Quick and accurate response to numbers is very important in daily communication. Telephone numbers, addresses, prices, temperatures, time and dates are all closely linked with the use of numbers. Besides, numbers also play a very important part in broadcast programs such as scientific stories, statistics update, and reports about ongoing events of various kinds.
Although identification of numbers in print is usually easy, number identification through listening proves to be a big problem for many people. In actual listening, we are often required to get the numbers immediately after we hear them. And failure to get a correct number, sometimes a mere mistake in digit, can seriously affect the
understanding of the whole story and therefore cause severe losses. The differences between million and billion, \and “-ty's\are so great that no one can simply afford to ignore them.
㎝ Numbers are sometimes read in different ways. For example, \point five million\or \million five hundred thousand\can also be read as \and one half million.\Intensive training in numbers call help us get familiar with these different yet still regular ways of number presentations.
For easy reading and writing, numbers of more than four digits are often separated by commas into groups of three digits each. For example, 1,234,567 is one million,
two hundred and thirty-four thousand, and five hundred and sixty-seven. Saying numbers over to yourselves after you hear them can increase our sensitivity to numbers. Numbers are all around us. Let us practice with numbers and learn to be good at numbers.