Here are a few tips we’ve put together to help you learn English well.
Speak, speak, speak
Practise speaking as often as you can—even speaking to yourself is good practice.
Try recording yourself whenever you can. Compare your pronunciation with some famous persons’, see how you can do better and have another go. If you do this several times, you will find that each time is better than the last.
Why not learn with someone else?
It helps if you can learn with someone else. If you can persuade a friend or a family member to study with you, it will make you keep working.
Don’t get stuck by a word you don’t know.
Practise improvising（即兴的）ways of getting your meaning across when speaking spontaneously（本能地）, even if you don’t know the exact words or phrases. Think of things you might want to say whenever you have spare time. Use facial expressions, hand movements, anything to get your meaning across.
Language learning is also about intuition（直觉）.
Guesswork is an important way to learn a new language. When listening to recorded material, you aren’t expected to understand everything at once. If you play the same piece several times, you will most probably understand something new each time.
Build up your vocabulary.
A wide vocabulary is the key to successful language learning but don’t try to learn too much at once. It’s best to study often, for short periods of time. Take at most six or seven items of vocabulary and learn them. Put them into sentences to remember them in your mind, then come back to them later.
And above all, have fun!Why should one have himself recorded when practicing speaking?
| A．To improve his speaking. |
| B．To record his own progress. |
| C．To encourage others to start. |
| D．To become a famous person. |
It is implied(暗示) in the passage that _______ is helpful when you are learning English.
| A．a good dictionary | B．a good school |
| C．excellent pronunciation | D．body language |
According to the passage, one should ______ when you are learning English.
| A．always work with other people |
| B．be able to guess everything new |
| C．often review what he has learnt |
| D．take little notice of grammar |
Everyone has got two personalities(性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don't show your secret personality when you're awake because you can control your behavior(行为), but when you're asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, people frequently change their position. The important position is the one that you sleep in.
If you go to sleep on your back , you’re a very open person . You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by fashion or new ideas . You don’t like to upset people , so you never express your real feelings . You are quite shy and you aren’t very confident .
If you sleep on your stomach, you are a rather secretive (不坦率的) person. You worry a lot and you're always easily upset. You're very stubborn(顽固), but you aren't very ambitious(抱负的). You usually live for today not for tomorrow. This means that you enjoy having a good time.
If you sleep curled up (卷曲), you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and so you're often defensive (防御性的). You're shy and you don't normally like meeting people. You prefer to be on your own. You're easily hurt.
If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You're usually careful. You have a confident personality. You sometimes feel anxious, but you don't often get depressed. You always say what you think even if it annoys people.Point out which sentence is used to show the personality of a person who is used to sleeping on his or her stomach?
| A．He or she is careful not to make others angry. |
| B．He or she doesn't want to stick to his or her opinion. |
| C．He or she can't be successful in any business. |
| D．He or she likes to bring others happiness. |
Maybe you don't want to make friends with a person who sleeps curled up. Why?
| A．He or she would rather be alone than communicate with you. |
| B．He or she is rarely ready to help you. |
| C．He or she prefers going out to staying at home. |
| D．He or she wouldn't like to get help from you. |
It appears that the writer is possible to think highly of the person who sleeps on one side because _______.
| A．he or she always shows sympathy (同情) for people |
| B．he or she is confident, but not stubborn |
| C．he or she has more strengths than weaknesses |
| D．he or she often considers annoying (使烦恼) people |
An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) landed on their window.
The father asked his son, “What is that?”
The son replied, “That is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this?”
The son said, “Father, I told you just now. It’s a crow.”
After a little while, the father asked his son the same question for the third time, “What is this?”
This time, the son said to his father in a low and cold tone, “It’s a crow, a crow.”
After a moment, the father yet again asked his son for the fourth time, “What is this?”
This time his son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? I have told you already, ‘ITIS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?”
A minute later the father went to his room and came back with a diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page.
Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow suddenly landed on the window edge. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied him 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I didn’t at all feel angry, but instead felt affection for my son.
If your parents reach old age, do not look at them as a burden（负担）, but speak to them gently, and be kind to them. From today say this aloud, “I want to see my parents happy forever. They have cared for me ever since I was a little child. They have always showered me with love. I will take care of my old parents in the best way no matter how they behave.”The old man brought out the diary, which he had kept since his son was born, because ______.
| A．he forgot what had happened |
| B．he would like his son to read it |
| C．it could remind himself of the past |
| D．he wanted to find what a crow was |
The underlined word “affection” (last but one Para.) probably means______.
| A．puzzle | B．hatred(恨) | C．worry | D．love |
The writer mainly intends to ______ .
| A．tell us the function (作用) of a diary | B．call on us to love our parents |
| C．teach us what a crow is | D．introduce a pair of son and father |
If you are invited to a party by the Austrians and the suggested dress is "informal(非正式的)" (usually marked in the lower left-hand coner of the invitation) , it may mean dark suit and a white shirt for men and cocktail dress( 短短服) for women. Or again, may mean something considerably less formal. "Formal" means a black tie and evening dress for men and a floor-length dress for women. If a man is in doubt(拿不准) about what to wear, he may come slightly overdressed and then take his coat and tie off when he sees that others are wearing sports shirts. National dress is always acceptable.If a lady receives an invitation marked with "formal", she should wear
| A．a long dress | B．a cocktail dress | C．a short dress | D．a dark suit |
Suppose you are a man invited to an informal party by an Austrian, you'd better .
| A．wear dark clothes and dark suit |
| B．dress yourself in a dark suit and a white shirt |
| C．wear a coat and so on |
| D．wear sports shirts |
The general idea of this passage is .
| A．men and women should be dressed differently |
| B．national dress is always useful |
| C．what to wear if a person is invited to an Austrian party |
| D．men and women should dress themselves beautifully |
The meaning of "overdressed" is .
| A．dressing oneself a little too formally | B．dressing oneself a floor-length dress |
| C．wearing one's tie | D．dressing a sports shirt |
Mrs Smith's husband went off on a business trip to Australia. He wanted to catch the 3:30 plane to Darwin. She was very surprised when he telephoned her at 5 o'clock and said that he was still at the airport.
"What happened?" asked Mrs Smith.
"Well," said Mr Smith, "everything was going fine. I got my ticket, checked my luggage and waited in line at the gate. I walked across the runway to the airplane and I saw my friend Jack Scott. Jack was an airplane engineer. I shouted to him and a policeman caught me."
"Why did he catch you?"
"I don't know," said Mr Smith," All I said was ‘Hi, Jack! '"
The word "hijack" means "to take control of a plane by force".Why did Mr Smith want to fly to Australia? Because____________.
| A．he was an Australian businessman |
| B．he was leaving for Australia on business |
| C．his wife wanted him to |
| D．he wanted" to see his wife |
Mrs Smith was very surprised because
| A．Mr Smith didn't arrive in Darwin | B．Mr Smith telephoned her later |
| C．Mr Smith didn't leave the airport | D．Mr Smith was in Darwin |
Mr Smith couldn't get on the plane because
| A．he met with his friend Jack |
| B．he didn't get the ticket |
| C．there was something wrong with the airplane engine |
| D．he was stopped by a policeman |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The police didn't know Mr Smith was Jack Scott's friend. |
| B．Jack Scott worked as an airplane engineer. |
| C．The policeman misunderstood Mr Smith. |
| D．Mr Smith knew why the policeman caught him. |
Why was Mr Smith caught by the policeman?
| A．Because he didn't keep silence at the airport. |
| B．Because he greeted an airport engineer named Jack. |
| C．Because the pronunciation of "Hi, Jack" has another frightful meaning. |
| D．Because the policeman didn't know English. |
Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”
Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities(优先考虑的事) changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”What can the “conversations” be best described as?
| A．Deep and one-on-one. | B．Sensitive and mad. |
| C．Instant and inspiring. | D．Ordinary and encouraging. |
In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.
| A．pair freely with anyone they like |
| B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time |
| C．ask questions they themselves would not answer |
| D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features. |
In paragraph 6, “they would be ‘intimate’” is closest in meaning to “______”.
| A．they would have physical contact | B．they would have in-depth talk |
| C．they would be close friends | D．they would exchange basic information |
From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.
| A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction |
| B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted |
| C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas |
| D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely |