Do you get lots of reading tasks as part of your homework? You might wish that you could read faster. There are some people who say that you can learn to read at super-high speeds. But experts disagree on this idea.
"Speed reading is not actually possible," said Elizabeth Schotter, a scientist at the University of South Florida, US. Schotter pointed out that people who say that they can teach others how to speed read are usually doing it to make money by selling courses and books.
Schotter explained that reading is a task difficult to finish. It includes four steps: seeing a word, retrieving(检索) its meaning from your memory, connecting it to other words in the same sentence, and then moving on to the next word. This process uses many parts of the brain at one time. It can't be sped up.
In fact, speed reading has been advertised since 1959, when US educator Evelyn Wood introduced a speed reading programme. Several US presidents have even asked their officers to take speed reading courses. However, there is no real science behind speed reading.
Some people who say they are able to speed read are simply skimming. Skimming involves reading a passage quickly and only looking for certain words or sentences. Skimmers can figure out the main idea of a passage, especially if it's a topic they're familiar with, but they will not be able to remember all the pieces of the information.
So is there a way to become a faster reader? Research suggests that you should try to improve the number of your words and simply read more.