大学体验英语(二)

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　Course 2 > Unit 1 > Passage B > Exercise
　│Text│Summary│Culture Notes│Language Points│Sentence Explanation│New Words and Expressions│Translation│Exercise

Reading Skills Practice

Exercise1│Exercise2│Exercise3│Exercise4│Exercise5

Skimming
　　Skimming means reading through a passage quickly to get a general idea of its content. It is a valuable rapid reading skill, which helps improve your comprehension and save your time.
　　There are three basic forms of skimming — previewing, overviewing, and reviewing. In preview skimming you view the material before you actually read it. You can use it to select a book, survey a chapter, or search for useful research material. Overview skimming is to get a “big picture” view of the material. You use it when you have a lot of material to read and don’t have enough time to read it all. Review skimming is to view the material again. You can use it to go back to the material again to refresh your memory, especially before a test or important discussion.
　　To skim efficiently, you should:
　　• read the title of the text;
　　• read the first paragraph;
　　• read the first sentence of each of the other paragraphs;
　　• read the final paragraph;
　　• look for key words.

6. Now take two minutes to skim the following passage for the general idea and then write it down in the space provided.

A Great American Playwright

　　You may not have heard of the playwright Eugene O’Neill. He died in 1953. Most of his plays were serious or even tragic. Yet when critics look at the large number of works he produced and their general excellence, most agree that he is America’s greatest playwright.
　　O’Neill had the theater around him for most of his life. His father was a Shakespearean actor, and the family — his wife, his older son, and young Eugene — often accompanied him on tour. Before he began writing plays, O’Neill worked at various jobs. He was a sailor and a gold prospector as well as an actor.
　　O’Neill brought new techniques to the American theater. For example, in one play the characters turn aside and speak their thoughts out loud. In another, the characters wear various masks. These show their inner and outer personalities.
　　Many of O’Neill’s life experiences found their way into his plays. Several of his early short plays, for example, were set at sea. The Iceman Cometh, a later work, presents a group of alcoholic do-nothings sitting in a bar. Their lives seem modeled on O’Neill’s early years. Other famous works deal directly with his immediate family. One, Long Day’s Journey into Night, is almost a family portrait. It explores the complicated and bitter relations between a vain, loudmouthed father, his morphine-addicted wife, his alcoholic older son, and his sickly younger one. Another, A Moon for the Misbegotten, deals with the older brother’s sad life. O’Neill tries to suggest a way that things might have turned out better.
　　O’Neill is a major force in American theater. His best works are often put on in influential playhouses. Famous actors compete for the chance to play his best roles.