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96
95 for degrees and two centuries passed 95 before Oxford and Cambridge conferred degrees on women.
Exercise:
If this essay were read aloud before an audience that had no copy of it in front of them, it would still be easy
to follow the writer's line of argument.
1. What features of the text make it easier to comprehend than the average written text?
2. What sort of audience does this text seem to have been written for? On what basis can you make this
inference?
From:
«FILTERS AGAINST FOLLY»
by Garrett Hardin
A civilization is defined by the dreams it renounces. Whenever there is a mismatch of supply and
demand there are two ways of dealing with the situation in words: we can speak of either a shortage of
5 supply or a longage of demand. The alternatives are, in logic, equally valid. But for a long time our
civilization has repressed the thought of longages of demand. The suppression may have been for good
practical reasons, but all acts of suppression end up by stunting the mind. A basic insight of ecology is that
10 there are real 10 limits to the world (though we sometimes make mistakes in defining them). The recognition
of limits makes possible the development of accurate methods of accounting, without which no honest
description of the world is possible. Historically, the belief in infinite supplies has greatly stimulated
15 innovation. As we approach the limits this belief becomes less fruitful. Finally, it becomes dangerous. When
our civilization renounces the dream of infinite supplies it will move into a new and saner mode.
Exercise:
1. «A civilization is defined by the dreams it renounces.» (1.1)
a.
What dream(s), if any, has our civilization renounced?
________________________________________________________________
b.
What dream(s), if any, does the writer think our civilization should renounce?
________________________________________________________________
2. a.»But ... demand» (11. 5-6) the implication here is that we prefer talking about ___________, rather than
considering the problem of________________.
b. The word _____________ (in 1.6) is the equivalent of the word «suppression» in 1.7. The renunciation of
the dream of infinite supplies (11.16— 17) is the equivalent of the recognition of___________
(one word)
3. a. «though ... them» (11. 10 ). Here Hardin tells us that we sometimes make the mistake of defining these
limits too narrowly, and then, having discovered our error, we make the further mistake of exaggerating in the
opposite direction: i. e., we assume there are ________ limits.
3. b. «As we approach the limits this belief becomes less fruitful.» (1. 14-15).
i. The «limits» of what?______________________________________________
ii. To become .... fruitful (1. 15) is the equivalent of which phrase in the preceding sentence? (i e., in 1. 14)
4. It is impossible to give an «honest description of the world»
(1. 12) without ________________________
CHIMPS EAT CHIMPS
1. It is hard for any naturalist to write about animals he or she has studied in depth without falling into
the trap of anthropomorphism. It is so easy to find oneself attributing humanoid characteristics and