Learners of English, especially self-taught learners may have trouble in understanding speeches by native speakers. The following ways might help improve their listening ability.
First of all, do things step by step. It is not good to listen to something beyond your level. Better choose a suitable course and start with the first book. Go on to the second book only after you are sure you understand the first one.
Secondly, stick to one course of study. Don’t change books often. Never let your attention be attracted by another course just because it seems to be more “fashionable”.
Thirdly, listen to the English news program over the radio from time to time. Better go through the news stories in the Chinese-language newspaper first. That will make it easy for you to understand the English news on the radio.
Fourthly, if you have time, listen to some interesting stories in “Special English from the V.O.A. or other listening materials of the same level as that of your textbook”.
This is a piece of advice to learners of English on how to ________.
| A．improve their listening ability |
| B．read fast |
| C．write better English and read faster |
| D．speak correctly |
If you want to understand the English news program on the radio, you should ________.
| A．read the Chinese-language newspaper step by step |
| B．read again and again the Chinese-language newspaper |
| C．go through the Chinese-language newspaper first |
| D．be able to recite the Chinese-language newspaper |
The author advised that once you have taken up a course, you ________.
| A．should stick to it |
| B．should begin with the last book |
| C．should take up other courses if they are more fashionable |
| D．shouldn’t do anything else |
In this passage, V.O.A. stands for ________.
A. a book B. a magazine
C. a text-book D. a radio station
A Child’s History of the World
Our Price: $28.00
Item #: 010821
ISBN: 978-8-8828-7028-7
Grades: 4—Adult
Product Description
V. M. Hillyer, the first headmaster of Calvert School, spent many of his school years studying only American history. Believing that studying world history would broaden children’s horizons and give them a better understanding of the world and history in general, he set out to write an understandable and comprehensive world history children could enjoy. A Child’s History of the World functions to familiarize young children with some historical events and people of significance while reading like a good story. The subjects are covered in chronological order, from the beginning of the world through the end of the Cold War. This gives the child a linear view of world history that allows the details to be filled in later. A Child’s History of the World is a basic reader and is not intended to be used as a supplementary reader.
Customer Reviews
This is a must-have book. It is a complete and engaging curriculum that is easy to use and understand. My girls are so close in age I was able to use it with all three at once and they loved it. And it’s inexpensive! Love the way it is written.
Katrena R. from Shingle Springs, CA
This is a great book. Everyone (elementary/primary aged) should have this book in their homeschooling library. My kids (ages 4-9) have all enjoyed this book. It is engaging and well written for young ones. There is a lot of information packed into this book and it is presented in a way that is not boring for kids. It is kind of like The Story of the World.
Patrice T. from SeattleWe can know that A Child’s History of the World ________.
| A．included many original historical pictures |
| B．included many interesting historical details |
| C．was introduced to Calvert School by V. M. Hillyer |
| D．was first used as a history textbook at Calvert School |
A Child’s History of the World was written ________.
| A．in order of space |
B．in order of time |
| C．in numerical(of numbers) order |
D．in alphabetical order |
From A Child’s History of the World, children can know _________.
| A．important events in America |
| B．famous places of historical interest |
| C．lives of many famous people in the past |
| D．some stories of ordinary people in the past |
According to Katrena R, her children _________.
| A．read A Child’s History of the World to each other |
| B．learned A Child’s History of the World together |
| C．each had a copy of A Child’s History of the World |
| D．used A Child’s History of the World to improve their writing |
Having a child may improve a woman’s memory, a new study suggests.
In the study, women who were new mothers scored better on tests of visuospatial memory – the ability to understand and remember information about their surroundings—compared with women who didn’t have children.
The findings contradicts the old belief that women develop“baby brain" or a decline in memory and cognitive(认知的) function, after they have kids, said study researcher Melissa Santiago, a doctoral student at Carlos Albizu University in Miami. “You don’t have to feel that because you have kids, your memory isn’t the same," Santiago said.
The study was small, and the findings will have to be tested in larger groups of people, Santiago said.
Previous studies on the topic have had mixed results—some showed motherhood hurts cognition, and others showed the opposite. Studies on rats show those with pups have better memory than those without offspring.
Santiago analyzed information from 35 first-time mothers whose children were ages 10 to 24 months, and 35 women who had never been pregnant. Both groups scored similarly on intelligence tests. The average age of mothers was 29 and the average age of never-pregnant women was 27.
To test visuospatial memory, the women were shown a paper containing six symbols for 10 seconds, and then asked to draw what they remembered. This task was repeated several times. The first time women were shown the paper, both groups remembered about the same amount. But on the second and third pass, mothers performed better than those without children, indicating that the mothers collected more information each time than the other women.
Later, the women were shown a variety of different symbols, and asked to remember which ones were presented on the earlier task. Mothers did not make a mistake in this task—they remembered every symbol correctly—but those without children made one or two errors, Santiago said. How did Santiago lead to the findings?
| A．By observation. |
B．By comparison. |
| C．By analyzing intelligence tests. |
D．By asking women questions. |
By saying “The study was small", what did Santiago mean?
| A．The study received little attention. |
| B．The study has just started. |
| C．The study was carried out among a small group of people. |
| D．A small group of researchers were involved in the study. |
Which of the following was discussed in the text?
| A．Ways to test visuospatial memory. |
| B．Why having kids improves memory. |
| C．How young mothers are different from never-pregnant women. |
| D．The negative effects that worries of women without children have. |
It can be inferred that Santiago believe the findings of the study_________.
| A．may cause a heated discussion among parents |
| B．may cause an increase in the birth rate |
| C．are tested by previous similar studies |
| D．are encouraging news for mothers |
A meteorite (陨石) flew fast across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured l,200 people.
People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt the shock wave.
According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the fireball, travelling at a speed of 30km per second, had burnt very brightly across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200km away. Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted.
“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day,” said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains. “I felt like I was blinded by headlights.”
The meteorite, which weighed about 20 tons and may have been made of iron, entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke apart 30-50km above ground, according to Russia’s Academy of Sciences.
The energy released when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere was about several thousand tons, the academy said, the power of a small atomic weapon exploding.
No deaths were reported, but the Emergencies Ministry said 20,000 rescue and clean-up workers were sent to the region after President Vladimir Putin told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to ease the disruption and help the victims.
The Interior Ministry said about l,200 people had been injured, at least 200 of them children, and most from broken pieces of glass.“While events this big are rare, an impact that could cause damage and death could happen every century or so. Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop impacts.”When did the meteorite incident happen?
| A．At midnight. |
B．In the early morning. |
| C．In the late morning. |
D．In the evening. |
According to the text, the meteorite explosion caused _________.
| A．some deaths |
B．road accidents |
| C．communication problems |
D．building collapse |
The Russian government’s response to the incident was ________.
| A．a little slow but effective |
B．quick and serious |
| C．cold and slow |
D．quick but ineffective |
It can be inferred that the loss caused by meteorites _________.
| A．is nearly unavoidable |
B．happens every few years |
| C．can be avoided |
D．is hard to estimate |
Ever wonder how this season’s celebrations affect the environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very topic:
The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I’m not like most people. I spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and his reindeer are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts.
Lately I’ve been particularly curious as to whether Santa’s old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his 8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car.
I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to find statistics specific to Santa’s magical flying reindeer, so these calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don’t complain to the government about the damage Santa is causing the environment based on this article.
Santa’s yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to push Santa’s sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they must travel at a speed of about 3100km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!!
So the next question is: how much food is in 980 million calories? Well, if they’re eating corn, they’d need to eat 16,500 lbs each — or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we’ll leave for another calculation.
We now need to consider that during the global trip the reindeer are “letting out” some of that corn in the form of methane (甲烷，沼气). A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing that damage by 1000% that another 20 times, we can put Santa’s round-trip emissions at 15,488 tons. This is much more than the 100 tons an environmentally-friendly car would release on the same trip!
Bad Santa.Which aspect does the writer NOT include in her analyses about reindeer’s influence on environment?
| A．Distance covered. | B．Calories consumed. |
| C．Tons of waste let out. | D．Money spent on food. |
According to Paragraph 6, how many acres of corn would Santa need to feed 10 reindeer?
| A．1.6. | B．16. | C．12.8. | D．128. |
Which of the following statements would the writer most probably agree with?
| A．Christmas celebrations are really a waste of money. |
| B．Vegetarians are more likely to survive than meat-eaters. |
| C．Raising animals has a negative influence on environment. |
| D．The car industry does less harm to environment than farming. |
Which of the following words best describes the language style of the passage?
| A．Humourous and concerned. | B．Cheerful and friendly. |
| C．Academic and formal. | D．Serious and boring. |
Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
| A．Is Santa driving clean and green? |
| B．Santa, watch where you’re going! |
| C．Santa Claus is coming to town! |
| D．Let’s reduce waste on Christmas celebrations! |
It is one of the most annoying words in the English language and it seems there is no escaping it. The word “huh?” is in worldwide use, a study found.
Researchers discovered that languages spoken in countries from Ghana and Laos to Iceland and Italy all include “huh?”, or something that sounds very like it. They said that while the study may sound silly, the word is an absolutely necessary part of speech. Without it and similar words, it would be impossible to show that we haven’t heard or understood what had been said and this would lead to constant misunderstandings.
But while other words used in the same context, such as “sorry” or “what”, vary widely across languages, “huh?” remains unchanged.
The Dutch researchers carefully studied ten languages from around the world, including Siwu, which is spoken in Ghana, and an Australian Aboriginal language, as well as Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Mandarin Chinese.
They analysed tapes of recorded conversations for words that sounded like “huh?” and were used to request that whatever had just been said be repeated. All contained a version of “huh?”. The word was also found in another 21 languages. While there were subtle differences in each country, all sounded basically the same.
This is surprising because normally unrelated languages will use very different words to describe the same thing. For instance, the Japanese for “dog” is “inu”, while the French is “chien”. It is thought that languages around the world have developed their own version of “huh?” because the sound is quick and simple to form, as well as being easily understood.
The researchers, said that it might seem unimportant to carry out scientific research into a word like “huh?” but in fact this little word is an essential tool in human communication. They also have an answer for those who claim that “huh?” isn’t a word. They say that it qualifies because of the small differences in its pronunciation in different languages. It also can be considered a word because it’s something we learn to say, rather than a grunt or cry that we are born knowing how to make. According to researchers, the word “huh?” is very important in speech because of ________.
| A．its stable meaning in language development |
| B．its important function in communication |
| C．its simple and easy sound and spelling |
| D．its popularity in every language |
What is the natural response if you hear the lady you’re speaking to say “huh?”?
| A．You should ask her to repeat what she says before that. |
| B．You should apologize to her for speaking in a low voice. |
| C．You should invite her to share her different views politely. |
| D．You should try to repeat what you’ve just said in a clearer way. |
The main method used in the research of “huh?” was ________.
| A．interviewing language experts in universities |
| B．talking with people from ten different countries |
| C．analyzing the recorded conversations in different languages |
| D．comparing different words with the same meaning in different languages |
According to researchers, “huh?” should be considered a word rather than a sound because ________.
| A．it is listed in most dictionaries |
| B．it is something humans learn to say |
| C．there is a clear and consistent spelling of the word |
| D．there is a big difference in the way it pronounces in different languages |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To inform readers about research on the worldwide used word “huh?”. |
| B．To argue that “huh?” is the most important word in every language. |
| C．To entertain readers by relating similar idioms in different languages. |
| D．To instruct readers of the differences of “huh?” in different languages. |