【推荐2】There are many online and in-person courses that promise to teach a “native accent”. But is it really necessary to sound exactly like a native speaker? Some experts say it is not. Eusebia V. Mont leads the Accent Modification (修正) Program at the University of Maryland's Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences. Mont talked about it to reporters.

Students come to the program for one or two school terms. They meet in a group for 90 minutes a week. Each student meets with one other student and a “doctor” for more individual work. Altogether the program amounts to about 60 hours of learning in class. Mont says the rate of progress absolutely depends on the type of accent it is, how long they've been speaking English and how often they speak English.

Mont says, “I view accent as the spread of culture; the spread of a person's individual identity - and I don't work to remove any part of the culture from an individual.”

Students will most probably work in English-speaking environments when they leave school. The program teaches them tools for this. For example, they learn how to give an “elevator pitch”— a short description of an idea—and how to discuss their research. They also practice interviewing and giving presentations at work.

Mont says that there are a few methods for modifying accent, but most have the same basis. One method is called the Compton Method. Arthur J. Compton developed the method for English learners who know English vocabulary and grammar fairly well. It begins with a test to find out how the student's native language affects different areas of pronunciation. Then learners use practice materials to record their own voice and compare their pronunciation attempts to recordings of a native speaker.

Another method is the Tomatis Method, which uses special headphones and includes listening to electronically modified voices and asks students to find the difference between their pronunciation and the voices they hear. This method is also used to cure children who have mental conditions that can cause difficulty in language learning.

Mont's final advice to English learners is not to expect to sound exactly like a native speaker. And remember: Even native English speakers do not all speak alike!

1. According to the passage, what is true about the Accent Modification Program?

A．It is aimed at helping students get rid of their accent.

B．It divides students into different classes according to their abilities.

C．It teaches students how to communicate in English-speaking environments.

D．It offers students a total of 90 minutes’ study over one or two school terms.

2. What does the underlined part “elevator pitch” mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Discussing one’s research in brief.

B．Giving presentations in an effective way.

C．Practicing interviewing skills in an elevator.

D．Making others understand an idea in a short time.

3. What is the common basis of the Compton Method and the Tomatis Method?

A．They both use the method of comparison.

B．They both require students to take a test first.

C．They both serve students who have mastered English well.

D．They both require students to record their voices with equipment.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The development of the accent modification industry.

B．Keeping your identity while changing your accent.

C．The situation of the accent modification program.

D．Ways to sound like a native speaker.

【推荐3】Directions: Read the following passage.   Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box.   Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

How we write today

The alphabet was born about 3800 years ago. After a slow start, it has produced dozens of

offspring (后代).     1     Near the beginning of this period, the Phoenician alphabet—a direct offspring of the first one—gave rise to the Greek and Aramaic alphabets. The Greek alphabet then led to a huge variety of forms, from the Cyrillic family used in south-east Europe and northern Asia to the Latin/Roman family that includes English, German and French. The Aramaic alphabet, meanwhile, developed into a group that includes the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. It probably also gave rise to the Brahmi script, another distinct type of alphabet that is itself the parent of dozens more used across south and South-East Asia.

    2     In the first—of which Chinese text is the only real example still in use—signs represent full words. In the other, signs represent syllables (音节). Japanese uses many Chinese “word” characters, but has two other writing systems based on syllable signs. The few other syllable-based systems include the Cherokee one used in the south-east US.

The variety and global dominance of the alphabet isn’t necessarily a sign of its superiority to other writing systems, says Amalia Gnanadesikan, recently retired from the University of Maryland.     3     For instance, they are used across north Asia, Africa and the Americas because of Russian and western European expansionism.

The fact that alphabets use a smaller set of characters than other writing systems isn’t entirely beneficial either, says Gnanadesikan.     4     Take the phrase “dog bites man”. Someone learning Chinese has to understand just three signs—rather than 11 letters—to read and write the sentence. “So you get a very rapid ability to translate what you’re learning into use,” she says. Moreover, children in Japan learn the hiragana (平假名) syllable-based writing system so easily that they can often start reading aged 3.

A．As a result, names and files are usually arranged in alphabetic order.

B．It means words must be written using combinations of several symbols.

C．It is a set of letters or symbols in a fixed order used for writing a language.

D．Aside from the alphabet, there are two other modern writing systems.

E．Perhaps the most important divisions happened between 3000 and 2000 years ago.

F．In some parts of the world, alphabets have been imposed on people by empire builders.

【推荐1】One late winter day in Manchester, UK, as I step inside the University of Salford’s latest research building, the cold 3°C air bites immediately. In fact, it’s a giant climate-controlled room, designed to test how homes built today will deal with the wilder weather climate change could bring.

Inside the £16-million room, researchers can create any weather they want with the touch of a button, from -20℃ cold to 40℃ heatwaves, alongside strong winds, snow and ice. “Anywhere people live, we can recreate those conditions,” says Fitton, who leads the Energy House 2.0 project for the university.

Inside the building are two new-build homes, complete with brickwork and pot plants. Both are equipped with cutting-edge green technology, like electric vehicle charging points, and will act as test beds to build greener homes in the UK. In 2025, the Future Homes Standard(FHS)will require all new homes to be built without gas central heating and with other green measures. Homes built to the FHS must deliver a 75% to 80% reduction in carbon emissions compared with homes built today.

That is why Bellway, partnering with the project, has built the rooms inside the Energy House 2.0. Yet clearly this is no ordinary new-build. For one thing, packed inside are three different heating systems: two air source heat pumps, plus panel heaters dotted around the walls and ceilings. There’s also a solar power input, a battery and a smart hot water tank that heats water using solar generation.

Over the coming months, Bellway will test different combinations of these technologies to find the most cost-effective way of meeting the FHS regulations.

Financially, things are promising. Based on energy-performance calculations, Bellway says its Future Home could have energy bills of just £11 a year.

Energy House 2.0 will let researchers see how houses perform in the UK’s future climate. “We can cycle through the climate change predictions 50 years into the future and see if we have any problems.” says Fitton.

1. What’s the aim of building the climate-controlled room?

A．To help homes resist climate change.

B．To examine the quality of today’s homes.

C．To explore the most suitable homes for humans.

D．To find a way for homes to handle climate change.

2. What might the new homes be like in 2025?

A．There will be no heating system.

B．They will be controlled by a button.

C．They will be more environmentally-friendly.

D．There will be green plants to absorb carbon.

3. Where will Energy House 2.0 research go?

A．It will be tested continuously.	B．It will change the future climate.
C．It will make future houses recycled.	D．It will cause environmental problems.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Energy-Saving House Leads the Future

B．Climate Change Affects Home Designs

C．Research into Homes for Future Climate

D．The Leading Place of the UK in Home Designs

【推荐2】Scientists in Colombia have trained a team of rats to help remove land mines from the countryside. Land mines are small bombs hidden in the ground and designed to explode(爆炸) when someone steps on them. When trained, the rats can smell special metals in the mines and then signal(发信号) to their human team. Then why use rats for such an important job?
In the past, dogs have been used to find bombs. Rats have a good sense of smell and can respond to orders, just like dogs do. But rats are much lighter than dogs. They stand less of a chance of setting off the mines, which explode under a certain amount of weight. What’s more, the best rats are cheaper to keep than dogs. It costs about the same amount of money to take care of one dog as it does 70 rats.
The rats have already been used in Tanzania, an African country with many land mines. Luisa Fernanda Méndez and her team in Colombia are training the even lighter Wistar rats. These are the white rats with red eyes that scientists often use in laboratory experiments. “They even train their babies to perform their jobs, which saves us a lot of time, ” Méndez said.
Colombia has the second-highest rate(比率) of deaths from land mine accidents in the world. Last year, land mines killed 695 people — 56 of whom were children. A criminal group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as well as other organizations, have placed the mines. FARC are strongly against Colombia’s government. The group has placed mines all around its own bases and in many places in the countryside.
In the past, the Colombian government hired peasants and poor farmers to find mines. Many of them died trying to find the well-hidden bombs.
Colombian police official Erick Guzmán hopes the team of rats can come to the rescue(援救). “These rats will be a great help,” he said.
1. How do rats help to find land mines?

A．By their special sight.	B．By their light weight.
C．By their sense of smell.	D．By their excellent hearing.

2. The advantage of rats over dogs in finding bombs is that _____.

A．they are cleverer.

B．they run faster.

C．they have a better sense of smell.

D．they don’t make mines explode as easily.

3. The underlined word “They” may refer to ______.

A．scientists.	B．Wistar rats.
C．dogs.	D．Méndez and her team.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Specially-trained rats help clear land mines.

B．People in Tanzania are suffering from land mines.

C．Dogs are no longer used to find land mines.

D．Land mines have become a great danger to Colombians.