Sometimes a writer expresses a point of view, or an opinion. It is important for readers to be able to recognize the presence of a point of view and to understand what that point of view is.
Check () the statement that best expresses the writer’s point of view. Discuss the reason for your answer with a partner.
1. The writer thinks all kinds of travel, including ecotourism, are good.
2. The writer doesn’t think ecotourism is for everybody.
3. The writer thinks ecotourism is a good thing.
4. The writer thinks people should only travel to ecotourism destinations.
Relating Reading to Personal Experience
Discuss these questions with your classmates.
1. Which of the trips mentioned in the reading would you like to take? Why?
2. Imagine that you want to take an ecotourism vacation. What do you need to think about when you’re planning your trip? For example, what is the climate like? What do you need to bring with you?
3. If someone wanted to come to your country on an ecotourism vacation, what places would you suggest for them to visit?
B
C
D
Reading 3
Predicting
Look at the subheadings in the reading. Then check () what you think the main idea of the reading is. Compare your answers with a partner.
1. The reading is about how people feel when jet lag affects them.
2. The reading is about why people get jet lag.
3. The reading is about what people can do to avoid getting jet lag.
4. The reading is about why people should try not to get jet lag.
Skimming
Skim the reading to check your answer. Then read the whole text.
Jet Lag
There is one thing that can ruin vacations, make business meetings less than successful, and cause more problems than anything else for air travelers. Jet lag! Jet lag affects nearly everyone who takes a long flight.
Jet lag results from traveling a long distance to a new time zone. The travel time is too fast for the human body to adjust easily. Long-distance air travel to a new time zone 1
2
Jet Lag 58
disrupts three important senses: the sense of place, the sense of time, and, as a result of both, the sense of well-being.
Sense of place: To some extent, all locations are geographically and even chemically different from one another. Humans, like all living things, have a strong sense of place.
This makes people homesick for familiar surroundings and wish for their own bed.
Sense of time: We all also have a natural sense of time that is linked to our sense of place. Our bodies function on a program that takes about a day to run, and they sense the different qualities of dawn, noon, and midnight. This is why travel to a distant time zone makes us miss the usual hometown patterns of something as simple as the times of sunrise and sunset. When familiar patterns such as these are interrupted, it affects the way we feel.
Sense of well-being: We have a sense of well-being when we are healthy and happy.
This sense is strongly connected to our senses of place and time. That is why flying to a new environment and time zone often causes a disruption in our sense of well-being.
For thousands of years, people didn’t experience disruption in their sense of time and place because there were no rapid means of transportation. They could only go as fast as their feet could take them, their animals could carry them, or their boats could transport them. It took weeks, months, years, or even generations to travel great distances.
The invention of the airplane changed all this. However, although we can travel by plane now, our bodies have not yet adapted to long-distance air travel. That is why we suffer the consequences – jet lag.
3
4
5
6
7
Adapted from Overcoming Jet Lag
Comprehension Check
Look at the example. Then find and correct five more mistakes in the paragraphs.
People get jet lag when they travel short distances by plane. Humans don’t have a very strong sense of place. For this reason, sometimes we don’t feel well when we travel to new places too slowly. We also get used to what the different times of day are like in the place where we live: the mornings, the afternoons, and the nights.
Therefore, when we fly somewhere far away, our sense of place is also disrupted.
For thousands of years, people did not have jet lag because they didn’t travel short distances quickly. The airplane changed that, but our minds haven’t had time to adapt yet. So today our sense of well-being is often affected when we travel long distances by plane to different time zones.
A
long
Vocabulary Study
Find the words in italics in the reading. Then match the words with their meanings.
1. ruin (par. 1) a. stops something from continuing as usual 2. adjust (par. 2) b. continue until the end
3. disrupts (par. 2) c. affect something so that it becomes bad 4. chemically (par. 3) d. change a little to make something work well 5. surroundings (par. 3) e. the place and conditions in which you live 6. run (par. 4) f. related to changes in the atoms or molecules
of substances
Recognizing Cause and Effect
When you read, it is important to recognize the reason why something happens (the cause). It is also important to recognize what happens as a result (the effect).
Use the information in the reading to decide whether each statement below is a cause of jet lag or an effect of jet lag. Write C (cause) or E (effect).
C 1. The travel time is too fast for people to adjust easily.
2. People’s vacations are ruined.
3. People wish for their own bed.
4. People’s sense of time is connected to their sense of place.
5. A business meeting is not successful.
6. People’s bodies have not changed for thousands of years.
Relating Reading to Personal Experience
Discuss these questions with your classmates.
1. Do you think jet lag is a serious problem? Why or why not?
2. Do you know any ways to avoid jet lag? Explain your answer.
3. What other things can ruin a plane trip besides jet lag?
B
C
Reread one of the unit readings and time yourself.
Note your reading speed in the chart on page 124.
D
Jet Lag 60