A rabbit is running into his hole. You may ask, “What happened?”
Well, when a rabbit sees something dangerous, it runs away. Its tail moves up and down as it runs. When other rabbits see this tail moving up and down, they ran, too. They know there is danger. The rabbit has told them something without making a sound. It has given them a signal.
Many other animals use this kind of language. When a bee finds some food, it goes back to his home. It can’t tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does dance in the air. This tells the bees where the food is.
But animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks, for examples, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs(发出呼噜呼噜的声音) when pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning.
But human beings have something that no animals have---- a large number of words about things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other information to tell or inform other people what is in our mind or how we feel. By writing words down we can remind ourselves of the things that have happened, or send messages to people far away. No animals can do this. No animals has the wonderful power of language.
No one knows how man learned to make words. Somehow he learned to make them. As centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.
People in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. A very large English dictionary, for examples, contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we don’t know all these. The words we know are called vocabulary. We should try to make our vocabulary larger. Read as many books as possible. When we met a new word, look it up in the dictionary. A dictionary is the most useful book.
【小题1】What’s the meaning of the underlined word?

Complete the following passage with the words or phrases in the box. Each can only be used once (将下列单词或词组填入空格。每空格限填一词，每词只能填一次)? (共8分)

Maybe everyone has trouble in learning new words. It is not easy to remember and use them?? 1.?? . The following suggestions will help you a lot.

It can be a good idea to divide the new words into groups according to the meanings. Thinking about the connections(联系) between words may help you to remember them. The more you practice, the better you will use them. You can also write a list of some new words. Express your ideas with them and discuss the ?? 2.?? of these words as much as possible. However, there is one more thing you should pay attention to. Don’t try to learn ?? 3.?? many words at one time. Choose several important ones to you. Repeat their pronunciations, spellings as well as their meanings in your mind. Learn ?? 4.? every day and you will learn a lot in a few years. It is the skills that can make you learn new words easily. It is the skills that can help you know more words quickly.

  We use the Internet for many things: business, shopping, writing letters, talking to people, finding information and so on. In recent years a new kind of English has grown on the Internet. There’s no real word for it yet, so we’ll call it e-talk. People don’t like typing too much. To save time, they turn phrases into a few letters called acronyms. Acronyms are often used in chat rooms. Some of them are
BTW (by the way)        BRB (be right back)
LOL (laughing out loud)    IMO (in my opinion)
People also use many abbreviations(缩写). They are shortened forms of words. Some common abbreviations are:
Info(information)       puter (computer)
Pie(picture)           sec (second)
We usually don’t see people when we communicate on the Net, so people have new ways to show feelings. Most people use their keywords to draw “feeling”, such as:
:-)(happy)    :-p(joking)   :-( (sad)    :-0 (surprised)
These days, many forums(论坛) have picture feelings. For example,

(sad)      (happy)
There are even whole new words, like“newbie’s”(someone who is new on a chat board or forum).
It takes time for people to get used to e-talk. Also, different groups on the Net have their own special ways of communicating. Newbie’s have to ask other people what they mean. As the Internet grows, e-talk will continue to grow and change.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “acronyms” mean?

No one knows how man learned to make words. Perhaps he began by making sounds like those made by animals. Perhaps he grunted like a pig when he lifted something heavy. Perhaps he made sounds like those he heard all round him—water splashing, bees humming, a stone falling to the ground. Somehow he learned to make words. As the centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.

People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. Each contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not need all these. Only a few thousand words are used in everyday life. The words you know are called your vocabulary. You should try to make your vocabulary larger. Read as many books as you can. There are plenty of books written in easy language. Your dictionary is your most useful book.

1. What do we mean by language?

A. Sounds made by man.???????

B. All the words made by man.

C. Different kinds of sound.?????

D. The way man learns.

2. Form the passage we know that long long ago________.

A. no one learned how to make sounds or words

B. animals taught man to learn the language

C. man learned the language by lifting heavy things, falling to the ground,and so on

D. man followed a lot of things in nature to make sounds and words

3. What is the number of languages spoken in the world today?

A. 500. ????????????? ????????????? B. 5,000.????????????? ????????????? C. 1,500.????????????? ????????????? D. 15,000.

4.In which sentence can the word "contain(s)" be put so that it is a right one?

A. I________ several dictionaries. ????????????? B. Sea water________ salt.

C. A dog _______ four legs.????? ????????????? D. Mr. Smith _____ glasses on his nose.

5. Which of the followings is the best if we want to make our vocabulary larger?

A. To read more books.????????????? ????????????? ???

B. To use the words in everyday life.

C. To use the words in class.????? ?????????????

D. To write the words.