Reading is _________.

A．a fun                                 B．very fun

C．great fun                              D．many funs

Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. An excellent sportsman practices until he can play quickly, correctly and without thinking. Educators call it “automaticity (自动性)”.
A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase (短语). With automaticity, he doesn't have to think about the meaning of words, so he can give all his 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 that automatic readers in the first grade not only read almost three times as fast as the others, but also got better results in exams.
According to Rossman, the key to automaticity is the amount (数量) of time a child spends reading, not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will probably reach automaticity. It can happen if a child turns off TV just one night for reading at home.
You can test yourself by reading something new which is suitable (适合) for your level. If you read aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, you probably are an automatic reader. If you read brokenly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, you need more practice.
【小题1】Children with “automaticity” can read faster because they don’t have to think about ________.

World Book Day falls on April 23 every year. It was set up by UNESCO
(联合国教科文组织) in 1955 to encourage people, especially teenagers, to discover the pleasure of   . Many countries celebrate World Book Day. World Book Day is also celebrated in China.
Reading can benefit people    . Reading helps us become more knowledgeable and more intelligent. Reading helps us to follow the  developments of science and technology. Reading    us with information about other culture and places of the world. When we read, we may find many things  
     are unfamiliar to us. We would have to use our brain      about them or do more reading to find out the answers. The more we read, the more we know. The more we know, the     we become. Reading is also one of the most important ways to learn a foreign language    English. We all know that we     learn everything at school, for example, the ways English people are speaking and writing today.
“Reading makes a full man.”Books, magazines, newspapers and other kinds of reading materials can help to know more about the outside world and perfect us.     , it is necessary for us to form the habit of reading every day.

Some people think that as more and more people have televisions in their homes, fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper, when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read the life story of a famous man, when a short television program can tell you all that you want to know?

Television has not killed reading, however. Today, newspapers sell in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a cheap way to get information and enjoyment. Although some books with hard covers are expensive, many books are printed today as paperbooks (平装本), which are quite cheap. A paperback collection of short stories, for example, is always cheaper than an evening at the cinema or the theater, and you can keep a book for ever and read it many times.

Books are a wonderful provider of knowledge and pleasure and some types of books should be in every home. Every home should have a good dictionary. A good encyclopedia (百科全书), though expensive, is useful, too, because you can find information on any subject. Besides, you can have such books as history books, science textbooks, cookbooks, and collections of stories and poems. Then from time to time you can take a book of poems off your shelves and read the thoughts and feelings of your favorite poets.

1.It can be inferred from the passage that ____.

A．Fewer and fewer people will buy books.

B．A good dictionary should be kept in every home.

C．Books with hard covers sell better than paperbooks.

D．More people like TV programs about famous men.

2.What does the sentence “Television has not killed reading, however.” underlined in the second paragraph suggest?

A．People only need reading, though.

B．Reading is still necessary today.

C．Reading is more fun than television.

D．Watching television doesn’t help reading.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A．TV programs are a chief provider of knowledge.

B．Cinemas are the best choice in getting information.

C．Reading is cheap way of learning and having fun.

D．Newspapers are an expensive way to enjoy oneself.