UNIT 1: TCNICAS DE COMPRENSIN EN LENGUA MATERNA (ESPAOL)

SCANNING

Scanning es una habilidad la cual puedes usar para identificar un slo hecho o una parte
especifica de informacin sin necesidad de leer cada parte de la historia. Nosotros
usamos scanning en nuestras actividades cotidianas. Por ejemplo, al buscar en el diario
revista la hora y canal de un programa que nos guste al buscar una direccin telfono
en el directorio, eso es scanning.
Como Scannear
Fjate en el orden de la informacin.
A diferencia del skimming (del cual hablaremos ms adelante) donde leemos sin tener
informacin previa, el scanning se realiza sobre informacin de la que ya sabemos algo.
En el caso de un directorio telefnico, por ejemplo, ya sabemos el nombre de la persona a
quien buscamos. Tambin sabemos que el directorio est ordenado alfabticamente
segn a los apellidos. Por lo tanto si queremos encontrar el nmero telefnico de Katie
Nahrworld, sabemos que estar ubicado alfabticamente bajo la letra N.
Sea cual sea la referencia que ests usando, puedes estar seguro que seguir un orden
lgico. Con el fin de ahorrar tiempo de lectura y prepararte para scannear, necesitaras
unos minutos para familiarizarte con la organizacin del material. A continuacin hay
algunos tipos comunes de organizacin:
1. Alfabetico: Mucho del material que scannees estar arreglado alfabticamente.
Un diccionario, el ndice de un libro, al igual numerosas que guas estarn
arregladas alfabticamente para una rpida comprensin una fcil localizacin de
la informacin.
2. No alfabetizado: No todo el material est arreglado alfabticamente. El historial
del computador est organizado por mes y ao. Las pginas deportivas estn
organizadas por deportes. El registro de las 40 canciones ms populares estn
ordenadas por la cantidad de copias vendidas de cada cancin.
3. Prosa: Los peridicos y artculos de revistas, enciclopedias, libros de textos,
tienen diferentes tipos de organizacin. Con el fin de scannear rpida y
eficientemente, primero que todo, debes familiarizarte con el material. Tomate
unos minutos para leer los ttulos y subttulos, mira las ilustraciones, y lee el primer

y ltimo prrafo. Esta lectura te dar una idea general del orden de ideas y temas.
Una vez que entiendas esto, tendrs una mejor idea de donde est la informacin
que necesitas.

Ten en mente las palabras clave.

Cuando hayas encontrado la seccin que tenga la informacin que necesitas, ests listo
para comenzar el scanneo. Ten en mente algunas palabras claves o frases asociadas a
los hechos especficos que quieres encontrar. Por ejemplo, cuando scanneas el directorio
telefnico, tu palabra clave ser el apellido de la persona. En el caso de un peridico en la
seccin de deporte, tu palabra clave ser futbol, tabla de posiciones, los nombres de los
equipos y las ciudades a las que representan.
Las palabras clave tambin sern tiles al scannear artculos de revistas y enciclopedias.
Si deseas saber cual es la poblacin de Nueva York, debes ir a la seccin de la
enciclopedia que discute Nueva York. Tus palabras clave sern poblacin, censo,
habitantes y, por supuesto, cualquier nmero.

Scannea rpidamente

Ya que el propsito del scanneo es ubicar informacin rpidamente, es esencial una alta
taza de rapidez. Con las palabras clave en mente, intenta scannear tanto como puedas en
la menor cantidad de tiempo. Recuerda que estas buscando palabras especficas, no te
distraigas con palabras o ideas no relacionadas a la informacin que estas buscando.

Has de la precisin tu meta.

La precisin es tan esencial como la rapidez cuando scanneamos. Ya que ests buscando
informacin especfica, es importante que esta sea especfica.
Una vez que hayas scanneado para encontrar la informacin que necesitas, asegrate de
que esta sea correcta.
Scannear a una alta velocidad es til solo si encuentras precisamente la informacin que
necesitas. Tu meta debe ser el 100 por ciento de precisin.

Exercise 1: Read the following text quickly and answer the questions.
When were X-rays discovered? __________________________________
Who discovered them? _________________________________________
What are the four characteristics of X-rays? ________________________
The Discovery of X-rays ________________________________________
Except for a brief description of the Compton effect, and a few other remarks, we have
postponed the discussion of X-rays until the present chapter because it is particularly
convenient to treat X-ray spectra after treating optical spectra. Although this ordering may
have given the reader a distorted impression of the historical importance of X-rays, this
impression will be corrected shortly as we describe the crucial role played by X-rays in the
development of modern physics.
X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Roentgen while studying the phenomena of gaseous
discharge. Using a cathode ray tube with a high voltage of several tens of kilovolts, he
noticed that salts of barium would fluoresce when brought near the tube, although nothing
visible was emitted by the tube. This effect persisted when the tube was wrapped with a
layer of black cardboard. Roentgen soon established that the agency responsible for the
fluorescence originated at the point at which the stream of energetic electrons struck the
glass wall of the tube. Because of its unknown nature, he gave this agency the name Xrays. He found that X-rays could manifest themselves by darkening wrapped photographic
plates, discharging charged electroscopes, as well as by causing fluorescence in a
number of different substances. He also found that X-rays can penetrate considerable
thicknesses of materials of low atomic number, whereas substances of high atomic
number are relatively opaque. Roentgen took the first steps in identifying the nature of Xrays by using a system of slits to show that (1) they travel in straight lines, and that (2) they
are uncharged, because they are not deflected by electric or magnetic fields.
The discovery of X-rays aroused the interest of all physicists, and many joined in the
investigation of their properties. In 1899 Haga and Wind performed a single slit diffraction
experiment with X-rays which showed that (3) X-rays are a wave motion phenomenon,
and, from the size of the diffraction pattern, their wavelength could be estimated to be 10-8
cm. In 1906 Barkla proved that (4) the waves are transverse by showing that they can be
polarized by scattering from many materials.
There is, of course, no longer anything unknown about the nature of X-rays. They are
electromagnetic radiation of exactly the same nature as visible light, except that their
wavelength is several orders of magnitude shorter. This conclusion follows from comparing
properties 1 through 4 with the similar properties of visible light, but it was actually
postulated by Thomson several years before all these properties were known. Thomson
argued that X-rays are electromagnetic radiation because such radiation would be
expected to be emitted from the point at which the electrons strike the wall of a cathode
ray tube. At this point, the electrons suffer very violent accelerations in coming to a stop
and, according to classical electromagnetic theory, all accelerated charged particles emit
electromagnetic radiations. We shall see later that this explanation of the production of Xrays is at least partially correct.

In common with other electromagnetic radiations, X-rays exhibit particle-like aspects as

well as wave-like aspects. The reader will recall that the Compton effect, which is one of
the most convincing demonstrations of the existence of quanta, was originally observed
with electromagnetic radiation in the X-ray region of wavelengths.

SKIMMING
Skimming significa leer a alta velocidad. Cuando haces skimming, lees para extraer las
ideas principales y algunos detalles. Para hacer skimming de forma rpida, debes dejar
fuera partes de una historia o artculo. Si logras hacerlo bien, esta herramienta te servir
para obtener informacin rpidamente y sers un mejor lector.
1. Skimming versus la lectura tradicional
Es importante notar las diferencias entre hacer skimming y la lectura tradicional. En la
segunda no omites informacin, lees todo lo que hay en el texto. En el skimming, sin
embargo, puedes dejar fuera informacin. En muchos casos puedes dejar fuera tres
cuartos de un prrafo si crees que ya comprendiste la idea.
2. Comprensin
Skimming tambin se diferencia de la lectura tradicional debido a que tu comprensin ser
mucho menor. En la lectura tradicional intentas comprender tanto como puedas a una
velocidad normal. Esto significa que comprenders alrededor de un 70 u 80 por ciento de
lo que leste.
En skimming, tu comprensin ser menor.
El cincuenta por ciento es un promedio aceptable de comprensin, un 60 por ciento es un
poco mejor que el promedio.
3. Velocidad
Tu tasa de skimming debera ser el doble de rpido de lo que lees. Si, por ejemplo, tu
promedio de velocidad de lectura es de 400 palabras por minuto, puedes lograr una tasa
de skimming de 800 palabras por minuto o mejor.

Como hacer skimming

Para comenzar, lee todos los primero prrafos con el fin de identificar el tema del artculo,
el ttulo, un poco del estilo del autor, un poco del punto de vista del auto y as
sucesivamente.
No dejes nada afuera, pero lee a tu mxima velocidad.
Frecuentemente, un auto dar una introduccin en los primeros prrafos; esto ayudar a
darte una visin del artculo.
Una vez que tengas la visin general del artculo, comienza inmediatamente a dejar fuera
material. As pues, en el cuarto o quinto prrafo podrs leer slo las oraciones principales
para extraer la idea principal e ignorar el resto del prrafo. Tal vez leers las oraciones

principales mientras tus ojos saltan a travs del prrafo, eligiendo una o dos palabras
importantes, frases o nmeros.

A veces la idea principal no estar en la primera oracin en el prrafo. In algunos prrafos

la idea principal se ubica en el medio de un prrafo al final. En esos casos, te demorars
un poco en encontrar la oracin principal.
Puede suceder, que un prrafo no tenga una oracin principal; es decir, que la idea no
est resumida en una oracin.
En estos casos pasars ms tiempo leyendo por lo que debers leer lo ms rpido posible
el prrafo siguiente para disminuir tu tiempo de lectura.
Recuerda que los prrafos finales generalmente resumen la historia o artculo, por lo que
vale la pena leerlos detenidamente.

Exercise 2: Read the following text quickly and answer the questions.
Pulp Friction
Every second, one hectare of the world's rainforest is destroyed. That's equivalent to two
football fields. An area the size of New York City is lost every day. In a year, that adds up to
31 million hectares -- more than the land area of Poland. This alarming rate of destruction
has serious consequences for the environment; scientists estimate, for example, that 137
species of plant, insect or animal become extinct every day due to logging. In British
Columbia, where, since 1990, thirteen rainforest valleys have been clearcut, 142 species
of salmon have already become extinct, and the habitats of grizzly bears, wolves and
many other creatures are threatened. Logging, however, provides jobs, profits, taxes for
the govenment and cheap products of all kinds for consumers, so the government is
reluctant to restrict or control it.
Much of Canada's forestry production goes towards making pulp and paper. According to
the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Canada supplies 34% of the world's wood pulp
and 49% of its newsprint paper. If these paper products could be produced in some other
way, Canadian forests could be preserved. Recently, a possible alternative way of
producing paper has been suggested by agriculturalists and environmentalists: a plant
called hemp.
Hemp has been cultivated by many cultures for thousands of years. It produces fibre which
can be made into paper, fuel, oils, textiles, food, and rope. For centuries, it was essential
to the economies of many countries because it was used to make the ropes and cables
used on sailing ships; colonial expansion and the establishment of a world-wide trading
network would not have been feasible without hemp. Nowadays, ships' cables are usually
made from wire or synthetic fibres, but scientists are now suggesting that the cultivation of
hemp should be revived for the production of paper and pulp. According to its proponents,
four times as much paper can be produced from land using hemp rather than trees, and
many environmentalists believe that the large-scale cultivation of hemp could reduce the
pressure on Canada's forests.
However, there is a problem: hemp is illegal in many countries of the world. This plant, so
useful for fibre, rope, oil, fuel and textiles, is a species of cannabis, related to the plant
from which marijuana is produced. In the late 1930s, a movement to ban the drug
marijuana began to gather force, resulting in the eventual banning of the cultivation not
only of the plant used to produce the drug, but also of the commercial fibre-producing
hemp plant. Although both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp in large
quantities on their own land, any American growing the plant today would soon find himself
in prison -- despite the fact that marijuana cannot be produced from the hemp plant, since
it contains almost no THC (the active ingredient in the drug).
In recent years, two major movements for legalization have been gathering strength. One
group of activists believes that ALL cannabis should be legal -- both the hemp plant and
the marijuana plant -- and that the use of the drug marijuana should not be an offense.

They argue that marijuana is not dangerous or addictive, and that it is used by large
numbers of people who are not criminals but productive members of society. They also
point out that marijuana is less toxic than alcohol or tobacco. The other legalization
movement is concerned only with the hemp plant used to produce fibre; this group wants
to make it legal to cultivate the plant and sell the fibre for paper and pulp production. This
second group has had a major triumph recently: in 1997, Canada legalized the farming of
hemp for fibre. For the first time since 1938, hundreds of farmers are planting this crop,
and soon we can expect to see pulp and paper produced from this new source.

a)
b)
c)
d)

1. How many species of salmon have become extinct in BC?

___ 27
___ 31
___ 137
___ 142

a)
b)
c)
d)

2. How much of the world's newsprint paper is supplied by Canada?

___ 31%
___ 49%
___ 34%
___ 19%

a)
b)
c)
d)

3. What equipment on a ship was made from hemp?

___ ropes
___ waterproof cloth
___ engine fuel
___ life rafts

a)
b)
c)
d)

4. What drug can be obtained from a relative of hemp?

___ cocaine
___ heroin
___ amphetamine
___ marijuana

a)
b)
c)
d)

5. Where was hemp farming recently legalized?

___ USA
___ Canada
___ Singapore
___ Netherlands