Hi Mary,

       Thank you for writing to me and I will try to give you some ideas about improving（提高） your written English. The bad news, of course, is that there is no e   77    way to do this. It takes work.

       Improving your English, like getting better at anything else, means lots of practice. I think you already know enough words and grammar in English to make sentences and to understand English, and the problem you have is as the problem all Chinese students have when they learn English. You go to English class a couple of times a week and the rest of the time you speak Chinese. If you come to Canada, your English would improve very         q  78    because you would use it all day, every day. It’s just practice.

       To improve your writing in English, you should do the following t   79    things. First, you should try to read English as much as possible. It doesn’t matter what you read, so pick something that interests you. Reading English will show you how English words are used together, how English speakers express themselves and so on, so you can learn a lot from that. Then you should practice writing. Ask your teacher if you can get extra assignments and write things like short stories. Your teacher can s   80    you where you make mistakes and how to correct them. You can also write more letters to English speakers on the Internet (I will be happy to exchange letters with you if that will help). Don’t worry if you make mistakes     b  81    that is how you learn.

       You say you can not obey your plans. In English we say, “Plan the work, work the plan.” You need a plan and then you need to follow your plan to improve.

I hope these ideas are u   82   . I wish you luck, and if you want to write to me I will be happy to try to help you. We can talk about China, about Canada or anything else you like.  

Best wishes,

Brad Flankin

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　　There is one common language in every country in the world. 1 , old and young, men and women, must use it. It's everybody's 2 language. It's easy 3 although you don't hear 4 . It's sign language.

　　When you wave to a friend, you 5 sign language. When you smile 6 someone, you mean to be 7 . When you raise your hand 8 you are saying, “Please ask me. I know the correct answer.” When you 9 one finger 10 your mouth, you mean “ 11 ” 12 deaf(聋的) use sign language 13 each other. There is even 14 university for the deaf in the United States. There are also TV programmes for the deaf people. They use 15 language to tell everything.

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Mr. Brown was a nice teacher．He taught ns science。In the first class，he gave us a talk on an animal called“birdcat”which had died out（灭绝）during the Ice Age．He passed around a skull（头骨）as he was talking．We all took notes carefully and later we had an exam on it．

    When he returned my paper the next day, I found there was a big red“X”on it．I falled! I couldn’t believe my eves! There must be some mistakes! 一 I wrote down exactly what Mr. Brown said．But then I learned that everyone in the class failed．What had happened?

    Very simple! Mr. Brown said that he had made up（编造）all that“birdcat”and there had never been such an animal．So the information in our notes was incorrect．

    But We all felt that was unfair．What kind of exam was this? And what kind of teacher was he?

    “You should have figured it out,”Mr. Brown said．“Actually, the‘birdcat’skull was a cat’s．”Hadn’t he been telling us no other findings about this animal except the skull? He had told us many unbelievable（难以置信）things about the animal，such as the size，the color, the diet…．but none of us had questioned him!

    Mr. Brown said he hoped we would learn something from that lesson．Teachers and textbooks are not always correct．In fact no one is．He told us not to let our minds go to sleep．and to speak up if we ever thought he or file textbook was wrong．

    Mr. Brown's class let me and my classmates learn something important：never fear to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong．

（   ）1．Mr. Brown was a _______teacher．

    A．math                   B．history                 C．science                  D．music

（   ）2．Why did the writer fall the exam?

    A．Because the exam was too difficult．

    B．Because he didn’t answer the questions according to what Mr. Brown said。

    C．Because Mr. Brown made some mistakes．

    D．Because the information in the answers was incorrect．

（   ）3．The underlined part“figured it out”probably means“________”．

    A．wrote it down      B．found it out          C．took it out              D．talked about it

（   ）4．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

    A．The writer’s classmates passed the exam，but the writer didn’t．

    B．Mr. Brown found fire“birdcat”skull himself and he succeeded．

    C．During the talk on“birdcat”，some students questioned the teacher

    D．The teacher encouraged us to question what he said arid tell the truth bravely．

（   ）5．Which is the best title for this passage'?

    A．A Birdcat’s Skull                                     B．A Strange Animal

    C．An Unforgettable Exam                               D．An Unfair Teacher