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How to Improve Your Study Habits

时间:2005-05-04 16:00:00

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(单词翻译)

Lesson 16

                             How to Improve Your Study Habits

                                            Text A
    Maybe you are an average student with an average intellect.You pass most of your subjects. You occasionally get good grades, but they are usually just average. You are more interested in hiking than in history, and in sports than in scholarship. The fact is that you don't study very much.

    You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so, however. Anyone can become a better scholar if he or she wants to. It is true that you may not be enthusiastic about everything that you study, but by using your time properly you may improve your grades without additional work. Here's how :


    1. Plan your time carefully. When you plan a trip, one of the first things you must do is to make a list of things, to take. If you don't you are almost certain to leave something important at home. When you plan your week, you should make a list of things that you have to do. Otherwise, you may forget to leave enough time to complete an important task. After making the list, you should make a schedule of your time.

First fill in committed time-eating, sleeping, dressing2, school, meeting, ete. Then decide on a good, regular time for studying. Be sure to set aside enough time to complete the work that, you are normally assigned each week. Of course , studying shouldn't occupy all of your free time. Don't forget to set aside enough time for entertainment, hobbies , and maybe just relaxation3. A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.


    2. Find a good place to study. Look around the house for a good study area. Keep this space , which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, free of everything but study materials. No games, radios, or television! If you can't find such a place at home, find a library where you can study. When you sit down to work, concentrate on the subject! And don't go to the place you have chosen unless you are ready to study.


    3. Scan before you read. This means looking a passage over quickly but thoroughly4 before you begin to read it more carefully.
Scanning a passage lets you preview the material and get a general idea of the content. This will actually allow you to skip less important material when you begin to read. Scanning will help you double your reading speed and improve your comprehension.


    4. Make good use of your time in class. Take advantage of class time to listen to everything the teacher says. Sit where you can see and hear well. Really listening in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says. When the teacher gets off the subject, stop taking notes.


    5. Study regularly. When you get home from class, go over your notes. Review the important points that your teacher mentioned in class. Read any related material in your textbook. If you know what your teacher is going to discuss the next day, scan and read that material, too. This will help you understand the next class. If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you will remember it longer.


    6. Develop a good attitude about tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. The world won't end if you don't pass a test, so don't get overly worried. Tests do more than just provide grades; they let you know what you need to study more , and they help make your new knowledge permanent.
    There are other techniques that might help you with your studying. Only a handful have been mentioned here. You will probably discover many others after you have tried these.


                                            Text B
    Some kind of planning is essential. For one thing it reveals whether you really have enough to say on the topic you have chosen while there is still time to change to another topic. It is also important because it stimulates5 your ideas and helps to fix them in your mind Without some notes to help you, you may find that you begin writing with several ideas in your head but you forget some of them as you are writing.


    When you have chosen your topic, and perhaps have a general idea of your theme, make quick short notes of all the ideas that come into your head.Remember that these should be notes-words or phrases-not sentences , which would slow you down. As you do this you will find that new ideas will come to you, for one idea leads to another. This should not take more than ten minutes, for in an examination you have no time to waste.


    If you have not yet decided6 on your main theme , you can do so now, and then on the main idea of each paragraph. You may have to rearrange your ideas, to decide which paragraphs they will fit into, and which ideas will be left out altogether.


    It is for you to decide how detailed7 your plan should be. If you are good at writing, and have had plenty of practice, probably only a few brief notes will be necessary, but if you are not, then you may require a more detailed plan. But remember that everi the best writers need to make some notes if they are going to produce a well-organized piece of writing. You will of course be given marks for the arrangement of your ideas.


    With your plan in front of you, you should be able to write your composition. There should be no need to write a rough verseon first, then correct it and make a final copy. This is a waste of time.

 

                                Additional Informstion

    There is a lot of misunderstanding about studying. Most students have not been taught the principles behind really effective working. Above is a graph showing the amount a person learns against the number of honrs he works in a day. If he doesn't do any work, he learns nothing (point 0). If he does an hour's work he learns a cerain amount (point 1 ).

If he does two hours' work he learns about twice as much (point 2). If he does more work he'll learn still more (point 3). Now, it he tried to do 23 1/2 hours' work in 24, he'll be so exhausted8 that he'll hardly remember anything: what he learns will be very little (point 4). If he did less work he'd learn more (point 5).


    Now whatever the exact shape of this curve, it must have a crest9. Point X is the very maximum anyone can learn in the day. And this represents the optimum, the best, amount of work to do. It is the best possible compromise between adequate time at the books and fatigue10. Fatigue is an absolutely real thing; one can't escape it or try to ignore it. If you try to, if you press yourself to'work past the optimum (and any fool can prop1 his eyelids11 up and do 14 hours a day ) , you can only get on this downward slope and achieve less than the best-and then get exhausted and lose your power of concentration.


    The skill in being a student consists in getting one's daily study as near the optimum point as possible. I cannot tell you what the optimum is. It differs with the type of work, it differs from person to person, andeven in the same person it varies from week to week. You must try to find your own. Every day you study, bear this principle of the optimum in mind. When you feel yourself getting fatigued12, if you find yourself repeatedly reading over the same paragraph and not taking it iri, that's a pretty good sign you've reached the crest for the day and should stop.


    Most ordinary students find their optimum at about five hours a day. Yours may be a little more or a little less-but if you get in five hours' good work a day, you will be doing well.


    Now. what are you doing with yourself when you aren't working? Before examinations some students do nothing at all except sit in a chair and worry. Here is another misunderstanding. Peop~e too easily think of the mind as if it worked like the body, it does not. If one wanted to conserve13 physical energy to cut the maximum amount of firewood, one would lie flat on a bed and rest when one wasn't chopping. But the mind cannot rest. Even in sleep you dream, even if you forget your dreams. The mind is always turning. It gets its relaxation only by variety. That is what makes mental rest.


    When you've finished your optimum hourage you must stop. You must not then sit around in the chair thinking about the work-that only tires without any learning. You must get out and do something. It doesn't matter what-anything so long as you are actively14 doing something else but work.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 prop qR2xi     
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山
参考例句:
  • A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
  • The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。
2 dressing 1uOzJG     
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料
参考例句:
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
3 relaxation MVmxj     
n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐
参考例句:
  • The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
  • She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。
4 thoroughly sgmz0J     
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地
参考例句:
  • The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
  • The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。
5 stimulates 7384b1562fa5973e17b0984305c09f3e     
v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 );激励;使兴奋;起兴奋作用,起刺激作用,起促进作用
参考例句:
  • Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
8 exhausted 7taz4r     
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的
参考例句:
  • It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长,到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
  • Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。
9 crest raqyA     
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖
参考例句:
  • The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
  • He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。
10 fatigue PhVzV     
n.疲劳,劳累
参考例句:
  • The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
  • I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。
11 eyelids 86ece0ca18a95664f58bda5de252f4e7     
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 );眼睛也不眨一下;不露声色;面不改色
参考例句:
  • She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了,眼睑开始往下垂。
  • Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 fatigued fatigued     
adj. 疲乏的
参考例句:
  • The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
  • The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑,疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。
13 conserve vYRyP     
vt.保存,保护,节约,节省,守恒,不灭
参考例句:
  • He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
  • Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力,你会用得着的!
14 actively lzezni     
adv.积极地,勤奋地
参考例句:
  • During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
  • We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

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