Active Reading

As we said at the beginning, we will be principally concerned in these pages with the development of skill in reading books; but the rules of reading that, if followed andpracticed, develop such skill can be applied also to printed material ingeneral, to any type of reading matter—to newspapers, magazines,pamphlets, articles,tracts,even advertisements.

pamphlet

noun,a very thin book with a papercover, containing information about a particular

subject小冊(cè)子；手冊(cè)【SYN】leaflet

tract ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? noun, (sometimes disapproving) a short piece of writing, especially on a religious, moral or political subject, that is intended to influence people's ideas (尤指宣揚(yáng)宗教、倫理或政治的)短文,傳單,小冊(cè)

Since reading of any sort is an activity, all reading must to some degree be active. Completely passive reading is impossible; we cannot read with our eyes immobilized and our minds asleep. Hence when we contrast active with passive reading, our purpose is, first, to call attentionto the fact that reading can be more or less active, and second, to point out that the more active the reading the better. One reader is better than anotherin proportion as he is capable of a greater range of activity in reading and exerts more effort. He is better if he demands more of himself and of the text before him.

immobilize

verb[VN]

?toprevent sth from moving or from working normally使不動(dòng)；使不能正常運(yùn)作:

?a device to immobilize the car engine in caseof theft遇到有人盜車時(shí)使汽車引擎發(fā)動(dòng)不了的裝置

?Always immobilize a broken leg immediately.腿斷了應(yīng)立即避免挪動(dòng)。

Though, strictly speaking, there can be no absolutely passive reading, many people think that,as compared with writing and speaking, which are obviously active undertakings,reading and listening are entirely passive. The writer or speaker must put outsome effort, but no work need be done by the reader or listener. Reading andlistening are thought of as receiving communication from someone who is actively engaged in giving or sending it. The mistake here is to suppose that receiving communication is like receiving a blow or a legacy or a judgment from the court. On the contrary, the reader or listener is much more like the catcher in a game of baseball.

Catching the ball is just as much an activity as pitching or hitting it. The pitcher or batter is the sender in the sense that his activity initiates the motion of the ball. The catcher or fielder is the receiver in the sense that his activity terminates it. Both are active,though the activities are different. If anything is passive, it is the ball. Itis the inert thing that is put in motion or stopped, whereas the players areactive, moving to pitch, hit, or catch. The analogy with writing and reading isalmost perfect. The thing that is written and read, like the ball, is thepassive object common to the two activities that begin and terminate theprocess.

pitcher

noun(in baseball棒球) theplayer who throws the ball to the batter投球手

batter

[C] (NAmE) (in baseball棒球) the player who is hitting the ball正在擊球的球員；擊球員

initiate

verb (formal) to make sth begin開始；發(fā)起；創(chuàng)始

?Thegovernment has initiated a programme of economic reform.政府已開始實(shí)施經(jīng)濟(jì)改革方案。

terminate ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? verb(formal)

1.to end;to make sth end (使)停止,結(jié)束,終止:

?Yourcontract of employment terminates in December.你的聘約十二月份到期。

2. [V](of a bus or train公共汽車或火車) to end a journey / trip到達(dá)終點(diǎn)站:

?This train terminates at London Victoria.這趟列車的終點(diǎn)站是倫敦維多利亞火車站。

We can take this analogy a step further. The art of catching is the skill of catching every kind of pitch—fast balls and curves, changeups and knucklers. Similarly,the art of reading is the skill of catching every sort of communication as well as possible.

Curve: (also 'curve ball) (NAmE) (in baseball棒球) a ball that moves in a curve when it is thrown to the batter(投向擊球員的)曲線球:(figurative)

?One of the journalists threw the senator acurve (= surprised him by asking a difficult question).一名記者向那位參議員提出了一個(gè)出乎意料的難題。

Changeup:

a slow pitch in baseball thrown with the same motion as a fastball in order to deceive the batter n.投手為使打擊手打空而投的緩慢球

Knucklers(=knuckle ball):a slow baseball pitch that moves erratically and unpredictably and that is thrown with little spin by gripping the ball with the knuckles or the tips of the fingers pressed against the top 慢速變化球

It isnoteworthythat the pitcher and catcher are successfulonly to the extent that they cooperate. The relation of writer and reader issimilar. The writer isn’t trying not to be caught, although it sometimes seemsso. Successful communication occurs in any case where what the writer wanted tohave received finds its way into the reader’s possession. The writer’s skilland the reader’s skill converge upon a common end.

Noteworthy=significant

convergeverb [V]

1. ~ (on...) (of people or vehicles人或車輛) to move towards a place from different directions and meet匯集；聚集；集中:

?Thousands of supporters converged on Londonfor the rally.成千上萬的支持者從四面八方匯聚倫敦舉行集會(huì)。

2. (of ten or more lines, paths, etc.多條線、小路等) to move towards each other and meet at a point(向某一點(diǎn))相交,會(huì)合:

?There was a signpost where the ten pathsconverged兩條小路的相交處有一路標(biāo)。

3. if ideas, policies, aims, etc. converge, they become very similar or the same (思想、政策、目標(biāo)等)十分相似,相同 【OPP】diverge

Admittedly,writers vary, just as pitchers do. Some writers have excellent “control”; theyknow exactly what they want to convey, and they convey it precisely andaccurately. Other things being equal, they are easier to “catch” than a “wild”writer without “control.”

There is onerespect in which the analogy breaks down. The ball is a simple unit. It iseither completely caught or not. A piece of writing, however, is a complexobject. It can be received more or less completely, all the way from verylittle of what the writer intended to the whole of it. The amount the reader“catches” will usually depend on the amount of activity he puts into theprocess, as well as upon the skill with which heexecutesthe different mental acts involved.

Execute verb [VN]

1. [usually passive] ~ sb (for sth) to kill sb, especially as a legal punishment (尤指依法)處決,處死:

?He was executed for treason.他因叛國罪被處死。

2. (formal) to do a piece of work, perform a duty, put a plan into action, etc.實(shí)行；執(zhí)行；實(shí)施:

?They drew up and executed a plan to reducefuel consumption.他們制訂并實(shí)施了一項(xiàng)降低燃料消耗的計(jì)劃。

3. (formal) to successfully perform a skilful action or movement成功地完成(技巧或動(dòng)作):

?The pilot executed a perfect landing.飛行員完成了一個(gè)非常嫺熟的著陸動(dòng)作。

What does activereading entail? We will return to this question many times in this book. Forthe moment, itsufficesto say that, given thesame thing to read, one person reads it better than another, first, by readingit more actively, and second, by performing each of the acts involved more skillfully.These two things are related. Reading is a complex activity, just as writingis. It consists of a large number of separate acts, all of which must beperformed in a good reading. The person who can perform more of them is betterable to read.

suffice

/verb ?(formal) (not used in the progressive

tenses不用于進(jìn)行時(shí)) to be enough for sb / sth足夠；足以:

?One example willsuffice to illustrate the point.舉一個(gè)例子就足以說明這一點(diǎn)。

suffice (it) to say (that).. .?used to suggest that although you could say more, what you do say will be enough to explain what you mean無須多說；只需說…就夠了

這篇文章主要是講積極閱讀。首先作者將積極閱讀與棒球類比，他們之間有幾點(diǎn)相似：1，參與活動(dòng)pitcher（writer）和receiver（reader）都是主動(dòng)的，只有baseball（book）是被動(dòng)的；2，兩個(gè)活動(dòng)的目的一致，都是為了接到球（從書中獲得交流與知識(shí)）；3，活動(dòng)的參與者之間（pitcher和receiver， writer和reader）都需要相互配合以互利。但是他們有一點(diǎn)不同，棒球是一個(gè)整體，結(jié)果也只能是接住球或者沒有，而從書中獲得的知識(shí)則是可以根據(jù)人的投入狀況來決定的。