Skimming for Specific Facts
As one of the reading techniques, skimming means reading over a passage quickly and superficially for what you really need. From time to time you don't have to read a passage very carefully from the beginning to the end. For example, when you read a newspaper, you may just want to know how much the price of milk has been cut. You could then find the right page and skim over just for that particular bit of information.
For skimming, you should first have a clear idea about what information you want, and then try to find the clue or the key words in the passage which are related to the required information. Alternatively, you may skim over the passage for the facts you are required to find. Either way, skimming for specific facts will remind you of how to focus on certain facts you need from the passage by reading fast with a particular purpose.
The following are three short paragraphs taken from Passage A.
Example 1
Directions: Try to skim for how Juan Ponce de Leon died.
Are you hoping for a long life? Thought so. Are you looking forward to growing old? Thought not. Men have wanted one without the other for thousands of years, and have invariably been disappointed. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was more famous for his search for the Fountain of Youth than for discovering Florida in 1513. He never did find the spring that the natives had told him of, and perished from a poisoned Indian arrow a few years later. (Para. 1)
Example 2
Directions: Skim for what a healthy lifestyle can be.
The current emphasis in age research is on finding ways to ensure that the rising number of people who achieve the maximum lifespan do so in optimum health, not just after extra years of chronic illness and decay. Much of the advice handed out is simple common sense: adhere to a healthy lifestyle, eat and drink in moderation, do not smoke, take regular exercise but don't overdo it. These rules are often ignored, sometimes without apparent ill effect. In a speech at his 70th birthday celebration, Mark Twain outlined his own survival strategy:...... (Para. 5)
Example 3
Directions: Skim for whether Mark Twain liked exercise or not.
I have made it a rule to go to bed when there wasn't anybody left to sit up with; and I have made it a rule to get up when I had to. In the matter of diet, I have been persistent in eating the things that didn't agree with me, until one or the other of us got the best of it. I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. As for drinking, when others drink I like to help. I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any. Exercise I despise. (Para. 6)
