Dear ninth-graders,
This week, you are taking some important tests.
Love,
Your teachers
| A．But there is something more important that you need to know. |
| B．The tests can’t tell us your personality (性格) or your interests. |
| C．Try to get interested in all the subjects you learn at school. |
| D．We hope you can know about the above things and try your best. |
| E．So be confident in being yourselves and good luck in your tests! |
| F．Besides, they can’t measure how brave you are, or how good you are at music. |
Do you find it easy to understand English but hard to speak it out? Well, you are not alone.
At school, you can learn many passive skills through reading and listening activities. But to learn a language well, you need to practice active skills, too!
You can start by writing short sentences or diaries. And try to talk to real people more. If nobody is available, you can talk to yourself by describing things that happened in your life.
Think less about the rules.
Find a language group.
Speaking with native speakers (当地的) may make you feel nervous.
Remember, learning a language takes time and practice. Don’t be afraid to speak out. Keep practicing, and soon you’ll learn the language well!
| A．Write more and speak more. |
| B．You can join a language club or group. |
| C．However, active skills do not come naturally. |
| D．You don’t need to learn English at home. |
| E．While you learn a language, you learn many rules. |
| F．In fact, there are two kinds of language skills: passive and active skills. |
3 . Did you know that vocabulary is more important than grammar? If you have good vocabulary, you can communicate successfully, even if the grammar is not completely perfect.
However, one common problem is learning new words and then forgetting them. So when you want to use a new word in a conversation, you can’t remember it at that moment. Does this often happen to you? The reason for this difficulty is that most students try to learn vocabulary by studying lists and dictionaries and remembering the words. But it may not work if you don’t have a very good memory.
The best way to learn vocabulary and remember the words successfully is to learn new words and use them at once. You can do this with a very simple exercise. Every time you learn a new word, for example, from an English lesson or an article, write it down in your vocabulary notebook. Writing is more active than just reading a definition (释义). You should write the word, the definition in English or translation, one example sentence from the article or dictionary and one example sentence that you create.
Imagine you just learn the word “generous”, write in your vocabulary notebook: generous (adjective), definition—giving or willing to give freely. Example one, from the article: Thanks for paying for my dinner, you’re very generous. Example two, my example: My brother is generous because he volunteers at the animal shelter on weekends. It’s best if your example sentences are true to your life, because this creates a personal connect ion with the new word. The next day, read your vocabulary note book again and try to add one more example sentence using the new word. It’s helpful for you to remember it: These two simple steps—writing the word and using it at once—help you remember and use new words.
Do you have a vocabulary notebook? If not, start now.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The problem. | B．The new word. | C．The conversation. |
①Make your own example sentence.
②Write the word, its English definition or translation.
③Copy an example sentence from the article or dictionary.
④Read your notebook again and add one more example sentence.
| A．②③①④ | B．②③④① | C．③②①④ |
| A．By connecting them with our life. |
| B．By adding words from the article. |
| C．By explaining words’ definitions. |
| A．Vocabulary is not so important as grammar. |
| B．Reading a definition is more active than writing. |
| C．The best way to remember new words is to use them. |
| A．Ways of Learning New Words |
| B．Abilities of Creating Examples |
| C．Suggestions on Using Grammar |
4 . We recycle rubbish, so why not language? Recycling language means using vocabulary (词汇) that you have learned before again and again. However, unlike rubbish that piles up (堆积) in our environment, if we do not recycle language, we simply forget it. So how do you recycle language? There are basically three ways to do it.
The first is through reading. Go back to your favorite articles and read them once more. Just reread them and do not worry about each vocabulary item. If there are some that you are not sure about, make a guess and you will probably guess right.
The second way to recycle is through writing. Look at some of your favorite articles and write either a short paragraph or a few sentences in your own words. After you have done this a few times, go back and read through what you have written, checking vocabulary functions. Don’t worry if you have made mistakes. You should learn from your mistakes.
The third way to recycle language is by having a chat with yourself about your favorite articles at home. You can pretend there is someone with you who speaks English and tell him what you are thinking about or how you feel.
1. According to the passage, recycling language means ________.| A．writing vocabulary over and over again |
| B．learning more new vocabulary |
| C．using vocabulary that we have learned very often |
| A．be kept in our mind | B．be forgotten easily | C．pile up in our environment |
| A．correct it at once | B．learn from it | C．be worried about it |
| A．Reading. | B．Writing. | C．Listening. |
| A．The differences between recycling language and rubbish. |
| B．Three ways to recycle language. |
| C．Why should we recycle language? |
Now students’ English handwriting (书写) gets worse and worse. That makes teachers feel worried. Is your English handwriting beautiful?
Use paper with lines
When you write English words or sentences, you can use paper with lines. That will make your handwriting straight.
Slow down
If your writing is hard to read, just slow down a little.
When you hold your pencil in the correct way, writing is much better. Try to be relaxed and don’t hold the pencil so hard.
Draw more pictures
Drawing can improve your handwriting. While you are drawing pictures,
Handwriting is very important. Imagine you are a famous movie star or sports player, what do you do when your fans run up to you? Give them your autographs (亲笔签名), of course!
| A．If not, here are some suggestions that really work! |
| B．Hold your pencil right |
| C．you need to use the skills to control your pencil better. |
| D．We will try to learn English well. |
| E．Going slower makes your handwriting clearer. |
| F．Those lines on the paper can help you to write words in the right size. |
| G．Does your handwriting often get praise from your teachers? |
As we all know, English is an important subject in middle school. Everyone knows that they should learn English well, but some students don’t know how to learn it well.
The biggest problem is students’ own fear. They worry that they won’t say things correctly or that they will look foolish when they can’t speak English well.
One fast way to learn something is to practice it again and again until you get it right.
Many people think that exercises and tests aren’t much fun.
| A．So is learning English. |
| B．Don’t be afraid of being laughed at. |
| C．Remember what your parents say to you. |
| D．I believe you will be good at English soon. |
| E．Another good way to learn English is to have a good environment. |
| F．Here are some suggestions which may help you with your English. |
| G．However, by doing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. |
7 . Keeping a diary—a good way to improve English
When I was at the age of thirteen, I began to keep a diary in English. At first it seemed difficult to me, but now it has begun to be easy. I know it's impossible to learn English well without more practice. I like reading, listening and speaking. After school I often go to the school library to read English stories. My English teacher always helps me translate some passages into Chinese.
I have little time to watch TV, or to play computer games. After I finish writing my diary, I always try to correct mistakes with the help of the dictionary. I think that keeping a diary is one of the best ways to improve our English study.
1. The writer began to write diaries ________.| A．when she was thirteen years old | B．before she was 14 | C．when she was 17 |
| A．At last | B．At first | C．Now |
| A．easy | B．possible | C．impossible |
| A．English | B．Chinese | C．art |
| A．more reading | B．keeping a diary | C．more speaking |
8 . The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll get your words mixed up and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can’t understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor（幽默）, you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you make. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It’s better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don’t understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is: “Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”
1. The writer thinks that the best way to learn a language is________.| A．writing | B．listening | C．using it |
| A．Be careful not to make any mistakes. |
| B．Speak English as much as you can. |
| C．Laugh more often. |
| A．not care | B．be happy | C．feel worried |
| A．keep quiet | B．keep your sense of humor | C．get angry |
| A．people never make mistakes |
| B．few people make mistakes |
| C．there is no one who doesn’t make mistakes |
