Page 144 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Unit 7: Reading Skills

Notes
When later that night the Clergy man fell to sleep he remembered the beautiful emerald
ring the woman had been laid with on her finger. Wanting riches for himself and figuring
no one would find out he went downstairs unlocked the lid open it and tried to pry off the
ring, it wouldn't budge. He ran to his lab and brought back a file to cut off her finger with.
He severed her finger and pulled the ring off, as he left he turned around to pick up the
iron lid, and screamed at the top of his lungs, dropped the ring and ran, the woman had
awakened and was moaning and holding her severed finger towards him with a smile
displayed evenly across her face.
He ran with all his might upstairs where he hung himself from the rafters of his home. If
only he knew that the woman had only to thank him for she had not died after all but had
gone into a coma and the cutting of her finger restored her circulation waking her from it.
Wearing nothing but her fine silk dress she walked back to the home and knocked on the
door and rang the bell to no avail. The servants had all gone to sleep for it was late
Christmas eve. She felt an urge and lifted a heavy stone, threw it at her husband's window,
and waited. He came to the window with a sorrowful look on his face, and suddenly to her
surprise he yelled, "Go away. Why must you torture me so. Don't you know my wife has
just died. Let me mourn and do not bother me again."
With this he shut the window. He must not have realized it was his wife who had thrown
the rock at him. She repeated this and he opened the window again, and she yelled to him,
"I am no one but your so called dead wife. Now come down here and open this door,
Henry Page, unless you'd like me to die a second time on our doorstep."

"You are a ghost then," he said to her.
She said, "No, for ghost's don't bleed. Now come down here before I catch my own death
of cold."

The man with a joyous look on his face came down to meet his wife and took her inside
where he called the doctor once more and told him the news. They both lived long lives
and there first son was born the next year.
7.4 Factors Affecting Reading Skills

There are various factors which affect reading speed; Comprehension ability and overall reading
efficiency of a person vary from person to person. Though the list of these factors maybe very
exhaustive, some of the factors are listed below:
1. Educational background: A well-educated person may have a higher reading efficiency
than one who is a literate.
2. Physical capability: Sometimes, some physical defect in some persons may hinder their
efficiency to read and comprehend.

3. Mental capability: People have different mental capabilities. While some are born
intellectuals, others acquire intelligence through their efforts. A higher mental capability
will definitely lead to a better reading efficiency and retention.
4. Interest: If the reader finds reading material interesting, he will definitely read it faster,
understand it and retain it for a longer time. On the other hand, if the reading material is
boring or not of interest to the reader, his efficiency will be hindered accordingly.
5. Practice: Reading speed is a by-product of practice and time spent on reading. Avid readers
enhance their reading skills by stepping up their reading. It is rightly said, “Practice
makes a man perfect.”

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