Main Ideas & Details
3 Why don’t buildings collapse? How can they stand with all the weight pushing down on them? The reason is the buildings push up as much as other things push down. If your feet push down on the floor, the floor pushes up on your feet. A force cannot get lost, but it must be balanced by an opposite and equal force. If the forces are not balanced, something will be pushed one way or another. And then the buildings may collapse.
Main Ideas & Details
Main Ideas & Details
• Quickly skim the following passage to find out the topic sentences． 1 Under Pinochet，Chilean fruit exports boomed．The country has remained a major supplier of temperate fruits——grapes，nectarines，plums，peaches，pears and apples——to North America and Europe．More than 9 5 per cent of grape imports to the US are from Chile． Highly perishable exports prompted Cardoen Industries，better known for its weapons and explosives， to produce refrigerated containers for sea and air shipments．Almost all Chile’s orchards are less than one hundred miles from a seaport．Over half of Chile’s fruit exports are controlled by five transnational companies．
Main Ideas & Details
• A man cannot, under the Constitution, be tried twice for the same offense. But once he has been convicted and sentenced, then the sentence must be carried out, malfunctioning equipment or no, if the law is to be followed.
Main Ideas & Details
• And the traffic: it is tough, noisy, active; therefore a person feels as if he takes his life in his hands when he crosses the street. Of course, there is always the presence of the lake, the vast lake that shines like an ocean of silver. Something about the lake each time it spreads out around a turn on Lakeshore Drive says, “Hello, it’s good to see you again.” Chicago is a fine, friendly city.
Main Ideas & Details
• It is widely believed that if an electric chair or gas chamber should fail to operate, or the rope breaks during a hanging, the prisoner must go free because he can not twice be put in jeopardy for the same offence. But this is a confusion between the trial and the sentence.
Main Ideas & Details
2 Obesity is a huge problem in many Western countries and one which now attracts considerable medical interest as researchers take up the challenge to find a “cure” for the common condition of being seriously overweight．However，rather than take responsibility for their weight，obese people have often sought solace in the excuse that they have a slow metabolism，a genetic hiccup which sentences more than half the Australian population (63％ of men and 47％ of women) to a life of battling with their weight．The argument goes like this：it doesn’t matter how little they eat，they gain weight because their bodies break down food and turn it into energy more slowly than those with a so-called normal metabolic rate．
Basic Structure in Writing
Thesis Statement
Topic Sentence 1
Body
Topic Sentence 2
Topic Sentence 3
Conclusion
Main Ideas & Details
As the sun went down, the scene from the bridge was beautiful. It has been a perfect day. Up and down on either side of New York the bright blue water lay gently rippling, while to the south it merged into the great bay and disappeared toward the sea. The vast cities spread away on both sides. Beyond rolled the hilly country until it was lost in the mists of the sea. All up and down the harbor the shipping, piers and buildings were still gaily decorated.
Main Ideas & Details
• Although the buildings are tall, none of them blots out the sky. People rush about as in New York, but someone always stops to answer a question about directions. Often a sudden smile will flash from the crowds of str It is a smile of welcome and of happiness at the same time.
Main Ideas & Details
4 The idea of birthstones came from old superstitions about precious stones. Certain stones were thought to bring health and long life. Others were supposed to make the wearer brave and strong. Some other stones would protect you from fire and lightning. By wearing stone for their month of birth, people thought that they would have special luck or qualities.
Main Ideas & Details
• The main idea of a passage is the thought that is present from the beginning to the end. In a well-written paragraph, most of the sentences support the main idea. • A detail is an important or specific piece of information that can be found in a text. Details are often facts and are used to support main points.