Transcript REPORT TEXT ELEPHANTS

REPORT
SOCIAL FUNCTION :
To describe the way things are, with
reference to a range of natural, man-made
and social phenomena in our environment
SUB-TYPES OF REPORT TEXT
1.
2.
3.
4.
DESCRIPTIVE REPORT
TAXONOMIC REPORT
CONTRAST / COMPARE REPORT
HISTORICAL REPORT
GENERIC STRUCTURE
► General
Classification : tells what the
phenomenon under discussion is.
► Description
: parts, qualities, habits or
behaviors, if living; uses, if non-natural.
SIGNIFICANT
LEXICOGRAMMATICAL
FEATURES
 Focus on generic participants
 Use of Relational Processes to state
what is and that which it is.
 Use of simple present tense (unless
extinct).
 No temporal sequence.
REPORT TEXT
ELEPHANTS
Elephants are the largest land animals in the
world. Elephants are mammals. They have several
distinctive features aside from their large side. Their
long trunk is used for breathing, smelling, touching,
feeding, drinking, lifting heavy objects, and
trumpeting. No other animal has a nose with so
many uses.
Elephants are equally remarkable for their
tusks. They are enormously long teeth that continue
to grow throughout the elephant’s life. They are
made of bony material called ivory. Elephants have
always been hunted for their tusks. The ivory is
carved or shaped into sculptures, ornaments, and
decoration.
Adult elephants have little hair on their thick,
wrinkled skin, but their tails are tipped with wiry hair,
and their eyelashes can be over 12 cm long.
Elephants need a great deal of food. A big male may
eat up to 225 kg of plant material, such as leaves, bark,
fruit, and grasses, a day, and drink between 75 – 150 l of
water.
Most elephants live in herds of 10 to 50 animals.
The female carries her unborn young for 20 to 22
months before birth, the longest period for any
mammal. Several females usually help the mother with
the baby during and after birth. The baby needs nursing
for two or more years. An elephant can live 60 or 70
years.
Elephants have been tamed and used to serve the
needs of people for at least 5,000 years. Their size and
strength have been used to lift heavy objects, carry
heavy loads, and even lead armies into battle. Killing
elephants for their tusks is now forbidden, but illegal
hunting still takes place. Also, human settlement leaves
elephants with less space to roam.
DOGS
Dogs are members of the Canidae family of mammals. Most of
them are good runners, with muscular, deep-chested bodies and
slender legs.
They have four toes on each paw, plus a thumblike toe on each
forepaw and sometimes on the rear feet as well. They walk on their
toes, which are well padded. Dogs have 42 teeth – some for gripping
and tearing flesh, some for cutting, and others for grinding food.
Dogs have superb hearing and fairly good eyesight, but their
keenest sense is smell, which can detect the faintest scent days or
even weeks after its source has gone. Dogs use their voices regularly.
They bark to raise an alarm, to show aggression or fear, or as a cry for
help. Growling usually means “stay away” or “I’m going to bite”. They
may also howl, whimper, or whine to show their feelings.
The dogs we know as pets are descended from wolves. They were
domesticated, or tamed and raised by people, more than 12,000 years
ago. Today dogs depend on people for food, shelter, and safety. They
give a great deal in return. Some are trained to guard property. Others
herd farm animals, work with hunters, sniff out bombs or drugs at
airports, or search for survivors at disaster scenes. Specially trained
dogs assist people who cannot see or hear, or who use a wheelchair.
SNAKES
Snakes are long, slender reptiles without legs.
They do not have movable eyelids, which gives them
a glassy, unblinking stare. Most of them live in the
warmer parts of the world, although some, such as the
rattlesnake, are found as far north as the Artic Circle.
Snakes have two main methods of killing their prey
– constriction and poisoning. Constrictors coil around
their prey and suffocate it. Venomous snakes produce
venom in special glands and inject it into the victim
through a grooved or hollow fang.
Many people think that snakes have slimy skins.
However, a snake, like most reptiles, is dry to touch. A
snake’s skin does not grow with the animal and has to
be shed at regular intervals.
Snakes are often hunted for their attractively patterned
skins, which are made into purses, shoes, and belts.
They are also captured for the pet and zoo trade.
TURTLES
Turtles are reptiles with hard, bony shells that
live in water. They range in size from tiny bog
turtles, about 7 cm long to massive leatherbacks
that can reach almost 2.5 m in length and weigh
680 kg.
The shell is made of two parts joined by bony
bridges. The upper part is called the carapace,
and the lower part is called the plastron. The
animal uses the shell for protection, drawing its
head and legs inside when in danger. Some turtles
can shut up their shells completely. Others squirt
out unpleasant fluids or bite and claw their
enemies. They can only move slowly on land.
CROCODILES
Crocodiles are reptiles. They have long tails and
large jaws. They spend their lives in or close to
water. Although they are strong swimmers, they are
only able to run short distances. They feed mainly
on fish and birds, but larger crocodiles can attack
animals, including dogs, cattle, and people.
Crocodiles vary in size. American crocodiles can
reach length of 7 m, and one specimen weighed
612 kg. Crocodiles have long, tapering snouts and
triangular heads. Like many other reptiles,
crocodiles lay eggs. When the mother hears the
eggs hatching, she comes back to the nest to guard
the young.
RAINFOREST
Rainforests are jungles that receive over 1,500
mm of rain evenly through each year. Rainforest
trees usually have tall trunks and grow close to one
another. Their leafy crowns form an almost solid
canopy, like a ceiling, up to 40 m above ground. The
canopy takes nearly all the sunlight. Vines and
creepers reach up the tree trunks to the canopy, and
branches are covered with plants whose roots
absorb water from the humid air. Plants of the lower
understory have broad leaves that capture as much
light as possible.
On the ground fungi and invertebrates, such as
ants and millipedes, break down fallen leaves into
nutrients. Tree roots quickly absorb the nutrients.
Most rainforest animals, such as sloths, flying
squirrels, and various monkeys, live in the canopy
and seldom visit the ground. Colorful birds of the
rainforest include toucans, hornbills, and parrots.
What is the difference between a computer and
a calculator?
A calculator is a machine which has a memory
in which it can register the necessary instructions
to complete a mathematical problem. This memory
cannot be changed or added to. The computer, on
the other hand, holds a series of memories called a
program.
Each program tells the computer which series
of instructions it must use to write, draw, paginate a
book, plan a list of addresses, put names in
alphabetical order, play games, read a bar code,
send signals for automatic functioning of machine,
communicate with another computer to exchange
information. A computer can do all the functions of
a calculator, but a calculator can not do what a
computer can.
A COMPUTER





A programmable machine that performs high-speed
processing of numbers as well as of text, graphics,
symbols and sound. Modern computers are digital. The
computer’s physical components are called hardware; its
programs and data are called software.
All computers include these components:
a central processing unit, referred to as the CPU that
interprets and executes instructions.
Input devices usually a keyboard and/or a mouse,
through which data and commands enter the computer.
Memory that enables a computer to store programs and
data.
Mass storage devices, such as disk drive and tape
drives that store large amounts of data; and
Output devices, such as printers and display screens
that show the results after data has been processed by
the computer.
Cactus
A cactus (plural: cacti) is a plant that has
adapted to very dry conditions. Cacti
originated in North and South America.
Cactus roots spread out close to the
surface of the ground, absorbing rainwater
quickly before it dries up, or evaporates. The
water is stored in the stem of the plant. The
outside of the cactus is thick and waxy, which
keeps the water from escaping. In other plants
water is lost through the holes, or pores, in the
leaves, but cacti have very few pores, helping
keep water in. the cactus often has spines to
protect it from animals.