A study of English learning problems was carried out among a total of 106 foreign students. It shows that most students considered understanding spoken English to be their biggest problem on arrival. This was followed by speaking. Writing increased as a problem as students discovered difficulties in writing papers that they were now expected to hand in. Reading remained as a significant(显著的) problem.
The information gained helped us in determining where special attention should be paid in our course. Although many students have chosen to join the course with a reasonable motivation(动机), we considered it important to note what seemed to encourage interest. Nearly all the students have experienced some kind of grammar-based English teaching in their own country. To use the same method would be self-defeating because it might reduce motivation, especially if it has failed in the past. Therefore a different method may help because it is different.
Variety of activity was also seen as a way of maintaining(保持) or increasing motivation. Several years ago we had one timetable that operated throughout, but we soon found that both the students and the teachers lost interest by about halfway through the ten weeks. This led us to a major re-think, so finally we brought it into line with the expressed language needs of the students.
10. What is the text mainly about?
A. Foreign students have more problems.
B. There are many ways to improve English.
C. Teaching should meet students’ needs.
D. English learning problems should be studied again.
11. Writing became a bigger problem when foreign students________.
A. had to write their papers
B. became better at speaking
C. became less interested in reading
D. had fewer problems with listening
12. We may infer from the last two paragraphs that ________.
A. different teaching methods should be used
B. grammar-based teaching seems to be encouraging
C. English courses are necessary for foreign students
D. teaching content should be changed halfway.
Why is pink or purple a color for girls and blue or brown for boys?
The answer depends largely on cultural values as well as personal experiences. To the Egyptians, green was a color that represented the hope and joy of spring. While for Muslims, it means heaven. Red is a symbol of good luck in many cultures. In China, children are given money in a red envelope to bring good fortune in the New Year. For many nations, blue is a symbol of protection and religious beliefs. Greek people often wear a blue necklace hoping to protect themselves against evils(灾祸).
People’s choice of colors is also influenced by their bodies’ reactions(反应) toward them. Green is said to be the most restful color. It has the ability to reduce pain and relax people both mentally and physically. People who work in green environment have been found to have fewer stomach aches.
Red can cause a person’s blood pressure to rise and increase people’s appetites(食欲). Many decorators will include different shades of red in the restaurant. Similarly, many commercial websites will have a red “Buy Now” button because red is a color that easily catches a person’s eye.
Blue is another calming color. Unlike red, blue can cause people to lose appetite. So if you want to eat less, some suggest that eating from blue plates can help.
The next time you are deciding on what to wear or what color to decorate your room, think about the color carefully.Muslims regard green as a symbol of heaven mainly because of their _______.
| A．cultural values |
| B．commercial purposes |
| C．personal experiences |
| D．physical reactions to the color |
Why will many commercial websites have a red “Buy Now” button?
| A．To relax people physically. |
| B．To increase people’s appetites. |
| C．To encourage people to make a purchase(购买). |
| D．To cause a person’s blood pressure to rise. |
What color might help lose weight according to the text?
| A．Red | B．Green. | C．Blue. | D．Purple. |
Which of the following would be the most proper title for the text?
| A．Colors and Human Beings |
| B．The Cultural Meaning of Color |
| C．Colors and Personal Experiences |
| D．The Meaning and Function of Color |
One day last summer, watching the boys and girls trying to catch butterflies I remembered something happened when I was young. When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.
We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. No musician can sing more beautiful than the birds. I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.
I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird flew about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.
I had left the cage out, and on the second day my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I about how to feed her baby.
The following morning when I went to see how my bird was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken good care of my little bird.
Arthur Wayne, the famousornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time. Hearing me crying over the death of my bird, he explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poisonous (有毒的) berries(干果). She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in cage.”
Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?
| A．He had just got a new cage. |
| B．He liked its beautiful feather. |
| C．He wanted a pet for a companion. |
| D．He wanted it to sing for him. |
The mockingbird died because it ______.
| A．drank the poisonous water by mistake |
| B．was frightened to death |
| C．ate the poisonous food its mother gave it |
| D．refused to eat anything |
What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?
| A．Freedom is very valuable to all living things. |
| B．All birds put in a cage won’t live long. |
| C．You should keep the birds from their mother. |
| D．Be careful about food you give to baby birds. |
For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes(音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The different is complex, and it doesn’t include defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed(诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No, thanks. I’m amusic.’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.” Which of the following is true of amusics?
| A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them. |
| B．They love places where they are likely to hear music. |
| C．They can easily tell two different songs apart. |
| D．Their situation is well understood by musicians. |
According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who _________.
| A．dislikes listening to speeches |
| B．can hear anything nonmusical |
| C．has a hearing problem |
| D．lacks a complex hearing system |
In the last paragraph, Margaret expressed her wish that __________.
| A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier |
| B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy |
| C．her problem could be easily explained |
| D．she were able to meet other amusics |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Amusics’ strange behaviors. |
| B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music. |
| C．Musical talent and brain structure. |
| D．Identification and treatment of amusics. |
In a nation with a one-child policy, it’s understandable for parents to worry over whether they are petting their children. Are the children as truly weak as expected?
The concern has been brought into a hit reality TV series — Hunan TV’s Dad!
Where Are We Going? and Zhejiang TV’s First Time In Life. In both, children as young as three have become new public figures(人物). In the show First Time In Life，children chosen from ordinary families are given small tasks to finish by themselves；the ongoing Dad show centers on five fathers and their children who are forced to live a simple life in poor villages, far outside their comfortable city life.
Though they have different family backgrounds, how they behave in the new environments has drawn the attention of the public.
In Dad! Where Are We Going?, the five-year-old daughter of former Olympic diving champion Tian Liang cries and hides behind her father when they arrive at a rural village. In First Time In Life, a young girl in Tianjin cries after being asked by her father to go out alone to buy eggs and a pancake.
In the eyes of some people, these kids always depend on others, and the reason is that their parents give them too much love. But television viewers and parents were encouraged when the crying Tianjin girl finally returned holding the pancake, and Tian’s daughter finally began to take care of her younger friends and learned to ask for help from people she didn’t know.
The father of the Tianjin girl felt “delightfully shocked” and said. “She used to
be well taken care of by her mother or grandmother. Now she has the courage to do it all by herself. ”
The shows have led many parents to change how they raise their children. Shanghai mother Liang Jing said she would try to “give some training” to her shy son, asking him to tidy up his toys. Lin Yi, a parenting expert in Beijing, said giving kids a chance to do things for themselves helps to raise their sense of success, which carries benefits all through their lives. ” What draws the people’s attention in the programs?
| A．How the children behave in the new environments. |
| B．Where the children are from. |
| C．What the kids’ family background is like . |
| D．How old the children are. |
What is Tian Liang’s daughter expected to do in the show?
| A．Go out to buy something alone. |
| B．Live in a poor village with her father. |
| C．Make friends with strange people. |
| D．Hide in a safe place out of danger. |
It can be known from the underlined words “delightfully shocked” that.
| A．father is more important than mother in a family |
| B．children should be given a chance to depend on themselves. |
| C．parents should give the child a safe environment |
| D．the children are as weak as parents expected |
Linda Evans was my best friend—like the sister I never had. We did everything together: piano lessons, movies, swimming, horseback riding.
When I was 13, my family moved away. Linda and I kept in touch through letters, and we saw each other on special time—like my wedding(婚礼) and Linda’s. Soon we were busy with children and moving to new homes, and we wrote less often. One day a card that I sent came back, stamped “Address (地址) Unknown. ” I had no idea how to find Linda.
Over the years, I missed Linda very much. I wanted to share (分享) happiness of my children and then grandchildren. And I needed to share my sadness when my brother and then mother died. There was an empty place in my heart that only a friend like Linda could fill.
One day I was reading a newspaper when I noticed a photo of a young woman who looked very much like Linda and whose last name was Wagman —Linda’s married name. “There must be thousands of Wagmas,” I thought, but J still wrote to her.
She called as soon as she got my letter. “Mrs Tobin!” she said excitedly, “Linda Evans Wagman is my mother. ” Minutes later I heard a voice that I knew very much, even after 40 years, laughed and cried and caught up on each other’s lives. Now the empty place in my heart is filled. And there’s one thing that Linda and I know for sure: We won’t lose each other again! The writer went to piano lessons with Linda Evans _______.
| A．at the age of 13 |
| B．before she got married |
| C．after they moved to new homes |
| D．before the writer’s family moved away |
They didn’t often write to each other because they _______.
| A．got married |
| B．had little time to do so |
| C．didn’t like writing letters |
| D．could see each other on special time |
There was an empty place in the writer’s heart because she _______.
| A．was in trouble |
| B．didn’t know Linda’s address |
| C．received the card that she sent |
| D．didn’t have a friend like Linda to share her happiness or sadness |
The writer was happy when she _______.
| A．read the newspaper |
| B．heard Linda’s voice on the phone |
| C．met a young woman who looked a lot like Linda |
| D．wrote to the woman whose last name was Wagman |
They haven’t kept in touch _______.
| A．for about 40 years |
| B．for about 27 years |
| C．since they got married |
| D．since the writer’s family moved away |