Try reading the following sentences as fast as you can. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.”

Not very easy, was it? What you’ve just read is called a tongue twister (绕口令). It is an exercise made up of sounds that are hard to pronounce(发音，读) in order to help people pronounce words faster and more correctly. Try the next example.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Pete Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”

Tongue twisters usually do not have much meaning. They are just designed to improve people’s ability  to pronounce words. Although they may be very difficult, these exercises are very important to people who are trying to speak English correctly. This is because tongue twisters help people to tell the differences between similar sounds.

So if you wish to pronounce words more smoothly, you’d better try picking out some tongue twisters and practicing them.

1.Tongue twisters are helpful in improving ___________ skills.

A. listening        B. writing      C. pronunciation     D. communication

2.The first tongue twister is hard because ___________.

A. it is very boring to read            B. it teaches us a lot of knowledge

C. we don’t know who “she” is        D. the sounds of “s” and “sh” are similar

3.The passage is probably taken from _________ in a school newspaper.

A. Story Time          B. Study Garden

C. Latest News          D. Lost and Found

Wang Jiaming from Beijing Chenjinglun High School says he is a lucky boy .He’s happy that he’s sitting the senior high school entrance exam in2014 instead of 2016.

On October 22,Beijing Municipal Commission of Education* announced that, from 2016,the English scores in the senior high school entrances exam will be reduced* from 120 to 100.Of the 100 points, the listening ability scores will increase to 50.Meanwhile, the points for Chinese will increase from 120 to 150.

“The change won’t affect me. I fell so lucky because English is my strongest subject,’’ said Wang. Why such a change? It places the importance on Chinese in our study and reduces students’ pressure, said Li Yi, a spokesman of the commission.

“The change will also push us to pay attention to the practical usage of English.,’’ said Li. “Students will be encouraged to learn to understand English menus and read English news on mobile phones.”

There isn’t news that other cities will have the same change. But several places are making changes to English tests in the college entrance exams.

For example, Shandong is considering taking out the listening part of the English exam in its Gaokao. But, “ being tested for less points doesn’t mean the subject can be taken lightly,” Bai Ping wrote in China Daily.

English has long been the world’s most commonly used language. Wang Jiaming said he understood the change.

“Chinese, not English, is our mother tongue*,” he said. “ but still, I think English is both interesting and useful.”

1. In the Beijing senior high school entrances exam of 2016, the English scores will be cut down to __________.

A. 50                 B.  100            C. 120           D. 150

2. Wang Jiaming feels lucky because _______

A. the exam change from 2016 doesn’t affect him

B. he doesn’t need to take the important exam

C. Chinese is his strongest subject

D. he is not good at chemistry

3.The sentence “ being tested for less points doesn’t mean the subject can be taken lightly,” in the passage means ______________

A. the students can spend less time on English.

B. it’s harder to for the students get a high score.

C. English is not as important and useful as before

D. studying English is still important for the students.

4. What is the main purpose of the change?

A. To encourage students to learn how to order meals in English.

B. To make students to learn to read English news on mobile phones.

C. To ask students to prepare for the college entrance exam.

D. To make students pay more attention to learn Chinese.