Asking for information or help is a very common and necessary activity, especially when we visit a
foreign country. So knowing how to ask for information politely is important. In English, "Where are the
restrooms?" and "Could you please tell me where the restrooms are?" are similar requests-both are correct
English, but the first could sound rude. It's important to use correct language, but sometimes this alone is
not enough-we need to learn how to be polite when we make requests.
     In English, just like in Chinese, we change the way we speak when talking with different people. The
expressions you use might depend on whom you are speaking to or how well you know them. If you say
to your teacher, "Where is my book?" this will sound rude. But if you say, "Excuse me, Mr West. Do you
know where my book is?" your question will sound much more polite. On the other hand, it might be alright
to say "Where is my book?" in some situations, perhaps with people you know well.
     And you would not usually say, "Peter, lend me your pen." A very direct order like this can sound rude
in English. Usually in English polite questions are longer and include extra language, such as "Could you
please...?" or "Can I ask...?" It sounds more polite to say, "Peter, could you please lend me your pen?"
Sometimes we might even need to spend some time leading in to a question or request. For example, if you
stop a stranger in the street, we might first say, "Excuse me. I wonder if you can help me." or "I'm sorry
to trouble you but," before asking them for help.
     It might seem that speaking politely is more difficult than being direct, and in a way this may be true.
However, in order not to offend people, learning about the language etiquette is just as important as learning
grammar or vocabulary. And doing this will also help you become better at English, or any other language
you wish to speak.

1. It's important to know how to ______ in English when we visit a foreign country.
2. When you talk with different people, you need to ______.
3. Extra words are used to help ______.
4. ______ is as important as learning language structure.
5. How do you say "Don't smoke here." politely? ______

     Last year , we had an English teacher from the United States. We called him Mr. Black. He often
told us,"English is very useful in the world. "He taught us very well. He was strict with us all. In class he
always gave us more time to speak English. At first I could hardly understand a word and I could not talk
in English at all. But soon I found English was not so hard and I could talk to my classmates in English. So
I began to like it very much.
     Now Mr. Black taught in another school. This year we have a new teacher, Mrs Green. She also
teaches us very carefully. She often asks us to recite(背诵) the texts and play games. With the help of
the two foreign teachers, we all have made progress.
     Now I am enjoying studying this subject. I am sure I will learn a lot this year.

1. Which of the following is TRUE? 
    A. This year our English teacher is still Mr. Black. 
    B. Mr. Black told us that English was the most important language in the world. 
    C. In Mr. Black’s class，students do not have much time to speak English. 
    D. Mrs Green often plays games with us.
2. Mr. Black was a good teacher because _____ .
    A. I could hardly understand what he said in class
    B. he was strict with us and taught us well
    C. he was from America but could speak much Chinese 
    D. we often play games with him after class
3. Why did the students make progress? 
    A. Because they studied harder than before. 
    B. Because the teachers are both from America. 
    C. Because they are enjoying the subject and interested in it.  
    D. Because English is more and more useful in the world.
4. According to the passage , we understand that _____ . 
    A. interest is the best teacher 
    B. a foreign teacher is better than a Chinese teacher. 
    C. reciting texts is the only way to learn English 
    D. English is so easy that everyone can learn it well
5. Which of the following is referred in the passage? 
    A. Mr. Black always spent much time talking in English in class. 
    B. Both of the two foreign teachers are from the same country. 
    C. All the students like foreign teachers because they are strict with them selves. 
    D. It's hard to get on well with a foreign teacher.

Good morning, class!
     We know that there are too many net bars around us. The Internet is popular and it makes our lives
colorful. Many of us like going online very much because we can learn how to use the computer and get
more information from the Internet. We can learn English. We can read some good newspapers and
magazines. It can make us clever in playing computer games. We can send E-mails to our friends quickly. We can chat(聊天) freely online with our friends. It can help us get in touch with people from all over the world.
     But some students spend too much time in playing computer game and some stay in the net bars all day and all night. Teenagers even get to have boyfriends or girlfriends online. They write too many letters to
each other. It takes them to much time to chat online so they do worse and worse in their lessons and they don’t study well any more. I think we mustn’t get online when it is time for us to study. We can do it in
summer or winter holidays. We should get online with adults(成人)--our teacher or parents.
     At the same time, if we have lots of free time, we can do some out-of-class activities at school. We
usually have activities from 4:50 to 5:50 in the afternoon. We have different kinds of activities. If you are
interested in sports,you can play basketball or football.We can go to the English Corner.We can practice
talking in English there. We hope we can spend more time on our subjects or on such activities that we
can learn a lot from and less time on the Internet.
     Thank you for listening to me. That’s all.

1.The short passage is about _______.
A. going online              
B. how to communicate with others
C. how to spend our free time    
D. different kinds of activities
2. The Internet can make our lives _______.
A. helpful and important        
B. enjoyable and interesting
C. enjoyable but expensive      
D. different kinds of activities
3. _______ is not good.
A. Sending E-mails            
B. Reading newspapers and magazines online
C. going on line with adults    
D. Spending all day in the net bars 
4. Playing computer games_______.
A. gives us lots of information    
B. makes our studies worse
C. makes us more clever          
D. is harmful to our health
5. Which of the following is NOT right?
A. There are too many net bars in the cities.
B. We can learn English from the Internet.
C. We mustn’t get online when we are studying at school.
D. We cannot do out-of-class activities from 4:50 to 5:50 p.m.