2. In the       (twenty) century,the US spread English to the world.

1. In China and many other countries,English is the       (important) foreign language that children learn at school.

 as common as,borrow ...from,even though,together with,at least

1. He worked in the field        it rained heavily.

2. Now computers are becoming      TVs in many families.

3. There were       two hundred people attending the meeting.

4. Betty       her mother will go to the park tomorrow.

5. Yesterday I       a dictionary       my friend.

5. His mother works as a       (秘书) in that factory.

4. Some       (印度人) can speak English and Chinese.

3. In winter,the temperature is usually below       (零) .

2. The number of teachers in our school is 50,and a       (四分之一) of them are women teachers.

1. I'll have to ask my       (老板) for a day off.

 In learning English,one should first pay atten?tion to listening and speaking. It is the ground work of reading and writing. You'd better try your best to speak while you do much listening.

Don't be afraid of making mistakes. But be careful not to let them stop you from improving your English. While you are doing this,a good way is to write— keep a diary,write notes or letters,then if you can,ask some others to go through what you have written and tell you where there is a mistake. Many mistakes in your speaking will be easily found when you write.

Through correcting the mistakes,you can do better in learning English. If you are slow in speak?ing,don't worry. One of the helpful ways is read?ing,either aloud or to yourself. The important thing is to choose something interesting to read. It mustn't be too difficult for you.

When you are reading in this way,don't stop to look up the words if you can guess their meanings when they have nothing important to do with the sentence. You can do that some other time.

(   ) 1. For the beginners,listening and speaking is .

   A. more important than reading and writing

   B. not so important as reading and writ?ing

   C. as important as reading and writing

   D. not so useful in learning English

(   ) 2. When you are speaking, .

   A. you should not make any mistakes

   B. you must speak slowly

   C. it doesn't matter if you make mistakes

   D. you'd better take a dictionary with you

(   ) 3. One of the good ways to find out your mistakes in your speaking is to .

   A. speak as much as possible

   B. write notes or letters

   C. ask some Americans to talk with you

   D. read more English books

(   ) 4. If you want to be fast in speaking,you should choose something .

   A. difficult to read aloud

   B. necessary to read to yourself

   C. interesting to read aloud or to your?self

   D. important to read aloud

(   ) 5. In reading,if you meet a new word which has nothing important to do with the sen?tence,you'd better .

   A. stop to look it up

   B. go on reading

   C. stop reading at once

   D. stop to guess its meaning

  although,progress, be good at,practise,keep trying,achieve

Tony_: Have you made much 1. in your Chinese,Dad? 

Tony's dad: I think I've 2.       a lot because I 3.        it every day. My level is better than it was last year,4.        I haven't been to classes. But my handwriting still isn't very good. I've still got some work to do on that. And I still find reading Chinese quite difficult.

Tony_: Do you think you have to be really bright to 5.       a foreign language?

Tony's dad: No,I don't,but whatever you do,you have to 6.       . I think Chi- nese is simpler than English,anyway.

Tony_: I wish I spoke Chinese like you do. 

Tony's dad: If you practise it every day  you can speak as fluently as me.