Every year in Bath, England, there is a special festival. People dress up in period clothes and have concerts and balls. They are celebrating the lane Austen Festival.

Jane Austen is an English writer. Born in Steventon, England, 1775, Austen was mostly educated at home, where she teamed how to play the piano, draw and write creatively. She read a lot and later came to enjoy social events such as parties, dances and balls. She disliked the busy life of towns and preferred the country life, where she took to taking long walks

In 1801, Jane, her parents and sister moved to Bath. Four years later, her father passed away and the family soon became poor. Austen and her family moved several times until finally settling(安顿)into a small house in Chawton. It was in this house that she wrote most of her works.

In March of 1817, Austen got serious health problems and was sent to Winchester for a cure so she had to stop writing. She died in July of the same year, at the age of only 4l.

Austen was famous for her humorous words and clever ideas. Most of her novels are about women in I8`h century England. At that time, if a woman wanted to have a happy life, she had to marry a rich man. But Austen said that a woman should marry for love, riot for money or social status(地位).So her characters were often strong women.

Pride and Prejudice(偏见),published in 1813, is the most famous novel by Austen. It tells of a romantic story between a young woman Elizabeth and a tall, rich, and handsome man, Mr. Darcy. It has been changed into films, televisions and musicals

1.Which of the following is TRUE about Austen?

A. She loved reading and taking long walks.

B. She received education in college.

C. She hated parties, balls and dances.

D. She preferred the city life

2.Where did Austen write most of her works?

A. In a small house in Winchester.

B. In a small house in Chawton

C. In Steventon, England.

D. In the countryside of Bath.

3.What's the correct order of the following events?

a. Jane Austen, her parents and sister moved to Bath.

b. Jane Austen got seriously ill and stopped writing.

c. Jane Austen learned how to play the piano, draw and write creatively.

d. Jane Austen wrote and published her most famous novel Pride and Prejudice.

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

As an English person, I can speak three languages — English, German and French, so do you think the British people are very good language learners? The fact is that they aren’t.

Some statistics (数据) from 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 many people don’t think it is necessary to learn a foreign language.

In Britain, students aren’t required to learn a foreign language. That means learning a foreign language is only a choice at school. In British schools it’s 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’s more difficult to get good marks in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.

To solve this situation, 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.

1.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A.The people in England are good at learning languages.

B.Most of British people only speak English.

C.British people are known for speaking foreign languages.

D.Most of British people want to learn more than one language.

2.How many ways will the British government use to improve language learning?

A.One. B.Two. C.Three. D.Four.

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A.People in other European countries speak English as much as British people.

B.One British student can’t give up learning a foreign language until 14.

C.Students in Britain prefer to learn science or history rather than learn a foreign language.

D.It’s unusual for British students not to learn a foreign language.

4.What does the passage mainly want to tell us?

A.Young English learners. B.Schools in the UK.

C.Speaking English. D.Foreign language learning in the UK.

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