Activity: Magazine Reading Exercise

Directions: Read this excerpt from an article in TIME Magazine and answer questions about it.

 

Magazine Excerpt

A new Time/CNN poll finds that fewer than one-third of Americans expect the economy to improve in the next year. It is not just that we have confronted in WorldCom the worst case of fraud in U.S. corporate history; today the bluest of chips, from Merck to General Electric, are being challenged about their bookkeeping. The perception of deception is so widespread, the stakes so high and the costs so great that investors are choosing to forfeit a game they now think is rigged. © TIME 2002 by TIME Inc. Reprinted by Permission Reproduction of multiple copies of the article is strictly prohibited. Users must request permission directly from TIME.

What was the state of the American economy at the time this article was written? Does the reader need to know this in order to comprehend the passage?

What effect does the word "fewer" have on the meaning of the sentence and passage? What if the phrasing were "nearly one-third of Americans . . . " or "more than 30%" rather than "fewer than one-third"?

What is the effect of the word "just" in this clause? What does it suggest regarding how the information to follow (in the second clause of the sentence) compares with the information relayed in the first clause?

What is WorldCom and what fraud is associated with it? Can this be inferred from context, or does the reader need to know this information before reading?

 

Part #3
today the bluest of chips, from Merck to General Electric, are being challenged about their bookkeeping.

On what more common phrase is the unusual phrase "the bluest of chips" based? What does "the bluest of chips" refer to? Do you know how the phrase "blue chip" came to have its current meaning with respect to stocks? Does the reader need to know this in order to understand the passage?

Why does the author write "the bluest of chips" rather than "the bluest chips"? Are there some words missing from the phrase "the bluest of chips" that the reader has to infer in order to grasp its full meaning? What would you add to the phrase to make it more explicit? What effect would your phrase have on the passage?

Why does the author use two rhyming words in the phrase "perception of deception"? What effect would there be on the passage if some sort of alternate phrasing had been used (for example "perception of dishonesty" or "suspicion of deception")?

What is the "game" that investors are choosing to "forfeit"? What does it mean to forfeit a game? What does it mean for a game to be "rigged"? Why does the author describe the activities of investors metaphorically, in terms pertaining to games, rather than in a more literal manner?
What word is implied but not directly stated in the phrases "the stakes so high" and "the costs so low"? Why wasn't the word used?

What activity is the phrase "high stakes" usually associated with? What activity is associated with "high stakes" in this passage? What is the effect of using a phrase normally associated with one activity to describe a different activity?   next