In English, the spelling of words does not always represent(代表)the sound. And some words seem to have too many letters. An American called Noah Webster wanted to do something for the development of English, so he began his work on it. His first book,  The Elementary(基础的)Spelling Book, suggested making the spelling of English words easy. The book was very popular. In fact, Webster is famous for his American Dictionary of the English Language. This dictionary came out in 1828 after it was completed. It introduced lots of new American words, with information about their pronunciation, use and the new spelling. Today,  Webster's dictionary is still widely used in English-speaking countries.

（C）

    ①More and more people like bicycling and it is no surprise. It is fun, healthy and good for the environment. Maybe that's why there are 1.4 billion bicycles and only 400 million cars on roads worldwide today. Bikes can take you almost anywhere, and there is no oil cost!

    Get on a bicycle and ride around your neighbourhood. You may discover something new all around you. Stopping and getting off a bike is easier than stopping and getting out of your car. You can bike to work and benefit(受益) from the enjoyable exercise without polluting the environment. You don't even have to ride all the way.

    ②Folding(折叠) bikes work well for people when they ride the train. Just fold the bike and take it with you. You can do the same on an airplane. A folding bike can be packed in a suitcase. You can also take a common bike with you when you fly. But be sure to look for information by getting on airline websites. ③Not all airlines（航空公司） are bicycle-friendly to travelers.

    Health benefits of bicycling:

    It helps to prevent heart disease.

    Bicycling helps to control your weight.

    A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.

    ④________________________________________________ .

    Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.

    One day a little boy came into a fruit shop. He had five dollars and wanted to buy some apples. He said to the shop owner,“Give me $5 worth of apples, please.”

    When the shop owner gave him the apples, the boy counted them and felt very surprised. Then he said:“Last Friday, my mother bought apples here for $5, too. Why did you give me fewer apples?” “Don't ask questions, boy. I have no time for questions.”

    “Excuse me, sir.” said the little boy, “but…”

    “It is all right, my boy,” said the shop owner, “Don't you know? The fewer apples you get, the less fruit you will have to carry.” “All right.” said the boy and he gave $4 to the shop owner. He was just going to leave the shop when he heard the words:“Come back! You must pay me $5.” But the boy replied: “Don't you know? The fewer dollars you get, the less money you will have to count.”

    One day, my father and I were in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏表演). And a family was standing in front of us. The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive were but clean. The children talked about the clowns(小丑),elephants, monkeys and other things excitedly. It was their first time to go to the circus.

    The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He answered, "I want eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus."

    The ticket lady told him the price. The man's wife lowered her head and there was no smile on the man's face. He quietly asked, "How much did you say?"

    The ticket lady said the price again. The man didn't have enough money. How could he tell his eight kids the bad news? My dad put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and dropped(使......落下)it on the ground. (In fact, we were not rich!) Then my dad said, "Excuse me, Sir, this dropped out of your pocket."

    The man knew what was happening. He looked into my dad's eyes, held(握住)my dad's hand in his, and took the $20 bill. "Thank you, Sir, thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family."

    My father and I went back home. We didn't go to see the circus that night, but we didn't care.

    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.

    Can dolphins talk? Maybe they can't talk with words, but they talk with sounds.

    Dolphins travel in a group. We call a group of fish a "school". They are not fish. Instead, they are mammals (哺乳动物), Dolphins talk to other dolphins in the school. They give information. They tell others when they are happy or sad or afraid. They say welcome when a dolphin comes back to school. They talk when they play.

    They make a few sounds above water. They make many more sounds under water. People can't hear these sounds because they are very high. Scientists make tapes of the sounds and study them.