This paper introduces three models of reading. Then it ana-lyzes the data gathered from an experiment on the comparison ofthe "top.down" and the "bottom-up" approaches and accord-ingly draws the conclusion that the former approach is helpful inimproving students’ reading comprehension while the latter isuseful in developing their writing skills as well as their knowledgeof vocabulary and sentence structure. Finally this paper presentsa procedure of the application of the "interactive approach",which proves to be productive in teaching college English inten-sive reading.