For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, inter-office communications, not to mention newspapers and magazines: a never-ending flood of words. In ___1___ a job or advancing in one, the ability to read and comprehend quickly can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are ___2___ readers. Most of us develop poor reading habits at an early age, and never get over them. The main deficiency ___3___ in the actual stuff of language itself — words. Taken individually, words have little meaning until they are strung together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs. ___4___ , however, the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He laboriously reads one word at a time, often regressing to reread words or passages. Regression, the tendency to look back over ___5___ you have just read, is a common bad habit in reading. Another habit which slows down the speed of reading is vocalization—sounding each word either orally or mentally as one reads.

　　To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an ___6___ , which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined speed. The bar is set at a slightly faster rate ___7___ the reader finds comfortable, in order to “stretch” him. The accelerator forces the reader to read fast, making word-by-word reading, regression and subvocalization, practically impossible. At first ___8___ is sacrificed for speed. But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster, but your comprehension will improve. Many people have found ___9___ reading skill drastically improved after some training. Take Charlie Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute before the training, now it is an excellent 1,378 words a minute. He is delighted that how he can ___10___ a lot more reading material in a short period of time.

　　1. A. applying B. doing C. offering D. getting

　　2. A. good B. curious C. poor D. urgent

　　3. A. lies B. combines C .touches Dinvolves

　　4. A. Fortunately B. In fact C. Logically D. Unfortunately

　　5. A. what B. which C. that D. if

　　6. A. accelerator B. actor C. amplifier D. observer

　　7. A. then B. as C. beyondD. than

　　8. A. meaning B. comprehension C. gistD. regression

　　9. A. our B. you C. their D. such a

　　10. A. master B. go over C. present D. get through

　　參考答案:1.D2.C3.A4.D5.A6.A7.D8.B9.C10.D