阅读理解

　　Here are a few tips we’ve put together to help you learn English well．

　　Tip 1　Speak, speak, speak!

　　Practise speaking as often as you can－even speaking to yourself is good practice．

　　Try recording yourself whenever you can．Compare your pronunciation with the master version, see how you can do better and have another go．If you do this several times, you will find that each version is better than the last．

　　Tip 2　Why not learn with someone else?

　　It helps if you can learn with someone else．If you can persuade a friend or family member to study with you, it will make you keep working．Agree times to meet and set goals for the week, and test each other regularly．

　　Tip 3　Don’t get stuck by a word you don’t know

　　Ptactise improvising(即兴的)ways of getting your meaning across when speaking spontaneously(本能地), even if you don’t know the exact words or phrases．Think of things you might want to say whenever you have spare time．A basic example is the rise of tenses．If you don’t know the past tense but want to talk about yesterday, use the verb in the present tense and use the word for “yesterday”．Use facial expression, hand movements, anything to get your meaning across．

　　Tip 4　Language learning is also about intuition(直觉)

　　Guesswork is an important strategy in learning a new language．When listening to recorded material, you aren’t expected to understand everything first time round．If you play the same piece several times, you will most probably understand something new each time．Learn to make maximum use of all the clues you can pick up．For example, what do the speakers sound like? Happy? Angry? Calm? etc．

　　Tip 5　Build up your vocabulary

　　A wide vocabulary is the key to successful language learning but don’t try to learn too much at once．It’s best to study frequently, for short periods of time．Take a maximum of six or seven items of vocabulary and learn them．Put them into sentences to fix them in your mind, then come back to them later．Much of the vocabulary in the course is presented by topic．

　　And above all, have fun!

完形填空

　　About once a month I have to go to Degford for my work．One day I went into a restaurant there to have something to 　　1　　．The waiter took my coat and put it in a small room．

　　About an hour later I was ready to go．The waiter brought my coat to me．Suddenly something fell out of the pocket onto the floor．It was a small white box．Then I took a good look at the 　　2　　．“Oh, you’ve brought someone else’s coat,” I said to the waiter．“It looks very much like mine, 　　3　　 it is quite new, and this isn’t my box, either．” “Oh, then I suppose someone has taken your coat and left this,” said the waiter．“This kind of thing 　　4　　 sometimes．”

　　I opened the box．There was a beautiful gold ring in it．So I went 　　5　　 to the police station．

　　“Has anyone lost a ring?” I asked．“Yes,” said a policeman．“A young man who came in this morning lost a ring．He lost it in London．” He 　　6　　 the young man．A few minutes later, the man arrived．“Yes, this is my ring,” he said．“How can I thank you, sir?You see, I paid a lot of money for this ring and 　　7　　 I lost it on the train!”

　　After I told him the story of the coat, he said, “You haven’t been on the train．I haven’t been in the hotel．So how 　　8　　 my ring in the coat?”

　　“Did 　　9　　 sit or stand next to you on the train?” asked the policeman．

　　“Yes,” said the young man, “But I don’t remember his face．”

　　“You may remember this coat,” said the policeman．“Was it like this one?”

　　“Yes, it was,” said the young man．“But the friend here 　　10　　 the thief．”

　　The policeman laughed．“No,” he said, “the thief on the train stole your ring, and like our friend here, he went into the hotel to get some food．Only he didn’t take the right coat away with him．”