“The West had sent armies to capture and hold Jerusalem; instead they themselves fell victim to new ideas and subtle influences,”

　　“ Instead ”indicates that something happened contrary to expectations.

　　5.1 Prediction

　　Prediction refers to thinking in advance about what to be read. It is a major factor in reading. An efficient reader usually predicts what he or she is going to read. Why is prediction so important? Predicting is very crucial in the reading process in two aspects:

　　Firstly, by predicting the topic, reader’s existing schemata, which is referred to as content schemata, can be activated and thereby facilitate reading comprehension in the reading phase. As Nuttall says: “Prediction is important because it activates schemata: that is, it calls into mind any experiences and associated knowledge that we already have about the topic of the test.”[5] 论文范文http://www.chuibin.com

　　Secondly, Learners' predicting before reading not only serves as a purpose for reading the text, but also draws their attention in the reading process. It has been assumed in many theories that attention and purpose are absolutely bound up with reading, determine whether it happens at all, and what form it takes if it does. The incidental learning is clearly both possible and effective when the demands of a task focus attention on what is to be learned.[6]

　　Therefore, before reading a text, it's important for you to predict, what you expect to see in the text. Then you become more involved in reading in order to confirm your expectations about the information that you think the text will contain. You prepare yourself or the reading task and familiarize yourself with the topic.

　　Human beings can cope with most situations better if they know what to expect. Predicting helps us to know what to expect in the texts we read, and it also helps us to remember words relevant to the topic we will meet. The burden of understanding is therefore lessened, and we can read more effectively.

　　5.2. Finding out the topic sentences

　　This skill is a basic one to grasp the main idea of an article. The two basic parts of a paragraph are the main idea and the supporting details. The author’s point or purpose, the main idea is usually stated in a single sentence. The sentence that states the main idea in a paragraph is called the topic sentence.[7] According to the topic sentences, we can learn not only what or whom the article describes but also what the author wants the readers to know. The topic sentence always appears at the beginning or at the end of a paragraph. Sometimes we can read the first and last sentences in each paragraph only, omit the rest of them. By doing this, we can get the meaning of each paragraph easily. This reading skill will reduce time of reading the unimportant message, make our reading speed quickly and make us find the relevant messages quickly. Especially when the article is an exposition, this skill is helpful. Finding out the topic sentences of an article can make us understand completely what you are reading and grasp the theme quickly. When you can use this skill freely, your ability in reading is improved.

　　5.3 Skimming and scanning

　　Skimming and scanning are skills for making fast search for information.

　　5.3.1 Skimming

　　Skimming is a way of reading materials quickly, in order to look for a general idea, especially when we try to decide whether careful reading would be desirable or when there is not enough time to read carefully. This skill-type reading can be used when reading newspapers, magazines, novels and the like, which can not only enlarge horizon but also bring enjoyment of language.[8] But how can we skim? Force your eyes to move fast. Sweep across each and every line. Pick up only a few key words in each line. You and I may not pick up exactly the same words when we skim the same piece, but we’11 both get a pretty similar idea of what it’s all about. As we begin to skim a passage, we should read the first paragraph at normal speed all the way through. Because the opening paragraph contains an introduction or overview of what will be talked about. Then, from the second paragraph on, we can only read as much of each paragraph as we have to in order to discover whether it contains a main idea or any important details. We skip over the parts, which are nonessential to us until we reach the ending paragraphs, which we should read more carefully because they often contain a summary. This skill of reading is widely used when one read an exposition or an essay. When one begins to practice skimming, one may find that it is not faster than normal reading. However, with a little practice one should be able to cover materials at two or four times the rate of normal reading, with comprehension that will be enough for one’s purposes.

　　5.3.2 Scanning

　　Like skimming, scanning is also quick reading. However, in this case, the search is more focused. To scan is to read quickly in order to find a particular point of information. Scanning skill is particularly helpful when we want to consult a dictionary, look for a certain advertisement (hunting for a job, renting a house, etc.). For example, when we look for the amount or the number of something, we simply look at the Arabic numerals; when we want to find the name of a person or an organization, we just scan for the words beginning with a capital letter.[9] Sometimes before we read articles of this kind, we can read the questions first. When reading, you need to keep the questions in your mind all the time, read it with some aims，then read the article as quickly as you can．The parts that are not relevant with the questions are swallowed at a high speed, and the other relevant messages are tasted at a little slow speed. The answers of scanning must be accurate. It’s warned that you should not pay attention to the reading speed, if so, you can’t locate the right answers and scanning is of no use at a11. Scanning and skimming are important skills; they do not remove the need for careful reading, but they enable the reader to select texts, or parts of texts, that are worth spending time on.[10]

　　5.4 Guessing the meanings of the new words or expressions

　　Everyone knows that new words and expressions are always easily found when reading an article. Some of them can be ignored because they are not so necessary for you to grasp the main idea of an article or answer the questions. However, there are also a lot of new words, which are key words to the article. Not knowing the meanings of these words will greatly affect the understanding of the article. So the ability of guessing the meanings of the new words is very important in reading comprehension. For this reason, you must try to improve their ability of conjecturing the meanings of the new words or expressions.

　　5.4.1 Guessing the meanings from the contexts

　　The meanings of the words can be guessed from the given information in the contexts, for example:

　　Mr. Joes got on the motorbike, I sat behind him on the pillion, and we roared off into the night.

　　Suppose you don’t know the meaning of the word “pillion”, you can guess it in the following way. Since the above sentence tells that “Mark got on the motorbike”and “I sat behind him”. The meaning of the word “pillion ” probably means: saddle for a passenger behind the driver of a motorbike.[11]

　　5.4.2 Guessing the meanings from the definitions 论文范文http://www.chuibin.com

　　When writing an article，sometimes the writer will give a suitable definition to a word. We can guess the meanings of the new words by these given definitions easily, for example,

　　He is a resolute man, that is to say, once he sets up a goal, he won’t give it up half way.

　　If the meaning of the word “resolute” in this sentence is unknown, you can conjecture it by the meaning of the latter sentence“Once he sets up a goal, he won’t give it up half way”. So it must mean：fixed in determination or purpose, firm.[12]

　　5.4.3 Guessing the meanings from the examples

　　In an article，the writer always uses some examples to explain his／her opinion, method or stand. At his time, we can conjecture the meanings of the new words by these examples, for example:

　　The boy like different kinds of vehicles: Bill likes a car. Fred likes a bicycle; Jim says that he really would rather take a bus.

　　Suppose you don’t know the meaning of the word“vehicle”, but you can judge that vehicle is a noun. A car, a bicycle and a bus are all ways of going to places or carrying things on the land. So we can conclude that its meaning is: forms of land transportation.[13]

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