You may think that English dictionaries have been used for many, many centuries. In fact, an English dictionary you ____ today wasn’t made until the Qing Dynasty (清朝).Three men did most of the important ____ work on dictionaries. They spent nearly all their lives trying to ____ words for their dictionaries. For them, it was a wonderful journey. The largest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary. The ____ for this dictionary came from an important meeting in Britain in 1857.Twenty-two years later, Oxford University asked James Murray to be the editor (编者) of its new dictionary. 

Murray had never been to ____.At the age of fourteen, he left his village school in Scotland and taught himself while working in a bank.____ he became a great teacher. After Oxford gave him the job, Murray had a small house ____ in his garden to do the work. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o’clock and ____ in the small house several hours before breakfast. Often he would work into the night. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was ____ adding words for the letter “A”! He worked on the dictionary ____ he was very old. 

Forty-four years later ,in 1928,other editors finished the dictionary.

It seems more and more Americans want schools to teach foreign languages to children younger than five years old.The most popular way to teach these young children another language is called immersion(沉浸式语言教学法).

Children in immersion programs hear only the new language in the classroom. The children play games, sing songs and talk to one another in the new language. Some experts(专家)say immersion programs are the most effective(有效的)way for young children to learn a language. But there can be a problem when children in the United States begin to learn another language at such an early age. Not many elementary schools continue to teach a foreign language. Only seven of the fifty states require(要求)schools to teach a foreign language to students between the ages of six and twelve. Language experts say it is easier for younger children to learn a language. Still, American schools generally do not begin to teach foreign languages until secondary schools. By then,   students are about thirteen years old.

American schools face difficult choices about the cost of educational programs. The government has increased support for foreign language study in its education law called No Child Left Behind.

At the college, the Modern Language Association says more students than ever are studying foreign languages and more languages are being studied now than in the past. Spanish is the most widely(广泛地)taught in American colleges and universities. French, German, Chinese and Italian are also popular.

When you are learning a language, listening, speaking and writing are important, but reading can also be very helpful. When you read, you cannot only learn some new words, but also learn how to use them. When you read a passage, it gives you a good example for writing.

Here are some good reading tips.

Firstly, try to read at the right level(水平).Read something that you can understand. If it is too hard for you, it is not interesting.

Secondly, try to understand the new words. If there are four or five new words on a page, don’t use a dictionary. Instead, try to guess their meanings as you read. Mark(做标记)them with a pencil. Then look them up in a dictionary when you finish reading, and write them in your own vocabulary book. Try to remember them.

Thirdly, try to read for a short time once a day. Fifteen minutes or half an hour every day is better than two hours every Sunday. For example, you can read before you go to bed, or after you get up or at lunchtime.

Lastly, read something that interests you. Choose a newspaper, a book or a magazine about a subject that you like. It will be easy enough for you to understand.

It’s good to hear from you again. I find that I’m not good at writing compositions. It’s hard for me to prepare the form of a composition and organize sentences.①Could you tell me how to deal with this problem? I would really appreciate it if you offer me some good methods. 

Best wishes,

Cindy

A composition is really a story and any story is told to an audience.There is a form for this and it has three parts. First, tell them (the audience)what you are going to tell them.Then tell them,and finally tell them what you told them. Parts One and Three are short and most of the information is in Part Two.It works like this.

Let’s say you are asked to write a 200-word composition about your visit to the Great Wall.You would begin with an opening sentence or two saying something like “The Great Wall of China is a national ②landmark that is famous around the world. I visited it last summer and I want to tell you about it.” That uses about 25 words to tell them what you are going to tell them.

The second part would be about 150 words and would contain information about the Great Wall such as how long it is, when it was built, who built it and why, and the fact that it is one of the seven wonders of the world and you would talk about how you felt and what you thought when you visited this national treasure. This is telling them.

Finally, you would use about another 25 words to say something like “That was my first visit to the Great Wall and it was a very emotional experience to actually touch something so old and famous.③每个中国人应至少参观长城一次。I plan to go back whenever I can.” Here, you are telling them what you told them in the story and wrapping it all up into a neat package. This formula(惯例)works for both compositions and speeches and I think you will find it helps to organize your thoughts. I hope it’s helpful.

Best wishes,

Brad Franklin

I’m glad to receive your letter. You asked me how to learn Chinese well.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Best wishes!

Yours,

David