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(勇敢). 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.
(   ) 6. 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
(   ) 7. We should learn English by _______.
A. listening and speaking       B. reading and writing
C. A and B                  D. swimming
(   ) 8. 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.
(   )9. What’s more important for senior school students?
A. listening    B. speaking    C. reading and writing   D. learning
(   ) 10. We can listen to English ______, according to the passage.
A. by train     B. on the radio   C. every minute   D. now and then

A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow (乌鸦) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain (笔试).
“You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that’s beyond you. Let’s have a flying competition. I’ll show you what real flying is!”
One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge (挑战). The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.
Now it was the swan’s turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments (评价) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn’t see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.
The swan pretended (假装) not to notice, and said, “Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick? “
“No,” said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. “I’m in trouble because of my pride (自大) ! If you don’t help me, I’ll lose my life...”
The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.
【小题1】 What’s the correct order of the following events?
a. The crow followed the swan and got into trouble.
b. The swan felt pity for the crow and saved it.
c. The crow had to ask the swan for help.
d. The swan accepted a challenge of performing flying tricks.

A.a, d, b, cB.a, b, d, cC.d, a, c, bD.d, c, a, b
【小题2】What does the underlined word “exhausted” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.Tired.B.Bored.C.Nervous.D.Frightened.
【小题3】What do we learn from the passage?
A.Practice makes perfect.B.The early bird catches the worm.
C.No pains, no gains.D.Pride goes before a fall.

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together.Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them.For example,if the article is about groundhogs(土拨鼠),the set of questions in the writer’s head might be:

What does a groundhog look like?

Where do groundhogs live?

What do they eat?…

In the article,the author might answer those questions.

Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article.These questions give you signals.They tell you what the author is going to write next.Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you.You have to work out her question for yourself.Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.

Earthworms

Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are?There are about 1800 kinds in the world! They can be brown,purple,green.They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long.

The best time to see earthworms is at night,especially a cool,damp night.That’s when they come up from their burrows(地洞)to hunt for food.Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun.That’s because they breathe through their skin,and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry.Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot,because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows.What a dangerous life!

Earthworms don't have eyes,so how can they tell when it's dark? They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light.These spots tell whether it’s light or dark.If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night,it will quickly disappear into the ground.

Earthworms don't have ears either,but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth.If you want to hear like an earthworm,lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears.Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you.This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking,and moles digging,near them.

Earthworms are useful.Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig.That digging keeps the soil loose and airy(通风的).In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field.

1.What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A.To show the special life facts of earthworms.

B.To explain the differences from the groundhogs.

C.To put the writer’s idea into real use.

D.To make the readers think more clearly.

2.Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

A.How do earthworms help with gardeners?

B.What life are earthworms living with?

C.When may people observe earthworms?

D.Why can human listen like earthworms?

3.How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

A.Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading.

B.Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading.

C.Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again.

D.Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A.One way to help with understanding

B.One way to practice with a new idea

C.One way to learn to be a wise writer

D.One way to be clearer about worms

 

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