MUET MOMENTS

By DR KOH SOO LING

LESSON 6

Skimming and scanning

Skimming is reading a text quickly. When we skim a text, we can ask these questions:

1. What is the writer trying to tell us?

2. What does the writer think?

3. How is the text organised?

Scanning is going through a text quickly to get specific information. You can bear in mind two questions when you scan:

1. What are you looking for?

2. Which part of the text is the information available?

Practice

Scan the text below and answer the following questions.

The Solar System consists of the sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed as a result of the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago.

The vast majority of the system's mass is in the sun. Of the many objects that orbit the Sun, most of the mass is contained within eight relatively solitary planets whose orbits are almost circular and lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic plane.

The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called the terrestrial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal.

The four outer planets, the gas giants, are substantially more massive than the terrestrials.

The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are made up largely of ice, such as water, ammonia and methane, and are often referred to separately as "ice giants".

The Solar System is also home to a number of regions populated by smaller objects.

The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is similar to the terrestrial planets as it consists of mainly rock and metal.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System

1. The Solar System consists of the _________ and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it.

2. A giant molecular cloud collapsed approximately _______________ billion years ago.

3. Most of the solitary planets have almost __________ orbits and lie within a nearly flat disc called the ____________ plane.

4. The four smaller inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and ____________.

5. The four outer planets are also known as the ______________ giants.

6. Jupiter and Saturn are composed mainly of hydrogen and _______________.

7. The _______________ belt lies between Mars and Jupiter.

NEXT WEEK: Understanding Sense Relationships -- Reference Words

MUET MOMENTS

LESSON 6

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