For Canaan Elementary’s second grade in Patchogue, N.Y., today is speech day, and right now it’s Chris Palaez’s turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.
But he’s nervous. “I’m here to tell you today why you should … should…” Chris trips on the “-ld,” a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support. “…Vote for …me …” Except for some stumbles, Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.
A son of immigrants, Chris stared learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls (回想起) how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.
Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. “It takes a lot for any student,” Whaley explains, “especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, ‘I don’t know, but I want to know.’”
Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast (夸耀) about themselves.
“Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities,” Whaley says, “is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident.”
What does the underlined word “stumbles” in paragraph 2 refer to?A.Improper pauses. |
B.Bad manners. |
C.Spelling mistakes. |
D.Silly jokes. |
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【推荐1】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.
To improve their spoken English, students should do the following things EXCEPT ______.
A.try to be as reactive as possible in learning English |
B.try their best to enrich their vocabulary |
C.try to avoid being afraid of making mistakes |
D.pay more attention to listening before opening mouth |
【推荐2】Your child is unique, but what all children have in common is natural curiosity and an innate(天生的) ability to learn. Our brains are active all the time, and a baby’s brain is the busiest of all. Research has shown that babies begin to understand language about twice as fast as they actually speak it. By exposing children to other languages at an early age, you are giving them the opportunity to make use of their natural ability to hear and recognize the sounds of other languages, and their ability to make sense of what they are hearing.
Communication is something that children do to help them achieve something else, and they are unaware of the large amount of learning taking place. They take everything in through their senses, making connections between what they hear, see, smell, taste and touch. As long as we provide the right conditions, their learning and development will take place in a natural way.
In your child’s early years, the emotional environment is just as important as the physical environment. Children learn when they feel secure, happy, valued and listened to. This is central to any learning experience in a child’s early years, including learning an additional language. Your child has a trial-and-error approach to their development, and making mistakes is a valuable part of the learning process. Their progress isn’t held up by a fear of getting something wrong, and very young children are simply working their way towards getting it right.
The long-term benefits of learning another language go beyond being able to communicate with others. Studies suggest that children learning an additional language tend to score better on standardized tests because learning languages develops listening, observation, problem-solving and critical thinking skills. These are skills that are of lifelong benefit, both personally and professionally. Encouraging children in a love of language at an early age prepares them well for school and for life.
1. How do children learn a language?A.By speaking to themselves. | B.By taking language classes. |
C.By making use of their different senses. | D.By noticing how much they have learned. |
A.These activities are good ways to think about words. They make the meaning of words stronger in your long-term memory. And they give a way to find a word when you need it.
B.When you see, hear, or read something, it goes first into short-term memory. But short-term memory lasts for only a few seconds. You will only remember something longer if it goes into long-term memory.
C.When you learn a foreign language, you need to remember lots of words. To remember words better,you need to understand how memory works. There are two kinds of memory: short-term and long-term.
D.Your long-term memory is like a very big library with many, many books.And like a library, it’s organized. When you put away a book —or memory—you can’t just leave it anywhere. You have to choose a place where you can find the word again.
E.How can you do this? The answer is to work with the word and think about the word in new ways. You can write new sentences that include it, or you can invent a little story about the word, with people or places that you know. Another way is to make a picture in your mind with the word.For example, if the word is“height”, you can think of the tallest person you know.
【推荐1】Born with severe hearing loss, Li has found her way to communicate with the world—through painting.
Before learning to paint, Li always felt lonely in a silent world. She knew she was different from her peers because she could not hear. But a painting class in primary school opened for her a door to creativity and a way of expression.
“I still remember my first mural, which was to help a kindergarten to design and paint its wall,” Li says. “The project made me realize how happy I was immersing myself into painting.”
To pursue her passion for art, Li went to study advertising design at a vocational and technical school. “Painting brushes can help me create a colorful world in my imagination, telling my thoughts on paper, instead of through voices,” Li said.
Graduating from college in 2005, Li got a job as a typist at a public institute. But she could not communicate well with her other colleagues. Her husband understood how she felt because he lost his hearing due to medication when he was 1 year old. He is also an art lover. In March 2016, under her husband’s suggestion, Li quit her job and joined her husband’s company, which specializes in 3D wall and ground paintings.
Wall painting is a demanding job because it requires people to work outdoors, whether in extremely cold or hot weather. As all the people are hearing-impaired in their company, communication with clients is the most common challenge that the team faces.
Now in many parks and scenic spots, the couple have created large-scale murals and interactive pavement painting that make onlookers a part of the drawings.
“My husband and I want to introduce painting to more people like us and help them find their own way to make a living,” Li says. Now Li has an apprentice who just graduated from college. While coaching the newcomer, Li is exploring her own style and hopes to become an illustrator and open her own exhibition one day.
“They’re energetic young people with a passion to create new things, and you can feel that in their paintings,” one of their clients said. “They’re also a professional, dedicated team, often working late into the night on the designs for us.”
Li hopes that their stories can encourage more hearing-impaired people to build their own careers and achieve their goals, regardless of how tough it may be.
According to the passage, the painting class in primary school ________.
A.started Li’s first advertising design |
B.helped Li find a new way to express herself |
C.made Li learn about 3D wall and ground paintings |
D.turned Li’s dream of opening an exhibition into reality |
【推荐2】When Stephen Mills spotted a dusty old safe(保险箱)in a museum in Canada, he thought he’d try to crack the code, “just like in the movies”. But when he began turning the dial, he wasn’t expecting a Hollywood ending.
For years, anyone who visited the Vermillion Heritage Museum in Alberta would have passed by a large,black metal box. Staff knew it had come from the long-gone Brunswick hotel and was donated to the museum in the 1990s. But its code and contents remained a mystery for decades – until Mills unexpectedly cracked the code.
Mills, who lived in Fort McMurray, Alberta, was visiting the museum with his family last month over a holiday weekend. As they wandered around the exhibits with the museum guide, Tom Kibblewhite, they spotted the safe.
What does Mills probably mean by saying “I’m buying a lottery ticket”?
A.He wanted to become richer. |
B.He opened the safe by luck. |
C.He was good at cracking the code. |
D.Buying lottery tickets leads to success. |
【推荐3】Live with roommates? Have friends and family around you? Chances are that if you’re looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle, not everyone around you will be ready to jump on that bandwagon.
I experienced this when I started switching to a zero waste lifestyle five years ago, as I was living with my parents, and I continue to experience this with my husband, as he is not completely zero waste like me. I’ve learned a few things along the way though, which I hope you’ll find encouraging if you’re doing your best to figure out how you can make the change in a not-always-supportive household.
Zero waste was a radical lifestyle movement a few years back. I remember showing my parents a video of Bea Johnson, sharing how cool I thought it would be to buy groceries with jars, and have so little trash! A few days later, I came back with my first jars of zero waste groceries, and my dad commented on how silly it was for me to carry jars everywhere. It came off as a bit discouraging.
Yet as the months of reducing waste continued, I did what I could that was within my own reach. I had my own bedroom, so I worked on removing things I didn’t need. Since I had my own toiletries (洗漱用品), I was able to start personalising my routine to be more sustainable. I also offered to cook every so often, so I portioned out a bit of the cupboard for my own zero waste groceries. Perhaps your household won’t entirely make the switch, but you may have some control over your own personal spaces to make the changes you desire.
As you make your lifestyle changes, you may find yourself wanting to speak up for yourself if others comment on what you’re doing, which can turn itself into a whole household debate. If you have individuals who are not on board, your words probably won’t do much and can often leave you feeling more discouraged.
So here is my advice: Lead by action.
What was the attitude of the author’s father toward buying groceries with jars?
A.He disapproved of it. |
B.He was favorable to it. |
C.He was tolerant of it. |
D.He didn’t care about it. |
【推荐1】“Let’s take a break,” partway through the meeting, my boss stood, saying. “I need more coffee.” I picked up my empty cup. “I do, too,” I said, and handed it to him across the table. “Thanks,” I added, looking at him expectantly. The boss was staggered for a moment, and then took the cup from me.
......
What does the underlined word “staggered” mean in the sixth paragraph?A.Amused. | B.Shocked. |
C.Depressed. | D.Excited. |
【推荐2】Elvis Presley was one of the greatest musicians in rock and roll history who changed the way people enjoyed music. Born on January 8, 1935, Presley was raised by loving working-class parents. He received his first guitar as a gift on his 11th birthday and had his first taste of musical success a few years later when he won a talent show at his high school. After graduating in 1953, hе did a number of jobs while pursuing his musical dream.
In 1955, Presley began to develop a following for his unusual musical style and good looks. That same year, he signed with RCA. After that, Presley was on a roll, scoring with his first No.1 single as well as his first No.1 album, and signing a movie contract—all in 1956. From very humble (卑微的) beginnings, he grew into one of the biggest names in rock and roll.
What does the underlined phrase “on a roll” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.Busy with work. | B.Successful in career. |
C.Attractive to fans. | D.Included in a ranking list. |
【推荐3】A mirror coated in red paint, a banana stuck to the wall with tape, and an unseen sculpture- these are just a few of the abstract artworks that have recently sold for surprising amounts. Now, Dutch artist Jens Haaning has taken the genre to a whole new level. His appropriately named "TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN" masterpiece, consisting of two empty frames, has set a local museum back $84 000!
What does the underlined word “genre” in Paragraph 1 mean?
A.Theory. | B.Quality. | C.Number. | D.Style. |