+ DEANNE K, MILAN |DEVELOPING READING SKILLS | Deanne K. Milan second edition |. City College of San Francisco be bo — = McGraw-Hill Publishing Company New York St. Louis San Francisco Auckland Bogota Caracas Hamburg Lisbon London Madrid Mexico Milan Montreal New Delhi Oklahoma City Paris San Juan So Paulo Singapore Sydney Tokyo TorontoSecond Edition 987654 DEVELOPING READING SKILLS Copyright © 1987, 1983 by McGraw-Hill, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Milan, Deanne K. Developing reading skills. Includes index. 1. Reading (Higher education) 2. Reading comprehension. I. Title. LB1050.42.M55 1987 428.4'07'11—86-21949 ISBN 0-07-554217-X McGraw-Hill staff members also deserve thanks for their work on the text, especially C. Steven Pensinger and Anna Marie Muskelly. Photo Credits p. 282, left: Courtesy of Apple Computer Company; p. 232, right: Courtesy of John Deere & Company; pp. 235, top left: Randy Matusow/Monkmeyer; p. 235, top right: Freda Leinwand/Monkmeyer; p. 235, below: Courtesy of Guerlain, Inc.PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION B. J, Kahn, from The Big Drink: The Story of Coca-Cola, by E. J. Kahin, Copyright © 1960 by E. J. Kahn. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Ine. CHAPTER 1 Selma Fraiberg, from The Magie Years, by Selma H. Fraiberg. Copyright © 1959 by Selma H. Fraiberg. Reprinted with permission of Charles Seribner’s Sons. Lewis Thomas, from The Medusa and the Snail, by Lewis Thomas, Copyright © 1972 by Lewis Thomas, Re. printed by permission of Viking Penguin Inc. Olga Knopf, from Successful Aging, by Olga Knopf, Copyright © 1975 by Olga Knopf. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc ‘Alexander Petrunkevitch, from “The Spider and the Wasp,” by Alexander Petrunkeviteh. Copyright 1952 by Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved. Lewis Thomas, from The Lives of Cell, by Lewis Thomas. Copyright © 1971, 1972 by the Massachusetts Medi cal Society. Originally appeared in The New England -Journal of Medicine. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc Gerald Durrell, from The Overloaded Ark, by Gerald Durrell. Copyright 1953, renewed © 1981 by Gerald Durrell. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Ine. and Faber and Faber Ltd. Eugene Kinkead, from “Tennessee Small Fry,” by Eugene Kinkead. Copyright © 1979 by The New Yorker Magazine, Ine. Reprinted by permission. John Steinbeck, from Ameriea and Americans, by John Steinbeck. Copyright © 1966 by John Steinbeck. Re. printed by permission of Viking Penguin Inc. John McPhee, from Oranges, by John MePhee, Copyright © 1966, 1967 by John McPhee. Reprinted by permis- sion of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. Jonathan Schell, from The Fate of the Barth, by Jonathan Schell. Copyright © 1982 by Jonathan Schell. Re- printed by permission of Aiffed A. Knopf, Inc. Jane Goodall, from “Nonverbal Communication Patterns,” by Jane Goodall. In Human Orugins: Louis Leakey and the East African Evidence, Glynn Isaac and Elizabeth McCown, eds. Reprinted by permission of The Benjamin! Cummings Publishing Co, (CHAPTER 2 Lewis Thomas, from The Lives ofa Cell, by Lewis Thomas, Copyright © 1971, 1972 by the Massachusetts Medi cal Society. Originally appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc Lewis Thomas, from Late Night Thoughts While Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony, by Lewis Thomas. Copy. right © 1982 by Lewis Thomas. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc. Bruno Bettelheim, from The Uses of Bnchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, by Bruno Bettelheim. Copyright © 1976 by Bruno Bettelheim. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Ine. Marie Winn, from Children Without Childhood, by Marie Winn. Copyright © 1981, 1983 by Marie Winn. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Ine. Peter Farb, from Word Play: What Happens When People Talk, by Peter Farb. Copyright © 1973 by Peter Farb. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Ine. Jonathan Norton Leonard, from Great Ages of Man/Ancient America, by Jonathan Norton Leonard and the Edi tors of Time-Life Books. Copyright © 1967 by Time-Life Books, Inc. John Steinbeck, from America and Americans, by John Steinbeck. Copyright © 1966 by John Steinbeck. Re printed by permission of Viking Penguin Inc. Marie Winn, from The Plug-In Drug, by Marie Winn. Copyright © 1977 by Marie Winn Miller. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc Pauline Kael, from State of the Art, by Pauline Kael. Copyright © 1983, 1984, 1985 by Pauline Kael. Originally ap- peared in The New Yorker Reprinted by permission of the publisher, E.P. Dutton, a division of New American Library. John MePhee, from Oranges, by John McPhee. Copyright © 1966, 1967 by John McPhee. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Incvi PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, CHAPTER 3 Irving Howe, from World of Our Fathers, by Irving Howe. Copyright © 1976 by Irving Howe. Reprinted by per mission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Ine. ‘Selma Fraiberg, from The Magic Years, by Selma Fraiberg. Copyright © 1959 by Selma H. Fraiberg. Reprinted with the permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. John Simon, from Paradigms Lost, by John Simon. Copyright © 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 by John Simon. Used by permission of Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. Olga Knopf, from Successfiul Aging, by Olga Knopf. Copyright © 1975 by Olga Knopf. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Ine. James Agee and Walker Evans, from Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee and Walker Evans. Copy- right 1939 and 1940 by James Agee. Copyright 1941 by James Agee and Walker Evans. Copyright 1960 by Walker Evans. Copyright © renewed 1969 by Mia Fritsch Agee. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. ‘John Updike, from “A Soft Spring Night in Shillington,” by John Updike. Copyright © 1984 by John Updike. Originally appeared in The New Yorker: Reprinted by permission, David Rains Wallace, from The Klamath Knot, by David Rains Wallace. Copyright © 1983 by David Rains Wallace. Reprinted by permission of Sierra Club Books. Jacques: Yves Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau, from The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea, by Jacques Yves Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau, Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc CHAPTER 4 Eugene Kinkead, from “Tennessee Small Fry,” by. zine, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Jonathan Norton Leonard, from Great Ages of Man/Ancient America, by Jonathan Norton Leonard and the Edi- tors of Time-Life Books. Copyright © 1967 by Time-Life Books, Inc. Berton Roueché, from In Search of Small Town America, by Berton Roueché. Copyright © 1982 by Berton Roueché. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company. Barry Holstun Lopez, from “A Presentation of Whales,” by Barry Holstun Lopez. Copyright © 1980 by Harper's Magazine. All rights reserved. Reprinted from the March 1980 issue by special permission. Marie Winn, from The Plug-In Drug, by Marie Winn. Copyright © 1977 by Marie Winn Miller. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Ine. Calvin Trillin, from “I've Got Problems,” by Calvin Trillin, Copyright © 1985 by Calvin Trillin. Originally pub: lished in The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission. Marie Winn, from Children Without Childhood, by Marie Winn. Copyright © 1981, 1983 by Marie Winn. Re printed by permission of Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Ine. Peter Farb, from Word Play: What Happens When People Talk, by Peter Farb. Copyright © 1978 by Peter Farb. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Ine Barbara Ehrenreich, from “A Feminist's View of the New Men,” by Barbara Ehrenreich. Copyright © 1984 by ‘The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. Rachel Carson, from The Edge of the Sea, by Rachel Carson. Copyright © 1955 by Rachel Carson. Copyright © 1983 renewed by Roger Christie. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau, from The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea, by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc. ‘Thomas Whiteside, from “Cable: Part III,” by Thomas Whiteside. Copyright © 1985 by Thomas Whiteside. Origi- nally published in The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission, John Knowles, from “Everybody's Sport,” by John Knowles, Originally published in Holiday, July 1956. Re. printed by permission, jene Kinkead. Copyright © 1979 by The New Yorker Maga- CHAPTER 5 William Safire, from “Sneer Words in the News,” by William Safire. Copyright © 1980 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission, Russell Baker, from “Little Red Riding Hood Revisited,” by Russell Baker. Copyright © 1980 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission William Overend, “His Heart's in the Trite Place, Times. Reprinted by permission. Maya Angelou, from J Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou. Copyright © 1969 by Maya Angelou, Reprinted by permission of Random House, [nc Cynthia Ozick, from “Rosa,” by Cynthia Ozick. Copyright © 1983 by Cynthia Ozick. Originally published in The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of Cynthia Ozick and her agents, Raines and Raines, 71 Park Ave., New York, New York. Richard Altick, from Preface to Critical Reading, 4th ed., by Richard D. Altick. Copyright 1948, 1951, © 1956, 1960 by Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc. Reprinted by permission of CBS College Publishing. by William Overend, Copyright © 1976 by the Los AngelesPERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | vii Paul Fussell, from “My War,” by Paul Fussell. Copyright © 1982 by Harper's Magazine. All rights reserved. Reprinted from the January 1982 issue by special permission. Jon Carroll, “Innkeeper to the Seriously Disgruntled,” by Jon Carroll. Copyright © 1984 by the San Francisco Chronicle. Reprinted by permission. Virginia Woolf, from Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf. Copyright 1925 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc; renewed 1953 by Leonard Woolf. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, from “Hotel California,” by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison. Copyright © 1981 by Harper's ‘Mogazine, All rights reserved. Reprinted from the February 1981 issue by special permission, CHAPTER 6 Caskie Stinnett, from “A Room with a View,” by Caskie Stinnett. Copyright © 1980 by Down Bast Enterprise, Ine Reprinted from Down East Magazine. ‘Russell Baker, "Universal Military Motion,” by Russell Baker. Copyright © 1981 by The New York Times Com: pany. Reprinted by permission. Lewis Thomas, from The Lives of a Cel, by Lewis Thomas. Copyright © 1971, 1972 by the Massachusetts Medi- cal Society. Originally appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc, Gerald Durrell, from The Overloaded Ark, by Gerald Durrell. Copyright 1953, renewed © 1981 by Gerald Durrell. Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin Inc. and Faber and Faber Ltd Stanley Mieses, “Notes and Comment,” by Stanley Mieses. Copyright © 1985 by The New Yorker Magazine, Inc Reprinted by permission. PART 2 “ACLU Challenges Plan for DC. Nativity Scene,” from the San Francisco Chronicle. Reprinted with permission of United Press International, Inc. Richard B, Levin, Letter to the Editor, Los Angeles Times, by Richard B. Levin, M.D. Reprinted by permission, “Censorship in Braille” and “A Grand Old Anthem,” editorials from The Boston Globe. Reprinted courtesy of The Boston Globe. Richard A. Viguerie, “Thunder on the Right: A Plea for Home Schooling,” by Richard A. Viguerie. Copy- right © 1984 by Richard A. Viguerie. Doug Wilhide, “In the Battle Against Grade Inflation, the Winners Are Often the Losers,” by Doug Wilhide. Copyright © 1986 by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Reprinted with permission of the author and publisher. ‘Tom Wicker, “Not So Neat a War,” by Tom Wicker. Copyright © 1985 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. ‘Merle Ellis, ‘A Beef Against Vegetarians,” by Merle Ellis. Merle Ellis’s column is reprinted by permission of Chronicle Features, San Francisco, H.L. Mencken, “The Penalty of Death,” by H. L.. Mencken. Copyright 1926 and renewed 1954 by H. L. Mencken, Reprinted from A Mencken Chrestomathy, by H. L. Mencken, by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. PART 3 Sandra Searr and James Vander Zanden, from Understanding Psychology, 4th ed., by Sandra Scarr and James ‘Vander Zanden. Copyright © 1974, 1977, 1980, 1984 by Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of CRM Books, ‘a Division of Random House, Inc. David J. Rachman and Michael H. Mescon, from Business Today, 4th ed., by David J. Rachman and Michael H. ‘Mescon. Copyright © 1985 by Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission ef the publisher, PART 4 Alexander Petrunkeviteh, from “The Spider and the Wasp,” by Alexander Petrunkevitch. Copyright 1952 by Sei entific American, Inc.All rights reserved. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, from The Harmless People, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. Copyright © 1958, 1959 by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Ine. Russell Baker, from Growing Up, by Russell Baker. Copyright © 1982 by Russell Baker. Reprinted by permission of Congdon & Weed, Inc. Barry Holstun Lopez, from Of Wolves and Men, by Barry Holstun Lopez. Copyright © 1978 by Barry Holstun Lopez. Reprinted with permission of Charles Scribner's Sons, Inc Calvin Trillin, from Killings, by Calvin Trillin. Copyright © 1984 by Calvin Tri Fields Edward T. Hall, from The Silent Language, by Edward T, Hall. Copyright © 1959 by Edward T. Hall. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Ine Susan Allen Toth, from Blooming: A Small Town Girlhood, by Susan Allen Toth. Copyright © 1978, 1981 by Susan Allen Toth. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company. William M. Carley, from “Danger Aloft,” by William M. Carley. Copyright © 1979 by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal. Published by Ticknor &PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS George Orwell, from Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, by George Orwell. Copyright 1950 by Sonia Brownell Orwell; renewed 1978 by Sonia Pitt-Rivers. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., the estate of Sonia Brownell Orwell, and Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd. A. J. Liebling, from Liebling at Home, by A. J. Liebling. Copyright 1938, 1941, 1952, 1962, renewed 1966, 1969, 1980 by A. J. Liebling. Reprinted by permission of Russell & Volkening, Inc., as agents for the author. John Bleibtreu, from The Parable of the Beast, by John N. Bleibtreu. Copyright © 1968 by John N. Bleibtreu. Reprinted with permission of Macmillan Publishing Company. ‘Andrea Lee, from Russian Journal, by Andrea Lee. Copyright © 1979, 1980 by Andrea Lee. Reprinted by per- mission of Random House, Ine. Irving Howe, from World of Our Fathers, by Irving Howe. Copyright © 1976 by Irving Howe. Reprinted by per- mission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Ine. Peter Farb, from Word Play: What Happens When People Talk, by Peter Farb. Copyright © 1973 by Peter Farb, Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Ine. Michael Arlen, from The Camera Age, by Michael Arlen. Copyright © 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 by Michael Arlen. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. Marchette Chute, from Shakespeare of London, by Marchette Chute. Copyright 1949 by E. P. Dutton, renewed 1977 by Marchette Chute. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, E. P. Dutton, a division of New American Library, Richard Rodriguez, “Does America Still Exist?” by Richard Rodriguez. Copyright © 1984 by Harper's Magazine. Reprinted from the March 1984 issue by special permission, ‘Marie Winn, from Children Without Childhood, by Marie Winn. Copyright © 1981, 1983 by Marie Winn. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Inc Jonathan Schell, from The Fate of the Earth, by Jonathan Schell. Copyright © 1982 by Jonathan Schell. Re- printed by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. PART 5 Katherine Mansfield, “Miss Brill” from The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield. Copyright 1922 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and renewed 1950 by John Middleton Murry. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. John Updike, “Separating” from Problems and Other Stories by John Updike. Copyright © 1975 by John Updike. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Ine Flannery O'Connor, “Good Country People” from A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. Copy: right 1955 by Flannery O'Connor; renewed 1983 by Regina O'Connor. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Ine.For M. M. and C. M.PREFACE The second edition of Developing Reading Skills proceeds from the same premise that governed the first edition: good reading and clear thinking go hand in hand, ‘The book is organized around the principle that students can best improve their comprehension and thinking skills first by intensive, analytical practice with short reading passages, followed by the applica- tion of these skills to longer and increasingly difficult essays and articles, As in the first edition, the reprinted selections represent a variety of topics intended to appeal to students and general readers alike. The emphasis, then, remains on helping students develop two kinds of skills: first, the ability to comprehend accurately the sort of prose that they can expect to encounter in their college courses and in the world at large, and, second, the ability to read this material critically and analytically. Developing these skills requires concentration and an intense engage- ment with the text. Accordingly, the second edition of Developing Reading Shills, like its predecessor, deliberately excludes discussing speed tech- niques. The wisdom of this decision has been borne out as the nation's teachers have become increasingly concerned in the past few years about the inability of students at all levels of education to read perceptively or to think critically. This concern is similarly reflected by the inclusion of criti- cal reading and thinking skills in the nation’s elementary and high school curricula and in the proliferation of required critical reading and critical thinking courses in the college curriculum. The second edition of Developing Reading Skills thus retains the under- lying principles that made the first edition successful, while making some changes that should make the book more useful and appealing for both stu- dents and teachers. For an author, a second edition gives one the oppor: tunity to undo mistakes, to clarify what was not clear the first time around, and to respond to and implement the many comments and suggestions one has gathered along the way. Content and Organization Within this general framework, the chapters and their accompanying exercises are directed at, improving these specific skills: * Finding or identifying the main idea in a paragraph and the thesis of an essay * Determining the author's purpose * Discerning methods of development, patterns of organization, and logical relationships between ideas * Making accurate inferences and judgments xi