One is not born able to speak a language．One is born able to make a noise．I have heard babies cry in America and in China．I can't tell any difference．But when I hear someone from America speak English and hear someone speak Chinese, I can tell you there are a lot of differences．

   I believe a common problem with Chinese students’ learning English is that they were not taught to think in English．They have an idea spoken in English and want to translate the idea into Chinese, Then they think in Chinese of the proper reply and translate it into English．After a long period of speaking the language, one begins to think in the foreign language naturally．You will learn faster if you begin to think in English at the very beginning of your study．Many students ask me: What can I do to improve my spoken English?

    My reply is: The more English you speak, the better English you will speak．There are many things you can do to improve your spoken English．Of course, the best way is to live where English is spoken as a language of the country．

The cries of American and Chinese babies are ________．

A．different B．the same   C．not like each other   D．like each other

The underlined sentence ( in Paragraph 2 ) means that ________．

A．some teachers didn't teach students to think in English

B．teachers never gave the students the way of learning English

C．students didn't remember the way teachers taught them

D．teachers didn't want their students to think in English

The underlined word “they” ( in Paragraph 2 ) refers to “________”．

A．Chinese students                                         B．English students     

C．Chinese teachers                                         D．English teachers

According to the article, which of the following is TRUE?

A．You must think in English all the time．

B．If you translate a sentence into Chinese, you should think about the meaning of the sentence in Chinese carefully first．

C．After speaking English for a long time, you may probably think in English naturally．

D．The best way of learning English is to live in America．

The Man behind Blue Jeans

Levi Strauss was born in 1829 in Bavaria, Germany. He was the fifth of six children. His father sold dry goods from door to door. (Dry goods include many different things: fabric, thread, scissors, combs, buttons, yarn, etc.)

In 1845, his father died. All six children decided to go to the United States. Two of Strauss’ bothers started a dry goods company in New York City. Strauss’ sister Fanny and her husband started a similar business in San Francisco. Strauss decided to go to the southeastern part of the United States. For eight years, he walked along the country roads selling dry goods from door to door –just like his father in Bavaria.

In 1853, Strauss decided to move to San Francisco. (At that time, thousands of people traveled to California to look for gold.) On the way to California, Strauss sold almost all of his dry goods. He had only one thing left—some canvas.

In California, Strauss tried to sell the canvas to the gold miners. He said they could make tents from the canvas. But they weren’t interested in canvas for tents. Strauss didn’t know what to do with the canvas. Then, he had an idea. Strauss could see that the miners needed new pants. There were holes in their pants because the fabric wasn’t strong. He decided to make the canvas into pants. They called them “Levi’s”. Later, Strauss stopped using canvas and used a different fabric. It was a heavy cotton fabric—the same kind people wear today.

Levi Strauss died in 1902. He never married and left his money to his nephews. He left the world much more—the jeans that so many people wear.

________ isn’t a kind of dry goods.

 A. Thread    B. Gold    C. Comb    D. Yarn

What is canvas?

A. Tent.    B. Pants.    C. A very strong fabric.

D. Anything which is used to make all kinds of trousers.

Why did the miners call the pants “Levi’s”?

A. Because the pants belonged to Levi Strauss’ father

B. In memory of Levi Strauss’ father.          C. It’s the name of Levi’ Strauss’ nephew.

D. Because the pants are Levi’s invention.

Which of the following is NOT true about Levi Strauss?

A. He was born in Germany.     B. His parents had six children.

C. He had five children.        D. He died in 1902.

A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work.

   He may have the belief that he is not capable (有能力的) of it. A child may think he is __1__ because he doesn’t understand how to make the __2__ of his mental faculties (才能). Older people may be mistaken that they are incapable of learning things new because of their __ 3__.

   A person who believe that he is incapable will not make a real __4__ because he feels that it would be useless. He won’t go at a job with confidence necessary for __5__ , and he won’t  work his hardest way, even though he may think he is doing so. He is __6__ likely to fail, and the failure will __7__ his belief in his competence (才能) .

   Alfred Alder, a famous doctor, had __8__ like this. When he was a small boy, he had a poor __9__ in maths. His teacher told his parents he had no ability in maths in order that they would not __10__ too much of him. In this way, they two __11__ the idea. He accepted __12__ mistaken thinking of his ability, felt that it was useless to __13__ and was very poor at maths, __14__ as they expected.

   One day he worked at a problem which __15__ of the other students had been able to solve.

  Alder __16__ in solving the problem. This gave him confidence (信心). He now __17__ with interest, determination and purpose, and he soon became especially good at __18__. He not only proved that he could learn maths well, but luckily he learned __19__ in his life from his own experience that if a person goes at a job with determination and purpose, he may __20__ himself as well as others by his ability.

1. A. clever                   B. shy                   C. useless                     D. stupid

2. A. biggest                 B. most                 C. highest                     D. deepest

3. A. ability                  B. age                   C. brain                        D. knowledge

4. A. decision                B. success              C. effort                       D. trouble

5. A. work                    B. study                C. improvement            D. success

6. A. truly                        B. really                C. however                   D. therefore

7. A. lead to                 B. strengthen         C. increase                    D. add to

8. A. an experience        B. an example        C. a thought                  D. a story

9. A. state                         B. mind                 C. start                         D. ending

10. A. blame                 B. expect               C. get                           D. win

11. A. developed           B. organized          C. discovered                D. found

12. A. his                     B. her                    C. its                          D. their

13. A. manage               B. succeed             C. try                         D. act

14. A. only                   B. almost               C. just                        D. then

15. A. none                   B. no                    C. no one                    D. nobody

16. A. gave                   B. succeeded          C. failed                            D. believed

17. A. lived                  B. worked             C. played                    D. graduated

18. A. lessons                   B. medicine           C. subjects                  D. maths

19. A. early                  B. deeply               C. late                        D. simply

20. A. encourage           B. love                  C. astonish                  D. disappoint

An idea came to him ___ he might do the experiment in another way.

A．which            B．when             C．what             D．that

 

选编（二十）

A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work.

   He may have the belief that he is not capable (有能力的) of it. A child may think he is __1__ because he doesn’t understand how to make the __2__ of his mental faculties (才能). Older people may be mistaken that they are incapable of learning things new because of their __ 3__.

   A person who believe that he is incapable will not make a real __4__ because he feels that it would be useless. He won’t go at a job with confidence necessary for __5__ , and he won’t  work his hardest way, even though he may think he is doing so. He is __6__ likely to fail, and the failure will __7__ his belief in his competence (才能) .

   Alfred Alder, a famous doctor, had __8__ like this. When he was a small boy, he had a poor __9__ in maths. His teacher told his parents he had no ability in maths in order that they would not __10__ too much of him. In this way, they two __11__ the idea. He accepted __12__ mistaken thinking of his ability, felt that it was useless to __13__ and was very poor at maths, __14__ as they expected.

   One day he worked at a problem which __15__ of the other students had been able to solve.

  Alder __16__ in solving the problem. This gave him confidence (信心). He now __17__ with interest, determination and purpose, and he soon became especially good at __18__. He not only proved that he could learn maths well, but luckily he learned __19__ in his life from his own experience that if a person goes at a job with determination and purpose, he may __20__ himself as well as others by his ability.

1. A. clever                   B. shy                   C. useless                    D. stupid

2. A. biggest                 B. most                 C. highest                   D. deepest

3. A. ability                  B. age                   C. brain                      D. knowledge

4. A. decision                B. success              C. effort                            D. trouble

5. A. work                    B. study                C. improvement          D. success

6. A. truly                        B. really                C. however                 D. therefore

7. A. lead to                 B. strengthen         C. increase                  D. add to

8. A. an experience        B. an example        C. a thought                D. a story

9. A. state                         B. mind                 C. start                       D. ending

10. A. blame                 B. expect               C. get                         D. win

11. A. developed           B. organized          C. discovered                     D. found

12. A. his                     B. her                    C. its                          D. their

13. A. manage               B. succeed             C. try                         D. act

14. A. only                   B. almost               C. just                        D. then

15. A. none                   B. no                    C. no one                    D. nobody

16. A. gave                   B. succeeded          C. failed                            D. believed

17. A. lived                  B. worked             C. played                    D. graduated

18. A. lessons                   B. medicine           C. subjects                  D. maths

19. A. early                  B. deeply               C. late                        D. simply

20. A. encourage           B. love                  C. astonish                  D. disappoint