For the first time in modem history, less than half of theprefix = st1 /U.S.adult population now reads literature, according to a recent survey. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading inAmericapresents a detailed review of the decline of reading's role in the nation's culture.      Readingat Risk is a survey of national fashion in adult literary reading. The data source for Reading at Risk is as reliable and objective   as any such survey can be. The key results of the survey are presented in the "Summary", but the report can be further explained as: literary reading in Americais not only declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate of decline has been speeded up, especially among the young.Readingat Risk merely shows a great _ that most Americans have already noted - our society's great turn to electronic media for entertainment and information.      Reading a book requires a degree of active attention and devotion. Indeed, reading itself is a progressive skill that depends on years of education and practice. On the contrary, most electronic media such as television, recordings, and radio make fewer demands on their audiences, and indeed often require no more than passive participation. While oral culture has a rich reality and electronic media offer the considerable advantages of variety, print culture affords irreplaceable forms of focused attention and thought that make various communications and views possible. The decline in reading, therefore, equals a larger retreat   from participation in public and cultural life.      What is to be done? There is surely no single solution to the present problem, just as there is no single cause. The important thing now is to understand thatAmericacan no longer take active and devoted reading for granted.      Readingis not a timeless, common ability. As more Americans lose this ability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent minded. These are not qualities that a free, inventive, or productive society can afford to lose. According to the passage, reading  _   .
requires less attention and devotion demands no more than passive participation limits various communications and views means active participation in public and cultural life