Turn Quickly Into A Fast Learner!
- Press START TEST and read the text at your own pace.
- In the end press STOP TEST. Your reading speed is displayed on the screen.
- Press OK in the dialog box and you will move on the memory questionnaire.
- Answer each of the 10 questions from the text you just read.
The big window from his office offered him a panoramic view above the whole city. When he needed silence and calmness, he got closer to the window submerging his look in the city’s agitation below him. Often, he tried to distinguish the people from the streets, but without his binoculars he bought from a quite obscure website, this was almost impossible.
- I called you to congratulate you for your progression in our company – started the director the introductory speech in a bit informal ambiance. – As you might have already heard, as your boss had just advanced his resignation…
- Yes, I’ve heard! Everybody heard…- Andrew interrupted, but it was too late when he realized this interruption was totally impolite.
- You know this is a workplace where you must read very much, don’t you?
- But I don’t understand why You are telling me all this!
- I need a man who reads fast with a large memory capacity. Do you remember the test from your hiring? – His boss was a silent man, elderly, and as Andrew figured out, he was a man who was impatiently waiting his retirement years. He was dressed in an old fashioned way, without any style, even now he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt with the first two buttons undid and a pair of way too baggy pants with a high edge.
- The one in which I had to read a text as fast as I could and then answer some questions regarding it? Yes, I remember it perfectly.
- That wasn’t just a test to observe your memory, actually it was a test analyzing your reading speed. We had to see how fast you read and how much you manage to memorize from the text. I want to tell you that you had the best speed and highest score at this test.
- I never would have thought of this!
For Andrew, the duty he got was more important than the money he earned, the motives varying almost every day. The view from the 20th floor cut his breath, the huge window being the only obstacle between him and the buzz of the city. The two secretaries satisfied all his wishes by trying to learn all his habits as soon as possible. He approached the window and let his thoughts wander away from the present, to a past that was less complicated, more childish, a past in which he was the sensible boy submerged in studies, letting the world pass by him.
He turned his thoughts towards the moments when he met for the first time the woman who was going to change his life radically.
- How can you read so fast? – whispered the girl who was studying at the same table as him. – Or are you faking it? Do you want to impress me? – she continued with a smile on her face.
Andrew didn’t answer, being visibly confused and nervous by the girl’s intervention. She was one of those pretty colleagues, who was desired by all the boys, but was always pretending to be inapproachable.
- You know, I tried to find out more information on how to read faster – she continued, leaning over the table, getting closer to the boy, making him blush. Her perfume leaned over the table with her, covering him in her scent, getting in his pores, making him nervous.
-So? – he managed to say with a raspy and loud voice, forgetting that he was in the library and that there were more colleagues who were concentrating on studying. More pairs of eyes looked up from the books and turned towards the two of them.
- And I found out that you can do exercises regarding this – she continued, while giving dirty looks towards the colleagues who were staring at them. – It seems that the eye’s muscles are to blame for slowing down our reading speed, they should be able to focus a word in approximately 50-150 milliseconds. Can you imagine? Everything could happen so fast! Usually the same muscle focuses a word in approximately 300 milliseconds.
- I never thought about reading this way. I just read and that’s all. It relaxes me and recently I discovered that I can read multiple books at the same time, without confusing the characters. – Andrew recognized that he possibly sounded too arrogant, which could have put off the girl. Still – he continued – what you are telling me now regarding the focusing seems oddly familiar. It’s almost like I have already heard this information somewhere…
But she was laughing. She was looking at him and laughed softly, with her hands hiding her teeth, two rows of white, perfect pearls. Andrew relaxed a bit, managing to strengthen his self-esteem that he proved in the last seconds.
- You are funny – she said suddenly. – I like you, would you like to see each other at a coffee someday?
When he put the ring on her finger, his emotions were getting bigger while he became aware of all the eyes looking at them, being aware of every move, every face. The priest gave them his blessing, after which he kissed the bride, the mother of their future children. He got on his knees, held her big belly covered by the white dress with gold inserts with both of his hands. He felt the baby moving in the mother’s tummy, a sign that filled him with joy. He whispered something, after which he kissed his wife’s tummy. The applause of the guests seemed like it would never stop.
Happily, they continued their life, without being afraid of what the future might hold.
They were fighting more and more often. Jake wasn’t two years old yet, when he went away from home for the first time, not bearing the endless critics and fights anymore. No matter what he tried to do it was never good enough. All the time there was some mistake, reproach, hurtful words said without mercy. Jake had no fault in this. None of them would have thought of such an ending and definitely not this soon. With every moment that passed, things got worse. His only peaceful moments were when he could grab his manuscripts, close himself in his office with its walls covered in shelves full of books and submerge in a well-deserved lecture, which could most of the time transpose him in a world far away of the world in which he existed, behind the huge office door, captioned with black leather.