Good readers find that they read in many different ways—not always in exactly the sameway, no matter in what language they are reading.
For example, if you are reading a newspaper in Chinese and have a very short time to read. Because a friend will be coining to see you soon, you will read that newspaper in a certain way. You will probably let your eyes skim the entire page, stopping for a few seconds at each of the headlines(大字标题)or titles on the page, then quickly making a first choice of what to read. You may read the first article very quickly, again perhaps by skimming, and move on to other articles that have caught your interest, skimming those articles as well.
When you read in English, you cannot always make a choice as quickly and automatically(自动地, 无意识地)as you do when you read in Chinese. You need to stop to think, sometimes just for a second, about how to read something. These are questions you should ask yourself.
The purpose for your reading is the most important question to answer. Will you be tested on the main idea? Will you need to remember specific details? Is this something you are reading just for fun, such as a short story or a novel? You should be prepared to read for each of these purposes in a different way.
WHAT DO I ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THIS TOPIC?
It is useful to think about ideas you already have about the material you are about to read. If you are reading in class, it is helpful for the whole group to suggest information, which might be written on the blackboard or on a piece of paper. This activity called “brainstorming” will help you to anticipate(预先了解)the Content(内容).
Look at the comprehension exercises which follow the reading material. Read the items before beginning. This will help you know what you will need to remember, and thus will guide the way in which you choose to read the article. If you need to separate main ideas from details, you will pay specific attention to main ideas of the article and not pay special attention to details at all.
1). What will you do first when you read a newspaper in Chinese?
A. First skim the entire page to find what you are interested in.
B. Just to read every thing carefully.
C. Read the news word by word.
D. Only pay attention to the pictures on it.
2). When you read in English, you______.
A. can make a choice as quickly as reading a newspaper in Chinese
B. need to stop to think why I read it
C. shouldn’t read it word by word
D. shouldn't read carefully
3). What’s the meaning of “brainstorming” in the passage?
A. Much information about the article you’ll read written on the blackboard or
on a piece of paper.
B. Giving out some words as many as you know.
C. Thinking about something quickly.
D. A storm that you can think of.
4). When you do the comprehension exercises, you’d better______.
A. first read the reading material over
B. read the first paragraph carefully
C. look at the problems following the reading material
D. just skim the first sentence in each paragraph
5). What is the proper title of the passage?
A. Thinking About How You Read B. Why Do You Read
C. When Do You Read D. What Are You Interested in