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.

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    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

    About ten percent of spending on primary and secondary education in the United States comes from the federal government{#blank#}1{#/blank#} States have been required to show progress through yearly testing.

    But states say testing tells only part of the story about efforts by schools and students to improve. So the Obama administration has eased the limits in states in measuring performance.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This new measurement tool is called the Colorado Growth Model. The ideas is to show academic growth, not just achievement on tests. It combines test scores, family income levels, school size, the ethnicity of the student and many other factors.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The graph shows a school's average score on standardized tests as well as its academic growth.

    On average, students enter sixth grade at WEST Denver Prep performing below grade level{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The new assessment(评价) method shows that, each year, the average West Denver Prep student learns more math than ninety-four percent of all the students in Colorado{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Josh Smith says perhaps the most important thing they should learn is to believe in themselves.

A. The results from schools across the state are shown online on a graph.

B. Reading and writing scores also show growth.

C. For ten years now, federal law has tied this spending to student performance.

D. Therefore, the government feels it a great pressure.

E. But three years later, most are outperforming other students across the state.

F. However, the limits don't work at all.

G. The western state of Colorado, for example, has a new assessment method.

    Stress(压力) is a popular cause of major diseases affecting people worldwide. It is so common that people have begun to search for the best and easiest ways to reduce stress. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

    Exercise for a better life.

    Regular runners say that there is no better feeling than the one you get when you finish your daily run. Exercising is a good way for you to remove stress from your life. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And it can also lift your mood. An additional benefit of exercising is that it keeps you fit and healthy!

    Organize it.

    Keeping your workplace and home organized is also a way for you to avoid stressful situations. Working in a messy(凌乱的) area keeps your brain thinking on several different things at the same time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    Manage your time wisely.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Sticking to(坚持) your schedule gives you focus and a goal to work on. It also helps you avoid missing out on deadlines which are a great source of stress. Managing your time wisely means managing your stress.

    In a word, we shouldn't let stress stop us living a normal and healthy life. Stress will naturally appear due to the modern way of life. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Don't let stress get the better of you and make you lead an unhappy life.

A. Avoid stressed people

B. Know what causes your stress.

C. Plan your day ahead and stick to it.

D. Here are some ways to say goodbye to stress.

E. Regular exercise gives you time to think things.

F. And it gets hard to focus on (思想集中) just one thing.

G. But just like fire, if we control stress it can't hurt us.

    Secure your home with these expert-advised home safety tips that turn burglars into losers.

    Store valuables carefully

    Thieves already know you're storing valuables, so upgrade your secret hiding places to ones that are harder to detect. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Thieves often search drawers in the master bedroom but tend to leave kids' rooms untouched. Just make sure it's a place your child can't easily access, like on a high closet shelf.

    Install your security system in the right spot

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, but they also make it easy for burglars to see inside your home. Install your security keypad in a spot that is not visible from the doorstep so no one can see if your alarm is set.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    Knowing your house is completely unattended can make your vacation unnecessarily stressful. Whether you're going away for two weeks or just a long weekend, ask a neighbor to check daily for flyers stuck in your front door. Foxy criminals have been known to leave pizza ads in doors to see how long it takes for residents to remove them. Stopping newspapers and mail delivery for the duration of your trip is a sure way to prevent mail from piling up at your doorstep.

    Pay attention to bathroom windows

    Burglars are often people you've seen before, like a serviceman working on your house. If a yard worker or unknown visitor uses the bathroom, he may open the window so he can gain entry later.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    Join in a community-wide crime prevention program

    Cops are getting creative when it comes to catching criminals, and there are lots of opportunities for you to do your part to keep your community safe. Operation Identification is a nationwide project that encourages people to mark their property to fight against burglary and theft.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Also look into groups like Neighborhood Watch to see how you can get involved.

A. Let your neighbors be your eyes

B. Lower the volume of your telephone finger

C. Be sure to double-check that lock after this seemingly innocent person leaves

D.A simple solution is keeping important documents and objects in your child's room

E. Decorative glass or large windows may be important for your front entrance feng shui

F. If you suspect that someone is trying to break into your home, press the “Panic” button

G. In some cities, burglary rates for the system are much lower than those of non-Participants

How to lead a balanced life

    Many students suffer from stress in their daily lives. They are under stress because their lives are not balanced. They focus too much on studying, worrying about what others think, and not enough on other things.

    You may wonder whether stress is a serious matter. The answer is "Yes". You should be aware that stress is a risk to your health. If you want to live a long and healthy life, you need to begin to guard against stress from a young age. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They can help to bring balance to your life.

    Be positive.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You should always look on the bright side of life, and imagine that you will have a happy and successful future.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Force yourself to take a break from your studies and worries about exams. You can do this by taking a walk, reading a book, going to a concert or seeing a film.You can also just sit in a quiet place and be silent for a moment.

    Take up a hobby.

    Learn to paint, take up skating, or start playing a musical instrument. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Take care of your body.

    Stress is your body's enemy. Taking regular exercise, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep are all the things that can help you.

    Laugh.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Seeing a funny film or telling jokes with friends will often make you happy when you are low.

A.Learn to relax.

B.Take some medicine for stress.

C.Here are some ways to deal with stress.

D.Work hard at your lessons before exams.

E.Sometimes laughter is the best medicine for stress.

F.One way to cancel out stress is through positive thinking.

G.When you are busy with a hobby, you leave all your worries behind.

    Why Do We Forget Things?

    When it comes to having perfect memories, it is apparent that we humans must have had some faults in our blueprints(蓝图)! Why don't we remember everything that we want to remember? It makes us feel upset and get discouraged. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} However, it's true that we are all forgetful.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} These are stored in what we call our "long-term memory". What about before age three? Sigmund Freud, a doctor of Vienna, discovered the fact that we forget most of our early childhood. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They have different opinions. A very good theory, born from the results of experimentation with babies, is that absence of language ability at the time of an event stopped us from describing it to others.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Experts say that you can keep about seven things in your memory at once for up to three days. During that time, you may forget something in order to put something else in its place, or you put it into long-term memory. What goes into short-term memory are things you've learned about recently, in the past day or two. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, you may have met your favorite star last week, and this week you can tell all the details to a friend. A simple example to explain your short-term memory is to look at a list of twenty words for a minute or two. You will discover that you cannot remember more than about seven of them and that they are the ones in the beginning and at the end of the list because your mind has judged them to be more important than those in the middle.

A. Scientists now know that it may take longer to remember things for the old.

B. However, it is widely recognized that short-term memory can be improved.

C. Sometimes, it even causes us to lose self-respect or others to think less of us.

D. Psychologists have been studying what causes this forgetfulness since Freud's time.

E. Most of us have vivid memories of our lives from about age three to our present ages.

F. Only if something really unusual happens does it stay in your short-term memory for longer.

G. The other type of memory, the "short-term memory", is what we are usually referring to when we say, "I forgot."