Miss Kate taught physics in a New York school. Last month she was explaining to one of her classes about sound, and she decided to test them to see how well they had understood her explanation. She said to them, "Now, I have a brother in Los Angeles. If I was calling him on the phone, and at the same time you were 80 meters away, and were listening to me from across the street, which of you would hear what I said earlier, my brother or you and for what reason?"

A boy at once answered, " Your brother, Miss Kate, because electricity travels faster than sound waves(声波).

"That's very good." Miss Kate said, but then Jenny said, "I don't agree. Your brother would hear you earlier because it is 11 o'clock here, it's only eight o'clock in Los Angeles."

    Tom has three good friends. They are Jack, David and Mark. They have different hobbies. Tom likes football. He often plays football on weekends. He thinks playing football can make him strong and healthy. He is in the school football team.

    Jack doesn't like sports. He likes listening to music. He likes Jay Chow best of all the singers. He has many of his CDs. He often listens to music on the way. He thinks music can let him feel happy.

    David doesn't like sports or music. He likes stamps. He collects stamps for five years. The stamps are very beautiful. He thinks collecting stamps can help him know more about the world.

    Mark likes taking photos. He has a few cameras. When he is free, he often takes out his camera and takes some pictures. Some of his pictures are in the newspapers. He thinks the world is beautiful. He wants to show the beauty of the world to others.

    Hello! My name is Julia and I'm 13 years old. I'm from America. I speak English. I can also speak Chinese, but not much. Now I live in China. I like my school life here. It's great. I go to school by bike every day. My favourite subject is history. I have learnt a lot about Chinese history and culture in class. My history teacher always helps me in every possible way. She is making a big difference in my life. My favourite sport is football. I often play football with my classmates after school.

    I have a good friend here. Her name is Zhang Qian. She and I are of the same age. She is from China So________is her first language. She usually goes to school by bus. Her favourite subject is shop.She__can__make__many__different__things__in__shop__class. Once she gave me a beautiful bird house made of wood. I like it very much. She wants to make a beautiful cup in shop class this week and then she will give it to her mother. She likes playing the piano. Sometimes she teaches me to play it. It is very interesting.

⑴题判断正误；⑵题完成句子；⑶题简略回答问题；⑷题将文中横线处空缺的一个单词填写在下面的答题线上；⑸题将文中画线句子译成汉语。

Taohuayuan

    It lies in Taoyuan County and is about 34 km away from Changde. The temples here were built in the 10th century. During the reign(统治) of Guangxu (1875-1908) of the Qing Dynasty, a scenic spot(景点) appeared according to an article written by Tao Yuanming, a famous writer of the Jin Dynasty. The tour area today is made up of four parts- the Taohua Mountain, the Taoxianling, the Taoyuan Mountain and the Qinren Village.

Changde Poem Wall

    Changde Poem Wall is a 4-kilometre-long riverbank alongside the Yuanjiang, which is engraved(雕刻) with poems, handwriting and paintings and it is listed as the longest wall with engraved arts in Guinness Record.

    Here is some information about {#blank#}1{#/blank#} in Changde. There are {#blank#}2{#/blank#} famous places that you can enjoy. Taohuayuan is about 34 kilometres away from Changde. In Taoyuan County, you can visit {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, the Taoxianling, the Taoyuan Mountain and the Qinren Village, Changde Poem Wall is about {#blank#}4{#/blank#} long and it's famous for its poems, handwriting and {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    Many Chinese students are good at English grammar, but their spoken English is so poor that they are afraid to speak in class or have a talk with others. There may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.

    First, they fail to express themselves clearly because of a limited(有限的)vocabulary. The useful way is to enlarge their vocabulary. However, you can still communicate with others with a limited vocabulary, if you are active. Others will understand you with the help of your body language.

    Second, they are worried about making mistakes. Because they are shy and nervous, sometimes they may make mistakes easily. Yet we should know what we aim at is FLUENCE(流利) not ACCURACY(精确) when speaking. So we should speak as quickly and well as we can, even though sometimes we may use a wrong word or tense(时态), but it doesn't matter because others will still understand you.

    The third reason is that they don't pay enough attention to listening to what others are saying. So while you are speaking, you can't find the suitable topic or words to say. You have one mouth but two ears! What you hear is necessary for you to start speaking.

    Fourth, most Chinese students are passive(被动的) language learners. They just sit there waiting for speaking chances, and don't actively look for chances to improve their spoken English. All they can get is to accept the fact that their English remains poor.

    “Practice makes perfect ".So please be active from now on, try to catch every chance to speak wherever you go.

USE IT or LOST IT? It is up to you.