Reading Skill - Understanding Cause and Effect

A. Look quickly at the passage. Read the title and the headings. Then answer the question below.

What is this passage about?
A) Jay Chou's and Shakira's favorite movies
B) how Jay Chou and Shakira learned English
C) why Jay Chou and Shakira are successful

B. Read the questions. Then quickly scan the passage to find the answers.

1. Why did Shakira start writing songs in English?
A) She liked to sing songs in English.
B) She wanted to keep control of her music.
C) She wanted her songs to be more popular.

2. Why did Shakira read newspapers and poetry in English?
A) to learn to express her feelings
B) to be more popular
C) because they were interesting

3. Why was the movie The Green Hornet difficult for Jay Chou?
A) He only spoke a little English.
B) It was his first movie.
C) He didn't like New York.

4. How did Jay improve his English?
A) He read a lot of books.
B) He watched television shows.
C) He practiced with other actors.

5. What does Jay want to do in the future?
A) write songs in English
B) act in more movies
C) work with Seth Rogan again

ARTISTS IN TWO LANGUAGES

Shakira

First album in English: Laundry Service

How she learned English: Many people wanted to translate Shakira’s songs from Spanish to English. Shakira agreed, but she felt nervous about losing control of her music. So she decided to write her own songs in English.

Shakira studied grammar and common expressions. She started reading newspapers and poetry because she wanted to know how people use English to express their feelings.

Biggest challenge: Writing her first songs in English. Today, Shakira writes and performs her music in Spanish and English for fans around the world. In the summer of 2010, Shakira was selected to record and perform the theme song for the World Cup in South Africa, called "Waka Weka (l' his Time for Africa)."

Jay Chou

First film in English: The Green Hornet

How he learned English: Jay spoke very little English before he got his role in The Green Hornet. He practiced every day for more than a month. At first he said all of his lines phonetically,¹ but soon, Jay's English improved. He was able to speak English and talk with his costars. His English was not perfect, but he got compliments from the other actors.

Language exchange: As they shot² the movie, Jay and his costar Seth Hogan took tums teaching each other Chinese and English.

Language crossover: Jay is an award-winning singer but all of his current songs are Chinese. He hopes that in the future he can write songs in English as well.