Though quite 1. few Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is good, 2. most would admit that their oral English is poor.
Whenever I speak to Chinese students, they always say, “My oral English is poor.” 3., their oral English does not have to remain “poor” ! I would like to suggest that there may be some 4. (reason) for the problems with their 5. (speak) English. First, they fail to find suitable words to express 6. (they) due to a limited vocabulary. Second, they are afraid of making mistakes. The 7. (three) reason is that not enough attention 8. （pay）to listening.
If you don’t use your English beyond the classroom，you will forget 9. you know. Remember: USE IT OR LOSE IT! You can learn how to speak English better 10. speaking English more.
It was August 2nd, 1927. The news had spread ______ .
A man named Craig Pierce was coming to the city of Bristol. He wanted to make recordings of local people singing and playing musical instruments. And he said he would ____ fifty dollars for each song recorded. That was a huge ____ in those days. Many people came to Bristol that day to ____ for Mr. Pierce. But one group seemed to have just the sound that he was ____. They were a man named A.P. Carter，his wife Sara，and her cousin Maybelle. They ____ themselves the Carter Family.
Their first recordings were sent to _____ throughout the United States. Many listeners were ___ at what they heard. Instead of classical or jazz songs that radio stations usually played，a new ___ was born. The Carter Family sounded ____ . They did not sound ____ they had taken music lessons. But it did not matter. The people in poor rural areas thought they sounded just like their ____ .
The Carters sang songs about living in the mountains of Virginia，Tennessee，and North Carolina. They sang about the _____ of a young man for a special girl. They sang about the beauty of nature. They sang about death and sadness. And they sang religious songs that told of the hope for a(an) ____ life after death.
A.P. Carter sang in the group and also searched for ____ songs. He often traveled long ____ to small towns in the southeastern United States. He wanted to hear the songs that ____ people sang in their communities. He wrote down the words but kept the music in his ____. When he returned home, he helped Sara and Maybelle fit them to the Carter Family musical ____. The Carter Family soon became popular. Within three years, the Carter Family sold 300,000 recordings.
Life is like a stage, on which gold will _____.
1.A. wide B. fast C. well D. short
2.A. bring B. take C. lend D. pay
3.A. sum B. celebration C. money D. instrument
4.A. wait B. listen C. play D. learn
5.A. looking for B. looking after C. picking up D. picking out
6.A. asked B. called C. wished D. showed
7.A. rural areas B. big cities C. radio stations D. families
8.A. surprised B. good C. slow D. annoyed
9.A. story B. singer C. song D. sound
10.A. interesting B. great C. appealing D. different
11.A. in case B. as if C. even if D. as long as
12.A. teachers B. farmers C. neighbors D. owners
13.A. beauty B. love C. respect D. description
14.A. bitter B. early C. worse D. better
15.A. new B. modern C. same D. exact
16.A. directions B. distances C. places D. trains
17.A. talented B. famous C. local D. old
18.A. diary B. memory C. songs D. stories
19.A. style B. program C. show D. concert
20.A. develop B. distinguish C. shine D. change
Your teen is falling asleep in class
Teens have a busy morning schedule as they need to wake up and get moving very early in order to catch a bus and get to school by the required time. This means teens need to get their rest the night before or they will be too tired to learn anything at school. 1.
When a teen falls asleep in class, two things happen: he/she misses what is being taught and he/she loses the respect of the teacher. He/She may also receive a consequence from the school, depending on the classroom discipline policy. 2.
To prevent your teen from being sleepy in class, try these three tips:
* Set a time for “lights out” on school nights. This is never be any later than 10 p. m. and preferably 9 p.m. 3. Soft music can be on and used to help calm your teen.
* Help your teen develop a nighttime routine that involves activities that slow them down for the end of the day. 4. Turning off the computer and disconnecting from friends and the excitement of the day an hour before bedtime will also help your teen relax.
* 5. This will reinforce （增强）what it feels like to be rested and capable of accomplishing what he/she wants.
A. What’s worse, they may even fall asleep in class.
B. Taking a bath and reading are two activities that work well.
C. Set a good example and show him/her your love for learning.
D. Point out the positives after your teen has had a good night’s rest.
E. All of these things affect your teen’s academic success and can be avoided.
F. “Lights out” means the computer, television, lights and cell phone should be off.
G. While your teen keeps his/her goals in line with your expectations, he/she may have his/her own goals.
Parents often believe that they have a good relationship with the
ir teenagers. But last summer, Joanna and Henry noticed a change in their older son: suddenly he seemed to be talking far more to his friends than to his parents. “The door to his room is always shut,” Joanns noted.
Tina and Mark noticed similar changes in their 14-year-old daughter. “She used to cuddle up (蜷伏)with me on the sofa and talk,” said Mark. “Now we joke that she does this only when she wants something. Sometimes she wants to be treated like a little girl and sometimes like a young lady. The problem is figuring out which time is which. ”
Before age 11, children like to tell their parents what’s on their minds. “In fact, parents are first on the list.” said Michael Riera, author of Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers. “This completely changes during the teen years.” Riera explained. “They talk to their friends first, then maybe their teachers, and their parents last.”
Parents who know what’s going on in their teenagers’ lives are in the best position to help them. To break down the wall of silence, parents should create chances to understand what their children want to say, and try to find w
ays to talk and write to them. And they must give their children a mental break, for children also need freedom, though young. Another thing parents should remember is that to be a friend, not a manager, with their children is a better way to know them.
1.“The door to his room is always shut” suggests that the son _______.
A. keeps himself away from his parents
B. doesn’t want to be disturbed
C. is always busy with his studies
D. begins to dislike his parents
2.What troubles Tina and Mark most is that ________.
A. their daughter isn’t as lovely as before
B. they don’t know what to say to their daughter
C. they can’t read their daughter’s mind exactly
D. their daughter talks with them only when she needs help
3.Which of the following best explains “the wall of silence” in the last paragraph?
A. Teenagers talk a lot with their friends.
B. Teenagers do not want to understand their parents.
C. Teenagers talk little about their own lives.
D. Teenagers do not talk much with their parents.
4.What can be learned from the passage?
A. Parents are unhappy with their growing children.
B. Parents should try to understand their teenagers.
C. Parents should be patient with their silent teenagers.
D. Parents have suitable ways to talk with their teenagers.
It is said that if you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise — and as a result, we are growing old unnecessarily soon.
Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of aging could be slowed down. With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and varying occupations. Computer technology enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the volume of the front and side parts of the brain, which controls functions like eating and breathing, does not contract with age, and one can continue living without intellectual on economical faculties. Contraction of front and side parts — as cells die off — was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty-and seventy-year-olds. Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to the contraction normally connected with age — using the head.
The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the town. Those least at risk, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely to have shrinking (萎缩) brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.
Matsuzawa's findings show that thinking can prevent the brain from shrinking. Blood must circulate properly in the head to supply the fresh oxygen the brain cells need. “The best way to maintain, good blood circulation is through using the brain.” he says. “Think hard and engage in conversation. Don’t rely on pocket calculators.”
1.The team of doctors wanted to find out ______.
A. the size of certain people's brains
B. how to make people live longer
C. which people are most intelligent
D. why certain people are aging sooner than others.
2.On what are their research findings based?
A. The study of brain volumes of different people.
B. The study of brain volumes of old people.
C. The latest development of computer technology.
D. A survey of farmers in northern old people.
3.The doctors’ tests show that _______.
A. our brains shrink as we grow older
B. the front section of the brain does not shrink
C. sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds
D. some people's brains have contracted more than other people's
4.According to the passage, which people seem to age more slowly than the others?
A. Lawyers. B. Farmers.
C. Clerks. D. Shop assistants.
Some people may think I’m crazy when I say “work is rest”. But that’s the way it is — we need to rest. Without rest, we will die. At a minimum, we won’t have the energy to work.
Nobody forces us to be so stupid about this. We just don’t know how to rest properly. We rest in ways that are not restful, even stressful. Some of our ways of rest interfere with our working energy. Instead of sleep, we go to the movies and clubs, drink or have a smoke with friends. This is because we misunderstand the meaning of “rest”.
We should remember that rest means not working, both physically and mentally. Only then is it real rest. When tired, rest. It’s simple. Actually, dogs and cats are smarter about this than people. People are stupid enough to rest in ways that destroy their capacity to work.
Rest and work always go together. There must be a balance: work during the day and rest at night. When the sun comes up, one has plenty of strength to work well and enjoy it. In other words, rest is a kind of investment, so that one has the strength and energy to continue working. So we need rest to work, recognizing that we can’t have one without the other. Rest is what recharges our batteries. We need enough time to charge up adequately to the tasks we undertake. Thus, we need to rest correctly; otherwise, illness will occur and also can affect the efficiency of our work.
Rest can’t be skimped. Without enough rest, good work is impossible. This is why we say that rest is another kind of work.
1.Which of the following is the best rest according to this passage?
A. Sleeping at home.
B. Drinking or having a smoke with friends.
C. Going to the movies and clubs.
D. Playing cards with family members.
2.We can know from this passage that _____.
A. dogs and cats are smarter than we human beings
B. rest can make us work more efficiently
C. it’s not proper to sleep in the daytime for people.
D. rest is more important than work for people
3.The underlined word “skimped” in the last paragraph probably means “______”.
A. added B. connected
C. saved D. developed
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. How to Form the Habit of Sleeping B. Why People Need to Rest
C. Sufficient Rest Leads to Success D. Rest is Another Kind of Work
