Look up a word when it blocks the event or the reason for it. Infer a word when the surrounding sentence gives you a good guess. Skip a detail when the story still makes sense without it. This keeps a dictionary useful without letting every unfamiliar character interrupt the paragraph.
Here is an original short passage. Read the Chinese once before looking at the pinyin or translation.
周六下午，小雨带着一本书去咖啡馆。走到门口，她才发现店今天关门了。她没有回家，而是去了旁边的公园，坐在长椅上读书。週六下午，小雨帶著一本書去咖啡館。走到門口，她才發現店今天關門了。她沒有回家，而是去了旁邊的公園，坐在長椅上讀書。
Could you tell that her plan changed? If so, the first reading worked, even if several words were unfamiliar.
Infer: 长椅長椅
You may not know 长椅長椅 (chángyǐ). But she is in a 公园公園 (gōngyuán, park) and 坐在坐在 (zuò zài, sits on) something while she reads. A seat or bench is a reasonable guess. The exact word is not needed to understand why she went to the park, so keep reading. Check it later if you want to keep the expression.
Skip for now: 旁边旁邊
旁边旁邊 (pángbiān) tells you the park is beside or near the café. If the location is not important to your question, you can leave it unresolved on the first pass. She went to a park either way. Skipping is a choice about the current reading, not a promise never to learn the word.
Look up: 才发现才發現 and 关门關門
The middle sentence explains the change of plan. 才发现才發現 (cái fāxiàn) means she only then discovered something. 关门了關門了 (guānmén le) tells you the shop was closed. If you do not know either phrase, the trip to the park may seem random. These are the words worth checking now.
Read that sentence again after the lookup: 走到门口，她才发现店今天关门了。走到門口，她才發現店今天關門了。 She reached the entrance and only then found out the café was closed. You can now connect the first plan with the second one.
If you want to check the whole passage, here is the pinyin and translation:
Zhōuliù xiàwǔ, Xiǎoyǔ dàizhe yì běn shū qù kāfēiguǎn. Zǒu dào ménkǒu, tā cái fāxiàn diàn jīntiān guānmén le. Tā méiyǒu huí jiā, érshì qù le pángbiān de gōngyuán, zuò zài chángyǐ shàng dúshū.
On Saturday afternoon, Xiaoyu took a book to a café. At the entrance, she discovered that it was closed that day. Instead of going home, she went to a nearby park and read on a bench.
Miaozi lets you check a word beside the story and continue reading.
Close the dictionary and retell it
Try one sentence: “She went to the café with a book, found it closed, and read in the park instead.” If you can say that, you understood the passage. If not, reread the sentence where her plan changes before checking more words.
A dictionary is most useful when it answers a question the story made you ask. Miaozi's Chinese dictionary lets you check words as you read; return to the paragraph once the key meaning is clear.