The average person learns most of the 30 000～40 000 words whose meanings he or she recognizes by hearing them or getting familiar with them in the context or simply absorbing them without conscious effort. The best way to build a good vocabulary, therefore, is to read a great deal and to participate in a lot of good talks. There are relatively few words that we learn permanently by purposefully referring to dictionaries or keeping word lists. However, even those extra few are of value, and no one will make a mistake by working on developing a larger vocabulary. Here are some suggestions of how to do it.

Read plenty of good books. When you come across a new word, or a new meaning of an old word, stop and see if you can understand it from its context. If you can't, and if you can manage without interrupting the thought of the book too much, look it up in a dictionary or ask somebody and then repeat its meaning to yourself a couple of times. If you are really conscientious(认真的), write the word and its meaning in a personal vocabulary list － preferably using it in a sentence, or you can keep a special vocabulary notebook. Go over the list from time to time. Further, try to use a new word in writing or conversation a few times over the next several days.

Listen to good talks and be alert to new words you hear or to new meanings of words you already know. Then treat them just as you treat the new words you read.

Learn and be alert to the parts of words: prefixes, suffixes and roots. Knowing them enables you to make intelligent guesses about the meanings of words.

If you are studying a foreign language, be alert to words in that language which relate to words in English. English has inherited(继承) or borrowed much of its vocabulary of 500 000～600 000 words from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and German.

1.When you meet a new word in reading, what should you do?

2.According to this passage, the best way to build a good vocabulary is ______.

3. The phrase “be alert to” in the third paragraph may best be replaced by “______”.

4. In the fourth paragraph, the word “them” refers to ______

Up to 90% of school leavers in major Asian cities are suffering from myopia ---short-sightedness, a study suggests. Researchers say the "extraordinary rise" in the problem is being caused by students working very hard in school and missing out on outdoor light.

Eye experts say that you are short-sighted if your vision is blurred(模糊的) beyond 2m. It is often caused by an elongation（拉伸） of the eyeball that happens when people are young. According to the research, the problem is being caused by a combination of factors - a commitment to education and lack of outdoor light.

Professor Morgan who led this study argues that many children in South East Asia spend long hours studying at school and doing their homework. This in itself puts pressure on the eyes, but exposure to between two and three hours of daylight helps maintain healthy eyes.

Cultural factors also seem to play a part. Across many parts of South East Asia, children often have a lunchtime nap. According to Professor Morgan they are missing out on natural light to prevent short-sightedness.

A big concern is the numbers of the students suffering from “high” myopia. One in five of these students could experience severe visual impairment(障碍) and even blindness. These people are at considerable risk—sometimes people are not told about it and are just given more powerful glasses—they need to be warned about the risk and given some self-testing measures so they can get to an ophthalmologist and get some help.

For decades, researchers believed there was a strong genetic component to the condition. But this study strongly suggests an alternative view. “Any type of simple genetic explanation just doesn’t fit with that speed of change; gene pools just don’t change in two generations. Whether it’s a purely environmental effect or an environmental effect playing a sensitive genome, it really doesn’t matter, the thing that’s changed is not the gene pool---it’s the environment.”

1.As is mentioned above, which factor mainly results in students’ myopia in South East Asia?

A．Genetic faults of the people.               B．Elongation of the eyeball.

C．The shortage of outdoor light.              D．Lack of research into the problem.

2.Which of the following statements do you think agrees with Professor Morgan?

A．A lunchtime nap is helpful in reducing myopia.

B．Glasses keep myopia from getting even worse.

C．It’s necessary to treat myopia with an operation.

D．It’s of vital importance to reduce educational pressure.

3.What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．Gene remains the main cause of the long-standing problem.

B．The environment is to blame for the extraordinary rise in myopia.

C．Short-sightedness has nothing to do with changes in gene pools.

D．An environmental effect playing a sensitive genome counts.

4.What’s the best way to take care of your eyes according to the passage?

A．Equip the classroom with better lights.

B．Look at the sun from time to time.

C．Do eyes exercise regularly.

D．Spend more time in the open air.

Some people think as more and more people have televisions in their homes, fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper, when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read the life story of a famous man, when a short television program can tell you all that you want to know?

Television has not killed reading, however. Today, newspapers sell in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a cheap way to get information and enjoyment. Although some books with hard covers are expensive, many books are printed today as paperbacks (平装本), which are quite cheap. A paperback collection of short stories, for example, is always cheaper than an evening at the cinema or the theater, and you can keep a book for ever and read it many times.

Books are a wonderful provider of knowledge and pleasure and some types of books should be in every home. Every home should have a good dictionary. A good encyclopedia (百科全书), though expensive, is useful, too, because you can find information on any subject. Besides, you can have such books as history books, science textbooks, cookbooks, and collections of stories and poems. Then from time to time you can take a book of poems off your shelves and read the thoughts and feelings of your favorite poets.

63. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

A. TV programs are a chief provider of knowledge

B. cinemas are the best choice in getting information

 reading is a cheap way of learning and having fun

D. newspapers are an expensive way to enjoy oneself

64. What does the sentence “Television has not killed reading, however” underlined in the second paragraph suggest?

A. People only need reading, though.   B. Reading is still necessary today.

 Reading is more fun than television.        D. Watching television doesn’t help reading.

65. Which of the following is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?

A. Types of books                      B. Kinds of dictionaries

 Lists of history books.            D. Collections of stories and poems.

66. What can we learn from the passage?

A. Fewer and fewer people will buy books.

B. A good dictionary should be kept in every home.

 Books with hard covers sell better than paperbacks.

D. More people like TV programs about famous men.

The novelist, Harriet Beecher Stowe, born 200 years ago, was a poor housewife with six children, and she suffered from various illnesses. Driven by the hatred of slavery, she found time to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which became the most influential novel in American history and caused great change, both at home and abroad.

Today, however, the book has a different reputation, owing to the popular image of its character, Uncle Tom, whose name has become a saying for a cowardly（懦弱的）black man who betrays his race.

But this view is wrong: the original Uncle Tom was physically and morally strong, an inspiration for black people and other oppressed（被压迫的）people worldwide. Indeed, that was why, in the mid-19th century, Southerners attacked Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a dangerously destructive book, while Northern reformers—especially black people—often praised it.

The book was influential overseas too. In Russia it inspired Vladimir Lenin, who recalled it as his favorite book in childhood. It was the first American novel to be translated and published in China, and it fueled anti-slavery movements in Cuba and Brazil.

The book’s progressive appeal was the character of Uncle Tom himself: a strong man who is notable because he does not betray his race; one reason he gives up escaping from his plantation（种植园）is that he doesn’t want to put his fellow slaves in danger. And he is finally killed because he refuses to tell his master where two runaway slaves are hiding.

Unfortunately, these themes were lost in many of the stage versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The play, seen by more people than those who read the book, remained popular up to the 1950s and still appears occasionally. But in the play, Stowe’s revolutionary themes were drowned.

But it doesn’t have to be that way; indeed; during the civil rights era it was those who most closely resembled Uncle Tom—Stowe’s Uncle Tom, not the embarrassed one of popular myth—that proved most effective in promoting progress. Both Stowe and Uncle Tom deserve our reconsideration and our respect.

1.Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin because she                     . 

2. Which of the following is TRUE about the influence of the book?

3.What can we learn about Uncle Tom in the book?

4.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

Learners of English, especially self-taught learners may have trouble in understanding speeches by native speakers. The following ways might help improve their listening ability.

First of all, do things step by step. It is not good to listen to something beyond your level. Better choose a suitable course and start with the first book. Go on to the second book only after you are sure you understand the first one.

Secondly, stick to one course of study. Don’t change books often. Never let your attention be attracted by another course just because it seems to be more “fashionable”. 

Thirdly, listen to the English news program over the radio from time to time.  Better go through the news stories in the Chinese-language newspaper first. That will make it easy for you to understand the English news on the radio.

Fourthly, if you have time, listen to some interesting stories in “Special English from the V.O.A. or other listening materials of the same level as that of your textbook”.

1.This is a piece of advice to learners of English on how to ________.

A．improve their listening ability

B．read fast

C．write better English and read faster

D．speak correctly

2.If you want to understand the English news program on the radio, you should ________.

A．read the Chinese-language newspaper step by step

B．read again and again the Chinese-language newspaper

C．go through the Chinese-language newspaper first

D．be able to recite the Chinese-language newspaper

3.The author advised that once you have taken up a course, you ________.

A．should stick to it

B．should begin with the last book

C．should take up other courses if they are more fashionable

D．shouldn’t do anything else

4.In this passage, V.O.A. stands for ________.

A.  a book         B. a magazine       C. a text-book      D. a radio station