A magician (魔术师) was working on a ship. The audience (观众) would be {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (difference) every week, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the magician did the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: {#blank#}3{#/blank#} parrot saw the shows each week and began to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (understand) how the magician did every trick. Once he understood, he started shouting, "Look, it's not the same hat", "Look, he is {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (put) the flowers under the table." The magician was {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (anger) but couldn't do anything. It was, after all, the captain's parrot. One day the ship had {#blank#}7{#/blank#} accident and sank. The magician found {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (he) on a piece of wood in the ocean {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the parrot. They stared at each other with hate, but did not say a word. This went on for some {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (day). After a week the parrot said, "OK, I give up. Where's the boat?"

    Lang Lang is only 27 years old, but has already been called "the most popular pianist on the planet" by American television network CNN.Like every successful person, Lang went through years of hard and lonely practice before making his name.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} With great talent (天赋), he won his first competition at the age of five{#blank#}2{#/blank#} When he was nine, Lang went to learn music in Beijing{#blank#}3{#/blank#}But Lang got fired (开除) by the piano teacher six months later{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Hearing about his son's failure, Lang's father was so angry that he told Lang to jump off a building!

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}His big break came at age 17, when he gained worldwide fame at "Gala of the Century", a well-known concert in Chicago, the US. Lang said it was his true love of music and piano that made him keep working.

A.however, Lang didn't jump, and pressure(压力)soon changed to power.

B. Lang's father pushed little Lang very hard to succeed.

C. It totally destroyed (毁灭) his piano dream.

D. He began to take piano lessons at the age of 3.

E. His father even gave up his job and moved to Beijing with his son.

    That is a tree. I can see a boy under it. The boy is {#blank#}1{#/blank#}a blue T-shirt and white pants. He is Jim. He is {#blank#}2{#/blank#}English student. He is thirteen years old. He {#blank#}3{#/blank#}in No. 5 Middle School. Jim has a sister. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}name is Kate. She is eleven years old. She is in a yellow dress and blue shoes. She is {#blank#}5{#/blank#}her bike.

    Good communication between parents and children can help develop a loving family relationship. Here are some tips on improving family communication.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Stop what you're doing and spend a few moments listening. Listen to what your parents want to say and try to understand the feelings they are expressing.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    When communicating with loved ones, we will only take interest in what we want to say. Instead, we should always take interest in what your parents want to say.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    You should carefully choose the words you want to say. Show your feelings by saying how you feel instead of pointing the finger at someone else. It is important to think first before you want to say something.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    It is also important to mind the way you say. Kind words and soft tones can always make others feel you're sincere. So you should know what you say and how you say it.

A. Think first.

B. Learn to listen.

C. Find golden time for your family.

D. Be interested in others' words.

E. Know how to express.

    How would you persuade (劝说) your parents to support your dream? American actress Emma Stone created a PowerPoint presentation (陈述) to get her argument across.

    Stone is a rising star in Hollywood. She has played the role of Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man's high school love interest, in two Spider-Man movies.

The actress said she has something in common with her character in the film. "Gwen is clear on what she wants to do with her life... I think I am in the same ballpark (同一范围) there."

    Stone made up her mind to become an actress at the age of 15. But would her parents agree to her leaving school early and pursuing (追求) her dream? The young girl decided to think outside of the box.

    "I used a lot of computers when I was younger, and my dad's a businessman, so I just thought a presentation is the way to get my point across," she said.

She titled the presentation Project Hollywood and used pop singer Madonna's classic song Hollywood as the soundtrack, saying "just please let me move to LA to be an actress."

    Her tactic (策略) proved to be a success. In 2004, Stone dropped out of high school and moved with her mother to Los Angeles. She was homeschooled after that.

Now Stone is a successful actress with many films to her name. Her next step is to try different things like "bizarre (奇怪的)" characters or comedy. Will she persuade directors with PowerPoint presentations too?

    Answer the following questions:

    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.