Section B Trying Your Hand
Consolidation Exercises
Skim the following passage and answer the questions in 4 minutes.
Reading is becoming more and more important in the new knowledge economy and remains the most effective human activity for transforming information into knowledge.
If top readers read at speed of above 1，000 words per minute（wpm）with near 85%comprehension， they only represent 1% of readers. Average readers are the majority and only reach around 200 wpm with a typical comprehension of 60%. This seems surprising since most readers， actively reading work documents， newspapers， magazines， books or the contents of a computer display are practicing daily for at least one hour. With such an intense training everyone should be close to top performance.
Unfortunately， this is far from the real situation. The average reader is five times slower than the good reader. Things are even worse if we consider reading efficiency as well as speed. Reading efficiency is reading speed weighted by （乘以） comprehension rate and it amounts to 200×60% or 120 efficient words per minute （ewpm） for the average reader and to 1，000×85% or 850 ewpm for top readers. Thus， an efficiency ratio of seven divides these two categories.
Choose the best answer.
1. Compared with the average reader， the accomplished reader reads with________.
A. higher speed and worse reading comprehension
B. higher speed and better reading comprehension
C. higher speed and the same reading comprehension
2. Which is the reading speed of average readers？
A. Above 1，000 wpm.
B. 850 wpm.
C. Around 200 wpm.
3.________read with a comprehension of 85%.
A. Average readers
B. Top readers
C. The majority of readers
Explanations
1. The key is B. You can find the answer from the figures in the first and second sentence in Para. 2.
2. The key is C.The second sentence in Para.2 provides the answer.Pay attention to figures，words in bold type， etc.， which can help you grasp the key points.
3. The key is B. The first sentence in Para. 2 provides the answer.