READING PRACTICE 2

1
John Brown is a lecturer .He went to university in 1982 , and was one of the best students at that time . In 1990 , he became a professor . He has been a senior lecturer since then . He is very well-known in his teaching career . He wrote five books about education , including a book “ How to teach deaf children “ in 1995 . He has been to Thailand , the Philippines , and Viet Nam to give lecturers dealing with “ disabled students and integrated education “ . He was married to his assistant , Linda . They have two children . In the 1990s they lived in the suburb of London . They now live in the center of the city . In fact , they have lived there since 2000 .

2
All languages have rules for forming words and for ordering those words in meaning sentences . In written languages , meaning is expressed through a system of characters and rules for combining those characters . In spoken languages , meaning is expressed through a system of sounds and rules for combining those sounds . Words order is more important in English than it is in some languages , such as Russian .
Like other languages , English is always changing , but it changes very slowly . People invent new words , borrow words from other languages and change the meaning of words as needed . For example , the English word “byte” was invented by computer specialists in 1959 .The word “ tomato ” was borrowed from Nahuati , an American Indian language spoken in Mexico . The word “meat” once referred to food in general . People learn English as well as languages by listening , copying what they hear , and using the language . Most school children learn their first language easily and sometimes other languages as well .





a) Match the word or phrase in column A with its definition in column B.
A
B

1. order

2. character

3. specialist
4. refer to
5. byte
6.in general
a) a person who is an expert in a particular area of work or study .
b) a unit of information stored in computers , equal to 8 BITS
c) as a whole
d) a letter , sign , symbol used in writing , printing
e) organize or arrange something
f) describe or be connected to sth

b) Questions :
a. What kinds of rules do all languages have ?
b. How is meaning expressed in written languages ? in spoken languages ?
c. What is more important in English in comparison with some languages ?
d. How does English change ?
e. In English do people invent new words and borrow words from other languages ? Give some examples .
f) How do people learn English and languages in general ?

3
There are four people in my family . Each of us has a different hobby . My dad likes reading newspapers because he can get the latest news every morning . However , my mom enjoys watching TV and reading magazines . Mom often spends hours reading articles about fashion and cooking . Unlike my mom and dad , my brother only loves exploring websites about airplanes . He spends most of his free time getting information about the history and development of aircraft . He also writes emails or chats with his friends about his hobby . For me , I am really interested in listening to music . I love listening to music on the FM radio . I also like music programs on TV on Sundays . What about you ? What is your hobby ?

4
Read the following passage . Complete the sentences with information from the passage .
One of the main sources for the spreading of news and events throughout the world is the newspaper . The purpose of newspaper is to inform the public of political , social , economic and entertainment happening , among other things . Generally , there are three types of newspapers : daily newspapers , weekly newspapers and special –interest newspapers . Daily newspapers publish at least one edition every weekday . Most dailies also have a weekend edition . Daily newspapers often have sections for news , sports , arts and entertainment , business , and classified advertising . Weekly newspapers print once a week and cover news of interest to readers in a small area than that of a daily paper . They focus on local happenings rather than national or international events . Special –interest newspapers may publish daily , weekly , monthly , or even less frequently . They generally disseminate news of interest to a particular group of readers or feature news about a specific topic.
Thanks to the development of the Internet , we can now get access to electronic newspapers . To some extent , e-newspapers are cheap , up-to-date , and convenient for most readers in the world .

1. The purpose of newspapers is to …………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. There are three types of newspapers . They are
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………..……
3. Daily newspapers often have sections for ……….
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
4. Weekly newspapers focus on ……………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. Electronic newspapers are …………………………………………………………………………………………………

5

On January 17 , 1995