SESSION 29: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT

SESSION 29: EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT


NOTE: IN ORDER TO WORK WITH THE TEXT, UNDERSTAND AND PREPARE IT BETTER I RECOMMEND THESE EXERCISES:

THERE WILL BE TWO TYPES OF EXERCISES:

1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT: THESE ARE EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE READING COMPREHENSION, WORKING WITH VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS.

2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION: EXERCISES FOCUSING ON THE PREPARATION FOR THE DISCUSSION.

1. EXERCISES WORKING WITH THE TEXT

1.1 TRUE/FALSE: Look at the article and guess whether these sentences are True (T) or False (F):

a.	A set of Encyclopaedia Britannica contains 32 volumes.
b.	Encyclopaedia Britannica is over 200 years old.
c.	The company has also decided to end the online version of its product.
d.	The president said no one could have predicted the end of the books.
e.	Encyclopaedia Britannica originally started in England
f.	Over seven million sets of Encyclopaedia Britannica have been sold.
g.	The last print run of the encyclopaedia will be in the summer of 2012.
h.	The company president suggested it is faster to look for things online.

1.2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	set	a.	edition
2	volume	b.	HQ
3.	version	c.	effect
4.	foreseen	d.	modernized
5.	impact	e.	start
6.	headquarters	f.	collection
7.	advent	g.	predicted
8.	updated	h.	suitable
9.	left	i.	book
10.	appropriate	j.	remaining

1.3 PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from this article (sometimes more than one option is possible):

1.	the world’s most famous set	a.	off competition
2	a 244-year history of the iconic	b.	plummeted
3.	try to fend	c.	printed edition
4.	… had been foreseen	d.	down the impact of…
5.	they played	e.	search
6.	It sold door-to-door for	f.	overnight
7.	Sales	g.	of reference books
8.	Web-based resources can be updated	h.	volume
9.	doing a keyword	i.	for many years
10.	finding the appropriate	j.	generations

1.4 GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text:

NOTHING - DECISION - FORESEEN - DIGITAL - SET - LAUNCHED - DOWN - FEND

Encyclopaedia Britannica, the world’s most famous (1) ____________ of reference books, has decided to stop printing its 32-volume collection. The (2) ____________ ends a 244-year history of the iconic printed edition. Instead, it will focus on its online version and try to (3) ____________ off competition from other web-based encyclopaedias. The company has recently (4) ____________ a digital encyclopaedia for iPads and other tablet devices. Officials said the end of the physical books had been (5) ____________ for many years, although they played (6) ____________ the impact of Internet sites. Britannica president Jorge Cauz said: “This has (7) ____________ to do with Wikipedia or Google…This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its (8) ____________ products to a large number of people.” 

SEARCH - HEADQUARTERS - OVERNIGHT - APPROPRIATE - BROUGHT - PLUMMETED - INDEX - LEFT

Encyclopaedia Britannica was first (9) ____________ out in 1768 in Scotland. It moved its (10) ____________ to Chicago in 1935. It sold door-to-door for generations, selling more than seven million sets. Sales (11) ____________ with the advent of CD-ROM encyclopaedias and then the Internet. Web-based resources can be updated (12) ____________, whereas it takes Britannica a decade to produce a new version. It was last printed in 2010 and there are still 4,000 sets (13) ____________, selling for $1,395 each. Mr Cauz admitted that: “In many instances doing a keyword (14) ____________ in an online resource is simply a lot faster then standing up looking at the (15) ____________ of the Britannica and then finding the (16) ____________ volume.”