Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time ofr which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person. It also vaies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.

　　Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.

　　Q:

　　1. The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .

　　A. one’s familiarity with the text

　　B. one’s purpose in reading

　　C. the length of a group of words

　　D. lighting and tiredness

　　2. The author may believe that reading ______.

　　A. requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation

　　B. requires a reader to see words more quickly

　　C. demands an deeply-participating mind

　　D. demands more mind than eyes

　　3 What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second parapraph?

　　A. The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.

　　B. The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see and to comprehend words.

　　C. The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.

　　D. The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.

　　4. Which of the following is NOT true?

　　A. The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.

　　B. Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.

　　C. The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.

　　D.The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.

　　5. The tune of the author in writing this article is ________

　　A critical

　　B neutral

　　C prssimistic

　　D optimistic

　　答案：CCCDA

　　1 C。事實細節題。第一段提到了影響視幅的因素：不同的人，不同的閱讀目的，對材料的熟悉程度，光線，疲勞。C“一組詞的長度”不是能影響視幅的因素，是本題的答案。

　　2 C。觀點態度題。作者在第二段第二句提到，眼睛訓練課程只注重了閱讀的視覺因素。倒數第二句書哦，閱讀要求具備理解單詞間關系的能力。因此選項C“閱讀需要大腦的深度參與”正確。作者沒有否定閱讀的視覺因素的必要性，但是也沒有說讀者應該練習拓寬視幅，加快閱讀速度。所以AB兩項都不正確。作者沒有對大腦和眼睛在閱讀過程中的重要性進行對比，所以不選D

　　3 C。 作者在這句話中先是肯定了那些閱讀練習提高看單詞的能力，然后提出了有效閱讀概念。后面句中還指出，有效閱讀需要的是理解單詞間的聯系的能力。所以作者的意思應該是那些(訓練眼睛的)閱讀練習對與有效的閱讀無益。B與文章相反。D句是蘊涵其中一個意思，卻不是作者想表達的方向。

　　4 D。 第二段最后一句說，眼睛訓練對于幫助讀者閱讀連貫文章無益，所以D是錯的，是本題答案。

　　5 A。 參考前面的結構剖析，作者寫本文的主要目的是對那些只關注閱讀的視覺因素的閱讀能力課程進行批判，所以答案應該是A。

　　Passage Two

　　Our quarrel with efficiency is not that it gets things done, but that it is a thief of time when it leaves us no leisure to enjoy ourselves, and that it strains our nerves when we try to get things done perfectly. In building bridges, American engineers calculate so finely and exactly as to make the two ends come together within one-tenth of an inch. But when two Chinese begin to dig a tunnel from both sides of a mountain both come out on the other side. --The Chinese’s firm belief is that it doesn’t matter so long as a tunnel is dug through, and if we have two instead of one, why, we have a double track to boot.

　　The pace of modern industrial life forbids this kind of glorious and magnificent idling. But, worse than that, it imposes upon us a different conception of time as measured by the clock and eventually turns the human being into a clock himself. (This sort of thing is bound to come to China, as is evident, for instance, in the case of a factory of twenty thousand worker. The luxurious prospect of twenty thousand workers coming in at their own sweet pleasure at all hours is, of course, somewhat terrifying.)Nevertheless, such efficiency is what makes life so hard and full of excitement. A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o’clock has the whole afternoon from one to five ruined for him already. Every American adult is arranging his time on the pattern of the schoolboy - three o’clock for this, five o’clock for that, six-thirty for change of dress, six-fifty for entering the taxi, and seven o’clock for arriving at the destination. It just makes life not worth living.

　　1. The writer objects to efficiency mainly on the grounds that it ____.

　　A) entitles us to too much leisure time

　　B) urges us to get things done punctually

　　C) deprives us of leisure time

　　D) imposes on us a perfect concept of time

　　2. In the eyes of the author, the introduction of industrial life gives rise to ____.

　　A) the excitement of life

　　B) magnificent idling of time

　　C) more emphasis on efficiency

　　D) terrifying schoolboy

　　3. The passage tells us ____.

　　A) Chinese workers come to work when it is convenient

　　B) all Americans are forced to be efficient against their will

　　C) Chinese engineers are on better terms with the management

　　D) Americans ought not to work so hard for efficiency

　　4. The author believes that relaxing the rule of punctuality in factories would lead to ____.

　　A) great confusion

　　B) increased production

　　C) a hard and exciting life

　　D) successful completion of a tunnel

　　5. What is implied but NOT stated by the author is that ____.

　　A) every American is arranging his time in the pattern of a schoolboy

　　B) every American is reluctant to be efficient

　　C) every one should have some time to spend as he pleases

　　D) being punctual is an undesirable habit which should not be formed

　　答案：

　　1.C)deprives us of leisure time對應原文第一句but that it is a thief of time when it leaves us no leisure to enjoy ourselves. 選項A是與作者想法完全相反的; 選項B雖有章可循, 但要注意原文是it strains our nerves when we try to get things done perfectly, 而非it直接urges us to get things done punctually; 選項D要看清, 原文是a different conception of time而非a perfect concept of time.

　　2.C)more emphasis on efficiency對應原文第二段第一句The pace of modern industrial life forbids this kind of glorious and magnificent idling. 通過第一段可以看出, 與efficiency對立的是this kind of glorious and magnificent idling, 而industrial life又forbids, 自然說明industrial life gives rise to more emphasis on efficiency.

　　3.D)Americans ought not to work so hard for efficiency. 排除法: A)Chinese workers come to work when it is convenient不符合原文()中的內容; B)all Americans are forced to be efficient against their will語氣太重, 不是被強迫講求效率, 也不是違背自己意愿, 只是為了適應工業社會; C)Chinese engineers are on better terms with the management不屬于本文討論范疇。。。

　　4.A)great confusion對應原文(This sort of thing is bound to come to China, as is evident, for instance, in the case of a factory of twenty thousand worker. The luxurious prospect of twenty thousand workers coming in at their own sweet pleasure at all hours is, of course, somewhat terrifying.)

　　5.C)every on should have some time to spend as he pleases, 這是4個選項中唯一一個符合is implied but NOT stated兩個條件的. A選項有被直接提及, B選項reluctant是不愿的意思, 而本文并非討論愿不愿的問題, D選項being punctual is an undesirable habit which should not be formed, 黑體部分分別為守時和不良習慣的意思, 顯然不是作者本意.

　　總結一下, 今天這期比昨天講小貓小狗的閱讀要難一些- -, 是一篇既要求詞匯量, 同時又要求答題技巧的典型的閱讀理解. 所謂答題技巧, 就是首先要讀懂文章的大概意思, 然后注意一些關鍵句子.

　　關鍵句子很有可能出現在段落的連接部分, 比如開頭和結尾. 一般情況下, 閱讀理解的前面幾道題是可以從原文的關鍵句子中直接找出答案的, 而后面幾道題, 往往要求綜合全文來分析. 最近幾天的閱讀, 大體分為兩種: 一種是偏向主觀論述的閱讀, 比如倒數55天的癌癥、倒數53天的空調和今天的效率; 另一種是偏向客觀敘述的閱讀, 比如倒數52天的家養寵物和倒數54天的無家可歸的兒童. 前者往往要著重考慮作者的中心思想, 后者往往要著重考慮作者的整體內容.