[00:04.60]Lesson 57 2 Reading comprehension
[00:11.26]Read the text fast to find answers to these questions
[00:16.61]1 What are the three methods of reading which are described?
[00:22.96]2 What is the most important piece of advice in the text?
[00:29.52]ON READING
[00:32.39]On the subject of reading,Francis Bacon,
[00:37.07]who lived at about the same time as Shakespeare,
[00:41.72]wrote these words,"Some books are to be tasted,others to be swallowed,
[00:50.08]and some few to be chewed and digested."
[00:55.43]This good advice shows how it is possible to read different types of books
[01:01.99]in different ways.For example,
[01:06.95]you might pick up a travel book an dread a few pages before going to sleep.
[01:13.12]It is enough to dip into it and read bits here and there.
[01:18.58]In a word,this is"tasting".Some stories are for"swallowing".
[01:25.34]Imagine that you have found a good story,
[01:29.57]and,what is even more important,the time to enjoy it.
[01:35.74]You might be on holiday,or on a long train journey.
[01:40.70]If it is a good book,you might say,"It's so good I can't put it down."
[01:47.78]But not all stories belong to this class.
[01:52.22]Reviewers sometimes describe books as"hard-to-put-down",
[01:58.57]or"hard-to-pick-up-again".
[02:02.93]Other books are for reading slowly and carefully.
[02:07.37]If it is a book on a subject that you are interested in,
[02:12.05]you will want to"chew and digest it".That does not mean reading it too slowly.
[02:19.70]When you pick up a book for the first time,check that it is not too difficult.
[02:26.34]Do not start a book unless you can see from the first few pages
[02:31.98]that it is one you can easily read and understand.
[02:36.73]Next,if it is not a story,get an idea of the organization of the book.
[02:43.79]Read the back cover and the introduction.
[02:48.23]Look at the pictures and the short texts below them.
[02:53.58]Turn to the front of the book and look at the contents.
[02:58.13]This way you can decide whether the book is likely to interest you,
[03:03.30]and if so,
[03:06.15]then you can decide which parts of the book will be most useful and interesting.
[03:12.34]Here are some more reading tips.
[03:16.10]First,read a chapter quickly to get a general idea.
[03:21.35]Then,if you wish,you can read it once again more slowly,
[03:26.79]using a dictionary when necessary.
[03:30.55]Second,do not stop every time you come to a word or phrase you do not know.
[03:37.50]Quite often you will find the unknown word appears again,perhaps several times,
[03:44.65]and by the end of the chapter you will have guessed its meaning.
[03:49.41]That is how we learn the meaning of words in our own language.
[03:54.37]Imagine that you come across this sentence in a book:"
[03:59.05]The house was beginning to get cold,so Daisy pulled her red,
[04:05.11]woolen cardigan out of her bag and put it on."
[04:10.75]If you do not know the word "cardigan",
[04:14.51]you can gress from the situation that it may be made of wool,
[04:19.37]and is put on to keep warm,and is therefore likely to be an article of clothing.
[04:26.00]The last question is what to read.
[04:30.37]Start by making a list of all the types of books that you enjoy reading in Chinese.
[04:37.03]If you hate science stories,you are unlikely to enjoy reading them in English.
[04:44.16]But if you enjoy reading short storiesin Chinese,
[04:48.71]look for collections of English ones.
[04:52.86]Are there any hobbies or sports you particularly like?
[04:58.21]If so,look out for books,articles or magazines about them.
[05:04.38]You can enlarge your knowledge and learn some English at the same time.
[05:10.44]Finally,and above all,enjoy your reading!
[05:16.08]Lesson 58
[05:24.05]1 Reading comprehension
[05:28.49]Read the text fast to find answers to these questions
[05:34.55]1 Is the text about listening to people or learnign a foreign language?
[05:42.20]2 Does the writer give advice or information or both?
[05:50.07]THE ART OF BEING A GOOD LISTENER
[05:54.01]There are two meanings of the phrase"listening skills".
[05:59.58]One refers to the type of listening pracice which we do when learning a foreign language.
[06:05.22]The more we practise,
[06:08.38]the better we get at listening to speech in a foreign language.
[06:13.42]The other meaning is about the art of being a good listener to other people.
[06:19.79]In this,the key to good listening is in the Chinese character thing.
[06:26.46]It tells us a lot about how we should listen to each other.
[06:31.31]These are the parts of the character:"ear","you","eyes",
[06:38.86]"undivided attention"and"heart"
[06:43.91]Being a good listener means much more than just"listening with ears".
[06:49.76]"Eyes"mean that I should look at you while you are speaking as a sign of respect.
[06:56.71]In other words I should not watch TV,
[07:01.46]or look over your shoulder at other people while we are talking together.
[07:07.02]"Undivided attention"is another sign of respect.
[07:11.99]Yor may have noticed that very few people listen with complete attention.
[07:18.15]Most people half-listen,
[07:21.68]and if you ask them to repeat what you have just said,they can-not.
[07:27.35]They may appear to be listening,
[07:31.00]but in fact lots of thigs are running around inside their heads:
[07:36.05]shopping lists,things to do,worries,problems and so on.
[07:42.81]What about"heart"?"Heart"is what makes you love other people.
[07:48.58]You can love your friend,
[07:51.75]even though you don't agree with everything she or he says.
[07:56.50]So when you listen to someone,you should listen with complete attention,
[08:02.98]and with complete respect for the other person.
[08:07.24]Here are some more tips on becoming a good listener.First,take turns to listen.
[08:14.97]Don't all try to speak at the same time when you are in a group.
[08:19.93]Listen without interrupting,and stop others from interrupting.
[08:26.38]Then it will be someone else's turn.
[08:30.17]That way everyone gets the chance to speak an dto be listened to with respect.
[08:36.70]Second,if your friends have problems,do not give advice.
[08:43.23]Ask questions instead,such as
[08:47.39]"What do you want?How do you feel about it?What are you afraid might happen?"
[08:54.47]They will be able to find answers to any problems themselves,with your support.
[09:00.63]They just need encouragement and complete trust that they are doing their best.
[09:07.19]Third,listen and be quiet while others are talking!
[09:12.93]Don't interrupt,saying,"Oh yes,that reminds me of...."
[09:17.98]and start to tell your story.
[09:21.53]If someone has a serious problem,or illness or sadness,
[09:27.59]this is not the time to talk about a similar event in your life
[09:32.73]that happened years ago.Most of us are able to solve most of our problems.
[09:40.21]Often,all we need is a good friend who will listen to us
[09:45.35]while we"talk things through".
[09:49.11]If friends can take turns to listen to each other well,life will be better!
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