1 . As a writer, my pregnancy(怀孕)became marked by worry as many people predicted I’d never read a book again once the baby was born. I felt_________ by the apparent ________ people who cared about me displayed as to it, because I saw it as my upcoming misfortune. I could forgive them only by telling myself they couldn’t possibly ________ how important reading is to my well-being. I knew if I had to ________ reading, I wouldn’t be the best me.

Of course, my newborn required constant_________. She wouldn’t sleep unless she was held, and she wanted to nurse all the time. But there’s a great benefit in ________ a baby who’s nursing or napping in your arms; it gives you lots of time to read. I had ________ using my e-reader until then, but it became my best friend as I discovered that I could ________ it with one hand and ________ library books when stuck in the house. In my daughter’s first year, I credited reading with getting me through those difficult early ________.

Reading is ________ to my mental health. I have discovered this is also true for my daughter. Every time she lost her_________, I would_________ her up, carry her to the reading chair, and open a book. As we ________ the chair, she often said, “Mama, please read me a story. It’s the only way I can calm down.”_________ makes a better me and a better mother for my daughter.

1.

A．touched

B．impressed

C．surprised

D．worried

2.

A．sadness

B．joy

C．envy

D．nervousness

3.

A．grasp

B．believe

C．deny

D．assume

4.

A．start

B．continue

C．forget

D．quit

5.

A．performance

B．attention

C．attraction

D．rest

6.

A．rocking

B．rolling

C．praising

D．blaming

7.

A．practiced

B．enjoyed

C．resisted

D．appreciated

8.

A．feel

B．cover

C．tap

D．hold

9.

A．download

B．update

C．purchase

D．share

10.

A．years

B．months

C．weeks

D．hours

11.

A．unnecessary

B．unfavorable

C．essential

D．harmful

12.

A．balance

B．way

C．toy

D．temper

13.

A．pick

B．cast

C．drag

D．push

14.

A．collapsed onto

B．leaped over

C．slid off

D．settled into

15.

A．Thinking

B．Nursing

C．Reading

D．Parenting

2 . 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.

1.

A．specifically

B．dramatically

C．abstractly

D．ridiculously

2.

A．understanding

B．translating

C．defining

D．substituting

3.

A．involves

B．concentrates

C．specializes

D．analyzes

4.

A．opinions

B．effects

C．manners

D．functions

5.

A．view

B．look

C．reassure

D．agree

6.

A．support

B．argue

C．attempt

D．compete

7.

A．interpreting

B．saying

C．reciting

D．reading

8.

A．in addition to

B．for example

C．according to

D．such as

9.

A．completely

B．carefully

C．publicly

D．actually

10.

A．part

B．whole

C．standard

D．straight

11.

A．applied

B．granted

C．classified

D．graded

12.

A．instructive

B．doubtful

C．certain

D．complicated

13.

A．strike

B．illustrate

C．define

D．unlock

14.

A．purposes

B．degrees

C．stages

D．steps

15.

A．On the other hand

B．In short

C．By the way

D．So far

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.

“In both experiments, we observed that longer total reading time was __________ with an accuracy increase for incorrect sentences,” write the researchers.

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.

1.

A．reinforce

B．estimate

C．affect

D．interpret

2.

A．First of all

B．For example

C．Above all

D．To start with

3.

A．context

B．efficiency

C．comprehension

D．device

4.

A．evaluated

B．identified

C．established

D．employed

5.

A．individual

B．different

C．new

D．unfamiliar

6.

A．confirm

B．imply

C．refer

D．infer

7.

A．exploit

B．spare

C．commit

D．consume

8.

A．on account of

B．regardless of

C．in regard to

D．in contrast to

9.

A．make up for

B．live up to

C．catch up with

D．put up with

10.

A．declined

B．shrank

C．expanded

D．increased

11.

A．embarrassing

B．depressing

C．puzzling

D．annoying

12.

A．associated

B．compared

C．replaced

D．mixed

13.

A．take

B．set

C．rely

D．base

14.

A．accompanying

B．strange

C．deafening

D．distant

15.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Instead

D．Otherwise

5 . Steph Clemence always intended to go to college. ________ when her father died in a car accident, leaving her mother to support three daughters on a ________ income, paying for college became out of the question.

________ going to college, Steph found a job, and tried to________ what to do with a life so different from her plan. The ________came from two pages from her English teacher, Dorothy Clark. One afternoon she walked into the classroom carrying a stack of papers titled “Mrs. Clark’s Book List.” It wasn’t homework, the teacher announced, but it could be a road ________ .“Some of you might not go on to higher education,“ Mrs. Clark said, “but you can ________ to learn.”

“I was determined to ________ myself,” Steph says. She studied the ________ and so it began. Each of those books sparked her ________ to learn more. “Reading books is like a treasure hunt,” says Steph. “What am I going to ________ ? How will my heart change?” That made her look for other books that weren’t on the list, hoping to ________ her knowledge.

When the original list ________, she typed up a new copy. And then another. Over the years, the family moved around a lot. Through it all, the reading list was a ________ in Steph’s life, traveling with her even on vacations. Now Steph is 70, and she never did get to college. But she has only four books ________ to read from the list. She expects to complete them sometime in 2023.

1.

A．And

B．But

C．So

D．Then

2.

A．modest

B．high

C．regular

D．net

3.

A．Due to

B．Apart from

C．Instead of

D．As for

4.

A．rise to

B．figure out

C．think of

D．take down

5.

A．news

B．question

C．response

D．answer

6.

A．show

B．block

C．map

D．test

7.

A．continue

B．stop

C．pretend

D．afford

8.

A．defend

B．enjoy

C．support

D．improve

9.

A．homework

B．survey

C．report

D．list

10.

A．creation

B．passion

C．imagination

D．satisfaction

11.

A．discover

B．purchase

C．save

D．bury

12.

A．check

B．understand

C．limit

D．deepen

13.

A．tried out

B．burst out

C．wore out

D．sold out

14.

A．choice

B．souvenir

C．constant

D．vision

15.

A．missing

B．published

C．finished

D．left

7 . I have been reading books for as long as I can remember. I have always loved to read and never thought_________about this hobby—until I heard that some people consider reading to be “nerdy”. When did having a_________for reading become associated with being a so-called nerd（书呆子）? People who_________others for their love of novels just don't understand what bookworms experience when reading stories. They don't_________the feeling of wonder and amazement that comes from these paper pages, the_________roller coaster the stories set us on.

Books are like loyal friends—always_________for the day you decide enough is enough in the real world. You take their hand and_________into a whole other universe with them. Throughout my life, I have managed to get through tough times by disappearing into a book, into the story of another_________. I envelop myself in the conflicts, crazy plot twists and small successes that_________these novels, and I forget about the__________moments in life temporarily. When I finish reading, I often say to myself, "If that character can__________in a situation like that, I can__________make it through this day."

Novels have inspired me and helped lead the way through__________toward the light. I'm just going to keep__________the pages of my life and maybe one day, I'll reach a happy ending that allows me to__________the book and, with a smile on my face, pass it on to the next bookworm to start a brand new story.

1.

A．well

B．again

C．deeply

D．otherwise

2.

A．name

B．word

C．passion

D．gift

3.

A．leave

B．judge

C．know

D．blame

4.

A．appreciate

B．hide

C．remember

D．overcome

5.

A．beautiful

B．emotional

C．real

D．awful

6.

A．responsible

B．necessary

C．ready

D．eager

7.

A．skip

B．look

C．change

D．burst

8.

A．buyer

B．character

C．publisher

D．reader

9.

A．light up

B．break down

C．make up

D．contribute to

10.

A．mountain peak

B．history-making

C．last-minute

D．rock bottom

11.

A．survive

B．fall

C．pray

D．act

12.

A．gently

B．surely

C．clearly

D．freely

13.

A．water

B．history

C．violence

D．darkness

14.

A．printing

B．tearing

C．turning

D．displaying

15.

A．consult

B．sell

C．read

D．close