Can you swim? Do you like swimming? Yes? Well, how can you learn to swim? I think the best way is to go into the water and learn. I’m afraid you’ll never learn to swim just by reading books about swimming or looking at others swimming. It’s the same with the English study. We must practice, practice and practice.
Listening and speaking are very important for beginners. The children in English-speaking countries first listen to others. Then they try to imitate(模仿) and speak. We can listen to English programs on radio. You may just understand a few words. It doesn’t matter. Just be relaxed, try to catch every word.
Somebody may be a good listener. But he is terrified to speak. He’s afraid of making mistakes. You know we sometimes make mistakes when we speak Chinese. Don’t be afraid. We must be brave. If you really want to learn English well, you must try to speak with everyone so long as he knows English. Whether you know him or not is not important. When there’s nobody to talk with, you can talk to yourself in English. It’s interesting and also a good way to practice your spoken English. Remember, the more you speak, the fewer mistakes you’ll make.
Reading and writing are more important for senior school students. First we must choose the books we’re interested in. A lot of reading will improve your language sense(语感). This is the most important.
Keep writing English diaries. We can also write English articles. You may even post them to English magazines. Don’t be afraid of failure. Failure is the mother of success.
Easier said than done. Well, let’s do more practice from now on. I’m sure you’ll learn English better in this way.You can learn to swim by_______.
| A．reading books about it | B．looking at others swimming |
| C．having lessons on it | D．going into the water and learning |
We should learn English by _______.
| A．listening and speaking | B．reading and writing | C．swimming | D．A and B |
What will you do with mistakes when you speak?
| A．Don’t make mistakes. | B．Study hard. |
| C．Don’t be afraid. | D．Try not to speak English. |
What’s more important for senior school students?
| A．Listening. | B．Reading and writing. | C．Speaking. | D．Learning. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．It’s easier to do than to say. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Practice makes perfect. |
| D．All things are difficult before they are easy. |
7 January, 2014
A new report says more and more international students are attending colleges and universities in the United States. It also notes a large increase in the number of international students from China.
These findings are from the latest Open Doors Report. The report documents the record number of international students in the United States during 2012, 2013 school year. It says more than seven hundred sixty-four thousand four-hundred such students were attending American colleges and universities during the last two years. That represents an increase of almost six percent than one year earlier. On the other hand, the number of Americans studying overseas(海外) increased by one percent, which reached nineteen thousand this year.
The report says one hundred ninety-four thousand students at American colleges and universities were from China .That is an increase of more than twenty-three percent over the year before. Peggy Blumenthal, an expert（专家）of international education, described the effect of the increase in Chinesestudents.
"Now they have been coming for some time. But this year was the highest level ever." She says many Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children. The children mainly choose to study in America.
"We know many of them have enough income to be able to afford to send them anywhere in the world if they want to go. And for the most part, looking around the world, Chinese students still prefer to come to the United States as their choice."
Chinese students are not the only ones who want to attend American colleges and universities. After China, India sends the second largest number of students to the United States for higher education. India has about one hundred thousand students in American schools. South Korea is third with about seventy-two thousand students.
Why do so many foreign students study in the United States? Peggy Blumenthal provides one reason.
"The advantage America has is that we have a huge system (系统)and a very perfect system. So there are over four thousand universities and colleges in the United States. Among them are some top ones in the world, and what that tells us is there is still a lot of room to host international students.
Foreign students represent less than four percent of the total student population in American higher education. And from Learning English, that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Bob Doughty. Thanks for listening. Bob Doughty seems to be ________.
| A．an exchange student from the USA |
| B．an expert of international education |
| C．a viewer of VOA |
| D．a reporter from VOA |
Which country below has the fewest students studying overseas?
| A．South Korea | B．India | C．China | D．America |
Which is NOT the reason why so many Chinese students go to the USA for further study?
A. Lots of Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children
B. The USA has a huge and a very perfect education system.
C. There is a lot of room to host international students in the USA.
D. The USA has some top universities and colleges in the world.Which of the following statement is true?
| A．China has 122,000 more students than South Korea at American colleges and universities. |
| B．The number of Americans studying overseas is becoming smaller and smaller. |
| C．The number of Asian students has an increase of 6% over the past two years. |
| D．Most of the international students in the United States are Chinese. |
A recent study found people’s lives are made shorter in North China. It is showed the life expectancy(平均寿命) had been cut down by 5.5 years there. Researchers（研究者）think that the heavy air pollution in China should be to blame(承担责任). It’s really the truth. Our government has already done something. However, it doesn’t seem to work so well.
“Air pollution in China is doing harm to people’s health. The harm is much more serious than we can imagine,” said Chen Yuyu of Beijing University, one of researchers of this study.
Dirty air brings serious problems in North China. In January this year, the air pollution was worse than that in other places. That was caused by rising temperature and waste gas（气体）from coal heating（燃煤）.
Chinese government should strongly fight with air pollution. They should think of more proper ways to deal with the problem. People should be encouraged to take buses, ride bicycles or walk, instead of driving cars. The factories that pollute heavily should be closed.
“We need to improve our environment, although it might be expensive. Protecting our environment means protecting ourselves,” Li Hongbin, another researcher of the study said. The passage above may come from a(n) ____ .
| A．story | B．advertisement |
| C．report | D．diary |
Which of the following is Li Hongbin’s idea?
| A．The life expectancy had been cut by 5.5 years. |
| B．Chinese government should close some factories that pollute heavily. |
| C．People need to make pollution less, although it might cost a lot. |
| D．The air problem brings us serious problems. |
What should people do to protect the environment?
| A．They should take buses. |
| B．They should ride bikes. |
| C．They should go on foot. |
| D．All of the above. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Air pollution in North China is caused by waste gas. |
| B．To save the environment, our government should do something more. |
| C．The temperature becomes higher and higher in North China. |
| D．How air pollution in North China is caused. |
The morning was cold and clear. A yellow bus came around the corner and stopped near a wood (树林). A coach asked the students to get off the bus. Girls began to gather by the starting line. One of them is a young, little girl. She had prepared for this running race for the whole summer. She looked around at the other girls, noticing how she was different.
There was a break in the silence, and everyone started to run. After about twenty-five minutes, every runner finished the race except the girl. She was still running for the next forty minutes. As she came near the finishing line, she saw her parents, classmates and the coach. They shouted her name and told her not to stop until the end. The sweat (汗水) was flowing down her face.
She kept on running until she crossed the line. I was that girl, and that was the first time I had finished a cross-country race (越野赛跑). Finishing this race made me realize that I could do anything with my own strength. After that, I took more hard work to practice running. I was not a natural-born runner, but I want to become one. I continued to struggle (努力) with every run. Now I run much faster than before and become more and more confident. I am so thankful for running because it has helped make me who I am today.The writer finished her first cross-country race in about ________minutes.
| A．20 | B．25 | C．40 | D．65 |
From the sentence “I was not a natural-born runner”, we learn that the writer .
| A．wasn’t good at running |
| B．didn’t like running |
| C．ran faster than anyone |
| D．couldn’t run when she was born |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．All good runners are natural-born. |
| B．The writer didn’t use to be so confident. |
| C．A good coach is the most important for a runner. |
| D．The writer is a very good runner now. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．We should practice running if we want to be more confident. |
| B．We should do things that we are good at. |
| C．We should keep on doing what we want to, no matter whether we are good at it or not. |
| D．We could become the best if we keep on practicing. |
We talked to 300 people. One hundred were from 11 to 18 years old. One hundred were from 19 to 26. One hundred were 27 to 35 years old. We asked them what they like to do on weekends. Please look at the chart.
Favourite things to do (by age).
People of 19-26 most enjoy ________.
| A．taking a walk | B．playing computer games |
| C．watching TV | D．going to the movies |
People aged 11-18 enjoy_______most.
| A．taking a walk | B．watching TV |
| C．going to the movies | D．playing computer games |
How many people enjoy playing computer games in the 19-26 group?
| A．75 | B．60 | C．25 | D．50 |
任务型阅读。
阅读下文并回答问题。
Last year, “A Bite of China” (舌尖上的中国), made by CCTV, caused discussions not only on Chinese food, but also on locally made documentary(纪录片) programs.
“Silk Road—The Journey Goes On”, a new CCTV documentary about traveling the ancient road, just finished broadcasting last month and, again, received different ideas. When people think of documentaries, they may think of them as long, boring programs. But documentaries can be wonderful and bring stories from the outside world into our homes. With funny stories, documentaries encourage us to think about interesting problems we wouldn’t possibly know about. So, what should we pay attention to when we watch one?
Firstly, pay attention to the themes. While watching a documentary, keep an eye on the themes people talk about and what ideas they want to pass.
Secondly, think critically(批判性地). Listen to what the people are saying and ask yourself a question: If you were talking about a point with someone, would you say the things people in the documentary are saying?
Finally, find out the creators. Different creators made it for different purposes. So we should clearly get an idea whether the stories or words are true or not.“A Bite of China” is a popular CCTV documentary, isn’t it?
_________________________________________________________________________________What is “Silk Road — The Journey Goes On” about?
_________________________________________________________________________________What do people usually think of documentaries?
_________________________________________________________________________________How many suggestions does the writer give us when we watch a documentary?
_________________________________________________________________________________