Do you ever feel like no one understands you? It may seem like everyone else has lots of friends, and is getting invited to fun parties and outings while you are at home by yourself. But in fact, you’re not the only one who feels like this. In today’s    41   , with so many people all crowded together in such big cities, lots of people feel alone, even when there are many people    42    them.

But being alone doesn’t    43    that you have to be lonely. Whenever I’m reading a book, exercising, or doing other things that I love, I don’t feel lonely at all. I    44    feel quite happy when I’m busy. But when I focus on all of the things that I’m lacking, I get lonely and feel unhappy. Everyone feels lonely at one point or another ― even the happiest people can feel lonely sometimes.

That you may feel lonely doesn’t mean it has to be a painful    45   . You can actually enjoy your time   46   by doing things that make you happy ― give some   47   attention to yourself and to your hobbies. Reading a good book, going on a walk, or keeping a diary can give you some time to think about yourself and your feelings. Sometimes, it’s even more fun to do things on your own without anyone else to think about.

Since November 11th is “Bachelor’s Day”（单身汉节）why not    48    your independence and treat yourself to something special. Enjoy the quiet time by yourself. If your friends are feeling lonely, make sure that you    49    them by being there during hard times. And remember, one doesn’t have to be the loneliest number!

A. Speak, speak, speak

Practise speaking as often as you can---even speaking to yourself is good practice. Try recording yourself whenever you can. Compare your pronunciation with the master version(版本), see how you can do better and have another go. If you do this several times, you will find that each version is better than the last.

B. Why not learn with someone else?

It helps if you can learn with someone else. If you can persuade a friend or family member to study with you, it will make you keep working. Agree times to meet and set goals for the week. And test each other regularly.

 Don’t get a shock by a word you don’t know

Practise improvising（即兴的） ways of getting your meaning across when speaking spontaneously（本能地）, even if you don’t know the exact words or phrases. Think of things you might want to say whenever you have spare time. A basic example is the use of tenses. If you don’t know the past tense but want to talk about yesterday, use the verb in the present tense and use the word “yesterday”.

Use facial expressions, hand movements, anything to get your meaning across.

D.    Language learning is also about intuition（直觉）.

Guesswork is an important strategy in learning a new language. When listening to recorded material, you aren’t expected to understand everything first time round. If you play the same piece several times, you will most probably understand something new each time. Learn to make maximum use of all the clues you can pick up. For example, what do the speakers sound like? happy, angry, calm etc.

E. Build up your vocabulary.

A wide vocabulary is the key to successful language learning but don’t try to learn too much at once. It’s best to study frequently, for short periods of time. Take a maximum of six or seven items of vocabulary and learn them. Put them into sentences to fix them in your mind, then come back to them later. Much of the vocabulary in the course is presented by topic. And above all, have fun!

请阅读以下英语学习者在学习中碰到的困难，然后匹配该学习者应该采取上述五种做法（A、B、C、D、E）中的某一种。

1.Jack Anderson. Jack’s vocabulary is very small. He is anxious to improve his English. Therefore, he wants to enlarge his vocabulary in a short time and tries his best to memorize new words as many as possible at a time.

2.Margret Lillian. Margret Lillian’s pronunciation is poor. And she doesn’t know how to improve her pronunciation. She is very worried and doesn’t know what to do.

3.Alice Fingerhut. Alice has difficulty in understanding the meaning of the English text. So she looks up the new words in the dictionary in order to understand everything.

4.Lynne Nagata. Lynne can’t express herself clearly in English because she sometimes forgets some key words and doesn’t know the tenses exactly. What can she do?

A 13-year-old Chinese girl, Fan Yi (Nancy), who had her primary education in US, recently published her first fairy tale, Swordbird. The English fairy tale was listed as the bestseller of children's fiction in the US, the Shanghai Evening Post reported.

Fan Yi was greatly interested in observing birds ever since she was a little girl. In Hanmilton, New York, where she lives, she often watches kingfishers and woodpeckers flying over her house from the small woods nearby. And the inspiration for writing the book Swordbird actually came from one of her dreams. At that time, she was studying American history in school and happened to read many articles in magazines about the 9?11 terrorist attacks. One day, she had a dream in which some rosefinches and bluejays were controlled by some black birds and began to fight with each other. When she woke up, she decided to turn her dream into a story and to convey her message for peace to the public.

In order to get her book published in China, Fan translated the entire English version into Chinese.

“It is a learning process. Since I didn't know many Chinese idioms, I had to get help from my mom and dad from time to time. For another thing, a lot of poems in the original story are written in rhyme. So when I translated them into Chinese, I wanted to make sure that they were in rhyme, too,” she said.

Fan Yi was born in Beijing in 1993. She stayed in Beijing until she finished her first grade of primary school. Then she moved with her parents to the United States when she was seven. Two years later, she started to write her English story.

In March, this year, the book was published by Harper Collins Publishers. It was selected as the week's bestseller of children's fiction by the New York Times soon after it was published.

In future, Fan Yi might write more series for her book. It is expected that her Swordbird Prelude（序篇）might come off the press next year.

56. The underlined words “rosefinches” and “bluejays” in Paragraph 2 probably refer to ______.

A. outer-space creatures                                   B. different kinds of birds

C. different kinds of planes                               D. people from different races

57. Her book was related to the 9?11 terrorist attacks in that ______.

A. it was being written when the attacks happened

B. it expressed her desire for peace against terrorism

C. they both involved fighting in the air

D. the attacks were mentioned in her book

58. Fan Yi thinks of the process of ______ as “a learning process”.

A. writing her book                                          B. writing the poems

C. translating her book                                      D. getting her book published

59. Fan Yi spent ______ years or so writing her book.

A. two                    B. three                     C. four                    D. five

60. What else can we learn about Fan Yi from the article?

A. She’s believed to be writing more Swordbird stories.

B. Her Chinese version of Swordbird was published in US.

C. Swordbird was re-published by the New York Times.

D. She’s likely to become a professional writer.

In a book called Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas, a description is given of people helping others but doing it secretly. When difficult problems worried an individual, friends nearby would meet to discuss possible solutions without the individual knowing their actions. When a solution was agreed upon, one or two of the friends would carry out the plan and solve the problem secretly, to the great delight of the worried individual. The helpers would stand by privately, content with their success. No reward was given to the problem solvers, not even a sincere “thank you”, because they were never known.

This concept is popular today but in a different way. The phrase “pay it forward” is now used when one person helps another. However, the person helped may not be able to repay the person or group that helped them. So rather than return the favor to their helpers, they are supposed to help someone else in the future, which means they pay it forward. It is a sense of responsibility which makes us want to give back in equal measure to the one who has helped us. But, in this case, the responsibility turns to helping someone in the future.

Suppose your elderly grandmother pays part of your schooling. She may tell you there is no need to repay her because it is a gift from someone who loves you very much. Nothing would please her more than to have you use her money to get a good education.

You may never be able to repay her for such a gift. However, she not only gave you some money, but she provided you with an example that you should also help other people who need it.

People with serious needs are everywhere. Many are children who need better clothes, more books and even better schools. Some are elderly people who can’t afford their medicine or a doctor’s care. Consider how you can “pay it forward” rather than pay money back to your grandmother.

The helpers in the book “Magnificent Obsession” were not rewarded because ________.

they hadn’t solved the problems thoroughly

they expected to be paid back in the future.

they were friends of the worried individual

they had solved the problems secretly

The underlined word “pay it forward” means ________.                    

to repay someone who has helped you

to help someone else who needs help

to help someone who has helped you

to pay someone else who needs help

What does the writer suggest with the example of “your elderly grandmother”?

We should also lend a hand to other people in need of help.

We should work hard to get a good education.

We should learn to respect our grandparents.

We should never forget to repay people for their help.

By writing the passage, the author wishes people in the world to be ________.

A. honest       B. mysterious           C.  unselfish       D. unforgettable

In a book called Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas, a description is given of people helping others but doing it secretly. When difficult problems worried an individual, friends nearby would meet to discuss possible solutions without the individual knowing their actions. When a solution was agreed upon, one or two of the friends would carry out the plan and solve the problem secretly, to the great delight of the worried individual. The helpers would stand by privately, content with their success. No reward was given to the problem solvers, not even a sincere “thank you”, because they were never known.
This concept is popular today but in a different way. The phrase “pay it forward” is now used when one person helps another. However, the person helped may not be able to repay the person or group that helped them. So rather than return the favor to their helpers, they are supposed to help someone else in the future, which means they pay it forward. It is a sense of responsibility which makes us want to give back in equal measure to the one who has helped us. But, in this case, the responsibility turns to helping someone in the future.
Suppose your elderly grandmother pays part of your schooling. She may tell you there is no need to repay her because it is a gift from someone who loves you very much. Nothing would please her more than to have you use her money to get a good education.
You may never be able to repay her for such a gift. However, she not only gave you some money, but she provided you with an example that you should also help other people who need it.
People with serious needs are everywhere. Many are children who need better clothes, more books and even better schools. Some are elderly people who can’t afford their medicine or a doctor’s care. Consider how you can “pay it forward” rather than pay money back to your grandmother.

1. 1.

   The helpers in the book “Magnificent Obsession” were not rewarded because ________.

   1. A.
      they hadn’t solved the problems thoroughly
   2. B.
      they expected to be paid back in the future.
   3. C.
      they were friends of the worried individual
   4. D.
      they had solved the problems secretly
2. 2.

   The underlined word “pay it forward” means ________.                    

   1. A.
      to repay someone who has helped you
   2. B.
      to help someone else who needs help
   3. C.
      to help someone who has helped you
   4. D.
      to pay someone else who needs help
3. 3.

   What does the writer suggest with the example of “your elderly grandmother”?

   1. A.
      We should also lend a hand to other people in need of help.
   2. B.
      We should work hard to get a good education.
   3. C.
      We should learn to respect our grandparents.
   4. D.
      We should never forget to repay people for their help.
4. 4.

   By writing the passage, the author wishes people in the world to be ________.

   1. A.
      honest
   2. B.
      mysterious
   3. C.
      unselfish
   4. D.
      unforgettable