Writing Academic English 4th Edition

PRACTICE4-

Choosingthe
BestSummary

Chapter 8 I ParaphraseandSummary 137

WritingTechniqueQuestions

1.HowmanysentencesarethereintheOliginalpassage?Intheparaphrase?

Inthesummary?

2. Comparetheparaphraseandthesummary.Whattwodetailswereleftout
   ofthesummary?

Readtheoriginalpassageandthetwosummariesthatfollowit.Thenanswerthese

questions.

1. Whichofthetwoisthebettersummary?Why?


2. Whichsummarycontainsanideathatwasnotintheoriginal?Which
   sentenceexpressesthisaddedidea?

OriginalPassage

Source:Thefollowingpassageisexcerptedfroma newspaperarticlewrittenby

MarcLacey.It appearedonpageA3oftheNewYorkTimesonNovember12,2004.

Thetitleofthearticleis "Usinga NewLanguageinMricatoSaveDyingOnes."

Swahilispeakerswishingtousea"compyuta"-ascomputeris renderedin

Swahili-havebeenoutofluckwhenit comestocommunicatingintheirtongue.

Computers,nomatterhowbulkytheirharddrivesorsophisticatedtheirsoftware

packages,havenotyetmasteredSwahiliorhundredsofotherindigenousAfrican

languages.

Butthatmaysoonchange.Acrossthecontinent,linguistsareworking

withexpertsininformationtechnologytomakecomputersmoreaccessible

toAfricanswhohappennottoknowEnglish,French,ortheothermajor

languagesthathavebeenprogrammedintotheworld'sdesktops.

Thereareeconomicreasonsfortheoutreach.Microsoft,whichisworkingto

incorporateSwahiliintoMicrosoftWindows,MicrosoftOffice,andotherpopular

programs,seesa marketforitssoftwareamongtheroughly 100 millionSwahili

speakersinEastAfrica.ThesamegoesforGoogle,whichlastmonthlaunched

http://www.google.co.ke.offeringa KenyanversioninSwahiliofthepopularsearch

engine.

ButthecampaigntoAfricanizecyberspaceisnotallaboutthebottomline.

TherearehundredsoflanguagesinAfrica-somespokenonlybya fewdozen

elders-andtheyaredyingoutatanalarmingrate.Thecontinent'slinguistssee

thecomputersasoneimportantwayofsavingthem.UNESCOestimatesthat

90 percentoftheworld's6,000languagesarenotrepresentedontheInternetand

thatonelanguagedisappearssomewherearoundtheworldeverytwoweeks.