The key to learning English well is to overcome your shyness and fear , said taxi driver Zhang, who is attending the English training program run by the West Lake Taxi Company. “Out teacher Mrs.Yang encourages us many times to open our mouths and speak English out loudly in her class ,” said Zhang.
Chen Zhong, another fluent(流利的) English speaker, shared his opinion. “I didn’t think English was important to us at the beginning since many foreign passengers could speak some Chinese to me. But when I did speak some English, the foreigners were always pleased and said I was the first taxi driver they had met who could speak English.
Chen said he found studying English extremely interesting. The 160 minutes’ study per week was simply not enough for him. He bought books , tapes and VCDs to learn English on his own.. “Though it cost me a lot of time and energy , I did find it is useful in the long term” he said.
The reward of learning English is more than Chen has expected. Now he has made several foreign friends who book his taxi when they need. Some foreign passengers even give him tips (小费when he communicates with them in English.
To facilitate their studies, the company developed a bilingual(双语的) tape which includes the most frequently used sentences for taxi drivers and the names of major streets and buildings in Shenzhen.
“It has helped me out, ” said Chen. “Once I failed to express ‘Chinese Folk Culture Villages’ in English when I was asked to go there by a foreigner, I played the tape and got its meaning.”
59. What difficulty did Mr.Zhang have learning English at first?
A. He had no time to study English
B. His company didn’t allow them to study English
C. He had no courage to speak out.
D. He had no chance to speak English.
60. Which of the following is NOT the benefit Chen gets from learning English?
A. He gets some good advice on learning English from foreigners.
B. He earns more money from some regular foreign customers.
C. He has to spend both money and effort learning English.
D. He gets great fun and encouragement in learning English.
61. We can infer from the passage that _____.
A. the company is the first to encourage its drivers to learn English
B. all the drivers have made money after learning English
C. the company has developed and English tape for its drivers
D. the tape is welcomed by the drivers learning English
62. What is the probable meaning of the underlined word “facilitate” in the fifth paragraph?
A. To make easy  B. To increase     C. To encourage   D. To check

English nowadays is widely used in science, business, the media and popular culture. For example, 80% of e-mails on the internet are in English. But where will English be at the end of the 21^st century?

     One view is that English is going to become even more important as a global language, being most widely used in trade and media while some other languages will become less important or just disappear. Another view is that English is already breaking up into several separate languages. There are already dictionaries of the “New Englishes”, such as Australian English, full of words that a British English speaker would not recognize.

      Hopefully, neither of these things will happen. Although different varieties of English will continue to develop around the world, standard English will survive for international       communication. However, it is impossible for one language to totally control the world. Already, other languages are fighting back against the control of English on the net. Governments around the world are also starting to protect smaller languages and recognize the importance of keeping a variety of cultures and languages. English will probably stay in control for a long time, but it certainly won’t become the only language in the world.

According to the situation, how many people do you think speak English now?

A. 200 million     B. 300 million    C. 500 million    D. a billion

At present, what is the most important language in the world?

   A. Chinese        B. English       C. French        D. German

What is the best title of the passage?

 A. The Change of English           B. Different Varieties of English  

 C. The Future of English            D. The Cause of English Change   

If you have questions about developing your study practices,the first place to look is in our Study Guides. However,if you don't find the answers you need here, or you feel the guidance would make more sense in the situation of your own work, then you may find it helpful to talk to an adviser individually.

We offer subject-focused sessions(辅导课) -with friendly professional advisers. These 30-nunute sessions (longer if necessary)are "tailor-made" to your individual needs and completely secret.

What to expect from an individual advice session

Our individual advice sessions are quite informal and tailored to your needs. Your adviser will usually want to talk a bit about how your studies are going generally, and what you would like to discuss. As sessions are quite short, it's useful if you can be prepared by tlunking about this before you arrive. It will be helpful for us if you can bring any marked work that you have, so that we can see what areas of your work markers have commented on.

We aimto help you developyour skills to study more effectively andachievesubject success. So we will not correct work for you, but will help you understand what youneed to know to correct it yourself in the future. Everyone works differently, so we may make a number of suggestions - it will be up to you to try them out and see what worksest for you.

If you'd like to discuss a coursework assignment which you are currently working on,it may be helpful if you can email your work to the adviser you are seeing oefore your meeting (contact details are here), with a note sessions are quite short, you might prefer that develop your work, rather than reading it!

Please note:

Saying what you would like to discuss. Aswe spent the time discussing how you can．  We cannot pravide subject-specific advice. For this,it is best to consult your course    tutor. If you would prefer to talk to someone else, try your personal tutor, or the    Senior Tutor in your department. Your department or school office will be able to advise on who that is.

We do not proof-read work. See our guide to Effective Proof-reading to help you to develop develop your own proof-reading practices.

Study Advisers are not trained to teach English as a Foreign Language. For basic     principles relating to common errors in academic English, please see our guide to       Academic Writing. If you feel you need more detailed help, there are also links on the    Academic Writing pages to more comprehensive websites, including some with  interactive exercises.

If  English is not your first language, the In-sessional English SLrpport Programme    (IESP) provides training courses in academic writing skills, speaking skills, and  pronunciation practice.There is a smll charge for students not paying full overseas fees.

Booking an advice session

Sessions may be booked in advance by calling 0118 378 4242 0r emailing studyadvice@reading.ac.uk. Please include a contact phone number in any messages you  leave.

1.The underlined word "tailor_made" in Paragraph 2 most probably means      .

A．valuable          B．suitable           C．available          D．acceptable

2.As sessions are time-limited,it is helpful if you can       .

A．predict what suggestion works best for you

B．bring some non-marked work for comments

C．prepare what you'd like to discuss in advance

D．consult with your adviser on your work by phone

3.If a Chinese student plans to take an English pronunciation training course, he/she can see the guide to       .

A．Study Guides                           B．Effective Proof-reading

C．Academic Writing                       D．In-sessional English Support Programme

4.What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To give some professional subject advice.

B．To promote the individual advice sessions.

C．To stress the importance of a friendly adviser.

D．To provide four websites offering study guides.

New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk（收缩）. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communication’s equipment is greatly enhanced by foreign language skills.
Deeply involved with this new technology is a breed of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic(国内的) business efforts.
Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive(行政的) ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superior will have greater confidence in his or her ability to cope back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.
Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.
English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate(候选人) the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.
The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s principal language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign clients(客户) over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.
65. What is the author’s attitude toward high-tech communications equipment?
A. Critical.                   B. Indifferent.               C. Negative.                 D. Positive.
66. With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, business people_________.
A. have to get familiar with modern technology
B. are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations
C. are placing more importance on their overseas business
D. are eager to work overseas
67. In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Para. 3) probably means _________.
A. being unable to think properly for lack of insight
B. being totally out of touch with business at home
C. missing opportunities for promotion when abroad
D. leaving all care and worry behind
68. According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?
A. Connections with businesses overseas.     B. Ability to speak the client’s language.
C. Technical know-how.                                   D. Business experience.

I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language — the way it can evoke（唤起） an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken”, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I’ve heard other terms used, “limited English,” for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions（认识）of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won’t get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”, and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal（内在的）language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.
【小题1】By saying “Language is the tool of my trade”, the author means that ______.