My English Learning Tricks
When I found my English was not enough to use, I nearly tried no stone unturned. I love English, and was once a student of English major. Here are some tips based on my personal experience.
1 ) Read as much as you can. We learn Basic English from readings. It helps roundly ！ You can read English books and English-learning books both. Don't use Crazy English. They say Mr. Li Yang is a merchant more than a teacher. I never recommend him or his books.
English is increasingly seen in our daily life. When I was a middle school student, I already began to notice the words I saw. Slogans, banners, product instructions, and many more in English.
2) Dictionary is the best dumb teacher ！ Buy a BIG dictionary. When I was a university student, I had more than one dictionary, an easy one, and a comprehensive one. And of course, they were in both English and Chinese. I often read dictionaries for 1 to 3hours just after I look up a strange word, and it greatly helps to enlarge my vocabulary. When I graduated, I bought a third one, which was a total English one, without any Chinese characters all through. And I think this kind of dictionary should agree with those with higher English level.
As for oral English, there are many regular oral example sentences in dictionaries. And a good dictionary may tell you which word is formally written, as well as which is orally spoken.
3 ) Listen to English songs and videos, and watch English movies. This is the funniest way!
4) Get a western English teacher, if you find a Chinese English teacher is not that professional. It is wise to make friends with him/her, other than try to make the most out of them by endlessly speaking or practicing. A good teacher is a good friend, not a free-of-charge cookie. Remember this, because many Chinese have ignored it, which makes me feel ashamed instead. People WONT love offering something for nothing.
5 ) Love English, NOT for money or benefit. Never ！ Language is of art and culture, and they say interest is the best teacher of all ！The last not the least, practice makes perfect. Every learner knows this simple idiom. Make progress day by day, and one day you will surprisingly find you speak fluent English！ You make it! Congratulations then!
I hope my suggestion helps a little. Which do you think are good for a learner of English except __________
| A．English books |
| B．English-learning books |
| C．talking with native-speaking people |
| D．reading Crazy English |
As a student of English at first, you can use a dictionary better which is __________.
| A．English-English | B．English-Chinese |
| C．Chinese-English | D．Chinese-Chinese |
A good dictionary should be __________
| A．an easy one |
| B．a comprehensive one |
| C．a one with regular oral example sentences |
| D．a one with formally written and orally spoken rules |
If you want to learn oral English better, you had better __________.
| A．listen to reading materials |
| B．listen to others speaking more |
| C．get a western English teacher |
| D．endlessly speak or practice |
What do you think is very important to learn English?
| A．An English teacher | B．A good English book | C．One's interest | D．Some good chances |
Here is your best chance to travel around the UK in 2012: More than 200 B&Bs（bed & breakfast）across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are selected to offer you amazing services for your stay at their lowest prices! Don’t miss it. Just collect the vouchers（活动券）in our B&B Daily printed from 01/04/2012 to 07/04/2012 and book the stays for your travel following the terms and conditions below:
The offer includes a room for the night and a breakfast the next morning.
The offer is of two kinds: ￡20 per room, valid（有效的）during stay period of 02/04/2012—31/05/2012 and then again 01/09/2012—31/10/2012；￡35 per room, per night, valid during stay period of 01/06/2012—31/08/2012.
The offer is valid for a basic twin or double room only.
The stay must be booked directly with the chosen B&Bs before 28/04/2012.
Each voucher can only be used by the holder to book one room for one night.
If voucher holders book either the ￡20 or ￡35 per room per night, any additional services such as lunch, evening meal or activities may require an extra charge. But these are not required in order to take up the offer. Please check directly with your chosen B&Bs to see what extra services are available.
Vouchers must be presented on arrival. If no vouchers are presented, the B&Bs may reserve（保留）the right to charge at full price for every night of stay.
Vouchers may not be used together with any other offer.
The voucher holders must pay for the stay in full at the time of booking. Additional ￡10 may be paid to confirm（确认）the booking and will be returned on arrival.
The B&Bs reserve the right to refuse voucher holders’ bookings for people under the age of 18.How much should be paid for a two-night stay in October 2012 at a chosen B&B?
| A．￡30 | B．￡35 | C．￡40 | D．￡70 |
What right do the B&Bs reserve?
| A．To charge extra ￡10 for bookings with no vouchers. |
| B．To charge at full price for stays not confirmed. |
| C．To request extra charges as tips. |
| D．To refuse bookings for guest under the age of 18. |
By taking up the offer, the voucher holders can choose to ______ .
| A．have lunch or evening meal without paying extra money |
| B．book either a basic twin or double room at the chosen B&Bs |
| C．use the B&B offer together with other offers |
| D．book the stays through B&B Daily |
A new United Nations report shows that fish farming may soon be the world’s most important provider of fish. The Food and Agriculture Organization says fish farming is growing at a rate of 6.6 percent a year.
Fish farming now produces forty-six percent of the world’s supply of fish. That represents a forty-three percent increase from 2006. The report also said fish farming earned more money in 2008 than traditional fisheries.
In fish farming, fish are raised in tanks or small bodies of water called ponds. They are also raised in cages or nets in oceans, lakes and rivers. The report says increased fish farming has helped people around the world eat record amounts of fish. The FAO says each person ate an average of almost seventeen kilograms of fish last year.
However, the FAO says the current yearly wild-fish harvest of ninety million tons shows no improvement. Decreasing numbers of fish and stronger catch limits have reduced the possibilities for catching wild fish. The FAO report says about thirty-two percent of world supplies are overfished. It says these supplies of fish need to be rebuilt at once.
Some scientists have criticized fish farming. They say the nets and cages permit fish diseases and pests to spread. Some fish farming critics doubt whether fish farming can keep growing at the current rate. But Wally Stevens of the trade group Global Aquaculture Alliance says the industry must continue developing to feed growing populations. Mr. Stevens says a one hundred percent increase in fish farming over ten years is necessary to keep providing for people at the current level. He notes that fish farming creates jobs and wealth, especially for people in coastal areas of China.We learn that since the year 2006, fish farming has been ______.
| A．earning more money than traditional fisheries |
| B．developing rapidly around the world |
| C．growing at a rate of 6.6 percent each day |
| D．producing 46% of the world’s supply of fish |
According to Paragraph 3, thanks to fish farming, people around the world are able to ______.
| A．buy more kinds of fishes | B．eat more fish than before |
| C．eat much healthier fish | D．eat much bigger fish |
What is implied in Paragraph 4?
| A．it is harder to catch wild fish than before. |
| B．It costs too much to rebuild supplies of fish. |
| C．There is no future for the market of wild fish. |
| D．Catching wild fish no longer brings benefits. |
What does Wally Stevens think of fish farming?
| A．It doesn’t have disadvantages at all. |
| B．It cannot keep growing at the current rate. |
| C．It is not a good way of raising fish. |
| D．It must develop fast to supply a growing population. |
TOKYO, Japan (AP) – Japan is very serious about robotics (机器人技术). If the droids are going to fit in, they probably need to learn the Japanese custom of serving tea. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Tokyo are exploring just that. In a show this week, a humanoid（有人特点的）with camera eyes made by Kawada Industries Inc. poured tea from a bottle into a cup. Then another robot on wheels delivered the cup of tea in an experimental room that has sensors embedded in the floor and sofa as well as cameras on the ceiling, to simulate（模仿）life with robot technology.
“A human being may be faster, but you’d have to say ‘Thank you,’” said University of Tokyo professor Tomomasa Sato. “That’s the best part about a robot. You don’t have to feel bad about asking it to do things.”
Sato believes Japan, a rapidly aging society where more than a fifth of the population is 65 or older, will lead the world in designing robots to care for the elderly, sick and bedridden（卧床不起的）.
Already, monitoring technologies, such as sensors that automatically turn on lights when people enter a room, are becoming widespread in Japan.
The walking, child–size Asimo from Honda Motor Co. greets people at showrooms. NEC Corp. has developed a smaller companion robot–on –wheels called Papero. A seal robot available since 2004 can entertain the elderly and others in need of fuzzy companionship.
Sato says his experimental room is raising awareness about privacy questions that may arise when electronic devices（设备）monitor a person’s movements down to the smallest detail.
On the bright side, the tea – pouring humanoid has been programmed to do the dishes.The underlined word “embedded” in the first paragraph probably means .
| A．rooted | B．settled | C．fixed | D．established |
According to Professor Sato, .
| A．the robot serves tea much faster than a human being |
| B．the robot does anything like human beings |
| C．tea – serving robot helps to form laziness of the aging society |
| D．tea – serving robot doesn’t need any reward for the service |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．people are afraid of being monitored by robots. |
| B．robots can completely take the place of human beings. |
| C．the technology of robots has been highlighted in Japan. |
| D．people’s privacy should be strictly protected |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．“Thank You” Will Never Be Needed in Japan |
| B．Monitoring Technologies Are Widespread in Japan |
| C．Robot Is Designed to Care for the Elderly. |
| D．Robot technologies are widespread in Japanese daily life. |
Tensions have erupted over some barren rocks in the Pacific that you may never have heard of, but stay tuned—this is a boundary dispute that could get ugly and some day have far-reaching consequences for China, Japan, Taiwan and the United States．
The islands in dispute are called the Senkaku chain by Japan, the Diaoyu islands by China, and the Diaoyutai by Taiwan．All three claim the islands, which are really just five small islands and three barren rocks northeast of Taiwan, 200 miles off the Chinese coast．
The latest conflict occurred when a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese naval ships trying to stop it near the islands．The Japanese prevented the Chinese captain from leaving the place for questioning and the two countries have been exchanging angry protests．
The reason to worry is that nationalists in both China and Taiwan see the slands as unquestionably theirs and think that their government has been weak in claiming this authority．
So far, wiser heads have generally won the argument on each side, but at some point a weakened Chinese leader might try to gain the legal right with the public by pushing the issue and recovering the islands．It would be a dangerous game and would have a disastrous impact on China-Japan relations, but if successful it would raise the popularity of the Chinese government．
In reality, of course, there is zero chance that the U．S．will honor its treaty（条约） with Japan over a few barren rocks．We're not going to risk a nuclear conflict with China over some islands that may well be China's．But if we don't help, our security relationship with Japan will be at the breaking point．
So which country has a better claim to the islands? My feeling is that it's China, although the answer isn't clear-cut．Chinese navigational records show the islands as Chinese for many centuries, and a 1783 Japanese map shows them as Chinese as well．Japan purported to "discover" the islands only in 1884 and took control of them by force only in 1895 when it also grabbed Taiwan．
The best approach would be for China and Japan to agree to refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice, but realistically that won't happen．And since some believe that the area is rich with oil and gas reserves, the claims from each side have become more insistent．
As Chinese nationalism grows, as China's navy and ability to project power in the ocean gains, we could see some military conflicts over the islands．
Taken from NewYork TimesThe underlined word "purported" （in Para．5） is closest in meaning to "_____"．
| A．happened | B．claimed | C．pretended | D．intended |
The latest conflict referred to in the passage occurred because _____．
| A．the Japanese government has bought the Diaoyu Islands from the Liyuans |
| B．two Japanese naval ships sailed in the Chinese sea around the Diaoyu Islands |
| C．the Japanese kept the captain of a fishing boat from returning for questioning |
| D．A fishing boat collided with two Japanese naval ships by design in the Japanese sea |
Which of the following is the author's personal idea?
| A．It is the two Japanese naval ships that are to blame for the conflict． |
| B．It is the Chinese captain of a fishing boat that is to blame for the conflict． |
| C．It is the U．S．that will honor its treaty with Japan over a few barren rocks． |
| D．It is China that has a better claim to the islands because of its navigational records． |
Why does the author think neither China nor Japan will agree to refer the dispute to the international Court of justice?
| A．because the claim from both sides has become more insistent． |
| B．because Japan has navy and ability to power the Diaoyu Islands． |
| C．because China is developing so quickly that it will declare a war on Japan． |
| D．because the U．S．won't be involved in the dispute between China and Japan． |
People think what I do is so wonderful because I interview stars. And I have to admit that when I first started working at Sassy in 1987 I was excited about that part of my job for the first couple of months, anyway. Then I noticed how stars would fool me around for months. I could never get enough time with a star to find out anything interesting, and some acted just simply rudely. I started hating the way I was treated, and I was really disappointed to see that these people I had worshipped (崇拜）before were pretty ordinary. So I decided I would just tell the truth instead of keeping up their myths (神秘）.If the star was a bad guy, I would say so. If I thought anyone was stupid, I did not hold back that information.
I thought readers would appreciate that kind of honesty. Surprisingly, many of them hated me for it. I have gotten so many attacks on my character. In their eyes, being famous is everything, even more desirable than being truly creative and talented
Why do we need stars? In fact, the media created stars to satisfy our basic need for gossip (闲话）.Over time, talking about people we have never met and we are never likely to meet has become what we are crazy about. Thus, some people are more interested in the personal lives of the stars than in the lives of their own family and their own friends. That is why it is so ridiculous when a star wants to discuss only his or her work in an interview as we care. We want the dirt on their personal lives.
There is another reason we worship stars. As a whole, our society is not as religious as it once was. It seems that people need something to fulfill them the way religion once did. Star worship exists as an unfulfilling desire for true heroes.
We make them stars, but then their reputation makes us feel unimportant, and we truly feel better about ourselves when they die. I am part of this whole process. No wonder I feel soiled at the end of workday.What are the stars like according to the author?
| A．They always treat others rudely. |
| B．They always talk about something dull. |
| C．They are actually ordinary people. |
| D．They are usually honest and polite. |
We worship stars because ______.
| A．we need true mental heroes to support us |
| B．we can learn something useful from famous stars |
| C．we concern about the stars’family and friends |
| D．we like talking about the stars’dressing styles |
When the author is writing this article, his tone sounds ______.
| A．excited | B．angry | C．worried | D．calm |
What is the main purpose of the author writing the passage?
| A．To show the disadvantages of working with stars. |
| B．To remind us not to worship famous stars blindly. |
| C．To laugh at the failures of stars he has interviewed. |
| D．To talk about the reasons why we worship stars. |