Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word?If you can, you are unusual．Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like．I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying．As you grew older, you were awake more of the time．It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you．You watched and listened curiously．You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things．
Then you began to try making the sounds you heard．And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing．
On that day you came to understand the secret of language．The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing．One sound might be as good as another．But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees on its meaning．Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each other．Then and only then do these people have a LANGUAGE．
After you found the secret of language, you learned words．Some of the words meant things, such as BOOKS, CHAIRS and SHOES．Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM, and other words describe things, such as GOOD and DIRTY．Soon you learned to put words together to express your idea, such as “ I want to go out and play with my friends．” This is language．By means of language people can-communicate．So we say languages are means of communication．
(1)
________ can remember the day when ________．
[ ]
A．
One, he spoke his first word
B．
No one, he spoke his first word
C．
Most people, they spoke their first words
D．
None, they spoke their first words
(2)
When you were a little baby, you ________．
[ ]
A．
made sounds to let people know that you wanted to eat
B．
spent most of your time playing with your parents
C．
could not hear any sound around you
D．
spent most of your time eating, playing and crying
(3)
The secret of language is that ________．
[ ]
A．
one sound might be as good as another
B．
people can understand each other
C．
a certain sound is for a certain thing
D．
there is a special sound for each person
(4)
You could learn words ________．
[ ]
A．
before you knew what the language was
B．
after you knew what the language was
C．
before you knew the secret of the language
D．
when you were a baby
(5)
The aim in using language is ________．
[ ]
A．
to get everything one wants from others
B．
to say what one wants to know
C．
to share ideas, opinions, news, etc with one another
You will have a lot of reading to do in this grade this year．You can do more of it in less time if you learn to read rapidly．
Perhaps you have been told about some habits (习惯) which keep a person from reading fast and have been strongly asked to break those habits which you might have．
Do you still have any of these bad habits?Check yourself by answering“yes”or“no”to these questions．
(1) Do you move your lips (嘴唇) when reading silently?
(2) Do you point to words with your finger as you read?
(3)Do you move your head from side to side as you read?
(4)Do you read one word at a time?
If you answer“yes”to any of these questions,start at once to break the habit．If you move your tips，hold your fingers over them，or hold a piece of paper be-tween your lips while you are reading．Then if your lips move，your will know it and can stop them．
If you point to words，hold the two sides of your book，one side with your left hand，the other side with your right hand．Then you won't have a free finger to use in pointing while reading．If you move your head，place your chin (下巴) in one hand and hold your head still (静止不动的)．
If you read no more than one or two or three words at a time，you need to work very hard in learning to take in (吸收) more words at each glance (一瞥) as your eyes travel across the lines of words．
Even if you do rather fast now，you can learn to read even faster．As you probably have been told，the secret of fast reading is to take in whole groups of words as each glance．Read in through groups and force (迫使) your eyes along the lines of words as fast as you can to make them go．Anyone who practices doing these things will he able to read faster．
(1)
You may hold your fingers over your lips while reading so as ______．
A．to tell others to be silent
B．to feel whether your lips move or not
C．to hold a piece of paper between them
D．to keep yourself from talking to others
[ ]
(2)
When you read，______．
A．don't keep your head still
B．don't hold your books with your hands
C．don't stand up near a desk
D．don't use your finger to point to words
[ ]
(3)
If you learn to read fast，______．
A．you can read more in less time
B．you can write faster
C．you can understand better
D．you can read less in more time
[ ]
(4)
You must _______ those habits that we are talking about in this reading．
