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UNIT 1PRESERVATIONLEARNING OBJECTIVESKey Reading Skill

Identifying an argument; identifying
supporting details

Using your knowledge; previewing;
understanding key vocabulary; reading
Additional Reading Skills for main ideas; reading for details;
annotating; making inferences; skimming;
identifying purpose; synthesizing
Language Development

Time expressions; compound adjectives

ACTIVATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Work with a partner. Discuss the questions.
1Do you like to visit old buildings or museums that show something
about our past? Why or why not?

2

Do you like looking at old family photos or old letters and postcards?
Who keeps these things? How do they keep them (in photo albums,in a shoebox, in boxes in the attic)?

3

How important is it to preserve the past: buildings, records, art?
Is preserving the past more important than creating new things?

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Jessica Williams
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READING 1
PREPARING TO READ
1

USING YOUR KNOWLEDGE You are going to read an article about storing records. Look at thelist of information and records—in text, audio, and visual form—about your life. Add
four more examples of your own. Then check where you store each type of thing.
Compare answers with a partner.

in a box ordrawer

on my phone/tabletin the cloudI throw themaway.

old school
records
family photosbank statements
selfies fromvacation
medical records
receipts frommajor purchases
music

2

PREVIEWINGWork with a partner. Discuss the questions.

1

Think about items in the chart in Exercise 1. How long will records last? Will yourgrandchildren be able to access them? Why or why not?

2

Look at the title of the article on pages 18–19. What does the word digital mean
there? Give some examples of digital devices that you use. What are somedigital devices that are no longer widely used?

3The Dark Ages is a period of European history from about 500 CE to 1000 CE.
How do you think it relates to the article?

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READING 1
3

UNDERSTANDING KEY VOCABULARY

1Read the sentences and write the words in bold next to thedefinitions.
1The designers of the new phone have made a deliberate effort to make the deviceeasy for anyone to use.

2

It is a common practice to name a baby after a parent or grandparent.

3

I am upset because my computer crashed and I have not been able to recover thefiles on it.

4

We can’t plan for everything, so we will have to handle problems as they emerge.

5Your computer files are vulnerable if you don’t protect them with a strong password.

6

All of the devices have the capacity to update information over Wi-Fi.

7

Problems with security prompted software designers to make major changes to the newversion of the program.

8

The closet was filled with boxes of memorabilia from my childhood and my parents’early years of marriage.

a(adj) not well protected; able to be harmedb(n) a regular or widespread habit or behaviorc(v) to cause to do somethingd(v) to get something backe(n) abilityf(adj) intentionalg(n) a collection of items connected to a person or eventh(v) to become known

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ARE WE LIVING
IN THE DIGITALDARK AGES?
1 Imagine these scenarios: (1) 2040: A boxof memorabilia, including ﬂoppy discs andVHS tapes1, is found in the attic of an oldhouse with a label that says, “Records andearly videos of Bill Gates (1975–1985).” (2)2050: You ﬁnd an envelope labeled “bankrecords” in your grandmother’s desk. Inside
the envelope, there is an old CD marked
with the date 1998, your great-grandfather’sname, and the words “all overseas bankaccounts.”
2 If these stories were really to happen, thepeople who found these items would be very
excited—at least at ﬁrst. Their excitement
would be quickly followed by frustration
because it would be very difﬁcult for themto access the information on the discs andtapes. Even if the records were still in goodcondition, it would be very hard to ﬁnd adevice that could read them. Compare these
discoveries to one that might have occurred
around the turn of the twentieth century: abox of old letters and photographs on a highshelf at the back of a closet. The informationthese items contain would be immediately
accessible because you would only need
your eyes.
3 Computers and digital technology havevastly expanded our capacity to store allkinds of information, but how long will ouraccess to this stored information last? In fact,
the people who found the discs and tapes inour scenarios would be lucky because discs
and tapes are physically real. Informationon the Web is much more vulnerable; it iscompletely digital and can disappear in a
ﬂash. This is a problem that began to worry
technology experts in the early 2000s. They
became concerned that, without better waysof preserving information, future generations
might look back on our times as the “digitaldark ages.” If current practices continue,
future generations may not have access tothe digital record of our lives and our world.
4 Vint Cerf, a vice president at Google,
argues that this could happen if we do nottake steps quickly. He uses the term “bitrot” to describe how our digital records
may slowly but surely become inaccessible.
In our scenarios, for example, we may nolonger have the devices, such as video andCD players, to access the records. Most
software and apps that were used to create
documents and websites ten or twenty years
ago are already out of date, and in anothersixty years they may not even be available.
The problem is particularly challenging withinteractive apps and websites. We can read
letters from long ago, but will we be able
to read a Twitter feed or access a Snapchat
exchange a hundred years from now?

ﬂoppy discs and VHS tapes (n) early forms of electronic media storage

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READING 1

1Information on theWeb ... can disappear
in a flash.

5 This problem has prompted
technology experts like computerscientist Mahadev Satyanarayanan
of Carnegie Mellon University to takeaction. He has found a way to store
everything that is needed to interpreta record—the record itself as well as
the original operating system andthe application it used—all together
in the cloud. Using this approach, hehas been able to recover and preserve
digital records that might otherwise havebeen lost forever.
6 Both Cerf and Satyanarayananstress the importance of deliberatepreservation. In the past, you could
throw a bunch of photos into a box
without having to decide what tosave and what to throw away. With
digital records, however, you need tomake an active decision about whatto keep. Satyanarayanan says it is likelythat important records—government
documents, big news stories, etc.—willbe transferred to new forms of storage
technology as they emerge. It is therecords of everyday life, the ones wedo not yet know we will value, that may
disappear into the digital dark ages.

Physical Storage Media(with approximate date of ﬁrst use)
ﬂash drives
1982 CEpunch cards
1877 CE
paper
3000 BCE
pictographs

1999 CECDs
1890 CEphonographs
100 BCEpapyrus40,000 BCE

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WHILE READINGSKILLSIDENTIFYING AN ARGUMENT
Most academic texts put forth an argument (or claim). It is important to be able toidentify the central claim in a text and then to locate the evidence that the writeruses to support that argument.

4READING FOR MAIN IDEAS

1

2
5

Read the article on pages 18–19, and complete the tasks.

Which sentence best captures the writer’s central claim?
aDigital technology is not keeping up with the need to save records.

b

It would be easier to keep records if we made a physical copy of everything.

c

We are not preserving our digital records, so our history may be lost.

dAs our capacity to store records increases, we have to throw morethings away.

Underline the sentence in the article that expresses this claim.

Read the article again. Answer the questions withinformation from the article.
READING FOR DETAILS1

The writer begins with two examples to illustrate the central claim.
What are they?

2

3

Reread Paragraph 4. What two problems with our current practices does
Vint Cerf point out?
aPhysical records take up much more space than digital records.

bThe devices necessary to read our records will not be available.

cSoftware used to create applications goes out of date quickly.

dWe may not have access to the cloud in the future.

e

It is not possible to preserve interactive applications such as
Snapchat and Twitter.

Where does Satyanarayanan suggest keeping digital records?

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READING 1

61

ANNOTATING Write T (true), F (false), or DNS (does not say) next to the statements.
Highlight the information in the article that helps you decide the answers, and correct
the false statements.

1

Some early records of Bill Gates were recently found.

2

The capacity to store a lot of digital records does not guarantee future accessto them.

3

Maintaining access to out-of-date interactive applications is particularly difficult.

4

Google is working on this problem and will reveal their solution soon.

5

Satyanarayanan has been working on this problem but has not been able tosolve it.

6

All government records are currently stored in the cloud.

READING BETWEEN THE LINES
7

MAKING INFERENCESWork with a partner. Discuss the questions.

1

In paragraph 1, the writer states, “the people who found these items would be very
excited—at least at first.” Why would they be excited?

2

Why does the writer make a comparison to the Dark Ages?

3

What do you think the term bit rot means? Think about the meaning of a bit in thedigital world.

4

Why is it more difficult to preserve a conversation thread on Twitter than in a letter?

CRITICAL THINKING
8 Work with a partner. Discuss the questions.
UNDERSTANDAPPLYEVALUATE

What is a time capsule?
What is it used for?

Have you ever found a boxof memorabilia? Describe
the experience.

Do you think it isimportant to save recordsof everyday life? Why or
why not?

COLLABORATION
9 A Work in a small group. Imagine that your school is putting up a new building andwants to place a time capsule in its walls. Make a list of five things that represent
today’s student life and school spirit to contribute to the time capsule.
B

Present your list to the class, and explain your reasons for choosing each item.

C As a class, decide on five things to contribute to the time capsule.

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READING 2
PREPARING TO READ
1

Read the sentences and choose the best definition
for each vocabulary item in bold.
UNDERSTANDING KEY VOCABULARY

1The store that was once here closed five years ago, and the building has beenvacant ever since.
a2456cnot expensivebaveragecaconstruction companies

bcompanies that make a profit from buying and selling landccompanies that buy land and build on it

empty

small but comfortable

The old building is falling apart, so the renovation is going to be very complex
and expensive.
athe replacement of an old building with a new oneb

the repair of a building to bring it into good conditionc

investment of money in an old building

The athletic facility at the university has a new ice-skating rink.
aa building for a special purposeba fieldca place where people can meet

The government maintains that it has no money to pay for any new social programs.
continues to claimb

finally understandscdeeply regrets

The patient’s condition has deteriorated rapidly. Doctors are doing their best tosave her.
a8for sale

Developers are going to build a shopping mall just outside of the city.

a7b

We are looking for an affordable apartment, but everywhere we look the rents
are too high.
a3busygrown worsebstabilizedcstrengthened

After a period of adjustment, most immigrants find jobs and prosper in theirnew country.
astaybare successfulc

are optimistic

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READING 2
2

USING YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1

Read the fact box and then answer the questions.
Palace of the Governors• The most expensive renovation in history –Experts disagree. Perhaps St. Paul’s Cathedral
in London (about $64 million dollars;completed 2011). Perhaps the Pentagon inArlington, VA, USA ($700 million; completed2011), but much of the work was not renovation
but complete rebuilding of sections destroyed
on September 11, 2001.

• The oldest operating hospital in theUnited States – The Pennsylvania Hospital,Philadelphia, PA; built 1751; most recentrenovation—a new roof (still being installed)

3• The oldest operating public building in theUnited States – Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe,
New Mexico; built between 1601 and 1618

• The average cost of remodeling a kitchen in theUnited States –about $20,000

1

Why might experts disagree about the most expensive renovation in history?

2

How was part of the Pentagon destroyed in 2001?

3

What is the difference between renovating and remodeling?

SKIMMING

Skim the texts on pages 24–26 and answer the questions.

1

What kind of texts are these?

2

Who is the intended audience?

3

Who wrote them?

4

What do you think they will be about?

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