When you are reading something in English and you see a word or words you do not know what do you do? Do you pause and look up the meanings? Or do you put down the reading and find something different to read?
Neither solution is satisfying. Unless you are reading at a level that is clearly too high for you, avoiding reading may leave you feeling defeated. And pausing to look up every word can slow down your reading. Using context clues works. A context clue is a piece of information that appears near an unknown word or phrase and makes its meaning clearer. Context clues are right there in the text. But sometimes we don’t see them. There are some kinds of context clues that can help you become a better reader.
The first kind is synonyms. As you come across unknown words while reading, look for synonyms. A synonym is a word or phrase that has a similar meaning to the unknown word. Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of a word. One way to identify an antonym is to look for contrast words, such as “but”, “however”, “though”, “although”, “unlike”, “whereas” and “despite”. These words signal that some opposite idea or meaning is coming. Another kind of clue is appositives. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that comes after another noun, where the second gives the meaning of the first. Examples can also help explain the meaning of a word or idea. In English, the most common ways we introduce examples are with the phrase “for example”, “for instance”, “such as” and “like”.
And now for some closing thoughts. Leaning to use context clues can take time. Don’t pressure yourself to be great at the skill too quickly. Also, it is often not necessary to know the meaning of every word to understand what you are reading. So next time you come across a word you don’t know, ask yourself whether you can understand the sentence without it.
1.When you meet with new words in English reading, what should you do?
A.Use context clues. B.Ask teachers for help.
C.Look them up in the dictionary. D.Stop to read another new book.
2.What may be the result of giving up reading when you come across new words?
A.Becoming a better reader. B.Slowing down your reading.
C.Creating a sense of failure. D.Making the meaning clearer.
3.How many clues are mentioned in paragraph 3?
A.Two. B.Three. C.Four. D.Five.
4.What is the purpose of this passage?
A.To inspire us to learn English. B.To tell us English is easy to learn.
C.To persuade us to buy an English dictionary. D.To introduce a way of English learning.
5.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in the passage?
A.
B.
C.
D.
It was raining hard and nearly dusk. I was late for an appointment in the nearby city that I knew only by GPS. Now my phone had died. The usual interstate exits were closed. I couldn’t figure out how to get where I was going or how to let my appointment know I was likely not going to make it there.
I stopped at a McDonald’s in a poor part of the town and walked up to what appeared to be a mother and her teen daughter. I’m sorry, but do you mind, is it possible for me to look up a number on your phone and then call my friends and let them know I am lost?” She handed me her phone and they told me I was lucky that she had her phone. It was getting ready to be turned off because she didn't have enough money to pay the phone bill.
The young girl and mother seemed to be clinging to each other and talked together as I made my phone call, not really paying me much attention as the people at the other end of the phone told me to come on, I was not too late, and then told me how to get there As I stood to leave, suddenly, I reached into my wallet where I don't usually have cash and pulled out all. I had a $20 bill. I pressed it into the mother’s hand and then turned to leave quickly because 1 didn’t want to take the credit for it. But not before seeing that she was crying，her daughter called after me,” Thanks, sir. You have no idea how you just helped us.” And yet, they really helped me.
1.How was the adventure according to paragraph 1?
A.Frustrating. B.Smooth. C.Ordinary. D.Funny.
2.Why did the woman say the author was lucky?
A.Because her phone had power.
B.Because her phone still functioned.
C.Because she knew the people he planned to meet.
D.Because she had the telephone number he needed.
3.What can we know about the mother and her daughter?
A.They were living in the town.
B.They were also in great need.
C.They didn't pay attention to the author.
D.They often had dinner in McDonald’s.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.The author must be poor. B.The mother refused the money.
C.The author didn't want to be thanked. D.The daughter expressed her thanks.
5.What can be the best title of the passage?
A.How to Help others by Phone
B.The Kindness Warming Strangers
C.The Story between me and a Mother
D.A Mysterious Story on a Rainy Night
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为80左右。
Every morning, I will go to school with lunch bags that contained a sandwich, fruit, and dessert.
Then, one day, much to my surprise, there was no dessert in my lunch! What could have happened to it? Did Mom forget to make or buy it? Oh, well, I thought. It's only one time, so it's no big deal. But, for the next few days, my lunch contained no dessert! So one day, after school, as soon as I got home, I asked," Mom! Why haven't you been putting a dessert in my school lunches?" Mom answered, "Why, Eugene. I have been including a dessert in your lunch. If you're not getting them, then who is?"
So then we thought of my activities, and what I did with my lunch each day. As soon as I arrived at school I always put my lunch in the classroom closet（储物间）along with all of the other lunches. And that brought us to Carl---the bad boy of the third-grade classroom. The teacher didn't like him in class and would send him to the closet, where he would spend most of each day.
Carl lived in a group faster home（集体寄养之家）.He was loud and somewhat of a thief; he would take just about anything that wasn't fastened down, so he wasn't welcome at school. Mom and I concluded that with nothing else to do Carl was probably going through the lunches and eating what he liked.
假定你是李华，在英国学习,打算向校报建议增设中国文化栏目，请根据以下要点给主编Mr Black写一封信。要点：1.自我介绍 2.开设栏目的原因。
参考词汇：栏目column
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mr. Black ,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
Should we j____________ (评判)people based on how much money they have? (根据汉语意思和首字母填空)
You must be i_________(聪明的）enough to get a related college degree. （根据汉语提示单词拼写）
