Q:

I’d like to know about fluency．What can I do to feel better when I’m talking to other people? Do you have some ways to learn it faster? Please help me!　　　—Roberto in Brazil

A:

Roberto wants to know how to become more fluent in English, and this is something you want to be able to do “fast”．

First, if you get to meet English speakers much, the important rule is to listen not just to native speakers of English, but also to very good users of English．If you don’t, then listen to the radio, TV or films in English．

The next step is to notice what it is that speakers of English do, which makes them sound fluent．The first trick(诀窍) is to probably have confidence．Some people think they might make mistakes．Don’t worry about that．Your listeners will usually try hard to understand you — a few grammar mistakes aren’t going to worry them．

What you do need to worry about is pronunciation, especially stress(重音)．When you learn a new word or expression, learn it with its stress．Notice how a native speaker says it or look it up in a dictionary．

Another good thing that speakers of English do is to have a few tricks up their sleeves(袖子) for when they need to give themselves thinking time．Sometimes they use “filler sounds” like er, um and so on．

It is also useful to know how to bring other speakers into your conversation so that you keep them interested － and this is often done by asking questions like “What do you think?” “How do you feel about this?” and so on．

So, to become a fluent speaker, you’ll need to put into practice all these kinds of things．And there’s the key: practise, practise, practise．　　　　　　　　　　　　　－Susan Fearn

56．Susan first encourages English learners to       ．

A．meet English speakers     B．listen to very good speakers

C．talk to English speakers   D．buy a radio or a TV set

57．When mentioning pronunciation, Susan pays special attention to    ．

A．stress B．expressions      C．dictionaries      D．words

58．What do the underlined words “to have a few tricks up their sleeves” probably mean?

A．To wear a lot of clothes．                   

B．To have a secret plan or idea．

C．To hide some tricks into their sleeves． 

D．To have sleeves covering their whole arms．

59．What do we know from the passage?

A．One can only learn stress from dictionaries．

B．Grammar mistakes worry one’s listeners a lot．

C．Asking questions can make one’s conversation attractive．

D．One can become fluent if one practises one of the suggestions．

Below is some advice on how to prevent cancer:

8 Ways to Avoid Cancer in Your Life

1. Eat Blueberries

Aside from being a healthy and delicious snack, blueberries contain pterostilbene, which has important colon（结肠） cancer-fighting prosperities. But wait, it gets better. Blueberries also offer a large dose of vitamins C (14 milligrams per cup). So at breakfast, try to take in a cup and a half of blueberries in your cereal or yogurt, or mixed with other berries.

2. Drink Pomegranate（石榴）Juice

The deep red juice of the pomegranate contains polyphenols, isoflavones and ellagic acid, which together create a powerful anticancer mixture. Most recently, researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison has discovered that 16 ounces of pomegranate juice per day also may inhibit the growth of lung cancer.

3. Relax

Feeling stressed or worried? Find ways to relax and you may reduce your chances of developing cancer. Purdue University researchers tracked 1,600 men over 12 years and found that half of those with high levels of worry died during the study period. Only 20 percent of the optimists died before the study were completed, while 34 percent of the extremely anxious men died of some type of cancer. Instead of stressing about the past or future, focus on the present and relax!

4. Take Selenium（硒）

Selenium is well known for its cancer-fighting properties. In a study of almost 1,000 men, researchers from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that when men with the lowest initial levels of selenium in their bodies received a daily supplement over a 4 year period, they cut their prostate（前列腺） cancer risk by a remarkable 92 percent. However, it is possible to get too much of a good thing, so monitor your intake of selenium-containing supplements, Brazil nuts, tuna, meats and grains carefully.

5. Eat Sushi（寿司）

Seaweed may not be your idea of a great snack, but it is high in fiber, calcium and iron, and dry, roasted seaweed sheets used in sushi provide the additional benefits of vitamins A and C. Sushi rolls are also high in protein— a typical spicy tuna roll has only 290 calories but packs 24 grams of protein. So don’t skimp（节省）on the Sushi!

6. Enjoy the Outdoors

Vitamin D causes early death of cancer cells. A study published in the American Journey of Clinical Nutrition reported that women who supplemented their diets with 1,000 international. Units of vitamin D every day had a 60 percent to 77 percent lower incidence of cancer ever a four-year period that did women taking a placebo(无效对照剂). Experts recommend supplementing your fun in the sun with 1,100 to 2,000IU of vitamin D each day.

7. Breathe Clean Air

There’s no question that secondhand smoke kills. A recent American Journal of Public Health study showed that nonsmokers working in smoky places had three times the amount of carcinogen（致癌物质） in their urine（尿） than nonsmokers working in smoke-free locations. What’s worse, their levels of the carcinogen rose 6 percent for every hour worked. Nine states have banned smoking in all workplaces, bars and restaurants. The message is clear: Do whatever you can to avoid the cloud of smoke.

8. Break a Sweat

Even a small amount of exercise can offer major cancer-fighting benefits. In a study of 29,110 men published in the International Journal of Cancer, men who exercised just once a week had a percent lower risk of metastasis(转移性) prostate cancer than men who didn’t work out at all. The better the frequency, duration and intensity of the exercise, the bigger the reduction in risk, according to the study.

1.To prevent yourself from catching colon cancer, you should eat ____ as often as possible.

A．sushi

B．blueberries

C．pomegranates

D．Vitamin D

2.A person is very likely to catch some type of cancer if ______.

A．he is very fond of exercise every day.

B．he is addicted to smoking

C．he is always feeling extremely stressed or worried

D．he likes to have meals in restaurants

3._____ will remarkably reduce the risk of men’s prostate cancer.

A．Having a daily supplement of selenium

B．Drinking a cup of pomegranate juice every day

C．Breathing fresh air now and then

D．Taking exercise at least once a week

4.If you want to keep cancer away, it is particularly important to ______.

A．have a daily supplement of vitamins B and C

B．try to ignore the secondhand smoking

C．take in as many selenium-containing supplements as possible

D．having exercise as often as possible

 

You either have it , or you don’t –a sense of direction ,that is．But why is it that some people could find their way across the Sahara without a map ,while others can lose themselves in the next street?

         Scientists say we’re all born with a sense of direction ,but it is not property understood how it works．One theory is that people with a good sense of direction have simply worked harder at developing it．Research being carried out at Liverpool University supports this idea and suggests that if we don’t use it．we lose it．

         “Children as young as seven have the ability to find their way around．” says Jim Martland．Research Director of the project．“However if they are not allowed out alone or are taken everywhere by car ,they never develop the skills”

         Jim Martland also emphasizes that young people should be taught certain skills to improve their sense of direction．He makes the following suggestions．

         ●If you are using a map ,turn it so it relates to the way you are facing．

         ●If you leave your bike in a strange place ,put it near something like a big stone or a tree．

Note landmarks on the route as you go away from your bike．When you return ,go back

along the same route

         ●Simplify the way of finding your direction by using lines such as streets in a town,

streams ,or walls in the countryside to guide you．Count your steps so that you know how

far you have gone and note any landmarks such as tower blocks or hills which can help to

find out where you are．

         Now you need never get lost again!

60．Scientists believe that       ．

         A．some babies are born with a sense of direction

         B．people learn a sense of direction as they grow older

         C．people never lose their sense of direction

         D．everybody posses a sense of direction from birth

61．What is true of seven-year-old children according to the passage?

         A．They never have a sense of direction without maps．

         B．They should never be allowed out alone if they lack a sense of direction．

         C．They have a sense of direction and can find their way around．

         D．They can develop a good sense of direction if they are driven around in a car．

62．If you leave your bike in a strange place ,you should     ．

         A．tie it to a tree so as to prevent it from being stolen

         B．draw a map of the route to help remember where it is

         C．avoid taking the same route when you come back in it

         D．remember something easily recognizable on the route

63．According to the passage the best way to find your way around is to    ．

         A．ask policemen for directions

         B．use walls．streams , and streets to guide yourself．

         C．remember your route by looking out for steps and stairs．

         D．count the number of landmarks that you see．

 

B

To master a language one must be able to speak and understand the spoken language as well as to read and write. Lenin and his wife Krupskaya translated a long English book into Russian. But when they went to England in 1902, English people couldn’t understand a word they said and they couldn’t understand what was said to them. These days more and more foreigners are coming to China and more Chinese are going out to foreign countries to work or study. So the spoken language is becoming more and more important.

Speaking, of course, can’t go without listening. If you want to pronounce a word correctly, first you must hear it correctly. The sounds of the Chinese and English languages are not exactly the same. If you don’t listen carefully, you’ll find it difficult or even impossible to understand the native speakers.

Well, what about writing? Like speaking, it’s to cachange ideas. People generally use shorter words and shorter sentences in their writing. The important thing is to make your idea clear in you head and then to write it in clear lively language.

Chinese students read far too slowly. If you read fast, you understand better. If you read too slowly, by the time you have reached the end of a page you have forgotten what the beginning is about. When you meet with new words, don’t look them up in the dictionary. Guess the meaning from the context(上下文). You may not guess quite correctly the first time, but as new words come up again and again in different contexts, their meaning will become clearer and clearer. If you look up every word, you’ll never finish a book.

students of a foreign language need a particular knowledge, the knowledge of the life, history and geography of the people whose language they are studying. They should study these subjects in the foreign language, not only in translation. In this way one can kill two birds with one stone: learn a foreign language and get some knowledge of the foreign country at the same time.

45. How many points are there in the passage?

A. Two.              B. Three.             C. Four.             D. Five.

46. In his first point the writer told us ________.

A. how to speak English                B. how to read and write

C. why spoken english is important        D. why English people couldn’t understand Lenin

47. In the fourth paragraph the writer gave some advice on ________.

A. how to read faster             

B. how to guess the meaning of new words from the context

C. how to look up new words in the dictionary 

D. how to grasp the general meaning of a passage

48. “one can kill two birds with one stone” means ________.

A. getting some knowledge of a country while learning its language

B. getting more than what one wants

C. the stone is too big                      

D. the birds are blind enough

 

You probably know you should say "please" and "thank you" at restaurants. You probably know the rules of a library. You know you should respect and be nice to your classmates. But do you have music manners?
Keep It Down! You have to notice the volume of your music. You should not play your music so loud that everyone around you can hear it. Some people might even get angry. Usually, when you play the music loud on an MP3 player, other people can't hear the words of the song. They just hear a loud sound. No one wants to listen to this. Very loud music can also be bad for your ears. So even if you are alone when listening to your MP3 players, you shouldn't turn it up too high.
Take Them Off! You need to know when to turn your MP3 off and put it away. Libraries, and schools don't allow MP3 players. There are other places, like museums, that don't have rules, but it would be rude to have your MP3 player on. Sometimes, it doesn't make sense to listen on your MP3 player at event. Why would you listen to music at a play, a movie or a sporting event? You would miss what is going on and others would wonder why you even came.
Take One Out! Once in a while it's okay just to take out one earphone and not the other. Imagine you are listening on your MP3 player when someone asks you the way. It would not be rude to take out one earphone, tell him the way, and put back the earphone and continue listening. You can also do this when you order food at a fast-food restaurant or when you answer the telephone
It's Your Choice! There are times when you need to decide what is best. For example, some people can listen to music on their MP3 players when reading books, while others think it is disturbing. In cases like this, you need to do what seems right for you.
【小题1】The underlined word "volume" in Paragraph 2 probably means "_________."

A．the type of music

B．the length of a song

C．the amount of a sound

D．the color of an MP3 player

【小题2】We should turn down the music when we are alone because loud music_________.

A．may annoy others

B．can hurt our ears

C．is bad for MP3 players

D．will make us tired

【小题3】If we listen to our MP3 player at a play, _________.

A．the theatre won't allow it

B．the actors will get angry

C．others won't hear the play well

D．we may miss part of the play

【小题4】We can take one earphone out when we _________.

A．show others the way

B．enjoy a movie at the cinema

C．watch a sporting event

D．answer the telephone at museums

【小题5】The main idea of this passage is about _________.

A．MP3 manners

B．music lovers

C．music players

D．MP3 earphones