Like many adults these days, I struggle to find time to really immerse myself in a book. I often attend my book club without quite having finished the month’s selection. But some members, who have equally busy lives, manage to finish every book on time. They count on audiobooks, listening to them in the interstitial spaces of life. Despite the popularity of audiobooks, I’ve just never felt it necessary to go in that direction. After reading printed books for so long, I worry that listening to audiobooks would feel way outside my comfort zone.

But does reading facilitate greater comprehension than listening to books? Beth Rogowsky, an associate professor of education, sought to investigate this inquiry in a recent study. Her team randomly assigned adult volunteers to three groups. One listened to excerpts (节选) of a non-fiction book about World War II; another read the excerpts from an e-reader; and a third read and listened to the excerpts at the same time. The volunteers then took a comprehension test. Rogowsky saw no significant differences in the scores among the three groups. But Rogowsky notes that her study looked only at the comprehension that resulted when people read and / ｏｒ listened to the material one time through, not when they tried to study it at a deep level, “If you want to build long-term memory and increase comprehension, it’s all about effort,” she says.

Matthew Traxler, a professor of psychology, agrees. “Things are more memorable when you have to work a little bit,” he says. “Listening can be much more passive,” which is readily apparent by how much easier it is to multitask when you tuning to an audiobook. You might set out to wash dishes and decide you might as well listen to your audiobook in the meantime, but when you read, even if you’re also, say, listening to music, reading is “really your primary task”.

 Different media might also be better-suited to different genres. For narrative texts, like novels, whether you read ｏｒ listen to the book probably doesn’t matter all that much. But for technical texts, “the average person is better off with printed information,” Traxler says.

12. What does the author worry about?

A. He might be too busy to read books.

B. More people will turn to audiobooks.

C. More people will not attend book clubs.

D. He might not adapt to audiobooks.

13. In which aspect were the three groups mentioned in Paragraph 2 different?

A. The way they “read”.

B. Their “reading” time.

C. The content they “read”.

D. Their “reading” environment.

14. What does Traxler agree with?

A. People should not read with music on.

B. People should not multitask when listening.

C. People are more actively involved when reading than listening.

D. People can remember more passive information by listening than by reading.

15. What is Traxler’s suggestion in the last paragraph?

A. Listening to novels before you read them.

B. Spending equal time on reading and listening.

C. Writing down important information as you listen.

D. Selecting reading media according to text types.

词汇锦囊

① immerse oneself in sth. 使某人沉浸在某事中

② audiobook n. 有声图书

③ interstitial adj. 间质的；组织间隙的

④ way adv. 很远；大量

⑤ facilitate vt. 促进；促使

⑥ genre n. 体裁，类型

长难句分析

“Listening can be much more passive,” which is readily apparent by how much easier it is to multitask when tuning in to an audiobook. (Para. 4)

这是一个主从复合句。“which”引导______________，修饰“______________”；。

【语篇解读】

本文是一篇议论文。与听有声书相比，读纸质书更有利于读者理解文本内容吗?

【答案解析】

12. D 细节理解题。根据第一段倒数第一句中的“I worry that listening to audiobooks would feel way outside my comfort zone”可知，作者已习惯了读纸质书，他担心自己难以适应听有声书。故选D。

13. A 细节理解题。根据第二段第四句“One listened to excerpts of a non-fiction book about World War II; another read the excerpts from an e-reader; and a third read and listened to the excerpts at the same time.”可知，第一组研究对象听故事节选；第二组研究对象通过电子阅读器读故事节选；第三组研究对象边听边读故事节选。因此，研究中，三组实验对象的“阅读”方式不同。故选A。

14. C 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“Matthew Traxler, a professor of psychology, agrees. ‘Things are more memorable when you have to work a little bit,’ he says. ‘Listening can be much more passive’”和“but when you read, even if you’re also, say, listening to music, reading is ‘really your primary task’”可知，Traxler认为比起听有声书，人们在阅读纸质书时更投入，会为理解文章内容付出更多的努力。故选C。

15. D 推理判断题。根据最后一段可知，对于叙事性的文章，读者可以随意选择“阅读”方式，即既可以听有声书，也可以读纸质书；但对于专业类的文章，Traxler认为读者最好选择纸质书。由此可知，Traxler建议读者根据文章体裁来决定“阅读”方式。故选D。

【长难句分析答案】

非限制性定语从句；Listening can be much more passive

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