The guy who tried to edit English

The English vocabulary is not only huge, it is also full of words that mean practically the same thing. Get, obtain, acquire. Shine, gleam, glow, sparkle. 【1】

That was the thinking of a British writer named C.K. Ogden, who in the 1930s promoted a new form of English with a vocabulary of just 850 words. He called the project Basic English. 【2】

Ogden arrived at his 850-word list through experimentation. The words he finally included were not necessarily the shortest or most concrete. 【3】 Because any verbal (动词的) idea could be expressed with a small number of “operators”— words like come, go, take, have, make, be and do — Ogden argued that most verbs were unnecessary. In Basic English, eat is “have a meal” and forget is “go from memory.”

Winston Churchill was a fan of the concept as a way to get foreigners to speak English, and he encouraged the BBC to use it. 【4】 Roosevelt, who expressed mild interest, joked that Churchill’s famous speech about offering his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” to his country wouldn’t have been so exciting if he “had been able to offer the British people only blood, work, eye water and face water, which I understand is the best that Basic English can do with five famous words.”

【5】 Churchill didn’t use it either. When seeking to express ourselves, we don’t necessarily need fewer words; we need the right words. So it’s our benefit to have a large supply of words on hand.

A. Do we really need them all?

B. How many words are there in English?

C. Ogden himself didn’t actually use Basic English.

D. Plenty of seeming basic words did not make the list at all.

E. He also tried to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt to promote it.

F. He believed it would make the language more efficient and easier to learn.

G. Despite attention from world leaders, Basic English never got as far as expected.

注意：1.词数100左右。

2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3.开头语已经为你写好，不计入总词数。

I often imagine what my life will be like in three years. __________________________________________.

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When I was in high school, I read etiquette manuals(礼仪手册). No one noticed my politeness except for one kid. He yelled at me about it. “It’s strange that you are always so polite,” he said. I took that as praise and made a note to hide my politeness further. Real politeness, I believed, was invisible(看不见的). It adapted itself to the situation.

Politeness leaves door open. I’ve met so many people whom, if I had trusted my first impressions, I would never have wanted to meet again. Yet many of them are now great friends. One of those people is my wife. On our first date, she told me in detail that she had an operation to remove a cyst(囊肿) from her body. Of course, it killed the chemistry. But when I walked her home, I told her I’d had a great time. We talked a little after that. I kept everything pleasant and brief. Much later, I learned that she’d been having a very bad day in a very bad year.

People silently suffer from all kinds of terrible things. The good thing about politeness is you can regard these people exactly the same and wait to see what happens. You don’t have to have an opinion. You don’t need to make a judgment.

Last week, my two-year-old son, Abraham met a foreign woman in the playground. Out of curiosity, I suppose, he asked, “What’s your name?” The woman told him. Then he put out his little hand and said, “Nice to meet you!” Everyone laughed and he smiled. He shared with his firmest handshake, like I taught him.

【1】Why do many people think the author is impolite?

A. Because he doesn’t look polite.

B. Because he seldom says polite words.

C. Because he doesn’t listen to others politely.

D. Because he doesn’t behave politely towards strangers.

【2】What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. The author’s good mangers.

B. The author’s strange behavior.

C. The author always making notes.

D. The author reading etiquette manuals.

【3】What can we learn about politeness according to Paragraph 3?

A. It can help people make friends.

B. It can keep everything pleasant.

C. It can be good for people’s health.

D. It can give people second chances.

This significant 【8】 (discover) of Drew’s saved countless lives during World War II. And his insistence 【9】 ignoring the racial background of donators and transfusion receivers meant that non-white soldiers no longer bled to death while 【10】 (wait) for a same-race donor to contribute blood. He died in 1950 after a car accident.

Bill Wyman, former bass player(贝斯手) in the Rolling Stones, has pointed out that music video games discourage kids from learning to play real instruments. My own opinion suggest quite opposite.

Last year, I bought Guitar Hero Ⅲ for our 14-year-old son, Jack. Jack quickly mastered the process and entered an intense period of playing the game.

A few months later, while I was away on tour, a couple of his friends came around with a real electric guitar. Playing Guitar Hero had taught them how to play along the track. Now they wanted to see if they could apply that to the real thing. Jack’s friends taught him how to play along to his favorite songs using just his index finger (食指)on the bass string. He got it right away.

Guitar Hero had helped him over the first difficulty for guitar players—how to strum(拨弄) the strings with one hand while making chord(和弦) shapes with the other. He never plays Guitar Hero now, preferring to rock out in the garage with his mates.

Despite my attempts at getting him to learn an instrument, it was Guitar Hero that taught him the basics of playing and built up his confidence to the extent that he was able to make a recognizable sound the first time he played it.

So let’s not complain about a game that encourages kids to become music fans and, in our son’s case, gives them the basic skills needed to learn how to play guitar.

【1】What’s Bill Wyman’s attitude towards music video games?

A. CuriousB. Approving.C. Negative.D. Unconcerned.

【2】Which statement is TRUE about Jack’s first playing with a real electric guitar?

A. He did it successfully.

B. He taught his friends how to play.

C. He didn’t know how to play along to a song.

D. He didn’t know how to strum the instruments.

【3】What can we infer from Jack’s case?

A. Parents should encourage their kids.

B. Computer games are harmful to kids.

C. Kids should learn an instrument.

D. Guitar Hero is a useful game.

【4】What’s the best title for the text?

A. A new computer game

B. The story of a guitarist

C. In defense of Guitar Hero

D. The best way to play guitar

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（︿），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Last summer I did some fruit-picking. It is pretty hard work. I had to start in 7 am and pick for a good eight hour. But it was such cheerful that we had great fun. Some of we had guitars, so in the evenings we had barbecues and played a bit music together. I only got about $80 a week, but at the least they gave me all my meals, and the food was not that awfully. Basic accommodation was also supplying. Still, I’m afraid I won’t be going fruit-picking this summer, because I’ve got a temporary job in town what pays better.

Analysis shows that record numbers of Americans are visiting Job Search sites; younger women make up the biggest audience.The recent flood of advertisements from Monster.com and Career Builder has reminded us that the New Year is a time to re-evaluate one's current job and perhaps seek a better career.

In Search of Skilled Workers, Employers Go to Summer Camp

With skilled-labor shortages looming, some employers are moving to solve the problem by winning the hearts and minds of the young -- the very young. In an effort to tap future workers in middle school or earlier, big employers, including IBM and Boeing, are increasing their backing of career-driven summer camps. The camps promote kids' interest in all kinds of fields. The efforts are yielding new opportunities for families, and insights into how to help kids explore promising careers.

More Women Decide to Extend Careers

Three years ago, after a long career with FedEx, Anne made a difficult decision: She accepted an early retirement offer when the company was downsizing.

"It was a bit of an identity crisis for me," says Anne, who is in her early 60s and divorced. "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do." After a lengthy search, she found another position in public relations at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. "I needed the structure of a full-time job, the stimulation of working with others, and the reward of being productive," she says. "The income was also welcome.”

【1】On the website “Monster.com” we can see lots of advertisements about .

A. clothes B. foods

C. monsters D. jobs

【2】In order to get skilled workers for the future, most big companies .

A. go to world-famous universities to hire employees

B. begin to support the career-driven summer camps

C. begin to train middle school students even earlier in many ways

D. spend much money on training their employees

【3】From the last paragraph we can know that .

A. Anne really didn’t want to retire early

B. Anne enjoys a higher salary than before

C. Anne was very happy to retire and found a new job

D. Anne found the present job easily

I don’t________when it started to dislike her hands pushing my hair that way. Finally, one night, I shouted at her. “Don’t do that _______--- your hands are too rought(粗糙的)!” She didn’t say anthing_______. But never again did my mother_______me with that familiar expression of her love. But because of my pride, I didn’t tell her I was_____

As years passed, I missed my mother’s hands and goodnight kisses upon my_______again and again. Sometimes the incidnet seemed very close, sometimes far away. But always________appeared in my mind.

Now my mom is in her mid-seventies, still doing thins for me and my family with those two hands. Mom no longer has Dad, and on special_______, I find myself drawn next door to ______the night with her. It was late on Thanksgiving Eve. As I slept in the bedroom of my youth, a________hand hesitantly brushed the hari from my forehead. Then a kiss, ever so _______, touched my brow.

In my_______, for the thousandth time, I thought of the night I said the rude words to my mom. _______Mom’s hand in my hand, I told her how sorry I was for that night. But she had forgotten---and forgiven---long ago.

That night, I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my gentle mother and her ________hands. And the guilt(愧疚感)I had had for so long was______to be found.

【1】A. remember B. repeat C. retell D. reuse

【2】A. anyhow B. anymore C. anytime D. anyway

【3】A. in particualr B. in reply C. in time D. in addition

【4】A. track B. please C. treat D. trust

【5】A. angry B. anxious C. sorry D. terrible

【6】A. hand B. cheek C. hair D. forehead

【7】A. she B. they C. he D. it

【8】A. duty B. occasions C. conditions D. purpose

【9】A. charge B. take C. cost D. spend

【10】A. friendly B. familiar C. similar D. soft

【11】A. rudely B. gently C. suddenly D. gladly

【12】A. memory B. adulthoo C. youth D. childhood

【13】A. Touching B. Catching C. Fetching D. Stretching

【14】A. worrying B. living C. tiring D. loving

【15】A. somewhere B. anywhere C. nowhere D. everywhere

1.介绍训练营的相关内容（例如：时间，地点，参加者等）；

2.说明你打算参加的原因；

3.询问对方的意向。

注意：1.词数100左右；

2.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Tom,

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Yours,

Li Hua