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


CHAPTER 2 - Internet Hoaxes

Vocabulary Comprehension - Definitions

A. Match each word with its definition. The words in bold are from the passage.

1. obtain a. the price for a ride on something
2. fare b. very bad
3. immense c. to trick or deceive someone
4. hoax d. a pieces of false information meant to trick people
5. shock e. special advertising to help sell something
6. terrible f. to get something
7. fool g. very big
8. promotion h. something that is unpleasant, upsetting, or very surprising

B. Complete the following sentences using the words in bold from A. You might have to change the form of the word.

  1. The man many people into giving him money by pretending he needed it for his bus home.
  2. He must have my password in order to get into my email account.
  3. There was a(n) thunderstorm after a week of no rain.
  4. There's a at the store where you can buy two shampoos for the price of one.

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 Comprehension - Check Your Understanding Chapter - 2: Vocabulary Skill - Nouns That Are Also Verbs

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