2006220

Author: Shi Chunzhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The book is designed to help readers improve their English reading comprehension skills. The difficulty level is appropriate, with selected articles and questions equivalent to or slightly above the difficulty of the reading comprehension section of the postgraduate entrance English exam. The topics are diverse, covering science and technology, economics, social life, education, and human physiology and psychology. The content is up-to-date, with all 220 articles selected from newly published books and journals abroad. Explanations are concise, providing accurate annotations for 175 of the 220 articles and their exercise answers. Sentence structure analysis is included for some difficult sentences in the original text, with Chinese translations provided. Sentence structure analysis is also given for the 44 English-to-Chinese translation articles, offering clear explanations of the required sentence structures. The book includes a vocabulary list for the 175 articles, featuring words beyond the standard curriculum and a list of verbs beyond the standard curriculum. The book serves multiple purposes. Readers can use the annotations to check their understanding of the original text and also use the annotated sentences as material for English-to-Chinese translation practice to improve their translation skills and overall exam readiness. The book was first published in 1999 and is revised annually. This is the sixth revision. Since its publication, the book has been widely loved by readers. Seeing that the book has helped readers learn English, especially in improving reading comprehension, the author feels deeply gratified. The author is also extremely grateful for the valuable suggestions from many readers. The book includes 220 English reading comprehension articles. The articles are primarily argumentative and expository essays, covering topics 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 suggestions from readers, 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 main parts. The structure of each part is as follows:
Part I is for comprehensive reading practice, totaling 120 articles, divided into 20 units, with 6 articles per unit. The first 4 articles are multiple-choice exercises, each followed by 5 reading comprehension questions. These questions focus on in-depth issues, mainly covering the main ideas and themes of the articles, the author's viewpoints and attitudes, judgment, inference, and extension based on the article's logic. The 5th article is a matching exercise, with 7 options to choose from to fill in 5 blanks in the article. The 6th article is an English-to-Chinese translation exercise, requiring the translation of 5 underlined sentences into Chinese. To facilitate learning, the book has enhanced its educational features. Each unit now includes a vocabulary list for words beyond the standard curriculum, significantly reducing the time readers spend looking up unfamiliar words. Each unit also includes annotations for each article, explaining the most difficult sentences for readers. Each annotation not only analyzes the syntactic structure of the long and complex sentences involved but also provides a Chinese translation. Each unit also includes annotations for the answers to the exercise questions for each article and the answers to all exercises.
Part II is for single-topic reading practice, totaling 76 articles, divided into 19 units, with 4 articles per unit. Each unit includes a vocabulary list for words beyond the standard curriculum and annotations for each article.
Part III is for single-topic English-to-Chinese translation practice, totaling 24 articles, divided into 6 units, with 4 articles per unit, for readers to practice English-to-Chinese translation. Each unit includes answers to the English-to-Chinese translation exercises.
At the end of the book are two appendices. Appendix I is a list of 331 verbs beyond the standard curriculum. Verbs are the core of sentences, and the more verbs you master, the easier it is to read articles quickly. Appendix II is a comprehensive list of all words beyond the standard curriculum, totaling 1,782. Many readers are concerned about whether it is necessary to memorize all 1,782 words beyond the standard curriculum. The author believes that vocabulary is indeed important when learning English, but it should not be studied as knowledge. The primary purpose of learning vocabulary is to use it skillfully in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Learning vocabulary is not about knowing more, but about using more. Readers should first focus on mastering the standard curriculum vocabulary. The vocabulary lists for words beyond the standard curriculum in each unit and the comprehensive list in Appendix II are designed to reduce the difficulty of looking up unfamiliar words while reading. There is absolutely no need to spend a lot of time memorizing these words beyond the standard curriculum. If you have extra time, it is recommended that readers first memorize the 331 words beyond the standard curriculum in Appendix I, which may be more useful.
The book is suitable for readers preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam. If candidates can read all 220 reading comprehension articles and complete all exercises, their English reading level will undoubtedly be significantly improved. Do not just use this book as a simulation test. The questions or translation exercises after each article are merely tools for readers to self-assess their understanding. The score you get after completing each unit does not reflect your performance in the actual exam. The main purpose of this book is to help readers improve their true English reading comprehension skills. If readers focus on understanding each article thoroughly and completely understand all 220 articles, their postgraduate entrance exam scores will undoubtedly be significantly improved. The topics of the articles in this book are quite broad, and it is hoped that they will bring some benefits to readers in terms of expanding their knowledge. The book can be used as an English reading textbook for readers with a CET-4 level or higher, or for those interested in improving their English reading comprehension skills.