There is no doubt about it. The best way to learn new words is to do it unconsciously. I don’t mean while you’re unconscious. I mean while you are unconscious of the fact that it is sinking in.
That is how I learnt the 30,000 words in my vocabulary by living in an English-speaking world, mother tongue. I just pick them up. But some of them may be misunderstood. Now, to misunderstand does not mean not to understand. To misunderstand is to understand but incorrectly.
The 5% mislearnt of all the words we “know” will be the least frequently used words, as the more frequently used words are less likely to be mislearnt. Some of the misunderstanding may live with all our lives, without knowing that we got them wrong.
Many English teachers think that this natural method of learning words in one’s own mother tongue can be used for a second language learning. They teach their students how to play the Guessing Game. “There is no time to look up in your dictionaries all the new words you come across,” they will say. “You have to practice guessing what the word means from the context.”
This method of guessing in a second language learning does not work. It may succeed in many cases, but results in hundreds or thousands of wrongly-guessed meanings of words.
And what’s more, there are more separate meanings than there are words themselves. Our learners’ dictionaries usually have many meanings. A good dictionary is what makes self-learning possible.
Don’t guess! Look it up!
【小题1】 It is certain that the best way to learn new words is ______.

Two years ago my grandmother was going to turn 75. My family discussed what the best way to celebrate was. Should we throw her a party? Should we take her on a trip? We remembered that she had touched so many people's lives, and there were so many people for her to consider. Then someone got the idea that we should include everyone in the celebration by turning it into a tribute(献礼) to my grandmother.

We secretly sent out letters to the people in Grandmother's address book and asked them to send a letter with a memory that they had shared with her. People sent us letters with poems, stories and pictures. The deep feeling that was shared through the response (回应) surprised us. We compiled(编辑)these letters into a memory book and amazed her with it on the morning of her birthday.

The unusual thing about my grandmother's friends was not the number that she had, but the connection they shared. In many ways this book of friendship was the greatest achievement of my grandmother's life.

I believe that developing true friendships is one of the most important things that anyone can do in one's lifetime. It is not a matter of the number of friends one has, but the quality of the bonds. If one has had at least one true friendship before dying, then one can say one has lived a successful life. I have made many friends and I believe I have begun to develop the same types of friendships my grandmother kept up over her lifetime. I only hope that I will be as successful as she has been.

1.How did the author's family celebrate Grandmother's birthday ? 

A．They took her on a trip across the country.

B．They gave her a memory book of friendship.

C．They invited all her friends to her birthday party.

D．They asked all her friends to send her cards.

2.When receiving her birthday gift, the author's grandmother probably felt _____. 

A．disappointed and lonely                  B．sorry and sad

C．surprised and pleased                    D．nervous and excited

3.The underlined word “bonds” in the last paragraph probably means________

A．relationships       B．works            C．successes         D．celebrations

4.According to the passage, the author probably agrees that _____. 

A．the more friends you have, the better

B．friends are more important than family

C．understanding leads to greater success

D．true friendship is very important to us

5.Which of the following words can best describe the author's grandmother ? 

A．Famous           B．Great.            C．Polite            D．Pleasant

Thomas Edison was one of ten said to be the greatest genius（天才） of his age. There are only a few men in all of the history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius.“ There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He said that what people called genius was mostly hard work.
But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. Nature, he often said, is full of secrets. He tried to understand them; then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “Work,” he answered. “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.

1. 1.

   Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

   1. A.
      Edison invented the electric light.
   2. B.
      Many other people have changed Edison’s life.
   3. C.
      Edison has changed the life of many other people.
   4. D.
      Few men in history can change other people’s life.
2. 2.

   Edison thought ____________.

   1. A.
      he could be happy if he was a genius
   2. B.
      genius plays the most important part in one’s success
   3. C.
      hard work could do better than genius
   4. D.
      genius could do better than hard work
3. 3.

   In Edison’s opinion, ____________.

   1. A.
      thinking can supply people with enjoyment and pleasure as well as help
   2. B.
      people’s successs lies mostly in genius
   3. C.
      hard work is the second important thing in making people successful
   4. D.
      there are few secrets for him to discover later
4. 4.

   The last sentence in the passage most probably implies(暗示） ____________.

   1. A.
      life is too short for Edison to invent more for human beings
   2. B.
      Edison made 100 inventions in his life
   3. C.
      Edison was able to live and work for 100 years
   4. D.
      People of his time were ready to give Edison another 100 years’ work

D
There is no doubt about it. The best way to learn new words is to do it unconsciously. I don’t mean while you’re unconscious. I mean while you are unconscious of the fact that it is sinking in.
That is how I learnt the 30,000 words in my vocabulary by living in an English-speaking world, mother tongue. I just pick them up. But the problem is that some of them may be misunderstood. Now, to misunderstand does not mean not to understand. To misunderstand is to understand but incorrectly.
The 5% mislearnt of all the words we “know” will be the least frequently used words, as the more frequently used words are less likely to be mislearnt. Some of the misunderstandings may live with all our lives, without knowing that we got them wrong.
Many English teachers think that this natural method of learning words in one’s own mother tongue can be used for a second language learning. They teach their students how to play the Guessing Game. “There is no time to look up in your dictionaries all the new words you come across,” They will say. “You have to practise guessing what the word means from the context.”
This method of guessing in a second language learning does not work. It may succeed in many cases, but results in hundreds or thousands of wrongly-guessed meanings of words.
And what’s more, there are more separate meanings than there are words themselves. Our learners’ dictionaries usually have many meanings. A good dictionary is what makes self-learning possible.
Don’t guess! Look it up!
67. It is certain that the best way to learn new words is________.
A. to learn them by oneself                           
B. to learn by living in an English-speaking world and using them frequently
C. to guess them from the context
D. to get more separate meanings of each word^
68. The underlined word “them” in paragraph 2 refers to_______.
A. the 30,000 words                        B. English teachers
C. misunderstood words                  D. frequently used words
69. Which of the following is most likely NOT true?
A. Some of the words the writer knows must have been misunderstood.
B. Most of the 30,000 words the writer learned are frequently used ones.
C. How many words the writer got wrong are not known.
D. All the words the writer knows were learned by reading them.
70. It can be inferred that_____________.
A. when somebody is conscious, he or she usually can’t learn new words by heart.
B. We must use the words as often as possible in order to master them.
C. It’s the best way to learn new words that one should only guess their meanings from the context
D. Only dictionaries can help us learn language well.

The other day I heard a few local musicians talking:
“ I hate all the terrible pianos in this town. I hate that rubbish they play on the radio. They can’t even understand a bit of music.”
“ I’m never playing in that club again. Too many drunks and nobody listens to us.”
But a younger musician said, “There are a few clubs that book my band a few nights a month, and I’m trying to find other places to play. I’m also looking to book a few summer festivals this year.”
I’ve heard that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, or to put it another way, you are who your friends are.
Attitudes are important. Whether they are positive(积极的) or negative (消极的)，they are rubbing off on you. If you are around people who complain about lack of work and about other musicians, or blame others, and you play the role of victim(受害者) , chances are you will start as well. So it’s time to take a look at the people you call “friends”.
This is an easy exercise: make a list of the people who you hand out with, and simply stop spending time with the negative people on your list. Set a new standard for yourself and don’t become friends with people who fall below that standard.
Keep successful people around you and your own chances for success will be much better. Ask them how they do it. Ask if they will help you get the work you’re looking for, or maybe give you some advice to help you on your career(职业) path.”
【小题1】Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?