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 call it “automaticity (自动性)”.
A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase (短语). With automaticity, he doesn’t have to think about the meaning of words, so 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 (数量) of time a child spends reading, not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 to 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 (适合) 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.
小题1:“Reading is the key to school success” means that reading.A．helps school develop fasterB．is a key to a successful schoolC．helps students go to a key school D．can improve students’ learning results小题2:Children with “automaticity” can read faster because they.A．know how to read the wordsB．do not have to think while readingC．read by themselves without any helpD．pay attention to the meaning of the text小题3:Rossman tells that any child whowill possibly be an automatic reader.A．turns off TV one night 4 weeksB．reads books by the word quicklyC．spends an hour reading every dayD．gets the same grades as others in exams小题4:The underlined word “stumble” in the passage 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．声情并茂地读小题5:The best title for the passage is “”.A．IQ Is the Key to the AutomaticityB．TV Is Bad for Children’s ReadingC．Automaticity Depends on PracticeD．Automatic Reads Will Be Successful