Page 19 - SpringBoard_CloseReading_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

Close Reading of argumentative nonfiction Texts (continued)
Industrial Revolution: a period of social and economic change, circa 1760–1840, marking the transition from hand- production methods to machines
nuclear: power from nuclear reactions
precedence: of more importance
bureaucracy: a large group of people running a government who were not
elected abhorrence: hatred
by President Ronald Reagan, June 8, 1982
1 Wehavenotinheritedaneasyworld.IfdevelopmentsliketheIndustrialRevolution, which began here in England, and the gifts of science and technology have made life much easier for us, they have also made it more dangerous. There are threats now to our freedom, indeed to our very existence, that other generations could never even have imagined.
2 There is first the threat of global war. No President, no Congress, no Prime Minister, no Parliament can spend a day entirely free of this threat. And I don’t have to tell you that in today’s world the existence of nuclear weapons could mean, if not the extinction of mankind, then surely the end of civilization as we know it.
3 At the same time there is a threat posed to human freedom by the enormous power of the modern state. History teaches the dangers of government that overreaches — political control taking precedence over free economic growth, secret police, mindless bureaucracy, all combining to stifle individual excellence and personal freedom.
4 Now, I’m aware that among us here and throughout Europe there is legitimate disagreement over the extent to which the public sector should play a role in a nation’s economy and life. But on one point all of us are united — our abhorrence of
ACTIvITy 1
Guided Practice
You will read the text in this activity at least three times, focusing on a different purpose for each reading.
First Reading: First Impressions
Read the following passage silently. Your focus for this first reading should be on understanding the meaning of the passage. As you read, practice diffusing the words you may not know by replacing them with synonyms and/or definitions for the underlined words. Use the definitions and synonyms to the right of the paragraphs to help your understanding.
From
“Address British to Members
of the
Parliament”
18 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 7
speech excerpts
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