The Arctic will soon be free from ice, experts say. The change is bound (必定的) to take place, but the global warming and climate change are changing the earth’ s landscape (地形) rapidly, causing panic worldwide.

Experts say that the Arctic sea ice is melting (融化) quite faster than expected and it can affect not just the region, but Earth in general. A scientist even says that next year, or maybe the year after that, the Arctic will be free of ice.

Peter Wadhams, a scientist, said that the melting trend led to his statement. “Most people expect this year will see a record low in the Arctic’s summer sea-ice cover. Next year or the year after that, I think it will be free of ice in summer and by that I mean the central Arctic will be ice-free,” Peter Wadhams, director of the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge, said in an interview with the Guardian. “You will be able to cross over the North Pole by ship,” Peter Wadhams added. He strongly believes that although some pieces of ice will remain, the Arctic basin may be free of sea ice in the next two years starting in the summer of 2017.

Wadhams’ study says that melting sea ice will have a great influence on the planet since the sea ice is more able to reflect (反射) sunlight compared to water that can only reflect 10% of the sunlight. Once the sea ice melts, the water can only reflect a small amount of sunlight. This means that the Earth will receive and absorb more sunlight, making the planet even hotter.

The year 2016 has already broken records of the hottest temperature ever recorded and the trend doesn’t seem to show any decrease in global warming. “It doesn’t look like the ice is healing and growing back,” Tom Wagner, NASA’ s manager for cryosphere (冰冻圈) research said in a statement.

Like Wadhams, scientists and researchers all over the world are lecturing around to educate people to help lighten global warming that has already changed the planet’s landscape.

Although many Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is good, most would admit that their spoken English is poor. Whenever I speak to a Chinese student they always say, “My spoken English is poor.” However, their spoken English does not have to remain “poor”! I would like to suggest that there may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.

First, they fail to find suitable words to express themselves because of a limited vocabulary. Obviously the better answer is to expand their vocabulary. However, you can speak with a limited vocabulary, if your aptitude is positive. Others will follow you as long as you use the words that you know.

Second, they are afraid of making mistakes. Sometimes they make mistakes when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. Yet students should remember that their goal should be FLUENCY (流利) NOT ACCURACY (准确性). Your aim in writing is to be accurate following the rules for grammar and using the right words and spelling them correctly. However, in speaking your aim is fluency. You want to get your message across, to talk to someone in English, as quickly and as well as you can, even though sometimes you may use a wrong word or tense, but it doesn’t matter because the person you are speaking to will understand you and take into consideration any mistakes he hears.

The third reason is that not enough attention is paid to listening. You have one mouth but two ears! All that hearing was necessary for you to start speaking.

Forth, most Chinese students are reactive (反应式的) rather than proactive (积极主动的) language learners. Instead of actively finding out opportunities (机会) to improve their spoken English, they passively wait for speaking opportunities to come to them and wonder why their English always remains poor. If you have this proactive outlook, then you will see English opportunities wherever you go.

If you do not use your English out of the classroom you will forget what English you know. Remember: USE IT OR LOSE IT! You can learn how to speak English better by speaking English more.

Reading is an important part of learning English. One of the best tips on how to improve your reading skills is to think about how you read in your own language. Start by thinking about how you read different documents. How do you read newspaper?     11     How do you read train schedules?

Reading in English is like reading in your native language. This means that it is not always necessary to read and understand each and every word in English. Remember that reading skills in your native language and English are basically the same.

Here is a quick overview of the four types of reading skills used in every language:

Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information.     12     Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current business situation. It is not essential（必要的） to understand each word when skimming. You can skim the newspaper, magazines, or travel brochures.

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information.     13     Use scanning on train or airplane schedules, meeting plans, and the “What’s on TV” section of your newspaper etc. in order to find the specific details you require. If your see words or phrases that you don’t understand, don’t worry when scanning.

Extensive reading is used to obtain(获得) a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge of business procedures.     14    

Intensive reading is used on shorter texts in order to extract(提取) specific information.     15     Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific details of a specific situation, like reading a bookkeeping report, an insurance claim or a contract(合约). In this case, it is important that you understand each word, number or fact.