?
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
9.
These conditions do not apply at most of the single-sex charter schools sprouting
across the country. In California, pairs of schools – one for girls, the other for boys –
have now been started in pilot districts. These partner schools receive equal funding,
staffing, equipment, facilities, and books. Some districts get an overwhelming response
for the all-boys schools – in one area, a hundred boys and seven girls applied for the
pair of programs – while in other districts the ratio is reversed. This is not a mark of
88
inequality. Furthermore, with both schools opening their doors simultaneously, neither
has the advantage over the other of a decades-old reputation. The districts are
scrupulous in seeing that neither is better established or better endowed. And, once
again, the important thing is that the students and parents have been enabled to decide
what type of education best suits their needs.
10. While each school district should be allowed to find what method works best for its
children, probably the ideal system would consist of an all-boys school, an all-girls
school, and a coeducational school. That ought to answer any possible objection to
single-sex education under the Court’s current reading of the Fourteenth Amendment,
as well as any parents’ objections to doing away with the sort of coeducational
schooling they grew up with.
11. Single-sex education is far from an untested innovation. Although many of the private
schools catering to the affluent have recently chosen to follow the public-school trend
towards coeducation, such schools were traditionally single-sex. A mere 1 per cent of
all schools are sexually segregated today, but recent enrollment numbers show these
percentages are on the rise.
QUESTIONS
7. What has been done in the separate California schools to ensure that there is
no inequality?
They opened schools for __________________ and ___________________ at
the same ___________________ with equal
__________________________________
8. (par. 10) “That ought to answer any possible objection….” What will answer
any objection?
__________________________________________________________
9. (par. 11) What point is the author making about single-sex education in the
first sentence of this paragraph? That it is:
a. untested
b. innovative
c. not new
d. distant
________________________________________________________________________
89
12. NOW and the ACLU, however, did not fly into action until the less well-off started to
follow the affluent up the ladder to educational accomplishment. The Young Women’s
Leadership School, which Cydnee Couch attends, is a public school that unabashedly
takes its program and teaching ideas from Manhattan’s elite private schools. It offers
class trips to Washington, D.C. and summer programs at Smith College – unlike the
city’s other public schools, but similar to Brearley and Chapin.
13. But NOW and the ACLU are not all wrong. Full choice means the option of a single-sex
public-school environment for both girls and boys; as it stands now, New York City’s
system fills only half the bill. No boy’s public school exists. While NOW and the ACLU
want to close the Young Women’s Leadership School, the real answer is to open a
Young Men’s Leadership School. This will be costly, but less so than investing more
money in a faulty system.
14. For Cydnee Couch and many other students, single-sex education is the right choice, a
choice that allows them to concentrate on their studies rather than the opposite sex.
Supporters of the Young Women’s Leadership School should realize that to keep their
first born alive, a younger brother is necessary.
QUESTIONS
10. (par. 13) According to the author, what is the problem with New York City’s
school system now ?
___________________________________________________________________
11. According to the last paragraph, single-sex schools will enable girls to pay
less attention to ____________________ and more attention to
__________________.
90
Exercise 3: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
This article starts with a story that illustrates the __________________ of
____________________ schooling. However, opponents of these types of schools
argue that they are not ___________________ for students and claim that they are
___________________. The author argues that ______________________ show that
both boys and girls benefit from this type of education. Another argument is that parents
should have the _____________________ to send their children to whatever type of
school that they want. The author suggests that the ___________________ solution
would be to have all-boys, all-girls, and _____________________ schools available.
The article concludes that in New York, a school for ___________________ should be
opened in addition to the Young Women’s Leadership School.
91
The Law Criminals Love
Adapted from Reader’s Digest, October 1989
1.
On April 14, 1982, Rene Wicklund of Clearview, Washington, lay sick in bed. Her
neighbor went over to help Wicklund’s eight-year-old daughter prepare some food for
her mother. When the neighbor did not return, her husband walked to the Wicklund
home. He discovered his wife lying dead in the hallway, her throat slashed. Then he
found Wicklund’s battered body; close by lay her little daughter, dead too. A palm print
left on a drinking glass enabled investigators to identify the murderer, a chronic criminal
who, the morning of the murder, had signed out of a prison work-release center to go to
a job. He had returned in the evening, drunk.
2.
It was not the first time this murderer had entered the Wicklund home. In a random
attack seven and a half years earlier, he had forced his way in and, threatening to kill
the infant daughter, sexually assaulted Wicklund at knife-point . He was sentenced to
30 years. After he entered prison, however, a veil of secrecy descended. State laws and
prison policies kept information on his prison records and whereabouts from local
authorities – and from Mrs. Wicklund. When he became eligible for parole 7 and a half
years later, Wicklund was not informed. By law, the murderer’s record and the record of
his prison infractions was kept confidential.
3.
A fundamental question was raised: How did a cold-blooded murderer get out in the
first place? Officials simply refuse to answer. Instead, they cite the strict law protecting a
criminal’s right to privacy. This secrecy problem is not confined to one state. In virtually
every state neither the press nor local authorities – not even the victims – can find out
about a person’s full criminal record. The results can be tragic.
92
QUESTIONS
1. Read paragraphs 1-3. What does the story of the Wicklund murder illustrate?
a. that the criminal was not rehabilitated
b. that convicts tend to return to the scene of their original crime
c. the possible consequences of keeping criminals’ records secret
d. that the criminal’s records were not kept confidential
2. (par. 3) What do the press, local authorities, and victims of crime have in
common?
________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
4.
The strange idea that a criminal has a right to keep his record a secret emerged in the
late 1960’s, when reformers argued that criminals were victims of circumstance who
committed crimes only because they lacked other opportunities. Once criminals were
“rehabilitated” in prison and released, it was unfair to saddle them with the “stigma” of
their past crimes. The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union claimed in
1974 that “making records public makes it impossible for people to escape a pattern of
criminal activity, and a person’s criminal record should never be available for
employment purposes.”
5.
Legislation introduced in the early 1970’s provided that any state that accepted federal
funds to fight crime must protect the privacy of criminal records. Thus, state after state
enacted criminal-records legislation, which built a wall of secrecy around the official
summaries of a person’s arrests, convictions, and prison history.
6.
Nowadays, if states want to, they can change their laws to open criminal records and
allow the public to keep track of the criminals in their midst. Only three states have
passed comprehensive open-records laws. Elsewhere, secrecy still prevails: public
access is either denied or severely restricted. One can still examine daily police logs
and attend trials. But it is practically impossible to compile someone’s entire criminal
93
history. This is much the same at the federal level. As a result, public safety has been
weakened in ways that are absurd.
QUESTIONS
3. The approach of the American Civil Liberties Union toward criminals was
based on the belief that:
a. Criminals will never escape a pattern of criminal activity.
b. A criminal’s former deeds should always influence his or her future.
c. A criminal’s past record should not interfere with his present search for
employment.
d. It is unfair to rehabilitate criminals in prison.
4. After the early 1970’s, most states introduced secrecy laws. What was the
reason for this?
These states wanted to continue to receive ______________________________
5. (par. 6) “As a result, public safety has been weakened in ways that are
absurd.” What is this a result of?
a. the fact that one cannot really get a complete picture of a person’s criminal
record
b. the fact that police logs can be examined and trials may be attended by the
public
c. the fact that states are now permitted to open criminal records
d. the fact that federal laws are similar to state laws
___________________________________________________________________
7.
Indiana prison officials usually honored a victim’s requests to be warned about
inmate releases. But in the case of Lisa Bianco, whose ex-husband threatened to kill
her, the authorities neglected to do so, and Lisa lost her life. Many states have no policy
of notifying crime victims of inmate escapes, paroles, or temporary releases. And in
those states that do, like Indiana, victim notification programs are often incompletely or
poorly administered.
8.
Because of the secrecy of records, a former convict can lie with impunity to the question
“Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime?” In many states, employers
94
cannot check. Even where the need to know is overwhelming, as in the case of an exconvict who applies for a security-guard job, nongovernmental agencies are denied
access to information.
9.
In 1985, a woman in Michigan asked some teenagers trespassing in her yard to leave.
They grabbed her and for at least 15 minutes kicked and beat her. She and witnesses
described the assailants to the police. Then 11 days after she returned home from
hospital, neighbors spotted two of them next to her property. Frantic, she called the
prosecutor, police, and juvenile authorities. But they were juveniles, and in Michigan, as
in 32 other states., the law prohibited officials from answering her questions. Their
privacy was protected. “Where was MY right to privacy?” she asked.
10. Juvenile criminal records are often unavailable even to police. A 1988 Justice
Department survey found that fewer than half of the law-enforcement agencies that
responded could compile full juvenile histories, and that many of these were later sealed
or removed. This, the survey concluded, “enables even serious repeat offenders to
enter the adult system with clean records.” As a result, warns Ronald Stephens of the
National School Safety Center, “The rest of society often is left at risk.”
11. Another case is that of a woman who had been raped and who later contacted the
district attorney. Fearing she had been exposed to AIDS, the woman asked if the
convicted rapist could be given a blood test. An inquiry revealed that such a test would
invade the criminal’s “right to privacy.” There was no legal authority to conduct a blood
test for disease or to reveal the results – without the criminal’s consent.
QUESTIONS
6.
(par. 7) Circle the correct words: Indiana is SIMILAR TO / DIFFERENT FROM
most other states because it HAS / DOESN’T HAVE a legal policy of notifying
victims of criminals’ releases. However, the story of Lisa Bianco is an example of
how laws are often _______________________________ by prison authorities.
7. (par. 9-10) What is the difference between adult and juvenile criminal records?
While the former are unavailable for ordinary citizens, the latter are ___________
________________________________________________________________
95
_______________________________________________________________________
12. States have kept criminal records secret and have tried to rehabilitate criminals for
years. But study after study shows that a large percentage of ex-convicts are eventually
convicted of further offenses. A crime is not a private event, but a public act that
threatens everyone’s well-being. Predators who don’t respect the privacy of others have
no grounds to demand privacy for themselves.
13. What can be done? First, state criminal-records laws should be changed to allow public
access to adult and juvenile criminal histories, including prison disciplinary records and
transfers. Some states have shown that an open records system can work with few
problems. Second, victims and police must be notified of escapes, impending paroles,
or other releases. Largely because of Rene Wicklund’s murder, Washington State has
passed laws requiring the state to notify victims, their families, and witnesses about
inmate releases. Finally, sex-crime victims should be able to require their assailants to
undergo blood tests and should then be informed of the results.
14. Other states should not wait for more murders or violent crimes to happen before they
act. A criminal’s right to privacy is a fiction invented by social reformers and politicians
who have lost sight of the real dangers of this policy. Unlocking the secrets will require
legislation by virtually every state. That will come only when outraged citizens demand
it.
QUESTIONS
8. TRUE / FALSE Rehabilitation of former criminals has proven to be an
effective measure.
Support your answer by quoting from the text.
________________________________________________________________
96
9. Paragraph 12 supports the argument of the Michigan woman (mentioned in
paragraph 9) that criminals have no right to expect ___________________ if
________________________________________________________________
10. TRUE / FALSE The murder of Rene Wicklund resulted in special legislation.
Quote from the text to support your answer.
________________________________________________________________
11. According to the writer, which TWO of the following steps can improve the
situation and protect citizens?
a. notifying victims when inmates are going to be let out
b. building a wall of secrecy around official summaries of a criminal’s history
c. enacting legislation that protects criminal records
d. enabling the public to keep track of the criminals in their midst
d. denying or restricting public access to criminal records
e. enabling juvenile repeat offenders to enter the adult system with clean
records
12. What is the writer’s conclusion?
a. Social reformers are responsible for the high rate of crime.
b. If the states do not change their policy regarding criminals’ files, the public
should act.
c. Each state should act immediately after another murder or violent crime
takes place.
d. Legislation plays an important part in the lives of angry citizens.
13. What is the main idea of this passage?
a. Criminals love this law because it protects their rights.
b. Employers cannot check the records of job applicants.
c. Criminal-records legislation has endangered the safety of the American
public.
d. Today, states can change their laws to open criminal records and protect
the public.
97
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
The text starts with a(n) ____________________ that illustrates the main idea of
the article. Laws in many states ____________________ criminals’ privacy by
keeping criminal records __________________. The idea for this law came from
people who believed it is possible to ___________________ criminals.
hoped
this
law
would
enable
criminals
to
leave
their
_____________________ and to get a _____________________.
They
life
of
The writer
expresses concern that the new criminal-records legislation has made the life of
the American public less ___________________. To demonstrate this, the writer
brings examples of Rene Wicklund and Lisa Bianco, who were both killed
because they were not ___________________ of the criminals’ release.
Furthermore,
the
woman
mentioned
in
paragraph
11
could
not
get
____________________ about her offenders’ health because it was against the
law to force them to take a _________________
__________________. In spite of
all efforts at rehabilitation, studies show that in many cases criminals eventually
___________________ their crimes.
The writer thinks that criminal records
should be ___________________ and other important changes in legislation
should be made.
98
Haunted by their Habits
From Newsweek, March 27, 1989
by David Gelman
1.
In sixth grade, Stanley suddenly found himself in the grip of a passion for symmetry. He
had to put his shoes down just so; he had to write in a flawlessly upright and rounded
script. Walking to school, he became a perfect little automaton, his legs swinging in
precise synchrony with his arms. When he took exams, he spent so much time carefully
shading the answer boxes on the computerized quiz forms that he seldom finished a
test.
2.
Later Stanley developed other distressing quirks: retracing his newspaper route over
and over again to see if he'd missed a delivery, running endless sums of sixes and
thoughts through his head, repeating everything he did at least twice. "Mosquitoes of
the mind," he began to call these inescapable rituals. Though they were taking up a
substantial part of his waking life, he had no idea where they came from or why they
disturbed him so.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the main function of paragraphs 1 and 2?
a. to illustrate a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder
b. to contrast Stanley with others who suffer from obsessive-compulsive
disorder
c. to present a brief biography of Stanley’s life
d. to show why Stanley couldn’t stop washing
2. Stanley’s rituals are like mosquitoes, because mosquitoes and his rituals both
_____________________ (ONE word) people.
________________________________________________________________________
3.
Stanley is just one of the tormented denizens of "The Boys Who Couldn't Stop
Washing," by Dr. Judith L. Rappoport, a close-up look at the peculiar affliction known as
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An estimated 3 to 7 million Americans are
believed to suffer from OCD at some time in their lives. The numbers remain uncertain
99
because, until recently at least, victims have tended to hide the problem; not
uncommonly, they think they are going mad. "Am I really crazy, doctor?" a patient asked
Wayne Goodman, a Yale Medical School psychiatrist who heads the OCD clinic at the
Connecticut Mental Health Center. "No," replied Goodman, "but your symptoms are
pretty crazy." One of the oddest things about OCD, indeed, is the relative normalcy of
its victims. Unlike schizophrenics, they know their behavior is crazy; the knowledge is
one of the most painful aspects of their ailment. "It's not a disorder of weird people,"
says Dr. Michael Jenike, of Massachusetts General Hospital. "We all work with these
people -- they're everywhere."
4.
At the simplest level, obsessions are usually defined as unwanted actions. They are
unpleasant things we think or do. But that scarcely begins to suggest the intensity of
OCD, or its often devastating effects on victims and their families. Most people
experience mild compulsions, such as returning to the house to make sure the oven is
off or the door is locked. It is only when the habit begins interfering with their ability to
function that it becomes a disorder. At the extreme, OCD is behavior caught in a loop,
doomed to repeat itself like some Sisyphean labor that never attains its goal. The worst
case he ever saw, says Jenike, was a woman in her 40s who had been spending up to
13 hours a day washing her hands and her house. She described the experience as
"hell" – not such an exaggeration, as he reconstructs it: "Before she could use the soap,
she had to use some bleach on the soap to make sure the soap was clean. Before that,
she had to use Ajax on the bleach bottle. And this went on and on. If she happened to
bump the edge of the sink while she was doing this, this would set off another hour and
a half, two hours of ritual. She didn't really think there were germs there. It was just a
feeling."
5.
Rappoport, chief of child psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health, has had a
chance to observe all sorts of obsessions and compulsions in the course of an NIMH
study that began in 1976. The extraordinary cast of her book includes such haunted
figures as Sam, who felt driven to find a reference to "life" every time he happened to
come across the word "death" in something he was reading; Charles, the boy of the
title, who was unable to rid himself of a feeling of "stickiness," despite three hours a day
in the shower; and a group of young women who, since adolescence, had been pulling
out their hair, strand by strand. One, Jackie P., had snatched herself completely bald.
100
QUESTIONS
3.
We can infer from paragraph 3, that while Goodman does not believe that
victims of OCD are necessarily mad, he does think
______________________________
4. What is the main difference between schizophrenics and obsessivecompulsives?
While schizophrenics _______________________________________________,
obsessive-compulsives _____________________________________________.
5. (par. 4-5) Which of the following are examples of an OCD?
There is more than one answer.
a. pulling out a few strands of gray hair
b. washing your hands and house for 10 hours a day
c. looking for references to “good” every time you see the word “bad”
d. occasionally returning to the house on your way out to check if the door is
locked
e. thinking unpleasant thoughts about the work you must do tonight two
or three times during the day
__________________________________________________________________________
6.
To Rappoport, the mindlessly repetitive rituals suggest nothing so much as the nesting
and grooming habits of animals – encoded "programs" that, once set in motion, keep
running. Compulsive hair pulling, for instance, could be grooming behavior run wild.
That might explain why standard psychotherapy has been largely unavailing against
OCD, although the anxieties and self-punishing tendencies patients exhibit would seem
ripe stuff for analysis. Instead, the disorder has proved amenable to the blunt
interventions of behavior modification -- dirtying a patient's hands, for example, and
then preventing him from washing for an hour. More intriguingly, OCD has responded to
a potent antidepressant drug called clomipramine that seems to affect the action of one
of the brain's key chemical messengers, serotonin. The drug has some troublesome
side effects and doesn't help everyone; so far it has been approved in this country only
101
for "investigative” use. But within weeks, it appears to erase compulsions that patients
have struggled with all their lives -- almost, says Jenike, "like an on-off switch."
7.
A combination of drug treatment and behavioral therapy was what finally helped Terry, a
registered nurse who had spent years seeing psychologists without getting any relief.
Generally, OCD patients have an overlap of obsessions and compulsions. Terry was
one of the 20 percent who largely suffer from obsessions. Routinely gathering up her
children's toys one day, she put together the Mickey Mouse puzzle her daughter had
received as a birthday present, and noticed a couple of pieces missing. She assumed
they would turn up. But they didn't, and she couldn't stop thinking about them. "It got to
the point," she says, "where I started tearing my house apart, looking under the
furniture, the TV, the cushions on the couch. It just kept getting worse and worse."
8.
About a month after the obsession began, it took over completely. Terry could think of
nothing else – except suicide. "I was losing it," she says. One morning, searching for the
missing pieces of the puzzle, she seized a pair of scissors and cut up the couch. That,
so to speak, tore it. She called her husband at work and told him about her problem (like
many OCD sufferers, she had managed to conceal it until then) and he made an
immediate appointment for her with a psychologist. But it wasn't until a year later, when
she found an article in her hospital library about the OCD program at Massachusetts
General, that she got help. There, Jenike put her on an anti-depressant drug that
influences serotonin. Within a week her symptoms had eased. Another doctor at Mass
General also showed her a behavioral technique: keeping a rubber band on her wrist
and snapping it whenever her thoughts began edging toward obsessive. She wears the
rubber band to this day and it has helped.
9.
Yet no one has really shed any light on the origins of her disorder, Terry says. "Even
now, occasionally, if a crayon is missing or a pair of stockings, I may obsess about it for
a few days. Some things won't affect me, but then, something like an eraser will. No
one knows why I choose some things over others." In truth, doctors don't really know
why anyone falls prey to OCD or why it takes different forms with different individuals.
But biology is beginning to provide some clues.
102
QUESTIONS
6. OCD can better be treated by ___________________ and __________________
rather than by ______________________.
7. Fill in the following information according to paragraphs 7-8.
a. Terry is a registered nurse who began obsessing about a few missing
puzzle pieces. This is called an obsession because she
_______________________ about it constantly.
b. Terry started seeing a psychologist to cure her disorder, but she only found
relief when she began ______________________.
c. Terry wore a rubber band on her wrist and snapped it whenever her thoughts
began getting obsessive. This is an example of a _____________________
___________________ which helps control OCD.
8. TRUE / FALSE There is no logical explanation for Terry’s preference to obsess
about certain objects.
Support your answer by quoting from the text.
________________________________________________________________
10. Probably the most widespread compulsion is washing which, for many victims,
arises
out of an obsessive fear of contamination. Other common ones are checking, counting,
repeating, and the need for symmetry. Most compulsives partake of one or more of
those, though they are apt to put their own unique twists on them. (One of the newest,
reports Rappoport, is a conviction of having AIDS, a disease virtually "made to order"
for obsessives.) In treatment, patients are usually astonished to learn that there are
others who have the same problem they have kept so desperately secret. OCD takes
identical forms even in different cultures -- which is one of the arguments for a common
biological cause. There is also strong evidence of a genetic link in the disorder. A
survey by Rappoport showed that about 25 percent of victims have at least one close
relative with OCD.
11. It hits men and women about equally. Victims often can recall some trivial event that
triggered the problem. One of Rappoport's "washers" had a shuddering recollection of
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an exterminator spraying the baseboards of her classroom for roaches one day. Many
people may have anxieties stemming from such half-forgotten incidents. But for OCD
sufferers, the angst has spun out of control.
12. Something in the chemistry of OCD seems to make it impervious to reason. Patricia
Perkins, a lawyer who heads the OCD Foundation in North Haven, Connecticut, an
information clearinghouse founded by former patients, worried obsessively about
causing harm to people. She couldn't drive her car without stopping to check for a body
every time she hit a bump in the street. She would circle around the block over and
over. Finding nothing, she would think: "In the three minutes it took me to come around
again, the police picked up the body and cleaned up the scene completely." She knew
as well as any normal person could how implausible that scenario was, but she could
not credit the evidence of her own senses. Some final step of certitude is unavailable to
OCD victims. There is nothing wrong with their memories, but they can't be sure: “Did I
really lock the door?" In France OCD is known as "folie de doute" – the "doubting
disease." Victims simply don't know how to know.
9. a. Fear of contamination is the reason that many victims of OCD
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b. Counting and looking for symmetry are examples of
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
10. When OCD sufferers begin treatment they are surprised to discover that
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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11. According to the article, the fact that a person from Ethiopia and a person
from the USA may suffer from a similar forms of OCD means that:
a. Americans and Ethiopians are more likely to suffer from OCD.
b. OCD is more common in certain cultures.
c. OCD depends on a person’s origins.
d. OCD may be caused by biological factors.
12. According to paragraph 11, what may cause OCD in many patients?
________________________________________________________________
13. What major problem of OCD patients is illustrated in paragraph 12 by the example
of
Perkins?
________________________________________________________________
Exercise 2: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
The article describes a phenomenon called ____________________. It presents
various examples of people who developed certain ___________________, for
example ____________________, which they can’t help doing. Doctors believe that
these people are not ______________________. Although this disorder cannot be
treated by ______________________, some ways of helping the victims have been
found. For example, _____________________ may be prescribed to relieve the
symptoms. OCD patients usually keep their problem _________________ and they are
surprised to hear that they are not the only ones who suffer from it. Moreover, OCD is
not restricted to any particular ______________________, which suggests the
existence of a common ______________________ cause. Even though OCD is quite
widespread, a clear explanation of this strange phenomenon has not yet been found.
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Considering the Alternatives
by Richard Lacayo
1.
Jim Guerra sells cars today in Dallas. He used to sell cocaine in Miami. But last year,
after being robbed and even kidnapped by competitors, he decided it was time for a
career change. He gave up drugs – and the drug trade – and headed out to Texas for a
new law-abiding life. The old life caught up with him anyway. In December federal
agents arrested him on charges connected to his Florida coke dealing. After pleading
guilty in the spring, Guerra faced fifteen years in prison.
2.
He never went. These days Guerra, 32, is putting in time instead of doing it, by logging
four hundred hours over two and a half years as a fund raiser and volunteer for Arts for
People, a nonprofit group that provides artists and entertainers for the critically ill at
Dallas–area hospitals and institutions. His sentence, which also includes a $15,000 fine,
means that a prison system full to bursting need not make room for one more. He sees
a benefit to the community too. “I just love the job,” he says. “I’ll probably continue it
after the sentence is up.”
QUESTIONS
1. What is the purpose of the story in the first two paragraphs of the article?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3.
The work may be admirable, but is a stint of public service the just desserts of crime?
Many people would say no, but they may not be the same ones who must contend with
the bedlam of American prisons. In recent years, a get-tough trend toward longer
sentences and more of them has had a predictable consequence. Even as crime rates
generally declined during the first half of the 1980’s, inmate numbers increased by
nearly 60 percent. The nation’s prison population now stands at a record 529,000, a
total that grows by 1,000 each week; new cells are not being built in matching numbers.
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While virtually everyone convicted is a candidate for prison, many experts believe that
perhaps half the inmate population need not be incarcerated at all.
4.
The dismal result is evident almost everywhere. Throughout the country, convicts have
been crammed into existing facilities until their numbers have pressed against the outer
limits of constitutional tolerance. Currently in thirty-eight states the courts have stepped
in to insist on, at the least, more acceptable levels of overcrowding. In Guerra’s new
home state of Texas, a federal judge earlier this month gave officials until March 31 to
improve inmates’ living conditions or risk fines of up to $800,000 a day. The despairing
Texas solution has been to close its prison doors briefly whenever it reaches the courtmandated limit. At least Guerra did not go scot-free.
QUESTIONS
2. Why did the number of prisoners go up in the 1980’s when the crime rate went
down?
3.
(par. 4) What is the “dismal result”? Fill in the blanks with one word each.
That prisons are ____________________, so the _________________ have
gotten involved.
______________________________________________________________________
5.
So “alternatives” to incarceration, which once inspired social workers and prison
reformers, have become the new best hope of many beleaguered judges – and jailers
too. In courts across the nation, people convicted of nonviolent crimes, from drunken
driving and mail fraud to car theft and burglary, are being told in effect to go to their
rooms. Judges are sentencing them to confinement at home or in dormitory halfway
houses, with permission to go to and from work but often no more – not even a stop on
the way home for milk. The sentences may also include stiff fines, community service,
and a brief, bracing taste of prison.
6.
Some supporters of alternative schemes look to the day when prison cells will be
reserved exclusively for career criminals and the violent, with extramural penalties held
out for the wayward of every other variety. “We’re all against crime,” says Herbert
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Hoelter, director of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, a nonprofit
group that designed Guerra’s package of penalties and persuaded the judge in his case
to accept them. “But we need to convince people that there are other ways to get
justice.”
7.
Anyway, who can afford to keep all offenders behind bars? Depending on the prison, it
can cost from $7,000 to more than $30,000 to keep a criminal in a cell for a year. Most
alternative programs, their backers argue, allow lawbreakers to live at home, saving tax
dollars while keeping families intact and off welfare. Since the detainees can get or keep
jobs, part of their salaries can be paid out as fines or as compensation to victims. And
alternatives give judges a sentencing option halfway between locking up offenders and
turning them loose.
QUESTIONS
4. According to paragraphs 3-7, what are the two main reasons for alternative
sentencing?
a. ______________________________________________________________
b._______________________________________________________________
5. (par. 5-6) According to supporters of alternatives to incarceration:
a. Which kind of crimes should result in prison?
_____________________________________
b. Which kinds of crimes should result in other punishments?
__________________________________________________________________
6. Apart from giving judges “a sentencing option halfway between locking up
offenders and turning them loose,” what other advantages of alternative
punishment are listed in paragraph 7?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
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8.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the new programs will have much appeal for a
crime-wary public and law-enforcement establishment. That prison time can be
harrowing is to some minds its first merit. The living-room sofa is by comparison a
painless instrument of remorse. “Until the alternatives are seen by the public as tough,
there won’t be support for them,” says Thomas Reppetto of the Citizens Crime
Commission in New York City. The problem is even plainer when the offenders are well
heeled. Will justice be served if crooked stock traders are confined to their penthouses?
9.
Most such misgivings will remain unsettled while officials try out the range of
possibilities before them. In September, suburban Nassau County, near New York City,
began testing one of the most talked-about new approaches, electronic house arrest.
Probationers selected for the program are required to be housebound when not at work.
To make sure they comply, each wears a kind of futuristic ball and chain: a four-ounce
radio transmitter that is attached to the ankle with tamper proof plastic straps. The
device broadcasts a signal to a receiver hooked up to the wearer's home phone, which
in turn relays it to a computer at the probation department. If the wearer strays more
than a hundred feet, the computer spits out a note for the probation officer.
10. “They can’t leave home without us,” quips Donald Richberg, coordinator of the program.
Following an initial outlay of $100,000, the project has cost the county only about $10 a
day per probationer. The anklets have been tried in at least eight states since New
Mexico introduced electronic monitoring in 1983. The cost accounting looks favorable,
but technical gremlins have been showing up too, resulting in reports of false
disappearances or failures to report real ones.
11. Until the high-tech methods are perfected, more conventional alternatives remain the
most popular. About thirty states have funded “intensive probation supervision,” in which
participants are typically required to work, keep a curfew, pay victims restitution and, if
necessary, receive alcohol or drug counseling. Instead of the usual caseload – the
nationwide average is 150 – a probation officer in such experiments oversees just
twenty-five people. Even with the added staff expense, the programs still cost less than
incarceration.
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12. The experience of Ron Rusich, 29, a house painter in Mobile, was typical. In 1984, he
received a fifteen-year sentence for burglary. But an intensive probation scheme used in
his state since 1982 eventually sent him back outside, and back to work, under strict
supervision. A 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was enforced during the first three months after
release by at least one surprise visit each week from the corrections officer. There were
three
other weekly meetings, with restrictions eased as his time in the program
increased. Living at home, as he was required to do for two and a half years, Rusich
cost the state $8.72 a day, less than a third of the expense of keeping him in prison.
The experience was a “lifesaver,” says Rusich, who is now on parole.
13. Alabama and a number of other states also have a similar but more restrictive option:
the work-release center, a sort of halfway house where offenders must live out their
sentences. The systems allows them to work, often at jobs found by the local
government, but maintains more of the trappings of confinement, such as dormitory life
and security checks. In Indiana, where there are ten such centers, offenders do prison
time first, with the hope of work release as a carrot for good behavior. That method lets
the state consider, through observation and psychological testing, which inmates are
likely to succeed in the program. “We want to see how they’ll perform,” says Vaughn
Overstreet of the Department of Corrections.
14. A few localities have resorted to the most low-tech deterrent of all: shame. Sarasota
County, Florida, is trying the “scarlet letter” approach, by requiring motorists convicted
of drunk driving to paste bumper stickers on their cars announcing the fact. In Lincoln
County, Oregon, a few felons have even been given a choice between prison and
publishing written apologies, accompanied by their photographs, in local newspapers.
Roger Smith, 29, paid $294.12 to announce his contrition in two papers after a guilty
plea growing out of a theft charge. A published apology “takes the anonymity out of
crime,” insists Ulys Stapelton, Lincoln County district attorney. “People can’t blend back
into the woodwork.”
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QUESTIONS
7. What concern with alternative punishments is discussed in paragraph 8?
Complete: People will think that they are not _________________________
enough.
8. Fill in the table below to describe the alternatives in paragraphs 9-14. For
each alternative, fill in the information about requirements for participants in
the alternative and its advantages and disadvantages (if mentioned).
Paragraph
Alternative
Requirements
Advantages
Disadvantages
No.
9-10
11-12
______________
13
______________
14
______________
__________________________________________________________________________
15. Do alternatives work? That depends on what they are asked to accomplish. If the goal is
cost efficiency, the answer is a qualified yes. They often seem cheap enough, but there
are concerns that they may actually add to the bill for corrections because judges will
use them as a halfway measure to keep a rein on people who would otherwise go free
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in plea bargains. James K. Stewart, director of a Justice Department research institute,
contends that the cost to society of crimes committed by those not imprisoned must be
factored in as well. For certain offenders, Stewart concludes, “prison can be a real, real
cheap alternative.”
16. If the goal is a society with fewer criminals, then firm judgments are even harder to
draw. Criminology is a dispiriting science. Its practitioners commonly caution that no
criminal sanction, no matter how strict, no matter how lenient, seems to have much
impact on the crime rate. But prison does at least keep criminals off the street. Home
confinement cannot guarantee that security. Some data, tentative and incomplete, do
suggest, however, that felons placed on intensive probation are less likely to commit
crimes again than those placed on traditional probation or sent to prison. Joan
Petersilia, a Rand Corporation researcher, says the recidivism rate of such offenders is
impressively low, “usually less than 20 percent.” And many keep their jobs, she adds.
“That’s the real glimmer of hope – that in the long run these people will become
functioning members of the community.”
17. The benefits of alternatives will remain mostly theoretical unless more judges can be
persuaded to use them. That may require changes in some mechanisms of
government. For instance, fines are a crucial part of many alternative sentencing
packages. But they frequently go unpaid. Courts and prosecutors are not good at
collecting them, says Michael Tonry of the nonprofit Castine Research Corporation,
which specializes in law-enforcement issues. He proposes that banks and credit
companies be deputized to fetch delinquent fines, with a percentage of the take as their
payment. “To make fines work as a sentencing alternative,” he says, “they must be both
equitable, based on a person’s ability to pay, and collectible.”
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QUESTIONS
9. (par. 16) a. Besides “cost efficiency,” another goal of alternatives to prison is:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
b. Criminologists claim that this goal cannot be achieved because
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
c. In contrast to this opinion, some data suggest that ________________________
results in low ______________________________________________________
18. One essential for getting courts to consider alternative sentencing, says University of
Chicago Law professor Norval Morris, is to develop a publicly understood “exchange
rate” between prison time and other forms of punishment, a table of penalties that
judges can use for guidance on how to sentence offenders. “We should be able to say
that for this crime by this criminal, either x months in prison, or a $50,000 fine plus home
detention for a year plus x number of hours of community service,” Morris contends.
19. A similar table is already in use in Minnesota, where alternative sentencing has become
well established since the 1978 passage of a law that limits new sentences to ensure
that prison capacity is not exceeded by the total number of inmates. The crime rate has
not increased, supporters boast. Other states remain far more hesitant. Still, the present
pressures may yet bring a day when the correctional possibilities will be so varied and
so widely used that prison will seem the “alternative” form of punishment.
9. What kind of table is being used in Minnesota?
A table that shows
____________________________________________________________
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10. Circle the correct words. The author believes that the use of alternatives to
incarceration may INCREASE / DECREASE / REMAIN THE SAME.
Quote from the text to support your answer.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
11. What is the main idea of the article?
a. Alternatives to imprisonment should be adopted for all criminals no matter
what crime they have committed.
b. Alternatives to imprisonment should be adopted because they are cheaper
than maintaining prisons.
c. Alternatives to imprisonment have had moderate success and should be
used as an option in the penal system.
d. Alternatives to imprisonment have mostly failed to deter crime as
successfully as imprisonment.
Exercise 3: Summary Cloze
Fill in the blanks with one word to complete the summary of the article.
The main reasons for the growing interest in ___________________ sentencing are
___________________ in prisons and the high ______________________ of
imprisonment.
Several types of alternatives have been used so far.
There are
conflicting opinions about the ___________________ of alternatives. Experts disagree
on whether the alternatives can ___________________ crime.
According to some
recent data, alternative punishment may ___________________ the recidivism rate. At
least two measures have to be taken in order to persuade judges to use alternatives
more
often.
First,
fines
have
to
be
______________________
and
______________________. In addition, a table of ______________________ must be
developed.
In
his
conclusion,
the
writer
suggests
________________________ may become an alternative.
114
that
one
day
Skimming Questions
a. Which paragraphs discuss the major alternatives to imprisonment?
___________________
b. How many alternatives are discussed? __________________
c. Briefly list the alternatives and the paragraph number(s) where each one is found.
Alternative
Paragraph Number(s)
3. What is the purpose of paragraphs 15-16?
_________________________________________
4. What is the topic of paragraphs 17-19?
___________________________________________
115