Active Reading

As we said at the beginning, we will be principally concerned in these pages with the development of skill in reading books; but the rules of reading that, if followed and practiced, develop such skill can be applied also to printed material in general, to any type of reading matter—to newspapers,magazines, pamphlets, articles, tracts, even advertisements.

in general：一般来说

阅读技能的养成可以运用在多种文本的阅读。

Since reading of any sort is an activity, all reading must to some degree be active. Completely passive reading is impossible; we cannot read with our eyes immobilized and our minds asleep. Hence when we contrast active with passive reading, our purpose is, first, to call attention to the fact that reading can be more or less active, and second, to point out that the more active the reading the better. One reader is better than another in proportion as he is capable of a greater range of activity in reading and exerts more effort. He is better if he demands more of himself and of the text before him.

to some degree=extent 某种程度上 

eyes immobilized(fixed) and minds asleep

contrast ...with...将...与...对比

in proportion 成比例

exert(spend) more efforts

demand more of oneself/one's behavior/ 对...更大的要求（可以用在理想类做法时 

Though, strictly speaking, there can be no absolutely passive reading, many people think that, （as compared with writing and speaking, which are obviously active undertakings,） reading and listening are entirely passive. The writer or speaker must put out some effort, but no work need be done by the reader or listener. Reading and listening are thought of as receiving communication from someone who is actively engaged in giving or sending it. The mistake here is to suppose that receiving communication is like receiving a blow or a legacy or a judgment from the court. On the contrary, the reader or listener is much more like the catcher in a game of baseball.

receive a blow=take a hit 遭受打击

指出阅读不是完完全全的被动接受。引入类比的例子：将读者听者比作棒球比赛的接球手。

Catching the ball is just as much an activity as pitching or hitting it. The pitcher or batter is the sender in the sense that his activity initiates the motion of the ball. The catcher or fielder is the receiver in the sense that his activity terminates it. Both are active, though the activities are different. If anything is passive, it is the ball. It is the inert thing that is put in motion or stopped, whereas the players are active, moving to pitch, hit, or catch.The analogy with writing and reading is almost perfect. The thing that is written and read, like the ball, is the passive object common to the two activities that begin and terminate the process.

inert adj.unable to move or resist motion/chemically inactive[SYN]indifferent,neutral

analogy n.类比，相似

initiate-terminate(antonym)

具体解释它们相似的地方。

We can take this analogy a step further. The art of catching is the skill of catching every kind of pitch—fast balls and curves, change ups and knucklers. Similarly, the art of reading is the skill of catching every sort of communication as well as possible.

knuckler：慢速变化球 change ups：变化球 curve：曲线球

进一步类比。

It is noteworthy that the pitcher and catcher are successful only to the extent that （when）they cooperate. The relation of writer and reader is similar. The writer isn’t trying not to be caught, although it sometimes seems so. Successful communication occurs in any case where （what the writer wanted to have received ）finds its way into the reader’s possession. The writer’s skill and the reader’s skill converge upon a common end.

converge upon a common end：殊途同归，合二为一。

It is noteworthy that：值得一提的是

Admittedly, writers vary, just as pitchers do. Some writers have excellent “control”; they know exactly what they want to convey, and they convey it precisely and accurately. Other things being equal, they are easier to “catch” than a “wild” writer without “control.”

There is one respect in which the analogy breaks down. The ball is a simple unit. It is either completely caught or not. A piece of writing, however,is a complex object. It can be received more or less completely, all the way from very little of what the writer intended to the whole of it. The amount the reader “catches” will usually depend on the amount of activity he puts into the process, as well as upon the skill with which he executes the different mental acts involved.

What does active reading entail? We will return to this question many times in this book. For the moment, it suffices to say that, given the same thing to read, one person reads it better than another, first, by reading it more actively, and second, by performing each of the acts involved more skillfully. These two things are related. Reading is a complex activity, just as writing is. It consists of a large number of separate acts, all of which must be performed in a good reading. The person who can perform more of them is better able to read.

it suffices to say that：（有充分理由）可以说

entail：vt.使…成为必要, 需要

呼~在热身里把该用的软件都熟悉了一遍。其实我是个特别怕麻烦的人，而且又是一个3C产品白痴，也不爱看电子屏幕，觉得手写万岁。但是啊！当我尝试去用这些软件时，觉得它们真的是非常的高效,熟练运用的话也不麻烦。比如：以前遇到陌生的词会记到本子上，而后再也不会翻起。现在把它们复制到quizlet建立自己的专属学习集，有好几种复习的方式可以选择，而且单词词组读音也很好听；还有之前限免时下载的MindNode，一直没用过，的确是逻辑图的好工具；简书是在寒假拓展写作班就下载了，也是没用。。。现在用起来感觉真的很方便呐~~

安妮老师最近提到：自己要对每天发送的课程内容进行剪裁，完成适合自己的部分。爬山跟上就行了。有人一边爬还一边负重，一边采花一边拍摄。但是有些人可能就是气喘吁吁跟着就好了。反思自己在拓展写作班，刚开始气喘吁吁的跟着，后来却放弃了。。真是太虐了。自己本身的阅读输入也很少。整个就一“学忽悠”状态。所以这次毫不犹豫的报了精读班。

这次的读相对写更熟悉些，所以每天都好好坚持吧~

全勤坚持的话就允许自己以后再报一个班！