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.
tract
1專論
Bring your notes with you to the meeting so you can stay on tract if or when emotions get high.
談話時(shí)帶上你的發(fā)言提綱，這樣可確保你在情緒激動(dòng)時(shí)不會(huì)離題。
2大片的土地 地帶
Vast tracts of warm water are a perfect environment for cyclones.
廣袤的暖水地帶是產(chǎn)生氣旋的完美環(huán)境。
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.
exert
vt. 運(yùn)用，發(fā)揮；施以影響
時(shí) 態(tài): exerted, exerting, exerts
exert every ounce of energy
竭盡全力, 全力以赴
exert an influence[pressure] on sb.
對某人 施加影響
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.
at one blow
一下子；突然地
blow moulding
吹氣成形法，吹塑法
blow away
吹走；驅(qū)散
blow down
炸毀；吹倒
blow hole
吹穴;氣泡,氣孔,(鑄件的)砂眼
blow hot and cold
三心二意, 出爾反爾
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.
whereas
Only 2% of Swiss walk to work, whereas 23% of Germans do so.
在瑞士，只有2%的人走路上班，但在德國卻有23%的人這樣做。
terminate
terminate a contract
終止合約
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, changeups and knucklers. Similarly, the art of reading is the skill of catching every sort of communication as well as possible.
changeup
投手為使打擊手打空而投的緩慢球
knuckler？
knuckle
a knuckle of pork.
一塊豬肘子肉。
an apostle of bare-knuckled capitalism.
一個(gè)赤裸裸的資本主義的傳道者。
an undefeated bare-knuckle champion.
一位不用拳擊手套的常勝冠軍
the bare-knuckle world of commercial real estate.
殘酷的商業(yè)房地產(chǎn)界
It is noteworthy that the pitcher and catcher are successful only to the extent that 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
vi. (線條、運(yùn)動(dòng)的物體等)會(huì)于一點(diǎn), 向一點(diǎn)會(huì)合
(趨于)相似或相同
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.”
admittedly
adv. 誠然;確實(shí)地, 無可否認(rèn)地
Admittedly, the Eurocracy's enlightened despotism was better than the other kind.
他承認(rèn)，歐洲開明的統(tǒng)治者比起其他的好很多。
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.
