Active Skills for Reading 1 (Unit 12: The Power of Stories)


CHAPTER 2 - Internet Hoaxes

Reading Comprehension - Check Your Understanding

A. Choose the correct answers for the following questions.

The purpose of this passage is to ______.


The New Zealand Air hoax was based on ______.


The crocodile in the photograph was from ______.


Some people believed they could make money by ______.


B. Read the following sentences. Choose true (T) or false (F).

According to the passage,... T/F
1. people could save money on flights if their weight was less than the cost of a ticket.
2. the city of New Orleans was really flooded.
3. a huge crocodile ate several people in New Orleans.
4. someone really received $800 for sending emails

C. Discuss -the following questions with a partner.

  1. Do you think the New Zealand Air hoax was mean? Why, or why not?

    Answer

    Some may think the hoax was simply harmless fun. Others may feel it was quite mean because, in a way, it was poking fun at those who are overweight. If true, the promotion would have financially penalized overweight people, which is discrimination.

  2. How can you tell if a story or ·an email offer is a hoax?

    Answer

    The main principle is that if something sounds too good or too crazy to be true, it probably is a hoax, and should be checked out.

Internet Hoaxes

The Internet is a fast and convenient way of sending and obtaining information, but it's also a very easy way to spread misinformation. And new hoaxes pop up almost every day about anything from shocking celebrity deaths to mystery objects in foods. Here are three examples of Internet hoaxes.

Pay what you weigh

On April 1, 2011, New Zealand Air began advertising a one-day fare sale-pay what you weigh. The airline's website offered visitors a chance to pay a dollar amount that was equal to their weight in kilograms. The idea was "more weight = more fuel = more cost" and many people believed it. The promotion brought thousands of visitors to the company's website and became a popular news story. In the end, though, the promotion turned out to be an April Fool's1 joke.

Croc on the loose

While the streets of New Orleans were still flooded after a terrible hurricane, a frightening email was sent around the Internet. It included a photograph of an immense crocodile over five meters long. According to the message, it had been swimming around the flooded city eating people. It was later discovered that the photographs of the crocodile were of one that was caught in the Congo2 years before.

Earn money through emails

The following email hoax fooled many people. The sender claims that a large company will pay you to send their email to as many people as possible. For every person that you send the email to, the company promises you will receive $5; for every person that person sends it to, you'll get $3; and for every third person those people send it to, you will be paid $1. To make the lie even more believable, the sender says that at first he thought it was a hoax, but the company soon sent him $800.

1 April Fool's Day is celebrated as a day when people play tricks and hoaxes on each other.
2 The Congo is an area in Africa.

Chapter - 2: Reading Skill - Identifying Cause and Effect Chapter - 2: Vocabulary Comprehension - Definitions

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