【推荐1】I work as a university professor at an art school in Australia. Last year, I decided to________ online classes to gain some knowledge of Chinese to prepare for an exchange project.

My teacher and I would meet a few times a month to practice________ and go over grammar. During our communication, he also________ details of his life. Gradually, the________ of the first few lessons gave way to more familiarity and comfort. I stopped feeling embarrassed and began to open up about my own________ and my battle with Chinese. “Don’t worry; I’m here to________ you. You’re hardworking and I’m sure you’ll do well in it,” said my teacher. I had ________ my students with similar words in my own teaching. It was________ to hear them directed at me. The tables turned.

“You are ________ today,” my teacher would say when I used varied vocabulary or expressions. When I heard these four words, I got a feeling of_________. It also surprised me that my confidence could be encouraged by such________ praise. That was when I became aware how________ I had praised my students. I thought much praise made them self-satisfied. But now, I had a change of heart and________ that these plain words can mean a lot. Words________ And now I become more________ when I use them.

【推荐2】Years after graduation, I tried to maintain the little bit of French I learned in school, but eventually I was __   that new languages are best learned when young and our ability to learn   __ with age.

However, before my 50th birthday, I signed up for French classes and was __ in the class for basic level. Contrary to my __ that learning a new language was tough, I was __ by the number of students learning French as a third, or even fourth language when I first   __ my class.

Still, I found it was really   __ that certain linguistic（语言学的）abilities decline with age.   __ I’d always regarded myself as a quick learner, that was no longer the   __.

I absorbed new vocabulary very ___. What I learned one week before seemed to   __ away   as soon as I learned the next skill. I __ the same   words and language structures in the dictionary again and again.

Despite the __, I make it and can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first __. I can catch up a conversation that doesn’t go too fast.

Who knows what I might still __? I’ve learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I meet people from around the world and all walks of life（各行各业的）who have the __to make fools of themselves   to learn   something   new.   I’ve   been taught by inspirational teachers from many corners of the world. Listening to the news as it is __ to the people of France, I have a newer understanding of how something can look __ different from another perspective. I’ve learned a language is not just a set of   __, but a way of thinking. But above all, I’ve learned it is never too __ to learn something.

【推荐3】One year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms, though my teacher told me about them again and again. But soon, the ________ of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.

One day, I ________ to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the ________ seemed to be surprised.

Gently shaking his ________, and shrugging (耸) his shoulders, he said, “You don’t say!” I was ________. I thought perhaps this was not a proper ________. I had better change it. So I said to him, “Have you ever been to the Great Wall?” “Certainly, everyone back home will ________ me if I leave China without seeing it. It was amazing.” I continued, “The Great Wall is one of the ________ in the world. We are very proud of it.” But soon “You don’t say!” came to my ears again. I couldn’t ________ asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, ________ surprised. I said, “Didn’t you say ‘You don’t say!’?” ________ this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to ________, “‘You don’t say!’ actually means ‘Really!’ It is a(n) ________ of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention to English idioms.” Only then did I know I had made a ________ of myself. Since then I have been more ________ with idiomatic expressions.

【推荐1】“Long time no see” is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, I laughed. I thought it was a perfect ____of Chinglish. Obviously, it is a word-by-word literal(照字面意思的) translation of the Chinese greeting with a ruined English grammar and structure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American ____. I was too amazed to believe her. Her words could not convince me ____. So I did a search on www.google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages ____ “long time no see”. This sentence has been ____used in emails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible place. Though it is sort of informal, it is part of the language that Americans use daily.   ____, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.

Nobody knows the ____of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully ____a world wide famous Chinese detective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan liked to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom by quoting(引用) Confucius(孔子). “Long time no see” was his trademark. Soon after Charlie Chan, “Long time no see” became a popular phrase in the real world thanks to the popularity of these movies.

Some scholars compare America to a huge pot of stew(大熔炉). All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and they ____the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minority ethnic(少数民族的) group in the United States, is also influenced some changes to the stew! Language is usually the first thing to be ____in the mixed stew.

【推荐2】A year ago I paid no attention to English idioms,____my teacher said again and again that it was important.

One day, I happened to_____an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to____. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner shook his head, saying, “You don’t say! You don’t say!” I was______, I thought, perhaps this is not a_____topic. Well, I’d _____change the topic. So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall?______the way, have you ever_____there?”

“Certainly, everyone back home will_____me if I leave China without seeing______. It was great.” I said, “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. It is a place of______.” Soon I was interrupted again by his words, “______!” I couldn’t______asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do_______”, he answered, gently surprised.

I said, “Didn’t you say ‘You don’t say’?”

Hearing this, the Englishman_____into laughing. He began to explain , “‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘really?’. It is an expression of surprise.

【推荐2】I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn’t like attention drawn to myself. And ________otherwise assigned a seat by the teacher, I always ________to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this _________after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy________ because I didn’t have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the_______ to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on my “________for it”, I wouldn’t have decided to give a try.

Getting up the ________to go to the tryouts was only the half of it! When I first started________the practice sessions, I didn’t even know the rules of the game, much _______what I was doing. Sometimes I’d get _________ and take a shot at the wrong direction—which made me feel really stupid.________ , I wasn’t the only one “new” at the game, so I decided to _________ on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn’t ________“just yet”.

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the _______and the “moves”. Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive _______in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the ________ — friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my ________ self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from _______in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, _______raising my hand— even when I sometimes wasn’t and not 100 percent _______I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

【推荐3】Last year, a community theatre decided to find someone to act in The Sound of Music. My husband said our daughters and I might enjoy being a(n) _________ of it. But there was one problem: I’d never sung _________.

We prepared to audition (试镜). But when the day came, I started to get cold feet. My children looked to me for courage. Giving up would set a bad example and I had to encourage _________.

“Whether you are chosen or not isn’t important — doing your best is what matters,” I’d been telling them. Now I had to _________ it.

I sang my song, _________ to look confident. My daughters _________ quite well. To our surprise, we all made it!

In the following days, I sang to the cat and the dishes when I was at home alone. I knew I’d have to get over my _________ because I’d never sung in front of so many people. I told my friends and family about the _________. Everyone wanted to see it since I was in it with my daughters. I didn’t want the theatre to be _________, but I didn’t want it crowded either.

The show went off smoothly. Friends all __________ us. After that experience, I braved more auditions and even learned to enjoy singing on stage.