Week 3
Date: 30 January 2015
Exercise: Paraphrasing and Summarising

1. Title: English as a global language
Original text:
“Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power – the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism.”

Source: Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University

Summary:
Latin was the dominant language in the Roman Empire because Romans were highly influential.


2.
Original text:
“These new reactors would all operate at high temperatures, improving their efficiency. And they would include simplified safety features that do not rely on sophisticated backup systems or experienced operators — all are, in principle, ‘meltdown proof’ and can cool themselves down in the event of an accident with minimal, if any, human intervention. . .. Experts agree that reactors will need to be a lot cheaper to run. And to sway a nuclearaverse public, the next generation of reactors will need to produce much less radioactive waste at terrorist‐proof facilities.”

Source: Declan Butler’s “Nuclear power’s new dawn,” taken from Nature, 20 May, 2004 (Vol. 429, p. 238)

Summary:
(Butler (2014)) suggested that the new reactors would be more efficient and safer. They need to be cost efficient and generate less waste in secured facilities.