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

77. e________ 78. q________ 79. t________ 80. s________ 81. b________ 82. u________

选词填空。从方框中选出可以填入文中空白处的选项，并将其填入短文后相应题号的横线上。（其中有两个选项是多余的）

   When learning new vocabulary, don’t just memorize a list of words．Instead, try to __1__ five

complete sentences using each new word．Then use the new word as __2__ as you can the first

day you learn it．This way you will remember new words __3__ longer．

   Practicing sounds, you know, is difficult—the “th” sound, for example．Choose words that

begin __4__ “th” and practice them over and over again __5__ you are comfortable with them．Let’s try! This, that, those, them, think, thought, through, thin, thick…

   Read, read, read in English, of course! Reading is one of the __6__ ways to improve your

vocabulary and grammar in a natural way．Be sure to __7__ topics or books you are interested

in．

   When someone is talking in English, listen to the main point．If you __8__ a word you don’t

understand, ignore（忽略）it and go on __9__．If you __10__ think about the word, you will miss

everything the person is saying．

   Always remember: Practice makes perfect．

Is learning a foreign language ever easy? Yes. If you are five and move to another country, you will quickly pick up the language. But what about for the rest of us who are no longer five, and need to be polite when traveling for business or for pleasure? I think that answer is also yes. Language learning can be easy if you don’t want or need to learn too much.
The key to successful language learning in my mind is not to set the goal too high. It is rather like running. Even if you run twice a week, you don’t necessarily want to be able to run a marathon (马拉松). You might just want to keep a level of fitness. I think the same can be true for language learning.
Let’s get back to the goal. If you decide to learn ten words in a foreign language before visiting the country, you know that you will be sure to do this. However, if you decide to talk to people with great fluency (流利), unless you are quite a talented person, you will probably fail and give up in half-way.
It is also far easier to start learning a foreign language than to finish. In other words, the better you are, the slower it can be to improve, because you will not be able to move further because of grammar, making sentences, learning less common words, etc. If you are only trying to learn a few foreign words and sentences, you will enjoy faster progress, have more fun, and won’t have to spend too much time.
The idea of learning only a few hundred words in a language, and then stopping, isn’t the usual way to language learning, but it can be a very meaningful and enjoyable activity.
【小题1】In the writer’s opinion, it is easy for adults to learn English if _______.

Is learning a foreign language ever easy? Yes. If you are five and move to another country, you will quickly pick up the language. But what about for the rest of us who are no longer five, and need to be polite when traveling for business or for pleasure? I think that answer is also yes. Language learning can be easy if you don’t want or need to learn too much.

The key to successful language learning in my mind is not to set the goal too high. It is rather like running. Even if you run twice a week, you don’t necessarily want to be able to run a marathon (马拉松). You might just want to keep a level of fitness. I think the same can be true for language learning.

Let’s get back to the goal. If you decide to learn ten words in a foreign language before visiting the country, you know that you will be sure to do this. However, if you decide to talk to people with great fluency (流利), unless you are quite a talented person, you will probably fail and give up in half-way.

It is also far easier to start learning a foreign language than to finish. In other words, the better you are, the slower it can be to improve, because you will not be able to move further because of grammar, making sentences, learning less common words, etc. If you are only trying to learn a few foreign words and sentences, you will enjoy faster progress, have more fun, and won’t have to spend too much time.

The idea of learning only a few hundred words in a language, and then stopping, isn’t the usual way to language learning, but it can be a very meaningful and enjoyable activity.

1.In the writer’s opinion, it is easy for adults to learn English if _______.

A．they are especially talented people

B．they don’t want or need to learn too much

C．they have to spend a lot of time on it

D．they have a chance to go abroad

2.The writer believes that if you want to be good at a foreign language, you will probably _______.

A．forget your own goals

B．become a talented language learner

C．get tired of learning it

D．reach your learning goal

3.The best title of this passage would be _______.

A．Easy Language Learning                   B．Hard Language Learning

C．Fluency in a Foreign Language              D．A way of Language Learning