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

    Crown shyness(树冠羞避) is a mysterious natural phenomenon in which the crowns of some tree species do not touch each other, but get separated by a gap clearly visible from ground level. The effect usually occurs between trees of the same species, but has also been observed between trees of different species.

    There are many theories going around, most of which make sense, but no one has been able to prove without the shadow of a doubt why some trees avoid touching each other.

    In his 1955 book Growth Habits of the Eucalypts, Australian forester M.R. Jacobs writes that the growing tips of the trees are sensitive to abrasion(擦伤), which results in crown shyness phenomenon. This theory was also supported by Dr. Miguel Franco. Some experiments have shown that if trees displaying crown shyness are artificially prevented from swinging in the wind and touching each other, they gradually fill up the gaps between them.

    But while the above theory is arguably the most widespread, it's certainly not the only one. Some scientists have suggested that crown shyness is a mechanism to stop the spreading of leaf-eating insects. These pests have been known to work together and create structures that extend up to 10 cm off of tree branches in order to reach other plants, so the gaps are the trees' natural defense method.

    One Malaysian scholar studied many trees, but found no traces of abrasions, despite their clear crown shyness. Instead, he suggests that the growing tips of the trees were sensitive to light levels and stopped growing when they got too close to other trees. Plants are able to sense how close they are to other plants and in order to get more light, they give off some chemical element to stop other trees from growing too close.

    Whatever the reason, one thing is for sure: plants are more intelligent than people used to think.

    Hundreds of children are being treated for sleep problems in Wales every year. In some cases, babies, infants and teenagers have been admitted to hospital while in north Wales alone.

    The Children's Sleep Charity said many children were suffering from lack of sleep mainly because of technology use. Public Health Wales said sleep was as important to a child's health as healthy eating and exercise, and children with poor sleep patterns were more likely to be fat.

    Statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by BBC Wales found at least 408 children have been admitted to hospitals across Wales suffering from sleep disorders since March 2013.

    Children aged between 0 and4 made up the highest number of inpatients (住院病人), with some newborns being treated for sleep-related problems from the day of birth.

    Vicki Dawson, who set up the Children's Sleep Charity (CSC), said sleepless nights were putting both children and parents in anxiety. "Their weight and growth may also be affected as well as their mental health," she said.

    Teachers said children showing signs of sleep shortage and tiredness in class were a concern as they couldn't concentrate for long periods.

    Psychologist Amy McClelland, of Sleep Wales, said a common problem was children being "over excited" and "not having the chance to relax property" before bed and families should get back to basics. "Think 1950s family home. Dinner as a family, read, chat, a film maybe, lights off and then bed." She added.

    Fantasy as a genre is often unfairly wronged. While there are plenty of authors who seem to be paid by the word and are only concerned with expanding volume, there are many authors producing fantastic works that are worthy of the word literature. While there were many worthy competitors, here are what we consider to be the great work of the greatest fantasy series of all time.

    ①The Dark Tower by Stephen King

    The Dark Tower actually shares some similarities with The Wheel of Time. In both series the first four books are the strongest, and you also get the sense with both Robert Jordan and Stephen King that they didn't quite know how to end their creation, which led to a very controversial ending in The Dark Tower's case along with some questionable decisions by King like his self-insertion in the story.

    King has created one of the most iconic fantasy characters of all time in the Gunslinger Roland and the world he creates, with all of its similarities to our reality, is a prosperous one. It's too bad that Stephen King doesn't dabble(涉猎) more in fantasy, because he clearly has a talent for world building. Not to mention everything he writes seems to be phone book sized, which would fit right in with the fantasy genre.

    ②Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

    When considering a ranking of the greatest fantasy series of all time, the question of Harry Potter is a tricky one. There's inevitably opposition when something is as popular as Rowling's work, and add to that the fact that the series is seemingly meant for children and you have a case that naturally inspires a lot of debate. I'm not sure I believe Rowling did anything particularly new with Harry Potter, but a work doesn't necessarily have to be innovative for it to be great. Nearly every fantasy series owes a debt to Tolkien for instance, but that doesn't mean Tolkien has written the only work of fantasy that matters. Rowling didn't really come up with anything new, but the connection she made with tens of millions of readers is praiseworthy. People will be reading Harry Potter for decades to come, and I'm not sure a better introduction to fantasy could be found.

    The Z Hotel is in the heart of London's West End and has comfortable accommodation in a contemporary design.

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    From early times, man has been interested in art. People have often worked together to collect and save the world's art treasures.

    Fine art treasures from many countries are kept in an art museum called the Louvre (卢浮宫) in Paris, France. The works of art have been collected by the people of France over many centuries. It is the biggest art museum in the world.

    The Louvre has not always been a museum. The first building was a fort (堡垒). In 1190, it was the king's castle with high walls and a round tower. It had a moat (护城河) to keep out the enemies.

    Over the years, the number of buildings around the fort grew. By 1350, the fort was no longer needed and became a palace home for French kings and queens. During times of peace, new treasures were brought in. During days of war, many treasures were stolen, and the buildings were damaged.

    When Francis Ⅰ became King of France in 1515, he brought in many artists from many countries. One of the artists was Leonardo da Vinci from Italy. He worked in Paris. Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is the best-known painting in the museum today.

    In 1793, the Louvre became a public museum, just as it is now. It is a place where art treasures are kept for everyone to enjoy. Every year millions of people from all over the world come to the Louvre to see the master-pieces.