Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language, but few people are even just a little skilled at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the important reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and as a result never set about dealing with it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is skill, one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be reached just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to take no notice of, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So, the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this and his whole attitude to the subject should get the student to feel that here is matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be time when other aspects（方面）of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.

　　Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.

　　It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be learned from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic（语言）theory. It is also possible in this may to get a clear. mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students' pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time-wasted.

(1) According to the passage, ________ pronouncing foreign languages.

[　　]

A．few people are extremely good at

B．even modern people are not good at

C．only few people are somewhat good at

D．few people are at the average level in

(2) According to the author, pronunciation is a skill that can NOT be ________.

[　　]

(3) In the author's opinion, ________.

[　　]

A．grammar is less important than pronunciation

B．grammar and spelling should always make room for pronunciation

C．grammar and spelling are sometimes less important than pronunciation

D．grammar is more important than spelling

　　Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language, but few people are even just a little skilled at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the important reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and as a result never set about dealing with it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is skill, one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be reached just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to take no notice of, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So, the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this and his whole attitude to the subject should get the student to feel that here is matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be time when other aspects（方面）of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.

　　Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.

　　It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be learned from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic（语言）theory. It is also possible in this may to get a clear. mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students' pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time-wasted.

(1) According to the passage, ________ pronouncing foreign languages.

[　　]

A．few people are extremely good at

B．even modern people are not good at

C．only few people are somewhat good at

D．few people are at the average level in

(2) According to the author, pronunciation is a skill that can NOT be ________.

[　　]

(3) In the author's opinion, ________.

[　　]

A．grammar is less important than pronunciation

B．grammar and spelling should always make room for pronunciation

C．grammar and spelling are sometimes less important than pronunciation

D．grammar is more important than spelling

When Edward was 18，he bought a second-hand car for $200 so that he could travel to and from work more easily than by bus．It worked quite  1  for a year，but then it got so old and it was costing him  2  much in repairs that he decided he had better  3  it．

He asked among his friends to see if anyone was particularly  4  to buy a cheap car，but they all knew that it was falling to pieces，so  5  of them had any desire to buy it．

Edward's friend，Bruce，saw he was  6  when they met one evening，and said，“what's  7  ，Edward?” Edward told him and Bruce said， “Well，what about advertising it in the paper? You may  8  more for it than the cost of the advertisement!” Thinking that Bruce's 9  was sensible，he put an ad in an evening paper，which  10  ，“For sale：Small ear，uses very little petro．Bargain at $50．”

For two days after the ad first appeared，there was no  11  ．But then on Saturday evening he had an enquiry（询问）．A man rang up and said he would like to  12  him about the car．“All right，”Edward said，feeling happy．He asked the man whether ten o'clock the next morning would be   13  or not．“Fine，”the man said，“and I’ll  14  my wife．We intend to go for a ride in it to  15  it．”

The next morning，at a quarter to ten，Edward parked the car in the square outside his front door，  16  to wait there for the people who had  17  his advertisement．Even Edward had to 18  the car really looked like a wreck （残骸） ．Then，soon after he. had got the car as clean  19 it could be，a police car stopped just behind him and a policeman got out．He looked at Edward’s car and then said，“Have you reported this  20  to us yet，sir?”

1． A．directly                 B．safely                C．happily               D．well

2． A．so                 B．such              C．very                D．too

3． A．keep               B．repair             C．sell                 D．throw

4．A．anxious              B．lucky              C．fortunate            D．generous

5．A．some                B．all                 C．none                D．most

6． A．delighted            B．sad                C．calm                D．surprised

7．A．on                   B．up                C．in                  D．around

8．A．learn                   B．miss                C．get                  D． find

9．A． message        B．advice            C．request                 D．description

10． A． read              B．translated           C．wrote              D． appeared

11．A．doubt                B．help                C． point              D．answer

12． A．tell                  B．see                  C．agree                D． call

13．A．exact              B．suitable             C．early                D．late

14．A．follow              B．meet              C． bring              D．introduce

15．A．recognize           B．get                C．admire                 D．test 

16．A． happening           B．meaning             C．turning               D．failing

17．A．received             B．watched            C．answered                   D．placed

18．A．forget               B．show                    C．disagree              D．admit

19．A．as                    B．like                 C．than                 D．such

20．A．reason             B．sale                 C．accident            D．result

　　Then by chance, Darwin read a book by Malthus, an Englishman. The book was forty years old, and Malthus was already dead. But it suddenly pushed Darwin nearer to some answers. Malthus said,“The number of people in the world can grow very quickly. Just think, a man and his wife could have ten children. When these ten grow up, every one of them could have ten more children. So now we have a hundred children. Again, if every one of these has ten children, we will have a thousand children and this can continue. We will have more and more people.”

　　All this could happen. But did it? Malthus said,“No. It doesn't happen in the real world. The number of people remains almost the same. Why? The reason is this. We just can't grow food quickly enough. Soon there's not enough food. So some people can't eat. They die before they bring any more children into the world.”

　　These ideas came at just the right time for Darwin. He asked one more question: Which people will die before they have children? For Malthus, this was not an important question. But for Darwin, it was very important.

　　He asked,“Which people will have children? Why does this man have children, and why does that man not have any?”And soon of course he was thinking of the Galapagos finches（鸣鸟）again.

　　“The number of finches remains almost the same. So usually two birds must give us only two new birds. But a finch lays more than two eggs. Which two young birds will live, and give us more eggs? Which will not?”

　　The answer is some birds can't get enough food--they will die. But why can't they get enough? Why are some birds better than them? The birds in one family are not quite the same. Some are stronger, some are quicker, some are bigger, some have longer beaks, some have lighter bodies. The best birds will live.

　　And always an answer brought with a question: What is“best”? Darwin now, had his list of facts and questions, answers and ideas. Could he put them together and make a clear story? Could he explain the evolution（进化）of the finches?

　　He could and he did.

(1) What are the general differences between Darwin and Malthus according to the passage?

[　　]

A．Darwin thought of the evolution while Malthus considered the starvation.

B．Malthus believed that more food was needed for more people while Darwin found the answer to the problem of how to keep the“best one”.

C．Darwin concluded“the survival of the fittest”,while Malthus made it clear that the lack of food might prevent the increase of population.

D．Malthus felt it important for people to live better while Darwin supposed it more important for birds to have more young ones.

(2) What is Malthus'point of view about the problem of population?

A．It is natural for the population to increase without any plan.

B．It is unnecessary to make people have fewer children.

C．Some people could not have fewer children because of the lack of food.

D．The number of people would remain almost the same if the food conditions would not change.

(3) What was the result of Darwin's research?

[　　]

A．He wanted to find out why some birds can live better while some others cannot.

B．He only made an answer to the question“What is the best?”

C．He explained the evolution of the finches through his observation（观察）.

D．He discovered a lot more“Whys”than Malthus did.

(4) Which of the following is TRUE?

[　　]

A．Darwin developed his theory with the help of Malthus'.

B．Darwin agreed completely with Malthus.

C．Darwin held the same opinion that lack of food made people have fewer children.

D．Darwin used finches to do experiments before using people.

(5) From the passage we can find out the author ________.

[　　]

A．preferred talking about Darwin to Malthus

B．just gave some facts of scientists'research work without any comments（评论）

C．thought Malthus'book led Darwin to the scientific research of the birds

D．believed Darwin had done much more research work than Malthus ever did

　　Then by chance, Darwin read a book by Malthus, an Englishman. The book was forty years old, and Malthus was already dead. But it suddenly pushed Darwin nearer to some answers. Malthus said,“The number of people in the world can grow very quickly. Just think, a man and his wife could have ten children. When these ten grow up, every one of them could have ten more children. So now we have a hundred children. Again, if every one of these has ten children, we will have a thousand children and this can continue. We will have more and more people.”

　　All this could happen. But did it? Malthus said,“No. It doesn't happen in the real world. The number of people remains almost the same. Why? The reason is this. We just can't grow food quickly enough. Soon there's not enough food. So some people can't eat. They die before they bring any more children into the world.”

　　These ideas came at just the right time for Darwin. He asked one more question: Which people will die before they have children? For Malthus, this was not an important question. But for Darwin, it was very important.

　　He asked,“Which people will have children? Why does this man have children, and why does that man not have any?”And soon of course he was thinking of the Galapagos finches（鸣鸟）again.

　　“The number of finches remains almost the same. So usually two birds must give us only two new birds. But a finch lays more than two eggs. Which two young birds will live, and give us more eggs? Which will not?”

　　The answer is some birds can't get enough food--they will die. But why can't they get enough? Why are some birds better than them? The birds in one family are not quite the same. Some are stronger, some are quicker, some are bigger, some have longer beaks, some have lighter bodies. The best birds will live.

　　And always an answer brought with a question: What is“best”? Darwin now, had his list of facts and questions, answers and ideas. Could he put them together and make a clear story? Could he explain the evolution（进化）of the finches?

　　He could and he did.

(1) What are the general differences between Darwin and Malthus according to the passage?

[　　]

A．Darwin thought of the evolution while Malthus considered the starvation.

B．Malthus believed that more food was needed for more people while Darwin found the answer to the problem of how to keep the“best one”.

C．Darwin concluded“the survival of the fittest”,while Malthus made it clear that the lack of food might prevent the increase of population.

D．Malthus felt it important for people to live better while Darwin supposed it more important for birds to have more young ones.

(2) What is Malthus'point of view about the problem of population?

A．It is natural for the population to increase without any plan.

B．It is unnecessary to make people have fewer children.

C．Some people could not have fewer children because of the lack of food.

D．The number of people would remain almost the same if the food conditions would not change.

(3) What was the result of Darwin's research?

[　　]

A．He wanted to find out why some birds can live better while some others cannot.

B．He only made an answer to the question“What is the best?”

C．He explained the evolution of the finches through his observation（观察）.

D．He discovered a lot more“Whys”than Malthus did.

(4) Which of the following is TRUE?

[　　]

A．Darwin developed his theory with the help of Malthus'.

B．Darwin agreed completely with Malthus.

C．Darwin held the same opinion that lack of food made people have fewer children.

D．Darwin used finches to do experiments before using people.

(5) From the passage we can find out the author ________.

[　　]

A．preferred talking about Darwin to Malthus

B．just gave some facts of scientists'research work without any comments（评论）

C．thought Malthus'book led Darwin to the scientific research of the birds

D．believed Darwin had done much more research work than Malthus ever did