The comprehension passages on this course are designed to help you increase your speed. A higher reading rate, with no loss of comprehension, will help you in other subjects as well as English, and the general principles apply to any language. Naturally, you will read every book at the same speed. You would expect to read a newspaper, fox example, much more rapidly than a physics or economics textbook but you can raise your average reading speed over the whole range of materials you wish to cover so that the percentage gain will be the same whatever kind of reading you are concerned with. The reading passages which follow are all of an average level of difficulty for your stage of instruction. If you get to the point where you can read books of average difficulty at between 40 and 50 w.p.m. with 70% or more comprehension, you will be doing quite well, though of course any further improvement of speed with comprehension will be a good thing. When you practise reading with passages shorter than book length, do not try to take in each word separately, one after the other. It is much more difficult to grasp the broad theme of the passage this way, and you will also get stuck on individual words which may not be absolutely essential to a general understanding of the passage. It is a good idea to skim through the passage very quickly first (say 500 words in a minute or so) to get the general idea of each paragraph. Titles, paragraph headings and emphasized words (underlined or in italics) can be a great help in getting this skeleton outline of the passage.
Double Income and No Kids (DINK) becomes fashionable in China. The DINK couples are usually regarded as those who have higher educations and【B1】careers with higher incomes. The increase in DINK families has shattered the Chinese traditional idea of the family and【B2】typical. A survey conducted recently in Beijing by a market survey company【B3】that about 3.3 percent of 1,300 surveyed families in Beijing said they have【B4】plans to have children. It is estimated there are about 600,000 DINK families in large cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. Why they choose such a lifestyle is concluded in【B5】reasons. Some are showing great worry for the rapid growth of population; some are indulged in building a more well-off family; some are showing sharp【B6】to get themselves free from the obligation of raising children. 【B7】, most people still believe it is necessary to bear a child to keep the family line on. As an old Chinese saying goes, there are three aspects in failing to be a filial son and the【B8】serious one is to have no heir for the family. So childless couples will suffer discrimination【B9】family members and neighbors. But it is clear that the new tide of ideas has come, which suggests young people【B10】to choose their own way of life. They are installing modern ideas into traditional families and society. In the modernization process, personal choices will be highly respected.
He has no alternative but ________to ask his sister for help.
Speaker A: It took me ten years to build up my business, and it almost killed me. Speaker B: Well, you know what they say:______
As people continue to grow and age, our body systems continue to change. At a certain point in your life your body systems will begin to weaken. Your joints may become stiff. It may become more difficult for you to see and hear. The slow change of aging causes our bodies to lose some of their ability to bounce back from disease and injury. In order to live longer, we have always tried to slow or stop this process that leads us toward the end of our lives. Many factors contribute to your health. A well-balanced diet plays an important role, the amount and type of exercise you get is another factor. Your living environment and the amount of stress you are under is yet another. But scientists studying senescence(衰老) want to know: Why do people grow old? They hope that by examining the aging process on a cellular level medical science may be able to extend the length of life.
A: Do you do exercises every day? B:______
Steve: Hi, my name is Steve. It"s nice to meet you. Jack: ______ I"m Jack.
David likes country life and has decided to ______ farming.
Amtrak(美国铁路客运公司) was experiencing a downswing in ridership(客运量) along the lines comprising its rail system. Of major concern to Amtrak and its advertising agency DDB Needham, were the long-distance western routes where ridership had been declining significantly. At one time, trains were the only practical way to cross the vast areas of the west. Trains were fast, very luxurious, and quite convenient compared to other forms of transportation existing at the time. However, times change and the automobile became America"s standard of convenience. Also, air travel had easily established itself as the fastest method of traveling great distances. Therefore, the task for DDB Needham was to encourage consumers to consider other aspects of train travel in order to change their attitudes and increase the likelihood that trains would be considered for travel in the west. Two portions of the total market were targeted: 1) anxious fliers—those concerned with safety, relaxation, and cleanliness; 2) travel-lovers—those viewing themselves as relaxed, casual, and interested in the travel experience as part of their vacation. The agency then developed a campaign that focused on travel experiences such as freedom, escape, relaxation, and enjoyment of the great western outdoors. It stressed experiences gained by using the trains and portrayed western train trips as wonderful adventures. Advertisements showed pictures of the beautiful scenery that could be enjoyed along some of the more famous western routes and emphasized the romantic names of some of these trains (Empire Builder, etc.).These ads were strategically placed among family-oriented TV shows and programs involving nature and America in order to most effectively reach target audiences. Results were impressive. The Empire Builder, which was focused on in one ad, enjoyed a 15 percent increase in profits on its Chicago to Seattle route.
All flights ______ because of the snowstorm, many passengers could do nothing but take the train.
Cashier: That"s $55.45 all together. ______. Customer: I"m sorry, but am I short-changed? I gave you $70.
By the end of next year, they ______ three modern hotels there.
Nancy is so poor that even fifty dollars ______ a big sum to her.
The lectures, ______the current hot issues, were well received.
Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because they"ve been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe. Now lions hold a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that spit from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former territory. India is the proud steward of these 300 or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile sanctuary(保护区). It took me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest—and no time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A tiger will hide in the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and unafraid—lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close, Gir"s lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months in the forest. It"s odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has as many lions as it can hold—too many, in fact. With territory in short supply, lions move about near the boundary of the forest and even leave it altogether, often clashing with people. That"s one reason India "is creating a second sanctuary. There are other pressing reasons: outbreaks of disease or natural disasters. In 1994 a serious disease killed more than a third of Africa"sSerengeti lions—a thousand animals—a fate that could easily happen to Gir"s eats. These lions are especially vulnerable to disease because they descend from as few as a dozen individuals. "If you do a DNA test, Asiatic lions actually look like identical twins", says Stephen O" Brien, a geneticist(基因学家) who has studied them. Yet the dangers are bidden, and you wouldn"t suspect them by watching these lords of the forest. The lions display vitality, and no small measure of charm. Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes when it"s time to eat, meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affairs. For a mother and her baby lion sharing a deer, or a young mate eating an antelope(羚羊), there"s no need to fight for a cut of the kill. The animals they hunt for food are generally smaller in Gir than those in Africa, and hunting groups tend to be smaller as well.
For an increasing number of students at American universities, Old is suddenly in. The reason is obvious: the graying of America means jobs. Coupled with the aging of the baby-boom(生育高峰) generation, a longer life span means that the nation"s elderly population is bound to expand significantly over the next 40 years. By 2040, 25 percent of all Americans will be older than 65, up from 14 percent in 1995. The change poses profound questions for government and society, of course. But it also creates career opportunities in medicine and health professions, and in law and business as well. "In addition to the doctors, we"re going to need more sociologists, biologists, urban planners and specialized lawyers", says Professor Edward Schneider of the University of Southern California"s (USC) School of Gerontology(老年学). Lawyers can specialize in "elder law", which covers everything from trusts and estates to nursing-home abuse and age discrimination(岐视). Businessmen see huge opportunities in the elder market because the baby boomers, 74 million strong, are likely to be the wealthiest group of retirees in human history. "Any student who combines an expert knowledge in gerontology with, say, an MBA or law degree, will have a license to print money", one professor says. Margarite Santos is a 21-year-old senior at USC. She began college as a biology major but found she was "really bored with bacteria". So she took a class in gerontology and discovered that she liked it. She says, "I did volunteer work in retirement homes and it was very satisfying".
Emma: We"re out of cream and sugar today. Roy: ______
If ______ and lodging are included in educational fees, a university student in the U.S. will need approximately $10,000 a year.
Man: We had a trip to South Africa this summer. Woman;______ Man: Yes, we did. In fact, we even encountered a lion.
He will come to call on you the moment he ______ his work.