From the very beginning of school we make books and reading a constant source of possible failure and public humiliation. When children are little we make them read aloud, before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they “know” all the words they are reading. This means that when they don't know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right in front of everyone. After having taught fifth­-grade classes for four years, I decided to try at all costs to rid them of their fear and dislike of books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously.

One day soon after school had started, I said to them, “Now I'm going to say something about reading that you have probably never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of books this year, but I want you to read them only for pleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books or not. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on reading it, that's enough for me. Also I'm not going to ask you what words mean.”

The children sat stunned and silent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very hard time, looked at me steadily for a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she said slowly and seriously, “Mr. Holt, do you really mean that?” I said just as seriously, “I mean every word of it.”

During the spring she really astonished me. One day, she was reading at her desk. From a glimpse of the illustrations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can't be,” and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick, in the edition with woodcuts. I said, “Don't you find parts of it rather heavy going?” She answered, “Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part.”

This is exactly what reading should be and in school so seldom is—an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. How different is our mean­-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.

1.According to the passage, children's fear and dislike of books may result from ________.

A reading little and thinking little

B reading often and adventurously

C being made to read too much

D being made to read aloud before others

解析：选D。D　细节理解题。根据第一段第三句可知，在他人面前读错字是丢人现眼的。孩子对书的恐惧和厌烦是大人要求他们在他人面前朗读导致的。

2.The teacher told his students to read ________.

A for enjoyment

B for knowledge

C for a larger vocabulary

D for higher scores in exams

解析：选A。A　细节理解题。根据第二段中的I want you to read them only for pleasure可知，这位老师要求学生快乐读书。注意：for pleasure与for enjoyment同义。

3.Upon hearing the teacher's talk, the children probably felt that __________.

A it sounded stupid

B it was not surprising at all

C it sounded too good to be true

D it was no different from other teachers' talk

解析：选C。C　细节理解题。根据第三段首句及后面的内容可知，学生对老师说的话不太敢相信是真的。答案中的too…to结构表示，听起来太好了以至于不相信这是真的。

4.Which of the following statements about the girl is TRUE according to the passage?

A She skipped over those easy parts while reading.

B She had a hard time finishing the required reading tasks.

C She learned to appreciate some parts of the difficult books.

D She turned out to be a top student after coming to this school.

解析：选C。C　细节理解题。根据第四段中最后一句的I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part可知，这个女孩学会了欣赏难理解的书中的精彩部分。其他三个选项与文章内容不相符。

5.From the teacher's point of view, _______.

A children cannot tell good parts from bad parts while reading

B children should be left to decide what to read and how to read

C reading is never a pleasant and inspiring experience in school

D reading involves understanding every little piece of information

解析：选B。B　推理判断题。根据最后一段内容再结合文章大意，可知，作者认为应该让孩子们自己来决定读什么及怎么读。