For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, interoffice 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 2 can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are 3 readers. Most of us develop poor reading 4 at an early age, and never get over them. The main deficiency 5 in the actual stuff of language itself ——words. Taken individually, words have 6 meaning until they are strung together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs. 7 , however, the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He laboriously reads one word at a time, often regressing（退回） to 8 words or passages. Regression, the tendency to look back over 9 you have just read, is a common bad habit in reading. Another habit which 10 down the speed of reading is vocalization—sounding each word either orally or mentally as 11 reads.
To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an 12 , which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined（預先確定的） speeD．The bar is set at a slightly faster rate 13 the reader finds comfortable, in order to “stretch” him. The accelerator forces the reader to read fast, 14 word-by-word reading, regression and subvocalization（默讀）practically impossible. At first 15 is sacrificed for speeD．But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster, 16 your comprehension will improve. Many people have found 17 reading skill drastically improved after some training. 18 Charlce Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute 19 the training, now it is an excellent 1,28 words a minute. He is delighted that how he can 20 a lot more reading material in a short period of time.
1． A．applying B．doing C．offering D．getting
2． A．quickly B．easily C．roughly D．decidedly
3． A．good B．curious C．poor D．urgent
4． A．training B．habits C．situations D．custom
5． A．lies B．combines C．touches D．involves
6． A．some B．a lot C．little D．dull
7． A．Fortunately B．In fact C．Logically D．Unfortunately
8． A．reuse B．reread C．rewrite D．recite
9． A．what B．which C．that D．if
10．A．scales B．cuts C．slows D．measures
11．A．some one B．one C．he D．reader
12．A．accelerator B．actor C．amplifier D．observer
13．A．then B．as C．beyond D．than
14．A．enabling B．leading C．making D．indicating
15．A．meaning B．comprehensionC．gist D．regression
16．A．but B．nor C．or D．for
17．A．our B．your C．their D．such a
18．A．Look at B．Take C．Make D．Consider
19．A．for B．in C．after D．before
20．A．master B．go over C．present D．get through
