Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise with or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.
Whether you're taking an end-of-course test or an official(官方的)exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. (A). Nearly every smart phone(智能手机)these days has an inbuilt recording feature(内置录音功能)which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.
I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.
(B). All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure(压力)I would experience during an important speaking test.
Many students found this method useful. Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense and using prepositions incorrectly. When she tried the exercise a-gain, she got its right!
Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.
1.根据短文内容回答问题。How to test your speaking skills with a smart phone?
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2.根据短文内容回答问题。Are the questions the writer chose from an end-of-course test or an official exam?
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3.将短文中A划线的句子译成汉语。
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4.将短文中B划线的句子译成汉语。
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5.请给短文拟一个适当的标题。
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Everyone has got two personalities(性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don't show your secret personality when you're awake because you can control yourself, but when you're asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, you often change your sleeping positions. The important position that best shows your secret personality is the one that you go to sleep.
If you go to sleep on your back, you're a very open person. You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by new ideas. You don't like to make people unhappy, so you never express your real feelings. You're quite shy and you aren't very confident.
If you sleep on your stomach, you are a person who likes to keep secrets. You worry a lot and you're always easily becoming sad. You never want to change your ideas, but you are satisfied with your life. You usually live for today not for tomorrow.
If you sleep on curled up(蜷缩),you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and often protect yourself from being hurt, so you are very defensive. You're shy and you don't usually like meeting people. You like to be on your own.
If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced(平衡的)personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You're usually careful. You have a confident personality. You sometimes feel worried, but you don't often get unhappy. You always say what you think, even if it makes people angry.
1.You may find the passage in ________.
A.a science magazine B.a guide book C.a sports newspaper
2.How many sleeping positions are mentioned in the passage?
A.two. B.five. C.four
3.Tina hardly tells her secrets to her friends. She probably goes to sleep ________.
A.on curled up B.on her stomach C.on her back
4.What does the underlined word "defensive" mean in the passage?
A.有戒备心的 B.攻击性的 C.易怒的
5.What does the passage tell us?
A.Sleeping on your side is the best way of sleeping.
B.Changing positions will cause sleeping problems.
C.Sleeping positions show people's secret personalities.
Every year on my birthday since I was 11, a white gardenia(栀子花)was sent to my house. No card ever came with it. Calls to the flower shop were not helpful at all. After some time I stopped trying to find out the sender's name and was just pleased with the beautiful flower, in soft pink paper.
I couldn't stop imagining who the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming(幻想)about the sender. My mother encouraged these daydreams. She'd ask me if I had been especially kind to someone. Perhaps it was one of my classmates. Perhaps it was the old man who I once helped. As a girl, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy that I had met.
A month before my high school graduation(毕业),my father died. I was so sad that I became completely uninterested in my coming graduation dance, and I didn't care whether I had a new dress or not. My mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved. In fact, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia: lovely, strong and perfect.
My mother died ten years after I was married. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.
1.The writer received ________ on her birthday since she was 11.
A.a white gardenia B.a card C.a card and soft pink paper
2.The writer was very ________when she was imagining who sent the flower.
A.happy B.sad C.worried
3.It can be inferred(推断)from the passage that ________.
A.the writer didn't get a new dress for the dance
B.the writer probably joined in the graduation dance
C.the writer's father died ten years earlier than her mother
4.The writer got the gardenias from ________ on her birthdays.
A.the old man B.the boy C.her mother
5.The passage mainly talks about ________.
A.what a gardenia meant
B.what a girl dreamed about
C.how a mother loved her children
I'm sure you all know how important recycling is. Recycling is that you take old things and turn them into new things. It sounds like magic. But it's actually very scientific.
Material | The first thing you have to do is to collect items(物品) that can be recycled. Only certain materials can be recycled. These include things made out of paper, metal, glass and plastic. |
Daily things | Can you think of everyday items made of these materials? Soda cans are good example. They are made out of metal. Magazines and newspaper are made out of paper. So are milk boxes. Some bottles of juice are made out of glass. Bags and yogurt containers are made out of plastic. There are many things that can be recycled. |
Loop(循环) | These things are usually stamped with the recycling loop. It has 3 arrows that go in a triangular(三角形)circle. This shows that cycle(循环)continues. Items are thrown away but continue their lives as something else. |
Process(过程) | Let's go back to the process of recycling. ①The items are put in a recycling bin. ②A truck carries the items to a recycling plant. ③The materials are separated and squashed (被压扁成)into square cubes. ④Companies buy and turn them into new products. |
1.What is "recycling" according to the passage?
A.It's a scientific research.
B.It's a way of burning old things.
C.It's a way to make old things useful.
2.Which material is not mentioned in the passage?
A.Rubber. B.Glass. C.Plastic.
3.You can put your old things into a recycling bin except ________.
A.soda cans B.magazines C.all bottles
4.The"3 arrows" shows that the items ________.
A.have some valuable stamps B.are recycled and reused C.are in a triangle circle
5.The passage is mainly about ________.
A.recyclable materials B.recyclable daily things C.recycling in a scientific way
Thanksgiving Day was coming. A teacher gave her class an interesting task一to draw a picture of something to express their ______.
The teacher thought most of her ______ would draw turkey or some other traditional food of the festival. And so they did. But Douglas made a ______ kind of picture.
Douglas was a child of unhappiness. ______ other children played together, Douglas always stood close by his teacher's side.
His picture was special. When he was asked to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand! ______ else. Just an empty hand.
His work caught the attention of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? Some guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raised turkeys, others guessed it was the hand of God, because God helped everyone. The discussions ______, and they even forgot to ask the artist himself.
When the discussion stopped, the teacher asked Douglas whose hand it was. The little boy said in a low voice, "It's ______, teacher."
She got surprised at his words. Then she ______ that she often took his hand. Sometimes she said, "Douglas, take my hand, we'll go outside." Sometimes she said, "Let me show you how to hold your pencil." And she ______ said, "Let's do this together."
Her eyes were full of tears. She had done these to all her students. She didn't know these were so ______ to him. She hugged Douglas and decided to give him more love.
1.A.requests B.thanks C.opinions
2.A.friends B.neighbors C.students
3.A.different B.bright C.modern
4.A.After B.When C.Until
5.A.Nothing B.Anything C.Everything
6.A.went away B.went on C.went up
7.A.hers B.mine C.yours
8.A.remembered B.forgot C.agreed
9.A.never B.hardly C.usually
10.A.important B.polite C.difficult
When you see the sign"________", you can't take photos.
A.
B.
C.
