READING SKILL 1

DETERMINE THE MAIN IDEA OF A PASSAGE

What is the topic of this
passage?
 In the philosophy of John Dewey, a sharp
distinction is made between “intelligence” and
“reasoning.” According to Dewey, intelligence
is the only absolute way to achieve a balance
between realism and idealism, between
practicality and wisdom of life. Intelligence
involves “interacting with other things and
knowing them,” while reasoning is merely the
act of an observer,’’….a mind that beholds or
grasps objects outside the world of things
…….” With reasoning, a level of mental
certainty can be achieved, but it is through
intelligence that control is taken of events that
shape one’s life.

Which of the following would be the
best title for this passage?


 Nitrogen fixation is a process by which

nitrogen is continuously fed into biological
circulation. In this process, certain algae and
bacteria convert nitrogen into ammonia
(NH3). This newly created ammonia is then
for the most part absorbed by plants.
 The opposite process of denitrification
returns nitrogen to the air. During the process
of denitrification, bacteria cause some of the
nitrates from the soil to convert into gaseous
nitrogen or nitrous oxide (N2O). In this
gaseous form the nitrogen returns to the
atmosphere.
q How do you determine the
main idea of a passage?
q How if the passage consists
of one paragraph only?
q How if the passage consists
of more than one paragraph?
Which of the following best
describes the topic of the
passage?


 Fort Knox, Kentucky, is the site of a U.S. army

post, but it is even more renowned for the Fort
Knox Bullion Depository, the massive vault that
contains the bulk of the U.S. government’s gold
deposits. Completed in 1936, the vault is housed in
a two-story building constructed of granite, steel,
and concrete; the vault itself is made of steel and
concrete and has a door that weighs more than
twenty tons. Naturally, the most up-to-date
security devices available are in place at Fort Knox,
and the army post nearby provides further
protection.
What does the passage
mainly discuss?
 Hurricanes generally occur in the North
Atlantic from May through November, with the peak
of the hurricane season in September; only rarely
will they occur from December through April in that
part of the ocean. The main reason for the
occurrence of hurricanes during this period is that
the temperature on the water’s surface is at its
warmest and the humidity of the air is at its
highest.
 Of the tropical storms that occur each year in
the North Atlantic, only about five, on the average,
are powerful to be called hurricanes. To be
classified as hurricane, a tropical storms must have
winds reaching the speeds of at least 117
kilometers per hour, but the winds are often much
stronger than that; the winds of intense hurricanes
can easily surpass 240 kilometers per hour.
What is the main idea of this
passage?



Three scales of temperature, each of which permits a precise
measurement, are in concurrent use: the Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin
scales. These three different temperature scales were each developed by
different people and have come to be used in different situations.
 The scale that is most widely used by the general public in the
United States is the Fahrenheit scale. In 1714, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit,
a German physicist who was living in Holland and operating an
instrument business, developed a mercury-in-glass thermometer and the
temperature scale that still carries his name. His original scale had two
fixed points: 0º was the lowest temperature that he could achieve in a
solution of ice, water, and salt, and 96º was what he believed was the
normal temperature of the human body (though this was later
determined to be 98.6º). Based on this scale, he calculated that the
freezing point (or ice point) of water was 32º; in later studies, it was
determined that the boiling point of water (the steam point) was 212º.
The Fahrenheit scale came to be accepted as the standard measure of
temperature in a number of countries, including Great Britain, and from
there it was spread to British colonies throughout the world. Today,
however, the United States is the only major country in the world that
still uses the Fahrenheit scale.



 The scale that is in use in many other countries is the Celsius

scale. Anders Celsius (1701–1744), a Swedish astronomer, developed
a thermometer in 1741 that based temperatures on the freezing and
boiling temperatures of water. On the thermometer that Celsius
developed, however, 0º was used to indicate the boiling temperature
of water, and 100º was used to indicate the freezing temperature of
water. After his death, the scale was reversed by a friend, the biologist
Carl von Linne (1707–1748), who achieved acclaim for his
development of the Linnean classification system for plants and
animals. On the new scale after the reversal by von Linne, 0º
indicated the freezing temperature of water, and 100º indicated the
boiling temperature of water. At around the same time that Celsius
and von Linne were working on their thermometer in Sweden, a
similar thermometer was being developed in France. After the French
Revolution, the scale developed in France was adopted as part of the
metric system in that country under the name centigrade, which
means "a hundred units," and from there it spread worldwide. In 1948,
an international agreement was made to rename the centigrade scale
the Celsius scale in honor of the scientist who was first known to use a
100-degree scale, though it should be remembered that the scale that
Celsius actually used himself was the reverse of today's scale.


 A third scale, the Kelvin scale, is generally used

today for scientific purposes. This scale was first
suggested in 1854 by two English physicists: William
Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824–1907) and James Prescott
Joule (1818–1889). The Kelvin scale defines 0º as absolute
zero, the hypothetical temperature at which all atomic and
molecular motion theoretically stops, and 100º separates
the freezing point and boiling point of water, just as it
does on the Celsius scale. On the Kelvin scale, with 0º
equal to absolute zero, water freezes at 273º, and water
boils at a temperature 100º higher. The Kelvin scale is well
suited to some areas of scientific study because it does
not have any negative values, yet it still maintains the
100º difference between the freezing point and boiling
point of water that the Celsius scale has and can thus
easily be converted to the Celsius scale by merely
subtracting 273º from the temperature on the Kelvin
scale.
What does the passage mainly
discuss?
 Art has taken a long journey from the cave art of
prehistoric man to the gleaming art houses and showrooms of
today. In this long journey, there have been numerous twists and
turns. One major turning point in the relationship between art
and society came about around the end of the seventeenth
century. In the era prior to the seventeenth century, the artist
had toiled predominantly on behalf of the church or in the
employ of a member of the noble class who patronized the arts.
However, after 1600, with the rise of the bourgeoisie, or middle
class, the nature of patronage of the arts began to change. As
this new class of prosperous financiers, businessmen, and
bankers began to have an impact on the structure of society in
general, it also greatly influenced the world of art.
 The prosperous bourgeoisie loved to buy and collect
possessions. It was through the augmentation of expensive and
sometimes ostentatious possessions that the newly rich
proclaimed their new status to the world. The introduction of the
prosperous bourgeoisie into the role of patron of the arts had a
number of effects. The art patron was interested in proving
himself a man of taste and intellect and attempted to do so by
collecting the great art of the past. He might also be interested in
demonstrating his taste by discovering new and unheralded
painters of the day who needed his support and introduction into
the world of monied purchasers of art. He also often liked to view




As the bourgeoisie grew and increasingly began to participate in
the cultivation of the arts, simultaneous changes were taking place. It
became less and less the case that art was created based upon a
commission for a patron and considerably more common for paintings to
be created and then offered as merchandise for sale. At the same time,
it became increasingly necessary for middlemen to assist in enabling
transactions, not between patrons and artists but between artists and
the public at large, in order for the system to function smoothly. These
middlemen were needed to perform functions that had been
unnecessary in a society where art was the domain of only a relatively
few patrons.


 However, a system dependent on middlemen functioning
between artists and the public develops obvious weaknesses in that the
middlemen begin to take a role that is broader than merely gathering up
art and making it available to the public. Instead, the middlemen
become the arbiters of taste; the middlemen are the ones who decide
which artists and pieces of art have value because they are the ones
who decide which pieces of art should be shown to exhibitors in the case
of agents, or put on display in the case of exhibitors, or shown to