C

    Some people are afraid of answering the telephone call. Here are some tips to help you when you are answering the call.

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    Listening to someone speaking in a second language over the telephone can be very challenging because you cannot see the person you are trying to hear. You may not realize that your pronunciation isn't clear. So pay special attention to your pronunciation and speak as slowly as possible.

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    Don't pretend to understand everything you hear over the telephone. Don't be afraid to remind the person to slow down more than once.

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    Ask another student to practice talking on the phone with you. Try to talk for at least fifteen minutes. The most important thing about practicing telephone English is that you are not able to see others' mouths.

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    There are many ways to get free telephone English practice. After business hours, you can call and listen to recorded messages. Write down what you hear the first time, and then call back and check if your notes are right.

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    Many speakers make the mistake of being too direct on the telephone. Sometimes just one word such as could or may is necessary in order to sound polite. Take the time to learn how to answer the phone in a polite manner.

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Information Card

    Alice and John are in the music club at their school. Alice plays the violin and John plays the drums. There are two groups in the school music club: the training group and the concert group. Everyone starts in the training group!

    "When I first started to play the violin it sounded terrible!" Alice said. "My family asked me to practice outside."

    After a year's practice, Alice and John play much better. Now, they are both in the concert group and they are learning more difficult music. "We're learning the music from the film Pirates of the Caribbean. It sounds fantastic!" John said. "Playing in the club with other kids is a lot of fun."

    Playing an instrument (乐器) is not only fun. It also helps children learn to concentrate (集中注意力). "I have to concentrate when I'm practicing," Alice said. "And now it's easier for me to concentrate on my schoolwork."

    Playing an instrument can also help children become more confident. As John said, "I was scared when I played in front of a lot of people for the first time. But now I really enjoy it."

Give water, save lives

A bottle of water may not seem like much to you, but thousands of bottles will be of great help for people who live in drought-hit(遭受旱灾) areas in China.

Since last autumn, there has been very little rain in Southwest China. Some places, especially in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, have experienced a serious drought. Crops (庄稼) died, the land cracked(裂开), and wells (井) and rivers dried up. More than 20 million people are having difficulty in finding safe drinking water.

After learning about the drought, many people around the country helped by giving water, money and other things.

Last week, every member of the Communist Youth League (共青团员) and Young Pioneers(少先队员) were encouraged to give one bottle of water to the drought-hit areas. Students in primary schools and middle schools quickly joined the activity. In Yuhua Primary School in Xi' an, 900 students bought over 1,000 bottles of water with their pocket money. They also wrote their wishes on the bottles.

The serious drought has also made students realize the importance of saving water. Students from Nanshan Middle School in Huizhou, Guangdong went on the street to tell people to take part in water-saving activities.

"I've heard that some children in drought-hit areas don't have enough drinking water. They have to drink muddy ( 含有泥土的 ) water. I feel really sad about that," said one student. "I decide to take a shower twice a week instead of every day to save water," he said.