Listening Activity (Assignment 4)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Listening Activity

For centuries, the principal raw materials for making paper were cotton and linen fibers obtained from rags. Today, these have been largely replaced by wood pulp. Trees are cut down, taken to the sawmill and chopped up into small pieces. The pieces of wood are then ground up and mixed with water to make wood pulp. The wood pulp is then washed to clean impurities. It may then be bleached to make the paper white. In the next step, starch or clay may be added to improve the surface of the paper. The pulp is then fed into the paper making machine. In this machine, the pulp is spread across large areas of wire mesh-sheets of metal with a large number of holes in them. Here, the water is drained off. The sheet is then passed between rollers, which squeeze the water out. The dry sheet then travels through a series of heated drums. At this stage, a coating may be applied to make the paper smooth and shiny. This process produces a continuous sheet of paper, which is wound into giant rolls. It is then trimmed to remove the rough edges, and cut to the desired width.

Listen to the description of how paper is made and complete the flow chart.