1.   But the first few readings he had assigned had produced an ominous silence.

2.   The book is quite difficult on first reading.

3.   The changes for domestic customers with quarterly accounts are effective from the first meter reading after April.

4.   Allow a short period of silence when the first reading is finished.

5.   This is a sweeping statement which makes little obvious sense on first reading, so let us dissect it more carefully.

6.   Obviously, such a reading experience is at the lower left node of the co-operation network only on a first reading.

7.   I also assume that there is an ellipted main verb, the past tense copula were, but this is not immediately apparent on a first reading.

8.   And it mystifies me now exactly as it did on the first reading.

9.   As big a fan as Ellroy is of the finished film, his first reading of the screenplay left him frustrated.