Category: READING COURSE

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Marine Food Chain # Practice Reading

QUESTION TIME

Some of the words given above have been highlighted. Reading the passage, try to figure out the meaning of the words and answer them. If there are issues and you are not able to ind out the answer, below.

Meanwhile, warming of the oceans is causing water to thermally expand fueling  sea level rises caused by melting land ice. Research released in the US on Monday found that Antarctic ice is melting so fast that the whole continent could be at risk by 2100, with severe consequences for coastal communities.

Problems in the ocean’s food chains will be a direct concern for hundreds of millions of people who rely upon seafood for sustenance , medicines and income. The loss of coral reefs could also worsen coastal erosion (the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc)due to their role in protecting shorelines from storms and cyclones.

“These effects are happening now and will only be exacerbated in the next 50 to 100 years,” Nagelkerken said. “We are already seeing strange things such as the invasion of tropical species into temperate waters off south-eastern Australia. But if we reduce additional stressors such as overfishing and pollution, we can give species a better chance to adapt to climate change.”

ANSWERS

warming – of or at a moderately high temperature; characterized by comparatively high temperature

thermally –caused by heat or temperature

expand to increase in extent, size, volume, scope, etc

fueling combustible matter used to maintain fire, as coal, wood, oil, or gas, in order to create heat or power

coastal –of, relating to, bordering on, or located near a coast

sustenance –means of sustaining life

coral reefs – a reef composed mainly of coral and other organic matter of which parts have solidified into limestone.

erosion – the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by theaction of water, glaciers, winds, waves, etc

shorelines – the line where shore and water meet

exacerbated – to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill ,etc.)

invasion – an act or instance of invading or entering as an enemy, especially byan army

stressors – an activity, event, or other stimulus that causes stress.

Now, mark yourself and calculate how much you scored.

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Origin Of Punctuation # Practice Reading

As readers and writers, we’re intimately familiar with the dots, strokes and dashes that punctuate the written word. The comma, colon, semicolon and their siblings are integral parts of writing, pointing out grammatical structures and helping us transform letters into spoken words or mental images. We would be lost without them (or, at the very least, extremely confused), and yet the earliest readers and writers managed without it for thousands of years. What changed their minds?

In the 3rd Century BCE, in the Hellenic Egyptian city of Alexandria, a librarian (a person in charge of a library, especially the chief administrative officer of a library)named Aristophanes had had enough. He was chief of staff at the city’s famous library, home to hundreds of thousands of scrolls, which were all frustratingly time-consuming to read. For as long as anyone could remember, the Greeks had written their texts so that their letters ran together with no spaces or punctuation and without any distinction between lowercase and capitals. It was up to the reader to pick their way through this unforgiving mass of letters to discover where each word or sentence ended and the next began.

Yet the lack of punctuation and word spaces was not seen as a problem. In early democracies such as Greece and Rome, where elected officials debated to promote their points of view, eloquent (having or exercising the power of fluent, forceful, and appropriate speech)and persuasive (able, fitted, or intended to persuade)speech was considered more important than written language and readers fully expected that they would have to pore over a scroll before reciting it in public. To be able to understand a text on a first reading was unheard of: when asked to read aloud from an unfamiliar document, a 2nd Century writer named Aulus Gellius protested that he would mangle (to spoil; ruin; mar badly)its meaning and emphasise (to lay stress upon)its words incorrectly. (When a bystander (a person present but not involved; chance spectator; onlooker)stepped in to read the document instead, he did just that.)

Joining the dots

Aristophanes’ breakthrough was to suggest that readers could annotate (to supply with critical or explanatory notes)their documents, relieving the unbroken stream of text with dots of ink aligned with the middle (·), bottom (.) or top (·) of each line. His ‘subordinate’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘full’ points corresponded to the pauses of increasing length that a practised reader would habitually insert between formal units of speech called the comma, colon and periodos. This was not quite punctuation as we know it – Aristophanes saw his marks as representing simple pauses rather than grammatical boundaries – but the seed had been planted.

Unfortunately, not everyone was convinced (to move by argument or evidence to belief, agreement, consent, or a course of action)of the value of this new invention. When the Romans overtook the Greeks as the preeminent (eminent above or before others; superior; surpassing)empire-builders of the ancient world, they abandoned (forsaken or deserted)Aristophanes’ system of dots without a second thought. Cicero, for example, one of Rome’s most famous public speakers, told his rapt (deeply engrossed or absorbed) audiences (the group of spectators at a public event)that the end of a sentence “ought to be determined not by the speaker’s pausing for breath, or by a stroke (the act or an instance of striking, as with the fist, a weapon, or a hammer) interposed (to place between)by a copyist, but by the constraint of the rhythm”.

And though the Romans had experimented for a while with separating·words·with·dots, by the second century CE they had abandoned that too. The cult (a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing,person, ideal, etc)of public speaking was a strong one, to the extent that all reading was done aloud: most scholars (a learned or erudite person, especially one who has profound knowledge of a particular subject)agree that the Greeks and Romans got round their lack of punctuation by murmuring (a low, continuous sound, as of a brook, the wind, or trees, or of low,indistinct voices)aloud as they read through texts of all kinds.

Source :BBC

Beginning Of Universe # Practice Reading

So how was this unimaginably (difficult or impossible to imagine or comprehend) giant (a person or thing of unusually great size, power, importance, etc.;major figure; legend) Universe created? For centuries (a period of 100 years) scientists (an expert in science, especially one of the physical or natural sciences) thought the Universe always existed in a largely unchanged (not changed; unaltered) form, run like clockwork (the mechanism of a clock)thanks to the laws of physics. But a Belgian priest (a person whose office it is to perform religious rites, and especially to make sacrificial offerings) and scientist called George Lemaitre put forward another idea. In 1927, he proposed that the Universe began as a large, pregnant and primeval (of or relating to the first age or ages, especially of the world)atom, exploding (to burst, fly into pieces, or break up violently with a loud report, as a boiler from excessive pressure of steam) and sending out the smaller atoms that we see today.

His idea went largely unnoticed. But in 1929 astronomer (an expert in astronomy; a scientific observer of the celestial bodies)Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe isn’t static (showing little or no change)but is in fact expanding (to increase in extent, size, volume, scope, etc). If so, some scientists reasoned (based on reason) that if you rewound (to wind back to or toward the beginning; reverse)the Universe’s life then at some point it should have existed as a tiny, dense point. Critics (a person who judges, evaluates, or criticizes) dismissed (to discard or reject)this: the celebrated (renowned, well known)astronomer Fred Hoyle sarcastically (marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey contempt) called this concept the “Big Bang” theory, a phrase that would later be adopted by its proponents (a person who puts forward a proposition or proposal).

Undeterred (persevering with something despite setbacks)by sceptics (a person inclined to question or doubt accepted opinions), scientists Ralph Alpher, George Gamow and Robert Herman predicted that if there had been a Big Bang, then a faint afterglow (the pleasant remembrance of a past experience, glory, etc)should linger (to remain or stay on in a place longer than is usual or expected, as if from reluctance to leave)somewhere in the Universe, and we should in theory be able to detect it. To do so would require one of the greatest pieces of fortune (position in life as determined by wealth)in science.

Source : BBC

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Development And Security Of A Country # Practice Reading

Development (the act or process of developing; growth; progress) comes in many forms and serves multiple (consisting of, having, or involving several or many individuals, parts,elements, relations, etc) purposes (the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc). Over the last few months, the Central government has initiated (the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc) a series of steps to upgrade (an increase or improvement) communications (the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs)and transport (to carry, move, or convey from one place to another) infrastructure (the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization) in areas affected by naxalite (a member of an extreme Maoist group in India that originated in 1967in West Bengal and which employs tactics of agrarian terrorism and direct action)activity. The larger project is to not only usher in development in the tribal (of, relating to, or characteristic of a tribe )areas and improve the living conditions of populations (the total number of persons inhabiting a country, city, or any district or area)in hilly and forest terrains (a tract of land, especially as considered with reference to its natural features, military advantages, etc.), but also facilitate (to make easier or less difficult) security (freedom from care, anxiety, or doubt; well-founded confidence) operations (an act or instance, process, or manner of functioning or operating) against Maoists, who specialise (to pursue some special line of study, work, etc.; have a specialty )in ambushes (an act or instance of lying concealed so as to attack by surprise)and hit-and-retreat (a tactical doctrine where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory, but to inflict damage on a target and immediately exit the area to avoid the enemy’s defense and/or retaliation)tactics (the art or science of disposing military or naval forces for battle and maneuvering them in battle.). Hundreds of mobile phone towers have been erected (upright in position or posture)along the Red Corridor, and roads and bridges are being built to connect naxalite-affected districts (a division of territory, as of a country, state, or county, marked off foradministrative, electoral, or other purposes). Ending the isolation (the complete separation from others of a person suffering from contagious or infectious disease)of some of the villages in remote areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand is, no doubt, part of a strategy (a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.) to win over local populations and wean (to withdraw (a person, the affections, one’s dependency, etc.) from some object, habit, form of enjoyment, or the like) them away from the influence (the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others)of armed groups of Maoists. But, coming as it does with heavy deployment (to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately)of Central police forces, such infrastructure (the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization) development (the act or process of developing; growth; progress)is suspect (to doubt or mistrust)in the eyes of many villagers in the tribal regions (an extensive, continuous part of a surface, space, or body). The ‘development’ is often seen more as an effort (an earnest or strenuous attempt)to allow access (the ability, right, or permission to approach, enter, speak with, or use;admittance)to tribal areas for security personnel (a body of persons employed in an organization or place of work)in pursuit (an effort to secure or attain; quest) of Maoists rather than as an attempt to open up the outside world to the villages. Invariably, the state is seen as an external agency waiting to wield (to exercise (power, authority, influence, etc.), as in ruling or dominating)its authority (a person or body of persons in whom authority is vested, as a governmental agency) and extend its reach without allowing substantial (of ample or considerable amount, quantity, size, etc) consequential (following as an effect, result, or outcome; resultant; consequent) benefits (something that is advantageous or good)to the villages.

SOURCE- The Hindu

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