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(发音，读) in order to help people pronounce words faster and more correctly. Try the next example.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Pete 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  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 practicing 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

The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll get your words mixed up(混淆) and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can’t understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor(幽默感), you can always have a good laugh at your mistakes you make. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It’s better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don’t understand what you are saying. The most important things for learning English is: “Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes(犯错).”
【小题1】The writer thinks that the best way for you to learn a language is_____.

The best way of learning a language is using it.The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible.Sometimes you’ll get your words mixed up(混淆) and people will not understand you.Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can’t understand them.But if you keep your sense of humor(幽默感), you can always have a good laugh at your mistakes(错误) you make.Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes.It’s better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don’t understand what you are saying.The most important things for learning English is: “Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”
【小题1】 The writer thinks that the best way for you to learn a language is   .