Edited English Reading Comprehension 220 Passages (2006)

Author: Shi Chunzhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features:
The book is designed to help readers improve their English reading comprehension skills.
Appropriate Difficulty: The selected articles and questions are equal to or slightly above the difficulty level of the reading comprehension section of the postgraduate entrance English exam.
Diverse Themes: The content covers science and technology, economics, social life, education, and human physiology and psychology.
Up-to-Date Content: All 220 articles are selected from newly published books and journals abroad.
Insightful Annotations: Accurate annotations are provided for 175 of the 220 articles and their exercise answers.
Sentence Analysis: Some difficult sentences in the original text are analyzed syntactically, with Chinese translations provided.
Sentence Structure Analysis: Clear explanations of sentence structures are given for the 44 English-to-Chinese translation exercises in the book.
Supplementary Vocabulary Lists: The book includes vocabulary lists for 175 articles and a list of advanced verbs.
Multi-purpose Use: Readers can not only use the annotations to verify their understanding of the original text but also use the annotated sentences as material for English-to-Chinese translation practice, thereby improving their translation and comprehensive exam-taking skills.
The book was first published in 1999 and is revised annually. This is the sixth edition. Since its release, it has been highly favored by readers. Seeing that the book has helped many in learning English, especially in improving reading comprehension, the author feels deeply gratified. The author is also deeply grateful for the valuable suggestions from many readers.
The book selects 220 English reading comprehension articles. The articles are primarily argumentative and expository, covering themes such as science and technology, economics, social life, cultural education, and human physiology and psychology. All articles are selected from publications abroad.
This year, based on valuable reader feedback, the book underwent a major revision. The basic principle of the revision is to prioritize the reader's needs, further facilitate learning, enhance the book's educational function, and make it more convenient for self-study, helping readers quickly improve their true English reading comprehension skills.
After the revision, the book is divided into three parts. The structure of each part is as follows:
Part 1: Comprehensive Reading Practice
This part consists of 120 articles, divided into 20 units, with 6 articles per unit.
- The first 4 articles in each unit are multiple-choice exercises, each followed by 5 reading comprehension questions. These questions focus on deep-level issues, such as the main idea and purpose of the article, the author's perspective and attitude, and making inferences and deductions based on the text.
- The fifth article is a matching exercise, with 7 options to choose from to fill in 5 blanks in the text.
- The sixth article is an English-to-Chinese translation exercise, requiring the translation of 5 underlined sentences into Chinese.
To enhance learning, the book has been improved with additional features:
- Each unit now includes a supplementary vocabulary list for the articles in that unit, significantly reducing the time spent looking up unfamiliar words.
- Each unit provides annotations for each article, highlighting the most difficult sentences for readers. These annotations not only analyze the syntactic structure of complex sentences but also provide Chinese translations.
- Each unit also includes annotations for the answers to the questions and the complete answer key for all exercises.
Part 2: Single-Unit Reading Practice
This part consists of 76 articles, divided into 19 units, with 4 articles per unit. Each unit includes a supplementary vocabulary list and annotations for each article.
Part 3: Single-Unit English-to-Chinese Translation Practice
This part consists of 24 articles, divided into 6 units, with 4 articles per unit, designed for English-to-Chinese translation practice. Each unit includes an answer key for the translation exercises.
The book also includes two appendices:
- Appendix 1: Advanced Verb List, containing 331 advanced verbs. Mastering more verbs is beneficial for quickly understanding articles.
- Appendix 2: Advanced Vocabulary List, containing all 1782 advanced words covered in the book.
Many readers ask whether it is necessary to memorize all 1782 advanced words. The author believes that while vocabulary is important in learning English, it should not be studied as mere knowledge. The primary purpose of learning vocabulary is to use it proficiently in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Knowing more words is not always better; knowing how to use more words is better. Readers should first focus on mastering the core vocabulary outlined in the syllabus. The supplementary vocabulary lists in each unit and the advanced vocabulary list in Appendix 2 are designed to reduce the difficulty of looking up unfamiliar words. There is absolutely no need to spend excessive time memorizing these advanced words. If time permits, it is recommended that readers first memorize the 331 advanced verbs in Appendix 1, as they may be more useful.
This book is suitable for readers preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam. If candidates complete all 220 reading comprehension articles and exercises, their English reading level will undoubtedly improve significantly. Do not merely use this book as a simulation test. The questions or translation exercises after each article are tools for self-assessment, not the actual exam. The score achieved after completing each unit does not reflect performance in the actual exam. The primary purpose of this book is to help readers improve their true English reading comprehension skills. If readers focus on thoroughly understanding each article and master all 220 articles, their postgraduate entrance exam scores will undoubtedly improve significantly.
The book's content covers a wide range of topics, hoping to provide readers with some benefits in expanding their knowledge. This book can be used as an English reading textbook for students at the CET-4 level or above, or for those interested in improving their English reading comprehension skills.