1.6 A
| Questions 1-2 | .. 1 … In economics and finance, nothing can be measured with the precision possible in the physical sciences. However, approximate measurement is often sufficient as long as the method of measurement remains the same over time. It is important for anyone who is considering buying stock in a company to know that the usual methods of accounting have been followed. .. 2 … Unfortunately, even when auditors certify that a company has prepared its financial reports properly, they cannot always be certain that all figures are 100 percent accurate. Because a company’s books are not open to public scrutiny, it is possible for a company to distort its financial status. Accounting scandals occur because of dishonesty, questionable accounting practices, or outright criminal behavior. Although the accounting profession and government agencies have attempted to reform some of these abuses, the principle of caveat emptor—let the buyer beware—must still guide one’s financial transactions. |
| Questions 3-4 | .. 1 … Lake Wissanotti, just outside the town of Mariposa, is one of Canada’s most popular and enduring fictional places. The lake and town are the setting of Stephen Leacock’s masterpiece, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, a collection of comic sketches and witty observations originally published in 1912. Leacock, one of the founders of Canadian literature, worked for most of his life as a professor of economics. His reputation as a political economist was worldwide, but it is Lake Wissanotti and Mariposa for which he is most remembered today. .. 2 … Sunshine Sketches is a portrait of small–town Canadian life in the early twentieth century. Mariposa represents a past to be cherished, a pastoral and idyllic town that allows for human folly. If there is any satire, it is immediately bathed in warm sunshine. Although Sunshine Sketches has the complexity of a novel, it is more properly defined as a short– story cycle. A vital force is the book’s narrator, who is at times intimately close to the comings and goings of Mariposa life, but distant enough to sustain the focus on human folly. |
| Questions 5-7 | .. 1 … Everyone in a particular society recognizes social roles: father, mother, child, teacher, student, police officer, store clerk, doctor, judge, political leader, and so on. Every culture expects certain types of behavior from people who play certain social roles. Anyone occupying a given position is expected to adopt a specific attitude. A store clerk is expected to take care of customers patiently and politely, and a judge is expected to make wise and fair decisions about laws. .. 2 … Informal social roles are not always easy to recognize, but can be identified with careful research. They are key indicators of a group’s health and happiness. Within the family, one informal role is the family hero, the person who defines integrity and upholds family morality. Others are the family arbitrator, the person who keeps the peace, and the family historian, often a grandparent, who relays valuable cultural information that maintains both the family and the larger society. And finally, there is the family friend, the person who provides comfort and companionship to the family members with emotional needs. |
| Questions 8-10 | .. 1 … The many parts of the earth’s atmosphere are linked with the various parts of the earth’s surface to produce a whole—the climate system. Different parts of the earth’s surface react to the energy of the sun in different ways. For example, ice and snow reflect much of it. Land surfaces absorb solar energy and heat up rapidly. Oceans store the energy without experiencing a significant temperature rise. Thus, the different types of surfaces transfer heat into the atmosphere at different rates. .. 2 … We can view climate as existing in three domains: space, time, and human perception. In the domain of space, we can study local, regional, and global climates. In time, we can look at the climate for a year, a decade, a millennium, and so forth. Finally, we depend on our perceptions of the data, so we must include our own human perception into our model. Human perception ranges from our personal observations to our public predictions about climate. Human perception must be included if our understanding of climatic processes is to be translated into societal actions. As a society, we make informed choices about how to use the beneficial effects of climate, such as deciding when and where to plant crops. We also make choices about how to minimize the harmful effects of climate—storms, blizzards, and droughts. |
1.6 B
| Questions 1-3 | .. 1 … Several men have been responsible for promoting forestry as a profession. Foremost was Gifford Pinchot, the father of professional forestry in America. He was chief of the Forest Service from 1898 until 1910, working with President Theodore Roosevelt to instigate sound conservation practices in forests. Later he was professor of forestry and founder of the Pinchot School of Forestry at Yale University. Another great forester was Dr. Bernard E. Fernow, the first head of the U.S. Forest Service. He organized the first American school of professional forestry at Cornell University. .. 2 … The foresters of today, like Pinchot and Fernow in the past, plan and supervise the growth, protection, and utilization of trees. They make maps of forest areas, estimate the amount of standing timber and future growth, and manage timber sales. They also protect the trees from fire, harmful insects, and disease. Some foresters may be responsible for other duties, ranging from wildlife protection and watershed management to the development and supervision of camps, parks, and grazing lands. Others do research, provide information to forest owners and to the general public, and teach in colleges and universities. |
| Questions 4-6 | .. 1 … One’s style of dress reveals the human obsession with both novelty and tradition. People use clothing to declare their membership in a particular social group; however, the rules for what is acceptable dress for that group may change. In affluent societies, this changing of the rules is the driving force behind fashions. By keeping up with fashions, that is, by changing their clothing style frequently but simultaneously, members of a group both satisfy their desire for novelty and obey the rules, thus demonstrating their membership in the group. .. 2 … There are some interesting variations regarding individual status. Some people, particularly in the West, consider themselves of such high status that they do not need to display it with their clothing. For example, many wealthy people in the entertainment industry appear in very casual clothes, such as the worn jeans and work boots of a manual laborer. However, it is likely that a subtle but important signal, such as an expensive wristwatch, will prevail over the message of the casual dress. Such an inverted status display is most likely to occur where the person’s high status is conveyed in ways other than with clothing, such as having a famous face. |
| Questions 7-10 | .. 1 … The war for independence from Britain was a long and economically costly conflict. The New England fishing industry was temporarily destroyed, and the tobacco colonies in the South were also hard hit. The trade in imports was severely affected, since the war was fought against the country that had previously monopolized the colonies’ supply of manufactured goods. The most serious consequences were felt in the cities, whose existence depended on commercial activity. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston were all occupied for a time by British troops. Even when the troops had left, British ships lurked in the harbors and continued to disrupt trade. .. 2 … American income from shipbuilding and commerce declined abruptly, undermining the entire economy of the urban areas. The decline in trade brought a fall in the American standard of living. Unemployed shipwrights, dock laborers, and coopers drifted off to find work on farms and in small villages. Some of them joined the Continental army, or if they were loyal to Britain, they departed with the British forces. The population of New York City declined from 21,000 in 1774 to less than half that number only nine years later in 1783. .. 3 … The disruptions produced by the fighting of the war, by the loss of established markets for manufactured goods, by the loss of sources of credit, and by the lack of new investment all created a period of economic stagnation that lasted for the next twenty years. |
Extension
1
Outside of class, look in a magazine or a university textbook. Select a short passage of two to three paragraphs. Type or photocopy the paragraphs. Make three copies to bring to class. In class, form groups of three students each. In your group, give each classmate a copy of your passage. Individually, read all of your group’s passages. For each one, write an answer to these questions:
a. Why did the author write this? b. What is the author’s attitude toward the topic? c. What is the purpose of each paragraph? d. What details in the passage support the author’s purpose? e. What words does the author use to emphasize points?
When everyone in your group has finished reading and answering the questions for all passages, compare your answers with your classmates’ answers. Are the answers similar or different? Work as a team to agree on the best answer to each question.
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