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 (教育家) call it "automaticity (自动性)”．
A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With more and more practice, he stumbles less and less. As a result, he can read by the phrases and soon by sentences. With automaticity, he doesn't have to think about the meaning of words, so that 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 of time a child spends reading, not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 t0 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 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.
【1】"Reading is the key to school success" means that reading_______.
A. helps school develop faster
B. is a key to a successful school
C. helps students go to a key school
D. can improve students' learning results
【2】Children with "automaticiy" can read faster because they_______.
A. know how to read the words
B. pay attention to the meaning of the text instead of the words
C. read by themselves without any help
D. do not have to think while reading
【3】Rossman tells that any child who __________ will possibly be an automatic reader.
A. turns off TV one night 4 weeks
B. reads books by the word quickly
C. spends an hour reading every day
D. gets the same grades as others in exams
【4】The underlined word "stumble" in the second paragraph means“ _____ ”in Chinese.
A．结结巴巴地读 B．全神贯注地读
C．心不在焉地读 D．声情并茂地读
【5】The best title for the passage is“_______”．
A. IQ is the Key- to the Automaticity
B. TV is Bad for Children's Reading
C. Automaticity Needs a Lot of Practice
D. Automatic Readers Must Be Successful
