One of the speaking rules you need to know might sound strange to most ESL (English as a second language) students, but it is one of the most important rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. However, if you want to become fluent in English, then you should try to learn English without studying the grammar.
Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that only a small part of English speakers know more than 20% of all the grammar rules. Many ESL students know more grammar than native speakers. I can confidently say this with experience. I am a native English speaker, majored in English Literature, and have been teaching English for more than 10 years. However, many of my students know more details about English grammar than I do. When they sometimes ask me about grammar, I can easily look up the definition(定义) and apply it, but I can’t tell them the answer off the top of my head.
I often ask my native English friends some grammar questions, and only a few of them know the correct answer. However, they are fluent in English and can read, speak, listen, and communicate effectively.
Do you want to be able to recite the definition of a causative verb, or do you want to be able to speak English fluently?
【小题1】According to the author, what opinion do most ESL students hold?

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
During the years when I was a teacher, I learned a lot of things. Perhaps the most important one was the life-changing  16 of encouraging words.  
I 17 what Leo Buscaglia had done with his students in University of Southern California. In one class Leo Buscaglia and his students had made two lists of 18 , one positive and one negative. Then they  19 the negative words in the trash and tried to use only the  20 words for one month. They were  21 at how much better their lives became just by using words full of  22  .
I decided to try this as well by  23 something good to write on each paper my students  24 . No matter how many mistakes a student’s paper  25 , there was always a  26 sentence, beautiful thought, or a great idea that I could  27 on. I remember glancing over my desk and  28  some of the students reading those encouraging words  29  . It was a joy seeing their eyes shine a little brighter, their  30  sit up a little straighter, and their learning climb a lot  31 .
I recently saw one of my  32  students and we talked for a while. He has got married, and has two children now. As I was saying goodbye, he said, “You know I  33  have a few of those old papers. I look at them from time to time. I just  34  my kids have a good teacher like you.” I was amazed at the  35  those few positive words had on his life.
May your own life be forever full of encouraging words in your ears, from your lips and in your heart.

His first successful fight was for the equal rights of black people in South Africa. Then, as the first black president, he fought to unite the country and organize the government. Now Nelson Mandela has set his sights on a new enemy, AIDS.
On March 19 the 82-year-old, former president, hosted his second AIDS-awareness concert. He warned that 25 million people in Africa were already infected with the fatal disease.
Mandela was born in a small village in South Africa in 1918. He was adopted by the chief of his tribe and could have been a chief himself and lived a happy country life.
But he refused to be a chief when his people lived under racial discrimination(歧视). He decided to fight for equal rights for all the people in South Africa. Before 1990, under the country’s Racial Segregation Law, colored and white people lived separately. Black people were treated unfairly even when taking a bus. Blacks had to stand at the back of the bus to make room for white people even when there were only a few of them on board.
For his opposition to the system, Mandela was arrested and spent 27 years in prison. He was freed in 1990 and became the president of the country after the first election were held in which everyone could vote.
Mandela was not only a political fighter who attacked with speeches. He was also a trained boxer and fought in the ring when he was young.
“Although I did not enjoy the violence of boxing, I was interested in how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat”, he wrote in his autobiography.
As a skillful fighter, he chose music as his weapon against AIDS. He hopes to win another victory against AIDS.
【小题1】When was Mandela arrested? 

There are still many things that Peter Cooke would like to try his hand at－ paper – making and feather – work are on his list. For the moment though, he will stick to the skill he has been delighted to perfect over the past ten years ;making delicate and unusual objects out of shells.
As he leads me round his apartment showing me his work, he points to a pair of shell-covered ornaments(装饰品) above a fireplace. ‘I shan’t be at all bothered if people don’t buy them because I have got so used to them, and to me they’re adorable. I never meant to sell my work commercially. Some friends came to see me about five years ago and said, “You must have an exhibition-people ought to see these. We’ll talk to a man who owns an art gallery”.’ The result was an exhibition in London, at which 70 percent of the objects were sold. His second exhibition opened at the gallery yesterday. Considering the enormous prices the pieces command-around ￡2,000 for the ornaments-an empty space above the fireplace would seem a small sacrifice for Cooke to make.
“I do wish, though,” says Cooke, ‘that I’d taken this up a lot earlier, because then I would have been able to produce really wonderful things-at least the potential would have been there. Although the ideas are still there and I’m doing the best I can now, I’m more limited physically than I was when I started. Still, the work that he has managed to produce is a long way from the common shell constructions that can be found in seaside shops. ‘I have a miniature(微型的)mind’ he says, and this has resulted in boxes covered in thousands of tiny shells, little shaded pictures made from shells and baskets of astonishingly realistic flowers.
Cooke’s quest for beautiful, and especially tiny, shells has taken him further than his Norfolk shore: to France, Thailand, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines, to name but a few of the beaches where he has lain on his stomach and looked for beauties to bring home.
67．What does the reader learn about Peter Cooke in the first paragraph?
A．He has produced hand-made objects in different materials.
B．He hopes to work with other materials in the future.
C．He has written about his love of making shell objects.
D．He was praised for his shell objects many years ago.
68．When looking round his apartment, the wrier__________.
A．is attracted by Cooke’s personality
B．realizes he doesn’t like Cooke’s work at all
C．feels uncertain about giving Cooke his opinion
D．senses that Cooke wants his products to be admired
69．The ‘small sacrifice’ in Paragraph 2 refers to _________.
A．the loss of Cooke’s ornaments
B．the display of Cooke’s ornaments
C．the cost of keeping Cooke’s ornaments
D．the space required to store Cooke’s ornaments
70．What does Cooke regret about his work?
A．He is not as famous as he should have been.
B．He makes less money than he should make.
C．He is less imaginative than he used to be.
D．He is not as skillful as he used to be.

I moved into a new house in July. Since then I have met a few of my neighbors who are very nice people. For Christmas, I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors I know. There were nine neighbors whom I knew by name or spoke with often when I was out in my yard. I knew which houses they lived in.

I decided to add one more to my list. This lady I decided to add lives down the street from me. I meet her every morning walking to work as I drive down the street. She always smiles to me. But I had no idea who she was and which house she lived in.

I planned to make small fruit baskets and leave them on my neighbor's front porches (门廊) on Christmas Eve. I signed the cards: “Happy Holidays from 5104 Northumberland Road.”

I saved the last for the friendly lady. I finally decided on a house where I met her each morning and guessed that it was hers.

My neighbors really appreciated the baskets and would tell me as they saw me in the yard or they would call, and a couple even came by to thank me.

This morning I found a small note in the mailbox. It was addressed simply: Resident, 5104 Northumberland Road.

The Thank You card really caught me by surprise. I opened it and read the message, “Thank you for the lovely fruit basket you left on our porch. It was very thoughtful. Richard Kelly passed away last week. He talked a lot about how nice it was that someone remembered him in his time of illness. He really appreciated it.”

I had no idea who Richard Kelly was and that he had been seriously ill. I had left that nice lady’s basket on his porch by mistake. I wanted to say sorry, but that would be wrong. I believe that Mr. Kelly was meant to have that basket because he was dying. I hate that the nice lady did not get to receive a fruit basket on Christmas, but I believe if she knew what had happened, she would be happy. I feel pleased to have helped Richard Kelly's last days be more cheerful.

1.How many Christmas gifts did the author intend to send?

   A. 9.         B. 8           C. 10               D. 11

2.Where did the friendly lady live?

A. She lived at the end of Northumberland Road.

B. Her address was 5104 Northumberland Road.

C. She was thought to share a house with Mr. Kelly.

D. The author was not sure about her address at all.

3.How did the author’s neighbors respond to his gifts?

   A. They liked the gifts very much and were thankful.

   B. They were thankful that they wanted to be friends.

   C. They all made phone calls to say “Thank You”.

   D. They all visited him by person to show gratitude.

4.What does the author mean in the last paragraph?

   A. He was regretful that the nice lady didn’t receive his gift.

   B. He was glad to have made Mr. Kelly's life more pleasant. 

   C. He thought Richard Kelly deserved to receive that basket.

   D. The old lady was happy to sacrifice to make Kelly happy.