1 . We all wish we had our very own libraries at home. They’re a great way to keep what you love reading best organized in one place. Technology has taken over our lives and everything seems to be accessible _______. The sad part about online books is that the realness of holding one in your hands is lost. It may be _______ to those who often travel, but there’s nothing like printed books in libraries that you can leaf through, as opposed to clicking through.

Unlike the Internet, printed books are much more _______ than any other sources. Rarely will you find a list of references mentioned at the end of the article section on the web. Printed books are _______ carefully before they’re published so that the facts mentioned in non-fiction books are all true and necessary. Reference pages at the end of these books are also mentioned in some works that require such a section.

Unlike electronic devices that can have problems such as the loss of _______ it stores, printed books have a way of lasting for years to come if _______ with care. They can be collected as valuable books that you’d like to have in their _______ form, as well as be passed on to others who’d like to read them as well. It’s great when you have something like a book to hold on to (留存) and read, while an online book _______ that close and constant companionship.

_______, you can’t expect kids to hold up an iPad under the sheets late at night. Reading ________ books ensures that kids have access to reading without being spoiled into buying a(n) ________ product that can distract (分心) them from actual reading. Kids love picture books and the images that come with them, which is great for present authors who still ________books that are intended for kids.

Libraries are a great place that dates back to a time when ________ was non-existent and was an unbelievable idea to men back in that period. Today the ________ of libraries still exists, with many people going to them for the love of books. It is important for children to start off by reading the real thing before ________ what other media can offer. Anyway, never forget what first got you started.

2 . You may know the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It _________ the idea behind the Living Library project. Like _________ library, a Living Liberty offers readers books, except that these “books” can _________ to you. But these living books are not like anything from a(n) _________ movie — they are people like you and me.

The Living Library project was started in 2000 by a group of young people in Denmark. They wanted to reduce _________ and encourage understanding between people, and they had the idea of bringing together some very different people to communicate _________. These living books were from different cultural backgrounds, nations, educational levels, religions and _________.

Reading living books is very _________: Each book can talk with readers face to face, and sometimes a small group of readers can read one book together. The book and the reader(s) _________ and share different thoughts, ideas, lifestyles and so on.

The project began to gain in __________ in other parts of the world and was introduced to China in 2009. This past April, a wave of Living Library events was held in more than 20 Chinese cities. In Guangzhou, for example, 50 living books were presented to 200 readers.

The event was divided into four rounds; each lasted 40 minutes. In each round, __________ eight readers would read one book together. One of the living books, Tang, suffered from depression. She talked about her experience of fighting depression and also pointed out a problem: People’s __________ about mental illnesses was preventing many patients from getting treatment in time.

In Living Library events like this one, it is not one person __________ another, but someone introducing others to a different idea or way of life. Everyone can raise questions and everyone is __________.

“Everyone is a book,” said Liu Qiongxiong, the organizer of the event in Guangzhou. “By reading others we can better understand each other and__________.”

3 . Background noise—like the chatter in a coffee shop or the drone of passing traffic—might slow our reading speed, but according to a study of Russian readers, it doesn’t _________ how our brain understands written text.

_________, if you’re wondering whether you should be listening to podcasts or music while working, the study has some interesting points to make. In particular, it examined how we might change our reading style to compensate for auditory noise and visual distractions such as typos or poor formatting.

“Overall, previous studies reported a harmful effect of both auditory and visual noise on reading fluency and _________, though their results varied,” write linguistics researcher Nina Zdorova and colleagues. “So far, none of the studies exploring the influence of noise _________ it in the framework of the language processing theories.”

One of the language processing theories examined was the noisy channel model, which proposes that our brain deals with noise by looking at the meaning of _________ words more and at entire sentences less. We then use a bit of smart guesswork to _________ the overall meaning and relationships between words.

The second theory is the good enough model; that’s when our brains aren’t analyzing every single detail of a text but instead only grabbing enough words for a ‘good enough’ understanding. By focusing less on the precise words, our brains can _________ some cognitive resources to deal with noise.

To see how reading was affected by noise _________ these models, the researchers ran two experiments: one on auditory noise (71 participants) and one on visual noise (70 participants). When it came to the auditory noise test, background chatter from overlapping podcasts caused people to spend longer looking at the key section of sentences before completing their reading. This extra time could _________ the noise, meaning sentence comprehension isn’t affected by it. In the visual noise test, comprehension remained the same while reading speed __________. That’s a bit __________ considering previous studies, but the researchers think people just wanted to finish the task, with the visual noise an uncomfortable distraction.

There’s a lot going on in this study, but overall it’s a bigger win for the good-enough language processing theory and an indication that auditory and visual noise doesn’t make us __________ any more or less on any particular comprehension method while we’re reading.

With so many variables to measure in terms of what’s being read and what the __________ noise is, further study is required to learn more. __________ potential distractions may not interrupt your reading as much as you think.

4 . According to a research, the average reading score of students in the USA this year declined in comparison to the previous study last year. The study indicates that there is a significant_________in reading ability levels in grades 7-12. The result confirms what American secondary teachers have been saying, that both high and low achieving students are often unmotivated to read. This_________of motivation has been the major reason for their poor reading ability.

Perhaps it is no surprise to researchers that the decline in reading ability_________American students’ decreasing freedom in choosing reading method and time. One of the best ways to deal with the situation is for teachers to provide time in the academic day for voluntary reading of texts. There may be objections to the use of already_________academic time, but the research indicates that time spent reading in school_________academic performance. Most students who are given   extra reading time in school get higher scores in reading tests. This is true even for the “light” or _________reading of young adult literature.

An argument for providing_________ in the school day for reading practice is the comparison to the necessary practice one needs in order to become skilled at a sport: the increased practice hours increase performance. Even 10 minutes a day of reading can have dramatic effects by simply _________ students to multiple texts. Ten minutes of daily book reading in middle school will increase about 700,000 words of reading each year for a student. And this additional volume of reading can bring huge_________to the students.

Besides, compared with the crowded casual classroom environment, independent reading libraries in school can help students produce a sense of being__________. Students can discover authors, explore topics that__________them, and improve their reading habits.

The research concludes that there are millions of students who do not have the basic reading __________that are needed to locate relevant information or make simple judgement. The effects of underdeveloped reading ability on the student and on the economy of the American society can mean the__________ of billions of dollars in wages and earnings over a lifetime.

Therefore, secondary educators need to guide students to associate reading with enjoyment by offering time and choices. This__________can result in making reading a desired activity and   making students__________to read.

6 . NANNING - Every Monday morning in Mentun village, locals gather in their rural library to share books and they are often ______ by book lovers from nearby villages. The tennis court-sized library is now the place many locals ______ in the village.

The village's library was previously a small office, where about 3,000 books were ______, according to village official Tao Hanshan.

"There wasn't enough room in the library for visitors to read or ______ books, and villagers didn't want to come," says Tao.

The village was once stuck in ______, and most villagers were trying to make a living back then. They ______ had any interest in reading, according to Tao.

"The village had no extra ______ for the library project," he recalls, adding that, at the time, some of the library's books were also outdated.

As Chinese authorities urged efforts to provide better services and facilities in ______ libraries, these improved libraries have seen ______ numbers of visitors in recent years.

In April last year, a local bookstore donated 30,000 new books and supporting facilities to the library in Mentun village, which allowed the library to be significantly ______.

Ruan Wencheng, a villager in his 50s, has since become a regular library visitor.

"Last year, my family tried to raise silkworms, but we ______ due to a lack of silkworm knowledge," says Ruan. "Experts are not always in the village, so I now often come to the library to read and borrow books related to silkworm ______. I have learned a lot."

Tao says that the library now continuously adjusts its books according to the needs of villagers, and it is gaining ______. More and more people are coming.

To make libraries in the countryside more attractive, authorities have taken various measures in villages across the country. Take the library of the Nanzhan residential community in the Sanjiang Dong autonomous county of Guangxi as ______. All residents were relocated from poor and remote areas of the county, so more books for younger readers have been included in the library's collection.

The past few years have also witnessed the ______ of digitized rural libraries. Provincial and regional authorities across the country have been promoting digital reading in rural areas, using TV sets, mobile applications and online libraries.

"Many books are now available in digital libraries and I can read them on my TV," says Ruan. "My life has been enriched."

7 . The Market for Self-help Books Is booming

Bookshops in China are filled with works offering advice on self-betterment. Topics range from coping with shyness (“How to Make Friends with Strangers in One Minute”)   to succeeding in business (“Financial Management in Seven Minutes”). The title of one recent bestseller urges: “Don't Opt for ________at the Stage of Life that is Meant to be Difficult”. Their popularity and ________reflect the stresses of a society in rapid flux—one in which paths to wealth are opening up in ways barely imaginable a generation ago.________statistics on China's book market are hard to find. But according to a study by Eric Hendriks-Kim, a sociologist at the University of Bonn, self-help books may ________almost one-third of China's printed-book market. In America they make up only 6% of adult non-fiction print sales, reckons NPD Group, a research firm.

Although China's leaders keep stressing the need for China to be ________, seekers of advice on how to succeed often turn to American books for guidance. In China last year the top ten self-help sellers included ________ of several American works, such as “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

Chinese readers appear more eager for such imports than people in many other countries that are ________closer to America. That may be because both China and America are “hyper-competitive”, argues Mr Hendriks-Kim, who has described this in his book. In the early 2000s a Chinese translation of “Who Moved My Cheese?”, a motivational book by an American, Dr Spencer Johnson, became so popular that a play based on it ________theatres and the Chinese word for cheese acquired a new meaning: one's own self-interest. Books proliferated (激增) in China with cheese in their ________.

China has a long tradition of reading for ________purposes. In 2018, fiction makes up 7% of sales, compared with more than 30% in Germany. “One of the most striking features of China's market for books is its absolute and passionate ________to life,” said a report in 2006 by Arts Council England. The ________education system leaves little time to develop interpersonal skills, so people, desperate for advice on how to sell themselves, turn to self-help books instead.

Perhaps the self-help industry has come full ________. ________, China's 6th-century-BC masterpiece for would-be generals, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, was arguably the self-help protolype. Its title has been echoed, consciously or otherwise, in the names of countless other books of the genre. One such is Donald Trump's “The ________ of the Deal”. Its fifth and most recent translation in China was published in 2016.

8 . Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when reading storybooks to preschool children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to print – the words and letters on the page may lead to _________readers.

The two-year study_________children aged 3 to 5 who were divided into two groups.The teachers helped each group to read in two different ways. Over three hundred students were considered to be likely to_________reading problems in future life, and they were_________ in a classroom setting. After reviewing the recorded lessons, the researchers found that those students whose teachers most often_________the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding.

Professor Shayne Piasta, the study's author, says most teachers would find this method_________because it needs only a small change in the way they teach. They already read storybooks in class. The only_________ in the new method would be increased attention to the print.

Ms.Piasta says if adults can_________children in the stories and get them to pay attention to letters and words, it is certain that they will do better at_________recognition.But few parents and teachers do this in a(n)__________way by starting first with letters, then__________moving to words, sentences and paragraphs.__________,they habitually turn to the attractive pictures first, thus misleading the children.

Teachers and parents can point to a letter and outline its shape with a finger. They can point to a word and__________"This is 'dog'". They can discuss the meaning of the print to find how the words are combined to tell the story. And they can talk about the__________of the print, for example, how words are written from left to right. By__________ training in this way, the teachers will definitely raise the students’ ability to read.