Reading Bổ Trợ 23-9

Researchers suggest that there are creatures that do not know what light means at the bottom of the sea. They don't have either eyes or ears; they can only feel. There is no day or night for them. There are no winters, no summers, no sun, no moon, and no stars. It is as if a child spent its life in darkness in bed, with nothing to see or hear. How different our own life is! Sight shows us the ground beneath our feet and the heavens above us - the sun, moon, and stars, shooting stars, lightning, and the sunset. It shows us day and night. We are able to hear voices, the sound of the sea, and music. We feel we taste, we smell. How fortunate we are!

• Alife of sea creatures at the bottom of the sea
• Bhow changes in the seasons are perceived by the deep-sea creatures
• Chow wonderful our lives were and will be
• Dthe differences among creatures of the earth and those of the sea
• Ethe superiority of human beings over some creatures in terms of senses

Historically, sociologists have presumed that people will attribute certain characteristics to a member of a particular group when it is generally believed that most members of that group possess the characteristics in questions. For sociologists Hepburn and Locksley, such social stereotyping has led to the broader question of whether people are cognizant of their own stereotyping behavior. Seemingly, if one knows that one holds a stereotypical notion such as "all members of a certain ethnic group are natural musicians" then one might also be aware that the notion that "a particular musician" is a corollary of that stereotype. However, people are most aware of their stereotyping when they have no information. When given information that conforms to their beliefs and the individual case observed, people become less aware of their tendency to stereotype and therefore more liked to engage in stereotyping.

• Ainvestigations into stereotyping and an awareness of stereotyping by individuals
• Ban examination of the relative truths behind well known stereotypes
• Can attempt to prove that stereotypes are a result of ignorance
• Da refutation of a broader question surrounding stereotypes

The railroad was not the first institution to impose regularity on society or to draw attention to the importance of precise timekeeping. For as long as merchants have set out their wares at daybreak and communal festivities have been celebrated, people have been in rough agreement with their neighbors as to the time of day. The value of this tradition is today more apparent than ever. Were it not for public acceptance of a single yardstick of time, social life would be unbearably chaotic: the massive daily transfers of goods, services, and information would proceed in fits and starts; the very fabric of modern society would begin to unravel.

• AIn modern society, we must make more time for our neighbors.
• BAn accepted way of measuring time is essential for the smooth functioning of society.
• CThe traditions of society are timeless.
• DSociety judges people by the times at which they conduct certain activities.

The late 1980's found the landscape of popular music in America dominated by a distinctive style of rock and roll known as Glam Rock or Hair Metal—so called because of the over-styled hair, makeup, and wardrobe worn by the genre's ostentatious rockers. Bands like Poison, White Snake, and Motley Crue popularized glam rock with their power ballads and ashy style, but the product had worn thin by the early 1990's. The mainstream public, tired of an act they perceived as symbolic of the superficial 1980's, was ready for something with a bit of substance.

• Acared more about the quality of their music than money.
• Bwere mainly style over substance.
• Cwere unassuming and humble.
• Dwere songwriters first, and performers second.

"If you want to find unique ________ (5) and if you want to find a wide range of ________ (6) below-ground organisms, you don't have to travel around the world. You can walk across Central Park."That statement comes from Noah Fierer, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He's also a ________ (7) of a study that uncovered the surprisingly large diversity of subterranean microbial life at the 843-acre green rectangle in the heart of Manhattan. The research is in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Investigators looked at 596 ________ (8) soil samples from the park and found thousands of different types of ________ (9). They also compared those microbes with those living in 52 other soil samples taken from all around the planet. The park had organisms that also exist in deserts, frozen tundra, forests, ________ (10) and prairies. Antarctica was the only area that had microbes that did not overlap with those found in Central Park. And only a small percentage of the park's microbes were found to be already listed in databases. The variety of microbes probably reflects a diversity of soil conditions within the park. Seems that New York is a melting pot for people above the surface. And for microbes beneath it.

How did the zebra get its stripes? One theory holds that stripes help confuse predators. But stripes might be ________ (11) to protect zebras from ferocious…insects. That's ________ (12) to a study in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Horseflies are abundant in Africa. They deliver painful bites that spread disease and distract animals from grazing. The flies use polarized light hitting water as a guide to places to mate and lay eggs. And they read such light hitting dark mammal hides as a sign of a blood meal. Zebra embryos start out dark and develop their white stripes before birth. Could the stripes confuse flies? The researchers went to a farm infested with horseflies, where they set up models of black and white stripes of varying angles and widths, thus ________ (13) the direction of the reflected polarized light. They tracked how the patterns affected the flies' interest. They then tested models of horses colored black, brown, white or ________ (14). And again tracked the effect on flies. Turns out that the black and white stripes on a zebra are optimal for ________ (15) a horsefly 's attention . Meaning that zebras may have evolved stripes to ward off disease-carrying insects, and to dine in peace.

In these distant times the sun was seen to make its daily ________ (16) across the sky. At night the moon appeared. Every new night the moon waxed or waned a little and on a few nights it did not appear at all. At night the great dome of the heavens was dotted with tiny specks of light. They ________ (17) known as the stars. It was thought that every star in the heavens had its own purpose and that the ________ (18) of the universe could be discovered by making a study of them. It was well known that there were wandering stars, they appeared in different nightly positions against their neighbours and they became known as planets. It took centuries, in fact it took millennia, for man to ________ (19) the true nature of these wandering stars and to evolve a model of the world to accommodate them and to ________ (20) their positions in the sky.

The sunlight made the crystals glow with a bright fluorescent light, but when Becquerel developed the film, he was disappointed. He found that only one of his minerals, a uranium salt, ________ (21) the photographic plate. In 1898, the Curies reported two new elements, polonium, ________ (22) for Marie’s native Poland, and radium, the Latin word for ray. They also coined the term radioactivity

Discovered in the early 1800s and named nicotianine, the oily essence now called nicotine is the main active ingredient of tobacco. Nicotine, however, is only a small component of cigarette smoke, which contains more than 4,700 chemical compounds, including 43 cancer-causing substances. In recent times, scientific research has been providing evidence that years of cigarette smoking vastly increases the risk of developing fatal medical conditions. In addition to being responsible for more than 85 per cent of lung cancers, smoking is associated with cancers of, amongst others, the mouth, stomach and kidneys, and is thought to cause about 14 per cent of leukaemia and cervical cancers. In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today. A recent study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has shown that second-hand cigarette smoke does more harm to non-smokers than to smokers. Leaving aside the philosophical question of whether anyone should have to breathe someone else’s cigarette smoke, the report suggests that the smoke experienced by many people in their daily lives is enough to produce substantial adverse effects on a person’s heart and lungs. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA), was based on the researchers’ own earlier research but also includes a review of studies over the past few years. The American Medical Association represents about half of all US doctors and is a strong opponent of smoking. The study suggests that people who smoke cigarettes are continually damaging their cardiovascular system, which adapts in order to compensate for the effects of smoking. It further states that people who do not smoke do not have the benefit of their system adapting to the smoke inhalation. Consequently, the effects of passive smoking are far greater on non-smokers than on smokers.

• AThirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by smoking-related diseases.
• BLeukaemia and Pneumonia are strongly liked to cigarette smoking
• COpponents of the smoking financed the study of USCF
• DThe American Medical Association represents exactly half the doctors of the US
• EPassive smoking is equally dangerous
• FNicotine is the key elements of tobacco

Early Rising - The great advantage of early rising is the head start it gives us in our day's work. The early riser has done a large amount of hard work before other men even get out of bed. In the early morning, the mind is fresh, and there are few sounds or other distractions. In many cases the early riser also finds time to take some exercise in the fresh morning air. By beginning so early, he knows that he has plenty of time to do thoroughly all the work he can be expected to do. All his work having been finished in good time, he has a long interval of rest in the evening before the timely hour when he goes to bed. After a sound night's rest he rises early next morning in good health and spirits for the labours of a new day. Late Rising - The person who lies in bed late, if he wishes to do a full day's work, goes on working to a corresponding late hour and denies himself the hour or two of evening exercise that he ought to take for the benefit of his health. Very late in the night is he ready for sleep.

• AWork done early in the morning is generally well done.
• BEarly riser does not have to hurry over any part of his day's work.
• CSleep is most refreshing before midnight.
• DThe life of an early riser is more conducive to health than that of the man who rises late.
• EThe morning exercise supplies the early riser with a reserve of energy that will last until the evening.

In Asia and much of the Third World, trees are still destroyed in an old-fashioned way: they are cut down for fuel and cropland. In Europe, there is a new and potentially more deadly culprit. The German call it ‘Waldsterben’, the dying forest syndrome. But the disease is far more than a German phenomenon. Since it was first observed by German scientists in the autumn of 1980, the mysterious malady has raced across Europe, blighting woods in countries as far apart as Sweden and Italy. Explanations for the epidemic range from a cyclic change in the environment to a baffling form of tree cancer. But the most convincing evidence points to air pollution. Indeed, saving the rapidly deteriorating forests of Europe will probably require a two-pronged strategy: an offensive campaign that includes the breeding of pollution-immune trees and a defensive scheme that calls for reductions in toxic emissions. But both will require more money than is currently being spent on such measures, as well as total commitment to protecting the environment.

• AAs the countries he is referring to are known as the third world, or under-developed countries.
• BSince science has made available modern and much-developed methods to satisfy these requirements.
• CAs the reasons for which the trees are cut are no longer valid in today’s scenario.
• DIt is a biased comment on the part of the narrator as it seems he belongs to a highly developed nation or society.
• EAs there are modern solutions for the requirement of fuel and cropland available to us now.

Exposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing loss. Neither surgery nor a hearing aid can help correct this type of hearing loss. Short-term exposure to loud noise can also cause a temporary change in hearing (your ears may feel stuffed up) or a ringing in your ears (tinnitus). These short-term problems may go away within a few minutes or hours after leaving the noise. However, repeated exposures to loud noise can lead to permanent tinnitus and/or hearing loss. Loud noise can create physical and psychological stress, reduce productivity, interfere with communication and concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents and injuries by making it difficult to hear warning signals. The effects of noise-induced hearing loss can be profound, limiting your ability to hear high-frequency sounds, understand speech, and seriously impairing your ability to communicate. When sound waves enter the outer ear, the vibrations impact the ear drum and are transmitted to the middle and inner ear. In the middle ear, three small bones called the malleus (or hammer), the incus (or anvil), and the stapes (or stirrup) amplify and transmit the vibrations generated by the sound to the inner ear. The inner ear contains a snail-like structure called Cochlea which is filled with fluid and lined with cells with very fine hairs. These microscopic hairs move with the vibrations and convert the sound waves into nerve impulses–the result is the sounds we hear. Exposure to loud noise can destroy these hair cells and cause hearing loss!

• AEven after long exposure, the sound is unlikely to cause hearing loss.
• BThe cochlea is responsible for the transfer of sound waves into nerve impulses.
• CExposure to noise at work can harm worker’s health.
• DThree small bones of outer ear – malleus, incus, and stapes are attached like a chain to the tympanic membrane and convert sound waves.

Communication is the sharing of information. It is the power to create in the minds of others, feelings or information that you want them to have. It is the need to communicate that has given rise to speech, language, alphabets, and writing. The same need led to the invention of paper, printing presses, typewriters, and finally computers and the internet. The power to communicate in depth has allowed humans to dominate earth. The fast development of the same power has allowed human technological evolution to overtake biological and social evolution. There are three principal needs of communication. The need to communicate in presence of the receiver gave rise to speech and language. The need to communicate in one’s absence gave rise to alphabet, writing, paper, printing press, all kinds of recording devices, and finally the modern day computer with its features. The need to communicate over a distance included everything that one needed to communicate in one’s absence, but also gave rise to signals, telegraph, telephone, the postal system and the internet.

• AWhy do we communicate?
• BHow do we communicate?
• CWhat do we communicate?
• DWhere do we communicate?
• EWhen do we communicate?

What is technology? Etymologically the term technology comes from the combination of these two Greek morphemes tékhnē, (meaning “art”) and -logía (meaning “study”). It refers to the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistoric discovery of how to control fire and the later Agricultural Revolution increased the available sources of food. Likewise, the invention of the wheel helped humans to travel in and control their environment. Later developments in historic times, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. The steady progress of military technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. The Greeks view about technology: Technology has been a subject of discussion in philosophy since the Greeks. The Greek philosopher Democritus, for example, believed that technology is an imitation of nature. House-building and weaving were first invented by imitating swallows and spiders building their nests and nets, respectively. Aristotle also distinguishes between natural things and artefacts. According to Aristotle, the former has their principles of generation and motion inside, whereas the latter, insofar as they are artefacts, are generated only by outward causes. For example, animals, which are natural things, can grow, move, and reproduce. A wooden bed, which is an artefact made by a human, cannot move, grow, or reproduce itself. Contemporary view about technology: Today, technology is a subject of debate because it is considered to be a double-edged sword. While it has helped humanity in extending its potential with outstanding inventions, it is nonetheless threatening humankind through some other destructive ones. In addition to polluting the earth in unprecedented ways, wars have become more and more devastating due to technological inventions. Ethical dimensions of recent technological developments, such as DNA engineering, have become a focal point of questioning and discussion. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it.

• AThe first use of technology by human species was identified when simple tools were converted into natural resources.
• BIt is the collection of techniques, methods, skills, and processes that are used in production of goods and services.
• CThe Greeks do not believe in technology as an imitation of nature.
• DThe contemporary society view technology as a double-edged sword.
• EThe philosophical debates arise over the use of technology; however, there is only a universal agreement that technology improves the human conditions.
• FWeapons of ever-increasing destructive power have been brought about by unsteady progress of the military technology.

Naval architects never claim that a ship is unsinkable, but the sinking of the passenger-and-car ferry Estonia in the Baltic surely should have never have happened. It was well designed and carefully maintained. It carried the proper number of lifeboats. It had been thoroughly inspected the day of its fatal voyage. Yet hours later, the Estonia rolled over and sank in a cold, stormy night. It went down so quickly that most of those on board, caught in their dark, flooding cabins, had no chance to save themselves: Of those who managed to scramble overboard, only 139 survived. The rest died of hypothermia before the rescuers could pluck them from the cold sea. The final death toll amounted to 912 souls. However, there were an unpleasant number of questions about why the Estonia sank and why so many survivors were men in the prime of life, while most of the dead were women, children and the elderly.

• Athe lifesaving equipment did not work well and lifeboats could not be lowered
• Bmost victims were trapped inside the boat as they were in their cabins
• Csurvivors of the accident were mostly young men but women, children and the elderly stood little chance
• Dthere were enough lifeboats for the number of people on board
• E139 people managed to leave the vessel but died in freezing water

International trade is growing at a startling pace. While the global economy has been expanding at a bit over 3% a year, the volume of trade has been rising at a compound annual rate of about twice that. Foreign products, from meat to machinery, play a more important role in almost every economy in the world, and foreign markets now tempt businesses that never much worried about sales beyond their nation's borders. What lies behind this explosion in international commerce? The general worldwide decline in trade barriers, such as customs duties and import quotas, is surely one explanation. The economic opening of countries that have traditionally been minor players is another. But one force behind the import-export boom has passed all but unnoticed: the rapidly falling cost of getting goods to market. Theoretically, in the world of trade, shipping costs do not matter. Goods, once they have been made, are assumed to move instantly and at no cost from place to place. The real world, however, is full of frictions. Cheap labour may make Chinese clothing competitive in America, but if delays in shipment tie up working capital and cause winter coats to arrive in spring, trade may lose its advantages.

• AFree movement of goods from one country to another
• BSome counties now prefer foreign products over their domestic products
• CMore countries started to increasingly engage in international trade
• DThe effects of the introduction of electronic delivery
• ECosts involved in transporting a product from abroad have dropped considerably
• FAvailability of cheap labour in some parts of the world