One British school is finding that allowing children to listen to music or even to have the TV on while studying is helping improve grades. __(1)__your teenager starts a family quarrel by sitting in an armchair listening to music while doing his homework, why not __(2)__a simple experiment? __(3)__taking the heavy-handed （严厉的）line of __(4)__him to his bedroom to get on with it __(5)__, let him do the homework the __(6)__he wants. You might well find that his essay is more sparkling（有文采的）than __(7)__he's done before.

　　According to the research of Millfield prep school, around 20% of youngsters __(8)__best with background music. 10% excel（突出）when allowed to __(9)__their work with short walks around the room while up to 80% can concentrate（集中注意力）__(10)__if allowed to fiddle（用手拨弄）with a small object.

　　The research has advised the school to adopt（采取）a complete __(11)__approach（措施）analyzing pupils to discover which learning style __(12)__them best--then letting them do their homework listening to music or __(13)__lying down. __(14)__parents at first regarded the __(15)__as a layabout's deed but many are now applying it at __(16)__where children are also allowed to do their work __(17)__the television on.

　　“I __(18)__to work on the floor with music on low,”admits Susan, 13, a day girl（走读女生）.“At first my parents thought I was skiving（逃避）, but my __(19)__persuaded them to look at my homework and when they saw it was okay, they __(20)__.”

Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky （急动的）movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span(范围)or the visual span. The length of time of which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation (定位)----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
　　Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive (连续的) fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently (因此), for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated (孤立的) words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
【小题1】The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .

A．one’s familiarity with the text

B．one’s purpose in reading

C．the length of a group of words

D．lighting and tiredness

【小题2】The author may believe that reading ______.

A．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation

B．requires a reader to see words more quickly

C．demands an deeply-participating mind

D．demands more mind than eyes

【小题3】What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?

A．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.

B．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see and to comprehend words.

C．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.

D．The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.

【小题4】Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.

B．Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.

C．The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.

D．The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.

【小题5】The tune of the author in writing this article is ________

A．critical (批评的)	B．neutral (中立的)
C． pessimistic （悲观的 ）	D．optimistic

At the beginning of my 8：00 a．m．class one Monday at University of Nevada,Las Vegas(UNLV)，I cheerfully asked my students     their weekend had been．“Not been very good”，one young man said．He'd had his wisdom teeth      ．The young man then went on to ask me why I    seemed to be so cheerful．His question reminded me of     I′d read somewhere before：”Every morning when you get up，you have a      about how you want to approach life that day”，I said．“I choose to be cheerful”．

“Let me give you an     ”，I continued．The other 60 students in the class      their chatter and began to listen．one day,my car died on the way．I called AAA and asked them to send a      ．The secretary in the Provost’S office asked me what had happened．”This is my       day”， I replied,smiling．”Your Car       and today is your lucky day?”She Was       ．”What do you mean?”“I live 17 miles from here”，I replied．”My car     have gone wrong anywhere along the freeway．It didn’t．Instead，it went wrong in the       place：off the freeway,within walking distance of here．I’m     able to teach my class，and I’ve been able to arrange for the tow truck to     me after class．”The secretary’s eyes opened wide，and then she smiled．

  I scanned the 60 faces in the lecture hall．     the early hour,no one seemed to be asleep．Somehow,my story had     them．Or maybe it Wasn’t the story     ．It had all started with a student's       that I Was cheerful．A wise mail once said：”Who you are      louder to me than anything you can say”．I suppose it must  be so．

1.A．how        B．what                         C．whether        D．where

2.A．pulled      B．brought              C．taken          D．removed

3.A．seldom     B．always                  C．occasionally    D．ever

4.A．something   B．nothing              C．anything       D．everything

5.A．decision     B．chance              C．choice         D．destination

6.A．excuse　　　B．explanation      C．instruction　　  D．example

7.A．stopped　　 B．interrupted      C．disturbed　　   D．prevented

8.A．truck　　　 B．tractor                C．secretary　　   D．policeman

9.A．strange　　 B．terrible               C．lucky　　      D．pleasant

10.A．cuts up　　B．breaks up                C．breaks down　　D．tears down

11.A．cheerful　　B．doubtful                C．puzzled　　    D．worried

12.A．could　　 B．must                          C．should　　     D．would

13.A．wrong　　 B．proper               C．perfect　　     D．smooth

14.A．thus　　   B．still                           C．hardly　　      D．even

15.A．pick　　   B．send                         C．meet　　       D．visit

16.A．Despite　　B．Although                 C．Since　　       D．Though

17.A．taught　　 B．touched                      C．educated　      D.excited

18.A．after all　  B．in all                         C．above all　      D．at all

19.A．motivation　B．inspiration             C．observation　    D．appreciation

20.A．says　     B．speaks                C．talks　        　D．tells

 

Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time in which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.

Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.

1.The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .

A. the length of a group of words.

B. lighting and tiredness.

C. one’s familiarity with the text.

D. one’s purpose in reading.

2.The author may believe that reading ______.

A. demands an deeply-participating mind.

B. demands more mind than eyes.

C. requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation.

D. requires a reader to see words more quickly.

3.What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?

A. The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.

B. The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.

C. The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.

D. The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see or comprehend words.

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.

B. The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.

C. The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.

D. Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.

5.The tune of the author in writing this article is ________.

　　A. pessimistic  B. optimistic   C. critical  D. neutral