Read Fast, Learn Faster: The Ultimate SPEED READING Course

a portion of the poem “Song of myself” written by Walt Whitman:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless,
It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

"The antibiotic resistance: the silent pandemic is already here" and contains 312 words.

"There is a creeping, silent and lethal pandemic: antibiotic resistance. It has been shelved in recent months by the disruptive irruption of the coronavirus in our lives, but it remains there, in the background, with constantly growing numbers and a date, 2050, when - according to experts' predictions - antibiotic resistance will be among the first causes of death in the world: 10 million people. Far exceeding deaths from cancer (8.2), diabetes (1.5 million) or road accidents (1.2). In Italy alone it will have a social cost of 13 billion euros. And the coronavirus has only made things worse. The overcrowding of hospitals has caused an increase in the circulation of resistant germs and has resulted in the death of many patients infected with the coronavirus. In Italy 10,000 people die every year from antibiotic resistance. In Europe 33 thousand. And ours is one of the countries where the phenomenon is most acute. For now, eight pathogens have been selected in Italy that are resistant to antibiotics (and are therefore potentially lethal). In Italy it is the central and southern regions that are worse off. Antibiotic resistance is particularly widespread in hospitals. The health crisis caused by antibiotic resistance has a precise derivation: the development of new antibiotics cannot keep pace with the increase in bacterial resistance. Moreover, the pharmaceutical companies have greatly reduced the production of new antibiotics while the bacterial mutation grows exponentially. To give an idea: before, on average, it took 21 years for a bacterium to become resistant to an antibiotic. Now that average has plummeted to one year. That is: after twelve months the bacteria are able to evade the drug. Worrying. In the United States, 18 different types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been identified. Those that pose an urgent threat to human health are 5. Among the bacteria of greatest concern are the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). "

“Wine tasting: a complete guide”. The following passage consisting of 465 words.

“The first step is concentration, you have to take into account that you engage all the senses to examine the content you have in the goblet. Do not get carried away by the opinions of others, the task of a professional lies in educating, in guiding people's natural sensations, towards the right perspective to identify tastes and flavours through clear and concise explanations. The first phase consists in judging the clarity of the wine: the liquid should be perfectly clear and without turbidity (term used in technical language to define light intensity). Some wines may have a slight deposit, but if this stabilises to give a bright and clean wine, this is not a serious matter. If the wine, on the other hand, is veiled or not very clear, it is certainly to be discarded. The second step is to rotate the wine in the glass. At the end of this operation, when the wine settles in the bottom of the glass, it leaves traces on the walls called “tears” or “arches”. Contrary to popular belief, this phenomenon is not indicative of the high glycerol content, but rather the effect of alcohol on the viscosity of the wine (Marangoni effect). The greater the content, the more viscous the wine will be and therefore it will fall back forming evident and close arches. In this step, the consistency of the wine is evaluated, furthermore the arches can give us an indicative idea regarding the alcohol content. Colour is the first indication of its identity and its condition. Observe the wine against a white surface, holding the glass at the base of the stem and tilting it slightly, a red wine ranges from claret to dark and deep, almost black shades. The colour of a white wine ranges from pale yellow, almost colourless, to straw yellow, since only very few rosé wines are really pink, the range of colours extends from pale onion skin pink to coppery pink to pink tending to red. Be wary of artificial light because it distorts colours: under a fluorescent light a red wine can look like brown, for example. The procedure for carrying out the olfactory examination of a wine is very simple: swirl the wine in the glass and then smell it well. It is important that you inhale deeply because you cannot sniff again right away, but after at least two minutes. The reason is obvious: every time you smell a wine you activate a single type of nerve ending in the olfactory bulb; these endings are like blown out candles that need some time to be reactivated. Consequently, if you smell the same perfume several times, you perceive less and less, but you can distinguish different smells, therefore different wines, if you smell them one after the other. "

Read the following passage "Where to find cheap books to take to the beach". Then, calculate your current WPM knowing that the passage contains 357 words.

“Reading a good book, perhaps to take on vacation, can be a wonderful pastime. There is no need to spend a lot, even to find great classics or the latest news. There are some tricks to know where to find cheap books. First of all, look in thrift stores. There are many bookshops that sell used books. Finding a store is very easy, especially through a search on Maps. Inside these shops you can also find rarities and, in most cases, the books are on sale at half price. In addition to the classic shops, often in the holiday resorts there are street vendors who sell used books at very competitive prices. On the Internet there are many shops that sell books with often very high discounts. Among the most famous online stores that is Amazon. The digital e-commerce giant has, however, an additional advantage that also represents a convenience for travellers: the Kindles. These tools are e-book readers, a particular format of books that allows you to have a digital reader with a very large library that can be enriched to your liking. The advantage is twofold: on the one hand, books in Kindle format cost much less than paper format and, in addition, you will not have the problem of choosing which book to take with you. Entire libraries can be brought in with just one device. Then there is the possibility of making a subscription, the so-called Kindle Unlimited. This allows you to have, for free, thousands of titles to read wherever you want. Before moving on, remember that you need an Internet connection to download the book onto your device. This option is not always viable, but libraries are a free and very beneficial solution. First of all, in the most well-stocked libraries there are titles that have just been released but also great classics or books that are practically unavailable or very expensive. For those who are students, then, a library allows you to get hold of scientific publications almost impossible to find elsewhere. Borrowing a book from the library is easy, just a card and, in most cases, it's all free "

Read the following passage  “Tinnitus, how to deal with phantom noise in the ears”.

“If your ears are buzzing, if you hear persistent sounds or noises, know this: you are not alone. 10% of adults suffer from tinnitus. That is: it perceives a noise that in reality is not there. The data came from a study published in Jama Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery. For some people, the buzzing noise is high-pitched and continuous. Others may hear a lower noise or a hissing or even a click sound. Tinnitus may be persistent or come and go. With one problem: doctors may not be able to determine the cause of the symptom. Tinnitus can be caused by anything. An accumulation of ear wax, a very noisy concert, a blood vessel disorder or hearing loss that is related to age. But there are also some antidepressants and other medications that can be responsible for phantom noise. For many chronic cases, unfortunately, there is no cure but there are certain actions that can help manage the discomfort. These are the advice formulated for Health by one of the world's leading experts, Sara Mowry. If you have difficulty concentrating or resting, it may help to activate a white noise. To do this, just activate a sound machine (they are also found on the Internet), a fan or even a low-volume TV. These are expedients that help the brain suppress phantom noise or make it less annoying. In some cases, tinnitus can also be the signal that the body launches, an alarm bell that announces the need to take a break. In this case, it may be helpful to adopt stress management techniques before going to bed. And then, breathing exercises, light stretching. You may find that that noise is gone. If these rather simple measures do not work, biofeedback therapy can be considered which helps to control and self-regulate physiological responses that are generally out of voluntary control or that have escaped the usual mechanisms of the body as a result of a disease or a trauma. In the case of tinnitus, it can allow you to control the body's physical reaction to stress. Doctors have compared some cases of tinnitus (persistent whistling) to phantom pain (pain felt in a part of the body that has been amputated). When a patient - the scientists’ thesis - suffers from tinnitus due to hearing loss, his brain is probably trying to fill the missing information with that phantom noise. In that case, biofeedback therapy is not only recommended, but also quite successful. A combination of biofeedback, psychotherapy and music therapy can also be adopted. All of this is part of the tinnitus retraining therapy. It is indicated for patients who have been struggling for a long time, and without success, with persistent phantom noise. It may be helpful to connect with other people experiencing the same type of problem. It is important to understand that you are not alone, but there is also more: you will be able to share strategies to alleviate the annoyance with the people you meet. Tinnitus generally worsens with hearing loss (even temporary). In this case, it is useful to protect the ears when you expect to be exposed to loud noises. For example, use ear plugs when drying your hair or going to a concert. Earplugs work. A recently published study revealed that only 12% of concept goers who wore them then experienced ringing in their ears, compared to 40% of people who had no protection. "

The following passage (downloadable as a Word document) was copied from the website thewam.net

Read it using the techniques learned during the video course. Use a stopwatch to measure the time taken to complete the reading.