British English and American English
A student is studying British English. He wonders: Can I have a talk with Americans? Can they catch me? Learners of English often ask--what are the differences between British English and American English? How important are these differences?
Certainly, there are some differences between British English and American English. There are a few differences in grammar（语法）. For example, speakers of British English say “in hospital” and “Have you a pen?” Americans “in the hospital” and “Do you have a pen?” Pronunciation (发音) is sometimes different. Americans usually sound the “r” in words like “car”and “farm”. Some speakers of British English do not sound the “r” in these words. There are differences between British English and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, “colour”and “honour” are British English spellings. “Color” and “honor” are American English spellings.
These differences are in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary. However, they are not important. For the most part, British English and American English are the same language.
【小题1】In American English, we can say, “      ? ”

完形填空
阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。
Are you nervous when you stand in front of the public? Are you afraid to make a speech?
Li Jun, a middle school boy, felt shy when he was making a speech the other day. Li had thought it would be quite easy to speak in front of   1  classmates.
"I was wrong. It was very different and much  2  than talking to my classmates during playtime," Li said. "I tried, but it was really difficult to speak. I felt like a mute (哑巴) and wanted to leave the classroom   3  "
Li is not ___4____. Many middle school students now have the same   5  : they can talk about their ideas freely   6  their best friends after class, but can't speak in public. According to Zhou Hong, a teacher from a university, the main reason is that schools in China pay more attention to writing instead of 7  .
Zhou hopes schools can give students more chances to open their  8  , such as speech competitions, English corners and class discussions. Students can join in any one they want to.   9 he also gives some advice to students. "During your free time you should 10  more. When you're speaking in public, take it ___11___. Just imagine you're talking to nobody and speak up your ideas clearly," Zhou said. "That  12 a fine public speech and you'll feel confident. "