Swimming and English Learning

Can you swim? Do you like swimming? Yes? Well, how can you learn to swim? I think the best way is to go into the water and learn. I’m afraid you’ll never learn to swim just by reading books about swimming or looking at others swimming. It’s the same with the English study. We must practice, practice and practice.

Listening and speaking are very important for beginners. The children in English-speaking countries first listen to others. Then they try to imitate and speak. We can listen to English programs on radio. You may just understand a few words. It doesn’t matter. Just be relaxed, try to catch every word.

Somebody may be a good listener. But he dare not speak. He’s afraid of making mistakes. You know we sometimes make mistakes when we speak Chinese. Don’t be afraid. We must be brave. If you really want to learn English well, you must try to speak with everyone so long as he knows English. Whether you know him or not is not important when there’s nobody to talk with, you can talk to yourself in English. It’s interesting and also a good way to practice your spoken English. Remember, the more you speak, the fewer mistakes you’ll make.

Reading and writing are more important for senior school students. First we must choose the books we’re interested in. A lot of reading will improve your language sense. This is the most important.

Keep writing English diaries. We can also write English articles. You may even post them to English magazines. Don’t be afraid of failure. Failure is the mother of success.

Easier said than done. Well, let’s do more practice from now on. I’m sure you’ll learn English well in this way.

1. You can learn to swim by_______.
     A. reading books about it

     B. looking at others swimming

     C. having lessons on it

     D. going into the river and learning

2. We should learn English by _______.

A. listening and speaking           B. reading and writing

C. A and B                                 D. swimming

3. What will you do with mistakes when you speak?

A. Don’t make mistakes.          B. Study hard

C. Try not to speak English        D. Don’t be afraid.

4. What’s more important for senior school students?

   A. listening    B. speaking    C. reading and writing   D. learning

5. We can listen to English ______, according to the passage.

   A. by train     B. on the radio   C. every minute   D. now and then

       What do you do if you’re stranded(处于困境的) on a lonely island? Surely you need to find a way to get in touch with the outside world. Your best chance of doing this is to draw the attention of a passing plane.

Body signals (信号)

       Pilots from different countries understand body signals if they have the correct training. When you wave your arms up and down in a straight line, it means “yes”. When you point downwards and swing your arm from side to side, it means “no”. if you want the polite to know that it’s safe to land, push your hands out in front of you and bend (弯曲) your knees. If you want to say that it’s not safe to land, put your arms in the air and move them to one side.

Smoke signals

       The smoke from a fire can be seen from far away, so it’s a good way to draw attention. If the weather is dry, it isn’t hard to start a fire. Remember, however, that fires can be very dangerous if they get out of control. Never light a fire unless you’re sure that it can’t spread. It the ground is dark, light smoke can be seen more easily. Green grass and leaves produce light smoke.

Ground-to-air signals

       It’s a good idea to build some signals, too. Use large pieces of wood to make the symbols(标记). If you can’t find any wood, use earth. Some useful symbols are:

       F     “I need food and water.”

       II    “I need medicine.”

       I      “I am badly hurt.”

       X     “I am unable to move from here.

Pilots’ replies

       If the pilot lowers the plane’s wings from side to side, this means “message received and understood”. (At night, the pilot flashes the plane’s green lights.) If the pilot flies the plane in a clockwise circle, this means “message received but not understood”. (At night, the pilot flashes the plane’s red lights.)

       However, there is no signal which means “message not received”. Why not?

54. Which picture means “it’s not safe to land”?

55. What can we learn from the passage?

       A. Swinging your arm from side to side means “yes”.

       B. If the ground is dark, light smoke can’t be seen.

       C. If you need some medicine, make a symbol “II”.

       D. The pilots make replies with a blue light at night.

56. What is the passage mainly about?

       A. The explanation of building signals on an island.

       B. The importance of making signals on an island.

       C. Ways of sending out signals on a lonely island.

       D. Ways of receiving signals from a lonely island.

    In some parts of the Unites States, farming is easy. But farming has always been difficult in the north-eastern corner of the country, which is called New England.

    New England has many trees and thin, rocky soil. Anyone who wants to start a farm here has had to work very hard. The first job is to cut down all the trees. The next job is to dig the stumps （树桩） of the trees out of the soil. Then the farmer has the most difficult job of all, removing stones from his land, which never really ends, because every winter more stones appear. They come up through the thin soil from the rocks below. Farmers have to keep removing stones from the fields. Even today, farms which have been worked on for 200 years keep producing more stones.

    That is why stone walls are used instead of fences around the new England fields. The stone walls are not high, and can easily be climbed, but they keep the farmer’s cow from joining his neighbour’ cattle.

（    ） 6. New England lies _______.

A. in England                                    B. in the USA

C. to the northeast of England        D. to the northeast of Canada

（    ） 7. The word ‘remove’ means _______.

A. move again      B. carry out         C. take away     D. bring back

（    ） 8. In what order would a farmer in New England do the following things to start a new farm?

a. Removing the stones from the soil        b. Building a stone wall round his fields

c. Digging out the tee stumps.      d. Cutting down the trees.

A. a, b,  d,  c     B. b, c, d, a         C. d, b, c, a ,     D. d, c, a, b

（    ） 9. What is the great difficulty New England farmers have in their farming?

A. The soil is as hard as rock             B. There are too many stones

C. Plants scarcely grow                    D. The soil is too thin

（    ） 10. New England farmers build stone walls around their fields _________.

A. to save the trouble of taking away the stones

B. to keep their neighbours from breaking into

C. because stone walls are stronger than fences

D. because stone walls are easy to build

     Do you have pen pals? I have three pen pals from three different countries. They are Tom, Ella, and Molly.

     Tom comes from Australia. His favorite subject is P.E., because he likes playing soccer best and he can play it in P.E. classes. He has a sister and a brother.

     Ella is an American girl. Of all her subjects, she likes Chinese best. She often writes to me in Chinese. Her favorite sport is volleyball.

     Molly lives in Tokyo. She likes learning Chinese, too. But her favorite subject is math. When she has time, she likes playing tennis best. She is a very clever girl.

     I love them very much.

根据短文内容，将表格补充完整。

Molly也去Los Angeles Zoo旅游了，我们来看看Molly的介绍吧。

An exciting day! The Los Angeles Zoo is really a good place for you to see animals. The pandas from China are lovely. I like these black-and-white animals. They’re shy and quiet. I want to know the mother panda’s age. She has two kids. They live in a big room. They eat well. The lion from Africa lives in a room next to the pandas’. I don’t like him. He’s really scary. He’s not kind to people. He eats much meat every day. I think he’s lazy. The elephant is also from Africa. He has a long nose. He takes a shower every day. 他喜欢吃草，喜欢和他的朋友们一起玩。

       Hope to see more animals next time!

(   ) 46. How many pandas are there at Los Angeles Zoo?

          A. One.         B. Two.              C. Three.            D. Four.
(   ) 47. Where’s the lion’s room?

          A. It’s across from the pandas’.  B. It’s next to the pandas’.

          C. It’s in front of the elephant’s.                    D. It’s behind the elephant’s.
(   ) 48. Why doesn’t Molly like the lion?
          A. Because he’s scary.                                  B. Because he’s kind.
          C. Because he’s shy.                                    D. Because he takes a shower every day.
(   ) 49. 将文中画线部分变成否定句：

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(   ) 50. 将文中汉语句子翻译成英语：

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