READING 3

UNDERSTANDING THE MAIN IDEA

 UNDERSTANDING THE MAIN IDEA

A paragraph is a group of sentences about one topic. The main idea of a paragraph is the most important
point about the topic.

You can often find the main idea in the first or second sentence of a paragraph. This is the topic sentence.
The other sentences help explain or support the main idea.

To find the main idea of a paragraph, ask yourself, ‘’What does the author want me to know about the
topic?’’

Examples: One sentence in each group below is the main idea. Put a tick (✓) in front of the MAIN
IDEA.

A)

____ For example, in the United States the colour white means goodness, but in China white means death.

✓ Colours have different meanings in different countries.

____ Red represents death in Egypt, but in China, red is good luck.

B)

____ It also provided them with work.

__✓ The Nile River was very important to the people of ancient Egypt.

____ It gave them good farmland for food.

EXERCISE 1 : Put a tick (✓) in front of the MAIN IDEA.

A)

____ There is a supermarket on the next block.

____ It is easy to find a parking space near my apartment.

____ My apartment is in a great location.

____ The neighbourhood is safe and clean.

B)

____ We call my younger sister Su Su.

____ My grandparents’ nicknames are Pops and Mi Mi.

____ My nickname is Jud, and my brother’s is Buddy.

____ Everyone in my family has a nickname.

C)

____ She likes to ski in the winter and play golf in the summer.

____ Roberta also likes to cook and read cookbooks.

____ She likes to draw cartoons and is a pretty good artist.

____ Roberta has lots of hobbies that keep her busy in her free time.
D)

____ The Grand Canyon is 1 mile deep and 300 miles long.

____ Every year an average of 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon.

____ The Grand Canyon is one of the great natural wonders of the world.

____ In short, the Grand Canyon is a must- see for every traveller.

E)

____ My roommate, Jack, and I are not compatible.

____ I am a neat and organized person, but Jack is messy.

____ Jack stays up late listening to loud music, but I prefer to go to sleep early.

____ Jack loves soccer, but I love basketball.

F)

___ Cigarettes are expensive, so he can save money if he stops smoking.

___ Liz, Ivan’s girlfriend, doesn’t like the smell of cigarettes.

___ Ivan wants to quit smoking for many reasons.

___ Ivan also knows smoking gives harm to his body.

G)

____ The average American eats approximately 12 pounds of chocolate every year.

____ Chocolate is a very popular food.

____ They eat chocolate hot or cold, in boxes, bottles, or cups.

____ Many people eat chocolate candy, chocolate cakes, and chocolate ice-cream.

EXERCISE 2: Choose the statement that best expresses the main idea of each paragraph.

1. It’s easy to keep in touch with people on the Internet. You can email friends and family. Many people can
get free email accounts in just a few minutes. You can chat online. This is an easy way to communicate with
someone right away. Another way to stay connected is on social networking sites. Social networking sites let
you keep in touch with many people at once in a very short amount of time.

a) Social networking sites are very popular nowadays.

b) People chat online easily.

c) People communicate with each other easily on the Internet.

d) You can get free email accounts in a short time.

 2. There are over two hundred different species of turtles in the world. Some turtles are quite small; they
can fit in your hand. However, other kinds of turtles may grow to weigh more than five hundred kilos! One
kind of sea turtle is the heaviest of all reptiles. A fully grown sea turtle of this kind may be almost three
meters long and weigh much more than five hundred kilos.

a) Turtles may vary greatly in size and weight.

b) Sea turtles are extremely heavy.

c) Small turtles can fit in your hand.

d) Small turtles make excellent pets for children.

3. Social networking sites first became popular with college students. At one college, students said that they
spent almost two hours every day just on Facebook. Teenagers also use these sites to stay connected with
their friends. These days, even older people are using social networks. The Internet keeps changing, but one
trend is clear: People enjoy using websites that let them connect with others. They like to express themselves
and communicate online.

a) Social networking is popular only with teens.

b) Social networking is popular with people of all ages.

c) Adults don’t use social networking.

d) College students spend a lot of time on Facebook.

4. A small car is more advantageous than a bigger one. A small car is inexpensive to operate because it goes 20
or 30 miles on a gallon of gasoline. The original purchase price of a small car is considerably less than that of
the bigger models. And of course small cars are easier to park.

a) Small cars are cheaper than bigger ones.

b) Parking will be easy if you have a small car.

c) A small car can go a long way on a gallon of gasoline.

d) Having a small car offers several advantages.

5. Until a person is about nineteen, the brain continues to grow, adding new cells every year. After that, until
the end of life, the brain slowly dies, losing several thousand brain cells every day. After the age of twenty-seven,
the body becomes weaker. It is harder to recover from injuries, but much easier to get injured. The muscles lose
their ability to stretch. However, the worst part of getting old is that we become more open to diseases like
cancer or heart diseases.

a) Old age is a time of knowledge and experience.

b) Staying in shape is important after age thirty.

c) Growing older brings on many physical problems.

d) Aging is a perfectly natural part of growing.

6. No one thinks twins can be born in different years, but that’s what happened with the Lang twins. On New
Year’s Eve in 2006, Benjamin Lang, a four-pound boy, was born at 11:59 p.m. He was the last baby born in Miami
in that year. Then, just ten minutes later, at 12:09 a.m., the second baby was born. Laura Lang, a five-pound girl,
was the city’s first baby of 2007. What a happy ending to one year- and a happy start to the next!

a) The first Lang baby was born at 11:59 p.m.

b) The Lang twins were born in different years.

c) Laura was the first baby born in Miami in 2007.

d) Benjamin was the last baby born in Miami in 2006.

7. Many people in the United States are waiting until they are older to get married. Today the average age for
women to marry is 24. The average age for men is 25 years. Some people want to wait until they are making
enough money to start a family. Other people want to finish college and work for a few years before they get
married. And others say they just aren’t ready for the responsibilities of marriage. They want to travel and have
a lot of life experiences before they get married.

a) Many Americans are marrying at an older age.

b) Today the average age for women in the U.S. to marry is 24.
c) Some people in the U.S. want to get a job before getting married.
d) Some people want to travel before getting married.

8. It is still more common for mothers to stay home and raise the children, bu the number of stay-at-home
dads is growing every year. In 2003, there were 98.000 stay-at-home dads in the United States. Today there
are over 159.000. The number of stay-at-home dads in other countries increases every year, too. From
Canada and Mexico to Japan and Australia, more and more fathers are staying home to care for their kids.

a) There are over 159.000 stay-at-home dads in the U.S.

b) There are stay-at-home dads in Canada, Mexico, Japan and Australia.

c) The number of stay-at-home dads is growing every year.

d) In 2003, there were 98.000 stay-at-home dads in the U.S.

9. There are many job opportunities in Seattle because it is an important city of trade and business. It is a
port city, so it is a center for trade with Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. The city is also home to some of
the world’s largest companies in the computer software, e-commerce, and aerospace industries.

a) Seattle is a port city.

b) Seattle is a good place to find a job.

c) E-commerce is very important in Seattle.

d) Seattle is the center for trade with Asia.

EXERCISE 3: Scan the following passage and underline the main idea in each paragraph. Then, read
the statements below. Circle the main idea of each paragraph.

TIME FOR WORK, AND TIME FOR PLAY

(1) People today seem to have increasingly hectic lifestyles. Results of a 2001 Harris Poll ( a well- known
American weekly survey) on free time conducted in the United States showed that the average workweek
for many Americans is fifty hours. In addition, many people spend a few hours going to work. With the time
spent eating, sleeping, taking care of household chores, and looking after the family, there is little time left
for leisure activities for many Americans.

Paragraph 1: a) Americans work an average of fifty hours a week.

b) People today have busier lifestyles.

(2) However, having free time to relax and pursue hobbies and interests is important, and good for a
person’s well-being. People need time away from the pressures of study or work in order to relax and enjoy
time with friends and family.

Paragraph 2: a) Having free time and hobbies is good for physical and mental health.

b) People need time alone to relax.

(3) In different countries and cultures around the world free time is spent in different ways. The results
of the Harris Poll showed that reading was the most popular spare-time activity in the United States. This
was followed by watching TV, then spending time with family. In a UK survey, watching TV and videos was
the most popular pastime; listening to the radio came second. In a similar survey conducted in Japan, the
most popular free-time activity was eating out. The second most popular activity was driving. Karaoke, which
ranked out, was more popular than watching videos, which came fifth. Listening to the radio or music ranked
sixth.

Paragraph 3: a) Popular free time activities differ around the world.

b) Reading is the most popular free-time activity in the US.

(4) There were also differences in the most popular outdoor pursuits between the three countries. The
most popular outdoor activity for Americans was gardening. In the UK, it was going to the pub, followed by
visiting the cinema. In Japan, going to bars and pubs ranked eighth in popularity, and gardening ranked ninth.

Paragraph 4: a) Cultural differences exist in popular outdoor and indoor free-time activities.

b) Gardening is a popular outdoor activity.

 (5) Although people around the world may enjoy doing similar things in their free time, there is evidence
to suggest that these interests are changing. In the US, for example, the popularity of computer activities is
increasing. Many more people in the States are spending their free time surfing the Web, e-mailing friends,
or playing games online. In the 2001 Harris Pole, computer activities ranked seventh in popularity; in 1998,
this same activity ranked eighteenth. With people now able to download some books from the Internet into
e-Book readers it is possible that, in the future, reading and computer activities will become the same
pastime for many Americans.

Paragraph 5: a) Surfing the Web is becoming an increasingly popular pastime.

b) The way that people spend their free time seems to be changing.

EXERCISE 4: Read the following passage and tick (✓) the sentence which gives its main idea.

___ a) Companies don’t care if you remember their colours, as long as you buy their products.

___ b) Companies use colour so you will notice them and remember their company when you see their
colours.

___ c) Blue is a good colour for computer companies.

___ d) Many companies use green because it shows they care about the environment.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOUR IN BUSINESS

If you walk into a McDonald’s restaurant, what colours will you see? Probably yellow and red. And when
you think about Mcdonald’s, you will think about those two bright and cheerful colours. Every year large
companies spend millions of dollars on advertising. They want you to buy their products and use their
services, and they want you to remember their company name. Companies use colour so that you will notice
them and so that you will think about them when you see their colours. One research project showed that
colour helps people remember company names. Colours are very important to businesses.

Blue is often used by computer companies. IBM, Microsoft and Dell all use the colour blue to show that
their companies are serious and dependable. Like the sky and the ocean, blue can be both peaceful and
powerful. To show that their computers are for serious people, many companies used to make their
computers black or grey. But Apple computer company decided that they wanted computers to be fun
instead of serious. For that reason, they made their iMac computers in a variety of different colours in the
late 1990s. Today, their iPods come in a variety of colours.

BP (British Petroleum) uses green and yellow for its colours. It is the only large oil company to use green.
Green is the colour of nature. Yellow is the colour of the sun. Both colours are bright and cheerful. BP hopes
that people will think of it as a friendly company. In addition, green may make you think of the environment.
BP wants people to think of it as a company that cares about the environment.

UPS (United Parcel Service) is a big delivery company. Its company colour is brown. When UPS started
in the 1920s, brown was a good colour for a safe, reliable company. From the beginning, UPS used brown
trucks and brown uniforms. When people see the big brown UPS trucks, the company hopes they will think
of excellent, dependable service.

All over the world, companies use colour to establish their brand and to encourage people to buy their
products. Companies believe that customers respond strongly to their colours. It isn’t surprising that
companies carefully consider the colours for their products and their advertising.
EXERCISE 5: Read the following passage and tick (✓) the sentence which gives its main idea.

___ a) The researchers found that the two groups made different choices.

___ b) The quality of the songs are important to the listeners.

___ c) Our peers influence our music choices.

___ d) The researchers gave a list of 48 unknown songs to 14.000 teenagers.

A SONG BECOMES A HIT

What makes a song become a popular hit? Do you think hit songs are popular because they are great great
songs? If so, you need to think again. Researchers say that hit songs become popular because listeners care
about what other people think. For most listeners, the quality of the song is not as important.

A recent online study looked at how we choose our music. It showed that a song’s popularity influences
our choices. In other words, we like to listen to the music that our peers enjoy. In the study, researchers gave
a list of 48 unknown songs to 14.000 teenagers. The students listened to some of the songs and rated them.
Participants gave one star to songs that they didn’t like. They gave five stars to songs that they liked very
much.

The researchers divided the participants into two groups. The first group saw only the song title and the
name of the band. They rated songs because the name of the song or the name of the band looked interesting.
After listening to the song, participants rated it with stars.

The second group of teenagers received extra information. This group could also see the number of
downloads for each song. The songs with many downloads looked like they were very popular. The teenagers
thought that these songs were favourites with their peers. However, the researchers made up the number of
downloads for each song. The songs showing the most downloads weren’t really popular. In fact, these songs
weren’t very good, according to music experts.

Participants in the second group usually gave the most stars to the songs with the most downloads. They
thought these songs were popular with their peers. They were not interested in the quality of the song. They
just wanted to listen to songs that their peers liked.
 EXERCISE 6

COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

Words communicate meaning, but culture is the most important factor that influences the meanings
of words. Meaning is in the person, not in the word, and each person is the product of a particular culture.
Thus, if we want to learn to communicate well in a foreign language, we must understand the culture that
affects the language. In other words, culture and communication are inseparable. You can't have one without
the other because they are interconnected. Culture gives meaning and provides the context for
communication, and the ability to communicate allows us to act out our cultural values and to share our
language and our culture.

But our own native language and culture are a part of us that we don’t question most of the time and
this makes it difficult for us to understand other cultures. When we travel to another country, we don't think
much about our language and culture but we carry our own cultural views along with our passports and luggage;
we never leave them behind. Using our own culture as the standard to judge other cultures is called
ethnocentrism, and although they are unintentional, our ethnocentric ways of thinking and acting often get in
the way of our understanding other languages and cultures. In other words, although we don't plan to be
ethnocentric, we don’t understand other languages and cultures easily. On the other hand, the desire to
understand a different culture is the cure for cultural blindness. Studying a new language provides the
opportunity to develop different views because we also learn the context of the culture that the language
belongs to.

When language experts study a new language they often compare it to their own, and consequently they
have a better understanding of the new language and their own language as well. Students who study a foreign
language will also learn more about their own native tongue by comparing and contrasting the two languages.
You can follow the same comparative method in learning more about culture - your own, as well as others'.
Remember that each culture has developed a set of patterns that are right and appropriate for that culture. If
people do things differently in another culture, they are not 'wrong' - they are just different and suitable for that
particular culture.

1. The main idea of the first paragraph is that ________________________.

a) communication and culture are closely related

b) people are the products of the cultures they live in
c) people should share their cultural values
d) communication makes it possible to share cultures

2. The main idea of the second paragraph is that___________________________.

a) it is possible to prevent cultural blindness

b) we carry our cultural values everywhere we go
c) we have difficulty in understanding other cultures and languages because of our cultural beliefs
d) people who study a new language should learn the culture it belongs to

3. The main idea of the third paragraph is that ____________________________.

a) while studying a new language, you understand your native language better
b) every culture has a set of patterns that are different from others
c) we should learn more about our native tongue to understand our culture
d) if you do the same things with other people, you are right