Page 34 - C:\Users\khalida\Documents\Flip PDF Corporate Edition\EAP Full Pages Universitas Pancasila\

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

Until the late 1700s, metal couldn’t be turned on a lathe to make it uniformly smooth and round.
The operator couldn’t guide the cutting tool evenly by hand against the turning piece. This problem
was solved by David Wilkinson of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In 1798 he invented a machine in which
the cutter was clamped into a moveable slide that could be advanced precisely, by hand crank,
parallel to the work. The slide rest, as it came to be called, has many uses. It permits the
manufacture of parts so uniform that they can be interchanged. Without is, mass production would
not have been possible. As it turns out, the great English machinist Henry Maudsley developed
nearly the same mechanism a few years before, but this was unknown to Wilkinson and doesn’t
diminish his accomplishment.
9. Why did the author write this passage?
_____ (A) To prove that Wilkinson’s invention was based on Maudsley’s
_____ (B) To demonstrate the importance of mass production to American society
_____ (C) To show the usefulness of Wilkinson’s invention

Almost every form of transportation has given someone the idea for a new type of toy. After the
Montgolfier brother flew the first balloon, toy balloons became popular playthings. In the nineteenth
century, soon after railroads and steamships were developed, every child had to have model trains
and steamboats. The same held true for automobiles and airplanes in the early twentieth century.
Toys rockets and missiles became popular at the beginning of the space age, and by the 1980s, there
were many different versions of space shuttle toys.
10. The main idea of this passage is that
_____ (A) Inventors have been inspired by toys to build new forms of transportation
_____ (B) Toy automobiles and airplanes were very popular in the early 1900s
_____ (C) Toy design has followed developments in transportation

Exercise 44.2

Focus: Answering a variety of overview questions about short passages.
Direction: Read the passages and mark the best answer choice - (A), (B), (C), or (D). The first one is
done as an example.

American folk music originated with ordinary people at a time when the rural population was
isolated and music was not yet spread by radio, records, or music videos. It was transmitted by oral
tradition and is noted for its energy, humor, and emotional impact. The major source of early
American folk songs was music from the British Isles, but songs from Africa as well as songs of the
American Indians have a significant part in its heritage. Later settlers from other countries also
contributed songs. In the nineteenth century, composer Steven Foster wrote some of the most
enduringly popular of all American songs, which soon became part of the folk tradition. Beginning in
the 1930s, Woody Guthrie gained great popularity by adapting traditional melodies and lyrics and
supplying new ones as well. In the 1950s and 1960s, signer composers such as Pete Seeger, Bob
Dylan, and Joan Baez continued this tradition by creating urban folk music. Many of these songs deal
with important social issues, such as racial integration and the war in Vietnam.

1. The primary purpose of this passage is to
_____ (A) trace the development to American folk music
_____ (B) explain the oral tradition
_____ (C) contrast the styles of folk musicians
_____ (D) point out the influence of social issues on “urban” folk music

29