Developing Close Reading Skills
Instructions
1. Read over the passage twice in order to gain an understanding of it.
2. Write a brief synopsis (a paragraph describing what the article is about) in your jotter.
3. Make a note in your jotter of any words you don’t understand, and use a dictionary to find the definition.
4. Answer the questions fully to ensure your understanding of the article.
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is to develop your close reading skills, which is essential to your success at the level you are studying.
By reading articles from good quality newspapers such as The Herald, The Guardian and The Independent, you develop not only your close reading skills but also an improved vocabulary.
Taken from guardian.co.uk on 19/09/2011
In the following article, comedian and columnist Charlie Brooker examines advertising and its role in the modern world.
When even Weetabix has turned evil, you know that the world is in a truly sorry state
It's enough to make you long for the days of Gareth Hunt and Nescafé's shaking-a-fistful-of-coffee beans gesture
Article written by Charlie Brooker
This'll cheer you up. I read an article about advertising the other day and stumbled across a concept that seems so nakedly evil, I was amazed it exists. Particularly because it's embraced by the makers of Weetabix.
It stems from the notion of "brand ambassadors", that tit-awful phrase for stars who become synonymous with a commercial product in exchange for a mere fortune. The idea is that when you glance at, say, an Activia yoghurt in the supermarket, thanks to its high-profile star-fronted advertising campaign, you'll think of Martine McCutcheon and make positive connections to the fun times you saw her getting drooled over by Hugh Grant in Love Actually or run over by Frank Butcher in Albert Square. And your basic ape brain, which perpetually craves love and acceptance, will make you chuck said yoghurt into your basket in a desperate attempt to make some of that McCutcheon magic rub off on your own sorry bones.
Because you want to be Martine McCutcheon. You want to be her so badly you're prepared to eat her. In the form of yoghurt. Yoghurt that also improves your ability to defecate. That's what Activia's really about, of course – regulating your guts so you defecate better. In a franker, more honest universe, Martine would defecate in the commercial. But she doesn't even blow off. She just smiles a lot. Although come to think of it, she does smile a bit like someone who's just evacuated their bowels after several days of trying. So maybe she's still on-message.
Celebrity endorsements have existed since the dawn of advertising, but it's only recently that the celebrities have come to be thought of as "brand ambassadors". When Gareth Hunt walked down the street during the 1980s, passersby didn't think: "There goes the Nescafé brand ambassador," they thought: "That's Gareth Hunt." And then they mimicked the shaking-a-fistful-of-coffee beans gesture at him, which was easy to misconstrue.
But while coffee might've been your first thought upon spotting him, there was a clear mental separation between Hunt and Nescafé. Nowadays when a star signs up to be the face of a product, they're expected to embody its values in everyday life, as though they've joined a religious order.
The notion of "brand ambassadors" has now filtered into the everyday world. "Influential individuals" – not celebrities, just "influential" people engaged in "normal life" – are being paid by marketers to promote goods, by wearing branded clothing or enthusing about certain products online. Fairly menacing, you might think, pausing briefly afterwards to wonder why your eyes are crying. But it gets worse. Because they're doing this with children.
Yes, children are being paid to wear corporate logos while out and about. The news passed me by at the time, but back in July, it was reported that Weetabix had recruited 15 especially active kids to wear special Weetabix-branded clothing "on their busiest days", in order to show that "youngsters who eat Weetabix can pack more into a day than those who don't". Weetabix spokesthing Sally Abbott was quoted as saying: "Parents know why Weetabix is great for big days but we need to find different ways of getting that message across to kids."
No you don't, Sally. You just think you do. And in the process, you've got a message across to me: that Weetabix is evil. Until I stumbled across this months-old story, I liked Weetabix. I associated Weetabix with the lovable cartoon Weetabix skinhead gang from the 1980s. I couldn't eat enough of those guys. Even ate a couple this morning. But now I associate Weetabix with a nightmare vision of a dystopian future in which children are brand ambassadors. Not so appetising.
The Milky Bar Kid was an early child "brand ambassador", but at least he knew his place: inside the TV. He didn't turn up at your school in his cowboy outfit. Today, if advertisers thought they could get away with it, they'd pay kids to have that cowboy outfit permanently stitched onto their skin. Which would actually be quite cool if you got to be the Honey Monster.
At least logo-branded clothing is easy to spot. The notion of companies paying for "online endorsements" from kids is even more sinister, although parental consent is required. Thanks in part to the media spooking parents into believing there's a deathtrap full of paedophiles round every corner, kids are kept indoors and bombarded with sales propaganda as it is. They grow up being told, in the most sophisticated manner possible, that products are the ultimate source of self-worth. A recent Unicef report concluded that British kids are desperately unhappy: they have an abundance of toys and products and a lack of attention from their parents.
And we wonder why the ones who can't afford these products kick in the windows of Currys and Foot Locker, risk arrest for a gizmo, land in jail for the sake of a shoe.
But now even the ones who recognise how the media clobbers them over the head with an aspirational mallet, who try to filter out the background consumerist dance beat – they can no longer trust their own friends when chatting online. Those school friends may soon be "brand ambassadors". Not even friends any more, but mascots. It'll backfire, of course. Kids are kids. There'll be brand ambassadors outed as bitches and bullies. One day a brand ambassador will shoot up a school, and the potato snack company that paid him to endorse its products online will rush out a press release explaining that his actions don't embody their values, which traditionally involve less screaming and death. And we'll all be sadder and wiser. And we'll buy something different. For about three weeks.
Questions
1. What is this article about?
2. Identify the author’s tone in paragraph two. Why do you think Brooker has chosen to begin the article in this tone?
b. Does the tone of this paragraph continue throughout the article? Provide two pieces of evidence from elsewhere in the passage that support your opinion.
3. Look at paragraphs 4 – 6. What does Charlie Brooker see as the difference in advertising tactics from the 1980s until now?
4. What advertising tactic does Charlie Brooker find disgusting? Quote from the passage to support your answer.
5. Which advertising character does Brooker think it would be fun to be? Quote from the passage to support your answer.
6. Look at the final paragraph. What does Charlie Brooker think is the biggest danger for children nowadays when it comes to advertising? Quote from the passage to support your answer.
7. Does Charlie Brooker think that the people of Britain are committed to the idea of not being led on by advertising? Quote from the passage to support your answer.
8. Consider the passage as a whole. Do you think it presents an effective message against the dangers of advertising? Quote from the passage to support your answer. This answer should be a mini-essay of at least half a page.
(Taken from www.guardian.co.uk 29/08/2011)
The following article details the life of a young Palestinian surfer living in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.
Gaza's girl surfer battles pollution and prejudice
Sabah Abu Ghanim, 12, says she is encouraging her friends to join her in making the most of Palestine's blockaded coastline
Article by Harriet Sherwood in Gaza City
Twelve-year-old Sabah Abu Ghanim drags her board through the water as the sinking sun glints on the eastern Mediterranean. The wind has got up alittle, and she is hoping the surf will follow – enough, at least, for her to ride the waves.
"I feel the sea belongs to me," says the Gaza surfer. "When I'm in the sea I feel content and happy."
Gaza's 25 miles of Mediterranean coastline are a magnet for a population with few forms of entertainment and a pressing need to escape the drudgery of life under blockade. A small but growing band of surfers use a variety of makeshift boards plus a few sent by surfer activists through the heavily controlled crossings from Israel.
"We have a problem getting equipment in, but these guys try to do the best for themselves," says Mahfouz Kabariti, president of the Palestine Sailing and Surfing Federation. "Always people are suffering from the siege, so they need some space to feel normal. This is good for their mental health."
Sabah was taught by her lifeguard father to use their 22-year-old surfboard, which is shared between friends and family. The first time, she says, "I put myself in God's hands. I said my last prayers. And I surfed a very high wave."
Now she studies TV and the internet to improve her technique. She, in turn, coaches others. "When my friends see me surfing they are very proud. They like it and ask me to teach them. They become surfers like me. Not exactly like me, not quite as good as me."
Gaza's beaches are along one of the few undeveloped stretches of Mediterranean coastline. There are no tourists to fill the handful of seafront hotels. Afew beach cafes, some run by Hamas, attract locals outside Ramadan.
Ramshackle lifeguard towers are stationed periodically along the beach, but there are no signs warning swimmers of the greatest hazard – the sewage in the water. Up to 80m litres of sewage is dumped in the sea every day, causing diarrhoea and skin complaints among those who swallow the water.
Gaza's four sewage treatment plants cannot cope with the growing population, according to Ewash, a consortium of international and local NGOs. Israel's continued blockade prevents materials needed for maintaining and upgrading the plants from reaching Gaza, it says.
"People should be warned about swimming in areas close to sewage outlets," says Ghada Snunu of Ewash. "But it's not easy to tell people to stop swimming. The beach is the only recreation for the majority of Gazans."
After getting sick, Sabah says she has avoided the most contaminated areas. But most people prefer to risk illness than give up one of their few pleasures. Her father, Rajab Aby Ghanim, 37, a self-taught surfer, is proud of his daughter's prowess and is planning to introduce eight-year-old Saja, Sabah's sister, to the joys of surfing. But, he says, "I have many problems with my daughters surfing. Many people criticise me. I asked my two older daughters to stop because of the community."
Sabah sometimes senses disapproval of her activities from some conservative Gazans. "There is a difference [between boys and girls]. When we are swimming in the sea and men see us, they are very surprised. They tell us to get out."
"When I am older, my society refuses to allow me to surf. It's shameful. I will keep surfing until then, and then I will have to stop. I will be sad," she says.
Once, she says, her 16-year-old sister to come to the beach to watch her surf. "I found her sad. I said, 'You keep wishing to go back to the old days because then you could surf and swim.' She said, 'I wish those days would return.'"
Her mother and aunts sometimes come to the beach to swim "if no one is around. But if others start to arrive, they get out and go home. We don't want people to talk about us."
But, for now, Gaza's surfer girl is riding the waves. "People are proud of us. They say, 'This is the first time we saw a girl who knows how to surf.'"
Questions
1. Write a short synopsis of the passage.
2. Identify the technique used in line two and comment on the effectiveness of the image this conveys.
3. Where in the world is Sabah Abu Ghanim from? Answer in your own words as far as possible.
4. Look at lines 7 -15. What picture is painted of life in Gaza?
5. “Sabah is a rich person”. Is this statement false or true? Give evidence from the passage to support your answer.
6. Is the beach in Gaza a tourist attraction? Provide evidence from paragraph seven to support your answer.
7. Look at lines 27 – 34. What is your opinion of the way Israel treats the people of Gaza? Provide evidence from the passage to support your answer.
8. Comment on the overall tone of the passage. Is it positive or negative? Provide evidence from the passage to support your answer.
9. What is Sabah’s father’s job?
10. How many of the women in Sabah’s family can surf? Provide evidence from the passage to support your answer.
The following article is a match report of a Chelsea .vs. Spartak Moscow Champions League fixture.
Branislav Ivanovic leads Chelsea's charge as Blues beat Spartak Moscow
Chelsea are quietly lethal. The victory over Spartak Moscow that clinches their place in the last 16 of the Champions League was comprehensive, yet the drubbing was methodical rather than ferocious. Despite all the attention paid to the club under Roman Abramovich's ownership, it is low-key expertise that makes his side such a force.