As I was thinking about language learning the other day, the image of baking bread came into my mind. I compared some of the exercises and drills that we put ourselves through in order to learn a language to the various ingredients (原料) that go into baking a loaf of fresh bread.
Real language learning takes place in human relationships. No one sits down and eats a cup of flour, even if he is hungry and in a hurry. You don' t become bilingual (双语的) by learning lists of vocabulary. You don' t become a speaker of a language by memorizing grammatical rules. You become bilingual by entering a community that uses that other language as its basic means of communication.
I am not suggesting that we can make bread without ingredients. Flour is necessary, as are yeast (酵母), salt, water and other ingredients. Vocabulary is part of any language and will have to be learned. Grammatical rules exist in every language and cannot be ignored. But merely combining the appropriate ingredients in the recommended proportions does not result in bread. At best, you only end up with a ball of dough (面团).
In order to get bread, you have to apply heat to the dough. And in language learning, that heat comes from the community. Anyone who has learned a second language has experienced that heat. It creeps up your neck when you ask the babysitter, “Have you already been eaten?” when you meant to say, ‘‘Have you already eaten?” When you try to say something quite innocent and the whole room bursts into laughter, you are experiencing the heat that turns raw dough into good bread.
Remember the old saying, “If you can’ t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". This is where language learning often breaks down because we find the heat uncomfortable and we stop the baking process. In other words, we can' t stand the heat, so we get out of the kitchen.
However, the language learner who stays in the kitchen—in the heat—until the combined
ingredients are thoroughly transformed will enjoy the richness of a quality loaf of bread. He is glad that he did not "get out of the kitchen” at the important moment when the oven seemed too hot.
Now
the baker enjoys good bread, seated at the table with family members and
guests. However, he does not focus on "bread" but rather on enjoying
the whole feast: fine salads, pastas, fresh vegetables, rich desserts and so
on. And the language learner has arrived when he no longer needs to focus on
language. Language merely becomes one element in the "feast" of
membership in his chosen community. 
Sheep Smarter than Thought
London—Sheep, like turkeys and ostriches, are not considered the most clever animals. British scientists said last Wednesday humans may have underestimated the woolly creature. They could be much smarter than we think.
Researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, southern England, have shown that the animals have a good memory system and are extremely good at recognizing faces—which they think is a sure sign of intelligence.
Behavioral scientist Keith Kendrick and his friends trained 20 sheep to recognize and distinguish 25 pairs of sheep faces and used electrodes (电极) to measure their brain activity , which showed they could remember 50 faces for up to two years .
“If they can do that with faces, they have to have reasonable intelligence; otherwise, what is the point of having a system for remembering faces and not remembering anything else?” Kendrick said in an interview.
So hours of seemingly mindless eating grass may not be so mindless after all.
Kendrick believes sheep got their reputation as dumb (unable to speak, unintelligent) animals because they live in large groups and do not appear to have much individuality and are frightened of just about everything.
“All animals, including humans, once they are frightened, don’t tend to show signs of intelligent action,” he explained.
In research reported in the science journal Nature, Kendrick and his team showed that sheep, like humans, have a specialized system in the brain which allows them to distinguish between many different faces which look extremely similar.
“The most important finding (of the study) is that they are able , both from a behavioral point of view and from looking at the way the brain is organized , to remember a large number of individuals for a very long time,” said Kendrick. “It is a very strange system. They are showing similar abilities in many ways to humans.”
1.From the first paragraph we can find that______. .
A．people used to think sheep are smarter than the other animals
B．people used to raise sheep in a wrong way
C．people don’t consider sheep as clever animals
D．people have done a lot of research on sheep
2.From what Kendrick said in the interview we learn that_____. .
A．scientists have learned everything about sheep’s intelligence
B．scientists have learned a little about sheep’s intelligence
C．scientists can’t do anything more about sheep’s memory
D．scientists do not have to research animals’ memory
3.As is known in the passage,__________.
A．sheep are among the week animals
B．it is not right for people to raise sheep in groups
C．when sheep eat grass in the field their minds may be active
D．if people feel frightened, they may become braver
About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table, I couldn't help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked, “So, how have you been?” And the boy—who could not have been more than seven or eight years old—replied. “Frankly, I've been feeling a little depressed lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn't find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low spirits, until we were in high school.
Undoubtedly a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don't seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.
Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?
Human development depends not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of gaining social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new social positions. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages; traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation（揭示） machine has been equipped in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation （诱惑）, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more attractive moving pictures.
Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information which children will gain. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.
1. According to the author, feeling depressed is ____________.
A. a sure sign of a mental problem in a child
B. a mental state present in all humans, including children
C. something that cannot be avoided in children's mental development
D. something hardly to be expected in a young child
2.According to the author, that today's children seem adult-like results from ____________.
A. the widespread influence of television
B. the poor arrangement of teaching content
C. the fast pace of human scientific development
D. the rising standard of living
3. What does the author think of communication through print for children?
A. It enables children to gain more social information.
B. It develops children's interest in reading and writing.
C. It helps children to read and write well.
D. It can control what children are to learn.
4. What does the author think of the change in today's children?
A. He feels their adult-like behavior is so funny.
B. He thinks the change worthy of note.
C. He considers it a rapid development.
D. He seems to be upset about it.
The American book Who Moved My Cheese has been a bestseller all over the world. It teaches people how to face changes in their lives. Now its author Spence Johnson has written a book just for teens. The book tells us that when facing change in our lives, like a new school or new friends, don't be afraid. Instead, use this change to make a better life. The book gives an example of a change at school. A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because there are too many students.
Several teens are talking about this. Most of them are unhappy and worried. But Chris is not. He laughs and tells a story about two mice, two “little people” and some cheese.
The four are in a maze looking for the cheese. Here, cheese means something important in life, like moving to a new class or getting into college. But they find the cheese is gone. The mice realize that they can’t change what has happened and have to find more cheese. This means finding different dreams. The little people, however, can’t do this. They are afraid of change so they find no cheese.
After Chris finishes the story, the friends understand one thing: to get more cheese, move in a new direction quickly. His friends understand how this can be used in the changes all teens face, such as doing well at school or having good relationships or just feeling good about yourself.
1.The book Who Moved My Cheese is __________.
A. written all over the world B. read across the world
C. sold only in America D. loved only by teens
2.What does the text mainly discuss?
A. Never change in our life. B. Change whenever you like .
C. Change with the changes. D. Pay attention to the changes,
3. The underline word “four”（paragraph 3） refers to __________.
A. mice and little people B. students
C. cheese D. readers
4. In our lives, we should learn from __________.
A. mice B. little people C. Chris D. Spence Johnson
完形填空（共20小题，每小题 1.5 分，满分 30 分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选取出适合填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
When my son unexpectedly volunteered for the Marines, I was busy writing my novels and giving little thought to the men and women in the army.
My son, John Schaeffer, recently came home _36__ from the Middle East. He slowly appeared from a broken car; John _37__ all night from a base near Washington, _38__ he had landed the day before. He did not want me to 39___ him there. “I’ll need time to myself,” my son said _40__ calling from Kuwait on the way home.
I gave my wife a head start. Mother_41__ son, “I was so worried”, Genie said. She pulled away to look up again and again to _42___ he was really there.
My wife gave me a great gift: _43__ alone with my boy. John was tired and lay _44__ on his bed. I lay down next to him and was grasping his hand the whole time. I just wanted to be certain that the nightmares I’d had about John being killed were _45__ .
I kept holding my son, the way I _46__ when he was two and came into our bed after a _47__ dream. I asked John if he’d rather sleep than talk, and he said there would be time for 48___ later.
With the 49___ over, under and around me came incredible tiredness. I slept with his voice dying away. It was the first good _50__ I’d had in months. I woke and John was asleep next to me. Sitting by his bed watching him breathe, I found myself praying and _51__ for all the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands and wives of those who were not coming home. For the first time in my life, I was weeping for _52___.
Before my son went to war I would never have shed tears for them .My son _53__ me. He taught me that our men and women in uniform are not the _54__”. They are our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. Sometimes shedding ears for strangers is a holy _55___. Sometimes it’s all we can do.
1. A. angry B. excited C. frightened D. alive
2. A. drove B. was driving C. had driven D. would have driven
3. A. where B. when C. which D. who
4. A. meet B. congratulate C. permit D. accept
5. A. once B. when C. unless D. since
6. A. abolished B. patted C. rated D. embraced
7. A. make sure B. set down C. get across D. make sense
8. A. period B. chance C. time D. moment
9. A. hesitated B. stretched C. supporting D. spreading
10. A. facts B. truth C. proofs D. lies
11. A. used to B. ought to C. should D. must
12. A. happy B. cheerful C. scary D. sleep
13.A. advice B. discussion C. talk D. sleep
14. A. chat B. worries C. meeting D. curiosity
15. A. conversation B. observation C. sleep D. independence
16. A. crying B. marching C. screaming D. regretting
17. A. friends B. neighbors C. strangers D. soldiers
18. A. persuaded B. changed C. frightened D. arrested
19. A. another B. other C. others D. one
20. A. function B. adventure C. shame D. duty
Had the weather been good, the children ____ out for a walk.
A. had gone B. could have gone C. would go D. went
