Reading Comprehension - December 2015

Read the following passage carefully and answer the following questions

I did that thing recently where you have to sign a big card - which is a horror unto itself, especially as the keeper of the Big Card was leaning over me at the time. Suddenly I was on the spot, a rabbit in the headlights, torn between doing a fun message or some sort of in-joke or a drawing. Instead overwhelmed by the myriad options available to me, I decided to just write “Good luck, best, Joel”.

It was then that I realised, to my horror, that I had forgotten how to write. My entire existence is “tap letters into computer”. My shopping lists are hidden in the notes function of my phone. If I need to remember something I send an e-mail to myself. A pen is something I chew when I’m struggling to think. Paper is something I pile beneath my laptop to make it a more comfortable height for me to type on.

A poll of 1,000 teens by the stationers, Bic found that one in 10 don’t own a pen, a third have never written a letter, and half of 13 to 19 years - old have never been forced to sit down and write a thank you letter. More than 80% have never written a love letter, 56% don’t have letter paper at home. And a quarter have never known the unique torture of writing a birthday card. The most a teen ever has to use a pen is on an exam paper.

     Bic, have you heard of mobile phones ? Have you heard of e-mail, facebook andsnap chatting? This is the future. Pens are dead. Paper is dead. Handwriting is a relic.

“Handwriting is one of the most creative outlets we have and should be given the same importance as other art forms such as sketching, painting or photography.”