What is language for? Some people seem to think it’s for practicing grammar rules and learning lists of words—the longer the lists, the better. That’s wrong. Language is for the exchange of ideas, and for communication.

The way to learn a language is to practice speaking it as ___________ as possible. A great man once said ___________ is necessary to practice as much as possible, and the ___________ you use it in real situations, the more natural it will become.

Learning any language ___________ a lot of time. But don’t ___________. Relax! Be patient and enjoy yourself. Learning foreign languages should be ___________. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Work harder and practice more. Your hard work will be rewarded one day.

Use a dictionary and a grammar guide constantly(不断地). Keep a small English dictionary ___________ you all the time. When you see a new word, look it up. Think about the word—use it, in your mind, in a sentence.

Try to think in English whenever possible. When you see something, think of the English word of it, and then ___________ the word in a sentence.

Practice tenses as much as possible. ___________ you learn a new verb (动词), learn its different forms(形式).

I would also like to learn more about the ____________ behind the language. When you understand the cultural background, you can better use the language.

Learning English is not an easy thing. Almost every student sometimes asks     1     like these: Can I really learn English well? Can I really learn it well enough to     2     with others?

The answer is yes. From some studies we know that almost anyone can learn a foreign language     3     if he or she wants to. Some people might learn it     4     and some might learn it more slowly. Some might learn it easily and some might learn it with difficulty. But anyone can learn it well if he or she has the right ways.

Many students have     5     own special ways to learn English. The following are some examples.

Han Mei gets up early every morning and the first thing she does is to listen     6     an English radio program (节目). This has really helped improve her listening.

Lin Tao often practices speaking English in class. At first he was very nervous     7     he was asked to speak. After trying several times, he found it was not as     8     as he thought. He is more active now and he speaks English     9     of all in his class.

Wang Bin likes to watch American movies. He will watch it many times if it is     10     good film. And he also likes to read English aloud.