Although many Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is good, most would admit that their spoken English is poor. Whenever I speak to a Chinese student, they always say, “My spoken English is poor.” __51__ I would like to suggest that there may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.
First, they fail to find suitable words to express themselves due to a limited vocabulary.__52__ However, you can speak with a limited vocabulary, if you choose a positive attitude. Others will follow you as long as you use the words that you know.
__53__ Sometimes they make mistakes when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. Yet students should remember that their goal should be FLUENCY NOT ACCURACY. Your aim in writing is to be accurate following the rules for grammar and using the right words and spelling them correctly. However, in speaking your aim is fluency. You want to get your message across, to talk to someone in English, as quickly and as well as you can, even though sometimes you may use a wrong word or tense, but it doesn't matter.__54__
The third reason is that not enough attention is paid to listening. You have one mouth but two ears! All that hearing is necessary for you to start speaking.
Fourth, most Chinese students are reactive rather than proactive(主动的) language learners. Instead of actively seeking out opportunities to improve their spoken English they passively wait for speaking opportunities to come to them and wonder why their English always remains poor.__55__.
A．The person you are speaking to will understand you and make allowances for any mistakes he hears.
B. They may try to avoid making similar mistakes next time.
C. Obviously the better answer is to expand their vocabulary.
D. If you have this proactive outlook, then you will see English opportunities wherever you go.
E. However, their spoken English does not have to remain “poor”！
F. Second, they are afraid of making mistakes.
G. The second reason lies in the reluctance of using what has just been learned.
Two graduates from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom found themselves about to graduate, yet with loans to pay off. The pair decided to begin a strange, year-long project to battle their debt.
The men, Ross Harper and Ed Moyse, set up the site BuyMyFace.co.uk. last October as a way to get rid of the $80,000 they shared as student loans. The idea behind the project was to earn money by selling their faces as advertising space every day for a year. Each day, they advertise a different business on their site by painting the brand's logo or name on their faces and including a link to the company’s site. After they paint their faces and publish them on the site, Harper and Moyse go out to highly populated areas such as music festivals and theme parks to maximize their faces’ exposure.
At this time, Harper and Moyse have advertised their faces for over four months without skipping a day and they're more than halfway to their goal. Though they first started charging a minimum of about USD $1.60 per company, the prices have risen as their popularity increased. For advertising space during the remainder of April, they range between USD $250 and $750.
Terri L. Rittenburg, associate professor of marketing at the University of Wyoming, said she had heard of people tattooing (纹身) logos on themselves before, but this idea is much better. According to her, at first the idea would be new and novel and attract attention, but she is unsure how long it would last.
At least for now, companies that have bought Harper and Moyse’s faces have written positive comments on the pair’s website. “We had a three percent increase in website traffic on the very day and for two days more afterwards,” said an alcoholic beverage company.
1.Which of the following was most possibly taken from the website BuyMyFace.co.uk.?
A. B. C. D.
2. Harper and Moyse go to highly populated areas to _____.
A. have fun B. make friends C. show their faces D. find new customers
3.We can infer from the article that the two men _____.
A. must have earned more than $40,000
B. aren’t getting on well with their project
C. may close their site next month
D. always work hard except on holidays
There was one thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy traffic．At present, we realize that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is really worldwide．On several occasions over the past decade，a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the east of the United States and brought health warnings in distant areas away from any industrial cities．In fact，the very climate of the entire earth may be infected by air pollution．Some scientists consider that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels(coal and oil)is creating a “greenhouse effect”—— keeping heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature．If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York，Boston，Miami，and New Orleans will be in water．
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particular matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature—a result that would be equally disastrous．A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age，and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas．Today we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen．Perhaps，if we are lucky enough，the two tendencies will offset each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now．Driven by economic profits, people ignore the damage on our environment caused by the “advanced civilization”．Maybe the air pollution is the price the human beings have to pay for their development．But is it really worth-while?
1.People used to think that air pollution_________ .
A．caused widespread damage in the countryside
B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States
C．had a very bad effect on health
D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas
2.As to the greenhouse effect, the author_________.
A．shares the same view with the scientists．
B．is uncertain of its occurrence
C．rejects it as being ungrounded
D．thinks that it will destroy the world soon
3.The underlined word “offset” in the second paragraph could be replaced by_______.
A．counter-act B．break from C．get along D．communicate
4.This passage is primarily about________ .
A．the greenhouse effect
B．the burning of fossil fuels
C．the potential effect of air pollution
D．the possibility of a new ice age
.If their marketing plans succeed, they ____ their sales by 30 percent.
|
A．will increase |
B．have been increasing |
C．have increased |
D．would be increasing |
--- Could I ask you a rather personal question?
--- Sure, ____.
|
A．pardon me |
B．go ahead |
C．good idea |
D．forget it |
Henry works as a teacher now, but he ______ on a farm for three years.
|
A．has worked |
B．had worked |
C．worked |
D．had been working |
