1 . Many people who are learning English want to know how to improve their reading skills.     1     The effective way to improve your reading skills is to love reading and practice more.

Reading is one of the most important language skills because we use it to expand our vocabulary and improve the way we speak, write and listen.     2     Seeing new ways to say things can help your understanding of English and improve not only your reading, but also your other language skills.

    3     If we do not understand something, we can go over it again and even look up the words we do not know the meanings of. This means that we have a much greater chance of understanding information that we read than information that we hear.

So how do we practice reading so that our skill level improves? When we read a passage, we need to understand it. We must understand what the important words mean in each sentence. This does not mean that we need to know the meaning of every word. In many cases, we can find out what words mean from the words around them.     4     To do this, we must understand how words work together. In many cases, we must “see” part of the message that has not been written, or we must form an opinion ourselves.

Reading is an essential part of your study of the English language. It can help you understand and learn more. It can also become a satisfying hobby.     5    

2 . Chinese people’s English proficiency (熟练) has improved in the past years compared to other non-English speaking countries, a report released on Tuesday said.     1     It scores 53. 44 out of 100 points this year, 1.5 points more than last year.

This year’s report was based on the EF Standard English Test results of more than 2.3 million adults who were tested on their ability to understand written and spoken English.     2     Their median age was 23, and 59 percent were women, the report said.

Jesper Knutell, executive vice-president and general manager of corporate solutions, EF China, said China’s increase in rankings was for two main reasons.     3     Their long-term commitment to English education and increased investment in the language also made a great difference.

“    4     Because I learned English, I had the opportunity to study at Harvard University, where I received a PhD. I also taught for 10 years at Yale University and the University of Michigan,” said Ning Qiang, professor at Capital Normal University in Beijing. He added, “I am a product of good English proficiency and an example of how important good English proficiency is to peopled learning opportunities and career advancement.”

To improve English proficiency, people should study English every day in sessions of 20 to 40 minutes rather than for hours at a time, Knutell said.     5     He added that watching TV, reading and listening to the radio in English can also help.

3 . “I wonder by my troth, what thou and I did, till we loved?” those are the first words of a poem by John Donne that I learned at school and I still know the whole thing today. It’s just one of many poems I've stored in my memory, ready to recite and relish whenever I please.

It seems that poetry learning has gone out of fashion, but I'm still a fan because it doesn't just breed a lifelong love of poetry.     1     So why not dig out a poem you love and use it to exercise and enrich your recall?

Step 1. Know that poems are designed to stick in your mind.     2     See how they leave you with memory-arousing images and how they surprise you by breaking the rules, and control your senses and emotions. These are all great ways to make information more memorable.

Step 2.     3       When you're learning a poem, try linking the last word of one line to the first word of the next. In my John Donne poem, one line ends with “see”, and the next starts with “which”, so I pictured a “sea witch”. Making links like these can also help with learning names, and many other kinds of information.

Step 3. Put in a performance. When you're practising a poem, read it aloud, as dramatically and emotionally as you can.     4    

Step 4. Enjoy yourself. Learning poems gives your memory a workout, which improves your mood and gets you into good learning habits. So reap the rewards! Have fun putting rhymes into your shopping list, using rhythm to learn names, or “performing” revision notes before an exam.

    5    And, in the process, you'll be making your memory stronger for everything.