How many hours does it take to be fluent in English?
There are plenty of people in the UK for whom even basic English is a problem. According to the survey, 726,000 people in England and Wales said they could not speak English well, and another 138,000 said they did not speak it at all.
Ling, 40,who arrived five years ago from China, found it difficult to learn English. " When I came here l was pregnant and so I was at home for the next three years. It took me longer to learn as l was very busy with the children.” Eventually she was able to begin taking classes and now speaks good conversational English. But even with classes, it can be a long process to pick up the language.
Age is the most important factor in language acquisition, says Mila Vulchanova, professor of linguistics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. "There is a sensitive period in language learning, which is biologically determined, with an onset at birth and a decline around puberty. So the younger the immigrant, the better. Since this decline is only gradual, teenagers are at an advantage over adults.” he says.
There are a number of systems for grading English. The government expects immigrants to reach "ESOL Entry 3" or "B1 level" in Scotland, before they can be granted citizenship. It's equivalent（相当的） to being able to hold a confident conversation and-it might take 360 hours of study to achieve.
George Osborne said in June following the spending review that welfare claimants（申请者）who don't speak English will have their benefits cut if they fail to attend language courses.
Huan Japes, deputy chief executive of English UK, a trade body for language colleges, says a rule of thumb is 360 hours-120 hours for each of three stages-to get to the standard the government expects benefit claimants to reach.
But many of the people who attend courses are visiting students rather than people settling in the UK. Immigrants tend to have very varied levels of education.
" Using 120 hours( for each stage of English fluency) is a rather traditional approach to course book learning," says Dr Elaine Boyd, head of English language at Trinity College London. "If someone is really highly motivated, they can learn really quickly. It's common for children under the age of 11 to be very immersed and be fluent in about six months. "
The example of Ling is given to show that _ .
| A．it's important to speak fluent English |
| B．many immigrants attend English classes |
| C．it's difficult to learn English well |
| D．many immigrants can't speak English in England |
What does Mila Vulchanova mainly stress?
| A．The necessity of working hard at English. |
| B．The function of the sensitive period. |
| C．The advantages of children's learning English. |
| D．The importance of starting learning English early. |
What Dr Elaine Boyd says suggests that .
| A．120 hours is a standard that is a little low |
| B．120 hours is a standard that is too high |
| C．English fluency can be easily achieved |
| D．English fluency can hardly be achieved |
The author develops the passage mainly by .
| A．using survey data |
| B．using experts' views |
| C．giving examples of English learners |
| D．listing the facts of English learning |
Some of the world’s most famous persons had suffered from a similar disability, such as Albert Einstein, the mathematician; Thomas Edison, the inventor; Auguste Rodin, the artist. What disabled these three famous men? Strange as it may seem, they all suffered from learning disabilities. They had great difficulty learning to read, write or use numbers. Almost always, there is a problem with one of the mental processes needed to understand or use written signs or spoken language. Yet he or she is unable to recognize difference in sizes, shapes or sounds that are easy for others to recognize. Learning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Four times as many boys as girls have learning disabilities.
Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized.
You can not look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward （外部的） signs of disorder （混乱）. So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong. In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning-disabled person’s brain, however, these cells were gray . The researchers also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together.
60. How can we learn whether a person has suffered from a learning disability or not?
A. By judging whether she or he sees or hears perfectly well.
B. By checking whether he or she is of normal or great intelligence.
C. By judging whether he or she is the world’s most famous person or not.
D. By judging whether he or she has any difficulty in recognizing the difference in sizes, shapes or sounds.
61. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Among the children suffering from learning disabilities, girls are fewer than boys.
B. It is reported that many more girls have learning disabilities than boys.
C. All the world’s most famous persons have the chance to get the similar disorder.
D. All the world’s most famous persons have suffered from learning disabilities.
62. Why did researchers examine the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident?
A. To try to look at the brain itself to find out the cause of learning disabilities.
B. To see if the person had any outward signs of disorder.
C. To check if the person is of normal or great intelligence.
D. To find out if the person suffered from a learning disability.
63. If someone has a learning disability, _______.
A. his or her nerve cells are in a line
B. he or she is able to recognize difference in sizes, shapes or sounds
C. he or she has no difficulty in learning to read, write or use numbers
D. his or her nerve cells in the left side of the brain are gray and are not in a line
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，计分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
America is growing older. Fifty-eight years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 years old or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65 years old. The aging （老龄化） of the population will affect American society in many ways—education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has given us a very different society— one in which people have different ideas of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his / her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that keeps us on time and tells us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
Many people say, “I am much younger than my mother or my father when she or he was at my age.” No one says “Act your age” any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.
56. It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America has _______.
A. made people feel younger B. changed people’s social position
C. changed people’s understanding of age
D. slowed down the country’s development
57. The underlined word “one” refers to ________.
A. a very different society B. America C. a place D. population
58. “Act your age” means people should ________.
A. be active when they are old B. do the right things at the right age
C. show respect for their parents
D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age
59. If a 25-year-old man becomes the manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it ________.
A. normal B. wonderful C. unbelievable D. strange
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
66. The writer of this passage must be ______.
A. an American B. a Chinese C. a professor D. a student
67. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.
B. Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.
C. Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.
D. Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.
68. From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
A. warmly welcomed at the airport B. offered a ride to his home
C. treated hospitably at his homeD. treated to dinner in a restaurant
69. The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
A. strict with time B. serious with time
C. careful with time D. willing to spend time
70. A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.
A. Friendships between Chinese B. Friendships between Americans
C. Americans’ hospitalityD. Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships
You Mi, a lovely and confident 17-year-old student, is the first Chinese high school student to appear on the cover of the popular young adults’ fashion magazine Seventeen.
“You is IN,” said Wang Lihua, Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen. “She is active and mature(成熟的) because of her knowledge on everything from academic studies, to books on art, to movies. We found she’s the very style we’re looking for to represent young people’s attitudes.”
You also impressed Wang with her fluent English when they first met last year. As the hostess of an English broadcasting programme at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University, You is always praised for speaking English almost like a native speaker. “I’ve built up my English by watching thousands of English DVDs since I was 10,” she explained.
But for You, watching isn’t enough. Last year, while in Senior 1, she met a talented boy who showed self-made DV movies at the English Corner in her school.
“I thought it was so cool and I knew that I should start making my own films,” she said. So she wrote a campus(校园) story, persuaded schoolmates to star in it and then began shooting a 30-minute DV movie, all in English. “I played one of the leading roles, actually I was everything in my film. I worked on it every single day during the SARS holidays,” she recalled. The movie finally became a big hit on campus, earning You a strong reputation(名气) as a DV movie director.
But this is not the only field she wants to master. Despite being a science student, You likes art, literature and fashion design very much.
“There are people who can be artists, there are people who edit books, and there are people who become film producers. But I just hope to mix all the things up!” she said. “There is an old saying I believe: Chance favours only the prepared mind.”
1. You Mi was chosen to be a cover of Seventeen, mainly because she _____.
A. is beautiful B. she is lovely and full of confidence
C. is active and mature D. has rich knowledge
2. You Mi’s fluent English is based on _____.
A. her chance to host an English broadcasting programme B. the influence of her parents
C. her deep interest in itD. her making DV movie
3. The author mentioned a talented boy to show _____.
A. the great influence he had on You Mi
B. he was admired by his schoolmates
C. the young can do things as well as the adults do
D. self-made DV movies are popular at school
4.In the 30-minute DV movie, You Mi didn’t act as a(n) _____.
A. director B. musician C. actress D. producer
5. We can learn from the passage that _____.
A. You Mi hopes to be a mixed talent
B. the success of a 30-minute DV movie shocked You Mi
C. You Mi dreams of becoming a scientist
D. the outbreak of SARS delayed You Mi’s studies
PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION ( 30 points)
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
When Christopher Columbus landed on the then unnamed Costa Rica in 1502, he saw many Indians wearing gold earrings. So he thought the land must be rich in gold. He named the place Costa Rica, which means “rich coast” in Spanish.
Though little gold was found, Costa Rica today is indeed rich with coffee and bananas. Coffee is the most important product in Costa Rica and most of it is exported (出口) to other countries like America and West Germany. Bananas are the country’s second most important export.
Costa Ricans also grow many other crops such as fruits, corn and beans for their own use. Costa Ricans love colors and their houses are painted in bright colors.
Education is very important to the Costa Ricans. Almost every village has a school and education is a must for children between seven and fourteen years of age. Boys and girls go to separate (单独的) schools. Classes begin in March and end in November. The other three months of the year are harvest time and the children have to help their parents to pick coffee beans.
56. What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. How Columbus found Costa Rica. B. How Costa Rica got its name.
C. What the Costa Ricans wore.D. What language the Costa Ricans spoke.
57. The Costa Ricans may NOT paint their houses ______.
A. pink and redB. grey and black
C. blue and green D. yellow and orange
58. In Costa Rica, boys and girls between seven and fourteen ______.
A. must go to school B. study in the same school
C. do not have to go to school at allD. can choose to stop schooling at any time
59. From December to February, school children in Costa Rica ______.
A. have lessons every day B. have their examinations
C. help their parents pick coffee beansD. help their parents decorate their houses
60. This passage is mainly about ______.
A. Christopher ColumbusB. Costa Rica
C. some products from Costa Rica D. the education of Costa Rica