1957-02-22 — Page 4

Page

How Fast Do You Read?

By Michael Sutton

READING today

longer

ཟླ་

no

pleasurabia luxury, it in a vital necessity for anyons with ambition and the désire to keep abreast with the vart changes that are the hall-

mark of our olvilisation. The output of iterature, otherwise,

technical tagn

and

#

and news, has never been greator, and it grows day by day. In view of this, it la a kad, and in many casts tragio fact, that most people still read

as they did

In their primary schools that is, with effort, haltingly, oftan with iittia under- almost in.

standing, and

variably incredibly slowly.

reading re

Most of us

bad

because

100

wa hava nava naver been taught how to road properly. This fact has nothing to do with educa tion or intelligence-rating. Thus,

business many top executives, lawyers, doctors, engineers and even teachers have bad reading habita

they and

becaus

botter,

don't know because they It is an easy matter to read five and

don't know that

even ten times faster than they do now with tho

proper training,

What habita? There aro quite A

are there bad

number,200

but the following

are the main ones, and they

all add up to slow reading:

1. Going back over what you have been reading when you think have mined a

you word;

2. Reading every word in

every paragraph;.

3. Bwinging

your ead

from left to right as you read down a page:

4. Pointing to words

you read Singer,

with

AL your

5. Moving your ips to

form the words as you road; and

6. Not concentrating

an

what you're reading.

In a campaign to encour

age faster reading, many universities and big indus- trial firms (especially in the United States) have started classes to

to improve

the reading speeds 300

of their students

and employees. The results have been remarkable both In regard to the increas

of speed and the ease with which the students And employees have managed to Acquire new reading habits.

Among the first in industrial field were perial Chemical

the

ال.

Industries, Easo Standard Oil Company, Electric Company General And International Business Machines. Harvard Univer. sity, New York University and Temple University, the United States, are only

In

have

three of many which been doing valuable work

In speeded-up read.

ing classes.

400

Apart from these, privata organisations Jike

Now York's Reading Laboratory, Inc., have been set up in many places in the

United States, where, for a fee, people are taught to im. prove their reading habits.

Imperial Chemical In- dustries realised that ita executives had to read vast amount of technical literature to keep pace with both business and solantifia developments. The Educa tional Department

this firm therefore had a series of films made

to help the Increase their executives

speeds from appro.

of

ximately 200 word. 500

minuto

to

average reading spood) double and even trable this figure. The film start off showing paragraphs of print at normal speed; and with each film the speed of screening la increased.'

As far as big industries are concerned, better read- ing la not just an academic achievement. If executives

can read faster, they don't have to spend

half their (and working time

more

important from the execu tives' point of view,

half

their leisure time in the week-anda)

evenings and

Balled

reading.

baile

"fact,

down to

It means

can employ their

executives 600

that

talents on more important

business maiters

working hours,

their teleure

during and enjoy. to more ad vantage. Many top execu- to take tives

today have home briefcases filled with reading material that they don't have time to get through at work because they cannot cops with it there.

Fast reading Is a vital factor in getting better jobs.

A recent moolological survey In the Pnited States reveal- ed that some; 8,000 fermer

1

high-school students had drifted

into dead-end foba, Of this number only

■ faw wore able 700

to read and

con-

centrato properly. The con- clusion drawn was that bad reading habits had been one of the main causda pro- venting

relatively

these

highly-educated youngsters from getting more important and better-pald Jobs.

In learning to road fast аго certain basic

there

things that must be borne in mind. They sound trite, but they are of such vila im- portance that they are often forgotten. In the first place, It must be realised that the main object of roading la to graep what the writer a trying to say, and that ideas

conveyed by

groups words 800

of

rather than sopar- ate worde. 15, therefore, you should pause over singlo

words, you might miss the main Import of the Ides. A there. good reader should, fore, only take in groups of words. In the second place, ideas are not usually con- tained in single tines. If you neuse to consider the mean-

of each line, you might ing also miss the main theme. Out more important, this procedure slows you up and Is inefficient.

What can you do to im prove By

your reading speed? the best way la to enrol at a reading olinic. Unfortunately, In

Hongkong, there 900 Aro по reading

clinica. But before we dia- cuss what we can do to help ourscivos, it's instructive to ace what goes on at a read. ing clinic.

to

Teachers at clinica usually use one or more mechanical fant mathode

Induce

most One of the popular in the reading 20- celerator. This moves A curtain down the

pago

reading.

pood

THE CHINA MAIL, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1957.

NOTICE

•SHIPS' BIREMS MUST NOT BE

·SOUNDED DURING

and comprehend only 50 to 60% of what they are read. ing. In less than 30 hours of training, the Average student increases his reading apted to at least 600 words a minute, and INCREASES HIS COMPREHENSION OF HE 18 READING WHAT ΤΟ BETWEEN 20 AND 90%. Thi

quite Amazing result and corroborated by other read- 'ing clinics.

to

ATE

The ability

Increase to reading spood has little

по

13

do with ago. Most clinics have found that even when the variation in age la more than 30 увать 30.

you tween

pupli ono and

the another, results are very much the that This means WAITICS,

to in- everyone can learn сгедве his or her reading opced by more than 100% effort; without too much

in and, more important,

to orense his or her ability comprehend. This latter fact too stressed much, because most people, even after they have tried their best to concentrate or mamorise what they have been reading, find that they the can seldom remember Ballent facts of what they have been reading even Immediately 14

at

cannot

the that such

to read student is forond faster to keep ahead of it. This spoed in gradually in- crossed as the student im. proves. Another mechanical the opthalmograph. Aldis

This

racords

on

10

film the movements

of the student's

POCKET CARTOON by OSBERT LANCASTER

"That was a brilliant idea of yours, making the children join the Young Conservatives !!"

17

eyes as he reads and gives Leful information to the Instructors, Then there

which the tachistoscope, fisahes phrases and numbers in front of the student's eyes at speeds of up to one- hundredth of a second.

The purpose of this is to train the ayem to grasp groups of words

and figures very quickly. Other devices help to correct simple reading errors by forcing

the eyes to concentrate as well extending the optio range so that eventually whole sen tences can be taken in

An Interesting fault once, that was discover- ed was the

fast 11 that the left oyo

to lag tends

behind the right eye becauMS Westörn writing runs from loft right mcross the page. Full vlalon is required for really fast reading, Bath Dyos should work as effectively as possible.

at

to

The obvious question that will be asked at tisle stage is what is the good of being able to read fast if the meening of what you are reading secapte comprehen. alon. The results of innume orable testa have shown that when you learn to read fact

Sr you also learn to face more. For example, studente entering the speade randing

class of 12 New York Univer.

alty can usually read only

200 to 250 words a minute,||

bo

after putting down

the book. Hours, daya

or weeks later, as the case fmay be, next to nothing is

remembered.

Here are

some tips those who cannot go to reading chrftes:

SLEGTA

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Cummings

GERMANY'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME MAY OVERSHADOW BRITAIN'S-AN

"Atomic Revolution"

Bonn. TWO years ago Dr Werner

TW

Heisenberg, Germany's ace nuclear physicist, said: "We Germans are ten years behind Britain, U.S.A., and Russia in the development of nuclear energy. But it won't take us that long to catch up."

Even now they

chain of reactors is

rise, simultaneously,

By Norman Lindhurst

are working as 1954, Dr Otto Hahn, who on plans for nuclear-powered won the Nobel prize for being

Arst

split man to

the cargo ships and locomollyes, A the

beginning uranium atom, was predleling:

in

"Atomic

whil be power

West German in- available to dustry two or three years after we get our freedom back." Heisenberg, Professor Hadin added, "has made all prepara- tons to build an atomle pile."

to Munich, Karlsruhe and Ham- burg. Additional reactors will be constructed in the Ruhr and Frankfurt,

Now Strauss has been shifted to the Defence Ministry for the same purpose, and the nuclear ministry turned over to Dr Siegfried Balke, a business man

comes to

to his new post fresh from a triumph in overhauling and

modernising Germany's communications system as the

Who

as re-

West German labour, presented by the Social Democrats, is determined to got Into the atom act well ahead of

industry, if possible.

The Social Democrats hall and hail nuclear energy, as the "second industrial revolution." They are demanding a speed-up-

of expansion activity, criticising the govern ment for timidity.

and

nuclear

Federal Post

Post minister,

The SPD has linked nuclear Germans have the energy with automation, Both Western Allies 10 thank for the Social Democrats argue, are

The

In October 1955, the Germans their well-publicised recovery inevitable. Hence labour is try- Into their nuclear "mitacle." The Allies defended ing to make certain that this armament "econd industrial revolution" were pronis the workers as much as markets the

management

Germans

Dr Helsenberg couldn't have been more right. The West Germany is forging a

with partnership

the Germans, since

achieve close

United States ira nuclear of ment

their recovery development. The Germans will "miracle," have become ac- get an Initial

13.2 pounds of Put muscle

the Planning with the establishment them while, free of from

of an Atomic Energy

the Commis- burdens, customed to talking big and enriched uranium and Americans,

exchange

export super-planning group recapturing planning big.

scientific and

in- sion, economic

with even greater latitude in from the victors, Their nuclear

energy pro formation.

handling creative nuclear pro- gramme will be, it realised,

jects Europe's biggest. It may even overshadow Britain's, although

part organisation

econo Including scientists, this remains to be seen.

Dy 1000 West Germany

cx-

ADVANTAGE

10

same

A

HANDICAP than is American counter-

unionists

divert

more

Nuclear power plants, at the moment, must be constructed in Jocations demanding large amounts of power most of the Today, this is basically the time, in relatively small arebs: More Important, perhaps, the

and same German strategy in the be willing and able to mists, trado peels to be generating most of Germans have hired America's financiers, this group la guiding development of peaceful nuclear men, money and materials to

nuclear

engineering German nuclear development, energy. Strauss himself noted; the

In an nation's

nuclear power and be power with biggest

Wilcox. firm, Babson and nuclear energy.

"We have been spared start are The

is significant that the Ger-

area with high fuel cost. of It Germans undertake

the major part

mans also established, at the ing from the very beginning in Few spots magic date, to

in the world expect, by this for

time, a Nuclear Energy atomle research and practice, satisfy these conditions reactor construction. have in operation that nucleus

Ministry within The Germans like to organise for a Neet

Chancellor To a great extent, we shall be completely than West Germany, of nuclear-powered

able to build on the experience which is heading into a power cargo ships. And nuclear-power- and their nuclear program re- Konrad Adenauer's cabinet-

nation Western ed locomotives will be whizzing presents

to of our allies. triumph for this the only 0

crisis, Power production will national passion. In fact, it was elevate

alom to tho

"That we are not permitted have to increase by 1070, it is over West Germany's rail net,

10 governmental prominence.

use occupation

atomic energy for estimated, by an annual 170,000 This may seem like big-and not until the

1055 that Ger- Adenauer has picked his military purposes seems to us million kilowatt hours from the emply talk for a nation which ended in May

an advantage

thon rather only now is building its first many got the go-ahead for the ministers for the nuclear

a present 80,000 million kilowatt of development research reactors,

hours, But the Ger- peaceful

with great shrewdness. The first handicap."

coal de- Perhaps, In the long run, the The Ruhr's hard mans undeniably

minister. Franz-Josef Strauss, are wading nuclear energy. into nuclear development with But long before this they had was put in to get things most significant fact about Ger- posita petering out, The

development Germans literally have cracking. Strauss, a builnecked, many's all of their well-known energy completed the spade work for und dogged determination to the Impressive programme now tough-talking Bavarian, did just programme will prove to be choice but take the nuclear

labour's intense participation. plunge, As early surpass all rivols.

beginning to emerge.

1. Work aut how many words there are on a pago (or on several pages) and sat a time limit for reading them. USD

a stopwatch or an alarm clock. Gra+ dually

decrease amount of time

the you

allow yourself;

2. Learn to make your eyes skip over groups

of words, and then whole sentences, mak. ing sure that you prosp the meaning;

3. When you have read a

portion in as quick a time as you

can, pause,

and summer-

15

ise in your mind what

you have read:

4. Don't go back and re- read words or phrases

or even sentences;

new.

a

5. When reading

tino papers, draw down the centre of the column. Let your eyes this ina, run down reading, as it were, to foft and right of the line at the same time. This becomes surpris. Ingly easy after prac tice;

6. Skip all padding and repetition on the part

of the writer. You will learn to dietinguish between the Important and the unimportant as your critical sensa Inerands;

7. Slow

readers

have email vocabuiķetes and It follows

that the larger 16 your vocabu-

lary the quicker your potential is for fast reading. Never pasa that you over worde ara`unfamiliar with.

by at

If you adopt these sug- gestions there to no reason why you cannot Increase your reading speed least 100%. But constant practica pocasasry, It shouldn't take much longer than a few months.

The ability to rand fast will increase not only your knowledge but also, your. ability to getƐand hold down more important and response · albto the joban: The effort is well worth whites and se

17

was

thai.

such

post

nuclear

are

Providing they have more than a degree

It's a Work Queue in Reverse

HOOSING a career is

EL

one of the most im- portant steps in young man's life, and it no longer presents the difficul- tles it once did-for this is

for Graduates

under the

speed of technical start too far up the ladder.

No parent discussing prospects for an

the

dicate

no

a sphere of activity as a degree in Science.

Even so, the arts graduate has frequently shown in the executive side of business that possession of the much-sought- after "wider" qualities enables him to jump ahead of the scientist.

The importance

of

well-

Advice is:

written letters of application has been emphasised,

But the competition is not an age of opportunity for especially if his line is science quired in the man who is to

keen enough yet to affect the climb high.

Much depends on the man: graduate youth, especially for trained or gineering. The arrival

Not all entrants have found general rule that a of the atomic men and, above all, for and electronic age, commercial industry sultable. There are with a good degree on the much on selling his talent in the those with

fairly right market, university and Industrial A

expansion, the probably faults on both sides, technological side is

or four to have three industrialists serious degree.

shortage

complain certain of engineers Some

1 want to offers in his pocket, and technologists in so many that university men

Не comes out of it beller To incrctuso

Graduates relort that fre of

good note-paper-to 種 things for advanced education, quently

arc "not than the arts man-not becauso type,

£3

possible to avoid graduate son can fail

to particularly on the scionille painted, and that insufficient the appointments are not there business jargon. And to spell the chiot use is made of their specialised for the arts man, but because correctlyven if you are a think a little ruefuly of the ade, are some of

a degree in Arts' does not in scientisti complete shift of balance reasons for this happy state of training.

It Ls suggested between seeking and being affairs for the qualified man.

Undergraduates and graduates firms might run works courses, sought; things were when he started out in his in lands where the drive for so that the intending recruit can scientists and engineers in in. come to grips with reality in youth, and as things are full swing are well aware of actual working conditions, and now for the young man.

In the father's early days, the trained, man generally had to hunt bard for a post. Now he is run after.

The ante-rooms

fro

Hardly

that more

CHOOSING A CAREER-No. 2

by W. K. BLISS

The roads that lead to pro-

that more undergraduates fessional, scientific and industrial the scramble that takes place in parders oro Heavily 'sign the months preceding grachura- should take these courses as

their first carly as posted. The gates are flung tion, when the personnel officers

long wide, and the gatekeepers' are from various firms descend on vacation.

And university men are likely out in the middle of the road the university towne, giving in- beckoning with open arma

terviews and lunches freely. to find increasing competition in They compelo actively for the now lines that are so wide of appoint- good men and these good men open today. Industry is now ments boards and other career, have been known to bout of "growing some

its own of assisting agencies bright the number of fres meals that timber" (as the saying is) and is with attractive welcoming have come their waợi

in the education business with literaturo.

atomous But while

industry has both feet.' Arm but Ald its flag in the opened wide its doors, it should There and irms which have competitive display, and tells its be stressed that it is looking for set up training schemes at all tale of opportunity.

more than just a man with a levels (some of those schemes dogo. If he has no more are really excellent), and Bond So much so that among the than that, his progress may be promising trainces to university. students' own literature on the limited.

They are also kn subject, the facetious rejoinder.Wider qualities such as por wich" courses in which treinoes has been fount: "Some Thoughts sonality, resilience of mind, an spend part of their time at the on Choosing as Employer]". inquiring nature, ability to work works, audi, part at college (on

And the gradimele imay even as part of a team, and an pay), and promising apprentices - brug -- light-hanstadly fog, nis' internet in things beyond him are encouraged 10 take external

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