Reading and understanding newspapers. Пыж А.М. - 42 стр.

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Составители:

Рубрика:

• What key words in the headline or first paragraph let you know the opinion

expressed in the article?

• What is the issue discussed in the article?

• What type of an editorial is it?

• Is the scope of the issue local, national or international?

• What is the opinion of the newspaper or the writer about t he issue?

• What are the reasons the newspaper or writer gives to support the position

taken?

• What is your opinion on the issue?

After-reading task 2: Catching the main idea—in two minutes or less:

good readers know how to get the main idea from an opinion article very

quickly, probably within one minute. They use different methods, but the

most common is probably something like this one: (1) Read the headline

(2) Read the first paragraph (3) Read the last one or two paragraphs (4)

Form a theory of what the main idea is (5) Test your theory by quickly

skimming the beginnings of the remaining paragraphs. Let’s try this

with an editorial that follows. First let’s look at the headline, the first

paragraph and the last two paragraphs:

If Surakiart goes, so should all the rest

So, we are told, Finance Minister Surakiart Sathirathai could be the first

cabinet member to face the axe. We are also told, but from other sources,

that the assumption could be too hasty. Even if Prime Minister Banharn is

willing to replace Dr Surakiart, finding someone trusted by both Mr

Banharn and the public will not be easy, especially since that someone

will have to face the kind of antagonistic attention that Dr Surakiart has

faced.

By comparison, Dr Surakiart looks like a good minister. Or put it another

way, if he goes, so should all the rest.

Already, we should have a good idea of what the editorial is about. We can

surely expect some harsh criticism of cabinet ministers other than Finance

Minister Dr Surakiart. Clearly they must be far worse than he is and if he is