When I was young,I liked to play jokes on people I knew, especially on my parents and friends. One day my mother was cooking and I was playing with my younger brother Tony. Suddenly I ran to my mother and said: “Tony fell from the open window!” She was very worried and ran out of the kitchen. Then I said: “Don’t worry, I’m just joking.” My mother shouted at me, “If you do it again, I’ll hit you.”

Another day I went swimming with my friends in the sea. I wanted to play a joke on them. In the beginning I swam fast and I called out “Help!”. All my friends came to help me. However, they found that I was joking. But half an hour later I wasn’t joking. I was so fast, soon I got tired and couldn’t swim on in water. I tried my best to call my friends for help, but this time nobody came to help me.

In the end they found I was telling the truth. They came and saved my life. They took me to the hospital. This is the best lesson in my life. From then on I haven’t joked on anyone.

1.When he was young, the writer liked to _______.

A.play with his brother B.help his mother cook

C.play jokes on people D.go swimming with his friends

2.What happened when the writer was playing with his brother? ______

A.He got tired. B.He played a joke on his mother.

C.Tony fell from the open window. D.His mother hit him.

3.In the beginning, all his friends came to help him because he ______.

A.swam fast B.called for help

C.would sink in water D.couldn’t swim on in the water

4.When the writer called his friends for help for the second time, they ______.

A.took him to the hospital at once

B.came and saved him immediately

C.thought at first he was joking again

D.did nothing because the writer had lied to them

5.The story tells us that ________.

A.swimming is dangerous

B.the writer is a naughty boy

C.one can play jokes only on people he knows

D.if someone always tells lies, others won’t trust (信任) him

Some of Paul’s schoolmates learn two languages—English and French. So does Paul. As an Englishman, Paul can also speak German and Spanish. So, do you think the British people are very good language learners? The fact is that they aren’t.

The survey done by the European Commission (欧盟委员会) showed that 62% of the British people only speak English. 38% speak at least one foreign language and 18% speak two or more. Compared with the British people, 56% of the people in other European countries speak at least one foreign language and 28% speak two or more. From this you can see that the British people are famous for not speaking foreign languages and that they are not good language learners in Europe.

And the survey also showed that English is the most widely-spoken foreign language. Many European people can have a conversation in English. That’s why British people don’t think it is necessary to learn a foreign language.

In Britain, students are not required to learn a foreign language. That means at school learning a foreign language is only an option. In UK schools it is common for children to start learning a foreign language at 11 and many of them give it up at 14. So why don’t students continue learning foreign languages at school? Because they think it is more difficult to get good results in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.

To solve this problem, the British government is looking for different ways to improve language learning at school. One way is to start learning it at a much younger age. Another one is to give school children more choices.

Changing the British attitude(态度) to learning foreign languages may be a hard task but the government decides to have a try!

1.Which country is Paul from?

A.France. B.Germany.

C.Spain. D.The United Kingdom.

2.According to the passage, students in Britain prefer to learn .

A.science or German B.history or science

C.French or history D.German or French

3.What does the underlined word “option” mean in Chinese in paragraph 4?

A.选修课 B.必修课 C.实验课 D.艺术课

4.Which of the following about the British people is TRUE?

A.They are good language learners.

B.They are famous for speaking foreign languages.

C.More than half of them only speak English.

D.56% of them speak at least one foreign language.

5.What is the best title of the passage?

A.English Speaking B.Young English Learners

C.Schools in England D.Language Learning in Britain

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