This dictionary tells you about English words and how to use them in reading, writing and speaking English. It not only gives the meaning of words, it can also help you with spelling, word building, grammar and pronunciation.
To use your dictionary correctly, you will find two spellings for this word. “Colour” is used in British English, while “color” is used in American English. When there are differences between British and American spelling, the dictionary shows it with the word “BrE” for British English and “AmE” for American English.
The dictionary also helps you pronounce words correctly. If you turn to the inside back face, you will see all the phonetic letters (音标 ) with some words to show you how they are pronounced. Just look at the inside back cover when you're not sure how to say a word.
The most important reason for using a dictionary is to find out the meaning of a word — its definition.
In this dictionary, the definitions have been written using only 2, 000 words. This means that the definitions of even the most difficult words are simple and easy to understand.________ of the words in the dictionary have two spellings.
| A．All | B．Some | C．Few | D．One |
What is the main reason for us to use a dictionary？
| A．To read the word correctly. |
| B．To write the word out. |
| C．To know the meaning of the word. |
| D．To find the difference between British English and American English. |
The phonetic letters helps you ________ each word correctly.
| A．say | B．write | C．understand | D．know |
The Chinese meaning of “definition” here is________.
| A．词性 | B．词条 | C．词义 | D．词库 |
How many words are there in this dictionary?
| A．Two thousand. | B．One thousand. | C．One hundred. | D．We don't know. |
How can Omar’s class help?
Omar’s class at school learned about taking care of our planet. Children in his class worked hard at collecting newspapers, cans, and bottles. Their teacher took what they collected to a company where the things would be recycled(回收) and used again. Omar hoped that doing this would make progress toward cleaning up our Earth. Omar wished that they could do more. Then Omar’s teacher gave the class this form.
| Who? |
Children from all the schools in our city |
| When? |
Saturday, November 16 Buses will leave from the parking lot at City Park at 8:00 A.M. They will return at 3:00 P.M. |
| Where? |
Padre Island on the Texas coast |
| What should you bring? |
Lunch and something to drink; Work gloves (We will have gloves to give to children who do not have a pair.) |
| What should teachers bring? |
Empty bags and small shovels(铲子) |
| When to sign up? |
By Wednesday, November 13 |
| Where to sign up? |
Have a parent sign at the back of this form to show that your family will permit you to go. Return this form to your teacher. |
After the cleanup, the children will ________.
| A．report to Mr. Smith |
| B．join the Clean Earth Club |
| C．go to the Pizza Palace |
| D．return the form to their teachers |
“I made a difference” in the passage probably means “________”.
| A．I was different from others |
| B．I became more interested than before |
| C．I did something for a friend |
| D．I made something better than it was |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Schools organized a general cleaning. |
| B．Children can help clean up our Earth. |
| C．More bottles are thrown away than cans. |
| D．Parents should go to clean up with children |
Everyone who has eaten instant noodles(方便面) before knows how it looks like. It is very easy to cook it instantly by putting the noodles into the boiling water and add in those MSG packets, together with your other ingredients(成分) like eggs or vegetables. However, have you ever wondered whether this is the correct way of cooking it? When you first took out the noodles from the packaging, you will notice that the noodles are joined together nicely as a piece. In order to make the noodles joined together nicely side by side, it needs some form of wax coating (石蜡涂层) to achieve an attractive instant noodles in front of us.
Many people who enjoy eating instant noodles frequently do not really bother too much of it, as it seems very normal to everyone to have it nicely displayed in front of us. However, researches have shown that the layer of wax coating on the noodles is quite harmful to our body and we should not eat it too frequently. It is advisable to have a break of 2-3 days before we start to eat another packet of instant noodles as our body need about 3 days to clear that layer of wax coating away from our body system. Do you know the danger of having too much wax coating stored in our stomach? It will lead to CANCER if it is stored in our body system for a long period of time.
There are 2 keys points to take note while preparing instant noodles: 1) Wash the instant noodles with warm water first, stir it and pour away the water containing the wax coating.
2) Repeat Step 1 and try to stir the noodles again to wash away the wax coating on the noodles before cooking it in a new pot of water.
Hope this article will let more people have self-awareness(自我意识) of the hidden danger of instant noodles and thus eat safely and stay healthy.What is the purpose of the writer to write the passage?
| A．To tell us how the instant noodles are made. |
| B．To tell us how to cook instant noodles. |
| C．To tell us something about the layer of wax coating on the noodles. |
| D．to tell us how to eat instant noodles safely and healthily. |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．The instant noodles are joined together in a mess as a piece. |
| B．It is common to see the noodles nicely joined together. |
| C．You can eat instant noodles as often as you like. |
| D．Too much wax coating does no harm to our health. |
Many people don’t care about too much of the wax coating on the instant noodles because_____.
| A．They enjoy the taste of the wax coating |
| B．They take the wax coating for granted |
| C．They don’t know the hidden danger at all |
| D．They can consume it faster than other people |
The function of the wax coating in the instant noodles is to______.
| A．make the noodles more delicious and tasty |
| B．make it easier to cook for the consumers |
| C．make the instant noodles healthier and more attractive to the consumers |
| D．make the noodles joined in a piece and avoid them sticking together |
Most American students go to traditional public schools. There are about 88,000 public schools all over the US. Some students attend charter school.
Charter schools are self-governing. Certain companies operate（经营）some charter schools. They are similar in some ways to traditional public schools. They receiver tax money just as other public schools do. Charter schools must prove to local or state governments that their students are learning. These governments provide the schools with the agreement called a charter that permits（允许）them to operate.
Charter schools are different from because they do not have to obey most laws that govern traditional public schools. Each school can choose its own goals and decide what to teach and how to teach them in their own way. Class size is usually smaller than in traditional public schools.
The government strongly supports charter schools as a way to re-organize public schools, which are failing to educate students. But some education unions are against charter schools. One teachers’ union has just released the results of the first national study, which compared the progress of students in both traditional schools and charter schools.
The results of the study show that charter school students performed worse on math and reading tests than the students in traditional public schools.
Some experts say the study is not fair because students in charter schools have more problems than students in traditional public schools. Other education experts say the study results would make charter school officials realize that they should help their students make greater progress.If a company wants to operate a charter school, it must _________ .
| A．try new methods of teaching |
| B．prove its management ability |
| C．obey the local and state laws |
| D．get the government’s permission |
What’s the government’s attitude to charter schools?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Satisfied. | D．Unclear. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．More students choose to attend charter schools. |
| B．Charter schools are better than traditional schools. |
| C．Students in charter schools are well educated. |
| D．People have different opinions about charter schools. |
What might be the best title for the text?
| A．Charter schools in America |
| B．Public schools in America |
| C．Schools in America |
| D．Education in America |
Home to me means a sense of familiarity and nostalgia (怀旧). It’s fun to come home. It looks the same. It smells the same. You’ll realize what’s changed is you. Home is where we can remember pain, love, and some other experiences; We parted here; My parents met here; I won three championships here.
If I close my eyes, I can still have a clear picture in mind of my first home. I walk in the door and see a brown sofa surrounding a low glass-top wooden table. To the right of the living room is my first bedroom. It’s empty, but it’s where my earliest memories are.
There is the dining room table where I celebrated birthdays, and where I cried on Halloween— when I didn’t want to wear the skirt my mother made for me. I always liked standing on that table because it made me feel tall and strong. If I sit at this table, I can see my favorite room in the house, my parents’ room. It is simple: a brown wooden dresser lines the right side of the wall next to a television and a couple of photos of my grandparents on each side. Their bed is my safe zone. I can jump on it anytime—waking up my parents if I am scared or if I have an important announcement that cannot wait until the morning.
I’m lucky because I know my first home still exists. It exists in my mind and heart, on a physical property (住宅) on West 64th street on the western edge of Los Angeles. It is proof I lived, I grew and I learned.
Sometimes when I feel lost, I lie down and shut my eyes, and I go home. I know it’s where I’ll find my family, my dogs, and my belongings. I purposely leave the window open at night because I know I’ll be blamed by Mom. But I don’t mind, because I want to hear her say my name, which reminds me I’m home.Why does the author call her parents’ bed her “safe zone”?
| A．It is her favorite place to play. |
| B．Her needs can be satisfied there. |
| C．Her grandparents’ photos are lined on each side. |
| D．Her parents always play together with her there. |
What can be learned from the passage?
| A．The old furniture is still in the author’s first bedroom. |
| B．The author can still visit her first physical home in Los Angeles. |
| C．The author’s favorite room in her first home is the dining room. |
| D．Many people of the author’s age can still find their first physical homes. |
Sometimes when she feels lost, the author will _______.
| A．Open the window at night |
| B．lie down in bed to have a dream |
| C．try to bring back a sense of home |
| D．go to Los Angeles to visit her mom |
The passage mainly tells us _________.
| A．how much the author is attached to her home. |
| B．why the author is proud of her first house. |
| C．what the state of the author’s family is. |
| D．what good memories are in the author’s childhood. |
In the 1960s Professor Bolin predicted (预测) that the “greenhouse effect”, caused by an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, would lead to important changes in the Earth’s climate. At the time his prediction were regarded as science fiction. But it is now gradually agreed that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will double from 0.03% to 0.06% in the next 50 years and that temperatures worldwide will rise by 2°C.
Although a temperature rise of 2° may not seem significant, the local effects may be much greater: in polar regions a rise of 10° by 2025 is expected and in Northern Europe a rise of 4°. Indeed the first effects were expected to be felt before the end of the 20th century.
But how does the “greenhouse effect” operate and why should such a tiny proportion (比例) of CO2 have such a harmful effect? When living creatures breathe out or when things are burned, CO2 enters the atmosphere. Until recently all of this was absorbed by plants, which converted (转化) it back into oxygen.
However, the balance of nature has been disturbed. In power stations, in factories and in our cars, we are burning more and more fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) and this produces huge quantities of CO2—18 billion tons of it enter the atmosphere every year. Added to this, the destruction of forests means that less CO2 can be converted into oxygen by plants. So, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing every year.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Only a small portion of the atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide. |
| B．Professor Bolin’s predictions were taken seriously in the first place. |
| C．No changes in climate will become noticeable for 50 years or more. |
| D．The rise in temperature will probably be 2 degrees in every part of the world. |
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing every year because.
| A．Carbon dioxide is produced when we breathe. |
| B．Carbon dioxide is produced when we burn things. |
| C．More forests are destroyed and more fossil fuels are burned. |
| D．The global temperature keeps rising. |
The underlined word “operate” in the third paragraph most probably means “”.
| A．play | B．move |
| C．manage | D．function |