Vin i hc M H Ni

C hi hc tp cho mi ngi

Social Networking
Read the text and do the activities that follow.
Social Networking
Networking as a concept has acquired what is in all truth an unjustified air of modernity.
It is considered in the corporate world as an essential tool for the modern
businessperson, as they trot round the globe drumming up business for themselves or a
corporation. The concept is like a badge of distinction, and not just in the business
world.
People can be divided basically into those who keep knowledge and their personal
contacts to themselves, and those who are prepared to share what they know and indeed
their friends with others. A person who is insecure, for example who finds it difficult to
share information with others and who is unable to bring people, including friends,
together does not make a good networker. The classic networker is someone who is
strong enough within themselves to connect different people including close friends
with each other. For example, a businessperson or an academic may meet someone who
is likely to be a valuable contact in the future, but at the moment that person may benefit
from meeting another associate or friend. It takes quite a secure person to bring these
people together and allow a relationship to develop independently of himself. From the
non-networkers point of view such a development may be intolerable, especially if it is
happening outside their control. The unfortunate thing here is that the initiator of the
contact is he did but knows it, would be the one to benefit most. And why? Because all
things being equal, people move within circles and that person has the potential of being
sucked into ever growing spheres of new contacts. It is said that, if you know eight
people, you are in touch with everyone in the world. It does not take much common
sense to realize the potential for any kind of venture as one is able to draw on the
experience of more and more people.
Unfortunately, making new contacts in business and otherwise while it brings success
does cause problems. It enlarges the individuals world. This is in truth not altogether a
bad thing, but it puts more pressure on the networker through his having to maintain an
ever larger circle of people. The most convenient way out is, perhaps, to cull old
contacts, but this would be anathema to our networker as it would defeat the whole
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purpose of networking. Another problem is the reaction of friends and associates.

Spreading oneself thinly gives one less time for others who were perhaps closer to one
in the past. In the workplace, this can cause tension with jealous colleagues, and even
with superiors who might be tempered to rein in a more successful inferior, jealousy and
envy can prove to be very detrimental if one is faced with a very insecure manager, as
this person may seek to stifle someones career or even block it completely. The answer
here is to let ones superiors share in the glory; to throw them a few crumbs of comfort.
It is called leadership from the bottom.
In the present business climate, companies and enterprises need to co-operate with each
other in order to expand. As globalization grows apace, companies need to be able to
span not just countries but continents. Whilst people may rail against this development
it is for the moment here to stay. Without co-operation and contacts, specialist
companies will not survive for long. Computer components, for example, need to be
compatible with the various machines on the market, and to achieve this, firms need to
work in conjunction with others. No business or institution can afford to be an island in
todays environment. In the not very distant past, it was possible for companies to go it
alone, but it is now more difficult to do so.
The same applies in the academic world, where ideas have been jealously guarded. The
opening-up of universities and colleges to the outside world in recent years has been of
enormous benefit to industry and educational institutions. The stereotypical academic is
one who moves in a rarefied atmosphere living a life of sometimes splendid isolation, a
prisoner of their own genius. This sort of person does not fit easily into the mould of the
modern networker. Yet even this insular world is changing. These ivory towers are
being left ever more frequently as educational experts forge links with other bodies;
sometimes to stunning effect as in Silicon Valley in America and around Cambridge in
England, which now has one of the most concentrated clusters of high tech companies
in Europe.
It is the networkers, the wheel-dealers, the movers and shakers, call them what you will,
that carry the world along. The world of the Neanderthals was shaken between 35,000
and 40,000 BC; they were superseded by Homo sapiens with the very networking
skills that separate us from other animals; understanding, thought abstraction and
culture, which are inextricably linked to planning survival and productivity in humans.
It is said the meek will inherit the earth. But will they?

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Vocabulary Building
Exercise 5.1. Here are some words from the Reading Text. Read the sentences.
Then circle the answer that best matches the meaning of each bold word or phrase.
1. We work for the same company. She is my associate.
A. close friend
B. colleague
2. She is always scolding business partners and associates. Her behavior is intolerable.
A. acceptable
B. unacceptable
3. He leaked out of the classroom and trot out of school as a flash.
A. moved quickly
B. move slowly
4. Next month there will be an exhibition of paintings culled from regional art
galleries.
A. collected
B. decorated
5. We should not keep doing these activities. They will be detrimental to our interest.
A. effective
B. damaging
6. He learned to recognize the things that would tempt him from the purpose of his
work.
A. distract
B. attract
7. A too strict regulatory system may stifle innovation.
A. suffocate
B. support
8. Our budget is rather tight. We need to rein back public spending.
A. cut
B. control more strictly
9. The late goal was to be their only crumb of comfort in a miserable day.
A. a large amount
B. a small amount
10. She railed against the bad social policies.
A. supported
B. protested
11. Love is the most splendid thing. Lovers usually look at life through rose spectacles.
A. Boring
B. wonderful
12. They are running metal into mould.
A. model
B. frame

Vocabulary Skills Phrasal Verbs

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A phrasal verb is formed when a preposition (up, down, in, etc) or an adverb (away,
back, etc) is added to a verb to produce a new verb with a different meaning.
The meaning of a phrasal verb can be similar to the original verb.
The car slowed down and then stopped. ( slow down similar meaning to slow)
Or it can be different to the original:
I am going to give up smoking. (Give up different meaning to give)
There are three kinds of phrasal verbs:
Intransitive Phrasal verbs that do not take an object
Subject + Verb + Particle.

Please hurry up! We are going to miss the train.

Look out! Theres a car coming.
We are setting off at 7 oclock tomorrow morning.
Intransitive Phrasal verbs that take an object: separable

or
Subject

verb

object

particle

object

If the object is a pronoun (her, him, it, them, ect.), it goes before the particle.
He cant figure out the instructions.
He cant figure the instructions out.
He cant figure them out. (NOT he cant figure out them.)
Transitive Phrasal verbs that take an object but do not separate

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He takes after his father. Hes got the same blond hair, blue eyes and the same
gentle manner.
I came across an old photograph of you yesterday. It was taken when you were
at school.
Transitive Phrasal verb with adverb and preposition.
I think I should drop out of this class.
I cant keep up with new technology.
Exercise 5.2. Complete the sentences below with suitable phrasal verbs.
1. He has to _________ after his father as hes in his 90s.
2. Could you turn the music ____________? Its really quiet.
3. Could you give me ___________ my book, please?
4. My uncle has set __________ a small company.
5. I always feel nervous when planes _____________ off.
6. ___________ down. You are walking much too fast.
7. Do you _____________ on well with your boss?
8. If you carry ___________ watching TV, you will get square eyes.
9. My grandmother brought ___________ eight children without any help.
10. They ___________ up last month, and now shes got a new boyfriend.

Reading for Main Ideas

Exercise 5.3. Reading the following sentences to make sure if the following
sentences are True/ False/ Not Given
1. Networking is not a modern idea.
2. Networking is worn like a badge exclusively in the business world.
3. People fall into two basic categories.
4. A person who shares knowledge and friends makes a better networker than one who
does not.
5. The classic networker is physically strong and generally in good health.

Reading for Details

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Exercise 5.4. Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage to
answer these questions
1. Who shares things with others?

2. Does the text mention physical weakness or not being physically strong?

3. In which sphere of life have ideas been protected jealously?

4. Which type of individual does not easily become a modern networker?

5. Where is one of the greatest concentrations of high tech companies in Europe?

6. Who replaced the Neanderthals?

7. What, as well as understanding and thought abstraction, sets us apart from other
animals?

Reading Skills Understanding the Organization of a Discourse

In reading comprehension, there will sometimes be questions about the organization of
discourse. In this type of question, you will be asked to determine how the ideas in one
paragraph (or paragraphs) relate to the ideas in another paragraph (or paragraphs). The
answer to this type of question can generally be determined by looking at the first
sentence of the appropriate paragraphs.
Example:
Conflict within an organization is not always viewed as undesirable. In fact, various
managers have widely divergent ideas on the value that conflict can have.
According to the traditional view of conflicts, conflict is harmful to an organization.
Managers with his traditional view of conflict see it as their role in an organization
of any possible sources of conflict.

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The interactionist view of conflict, on the other hand, holds that conflict can serve
an important function in an organization by reducing complacency among workers
and causing positive changes to occur. Managers who hold an interactionist view of
conflict may actually take steps to stimulate conflict within the organization.
1. How is the information in the passage organized?
a. The origin of ideas about conflict is presented.
b. Contrasting views of conflict are presented.
c. Two theorists discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their views on conflicts.
d. Examples of conflict within organization are presented.

2. What type of information is included in the third paragraph?

a. A comparison of the interactionist and traditional view of conflict.
b. A discussion of the weaknesses of the interactionist view of conflict.
c. An outline of the type of manager who prefers the interactionist view of conflict.
d. A description of one of the opposing views of conflicts.
The main idea of the second paragraph is the traditional view of conflict, and the main
idea of the second paragraph is about the interactionist view of conflict. The main idea
of the third paragraph contradicts or refutes the information in the second paragraph,
which are linked with the phrase on the other hand. Therefore, the correct answer for
question number one is B, and the best choice for question 2 is D.

Exercise 5.5. Study each of the passages and choose the best answers to the
questions that follow.
IQ or Intelligent Quotient is defined as the ratio of a persons mental age to
chronological age, with the ratio multiplied by 100 to remove the decimal.
Chronological age is easily determined; mental age is generally measured by some kind
of standard test and is not so simple to define.
perform intellectual operation such as reasoning and problem solving. These intellectual
operations are considered to represent intelligence.
In practice, it has been impossible to arrive at consensus as to which types of intellectual
operations demonstrate intelligence. Furthermore, it has been impossible to devise a test
without cultural bias, which is to say that any IQ tests so far proposed have been shown
to reflect the culture of the test makers. Test takers from that culture would, it follows,
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score higher on such a test than test takers from a different culture with equal
intelligence.
1. What type of information is included in the first paragraph?
A. An argument
B. A definition
C. An opinion
D. A theory
2. How does the information in the third paragraph differ from that in the second
paragraph?
A. It presents a contrasting point of view.
B. It follows chronologically from the ideas in the second paragraph.
C. It presents real information rather than a premise.
D. It presents an example of the ideas in the second paragraph.

The largest lake in the Western United States is the Great Salt Lake, an inland saltwater
lake in northwestern Utah, just outside the state capital of Salt Lake City. Rivers and
streams feed into the Great Salt Lake, but none drain out of it; that has a major influence
on both the salt content and the size of the lake.
Although the Great Salt Lake is fed by freshwater, it is actually saltier than the oceans
of the world. The salt comes from the more than two million tons of minerals that flow
into the lake each year from the rivers and creeks that feed it. Sodium and chloride the
components of salt comprise the large majority of the lakes mineral content.
The Great Salt Lake can vary tremendously from its normal size of 1,700 square miles,
depending on long-term weather conditions. During periods of heavy rains, the size of
the lake can swell tremendously from the huge amount of water flowing into the lake
from its feeder rivers and streams; in 1980 the lake even reached a size of 2,400 square
miles. During periods of dry weather, the size of the lake decreases, sometimes
drastically, due to evaporation.
3. How is information in the passage organized?
a. Two unusual characteristics of the Great Salt Lake are discussed.
b. Contrasting theories about the Great Salt Lakes salt levels are presented.
c. The process by which the Great Salt Lakes gets its salt is outlined.
d. The reasons for the variations in the Great Salt Lakes size are given.
4. The third paragraph contains information on
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a.
b.
c.
d.

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How the size of the lake affects weather conditions.

The effects of contrasting weather conditions on the size of the lake.
The effects of changes in the size of the lake.
The causes of the varied weather conditions in the area of the lake.

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