Only a hundred years ago, people seldom traveled far out of their birthplace. Books were very expensive and there were few national（国家的）newspapers and no radio or TV. In fact, most people spent their time talking and listening. And only a little reading and writing went on and many people were unable to read and write. For this reason, native dialects（方言）grew up and people spoke as their parents and grandparents did. A Cornwall woman who traveled just as far as London would find that people spoke a complete different language.

　　Sometimes it is hard to take in just how much things have changed. You always have books around, read magazines and newspapers, have different TV or radio programs. You and everyone around you, often travel not just in British islands but all of the world. Modern science has changed our life and distances（距离）have been made shorter. It might have taken a Cornwall woman three days to travel to London. Now it takes less than two hours by air, less than four by train and less than six by road.

　　The result of this is that the language we use is becoming more national and the dialect are dying out. Writing, printing（印刷）and broadcasting（广播）have speeded up this change as one dialect has come to be used by more and more people. This is the dialect called Standard（标准的）English which was first used outside London in the south and east Midlands.

A．people wouldn't like to leave their birthplace

B．there were neither books nor newspapers

C．most people couldn't read and write

D．people learned to read and write from their family members

A．London was not far from her birthplace

B．London was a strange city

C．she could easily understand London people

D．she could hardly understand London people

A．watching TV and listening to the radio

B．reading books and magazines

C．traveling just within the British islands

D．traveling over tile world

A．distances have been made shorter by modern science

B．it takes a Cornwall woman less time to travel to London

C．the capital of England has been moved to a place near Cornwall

D．people mustn't speak dialect in England

A．dying out slowly

B．used by more and more people

C．used in east Midlands only

D．used by London people only

  Schoolwork is sometimes difficult，but I don’t think it’s  ever boring．We get lots of interesting projects to do．

  Sometimes，a project is just a long article．In English class，we write articles and speeches about things that happened in history．In science class，we once built bridges using only toothpicks(牙签)and candy! I love projects like that．

  Projects are a big part of our grades．So，it’s very important whether you are good at the project or not．I am bad at building things．So，when I was asked to build a model，my grade for that whole term Was low． However, when asked to draw a picture of myself, I Was able to save my terrible art grade.

  Projects can make people wonderful leaders，too．I was once working on a speech with another boy．I did most of the work，typed it up and printed the pictures．He didn’t do much．At first．I was very angry, but then I realized that I had never asked him for help or told him what to do!

  I've noticed that projects make people act in many different ways．Some people know clearly what to do．Others can end up having problems．The most interesting type of person I have seen．is someone who didn’t start working until a few days or hours before the project’s deadline(最终期限)．One of my friends didn’t write down his Birthday Project Speech；he made it up as he talked．It Was great! Not everyone can do that though！

1．T he writer thinks whether you can get good grades or not depends on    

  A．the skills that the projects ask for

  B．what you’ve learned from the books

  C．how much work you have put in

  D．both A and C

2．We can tell from the story that the writer is good at          ．

  A．making speeches B．building models C．drawing pictures D．making up stories

3．The main idea of the story is that      ．

  A．projects are always interesting   

B．projects are important and useful for students

  C. projects are important for one’s grades

D．projects’deadlines make people nervous

 4．The word“project” in the article means     ．

    A．成绩    B．方案    C．工程    D．专题研究