There is distinction between reading for information and reading for understanding.31 The first sense is the one in which we read newspapers, magazines, or anything else.32Such materials may increase our store of information, but they cannot improve our understanding. And clearly we don' t have any difficulty in .gaining the new information, for our understanding was equal to them before we started. Otherwise, we would have felt the shock of puzzlement.
The second sense is the one in which we read something that at first we do not completely un- derstand. Here the thing to be read is at the first sight better or higher than the reader. The writer is communicating something that can increase the reader' s understanding.33Otherwise one per- son could never learn from another. Here "learning" means understanding more, not remembering more information.
What are the conditions in this kind of reading? First, there is inequality in understanding.34Besides, his book must convey something he possesses and his potential readers lack. Sec-ond, the reader must be able to overcome this inequality in some degree. And he should always try to reach the same level of understanding with the writer. If the equality is approached, success of communication is achieved.
35It is the least demanding and requires the least amount of effort. Everyone who knows how to read can read for entertainment if he wants to. In fact, any book that can be read for under- standing or information can probably be read for entertainment as well.
A. The writer should have a better communicating skill.
B. Such communication between unequals must be possible.
C. We can get access to the content of those materials easily.
D. The writer must be "superior" to the reader in understanding.
E. Thus, we can employ the word "reading" in two distinct senses.
F. Reading for entertainment is capable of increasing our understanding for information.
G. Besides gaining information and understanding, there' s another goal of reading-enter-tainment.
答案及解析
31.E【解析】根据第二段第一句的“The first sense is the one...”和第三段第一句的“The second sense is the one in which we…”可知E选项符合题意。故选E项。
32.C【解析】下文中提到“Such materials may increase our store of infor-marion，but they cannot improve our understanding.”，而且选项C也提到了materials一词，故选C项。
33.B【解析】前面两句中说作家的作品中有些读者不知道的内容，是需要读者认真领会的，因而作家与读者在知识上是不对等的(une.quals)。空格后的句子Otherwise one person could never leam fromanother.表示“否则一个人不可能从另一个人那里学到东西”，该句也解释了unequals(两个水平不同的人)的含义。同时，从行文上看，空前一句提到了communicating，而只有B项中的suchcommunication与之衔接紧密。
34.D【解析】D选项The writer must be“superior”to the reader in under-standing(作者必须比读者的理解力强)与本段第二句“First，thereis inequality in understanding.”相符。故选D项。
35.G【解析】下文内容是上文内容的一个延续，与上文为递进关系，所以用besides开头。本段后面出现了两次entertainment也提示答案为G项。
