Speak, speak, speak!
Practise speaking as often as you can. Speaking to yourself is good practice.
Try recording yourself whenever you can.
Compare your pronunciation with the master version（原版）to see how you can do better and have another go. If you do this several times, you will find that each time is better than last.
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.
Don't get stuck by a word you don't know.
Practise improving 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. Use facial expressions, hand movements, anything to make yourself understood.
Language learning is also about intuition（直觉）．
Guesswork is an important way to learn 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.
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 at most six or seven items of vocabulary and learn them. Put them into sentences to fix them in your mind, and then come back to them later.
And above all, have fun!
【小题1】  What’s the purpose of this passage?

选词填空

从下面所给的词组中，选择适当的词组填入下列各句中，每一词组最多只选一次。

be worried about     turn up     get stuck   benefit from   stand by   according to

thanks to   take up    get across  except for  back out   in search of   be responsible for

86.The boys went _________________________ something to eat.

87.You must drive carefully , for you should _____________________________the passengers’ safety.

88.Don’t bother to look for my umbrella; it will _________________________somewhere.

89.George promised to contribute $200, but __________________of it when the time came.

90. ___________________ your practical advice,  I passed the license test yesterday.

91.Harry ________________ the tale at the point where John had left off.

92.All the books in the library are placed on the shelves ____________­­_______ the authors

93. I spoke very slowly, but my meaning still didn’t _______________.

94. ____________ one old lady, the bus was empty.

95.I will __________________ you whatever happens.

Dear Xiaohua:

   I’m very glad to receive your letter. From your letter, I know you have shown     great interest in inventing new things. That’s great. As for how to be an inventor, there is no quick answer to      .

   Coming from different cultures and having different backgrounds, inventors do not seem to have much      common. But creative thinking,      is greatly valued, is perhaps the basic skill an inventor should have. In order to explore new possibilities, you will have to learn to break     from old thought patterns. When you get stuck, try to look at the problem in     many ways as possible. Each new    may improve your understanding.

   More importantly, always keep it in your mind     success is no accident. It is the result of a long process of trial and error. Above all, the main task for you is to study hard and try to learn more knowledge. This, of course, will lay a solid foundation.

   Hope your future invention will make a difference.

   Good luck.                                       

                                                    Yours,

                                                                                                       Wang Li

An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault, or fracture, in the earth's surface. The tectonic plates on the surface are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges because of friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and create the shaking we feel.
An earthquake's degree is a measured value of its size and is the same no matter where you are, or how strong or weak the shaking was in different locations. An earthquake's intensity is a measure of the shaking it creates, and varies with location.
A degree of 8 or higher defines a “great” earthquake; 7 to 7.9 is considered “major”; 6 to 6.9 is “strong”;5 to 5.9 is “moderate”; 4 to 4.9 is “light”; 3 to 3.9 is "minor"; and less than 3 is “micro.”
Experts have said that a million people died in earthquakes in the 20th century ­and that this century might see 10 times as many deaths, with as many as a million killed in a single quake. That is, unless major efforts are made to fortify the world’s growing cities, which are expected to be homes to billions of added residents.
Even though the rate of earthquakes over time seems to be more or less unchanging, the world's population explosion means that more people are moving into quake zones, which are often near coasts. The result, the experts say, is the prospect of continuing trauma.
“It is inevitable,” Klaus H. Jacob, an earthquake expert at Lamont-Doherty, the earth sciences research center of Columbia University, said at the end of the last century. “More and more people, and more and more buildings, are  at stake  . As the world gets more populous and richer, allowing a more built-up environment, higher buildings and all the infrastructure that supports our civilization, communications and the like, the risk goes up.”
63. We can feel the earthquake because               
A. the plates are always moving.     
B. the stress overcomes the friction.
C. the plates get stuck.  
D. the waves in which energy is released travel through the earth’s crust.
64. a degree of 8.2 is thought             
A. a  “moderate” earthquake.         B. a “major” earthquake .
C. a “strong” earthquake.             D. a “great” earthquake.
65.  Experts have said that                
A. a billion people died in earthquakes in the 20th century.
B. ten times as many deaths will be seen by this century.
C. a million people will be killed in a single earthquake this century.
D. if we don’t take measures, something worse may happen.
66. The underlined expression probably means           .
A. endangered       B. strong         C. safe        D. weak

Here’s a quick reminder to all of you when you get stuck in a moment. Yesterday I skipped breakfast because I got up late. Because of the busy school work, I forgot my lunch. When I was finally thinking of buying my lunch, a person in need asked me if I could spare him some cash, so I decided to give him some money.

Then later in the evening, I was heading home anxiously for dinner. However, I got a call from my mom. She said that she had to work late and wouldn’t be able to prepare dinner for me. Even though there was no food in the house, I told my mom not to worry as I would surely find myself something to eat.

While I was still processing this sudden set of changes in my food choice for the day, I passed a young man with a broad smile handing out samples of crackers(薄脆饼干) at the gate of a supermarket. He gave me a packet and then said, “How about you taking some more for school tomorrow?” In response to that, I returned a warm smile to him and opened up my bag. He gladly filled it. I was excited.

Whether you call it luck or fate, I just wanted to say that somewhere out there somebody came along carrying a pocket of hope in his heart and shared a piece of with me! Somebody out there will one day do the same for you.!

1. The author anxiously went home for dinner in evening because __________.

A. his mother was waiting for him to have dinner

B. his mother promised to prepare dinner for him

C. he hadn’t had breakfast or lunch

D. he didn’t like food in restaurants

2. What’s the time order of the following events that happened to the author?

a. Gave money to person in need

b. Learn he had to organize his own dinner

c. Went home hurriedly for dinner

d. Got a lot of crackers

A. b—d—a—c    B. a—c—b—d      C. a—d—b—c     D. d—c—a—b

3. The purpose of the passage is to _________.

A. advise us to study hard at school.     B. show that life is full of unexpected things

C. suggest that people take three meals every day   D. tell us there is always hope