Everyone has experienced trying, but failing to master a difficult book that was begun with the hope of increasing one's understanding. When that happens, it is ?　36　?to think that it was a mistake to try to read it, but that was not the mistake. The mistake was in ?　37　? too much from the first reading of a(n) ?　38　? book. If you read it in the right way, no book written for the ?　39　?reader, no matter how difficult, need be a cause for despair(令人失望).

What is the right method? The ?　40　? is an important and helpful rule of reading that is either not ?　41　? or often forgotten. That rule is simply this: when reading a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever ?　42　? to think about the things that you do not understand immediately.

Do not be stopped by what you ?　43　? understand. Read through the difficult ?　44　?,and you soon come to things that you do understand. Read these ?　45　?.You will have a much better chance of understanding all of the book when you read it again, but that ?　46　? you to have read the book through once ?　47　?.

What you understand by reading the book through to the ?　48　? will help you when you try later to read the places that you did not ?　49　? in your first reading. Or if you never re-read the book, understanding half of it is much better than understanding ?　50　? of it, which will happen ?　51　? you allow yourself to be stopped by the first difficult part of the book.?

Most of us were taught to ?　52　? the things that we do not understand. We were told to find the ?　53　? of unfamiliar words, and to try to find an explanation in another ?　54　? for anything that we did not understand in the book that we were reading. But when these things are done before the proper time, they only ?　55　? our reading, instead of helping it.

36. A. necessary     B. useful C. natural       D. effective?

37. A. learning       B. wanting      C. accepting    D. expecting?

38. A. easy     B. difficult     C. important   D. correct?

39. A. ordinary      B. young C. serious       D. sincere?

40. A. method B. question     C. answer       D. problem?

41. A. taught  B. known       C. sure    D. perfect?

42. A. starting B. hesitating   C. Stopping    D. repeating?

43. A. can't     B. won't  C. mustn't       D. wouldn't?

44. A. words   B. articles       C. parts   D. points?

45. A. quickly B. immediately      C. clearly       D. carefully?

46. A. requires       B. causes C. advises       D. allows?

47. A. later     B. after   C. before D. again?

48. A. top       B. end     C. bottom       D. cover?

49. A. see       B. turn    C. Notice D. understand?

50. A. anything      B. everything  C. nothing      D. something?

51. A. if B. so that C. whenever   D. as though?

52. A. put away     B. put down    C. think of      D. think about?

53. A. uses     B. Meanings   C. Spellings    D. troubles?

54. A. thinking      B. reading      C. Book  D. way?

55. A. harm    B. increase      C. Improve     D. prevent??

The Man of Many Secrets — Harry Houdini — was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes — from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.

　　Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.

　　Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.

　　It was the publicity(宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck — and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.

　　Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? World-wild fame, and a name remembered today.

According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on _______.

　　A. his special tricks and supernatural power　 B. his unusual ability and a skeleton key

　　C. his magic tricks and supernatural powers     D. his wisdom and magic tricks

In the fourth paragraph, the underlined word “this” refers to _______.

　　A. his first prison escape        B. the year 1898

　　C. the publicity               D. Harry Houdini’s success

It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous _______.

　　A. in 1894                   B. before he married

　　C. at the age of 17             D. when he was about 24

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

　　A. A Skeleton Key             B. A Man of Many Secrets

　　C. World-wild Fame            D. Great Escape

Maybe you are an average student. You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessary so, however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to. Here is how.　　

1). Plan your time carefully. When you plan your week, you should make a list of things that you can have to do. After making the list, you should make a schedule of your time. First time for eating, sleeping, dressing, etc. Then decide a good, regular time for studying. Don’t forget to set aside enough time fro entertainment. A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.　　

2). Find a good place to study. Look around the house for a good study area. Keep this space, which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room. Free from everything but study materials. No games, radios, or television. When you sit down to study, concentrate on the subject. 　　

3). Make good use of your time in class. Take advantage of class time to listen to everything the teachers say. Really listening in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what your teachers say.　　

4). Study regularly. When you get home from school, go over your notes. Review the important points that your teachers mentioned in class. If you want to know what your teacher is going to discuss the next day, read the material in advance. This will help you understand the next class. If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you will remember it longer.　　

5). Develop a good attitude about tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. They help you remember your new knowledge. The world won’t end if you don’t pass a test, so don’t be overly worried.　

There are other methods that might help you with your studying. You will probably discover many others after you have tried these.　　

How to Become A Better Student?

Baekeland and Hartmann report that the “short sleepers” had been more or less average in their sleep needs until the men were in their teens. But at about age 15 or so, the men voluntarily began cutting down their nightly sleep time because of pressures from school, work, and other activities. These men tended to view their nightly periods of unconsciousness as bothersome interruptions in their daily routines.
　　 In general, these “short sleeps” appeared ambitious, active, energetic, cheerful, conformist(不动摇) in their opinions, and very sure about their career choices. They often held several jobs at once, or workers full-or part-time while going to school. And many of them had a strong urge to appear “normal” or “acceptable” to their friends and associates.
　　When asked to recall their dreams, the “short sleepers” did poorly. More than this, they seemed to prefer not remembering. In similar fashion, their usual way of dealing with psychological problems was to deny that the problem existed, and then to keep busy in the hope that the trouble would go away.
　　The sleep patterns of the “short sleepers” were similar to, but less extreme than, sleep patterns shown by many mental patients categorized as manic(疯人).
　　The “long sleepers” were quite different indeed. Baekeland and Hartmann report that these young men had been lengthy sleeps since childhood. They seemed to enjoy their sleep, protected it, and were quite concerned when they were occasionally robbed of their desired 9 hours of nightly bed rest. They tended to recall their dreams much better than did the “short sleepers.”
　　Many of the “long sleepers” were shy, anxious, introverted (内向), inhibited (压抑), passive, mildly depressed, and unsure of themselves (particularly in social situations). Several openly states that sleep was an escape from their daily problems.
【小题1】 According to the report,______.

A．are ideally vigorous even under the pressures of life

B．often neglect the consequences of inadequate sleep

C．do not know how to relax properly

D．are more unlikely to run into mental problems