Guys, you really have a lot of questions.
Because I'm only a teen, so perhaps I can't help you to solve all questions. but I have an advise----spend more time in the library. This is what I always do.
I also cannot read really fast and understand all the words at the first time I came to Canada. So I try to read some pretty easy books in the library. Some of them are only 50 pages or less. But that's ok, nobody will laugh at you. After a month( or two months, I hardly can remember. Well~~) I can read some fictions that have 200 pages. Then 300, 400....Now I can read the 560 pages book in 3 days.
It takes times. Everything will be just fine after a long time study and practice. Finally I want to repeat my opinion---spend more time in the library. That will help.