While reading a book in English, every few lines of text, you run across a word or two that you don't know. You look every new word in the dictionary. Bad move. All that does slow you down. Even electric or CD-ROM dictionaries can get in the way of your reading progress. A dictionary is like a road map. It can help you if younger lost and point you in the right direction. But if you stop to look at the "map" each time you take a step, you'll get nowhere fast .

On your English learning "journey （旅行）”, a dictionary Can be a helpful “travel companion"---if it is not overused. To help you start thinking in English, use an English-to-English dictionary. Otherwise（否则），you will always depend on your native（本国的）language and end up translating in you head.

A good dictionary can help you do more than just find the meaning of a word. it can help you verify （test and check） spelling, check word forms and grammar usage, find example sentences and learn pronunciation. Some dictionaries even provide exercises to teach you how to use their resources（资源）.

Take time to get to know your dictionary. Learn the pronunciation symbols （符号）.

Understand what the abbreviations （缩写字） mean. Try to master the important grammar rules. Look for charts, diagrams and lists that might be useful in the future. You will discover how helpful it can be to make friends with your dictionary. And as they say, "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

1．According to the passage,________________________

A．we should look up each new word we meet while reading

B．dictionaries will be helpful if we use them properly

C．we can't look up any new words we come across while reading

D．we can get everything we want in dictionaries

2．The underlined word "companion" means____________________

A．指南            B．札记            C．工具       D．路标

3．Why do we need a good English-to-English dictionary?

A．Because it is a good friend.

B．Because it can help us to find the right direction if we get lost.

C．Because it can help avoid to think in our native language.

D．Because it can help us to start thinking in English and in Chinese.

4．The underlined word "that" in the last paragraph refers to （指） ____________ 

A．pronunciation symbols and grammar rules

B．abbreviations and usage for grammar rules

C．the meaning of a word, spelling and grammar usage

D．charts, diagrams and lists

5．According to the passage, we learn that____________________

A．the more you use a dictionary, the better you can understand the article

B．the more you use a dictionary, the faster you may read

C．the more you use the resources in a dictionary, the more information you can get

D．the better a dictionary is, the more expensive it is

A good way to pass an exam is to work hard every day in the year．You may not do well in the exam if you are lazy for most of the year and then work hard for a few days before the exam．If you are taking an English exam, don’t only learn rules of grammar．Try to read stories in English and speak English when you can．A few days before the exam, you should start going to bed early; don’t stay up late at studying and learning things．Before you start the exam, read carefully the question paper．Try to understand the meaning of each question before you pick up

your pen to write．When you have at last finished your exam, read over your answers，find out any mistakes which you see and make sure that you haven’t lost anything out．

1．The good way to pass all exam is ___________．

  A．to work hard only before the exam

  B．to spend all the time remembering rules of grammar

  C．to stay up late before the exam

  D．work hard at all lessons all the year round

2．Before you start the exam，you should ___________．

  A．speak loudly                       B．revise your lessons

  C．learn rules of grammar        D．read carefully the question paper

3．You should ___________ your answers before the exam paper is handed in．

  A．write         B．copy         C．check         D．read

4．Before you pick up your pen to write，you Should ___________．

  A．revise your book             B．look up the words in the dictionary

  C．copy the sentences            D．understand the question on the paper

5．Which topic(题目)is the best?

  A．Study Hard at Your Lessons    B．Read More Books

  C．Do Exercises                D．A Good Way to Pass an Exam

To master(掌握）language，one must be able  1  and understand the spoken language as well as to read and write．Speaking，of course， 2  go without listening．If you want to pronounce(发音)a word correctly，first you must hear it correctly． If you don't listen 3  ，you'll find it difficult or even impossible to understand the native speakers．As for writing，people usually use shorter words and shorter sentences  4   their writing．The important thing is to  5   your idea clear in your head and then to write it in clear language．And if you read too slowly，by the time you  6  the end of a page，you may  7  what the beginning is about and then you'll never finish a book．When you  8  some new words，don't look them up in the dictionary at once． 9  the meanings from the context(上下文)．You may not get quite correct answers the first time，but as the new words come up again and again in different contexts, their meanings will become  10 ．In this way you can learn a language well．

1．A．speaking         B．spoke                  C．to speak

2．A．can't              B．can                      C．must

3．A．correctly        B．carefully              C．happily

4．A．in            B．from                    C．with

5．A．change           B．make                   C．start

6．A．reach             B．arrive                   C．get

7．A．forget            B．forgot                  C．forgetting

8．A．feel                B．meet                    C．watch

9．A．Think            B．Guess                  C．Know

10．A．clearest         B．clearer and clearer  C．the clearest

Many textbooks are not written in the kind of English that we speak every day. In fact, sometimes the reading is so difficult that it almost seems like a foreign language. In a way, it is—the language of science. You should not expect to be able to read a difficult science passage the same way you read an interesting story; you should not expect to read it easily and all at once. Instead, you may have to read it several times through, catching on the meaning of difficult words, going back over difficult sentences, and finally putting the whole thing together. Do not be discourages if the whole passage don’t make sense to you at first. You need to pick it apart patiently until you can understand it.
These are the steps to follow when you are reading something difficult:
² 1. Start to read normally until you run into a sentence that doesn’t make sense to you.
² 2. When a sentence doesn’t make sense, go back and read it again more slowly.
² 3. Look for any word you don’t know in the sentence. Try to understand their meanings using word parts and context clues(上下文线索). If necessary, look them up in the dictionary.
² 4. Look at the next few sentences to see if they explain more about the sentence you are working on. Do not read very much farther ahead until you understand what is being said.
² 5. Finally, read the sentence again. Try to put it into simpler words.
² 6. Read through the passage once. Try to understand all the hard parts well. Then read the whole passage once more at a usual speed. This helps you to put all ides together.
The stops sound a lot harder than they are. It is really just the normal way good readers understand anything that is difficult to read. After you have done the best you can this way, you should always feel free to ask for help from your teacher, if you have one.
【小题1】 The underlined phrase “run into” means ___________.

A．work out

B．come across

C．look into

D．pass by

【小题2】 From the passage, we can know _________.

A．we should look up new words before reading

B．it is sometimes difficult to read a science passage

C．the six steps are helpful in learning spoken English

D．interesting stories help readers to improve their English

【小题3】 The massage is mainly about _________.

A．steps of studying science	B．difficulties in reading science
C．ways of reading science passages	D．researches on science and English