Reading Skill for Reference and Vocabulary

Weather is created by the heat of the sun. When the sun shines on the earth, the air close to the surface heats up, expands, and rises. The higher it goes, the cooler it becomes. Meanwhile, an area of warmer with low-pressure air forms below it. Winds are caused by the air moving from an area of high pressure to one of low pressure. The closer the pressure centers are to each other, and the greater the pressure difference between them, the stronger the wind will be.

High- and low- pressure air masses travel the globe and cause major weather changes. When a cold, high- pressure polar air mass meets an extremely low-pressure tropical air mass, their combination can produce intense storms such as typhoons, hurricanes, and tornados. Less severe weather conditions are often caused by small, local pressure areas. A mild rain storm occurs when rising warm air combines with cool air. Clouds are created as the moist warm air cools and condenses to form water droplets. When clouds reach a saturation point, or the point at which they can no longer contain their moisture, the droplets fall to earth as rain or snow.

Weather forecasters look as the movement of warm and cold air masses and try to predict how they will behave. Although weather forecasting is not completely accurate, satellites, sophisticated instruments and computers make weather prediction far more accurate today than in the past. The advantages of weather prediction are numerous, but in the end, nature does whatever it pleases. We may attempt to predict weather but we cannot control it.

Reference Question:

What does “it” in line 3 refer to?

What does “them” in line 6 refer to?

What does “their” in line 13 refer to?

Vocabulary Question:

What do you think the word “intense” in line 9 means? Find another word with a similar meaning in the sentences near it.

What happens when air “condenses” according to line 12? What do you think “condenses” means here?

What does “saturation point” in line 13 mean? Where in the passage is the meaning of the saturation point given?

What do you think “sophisticated instruments” in line 17 means? Give two examples of sophisticated instruments that you know.

(Extract from Reading Comprehension, Compiled by OM Soryong, Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL), Phnom Penh, p.11-12)

Reading Skill for Details

People have been concerned with their hair since ancient times. In 1500 B.C., the Assyrians, inhabiting the area know today as Northern Iraq, were the world’s first true hair stylists. Their skills at cutting, curling, layering and dyeing hair were known throughout the Middle East. In fact, they were obsessed with their hair, which was oiled, perfumed, and tinted. A fashionable courtier wore his hair cut in neat-geometric layers. Kings, soldiers and noblewomen had their hair curled with a fire-heated iron bar, probably the world’s first curling iron. So important was hair styling in Assyria that law dictated certain types of hair styles according to a person’s position and employment. Facial hair was also important. Men grew beards down to their chests and had them clipped in layers. High-ranking women in both Egypt and Assyria wore fake beards during official court business to show their equal authority with men.

Like the Assyrians, the early Greeks liked long, scented, curly hair. Fair hair was favored over dark, so those who were not “natural blonds” lightened or reddened their hair with soaps and bleaches. The Romans, on the other hand, favored dark hair for men for high social or political rank. Early Saxon men were neither blonds nor brunets by dyed their hair and beards blue, red, green, and orange.

Over the centuries, societies have combed, curled, waved, powdered, dyed, cut, coiffed, and sculpted their hair, or someone else’s during times of wig crazes. Churches and lawmakers have sometimes tried to put a stop to the human obsession with hair, but with little success. It seems hair styling is here to stay, and the future will likely prove no exception.

Note:

Skimming: refer to reading on the article quickly to get general ideas about the text.

Scanning: refer to reading on the article quickly to get specific information.

Exercise for Skimming:

What is the passage about?

Exercise for Scanning:

Complete the following sentences with details from the passage.

The hair styling skills of the Assyrians were known all over______ .

An Assyrian courtier had his hair___________________________ .

The Assyrians had laws for certain types of hair styles according to people’s_____ and______ .

During official court business women in Egypt wore____________ .

 

(Extract from Reading Comprehension, Compiled by OM Soryong, Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL), Phnom Penh, p.2)

Medical Vocabulary for Basic Medical Translation (Part 2)

Anaemia /əˈniː.mi.ə/: a medical condition in which there are not enough red blood cells in the blood (ជំងឺខ្វះឈាម​)

Itchy /ˈɪtʃ.i/: having or causing an uncomfortable feeling on the skin which makes you want to rub it with your nails (រមាស់)

High blood pressure /haɪblʌd ˈpreʃɚ/ : a measure of the pressure at which the blood flows through the body above the average speed (ជំងឺលើសឈាម​ ឬ សំពាធឈាមខ្ពស់)

Low blood pressure / loʊ blʌd ˈpreʃɚ/ : a measure of the pressure at which the blood flows through the body (សំពាធឈាមទាប)

Discharge /ˈdɪs.tʃɑːrdʒ/ : liquid matter, which is often infected, that comes from a part of the body (ធ្លាក់ស)

Uterus /ˈjuː. t ̬ɚ r.əs/ : the organ in the body of a woman or other female mammal in which a baby develops before birth (ស្បូន)

Muscle pain /ˈmʌs.l ̩ peɪn/ : being painful in one of many tissues in the body that can tighten and relax to produce movement (ឈឺសាច់ដុំ)

(Definition in English Extracted from Cambridge Advance Dictionary)

Medical Vocabulary for Basic Medical Translation (Part 1)

Vaccination /ˌvæk.sɪˈneɪ.ʃ ə n/: the act of giving someone a vaccine, usually by injection, to prevent them from getting a disease (ការចាក់ថ្នាំវ៉ាក់សាំង).

Throat /θroʊt/ : the front of the neck, or the space inside the neck down which food and air can go (បំពង់ក).

Hangover /ˈhæŋˌoʊ.vɚ/ : a feeling of illness after drinking too much alcohol (ឈឺក្បាលព្រឹកបន្ទាប់​ក្រោយពីផឹកគ្រឿងស្រវឹង).

Asthma /ˈæz mə /:  a medical condition which makes breathing difficult by causing the air passages to become narrow or blocked (ជំងឺហឺត)

Abscess /ˈæb.ses/: a painful swollen area on or in the body, which contains pus (= thick, yellow liquid) (ដំបៅក្លាយចេញខ្ទុះ)

Sweat /swet/: to pass a salty colorless liquid through the skin because you are hot, ill or frightened (បែកញើស)

(Definition in English Extracted from Cambridge Advance Dictionary)

Reading the Article on “The Threat to Kiribati”

The people of Kiribati are afraid that one day in the not-too-distant future, their country will disappear from the face of the earth – literally. Several times this year, the Pacific island nation has been flooded by a sudden high tide. These tides, which swept across the island and destroyed houses, came when there was neither wind nor rain. “This never happened before,” said the older citizens of Kiribati.

What is causing these mysterious high tides? The answer may well be global warming. When fuels like oil and coal are being burned, pollutants are released; these pollutants trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere. Warmer temperatures cause water to expand and also create more water by melting glaciers and polar ice caps.

If the trend continues, scientists say, many countries will suffer. Bangladesh, for example, might lose one-fifth of its land. The coral island nations of the Pacific, like Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, however, would face an even worse fate – they would be swallowed by the sea. The loss of these coral islands would be everyone’s loss. Coral formations are home to more species than any other place on earth.

The people of these nations feel frustrated. The sea, on which their economies have always been based, is suddenly threatening their existence. They don’t have the money for expensive technological solutions like seawalls. And they have no control over the pollutants, which are being released mainly by activities in large industrialized countries. All they can do is to hope that industrialized countries will take steps to reduce pollution.

Discussion:

1.      How is the action of industrialized countries making islands like Kiribati disappear from the face of the earth?

2.      Scientists are still not sure how serious the effects of global warming will be. Some industries don’t want to make changes until there is definite evidence that the effects are serious. What is your opinion?

3.      If you lived on an island like Kiribati, what would you like to see done?

4.      Analyze the sentence structure to improve your writing skill.

(Extract from New Interchange Student Book 4, Cambridge University Press, 5th edition, 2000)