There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. But only a few of them are very important. English is one of them. Many, many people use it, not only in England and the USA, but also in other parts of the world. About 200,000,000 people speak it as their own language. It is difficult to say how many people are learning it as a foreign language. Many millions of people are trying to do so. Is it easy or difficult to learn English? Different people may have different answers. Have you ever noticed ads(广告) of this kind in the newspapers or magazines? “Learn English in six weeks, or give your money back…” “Easy and funny…” “Our records and tapes help you master English in a month”. Of course, it never happened quite like that.

The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should remember that we all learned our own language well when we were children. If we could learn English in the same way, it would not seem so difficult. Think of what a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears.

So it is hard to say that learning English is easy. We must do a lot of practice. And practice needs great efforts and takes much time. Good teachers, record, tapes, books, and dictionaries will be helpful, but they cannot do the student’s work for him.

1.How many languages are very important in the world?

2.If we want to learn English well, what shall we do?

3.How does the writer like the ads in the newspapers or magazines?

4.Which language is easy to learn?

5.Which countries use English as the mother tongue?

The love story is about two ____. They worked in Germany and fell in love.

A

British Study Tours

Using the wonderful railway system （铁路） we offer an unusual holiday, sport and study program （计划）. Your hotel is a train: eat and sleep on the train and spend each day in a different part of Britain.

Summer Schools in France

We offer summer schools for students between the ages of 12 and 16. Live with a French family and choose from different activities including horse-riding, football, swimming and skiing.

Summer in Australia

We will arrange （安排）a program for your students. All our courses take place at the college in Sydney. Morning classes are held in Chinese; evening classes on Australian history are in English. We offer an exciting program of evening activities including music. Dance and theatre.

Holiday Programs in Germany

We offer morning classes in German at all levels （水平）from beginner upwards. In the afternoon you are free to join in our mountain walks or to go shopping in the nearby town. In the evening we organize （组织）a full program for fun. All ages welcome.

1. If you like traveling by train, you can go to __________.

A. Summer School in France          B. Summer in Australia

C. Holiday Programs in Germany      D. British Study Tours

2.If you want to make your English better, which programs will you choose?

A. Holiday Programs in Germany and British Study Tours.

B. Summer in Australia and Summer School in France.

C. British Study Tours and Summer in Australia.

D. Summer School in France and holiday Programs in Germany.

3. “Summer School in France” is different from the others in that you can ____.

A. go at any time of the year  B. stay with a local family  C. go at any age   D. do sports

4.This passage was written to _____.

A. ask people to have a holiday

B. attract （吸引）people to take part in their programs

C. introduce some beautiful places

D. ask people to study foreign languages

Over 30,000 years ago, people from northern Asia went to America. Today we can tell these people Indians.
The Indians went to America because the weather began to change. Northern Asia became very cold. Everything froze. They had to move or they would die. How did the first Indians go to America? They walked!
Later Columbus found the New World in 1492. At first, only a few Europeans followed. They traveled to America in boats. For the next 300 years, about 500,000 people went there. Then the number grew very quickly. From 1815 to 1915, over 32,000,000 Europeans left their countries for the United States. The biggest groups went from Germany and Italy. These Europeans spoke many different languages. Most of them took almost no money. They went to America so they could find a better life.
【小题1】________ went to America first.