Question

Try reading the following sentences as fast as you can. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.”

Not very easy, was it? What you’ve just read is called a tongue twister (绕口令). It is an exercise made up of sounds that are hard to pronounce in order to help people pronounce words faster and more correctly. Try the next example.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”

Tongue twisters usually do not have much meaning. They are just designed to improve people’s ability (能力) to pronounce words. Although they may be very difficult, these exercises are very important to people who are trying to speak English correctly. This is because tongue twisters help people to tell the differences between similar sounds.

So if you wish to pronounce words more smoothly, you’d better try picking out some tongue twisters and practising them.

1.Tongue twisters are helpful in improving ______ skills.

A. listening B. writing

C. pronunciation D. communication

2.The first tongue twister is hard because ______.

A. it is very boring to read

B. it teaches us a lot of knowledge

C. we don’t know who “she” is

D. the sounds of “s” and “sh” are similar

3.The passage is probably taken from ______ in a school newspaper.

A. Story Time B. Study Garden

C. Latest News D. Lost and Found

Answer 1

1.C

2.D

3.B

【解析】

1.1】细节理解题。根据these exercises are very important to people who are trying to speak English correctly. 绕口令提高发音技能，故选C。

2.2】推理判断题。根据This is because tongue twisters help people to tell the differences between similar sounds.因为这个绕口令里“s” and “sh”是近的，不容易区分，故选D。

3.3】推理判断题。根据短文的内容绕口令是来提高人们的发音，所以这篇文章有可能来自学校的学习天地，故选B。

考点：教育类短文阅读。