In the Internet age, speed reading is a necessary and important skill. We skim over articles and e-mails to try to get key words and the main idea of the text. With so much information through our electronic devices , it would be impossible to get through everything if we read word by word, line by line. However, a new trend calls on people to enjoy reading slowly. A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smartphones. They sit back in comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour. Unlike typical book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn't to exchange ideas about certain books, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the story, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the traditional way of reading. Traditional readers, like Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to understand others. Some of these benefits have been backed up by science. For example, a study of 300 elderly people published by the journal Neurology last year showed that adults who take part in activities that use their brain, such as reading, suffer less memory loss as they get older. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand others' mental states and beliefs -- a key skill in building relationships. Yet technology has made us less careful readers. Computer and phone screens have changed our reading patterns from the top-to-bottom, left-to-right reading order we traditionally used, to a wild skimming pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text online that has many links to other web pages also leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says British journalist Patrick Kingsley, only half joking. Because of... According to the Neurology study, who is most likely to suffer memory loss? A) A 79-year-old woman who reads regularly. B) A 17-year-old middle school student who seldom reads. C) A healthy 24-year-old university graduate who often plays games. D) A 65-year-old man who rarely reads.
D
Christopher Thomas,27,was a writer by night and a teacher by day when he noticed he was always tired and was losing weight fast. Diagnosed with diabetes , Thomas would need to inject himself with insulin three times a day for the rest of his life or risk nerve damage, blindness and even death. And if that weren't bad enough, he had no health insurance. After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he' d better find a way to fight back. He left Canton,Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar, and created diabeticrockstar..com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones-a place where over l,100people share personal stories, information and resources. Jason Swencki' s son, Kody, was diagnosed with diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children' s forums together most evenings. " Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over," says Swencki, one of the site ' s volunteers." They know what he' s going through, so he doesn' t feel alone. " Kody is anything but alone; Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million, diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages. These days, Thomas' s main focus is his charity,Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people--225 to date-- who can' t afford a diabetic' s huge expenses. Fight-it. Org has raised about $ 23,000 -- in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean. Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full-time job waiting tables. " Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure, " says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar ' s original members. " But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now. " According to the text, Kody _ . A) feels lonely because of his illness B) benefits from diabeticrockstar. Com C) helps create the online kids' forums D) writes children's stories online
B
(Question)
It was 1:30 a.m. Monday at London's Savoy Hotel and, with autograph books and cameras, a group of brighteyed tennis fans of all ages were waiting for just a glimpse of Maria Sharapova . The 17-year-old girl defeated champion Serena Williams 6-1 6-4 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday in London to become the first Russian to win a single title at the championships. A silver lining to a depressing, rain-hit Wimbledon, she has raised heated passion. Nobody was complaining, though, for the 1.83-metre Sharapova has created a welcome wave of interest in tennis, something missing in recent years. Not even Anna Kournikova evoked such passion when she broke on to the scene. To look good on court is one thing, but Sharapova can actually play the game too. Extremely well. She proved it over 13 days at the world's most prestigious tournament. Playing tennis of the highest quality throughout, the Russian's triumph not only lifted the tournament from fits of rain-induced depression but also salvaged(;) the season for the woman's tour. Sharapova was given no easy ride in the tournament, having to beat 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals and twice-champion Serena Williams for the title. Neither caused her much concern. "I don't remember too much about the final," Sharapova giggled. "I was in my own place." She will find it increasingly hard to find any place to call her own from now on after advertisers identified her as the most marketable woman in sport. In Russia she is sensational news. She headlined the news bulletins and was telephoned by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin after her triumph. Sharapova will return to her adoptive Florida home knowing life will never be the same again. But the girl who arrived in the US aged seven with her father and just US$700 is determined not to let fame and riches detract from her number one love, tennis. "I know things will start coming up and that many more things will want to get involved, but I want to keep my... What can be inferred from the passage? A) Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin will phone Sharapova for her success. B) It's not easy for Sharapova to keep herself away from the advertisers. C) Sharapova doesn't like fame or riches. D) Sharapova will continue to live a quiet life in her second homeland-Florida.
(Answer)
B