Practice Exercise
Surveying Surveying - Looking at the text quickly to collect background information which will help you understand detailed information easier. When you survey, you look at titles, pictures, headings, sub-headings and the general layout of the text.
Choose the correct answer.
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Aquada
Not a car, not a boat, but both - Aquada!
- The Gibbs Aquada has recently been making a splash for New Zealand drivers. This amazing new vehicle is neither a car nor a boat but a combination of both. It travels on land at speeds approaching 170 km per hour, and when it reaches water, its wheels move sideways into the body of the car, and it turns into a speedboat which can plane over the water at speeds of up to 48km per hour. This vehicle represents a new category of transport, and one that has the potential to change the way we live, work and travel.
- People have attempted to make amphibious vehicles since before the invention of the motor car, and both private individuals and large car companies have tried to build one without success in the past. Alan Gibbs, who grew up in New Zealand, designed and built an amphibian in 1995 so that he didn’t need a trailer* to put his boat into the water. This vehicle worked, but it travelled only very slowly on land.
- Gibbs needed to design a vehicle that could travel easily and quickly on both surfaces, and this involved dealing with many technological issues. These included balancing the weight of the vehicle on both land and water, cooling the engine in the water, and making sure that it would be waterproof at all times. Alan Gibbs and his colleagues are the first team of people who have successfully manufactured an amphibious vehicle which meets all the safety regulations for both boats and cars.
- There are two main reasons why people will be interested in buying this vehicle. Firstly, it will make holidays much easier for those who want to travel somewhere by car, and then use their boat for pleasure. They won’t need to take two vehicles or tow a trailer*, they won’t need to park their car by the water, and they will easily be able to travel to remote and beautiful places for their holidays.
- Secondly, those who spend hours each day commuting to work will love the Aquada, because it has the potential to greatly reduce their travelling time. Most cities are near rivers, lakes or the sea, and the ability to use these waterways as well as roads to get to work will reduce traffic jams and could turn a one hour commute into a fifteen minute journey or even less. However, commuters will have to take a change of clothes and a hair dryer; the Aquada is a speed boat, and it’s a wet ride for the occupants!
- The Aquada is not cheap; it costs somewhere around $NZ400, 000, and very few have been manufactured so far. But who knows what the future may bring? If this technology becomes standard for the major car companies, maybe we will all be able to afford an amphibious vehicle in the future. This innovation represents a potentially huge new market for the automotive industry around the world.
* trailer - a trailer is used to pull a boat behind a car.
(524 words, 83% 1,000, 3.5% 2,000, 5.5% AWL, 8% low frequency)
Adapted from www.nzedge.com
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Skimming Skimming - Reading quickly to understand the main idea of a text or parts of a text. When you skim, you look at the first and last sentences of each paragraph, and understand the main ideas of the text.
Select suitable paragraphs from the drop down menu to match the headings below.
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Aquada
Not a car, not a boat, but both - Aquada!
- The Gibbs Aquada has recently been making a splash for New Zealand drivers. This amazing new vehicle is neither a car nor a boat but a combination of both. It travels on land at speeds approaching 170 km per hour, and when it reaches water, its wheels move sideways into the body of the car, and it turns into a speedboat which can plane over the water at speeds of up to 48km per hour. This vehicle represents a new category of transport, and one that has the potential to change the way we live, work and travel.
- People have attempted to make amphibious vehicles since before the invention of the motor car, and both private individuals and large car companies have tried to build one without success in the past. Alan Gibbs, who grew up in New Zealand, designed and built an amphibian in 1995 so that he didn’t need a trailer* to put his boat into the water. This vehicle worked, but it travelled only very slowly on land.
- Gibbs needed to design a vehicle that could travel easily and quickly on both surfaces, and this involved dealing with many technological issues. These included balancing the weight of the vehicle on both land and water, cooling the engine in the water, and making sure that it would be waterproof at all times. Alan Gibbs and his colleagues are the first team of people who have successfully manufactured an amphibious vehicle which meets all the safety regulations for both boats and cars.
- There are two main reasons why people will be interested in buying this vehicle. Firstly, it will make holidays much easier for those who want to travel somewhere by car, and then use their boat for pleasure. They won’t need to take two vehicles or tow a trailer*, they won’t need to park their car by the water, and they will easily be able to travel to remote and beautiful places for their holidays.
- Secondly, those who spend hours each day commuting to work will love the Aquada, because it has the potential to greatly reduce their travelling time. Most cities are near rivers, lakes or the sea, and the ability to use these waterways as well as roads to get to work will reduce traffic jams and could turn a one hour commute into a fifteen minute journey or even less. However, commuters will have to take a change of clothes and a hair dryer; the Aquada is a speed boat, and it’s a wet ride for the occupants!
- The Aquada is not cheap; it costs somewhere around $NZ400, 000, and very few have been manufactured so far. But who knows what the future may bring? If this technology becomes standard for the major car companies, maybe we will all be able to afford an amphibious vehicle in the future. This innovation represents a potentially huge new market for the automotive industry around the world.
* trailer - a trailer is used to pull a boat behind a car.
(524 words, 83% 1,000, 3.5% 2,000, 5.5% AWL, 8% low frequency)
Adapted from www.nzedge.com
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Scanning Scanning - Searching for specific information. For example, when you look for a name in a phone book, you do not read every name in the book; instead, you scan to find the name that you want.
Find the answers to these questions. Write no more than three words.
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Aquada
Not a car, not a boat, but both - Aquada!
- The Gibbs Aquada has recently been making a splash for New Zealand drivers. This amazing new vehicle is neither a car nor a boat but a combination of both. It travels on land at speeds approaching 170 km per hour, and when it reaches water, its wheels move sideways into the body of the car, and it turns into a speedboat which can plane over the water at speeds of up to 48km per hour. This vehicle represents a new category of transport, and one that has the potential to change the way we live, work and travel.
- People have attempted to make amphibious vehicles since before the invention of the motor car, and both private individuals and large car companies have tried to build one without success in the past. Alan Gibbs, who grew up in New Zealand, designed and built an amphibian in 1995 so that he didn’t need a trailer* to put his boat into the water. This vehicle worked, but it travelled only very slowly on land.
- Gibbs needed to design a vehicle that could travel easily and quickly on both surfaces, and this involved dealing with many technological issues. These included balancing the weight of the vehicle on both land and water, cooling the engine in the water, and making sure that it would be waterproof at all times. Alan Gibbs and his colleagues are the first team of people who have successfully manufactured an amphibious vehicle which meets all the safety regulations for both boats and cars.
- There are two main reasons why people will be interested in buying this vehicle. Firstly, it will make holidays much easier for those who want to travel somewhere by car, and then use their boat for pleasure. They won’t need to take two vehicles or tow a trailer*, they won’t need to park their car by the water, and they will easily be able to travel to remote and beautiful places for their holidays.
- Secondly, those who spend hours each day commuting to work will love the Aquada, because it has the potential to greatly reduce their travelling time. Most cities are near rivers, lakes or the sea, and the ability to use these waterways as well as roads to get to work will reduce traffic jams and could turn a one hour commute into a fifteen minute journey or even less. However, commuters will have to take a change of clothes and a hair dryer; the Aquada is a speed boat, and it’s a wet ride for the occupants!
- The Aquada is not cheap; it costs somewhere around $NZ400, 000, and very few have been manufactured so far. But who knows what the future may bring? If this technology becomes standard for the major car companies, maybe we will all be able to afford an amphibious vehicle in the future. This innovation represents a potentially huge new market for the automotive industry around the world.
* trailer - a trailer is used to pull a boat behind a car.
(524 words, 83% 1,000, 3.5% 2,000, 5.5% AWL, 8% low frequency)
Adapted from www.nzedge.com
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Guessing Unknown Words
Look at the text, and complete the word guessing exercises.
Look at the words in the passage, and guess their meaning. Do not use your dictionary until after you do this exercise.
Paragraph A:
Potential (This is a key word for the text - look at the whole paragraph to guess the meaning. Is this a noun or a verb?)Paragraph B:
Amphibious (Look at the first paragraph to get clues about the meaning of this word)
Paragraph C:
Dealing with (Look at the whole sentence to help you to understand the meaning)
Waterproof (Look a the parts of this word - does this help to guess the meaning?)
Paragraph D:
Tow (Is this a noun or a verb? What is being towed? )
Remote (Look at the paragraph - is this close to other people, or far away?)
Paragraph E:
Commute (Is this a noun or a verb? Where do you commute to?)
Waterway (Look at the parts of the word, “water” and “way” and at the whole sentence)
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Aquada
Not a car, not a boat, but both - Aquada!
- The Gibbs Aquada has recently been making a splash for New Zealand drivers. This amazing new vehicle is neither a car nor a boat but a combination of both. It travels on land at speeds approaching 170 km per hour, and when it reaches water, its wheels move sideways into the body of the car, and it turns into a speedboat which can plane over the water at speeds of up to 48km per hour. This vehicle represents a new category of transport, and one that has the potential to change the way we live, work and travel.
- People have attempted to make amphibious vehicles since before the invention of the motor car, and both private individuals and large car companies have tried to build one without success in the past. Alan Gibbs, who grew up in New Zealand, designed and built an amphibian in 1995 so that he didn’t need a trailer* to put his boat into the water. This vehicle worked, but it travelled only very slowly on land.
- Gibbs needed to design a vehicle that could travel easily and quickly on both surfaces, and this involved dealing with many technological issues. These included balancing the weight of the vehicle on both land and water, cooling the engine in the water, and making sure that it would be waterproof at all times. Alan Gibbs and his colleagues are the first team of people who have successfully manufactured an amphibious vehicle which meets all the safety regulations for both boats and cars.
- There are two main reasons why people will be interested in buying this vehicle. Firstly, it will make holidays much easier for those who want to travel somewhere by car, and then use their boat for pleasure. They won’t need to take two vehicles or tow a trailer*, they won’t need to park their car by the water, and they will easily be able to travel to remote and beautiful places for their holidays.
- Secondly, those who spend hours each day commuting to work will love the Aquada, because it has the potential to greatly reduce their travelling time. Most cities are near rivers, lakes or the sea, and the ability to use these waterways as well as roads to get to work will reduce traffic jams and could turn a one hour commute into a fifteen minute journey or even less. However, commuters will have to take a change of clothes and a hair dryer; the Aquada is a speed boat, and it’s a wet ride for the occupants!
- The Aquada is not cheap; it costs somewhere around $NZ400, 000, and very few have been manufactured so far. But who knows what the future may bring? If this technology becomes standard for the major car companies, maybe we will all be able to afford an amphibious vehicle in the future. This innovation represents a potentially huge new market for the automotive industry around the world.
* trailer - a trailer is used to pull a boat behind a car.
(524 words, 83% 1,000, 3.5% 2,000, 5.5% AWL, 8% low frequency)
Adapted from www.nzedge.com
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