Q:

I’d like to know about fluency．What can I do to feel better when I’m talking to other people? Do you have some ways to learn it faster? Please help me!　　　—Roberto in Brazil

A:

Roberto wants to know how to become more fluent in English, and this is something you want to be able to do “fast”．

First, if you get to meet English speakers much, the important rule is to listen not just to native speakers of English, but also to very good users of English．If you don’t, then listen to the radio, TV or films in English．

The next step is to notice what it is that speakers of English do, which makes them sound fluent．The first trick(诀窍) is to probably have confidence．Some people think they might make mistakes．Don’t worry about that．Your listeners will usually try hard to understand you — a few grammar mistakes aren’t going to worry them．

What you do need to worry about is pronunciation, especially stress(重音)．When you learn a new word or expression, learn it with its stress．Notice how a native speaker says it or look it up in a dictionary．

Another good thing that speakers of English do is to have a few tricks up their sleeves(袖子) for when they need to give themselves thinking time．Sometimes they use “filler sounds” like er, um and so on．

It is also useful to know how to bring other speakers into your conversation so that you keep them interested － and this is often done by asking questions like “What do you think?” “How do you feel about this?” and so on．

So, to become a fluent speaker, you’ll need to put into practice all these kinds of things．And there’s the key: practise, practise, practise．　　　　　　　　　　　　　－Susan Fearn

56．Susan first encourages English learners to       ．

A．meet English speakers     B．listen to very good speakers

C．talk to English speakers   D．buy a radio or a TV set

57．When mentioning pronunciation, Susan pays special attention to    ．

A．stress B．expressions      C．dictionaries      D．words

58．What do the underlined words “to have a few tricks up their sleeves” probably mean?

A．To wear a lot of clothes．                   

B．To have a secret plan or idea．

C．To hide some tricks into their sleeves． 

D．To have sleeves covering their whole arms．

59．What do we know from the passage?

A．One can only learn stress from dictionaries．

B．Grammar mistakes worry one’s listeners a lot．

C．Asking questions can make one’s conversation attractive．

D．One can become fluent if one practises one of the suggestions．

Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. He knows what he wants, and his purpose is to find it and buy it; the price is a less important consideration. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it, the salesman immediately produces it, and the business of trying it is done at once. All being well, the bargain can be and often is completed in less than five minutes, with hardly any chat and to everyone's satisfaction.

For a man, slight problems may begin when the shop does not have what he wants. Then the salesman tries to sell the customer something else—he offers the nearest he can to the thing required. He usually says, "I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it on for size? It happens to be the color you want." Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual reply is: "This is the right color and may be the right size, but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on."

Now how does a woman go about buying clothes? She does so in the opposite. She has never fully made up her mind what she wants, and she is only "having a look round." She is always open to persuasion; indeed she considers of great importance what the saleswoman tells her, even what her friends tell her. She will try on any number of things. Highest in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone thinks suits her. Most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always trying to find an unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one counter to another before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It takes a great deal of time but gives great joy. Most dress shops supply chairs for the waiting husbands.

53. When a man is buying clothes, he ___________.

A. puts price before quality　　B. chooses things that others think suitable for him

C. does not mind much the price he has to pay for the right things

D. buys good quality things, so long as they do not cost too much

54. When a man cannot get what he wants, he ________.

A. buys something of the same color in a slight different style

B. usually does not buy anything

C. will try on some other clothes of the same style

D. wastes no time in buying something else

55. What does the passage tell us about women shoppers for clothes ?

A. They welcome suggestions from anyone

B. Women seldom consider buying cheap clothes

C. Women often buy things without thinking　　D. They listen to advice but never take it

56. The most obvious difference between men and women shoppers is ________.

A. that men do not try clothes on in a shop while women do

B. that women bargain for their clothes and men don't

C. that women do their shopping standing up but men do theirs sitting down

D. the time they take over buying clothes

　　Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman．A man goes shopping because he needs something．He knows what he wants， and his purpose is to find it and buy it，the price is a less important consideration．All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want．If the shop has it，the salesman immediately produces it and the business of trying it on is done at once．All being well， the bargain（交易） can be and often is completed in less than five minutes，with hardly any chat and to everyone's satisfaction．

　　For a man， slight problems may begin when the shop does not have what he wants．Then the salesman tries to sell the customer（顾客） something else he offers the nearest he can to the thing required．He usually says，“I know this jacket is not the style（式样） you want， sir， but would you like to try it on for size? It happens to be the colour you wanted．”Few men have patience with this treatment，and the usual reply is：“This is the right colour and may be the right size， but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on．”

　　Now how does a woman go about buying clothes? She does so in the opposite way．She has never fully made up her mind what she wants，and she is only “having a look round”．She is always open to persuasion，indeed she considers of great importance what the saleswoman tells her，even what her friends tell her．She will try on any number of things．Highest in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone think suits her．Most women have an excellent sense（判断力） of value when they buy clothes．They are always trying to find an unexpected bargain．Faced with a roomful of dresses， a woman may easily spend an hour going from one counter（柜台） to another before selecting the dresses she wants to try on．It takes a great deal of time but gives great joy．Most dress shop supply chairs for the waiting husbands．

1．When a man is buying clothes，he________．

A．puts price before quality

B．choose things that others think suitable for him

C．does not mind much the price he has to pay for the right things

D．buys good quality things，so long as they do not cost much

2．What does the passage tell us about the women shoppers for clothes?

A．They welcome suggestions from anyone．

B．Women seldom consider buying cheap clothes．

C．Women often buy things without thinking．

D．They listen to advice but never take it．

3．The most obvious difference between men and women shoppers is________．

A．that men do not try clothes on in a shop while women do

B．that women bargain for their clothes and men don't

C．that women do their shopping standing up but men do theirs sitting down

D．the time they take over buying clothes