8. Reading text- skim and scan
• Telling fortunes
•
• Humans have always been curious about the future and have tried to find
ways of glimpsing it. In ancient Rome, priests predicted upcoming events by
analyzing the internal organs of chickens. Malay bomohs use candles,
leaves, and a customer’s personal possessions to foresee events in
someone’s life. In the United States and elsewhere, travelers known as
Roma also called Gypsies read tarot cards, look into crystal balls, and
examine the lines on peoples’ palms.
•
• When an attempt to foresee the future has a religious purpose, it is usually
called divination or prophecy. The diviner is believed to have special contact
with spirits or gods who reveal upcoming events. Such beliefs are not
limited to small, local religious. Even the largest worldwide religions base
some of their teachings on predictions about the future- although the very
same religious may warn their followers not to believe in fortune-tellers.
•
•
9. • Other forms of fortune-telling are done just for
entertainment. At a carnival or a country fair, someone might
visit a fortune-teller’s booth just for the fun of hearing a
prediction about his or her future. A performer at a night club
or at a party mighty call people up from the audience
member does not expect the prediction to come true. The
fortune-teller probably doesn’t either.
• A third kind of fortune-telling is probably the most common.
It is not related to a religion, but it it is not just a joke either.
The customer, the fortune-teller, or both is take it somewhat
seriously. A belief in astrology- a system of predicting one’s
future by studying the positions of the stars and planets- falls
into this half-serious category. A person who otherwise laughs
at fortune-telling might know his astrological sign Libra or
Taurus for example, know what characteristics are associated
with it, and read a short prediction called a horoscope in the
daily newspaper about what to expect each day.
•
10. • Fortune-telling survives because even science-oriented modern humans are
willing to think non-rationally sometimes. Non- rational means “ not based
on logical thought.” Rational thought involves finding observable causes for
what we experience. Imagine, for example , that a glass of water tips over
and spills. You did not see the glass fall, but nearby you see your cat. A
rational explanation might be that the cat knocked the glass over. A non-rational
explanation might be that an invisible angry spirit in the water
caused the glass to tip.
•
• Why is the cat explanation more rational than the one involving a spirit?
Both explanations require a guess about the actual event. You did not see
the cat knock the glass over any more than you saw a spirit do so. But the
explanation involving the cat is more rational because it is more closely tied
to things that can be seen, heard, or otherwise observed not just by one
person but by many. The explanation involving the cat becomes even more
rational if someone else confirms that the cat is really there. If you saw an
angry spirit in the glass and two or three other people saw the same thing,
that explanation would start to seem rational, too.
•
•
11. • Fortune-telling techniques often involves objects- such
as cards, an arrangement of sticks, a crystal ball, or tea
leaves in a cup- that makes the process seem
observable. A fortune-telling reading the lines on some
ones palm might say, “ Ah, a long life line. Very good.”
The customer sees the same lines the fortune teller
sees. Giving meaning to the lines, however, is not
rational. There is no observable connection between
the length of the life line and the length of a p person’s
life. If such a connection were ever proved, palm
reading would lose its aura of its mystery. It would soon
be done by doctors not fortune tellers, and would
probably not be s much fun anymore.
12. Fill in the blanks.
believe in connection contact entertaining observable
patterns predicting rationally science seriously
Humans naturally wonder about the future and try to find ways of
[1]__________ it. Some religions believe special people have
[2]__________ with spirits that tell them about the future. Other
kinds of fortune telling are just for fun, a way of [3]_________
people . astrology is one kind of fortune telling that a large
number of people take half-[4] __________. They claim not to
really [5]__________ it, but they know their science and they read
horoscopes often. A true belief in fortune telling requires a person
to think non- [6]____________ . a surprising number f people are
willing to do so, even in societies that value [7]________. Rational
thought involves finding [8]_________ causes for events. To make
their practices more believable, fortune tellers often use objects
that have observable [9]______. Any one, for example, can see the
lines on a person’s palm. The process becomes non rational when
the fortune teller sees there is a [10]_________ between the lines
and the person’s future.
13. Fill in the blanks with the best words.
Accurate fake skeptical supernatural corroborate
visions
1.A fortune teller pretended that he could predict my future,
but I knew he was a ___________.
2. Many people believe that there is _________ world beyond
what we can see.
3. Sometimes, a single observer can make mistakes. Accurate
observations depends on having at least one more person
_________ that something exists.
4. I am very ___________ about fortune telling. I don’t believe
things are true unless I can observe them myself.
5. Religious fortune tellers often say that they have seen
___________ in which the future is made clear.
6. Even today, some people are amazed by certain ________
predictions made by a man called Nostradamus.
14. Final assessment
Answer the questions
1. What kind of fortune telling was practiced in the
past, but no longer happens now?
2. Why is it non-rational to claim that spirits made a
glass fall over?
