Active Reading
As we said at the beginning, we will be① principally concerned in these pages with the development of skill in reading books; but the rules of reading that, if followed and practiced, develop such skill can be applied also to ②printed material in ③general, to any type of reading matter—to newspapers, magazines, ④pamphlets, articles, ⑤tracts, even advertisements.
principally:adv.主要地,大部分
principally means more than anything else.
eg:This is because the major export market are slowing
printed:v.打印,印制,刊登,冲洗,用印刷体写,压出痕迹（压印）,印出n.印刷行业,印刷字体,指纹,手印,印花棉布（图案）,花样
general:adj.大致的,总的,综合的,全体的,普遍的n.上将,一般,一般原则,常规
词组搭配:as a general rule 通常in general 普遍地
pamphlets:n.小册子
A pamphlet is a very thin book,with a paper cover ,which gives information about something.
eg.Religious pamphlets were found in their posses-sion.他們被發現持有宗教宣傳冊.
同义词.leaflet
.tracts: n.大片土地,地帶,（体内的）道
（biology）a system of connected organs or tissues along which materials or messages pass.
eg.Vast tracts of the country are wild and undeveloped.
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 eyes① immobilized and our minds asleep. Hence when we contrast active with passive reading, our purpose is, first, to call attention to 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 another in ②proportion 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.
immobilized:v.使不動,使固定
to prevent something from moving or from working normally
eg.A device to immobilize the car engine in case of theft.
.proportion
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除此之外還有很多釋義,eg:部分,比例,大小尺寸,与……成比例
eg .In the tropics plants grow to huge proportions.
也有不常见的:
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 out some effort, but no work need be done by the reader or listener. Reading and listening are thought of as receiving communication from someone who is actively① engaged in giving or sending it. The mistake here is to suppose that receiving communication is like receiving a blow or a② 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.
legacy
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engage
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Catching the ball is just as much an activity as ①pitching or hitting it. The pitcher or batter is the sender in the sense that his activity ②initiates the motion of the ball. The catcher or fielder is the receiver in the sense that his activity ③terminates it. Both are active, though the activities are different. If anything is passive, it is the ball. It is the inert thing that is put in motion or stopped, whereas the players are active, moving to pitch, hit, or catch. The analogy with writing and reading is almost perfect. The thing that is written and read, like the ball, is the passive object common to the two activities that begin and terminate the process.
pitching
initiates
terminates
We can take this ①analogy a step further. The art of catching is the skill of catching every kind of pitch—fast balls and② curves, ③changeups and④ knucklers. Similarly, the art of reading is the skill of catching every sort of communication as well as possible.
analogy:
change ups:
curves
knucklers
It is① noteworthy that the pitcher and catcher are successful only to the extent that they cooperate. The relation of writer and reader is similar. The writer isn’t trying not to be caught, although it sometimes seems so. Successful communication occurs in any case where what the writer wanted to have received finds its way into the reader’s possession. The writer’s skill and the reader’s skill ②converge upon a common end.
noteworthy
converge
There is one respect in which the analogy breaks down. The ball is a simple unit. It is either completely caught or not. A piece of writing, however, is a complex object. It can be received more or less completely, all the way from very little 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 the process, as well as upon the skill with which he① executes the different mental acts involved.
executes
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What does active reading ①entail? We will return to this question many times in this book. For the moment, it suffices to say that, given the same thing to read, one person reads it better than another, first, by reading it 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 writing is. It consists of a large number of separate acts, all of which must be performed in a good reading. The person who can perform more of them is better able to read.
entail
