Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time in which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
小题1:The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .
A．the length of a group of words.
B．lighting and tiredness.
C．one’s familiarity with the text.
D．one’s purpose in reading.小题2:The author may believe that reading ______.
A．demands an deeply-participating mind.
B．demands more mind than eyes.
C．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation.
D．requires a reader to see words more quickly.小题3:What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?
A．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.
B．The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.
C．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.
D．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see or comprehend words.小题4:Which of the following is NOT true?
A．The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.
B．The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.
C．The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.
D．Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.小题5:The tune of the author in writing this article is ________.
A．pessimistic
B．optimistic
C．critical
D．neutral
小题1:A
小题2:A
小题3:A
小题4:B
小题5:C
题目分析：
小题1:.判断题。第一段It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
可知注视的持续时间长短，人与人之间是不同的，跟一个人的阅读目的、对材料的熟悉程度、光线、疲劳度均有关系。故选A
小题2:细节题。从第二段Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training可知阅读是需要理解单词之间关系的能力，许多的专家也开始质疑那种纯粹在视觉跨度内训练接受更多单词的方法，故通过排除法选A，阅读需要一种深度理解的思维。
小题3:推断题。从本句的句意及上下文的理解可知，提高人们看单词的能力只是一方面，它与提高人们有效阅读的能力是完全不同的。可知这些阅读练习并不能帮助提高有效的阅读能力。文中并没有讲到这些阅读练习已经对提高看单词的能力有了很大的帮助。故选A
小题4:判断题。从最后一句可知，很多专家开始质疑这些眼力训练的无用性，尤其是因为任何训练一个人如何来阅读孤立单词和短语的方法都将视为不可能帮助他理解整个文章。可知答案B不正确。
小题5:推断题。同样从最后一句可知，作者的观点是批判的，故选C
点评：文章较难，本文主要说明了传统阅读训练的方法只重在提高视觉跨度内接受更多单词的能力，而这种训练在作者看来是一中徒劳，是一种误导，因为阅读需要的是理解单词之间关系的能力。文章长句子较多，给理解造成了一定障碍，学生在答题时要结合题目和文章一起进行理解作者意思，最终得出合情合理的答案。