While reading a book in English, every few lines of text, you run across a word or two that you don’t know. You look up every new word in the dictionary. Bad move. All that does slow you down. Even electric or CD –ROM dictionaries can get in the way of your reading progress. A dictionary is like a road map. It can help you if you get lost and point you in the right direction. But if you stop to look at the “map” each time you take a step, you’ll get nowhere fast.

    On your English learning “journey”, a dictionary can be a helpful “travel companion ”--if it is not overused. To help you start thinking in English, use an English-to-English dictionary. Otherwise, you will always depend on your native language and end up translating in your head.

    A good dictionary can help you do more than just find the meaning of a word. It can help you verify  spelling, check word forms and grammar usage, find example sentence and learn pronunciation. Some dictionaries even provide exercises to teach you how to use their resources.

    Take time to get to know your dictionary. Learn the pronunciation symbols. Understand what the abbreviations (缩写字) mean. Try to master the important grammar rules. Look for charts, diagrams and lists that might be useful in the future. You will discover how helpful it can be to make friends with your dictionary. And as they say, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”

Why do we need a good English-to-English dictionary?

A. Because it is a good friend.

B. Because it can help us to find the right direction if we get lost.

C. Without it we’ll always depend on our native language and end up translating in our head.

D. Because it can help us to start thinking in English and in Chinese.

The underlined word “that” in the last paragraph refers to __________.

A. pronunciation symbols and grammar rules

B. abbreviations and usage for grammar rules

C. the meaning of a word, spelling and grammar usage

D. charts, diagrams and lists

According to the passage, which statement can lead you to believe?

A. The more you use a dictionary, the better you can understand the article.

B. The more you use a dictionary, the faster you may read.

C. The more you use the resources in a dictionary, the more you can benefit from it.

D. The better a dictionary is, the more expensive it is.

When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at ‘bed and breakfast’ houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.

    “We didn’t stay at bed and breakfast houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”

    I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought ‘VACANCIES’ meant ‘holidays’, because the Spanish word for ‘holidays’ is ‘vacaciones’. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said ‘VACANCLES’, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said ‘NO VACANCLES’, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!

    We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word ‘DIVERSION’ means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word ‘DIVERSION’ on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hold.

    English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you.”

My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.

  A. learning English                         B. finding places to stay in England

  C. driving their car on English roads           D. going to England by car

‘NO VACANCIES’ in English means ______.

  A. no free rooms          B. free rooms      C. not away on holiday    D. holidays

When someone offered me more coffee and I said “Thank you” in French, I ______.

  A didn’t really want any more coffee           B. wanted them to take the coffee pot away

  C. really wanted some more coffee            D. wanted to express my politeness

I was surprised when the coffee pot was taken away because I ______.

  A. hadn’t finished drinking my coffee          B. was expecting another cup of coffee

  C. meant that I didn’t want any more           D. was never misunderstood

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