Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practising until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. A great athlete practises until he can play quickly, accurately, without thinking. Tennis players call that ”being in the zone.” Educators call it “automaticity”.

   A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and decoding the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase. With automaticity, he doesn’t have to think about decoding the words, so he can concentrate on the meaning of the text.

   It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois Schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found automatic readers in the first grade who were reading almost three times as fast as the other children and scoring twice as high on comprehension tests. At fifth grade, the automatic readers were reading twice as fast as the others, and still outscoring them on accuracy, comprehension and vocabulary.

   “It’s not I.Q. but the amount of time a child spends reading that is the key to automaticity,” according to Rossman. Any child who spends at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will in all likelihood reach automaticity. At home, where the average child spends 25 hours a week watching television, it can happen by turning off the set just one night in favor of reading.

   You can test your child by giving him a paragraph or two to read aloud—something unfamiliar but appropriate to his age. If he reads aloud with expressions, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, he probably is an automatic reader. If he reads haltingly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, he needs more practice.

13．The first paragraph tells us            .

A．what automaticity is                    B．how accuracy is acquired

C．how a child learns to walk               D．how an athlete is trained

14．The Illinois study shows that the automatic reader’s high speed         .

A．costs him a lot of work            B．affects his comprehension

C．leads to his future success         D．doesn’t affect his comprehension

15．A bright child          .

A．also needs practice to be an automatic reader

B．always achieves great success in comprehension tests

C．becomes an automatic reader after learning how to read

D．is a born automatic reader

16．The main idea of the passage is           .

A．how to score high on comprehension tests

B．reading is the key to school success

C．how to test your child’s reading ability

D．automaticity is important for efficient reading

阅读理解

　　Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practising until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. A great athlete practises until he can play quickly, correctly, without thinking. Tennis players call that “being in the zone”. Educators call it “automaticity (自动)”.

　　A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and get the meanings of the words. With practice, he speaks with fewer and fewer pauses and mistakes, reading by the phrase. With automaticity he doesn't have to think about getting the meanings of the words, so he can pay attention to the meaning of the text.

　　It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in some schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found automatic readers in the first grade were reading almost three times as fast as the other children and scoring twice as high on comprehension tests. At the fifth grade, the automatic readers were reading twice as fast as the others, and still outscoring them on correctness, comprehension, and vocabulary. “It's not I. Q., but the amount of time a child spends reading that is the key to automaticity, ”According to Rossman, any child who spends at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will most probably reach automaticity. At home, where the average child spends 25 hours a week watching television, it can happen by turning off the set just one night in favour of reading.

　　You can test your child by giving him one paragraph or two to read aloud-something unfamiliar but suitable to his age. If he reads aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, he probably is an automatic reader. If he reads hesitatingly, one word at a time without expression or meaning, he needs more practice.

1．The main idea of the first paragraph is ________ .

[　　]

A．what is automaticity

B．how correctness is obtained

C．how a child learns to walk

D．how an athlete is trained

2．The Illinois study shows that the automatic reader's high speed ________ .

[　　]

A．costs him a lot of work

B．affects his comprehension

C．leads to his future success

D．doesn’t affect his comprehension

3．From the passage, it can be inferred that a bright child ________ .

[　　]

A．also needs practice to be automatic reader

B．always achieves great success in comprehension tests

C．becomes an automatic reader after learning how to read

D．is a born automatic reader

4．The main idea of the whole passage is ________ .

[　　]

A．how to score high on comprehension tests

B．reading is the key to school success

C．how to test your child’s reading ability

D．automaticity is important for efficient reading

阅读理解

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A，B，C，D)中，选出最佳选项．

　　Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practising until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. A great athlete practises until he can play quickly, correctly, without thinking. Tennis players call that“being in the zone”. Educators call it“automaticity(自动)”.

　　A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and get the meanings of the words. With practice, he speaks with fewer and fewer pauses and mistakes, reading by the phrase. With automaticity, he doesn't have to think about getting the meanings of the words, so he can pay attention to the meaning of the text.

　　It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found automatic readers in the first grade who were reading almost three times as fast as the other children and scoring twice as high on comprehension tests. At fifth grade, the automatic readers were reading twice as fast as the others, and still outscoring them on correctness, comprehension, and vocabulary. “It's not IQ, but the amount of time a child spends reading that is the key to automaticity.” according to Rossman, any child who spends reading at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will most probably reach automaticity. At home, where the average child spends 25 hours a week watching TV, it can happen by turning off the set just one night in favour of reading.

　　You can train your child by giving him one paragraph or two to read aloudsomething unfamiliar but suitable to his age. 1f he reads aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, he probably is an automatic reader. If he reads hesitatingly, one word at a time without expression or meaning, he needs more practice.

1．The main idea of the first paragraph is ________.

[　　]

2．The Illinois study shows that the automatic reader's high speed ________.

[　　]

A．costs him a lot of work

B．affects his comprehension

C．leads to his future success

D．doesn't affect his comprehension

3．From the passage, it can be inferred that a bright child ________.

[　　]

A．also needs practice to be automatic reader

B．always achieves great success in comprehension tests

C．become an automatic reader after learning how to read

D．is born automatic reader

4．The main idea of the whole passage is ________.

[　　]

A．how to score high on comprehension tests

B．that reading is the key to school success

C．how to test your child's reading ability

D．that automaticity is important for efficient reading