新世纪大学英语综合教程第一册第2单元Text B

Learning to Read

Text

1 In one of my classes were many children who had had great trouble with, schoolwork, particularlyreading. I decided to try at all coststo rid them of their fear and dislikeof books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously (冒险地).

2 One day soon after school had started, I said tothem, “Now I'm going to say something about reading that you have probablynever heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of books thisyear, but I want you to read them only forpleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books ornot. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on readingit, that's enough for me. Also I'm not going to ask you what words mean.”

3 “Finally,” I said, “I don't want you to feel thatjust because you start a book, you have to finish it. Give an author thirty or forty pages or so to get hisstory going. Then if you don't like the charactersand don't care what happens to them, close the book, put it away, and getanother. I don't care whether the books are easy or hard, short or long, aslong as you enjoy them. Furthermore, I'mputting all this in a letter to your parents, so they won't feel they have toquiz or check your reading at home.”

4 The children sat stunned(使震惊) andsilent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from aschool where she had had a very hard time, and who proved to be one of the mostinteresting, lively, and intelligentchildren I have ever known, looked at me steadilyfor a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she saidslowly and solemnly, “Mr. Holt, doyou really mean that?” I said just as solemnly, “I meanevery word of it.”

5 Apparently shedecided to believe me. The first book she read was Dr. Seuss's How theGrinch Stole Christmas, not a hard book even for most third graders. For awhile she read a number of books on this level. Perhapsshe was clearing up some confusion about reading that her teachers, in their hurry to gether up to “grade level,” had never given her enough time to clear up.After she had been in the class six weeks or so and we had become good friends,I very tentatively (试探性地) suggested that, since she was askillful rider and loved horses, she might like to read National Velvet. I made my sell as soft as possible saying onlythat it was about a girl who loved and rode horses, and that if she didn't likeit, she could put it back. She tried it, and though she must have found itquite a bit harder than what she had been reading, finished it and liked itvery much.

6 During the spring semester,she really astonished me, however.One day, in one of our many free periods, she was reading at her desk. From a glimpse of the illustrationsI thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can't be,” and wentto take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick,in the edition with woodcuts (木刻) by Rockwell Kent. When I cameclose to her desk, she looked up. I said, “Are you really reading that?” Shesaid she was. I said, “Do you like it?” She said, “Oh, yes, it's neat!” I said, “Don't you find parts of it rather heavy going?”She answered, “Oh, sure, but I just skip(略过，跳过) overthose parts and go on to the next good part.”

7 This is exactly what reading should be, but inschool, reading is not always an exciting, joyous (充满欢乐的) adventure.Find something, dive into it, takethe good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on tosomething else. Why should we insist that every child should read the same bookand get the same scrap (碎屑) of “understanding” out of it?

Text Translation

1    在我曾经任教的一个班上，许多孩子学习起来非常吃力，尤其是阅读。因此我决定不惜任何代价消除他们对书籍的恐惧和厌恶心理，让他们能够多读些书，更勇于尝试。

2    开学后没多久，有一天我对孩子们说：“我要跟你们说说读书的事，也许还没有哪个老师这样对你们讲过。今年我想要你们读许多书，但是我想要你们只需要为了寻求乐趣而读书，我不会提问题去检查你们读懂了没有。如果你们读懂了一点儿，觉得会喜欢这本书，并愿意把它读完，这就够了。我也不会去考你们词语的意思。”

3    “最后，”我继续说道，“你们不要觉得读一本书就得把它读完。先读三、四十页，看看故事情节如何发展。如果你不喜欢书中人物，或者对他们的经历不感兴趣，只管合上书，放到一边，去读另一本。你们读的书是难还是容易、篇幅长还是篇幅短，我都不在意，只要你们喜欢就行。另外，我会写信把我的意思告诉你们的家长，好让他们知道没有必要在家里查问或检查你们的读书情况。”

4    孩子们都愣住了，坐着不出声。这真的是老师在说话吗？其中一个女孩，因为功课不好最近才转学到我们学校来，后来我发现她非常有趣、活泼、聪明，在我所有的学生中都算突出的。我讲完后，她盯住我看了很久。然后，她继续看着我，缓慢而严肃地问：“霍尔特先生，你说的话是真的吗？”我也同样严肃地回答：“真的，一点不假。”

5    显然，她打算照我说的办。她读的第一本书是瑟斯博士写的《格林奇偷走圣诞节》，这本书对大多数三年级的学生都不算难，更不要说这个年级的孩子了。有一阵子，她读的都是这个难易度的书。也许她是在消除对阅读的一些困惑，而以前她没时间去做，因为老师总是催促她看这个年级“该看的书”。她在这个班上学习了大概六周后，我们成了好朋友。我试探地向她建议：既然她喜欢马，而且骑马的水平还不错，她可以读一读《玉女神驹》。我尽可能委婉地提出这个建议。我只告诉她那是一个关于一个热爱马并常常骑马的女孩

的故事；如果她不喜欢读，她可以放回去。她去读了，也许她觉得这本书比她先前读的书要难点，但是她读完了，而且挺喜欢。

6    春季的那一学期，她的表现可真的让我吃惊了。一天，在我们的自习课上我看到她坐在课桌前看书。我瞥了一眼书中的插图就知道这是一本什么书了。我心想：“不可能吧。”我走过去仔细一看，她果然在读《白鲸》，是配有罗克威尔•肯特木刻画的那个版本。我走近她的课桌，这时她抬起头来。我问她：“你真的在看这本书吗？”她说，是的。我又问：“你喜欢这本书吗？”“嗯，是的。这本书很好。”她答道。“你不觉得有些地方很难吗？”我又问道。“有啊，不过，看不懂就跳过去，挑有意思的地方看。”她这样回答。

7    真正的阅读就该如此。但是上学时，阅读不见得总是有趣或让人喜欢。拿上一本书，钻进去，读有趣的部分，跳过不好的部分，尽可能从书中得到点收获，然后再去读其它书。为什么非要让每个孩子读一样的书，作出同样没有意义的“理解”呢？

Word Study

Key Words:

particularly ad.	rid vt.	character n.	furthermore ad.
intelligent a.	steadily ad.	solemnly ad.	apparently ad.
confusion n.	semester n.	astonish vt.	glimpse n.
illustration n.	edition n.	adventure n.	dive vi.

particularly ad.  especially; in a way that is special and different from others  特别, 尤其

e.g. She looked particularly lovely that night.

He talks down to everyone, particularly young people.

rid vt. (rid, rid or ridded, rid) drive, send, throw, or give away or destroy 除去；赶走；消灭

e.g. He shook the blankets vigorously to get rid of the dust.

It is difficult to get rid of deep-rooted habits.

character n. [C] a person in a book, play, etc. （书、剧本等中的）人物，角色

e.g. Any resemblance of a character in this book to a living person is purely incidental. 书中人物如有雷同，纯属巧合。

He is the character with whom the reader can most easily identify.

furthermore ad. fml also; in addition to what has just been said 〖正式〗而且；再者；另外；还有

e.g. I don’t want to go there, furthermore, I have no time to do so.

intelligent a. having or showing powers of learning, reasoning, or understanding, esp. to a high degree 有智慧的；悟性（理解力）强的；聪明的

e.g. She was an intelligent woman who refused to be a rich man’s plaything.

She was an extremely intelligent child, and soon pulled away from the rest of the class.

Collocations:

highly intelligent            incredibly intelligent

particularly intelligent    extremely intelligent

steadily ad. calmly and in a controlled way 镇定地

e.g. He moved back a little and stared steadily at Elaine.

solemnly ad. in a manner that is marked by seriousness or sincerity; seriously 表情庄重地，严肃地，不苟言笑地

e.g. All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.

They vowed solemnly never to love anyone else.

apparently ad. it is clear (that); it seems (that); seemingly 显然；看来，似乎

e.g. The trouble was sparked off by an apparently harmless phrase.

An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.

confusion n. a state of being mixed up or mistaken 困惑；分辩不清

e.g. His answers to my questions have only added to my confusion.

This accident upset our plans and threw us into confusion.

semester n. either of the two periods into which a year at universities, esp. in the US, is divided （尤指美国大学的）一学期；半学年

e.g. He had three minors this semester.

I had an especially rough time during my first semester.

astonish vt. fill with great surprise and perhaps disbelief 使吃惊，使惊讶

e.g. It will astonish you to hear what I paid for this ring.

The magician’s next trick will astonish you.

CF: surprise, amaze, astonish

这三个动词均含“使惊愕，使惊讶，使惊奇”之意。

surprise：普通用词，多指因未预料或意外的事而引起的惊奇之感。

amaze：语气较强，指因认为不可能或极少可能发生情况的出现而感到惊讶或迷惑不解。

astonish：语气较强，指出乎预料，意外发生，但又无法解释而感到惊奇。

glimpse n.  a quick look or incomplete view of 瞥见，一瞥

e.g. We only had a fleeting glimpse of the sun all day.

Some of the fans had waited 24 hours outside the Hyde Park Hotel to catch a glimpse of their heroine.

Collocations:

fleeting glimpse    momentary glimpse   

hasty glimpse      uncommon glimpse   

first glimpse       quick glimpse

illustration n. a picture to go with the words of a book, speaker, etc.（图书、演讲者等作说明用的）插图，图表，图案

e.g. The marginal illustration is very interesting.

She looked like a princess in a nineteenth-century illustration.

edition n. a number of copies of a book, newspaper, magazine, etc., that are produced and printed at one time （书、报、杂志等）一版的印刷数；版（次），版本

e.g. The edition is limited to 10000 copies priced twelve dollars.

Many new words and phrases have been included in the revised edition.

Collocations:

first edition      new edition   

deluxe edition    two-volume edition

limited edition    unabridged edition

adventure n. a journey, experience, etc., that is strange and exciting and often dangerous 冒险活动[经历]；奇遇

e.g. The spirit of adventure rose in the boys’ souls once more.

Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.

dive vi. (dived, dived or dove/dEUv/, dived) AmE throw oneself head first into water; move quickly on land or in air, downwards, head first or out of sight 〖美〗（头朝下）跳水，入水;（在地上或空中）头向下钻，猛冲，俯冲，突然隐去

e.g. He who would search for pearls must dive below.

    It started to rain so we dived into the nearest cafe.

Expressions:

have trouble   with	at all costs
rid of	for pleasure
find out	in one’s   hurry
take a look   (at)	mean every   word of it
clear up	a glimpse of
sure enough	dive into

have trouble with  have problems or difficulties with 做……有困难

e.g. Don’t worry, lots of people have trouble with these words.

Some people looking after elderly parents have trouble with the role reversal involved. 一些照看年迈父母的人在角色转变上有困难.

at all cost / costs  whatever is needed to achieve sth. 不惜任何代价

e.g. He is the man who implements his promise at all cost.

She was determined to win at all costs.

rid of  make (esp. a place) free of (sth. harmful or unwanted) 使摆脱掉（有害或不受欢迎的东西）

e.g. It is not easy to rid oneself of a bad habit.

He promised to rid the house of mice.

for pleasure  for fun; for enjoyment为了取乐，作为消遣

e.g. A hobby is an activity you turn to for pleasure.

Has he gone to Paris on business or for pleasure?

find out  learn or discover (a fact that was hidden or not known) 发现，查明

e.g. A spy used artful means to find out secrets.

Let’s give him line enough and find out what he is doing.

in one’s hurry  while trying to do sth. too quickly  匆忙中

e.g. In my hurry I forgot to take my wallet with me.

In her hurry to leave she forgot her briefcase.

take a look (at) examine or observe 检查；观察

e.g. You ought to open your eyes and take a look at reality.
There are some rare treasures on exhibition recently, let's take a look.

mean every word of it  be fully serious when making a promise or threat; not be joking (发誓、威胁、表明观点时)说话算数；并非戏言

e.g. For the record, I mean every word of it. I absolutely believe a person can take charge of her (or his) life.

a glimpse of  a quick look at or incomplete view of 瞥见，一瞥

e.g. He caught a glimpse of her before she vanished into the crowd.

Her worried face gave me a glimpse of her true feelings.

clear up  clean thoroughly and remove anything unwanted 彻底扫除；清理

e.g. There should be someone to whom you can turn for any advice or to clear up any problems.

That doesn’t clear up my doubts.

sure enough  exactly as was expected 果然，果真

e.g. We said things would trun out well, and sure enough they did.

He said he would come, and sure enough he came.

dive into  start doing sth. or joining an activity quickly, keenly and whole-heartedly 全身心投入

e.g. Before you dive into the working world, there are a few common pitfalls you should try to avoid.

Find a hobby or activity you enjoy doing and dive into it.

好听英文歌推荐