It is helpful if you look over the vocabulary list first before reading the passage. Look to see how many words you already know. For the words you don't understand use an online dictionary and make a list with the words and the definitions.  If you want to make sure you understand the words try to use them in a sentence and write it down. This will help you to learn the words quicker.

Then read the passage and you can look back at the vocabulary list when you don't understand a word.  Enjoy.<img title="Cool" src="http://www.italki.com/Scripts/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cool.gif" alt="Cool" border="0" />