[閒聊] 增加英文閱讀速度的小撇步

[aking345 (逍凡)]

一位剛從碩班畢業的政大學長之前丟給我一篇資料，講述如何增加英文閱讀。
跟我之前念的工具書結合後受益不少，

趁著一點時間把它翻譯出來，方便自己練習。 (末段有簡要的中文翻譯)
傳聞如果你願意耐著性子讀完並把這些技巧應用在此篇資料上，你的英文閱讀速度就已經
實質進步了。

本文譯者為中山學生，發文IP為117，露兩點中山點，謝謝手下留情。

原文如下
Tips for Increasing Reading Speed

As our eyes move across the page they make a series of jerky movements.
Whenever they come to rest on a word that is called a fixation. Most people
fixate once on each word across a line of print.  In order to make our speed
increase we must take in more words with each fixation, rather than make our
eyes move faster.


1. Try to avoid focusing on every word, but rather look at groups of 2 to 3
words. For instance, this sentence could be grouped in this manner:
for instance / this sentence / could be grouped / in this manner '



2. Work on vocabulary improvement. Familiarize yourself with new words so you
don't get stuck on them when you read them again.



3. Read more! 15 minutes a day of reading an average size novel equals 18
books a year at an average reading speed!



4.Determine your purpose before reading. If you only need main ideas, then
allow yourself to skim the material. Don't feel you must read very word.



5.Spend a few minutes a day reading at a faster than comfortable rate (about
2 to 3 times faster than your normal speed). Use your hand or an index card
to guide your eyes down the page. Then time yourself reading a few pages at
your normal speed. You'll find that often your normal reading speed will
increase after your skimming practice.



6. If you have poor concentration when reading, practice reading for only 5 -
10 minutes at a time and gradually increase this time.



7.There are several books on increasing reading speed available in most
bookstores. If you are serious about increasing your rate you may want to
work systematically through one of these books



SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING READING SPEED



Improvement of Reading Rate


It is safe to say that almost anyone can double his speed of reading while
maintaining equal or even higher comprehension. In other words, anyone can
improve the speed with which he gets what he wants from his reading.



The average college student reads between 250 and 350 words per minute on
fiction and non-technical materials. A "good" reading speed is around 500 to
700 words per minute, but some people can read a thousand words per minute or
even faster on these materials. What makes the difference? There are three
main factors involved in improving reading speed: (1) the desire to improve,
(2) the willingness to try new techniques and (3) the motivation to practice.
:



Learning to read rapidly and well presupposes that you have the necessary
vocabulary and comprehension skills. When you have advanced on the reading
comprehension materials to a level at which you can understand college-level
materials, you will be ready to speed reading practice in earnest.



The Role of Speed in the Reading Process


Understanding the role of speed in the reading process is essential. Research
has shown a close relation between speed and understanding. For example, in
checking progress charts of thousands of individuals taking reading training,
it has been found in most cases that an increase in rate has been paralleled
by an increase in comprehension, and that where rate has gone down,
comprehension has also decreased.



Although there is at present little statistical evidence, it seems that
plodding word-by-word analysis (or word reading) inhibits understanding.
There is some reason to believe that the factors producing slow reading are
also involved in lowered comprehension. Most adults are able to increase
their rate of reading considerably and rather quickly without lowering
comprehension. These same individuals seldom show an increase in
comprehension when they reduce their rate. In other cases, comprehension is
actually better at higher rates of speed. Such results, of course, are
heavily dependent upon the method used to gain the increased rate. Simply
reading more rapidly without actual improvement in basic reading habits
usually results in lowered comprehension.



Factors that Reduce Reading Rate


Some of the facts which reduce reading rate: (a) limited perceptual span
i.e., word-by-word reading; (b) slow perceptual reaction time, i.e., slowness
of recognition and response to the material; (c) vocalization, including the
need to vocalize in order to achieve comprehension; (d) faulty eye movements,
including inaccuracy in placement of the page, in return sweep, in rhythm and
regularity of movement, etc.; (e) regression, both habitual and as associated
with habits of concentration; (f) faulty habits of attention and
concentration, beginning with simple inattention during the reading act and
faulty processes of retention; (g) lack of practice in reading, due simply to
the fact that the person has read very little and has limited reading
interests so that very little reading is practiced in the daily or weekly
schedule; (h) fear of losing comprehension, causing the person to suppress
his rate deliberately in the firm belief that comprehension is improved if he
spends more time on the individual words; (i) habitual slow reading, in which
the person cannot read faster because he has always read slowly, (j) poor
evaluation of which aspects are important and which are unimportant; and (k)
the effort to remember everything rather than to remember selectively.



Since these conditions act also to reduce comprehension increasing the
reading rate through eliminating them is likely to result in increased
comprehension as well. This is an entirely different matter from simply
speeding up the rate of reading without reference to the conditions
responsible for the slow rate. In fact, simply speeding the rate especially
through forced acceleration, may actually result, and often does, in making
the real reading problem more severe. In addition, forced acceleration may
even destroy confidence in ability to read. The obvious solution then is to
increase rate as a part of a total improvement of the whole reading process.
This is a function of special training programs in reading.



Basic Conditions for Increased Reading Rate


A well planned program prepares for maximum increase in rate by establishing
the necessary conditions. Four basic conditions include:



1. Have your eyes checked. Before embarking on a speed reading program, make
sure that any correctable eye defects you may have are taken care of by
checking with your eye doctor. Often, very slow reading is related to
uncorrected eye defects.



2. Eliminate the habit of pronouncing words as you read. If you sound out
words in your throat or whisper them, you can read slightly only as fast as
you can read aloud. You should be able to read most materials at least two or
three times faster silently than orally. If you are aware of sounding or
"hearing" words as you read, try to concentrate on key words and meaningful
ideas as you force yourself to read faster.



3. Avoid regressing (rereading). The average student reading at 250 words per
minute regresses or rereads about 20 times per page. Rereading words and
phrases is a habit which will slow your reading speed down to a snail's pace.
Usually, it is unnecessary to reread words, for the ideas you want are
explained and elaborated more fully in later contexts. Furthermore, the
slowest reader usually regresses most frequently. Because he reads slowly,
his mind has time to wander and his rereading reflects both his inability to
concentrate and his lack of confidence in his comprehension skills.



4. Develop a wider eye-span. This will help you read more than one word at a
glance. Since written material is less meaningful if read word by word, this
will help you learn to read by phrases or thought units.



Rate Adjustment


Poor results are inevitable if the reader attempts to use the same rate
indiscriminately for a-1 types of material and for all reading purposes. He
must learn to adjust his rate to his purpose in reading and to the difficulty
of the material he is reading. This ranges from a maximum rate on easy,
familiar, interesting material or in reading to gather information on a
particular point, to minimal rate on material which is unfamiliar in content
and language structure or which must be thoroughly digested. The effective
reader adjusts his rate; the ineffective reader uses the same rate for all
types of material.



Rate adjustment may be overall adjustment to the article as a whole, or
internal adjustment within the article. Overall adjustment establishes the
basic rate at which the total article is read; internal adjustment involves
the necessary variations in rate for each varied part of the material. As an
analogy, you plan to take a 100-mile mountain trip. Since this will be a
relatively hard drive with hills, curves, and a mountain pass, you decide to
take three hours for the total trip, averaging about 35 miles an hour. This
is your overall rate adjustment. However, in actual driving you may slow down
to no more than 15 miles per hour on some curves and hills, while speeding up
to 50 miles per hour or more on relatively straight and level sections. This
is your internal rate adjustment. There is no set rate, therefore, which the
good reader follows inflexibly in reading a particular selection, even though
he has set himself an overall rate for the total job.



Overall rate adjustment should be based on your reading plan, your reading
purpose, and the nature and difficulty of the material. The reading plan
itself should specify the general rate to be used. This is based on the total
"size up". It may be helpful to consider examples of how purpose can act to
help determine the rate to be used. To understand information, skim or scan
at a rapid rate. To determine value of material or to read for enjoyment,
read rapidly or slowly according to you feeling. To read analytically, read
at a moderate pace to permit interrelating ideas. The nature and difficulty
of the material requires an adjustment in rate in conformity with your
ability to handle that type of material. Obviously, level of difficulty is
highly relative to the particular reader. While Einstein's theories may be
extremely difficult to most laymen, they may be very simple and clear to a
professor of physics. Hence, the layman and the physics professor must make a
different rate adjustment in reading the same material. Generally, difficult
material will entail a slower rate; simpler material will permit a faster
rate.



Internal rate adjustment involves selecting differing rates for parts of a
given article. In general, decrease speed when you find the following (1)
unfamiliar terminology not clear in context. Try to understand it in context
at that point; otherwise, read on and return to it later; (2) difficult
sentence and paragraph structure; slow down enough to enable you to untangle
them and get accurate context for the passage; (3) unfamiliar or abstract
concepts. Look for applications or examples of you own as well as studying
those of the writer. Take enough time to get them clearly in mind; (4)
detailed, technical material. This includes complicated directions,
statements of difficult principles, materials on which you have scant
background; (5) material on which you want detailed retention.



In general, increase speed when you meet the following: (a) simple material
with few ideas which are new to you; move rapidly over the familiar ones;
spend most of your time on the unfamiliar ideas; (b) unnecessary examples and
illustrations. Since these are included to clarify ideas, move over them
rapidly when they are not needed; (c) detailed explanation and idea
elaboration which you do not need, (d) broad, generalized ideas and ideas
which are restatements of previous ones. These can be readily grasped, even
with scan techniques.



In keeping your reading attack flexible, adjust your rate sensitivity from
article to article. It is equally important to adjust you rate within a given
article. Practice these techniques until a flexible reading rate becomes
second nature to you.



Summary


In summary, evidence has been cited which seems to indicate a need for and
value of a rapid rate of reading, while at the same time indicating the
dangers of speed in reading, as such.We have attempted to point out the
relationship between rate of reading and extent of comprehension, as well as
the necessity for adjustment of reading rate, along with whole reading
attack, to the type of material and the purposes of the reader.



Finally, the factors which reduce rate were surveyed as a basis for pointing
out that increase in rate should come in conjunction with the elimination of
these retarding aspects of the reading process and as a part of an overall
reading training program where increase in rate is carefully prepared for in
the training sequence.



TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR READING SPEED


The purpose of this section is to teach you how to increase you reading
speed. Shortly we will be adding a section for reading BETTER as opposed to
FASTER.


We all have a capacity for reading much faster than we typically do. Our
reading speed changes as we go through life. When we are in high school, we
go through about two hundred words a minute. We get to college and, because
we have to read faster due to more time constraints and a much greater amount
to read, we read faster. Most people in college average about 400 words per
minute. Then we get out of college, and now we don't have to read so fast.
There are no longer time constraints, and we can read slow and easy. We find
ourselves dropping back down to about 200 words per minute.



Think of reading like you do a muscle, the more you read, the better you get
at it, the faster you're going to read. And we have a great capacity for
reading faster. We aren't even scraping the surface of how fast we can read.
You see, we have 1,000,000,000,000 brain cells. In fact, the inner
connections, the synapses, in our mind are virtually infinite. It has been
estimated by a Russian scientist that the number of synapses we have would be
one followed by 10 million kilometers of zeros. Our physical capacity for
reading is beyond our comprehension. Our visual unit has the capability to
take in a full page of text in 1/20 of a second. If we could turn the pages
fast enough, our brain could process it faster than our eyes can see it. If
we could turn those pages fast enough, our eyes have the capacity to read a
standard book in six to twenty-five seconds depending on the length of the
book. We could take in the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in one hour. So
reading 700 - 1,000 words a minute is easily within our reach.



The key to improving our speed is to SIGHT READ, and that's what we are going
to show you how to do. We are going to start being pure sight readers.
Obstacles get in our way, however. What do we mean by obstacles? Well, these
are things that impede us from reading faster.



REGRESSIONS are the most wasteful. Regressions are going back over words. You
can call it back-skipping if you want. You go back over words you previously
read. People do it for two reasons. Initially we read it to clarify the
meaning of what we're reading. We want to be sure of the words we read as we
go along. In our early years in school, when we were first taught -
incorrectly - to "read slowly and carefully," it became easy to go back over
words.



Well, this not only slows you down, it causes you comprehension problems. For
instance, let’s say you have a sentence, "The man jumped over the log."
Well, if you back-skip, you read that passage like this: "The man jumped,"
"the man . . . jumped. . . over the log," "jumped over the log." So, what
your brain is processing, "The man jumped," "the man jumped," "jumped over
the log." Our brain is used to processing our flaws, so the brain thinks,
"OK, I know what this clown is saying, "The man jumped over the log." But
this takes time to sort out. And it's confusing. Think how much easier it
would be if you simply took the sentence in one sight, "The man jumped over
the log." There's no confusion there. Then you move on to the next phrase.
Regressing or back-skipping is the most harmful thing we do to slow our
reading speed.



Our second obstacle is that we have BAD HABITS that we pick up. Bad habits
manifest themselves in a number of ways. For one, you've got people who have
MOTOR habits as they read. These are the people who are tapping a pencil when
they read, tapping a foot when they read, moving a book, flicking their hand,
etc. If they're sitting next to you, they drive you nuts. But they are the
people who have to be moving while they read.



Some may even move their lips. If they do that, they're kind of edging over
into another bad habit where we find AUDITORY readers. This is the bad habit
that we have that is the hardest to drop. Auditory reading is difficult to
beat because we are used to reading and hearing the words in our minds. Some
people even go so far as to mumble the words. You can see their lips moving
sometimes, or you can even hear a guttural growl as they go through the words.



The other obstacle are the FIXATIONS. Fixations are the actual stops or
pauses between eye-spans when the eye is moving to its next fixation point.
We can't see while the eye moves so you do need the fixation points to see.
The problem is, most people fixate word by word by word. They stop their eyes
on each separate word. The fixations slow you down because you are stopping
on each word. )



The problem that comes up here is this that, like the other obstacles, it
impedes concentration and comprehension as well. The paradox with reading
slowly is that it really hurts your concentration.



Research has shown a close relation between speed and understanding. In
checking progress charts of thousands of individuals taking reading training,
its been found that in the vast majority of cases, that an increase in speed
reading rate has also been paralleled by an increase in comprehension. The
plodding word by word analyzation actually reduces comprehension.



In this day and age, our brains are used to constant stimulation. Television,
radio, even people talking to you, provide constant stimulation. So when we
are reading along slowly and carefully, it's kind of like watching a movie
and we encounter a slow motion scene. The slow motion scene is kind of
interesting at first because the movie has been moving along at a rapid clip
and now we have a change of pace. We've got the slow motion scene of the guy
getting shot or the couple running across to each other across a field, and
the mind initially says, "Oh, this is cool. This is something different."
After a while we get a little impatient and we're ready for the guy who got
shot to hit the ground, or the couple who are running across the field to
finally get to each other. We start thinking about other things..we’ve lost
our focus on the movie.



The brain does the same thing when we read. The brain is getting all the
stimulation it normally gets, then we hit this patch where you're reading
slowly. And boom, the brain says, "I don't like this. I think I'm going to
start thinking about something else." And the reader starts thinking about
the date they had Saturday night or the date they hope to have Saturday
night. And therefore, you've got another impediment to comprehending the
reading correctly.



OK, what do we do? Well, there are several things we are going to do to
increase reading speed. First of all. we are going to increase the EYE SPAN.
Eye span is the number of words that you take in as you look at the words. In
other words, if my eye span is just one word, I am going to move from word to
word to word. If my eye span is two words, I am going to move along twice as
fast. If my eye span is three words, three times as fast. If I am moving
along in phrases, I'm flying along pretty good.



That's where you increase the rate of eye span. You also want to learn to
work in THOUGHT UNITS. Thought units help you move faster. This is where you
group the words according to context. For instance, let’s say you have, "He
said something." It's easy to put that in a phrase, then you move to the next
phrase. If I had this sentence, "It's safe to say that almost anyone can
double his speed of reading while maintaining equal or higher comprehension."
If I want to read that in phrases, "It's safe to say that almost
anyone.......can double his speed........of reading while
maintaining.......equal or even higher comprehension." You move much faster
that way.



So, we are going to increase the number of words we see and we are going to
group them according to context. One of the key things that we are also going
to work on is RETURN EYE SWEEP. When you get to the end of the sentence or
the end of the line on the written page, if your eye meanders back to the
other side, you have a chance to pick up words. If you're picking up words
and you're sight reading, that can be confusing. So you want to dramatically,
quickly, forcefully, go from the end of one line to the beginning of the next
one. Using a fingertip or pen as a pointer is a great way to quickly and
directly to the next line.



The other thing that helps us increase our speed is CONFIGURATION. As you
read faster and faster, you've got to learn to rely on your increased
recognition of how words are configured, how they look, as you do it. In
other words, "material" looks different than "response". "Recognition" looks
different than "perceptual". The words have visual configurations. As you
learn to read faster and faster you learn to pick up on the configurations
and, as you do better and better, your skills at this improve with practice.



So, we are going to have no REGRESSIONS, no VOCALIZATIONS, and increased EYE
SPAN. That's the way to true sight reading. How do we do this?



First, we avoid the problem areas. We avoid the limited eye-span by expanding
the number of words that we take in. We get rid of regressions and we get rid
of the return eye sweep problem by using a pointer. You can use a pen, a
pencil, even your finger. That gives you a point of focus for your eyes. It
helps you focus on the page, and you move faster because you can dictate how
fast you are moving across the page. Your eye will follow your finger, or
pen, or pencil.



Absolutely stay away from the vocalizations. You have got to be a sight
reader. You have got to read fast enough so that you don't have time to hear
the words. This way you are comprehending simply with your eyes.



You also need to keep in mind that you don't always read at the same speed.
If you've got a car that will go 120 miles per hour, you're not going to
drive that care 120 miles per hour in a shopping center. You'd get killed and
get a heck of a ticket. But you may, on a highway when you are passing a car,
get it up to a high speed. When you are in that shopping center, you are
going to be driving about 30 miles per hour.



It's the same thing with reading. This is specifically addressed in our
Better Reading section. But you must learn that you speed read in certain
areas and there are other areas that may be particularly dense, that may have
something that's particularly confusing to you, when you will need to slow
down and read in shorter phrases, smaller groupings of words so that you can
comprehend it clearly. It may be a particularly dense passage where each word
has great deal of meaning. It may be even an unusual or specific word.



Let's look at what we've got to do to practice it. The big step here is to
simply read faster. It sounds like such a simple statement, it almost sounds
stupid. But it's what you have to do. You have to focus on "I'm going to read
faster," first.



Comprehension comes later. Practice reading without a great concern for
comprehension. In clinical terms, we call this the comprehension lag. It
takes the mind as many as ten to fifteen days to adapt to the new reading
rate.



You are going to go through periods, practice periods, you can't use on
school books, but it's a practice period where you are simply adapting to
reading that much faster. Comprehension lags for a while but when it catches
up it makes a stunning difference.



A good place to practice this is magazines or newspapers. They have narrow
columns that almost make a perfect thought unit. You can almost go straight
down the column, taking that finger and puttting it in the middle of the
column and moving it straight down the page. You will be stunned how soon you
will be able to improve and comprehend what you are reading

that way. You find that it's quick. It's easy reading.

中文翻譯:

增加閱讀速度的小撇步

1.集中在片語或是短句子，不要浪費時間在單字上。
2.增加自己的單字能力。
3.找時間多讀! 每天15分鐘的閱讀=一年多了十八本書的閱讀量，自然增加速度
4.閱讀前確定此次閱讀的目標，如果只是想抓到核心想法，就不要在每個單字上繞圈圈。
5.每天幾次的快速閱讀，再去體會自己的正常閱讀速度。通常讀速是從正常閱讀的方面進
步。
6.如果很難集中心神閱讀，先試著一次5-10分鐘的閱讀方法，再慢慢增加。
7.系統性地閱讀。



有關增加閱讀速度的建議:


1.想改進的慾望2.對於學習新技巧的熱誠3.是否有練習的動機


掌握片語與理解可以提升速度。提升速度必須是全面去更進的，否則可能摧毀信心。

I    確認雙眼健康。
II   改變閱讀必須發聲的習慣
III  避免重新閱讀(倒退念)
IIII 把眼睛看到的視界擴大

速度調整:
1.隨著閱讀素材不同調整自己的速率。
2.閱讀速度的設定依據你的閱讀，計畫，預計目標與閱讀素材的特性而定。
3.閱讀素材的特性設定按照個人喜好有所不同。
4.如果是分析式的讀法，請慢慢讀。總體而言，難讀的東西肯定讓你的速度變慢，簡單的
就會變快。


只有發現下面這些情況時，你才需要放慢速度:
1.文本或是專業術語不清楚，當下讀不通時，先放著再回頭讀。
2.難懂的句子或文法，這就必須要在當下先弄懂。
3.遇到不熟悉或抽象的概念，從作者背景資料下手會比較輕鬆。(這邊一定要花時間弄懂
他)
4.細節，技術性的閱讀片段-複雜的方向或比較的資料，或是你個人的學科背景不足時。
5.你想要精讀時。


甚麼時候該提升速度?
a.遇到你已知的概念時，你就該把時間放在不熟悉的地方
b.遇到沒有必要的舉例，尤其在這些例子有著清楚的概念隱含其中時
c.你不需要知道的特地解釋或是概念論述時
d.已知的，通識的概念甚至可以用掃描的速度瞄過即可(當然要留下印象。)


請持續以上技巧，直到你能嫻熟地運用於確實的閱讀上。
學習的場域可以讓你維持最佳閱讀速度。閱讀就跟健身一樣需要練習。

如何再次增進閱讀速度:
1.不要回讀。 回讀只在兩個情況下發生:
(1).要更精細知道在說甚麼；(2).我們想要跟上整體脈絡

2.不要抖腳等閱讀壞習慣，甚至不要唸出聲音來。
3.不要在單字上停住
4.增開眼睛視野，讓字不要停斷，字一旦停下，思緒就會跟著停下。
5.用筆(跟著閱讀)並註記每個段落
-->這個我持保留意見，原文應該是說不要讓雙手停下，但我看到的另外一份資料是用筆
一個一個點會拖慢速度。

6.千萬不要用念出聲音的方式去閱讀
7.永遠記得不要用統一速率閱讀
8.遇到繁瑣的部分，請先將大單位畫為小單位，功效較佳。

整體練習重點先擺在閱讀速度提升，其次才是懂片語使用。
所以學校教科書並不適用這類練習，請去翻閱雜誌或報紙，有些時候讀專欄更好。

持續練習你就會發現你讀得愈來愈快，愈能掌握書中要點。

--
You should be different,not just be better

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