How to Improve Speed Reading Skills

    Speed reading is one of many skills that can improve your reading comprehension and shorten your study time. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Look at groups of words, not single words.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. However, if you can get into the habit of reading groups or chunks of words at one time, then you can read much faster. Start by trying to look at a group of three or four words at once, then work up to looking at an entire line of words. Focus on words that give the sentence meaning, such as the nouns and verbs and pay less attention to the filler words, such as “A, the, and, etc.”

    Scan for keywords.

    Scanning is a highly effective way of extracting answers from a text without really reading it. If you know exactly what you are looking for—a name, a date, a statistic, or a specific word—you can find it quickly by skipping over large chunks of the text. To scan, first visualize the word, number, or phrase you would like to find. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. The information you are looking for should pop out at you.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    You can train yourself to read faster by timing yourself as you go. Start by getting your base time. Set a timer for fifteen minutes, and speed read as you normally do. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Do not count the words, just the pages or paragraphs. Record your figures: for instance, you might write “15min/6.5 pages.”

A. Then, run your eyes rapidly over the text

B. Race the clock

C. Check your comprehension

D. If you read a text one word at a time, then this will slow your reading speed way down

E. Here are some Speed Reading Techniques

F. One of the reasons you read slowly is that you have to pause sometimes to understand what a passage is saying

G. When the timer goes off, check to see how far you have got

    A woman's home is her castle. She cleans, cooks, decorates, repairs, works, plays and relaxes within the walls of her home. Sometimes women choose to stay at home to raise their children instead of working outside of the home. So you think she must be bored. I was one of those women.

    After finally getting pregnant, and giving birth, I found my home to be the best place. During the nine months I carried my daughter, my body had been broken and back. Being able to relax was just what my weak body needed. Besides, nursing was a rest because I home certainly cured my broken body.

     other families grow one child after the next was a horrible dream, when I didn't think I would ever be able to have my own child. But after having Alyssa, my own cute little baby girl, I was e to let my heart recover from the wounds. I watched and I valued every small change of her body and personality. Nothing was more exciting than time spent with my child. I loved to stay at home.

    Mentally I remained challenged with new opportunities every day. I learned to be perfect and organized. Everything worked like a clock. By 9:00 in the morning, the house was clean--beds made, bathrooms cleaned, house cleaned, and windows cleaned. I enjoyed finishing them quickly so that I could devote most of the day to my daughter. Between nursing, short breaks and staring at her, I thought of ways to improve my home and myself. Even with all the housework, every day was filled with so much fun!

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    In the movie Alice in Wonderland, Alice comes across a Cheshire cat and asks the cat which road she should take. The cat responds, “Well, that depends on where you're trying to get to.” Alice replies, “I don't know.” The cat responds, “Then any road will do.”

    You see, knowing where you're going increases your chances dramatically of getting there, and there is no better way of “GETTING THERE” than setting your goals for the upcoming year. Think of your goals as destinations and the action steps as your GPS guiding and directing you. If you are like many other people, for years you have resisted the need to set goals and even laughed at the thought that setting goals and, even more importantly, committing them to writing have positive effects on your life. However, a closer look might convince you that setting goals is a sensible thing to do.

    In 1979, a class of Harvard MBA students was asked: Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made an action plan to accomplish them? The following will astonish you. Only 3 percent of the class had written goals and a plan in place, 13% just had goals, and an amazing 84% had no specific goals at all.

    Ten years later the numbers of the class were interviewed once again and the following results will no doubt give the reason for our setting goals. The findings were that the 13% who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% who had no goals at all. And the 3 percent who had clear, written goals with a plan to achieve them were achieving ten times as much as the entire 97% combined.

    Goal setting will increase your chances of arriving successfully at your destination. Remember, always set SMART goals. Goals should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound!

    When my son was about five or six, I traveled a lot on business. I worried all the time about what the absence might mean to him. I knew how important it was for a boy to have his father near. When I was small, the times I loved most were the special moments I shared with my father. I cherished these special moments and, to this day, hold those memories dear. I decided to create those kinds of special times for my son.

    In one of my letters home, I promised my son that I would teach him how to fly a kite and that we could go to a nearby beach and fly it as high as it would go. Through my travels I would pick up things for our kite adventure and send them to him. In my trip to Japan, I found the most beautiful blue silk with gold threads（线）woven through it. Perfect kite materials! I sent it home with a picture book that would serve as a weight.

    When I got home at night, I found him sleeping sound, surrounded by all the items I had sent him for our kite. For the next week, we started to work on our masterpiece. We had our time together in the garage, after dinner. Finally, it was finished. The blue silk made it so beautiful. He was obviously eager to fly it soon. “We'll fly it tomorrow, right, Dad?” “Yes, if the weather is right,” I explained that we needed wind to lift the kite off the ground. I was afraid that it might rain. “We'll fly it because I'm going to pray with all my heart for the best kite weather.” He was right. I will never underestimate（低估）the power of a child's prayer any more.

    My son is a dad now, with children of his own. Though we are both busy, we still try to make time for each other. The other day, we met for coffee. While paying for our coffee, his wallet dropped on the ground and something fell out. Suddenly, a flood of memories washed over us as he put back his treasure into wallet—the blue silk with gold threads woven through it.

    What will man be like in the future—in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.

    Let us take an obvious example, Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on averse, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modem world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain's capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man's eyes will grow stronger.

    On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they an; a great deal in modem life.

    But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald (光秃的).

    Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. But in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.

    The holidays are the best time to ask the elders in your family for advice. For most people, the approaching holiday season includes more time with the extended family, including the elder generation.

    Unfortunately, older adults are often unseen in the popular media. Yet there's a big body of evidence that shows the benefits of older adults' wisdom and the value of developing communication across generations.

    First, over the course of human history, older people have played very important roles as advice-givers. Anthropological (人类学) research shows that survival in pre-literate societies was dependent on the knowledge of the oldest members.

    In recent times, most of the researches about intergenerational communication occur within formal programs, such as ones including older adults in public schools or having youth visit assisted living facilities. Also, you can apply many of the lessons of the researches to your own family gatherings.

    There is clear evidence that it is good for young people to spend time with older adults. The youth who participated in intergenerational programs showed more respect toward older adults, less anxiety, and higher self-esteem. Research also shows that interacting with younger people is good for older adults. A systematic review found that older adults who participated in intergenerational programs were likely to experience more satisfaction with their lives, higher self-esteem and fewer symptoms of depression. Interactions during intergenerational programs can be positive even when an older adult is experiencing memory or cognitive problems.

    Having children teach computer or video games to the older generations can be a fun way to spend time together. A study found that intergenerational games can help family members to bond. Another idea is to encourage the youth to ask older family members for their advice about life.

    The youth can ask older adults specific questions about the lessons they learned from their life experiences.

    The take-home message is that time with older relatives is one of the true gifts of the holiday season. Make the most of it by spending time with the older generation!