Reading UNIT 1

PARAGRAPHS

As you read through each paragraph of an article, you gradually build on your
understanding of what the writer is trying to say.

Q1.What comes to your mind by looking the title of the passage? Explain?

The Undersea World of Sound

Snorts, dicks,
whistles, groans
tune in to the
long-distance
language of
the ocean

The vast oceans of the world are
dark, deep and mysterious
places where eyesight counts for
little as soon as you venture very
far beneath the surface.
For humans, who live in a world
dominated by visual stimuli, to
exist in such conditions would be
impossible. But for whales and
dolphins that live in the ocean or,
in the case of a few species,
muddy rivers and estuaries, the
darkness is unimportant. What is
crucial to them is sound.
Sound is an efficient way to
transmit and sense information,
especially as it travels five times
faster through water than through
air. If humans shout to someone, it
is unlikely that they will be heard a
kilometre away. But if a whale
'shouts' in an ocean channel,
another whale may hear it tens, if
not hundreds of kilometres away.
Whales and dolphins use sound
in two ways: for communication
and for echolocation. Dolphins,
porpoises and toothed whales
communicate through a wide
variety of high-frequency sounds
pure tone whistles, pulsed
squeals, screams or barks -
generally at frequencies of
5OOHz to 20kHz (where a
hertz is a cycle per second and
a kilohertz a thousand).
But as well as using sounds to
communicate, toothed whales
and dolphins also rely on
echolocation to learn about their
immediate environment,
including prey that might be
lurking nearby. They produce
intense short broad-band pulses
of sound in the ultrasonic range
of between 0.25 and 220 kHz.
These clicks are brief - typically
less than one millisecond long -
but they are repeated many
times each second.
.
Q2. What is the writer trying to do in the article?
Explain the function of whale and dolphin
sounds account for the development of
underwater sounds compare the sounds made
by whales and dolphins give the results of his
studies on underwater sounds

Q3.Extract different types of imageries and

explains its usages in context of passage under
the following categories?

Q4.Visualise critically the “world of sound “

and apply in scientific notion that how it could
be applicable by using the technique of
imagery?
Reading UNIT 2

Sand: as children we play on it and as

Sifting adults we relax on it. It is something we

complain about when ft gets in our food,

through
and praise when ft's moulded into castles.
But we don't often look at it, If we did, we
would discover an account of a geological

the Sands past and a history of marine life that goes

back thousands and in some cases millions

of Time
of years.
Sand covers not just sea-shores, but also
ocean beds, deserts and mountains. It is
When you're on the one of the most common substances on
earth, And it is a major element in man-
beach, you're stepping made materials too - concrete is largely
sand, while glass is made of little else.
on ancient mountains,
What exactly is sand? Well, it is larger
skeletons of marine than fine dust and smaller than shingle. In
fact, according to the most generally
animals, even tiny accepted scheme of measurement,
devised by the Massachusetts Institute of
diamonds. Sand provides Technology, grains qualify if their diameter
is greater than 0.06 of a millimetre and
a mineral treasure-trove,
less than 0.6 of a millimetre.
record of geology's earth- Depending on its age and origin, a
particular sand can consist of tiny pebbles
changing processes or porous granules. Its grains may have the
shape of stars or spirals, their edges
lagged or smooth. They have come from
the erosion of rocks, or from the skeletons
of marine organisms, which accumulate on
the bottom of the oceans, or even from
volcanic eruptions.
Colour is another clue to sand's origins. If
it is a dazzling white, its grains may be
derived from nearby coral outcrops, from
crystalline quartz rocks or from gypsum, like
the white sands of New Mexico.
On Pacific Islands jet black
sands form from volcanic
minerals. Other black beaches
are magnetic. Some sand is
very recent indeed, as is the
case on the island of Kamoama
in Hawaii, where a beach was
created after a volcanic eruption
in 1990, Motten lava spilled into
the sea and exploded in glassy
droplets.
Usually, the older the granules,
the finer they are and the
Exercises
smoother their edges. The fine, white
beaches of northern Scotland, for instance,
are recycled from sandstone several
hundred million years old. Perhaps they
will be stone once
more, in another few hundred million.
Sand is an irreplaceable industrial
ingredient whose uses are legion: but ft
has one vital function you might never
even notice. Sand cushions our land from
the sea's impact, and geologists say it
often does a better job of protecting our
shores than the most advanced coastal
technology.
Q1.Read through the following set of questions which are based on an article
about sand. Underline the key words in each question.

What TWO substances made, by humans are mentioned in the text?

2 Which part of a grain of sand have scientists measured?
3 What TWO factors determine the shape of a piece of sand?
4 How was the beach on Kamoama Island created?
5 Where, according to the text, can fine sandy beaches be
found?
6 Who argues that sand is more efficient than coastal technology?

Q2.What is the purpose of writer to share this information?

Q3.What other factual information could be tested and how it could be related with the
imagination of writer in this passage?

Q4.How successfully writer has used the technique of imagination and exemplification to
explain his idea of “Time”?

Q5. Use your imagination and think of some abstract concept like “Time” to relate with
concrete instrument or idea related to scientific field? Write a small report to illustrate your
idea?