Unit 11: Books - Reading

Exercise 1: Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer. It is often said that books are always a good friends and reading is an active mental process. Unlike TV, books make you use your brain. By reading, you think more and become smarter. Reading improves concentration and focus. Reading books takes brain power. It requires you to focus on what you are reading for long periods. Unlike magazines, Internet posts or e-Mails that might contain small pieces of information. Books tell the whole story". Since you must concentrate in order to read, you will get better at concentration. Many studies show if you do not use your memory; you lose it. Reading helps you stretch your memory muscles. Reading requires remembering details, facts and figures and in literature, plot lines, themes and characters. Reading is a good way to improve your vocabulary. Do you remember that when you were at elementary school you learned how to infer the meaning of one word by reading the context of the other words in the sentence? While reading books, especially challenging ones, you will find yourself exposed to many new words. Reading is a fundamental skill builder. Every good course has a matching book to go with it. Why? Because books help clarify difficult subjects. Books provide information that goes deeper than just classroom discussions By reading more books you become better informed and more of an expert on the topics you read about. This expertise translates into higher self-esteem. Since you are so well-read, people look to you for answers. Your feelings about yourself can only get better. Books give you knowledge of other cultures and places. The more information you have got, the richer your knowledge is. Books can expand your horizons by letting you see what other cities and countries have to offer before you visit them.

Exercise 2: Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase. When a child learns to read and write, he must access the schema developed in his (6) ______. As he reads, the child creates pictures in his mind and uses (7) _____ and points of reference to put the story (8) ____. Television images do not go through a complex symbolic transformation. The mind does not have to decode and manipulate during the television experience. Watching television and playing video games do not (9) ______ a child's skills in word recognition, decoding, vocabulary, spelling or high-level thinking. The connection between television's effects (10) ______ children's reading abilities and the (11) ______ in their writing skills is clear: there is no question in the minds of educators that a student who cannot read with the true comprehension will never learn to write well. Writing, after (12) ______, is book talk, and you only learn book talk by reading. It has been shown that reading stimulates brain activity. While reading, we imagine settings, characters and we become part of the world of the story. (13) ______, it has been shown that watching television prevents brain activity. Children who watch too much television are less socially developed and have problems maintaining (14) ______. Reading, (15) ______ of watching television, enriches our lives, develops the imagination, and intellect, and is less brain deadening. Reading is good for us, it makes one a better person.