There are some differences between American English and British English. Some differences are quite interesting.
When my friend Lily from London used the word “larder”, I didn’t know what it meant. Realizing I didn’t follow her, she used another word. I finally knew she wanted to find something to keep some food. The next word came up when we were planning a lunch date. She jotted down the date and time in her diary, while I marked my calendar. If she called me on the phone, she would ring me up. But if the line was busy, she would say the line was engaged.
Most times, I can know what Lily means. Last week, she regretted sending her boys to watch an early morning tennis game without their fleeces. I thought that she meant without their jackets or something like that. Other times, we have to ask each other. She recently told me a funny tale about a pissed woman. I wondered what had made the lady angry. It turns out that pissed means drunk.
Here is one more example. My British friend Jane was filling out a ticket at the grocery store recently. She asked the young man to help her if he had a rubber. When she noticed he didn’t follow her, she quickly asked for an eraser, which, in England, is often called a rubber.
In order to communicate well with British people, we Americans should learn some words that the British use differently. And I think people who learn English as a second language should also realize that there are differences between American English and British English.
1. When Lily used the word “larder”, she was probably looking for a ______.
A. cup B. ladder
C. cupboard D. cooker
2.According to the passage, in British English ______.
A. the word “pissed” means angry
B. the word “jacket” is often used
C. the word “engaged” means tired
D. the word “rubber” means eraser
3.What does the underlined phrase “jotted down” in Pragraph2 mean?
A. Wrote down B. Cared about
C. Looked for D. Settled down
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A. The British way of using words.
B. Some new words the writer’s British friends taught her.
C. The reasons why Americans can’t followed the British at times.
D. Some words used differently in British English and American English.
Lisa: My best teacher is my geography teacher in 10th grade. Why? Because we did school projects! Back then I wrote about India and never forgot what I had learned. He brought the culture to life by letting me become part of it. He also listened to us and was always ready with a kind word.
David: My best teacher is my high school social studies and history teacher, Thomas Ladenburg. He respected us, though we were just teenagers. His class was never boring because he often asked us to discuss in class. He used his own materials which made the class very interesting.
Henry: My best ever teacher is my biology teacher in high school. I really liked her class. She explained everything very clearly. She also checked our notebooks to make sure we had written down what she said. Now, many years later, I can still remember a large part of the things she taught!
Susan: The best teacher I have ever had is my 10th grade social studies teacher. She was always in a good mood and kept us laughing. She was really young, so she acted like us teenagers, which made learning fun. If we needed to talk to an adult about a problem, we would always come to her because we knew she could help us.
Tom: My favourite teacher is Mr. Yelle. He taught us math, science and music. He spoke to us “at eye level”, and was very patient and kind. We did great projects for the science fairs. Forty years later, I still remember his lessons very well. By the way, though he was called Mr Yelle, he didn’t yell(喊叫).
1.We learn that when she was in 10th grade, Lisa ________.
A. was always ready with a kind word
B. often forgot what she had learned very easily
C. liked doing school projects in the geography class
D. was interested in India the most in the geography class
2.How did David most probably find Thomas Ladenburg’s class?
A. Difficult. B. Lively. C. Useless. D. Long.
3.We can learn that Susan’s 10th grade social studies teacher _______.
A. was good at listening to her students’ problems
B. liked laughing at her students’ problems
C. was not happy when she had a problem
D. didn’t like taking her students as friends
A farmer grew some vegetables in his garden. One day his wife was ill and he had no money. He had to sell some cabbages and carrots in the market. The next morning he took two baskets of vegetables to town, but it was raining hard that afternoon and there were few people in the street. When his vegetables were sold out, it was dark. He bought some medicine and hurried to his village.
On his way home he saw a person lying on the ground. He placed his baskets on the ground and was going to help the person to get up. At that time he found it was a dead man and there was much blood on his body. He was so afraid that he ran away quickly, without taking his baskets.
The next afternoon the farmer was sent to the police station. Having shown the baskets, an officer asked, “Are these yours? ” “Yes, sir. ” The farmer answered timidly（胆怯地）. “Have you killed the man?” “No, no, sir.” The farmer said in a hurry. “When did you see the dead man?” “About seven last evening. ” “Did you see who killed the man?” “No, sir. ” The officer brought out a knife and asked, “Have you seen it yet?” “No, sir. ” The officer became angry and told the policemen to beat him up and sent him into prison(监狱)。
That evening the officer went on trying. Pointing to the knife, he asked again, “Have you seen it yet?” “ yes, sir.” The officer was happy and asked, “When and where?” “I saw it here this afternoon, sir.”
1.Why did the farmer decide to sell the vegetables?
A. To go to the market.
B. To go to see the doctor.
C. To buy some food for his family.
D. To buy some medicine for his wife.
2.The farmer didn’t sell out his vegetables until the evening because ________.
A. they were too bad
B. they were very expensive
C. it rained hard that morning
D. people wouldn’t go out on such a bad day
3.Why did the farmer run quickly?
A. He was afraid to see a dead man.
B. His wife was waiting for him at home.
C. The policemen were coming towards him.
D. It was so late and he had to buy some medicine.
4.The officer tried（审讯）the farmer to _______.
A. ask if he had seen the knife
B. know who had killed the man
C. ask when he saw the dead man
D. know if he had seen the dead man
书面表达
假如你是你校广播站的播音员，请根据下面表格的提示，拟一份英语广播稿，通知全校师生。
有关事宜 | 如何利用网络进行学习的讲座 |
主讲人 | 广西大学计算机系李梦教授 |
时间 | 1月10日，星期三，下午4：30 |
地点 | 本校图书馆302室 |
参加者 | 电脑爱好者 |
说明 | 讲座结束，参加者可向李教授提出问题 |
组织者 | 校学生会 |
注意： 1. 广播应符合英语口语的习惯。2. 内容应包括所给提示的全部要点。
3. 词数100左右。
Dear teachers and schoolmates,
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
短文改错
短文中共有10处错误，错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词的下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
My father took me out camping for the first time when I was seven. He wanted teach me about animals, insects and trees. My uncles all come along with bows and arrows for hunting.
One evening at sunset, we sat by the fire, have our barbecue. Just then a bird was flying over us. My uncles immediate jumped up and shot their arrows on the bird. Neither of the arrows hit the target. Suddenly the arrows was flying down at us from the sky — they were looked like rain! We ran to escape but fortunately no one was injured.
That day I didn’t learn much about animals, insects or trees, but I learnt a impressive lesson about gravity!
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
I have a problem. I’m not very good at 1. (communicate) with people. Although I try to talk to my classmates, I still find 2. hard to make good friends with them. I can well remember that there was a time 3. a deep blue sky, the song of birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept me spellbound. That 4. (change) since I came here.
The 5. (suffer) of the people was extreme. Two-thirds of them died or were injured during the earthquake. Thousands of families were killed and many children were left without parents. 6. number of people who were killed or seriously injured reached more than 400,000. It was great fun especially as it gradually became much 7. (warm). In the valleys colorful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep 8. (eat) green grass.
Uncle Wang worked in a factory after 9. (graduate). He is a person 10. is always making new things and we all admire him.
