1 . Reading involves looking at illustrative symbols and expressing mentally the sounds and ideas they represent. Concepts of reading have changed _______ over the centuries. During the 1950’s and 1960’s especially, increased attention has been devoted to _______ the reading process. Although experts agree that reading _______ a complex organization of higher mental _______, they disagree about the exact nature of the process. Some experts, who regard language primarily as a code using symbols to represent sounds, _______ reading as simply the decoding (解码) of symbols into the sounds they stand for.

These authorities _______ that meaning, being concerned with thinking, must be taught independently of the decoding process. Others maintain that reading is inexplainably related to thinking, and that a child who pronounces sounds without _______ their meaning is not truly reading. The reader, _______ some, is not just a person with a theoretical ability to read but one who _______ reads.

Many adults, although they have the ability to read, have never read a book in its ________. By some experts they would not be ________ as readers. Clearly, the philosophy, objectives, methods and materials of reading will depend on the definition one uses. By the most ________ and satisfactory definition, reading is the ability to ________ the sound-symbols code of the language, to interpret meaning for various ________, at various rates, and at various levels of difficulty, and to do so widely and enthusiastically. ________, reading is the interpretation of ideas through the use of symbols representing sounds and ideas.

2 . 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.

5 . 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.

6 . 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.