Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

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Preface

Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced English Reading and Comprehension contains 15
reading texts based on contemporary subjects. he book is designed to:
◆Build academic and nonacademic vocabulary
◆Develop reading comprehension skills at an advanced level
◆ Stimulate creative thought on the subject matter and the problems that each
topic poses to human society
Each chapter is between 1,450 and 1,900 words long and contains the follow-
ing sections:

1. Pre-reading As an introduction to the topic, you can use the questionnaire
   provided to interview classmates, colleagues, family, and friends. Column
   heads A, B, and C are provided for you to record the answers of each person
   you interview. In a brief exercise, you will predict the content of the reading
   text.


2. Reading text Following the theme of “think about it,” the texts in this book
   cover a broad range of current topics having to do with technology and human
   interest. he reading text is followed by a short “Ater reading” exercise, in
   which you will conirm your predictions about the text.


3. Vocabulary Understanding and learning vocabulary can be a daunting task.
   In addition to its academic and nonacademic vocabulary, each reading text
   contains many other useful words and phrases that may be new to you. Because
   not every new word can be included in a vocabulary list or exercise, I encourage
   you to use an English language dictionary and to keep an independent vocabu-
   lary journal to record new words that are not included in the vocabulary exer-
   cises. he vocabulary exercises are broken down as follows:
   ◆Thematic vocabulary In this exercise, you will write down 10 words or
   phrases that relate to the subject matter of the reading text.
   ◆Academic vocabulary Each chapter focuses on 20 academic words (in
   boldface type) and 10 nonacademic words (in boldface italic type). he aca-
   demic vocabulary comes from the Academic Word List (AWL) developed at
   Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. he AWL contains the 570
   word families that students need to know how to use when studying at the
   university level. Here’s an example:
   theory (n.), theoretical (adj.), theorize (v.): a set of ideas intended to
   explain something