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g comprehension. 2.1.1 Lexical differences A big enough vocabulary and certain knowledge of lexicon are the basic necessities for an effective English reading. Without them Chinese students surely will get confused when facing a passage of English alphabets and they often use the Chinese wording principles instead of the English lexical principles to read. However, Chinese does not have counterparts of lexicon in English. For example: ex. 2-1 a. She is an imaginative girl. b. I’ve never seen such an imaginary scene. Chinese students are often confused by the two words imaginative and imaginary as in ex.2-1 (a)-(b). The two words have the same word root imagine, and different suffixes –ative and –ary. Imaginary means that (sth. is) no t real, but produced from pictures or ideas from someone’s mind. Whereas, imaginary means that, (sb. is) good at inventing imaginary things or artistic forms, or at producing new ideas. Another two examples: c. I am never at a loss for a word and he is never at a loss for the word. d. A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. Chinese students might feel at a loss for the meaning of the two sentences because they often overlook the “small words” such as articles and prepositions. In ex.2-1 (c), the speaker aims at HIS proficiency of wording and MY casual choice of words. And in ex.2-1 (d), the speaker wants to tell that a man is no more necessary to a woman than a bicycle to a fish. Chinese students are more liable to neglect these small words because they seldom function to differentiate sentence meaning in Chinese. 2.1.2 Syntactic differences A text is a passage that consists of a sequence of sentences organized in particular logic order. Without any knowledge of syntax, readers will react to the passage as if it were nothing but a sequence of meaningless graphic symbols strung together. In most cases, the ambiguity can be cleared up when we look at the context, but sometimes even the context doesn’t help. Readers have to make clear about “Which governs what” before having a better understanding of the text, especially those lengthy sentences with compound or complex structures. ex. 2-2 a. The start-up program for the reactor must not be commenced before completion and formal acceptance of fire precautions and associated installations by the competent authorities in question and by the insures or their representative. In English, the connectives including conjunctives, prepositions, pronouns and relative words are essential in constituting sentences. In ex.2-2 (a), the puzzle exists in the before clause. It contains two relevant phrases: completion of associated installations by the competent authorities in question and formal acceptance of fire precautions by the insurers or their representative. b. The president said at a press conference dominated by questions on yesterday’s election results that he could not explain why the Republicans had suffered such a widespread defeat, which in the end would deprive the Republican Party of long-held superiority in the House. It’s not easy for Chinese students to smooth out the complicated structure of ex.2-2 (b). It consists of a that clause and a which clause. The that clause does not modify “results” but is the objects of the verb “said”. And the which clause is not used to modify the whole sentence, but is as an attribute modifying the word “defect”. English is a hypotactic language. Sentences are dependently or subordin