Hi Mary,

       Thank you for writing to me and I will try to give you some ideas about improving（提高） your written English. The bad news, of course, is that there is no e   77    way to do this. It takes work.

       Improving your English, like getting better at anything else, means lots of practice. I think you already know enough words and grammar in English to make sentences and to understand English, and the problem you have is as the problem all Chinese students have when they learn English. You go to English class a couple of times a week and the rest of the time you speak Chinese. If you come to Canada, your English would improve very         q  78    because you would use it all day, every day. It’s just practice.

       To improve your writing in English, you should do the following t   79    things. First, you should try to read English as much as possible. It doesn’t matter what you read, so pick something that interests you. Reading English will show you how English words are used together, how English speakers express themselves and so on, so you can learn a lot from that. Then you should practice writing. Ask your teacher if you can get extra assignments and write things like short stories. Your teacher can s   80    you where you make mistakes and how to correct them. You can also write more letters to English speakers on the Internet (I will be happy to exchange letters with you if that will help). Don’t worry if you make mistakes     b  81    that is how you learn.

       You say you can not obey your plans. In English we say, “Plan the work, work the plan.” You need a plan and then you need to follow your plan to improve.

I hope these ideas are u   82   . I wish you luck, and if you want to write to me I will be happy to try to help you. We can talk about China, about Canada or anything else you like.  

Best wishes,

Brad Flankin

77. e________ 78. q________ 79. t________ 80. s________ 81. b________ 82. u________

　　The Browns were going shopping. Mr. Brown was going to the drugstore. Mrs. Brown was going to the supermarket and then the shoe store. Mary wanted to go to the pet shop. They were all going to different stores. But they were going to the same place. All the stores were close together. They were in the shopping center. It was easy for the Browns to go shopping.

　　Every city has places where people can buy things they need. Long ago, people went to open markets. Shoemakers sold shoes. Farmers sold eggs and vegetables. Each person selling something had his own stand at the market. The market was held outdoors on certain days. As the cities grew, the markets grew. Soon they were open every day. After a while, stores took the place of stands.

　　In many parts of the world, people still shop at open markets. In our country, shopping centers have taken the place of most open markets.

(1) Today, many stores close together are found in a ________.

[　　]

(2) The story does not say this, but from what we have read, we can tell that ________.

[　　]

A．people selling things have to stand outdoors

B．most people like to go to shopping centers

C．stands are better than most supermarkets

D．people don't like go shopping at all

(3) Where was the market held?

[　　]

A．The market was held outdoors on certain days.

B．The market was held in the country on Sundays.

C．The market was held in the city on certain days.

D．The market was held indoors on Sundays.

(4) The main idea of the whole story is that ________.

[　　]

A．shoemakers sold shoes to farmers with vegetable stands

B．you can only go to the supermarket on certain holidays

C．shopping centers are taking the place of open markets

D．markets are everywhere

John: Here’s a good shop. Shall we buy mother’s birthday present here?
Mary: Yes, that’s a good idea. Shall we go inside?
Tom: No. Let’s look in the window. Shall we buy her a sweater?
Anne: Er, no. It’ll soon be summer. Let’s buy her a blouse to wear. There’s a nice one in the window.
John: No, she has two blouses. Let’s buy a ring.
Mary: Oh, no! They’re diamond rings. Look at the price. The cheapest is ＄15.
John: A real diamond ring is at least ＄500.They only look like diamonds.
Tom: Shall we buy a table? It’s only ＄15.
Anne: It doesn’t look good, just like a big box. Mum likes chairs.
Tom: But they haven’t any here.
Mary: What about a pen? So cheap! Only ＄10.
John: She has a lot of pens and pencils. All of them are new. 
Tom: Oh, look here. These flowers are beautiful.
Mary: They aren’t real and will never die.
John: And they’re the cheapest of all these things. Yes, let’s buy them.
Anne: All right.
【小题1】Who finds the shop to buy the present first?