测试读者的“理解力”的现代思想，与读者可能正在做的其他事情不同，在1790年或1860年或1860年似乎是荒谬的。还有什么在阅读，但理解什么？
(The modern idea of testing a reader's "comprehension," as distinct from something else a reader may be doing, would have seemed an absurdity in 1790 or 1830 or 1860. What else was reading but comprehending?)
