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Unit I

I. Reading

Задание 1. Прочитайте внимательно текст о просмотровом чтении.

SKIMMING

We wish now to introduce you to an extremely rapid kind of reading called skimming.

Let us begin by clearing up some misconceptions about skimming. Skimming is not haphazard or careless reading. True skimming is a specific reading skill to be used on certain occasions on certain materials. Like any other kind of reading that you do, skimming must be directed and purposeful if you are to benefit from it.

Where to Skim

Much of what we encounter in our daily reading may be ideal material for skimming because the subject is largely familiar to us. It has been estimated that 80% of what we read in our field of specialization is already familiar to us - it is material about which we already know quite a bit. In cases like these, word-by-word reading would be unproductive in terms of what is learned versus time spent. How much wiser it would be to skim, passing over the old and concentrating on the new.

A recent survey reported that office and management personnel spend an average of three hours a day reading. This adds up to 780 hours per year, or 19-1/2 forty-hour work weeks. This time can be greatly reduced through skimming.

Not only businessmen, but also students, housewives, in fact, everyone meets material daily which can be profitably skimmed. For sports-conscious youths, newspaper accounts of games and events contain a few facts and a lot of dressing. The facts can be gleaned through skimming in just a few minutes.

Whenever we read material, then, in a field we know well, we should be alert for an opportunity to skim.

When to Skim

When should you skim? When there isn't enough time to read carefully? Yes, skimming can often be used when we are pressed for time. But there are other times when we should skim too. In fact the efficient reader seeks out opportunities to skim. How do we judge? In deciding to skim, ask yourself if 60% comprehension of the material will be adequate. If the answer is no, if you feel you need more than 60% comprehension, read rather than skim because it appears that this material is too important for skimming. Why 60% comprehension? Because this is all you can expect to gain, at first, from such rapid reading. Skilled skimmers enjoy 80 and even 90% comprehension on some material, but this takes practice. If you need better comprehension, you had better slow down. Actually, 60% comprehension at speeds of thousands of words per minute sounds highly satisfactory when you consider that the average reader gets only about 80% comprehension at his normal rate of 250 words per minute.

How to Skim

Skimming by definition must be rapid and, if you've ever consciously tried to read faster, you know how difficult this can be. For this reason, we will use an aid to help us skim our finger or a pencil.

Move the pencil or finger rapidly under the lines as you read, forcing your eyes to keep pace. You will not be able to read every word, of course; you must be satisfied to snatch up isolated words or short phrases on the fly. And you must piece these together mentally to get the meaning.

Here we must pause a while to discuss a useful technique for successful skimming - an effective Preview. Skimming is more efficient if the reader has first previewed well the entire selection. Why? Because skimming forces the reader to get his meaning from words and phrases without the complete sentence structure and context. The context in which these words make sense must already be in the reader's mind and must come from his preview of the selection.

Previewing before skimming is done much the same way as you usually preview: a) read the title; b) look at the picture or illustration if there is one; c) read the first paragraph; d) read the last paragraph; and e) glance through.

Once you have previewed, you are ready to skim. Starting with the second paragraph, begin moving your pencil or finger under the lines - do not stop; force yourself to keep moving along. With a little practice, you'll develop a suitable pattern of moving your guide along the lines.

One object of skimming is to eliminate vocalization or sub-vocalization on the part of the reader. Vocalization is popularly called lip-reading. Sub-vocalization is much more common and occurs when we say the words to ourselves or hear them in our mind. You will probably be surprised to learn that when you sub-vocalize, your vocal cords actually move. Even though you believe you are saying the words to yourself, they are being voiced, although not spoken.

To skim successfully, this sub-vocalization must be eliminated. One way of doing this is by practicing skimming at about 400 words-per-minute - faster than you can talk. This will help to break the habit. Another method to use is the AVR Rateometer. Your POWEREADING classroom should be equipped with some of these electrical pacing devices. Setting the speed at 400 words-per-minute forces you to read faster than you can speak.

Once sub-vocalization has been eliminated, the speech step will be bypassed. The words will be able to trigger the mind directly.

Keep all these things in mind and practice and develop the skill of skimming.