Skill-related Reading
Reading Skill（IV）：Identifying the Author s Purpose
Why do you think the author write this piece？When an author writes，he always has a purpose in mind．An author’s purpose is his intent in writing．Identifying the author’s purpose helps readers to understand the content and ideas presented in the text better．However，readers should first learn about two types of writing：
1．Non-fiction：Non-fiction is about real facts or events rather than imagined things．Nonfiction texts usually include histories，biographies，newspaper and magazine articles，as well as how-to manuals．Non-fiction texts may be informative，persuasive，descriptive or instructive．Through this type of writing，the author may inform，advise，direct or illustrate．
2．Fiction：Fiction is about imaginary people or events such as short stories or novels．This type of writing is usually written to entertain，to express one’s feelings and emotions，or to meet the reader’s aesthetic needs．
Reading effectively means recognizing the author’s purpose—which may not always be as easy as it sounds．Authors may have more than one purpose for writing．Authors sometimes disguise their aims：a text that appears to have factual information may really be full of emotional appeals meant to urge you to take in the writer’s point of view；or an apparently serious piece of persuasion may in fact be a humorous text intended mainly to amuse you．There are also times when the question of whether a writer is serious may depend largely on each reader’s individual philosophy．
So，when reading texts，one should ask himself the following questions to help identify the author’s purpose．
Is the author trying to inform the reader about something？
Is the author trying to explain something？
Is the author trying to persuade the reader？
Does the author have a hidden agenda？
Identifying the author’s purpose is an important part of reading comprehension．That’s because knowing why an author wrote a text is the key to knowing what to remember when you’ve read the last page．It’s sort of like setting a purpose for comprehension．In general，there are three basic reasons for an author to write something：to persuade their readers，to inform their readers，or to entertain their readers，which can be remembered as PIE acronym：
（1）To persuade（both in fiction and non-fiction texts）—to argue a point or try to convince，like in an editorial or advertisement；
（2）To inform（usually in non-fiction texts）—to present facts and information；or to explain，like in a textbook or news story；
（3）To entertain（usually in fiction texts）—to amuse readers in some way，like in a poem or funny essay．
When authors write fiction，they tend to include a message or life lesson（e．g．lying gets you into more trouble than it’s worth；everyone can learn from their mistakes），then the author is usually trying to persuade readers to believe that lesson is true．But sometimes fiction doesn’t have a clear message or moral．Its purpose can just be to entertain readers with amusing characters and funny situations．
Nonfiction，on the other hand，tends to present facts．It is usually written to inform the reader about a topic by presenting a series of facts or information．Although sometimes a nonfiction book will try to persuade the reader to do something with the information（e．g．help save an endangered animal；recycle）．
There are some clues that effective readers can look for to help them identify what kind of writing they’re dealing with：
（1）Persuasive writing features emotional appeals：opinions and arguments（which may be presented as if they were facts，so be careful！）；rhetorical questions；evaluating language（good／bad，right／wrong，horrifying／wonderful，etc．）and judgmental language（must，should，had better，etc．）．
（2）Informational writing features facts and evidence，not opinions or value judgments．It often contains dates，statistics or other figures，and／or quotes from experts or witnesses．Depending on the subject，the language may include technical jargon，but the vocabulary and sentence structure are often quite simple．
（3）Text written mainly to entertain can，of course，greatly vary—but they often use rather informal language，simple sentence structure，dialogues，puns and／or figures of speech．
＼Reading Practice＼(https://www.daowen.com)
Ⅰ．Directions：Figure out the author’s purpose for writing each of the following．Tell if the author’s purpose is to persuade，to inform or to entertain．
A newspaper article about a city’s water supply．
The author’s purpose is to_________________________________________________________．
An advertisement for laundry detergent．
The author’s purpose is to_________________________________________________________．
A humorous narrative about a personal experience．
The author’s purpose is to_________________________________________________________．
Ⅱ．Directions：Read the following passage and follow the step-by-step strategy to figure out an author’s purpose．
Step-by-step strategy
1．The author wrote this mostly to____________________________________________________
2．List several important details from the selection．
____________________________________________________
3．Which details give the most important clue to the author’s purpose？Explain your answer．
____________________________________________________
Can Men and Women Be“Just Friends”？
Can heterosexual men and women ever be“just friends”？Daily experience suggests that non-romantic friendships between males and females are not only possible，but common—men and women live，work，and play side-by-side，and generally seem to be able to avoid spontaneously sleeping together．However，the possibility remains that this apparently platonic coexistence is merely a facade．
In order to investigate the viability of truly platonic opposite-sex friendships—a topic that has been explored more on the silver screen than in the science lab—researchers brought 88 pairs of undergraduate opposite-sex friends into a science lab．In order to ensure honest responses，the researchers not only followed standard protocols regarding anonymity and confidentiality，but also required both friends to agree—verbally，and in front of each other—to refrain from discussing the study，even after they had left the testing facility．These friendship pairs were then separated，and each member of each pair was asked a series of questions related to his or her romantic feelings toward the friend with whom they were taking the study．
The results suggest large gender differences in how men and women experience opposite-sex friendships．Men were much more attracted to their female friends than vice versa．Men were also more likely than women to think that their opposite-sex friends were attracted to them—a clearly misguided belief．Basically，males assumed that any romantic attraction they experienced was mutual，and were blind to the actual level of romantic interest felt by their female friends．Women，too，were blind to the mindset of their oppositesex friends；because females generally were not attracted to their male friends，they assumed that this lack of attraction was mutual．As a result，men consistently overestimated the level of attraction felt by their female friends and women consistently underestimated the level of attraction felt by their male friends．
These results suggest that men，relative to women，have a particularly hard time being“just friends”．What makes these results particularly interesting is that they were found within particular friendships（remember，each participant was only asked about the specific，platonic friend with whom they entered the lab）．This is not just a bit of confirmation for stereotypes about sex-hungry males and naive females；it is direct proof that two people can experience the exact same relationship in radically different ways．
So，can men and women be“just friends”？If we all thought like women，almost certainly．But if we all thought like men，we’d probably be facing a serious overpopulation crisis．
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