1 . How Do You Get Better at Speaking English?

Many Learning English fans write to us with this question: How do I get better at speaking English? All right. I’ll give some suggestions as following:

Try to speak English each day

Every day, you can speak English anytime and anywhere.     1     Begin by saying “good morning,” and “good afternoon or evening” to a family member or a friend. As you travel to your school or work, think about how you feel (like “happy” or “sad”) and say it to yourself in English. When you arrive, give greetings to a friend who is also learning English.     2     Speaking English every day will help you get better.

Accept a few mistakes

We all make mistakes. You will probably make some mistakes while learning to speak English. But you can still say how you feel. And you can learn from your mistakes.     3     Practice saying the words many times so you can say them correctly the next time.

Learn some skills

Another way to practice speaking is to read a story from our website and listen to the audio. Stop after a few sentences. Listen again, and notice how the speaker’s voice goes up and down.     4    

Practice speaking with a partner

With a friend, choose a conversation from Let’s Learn English.     5     Use a phone to record and listen to yourself. Do you say the words the same way as Anna and her friends? Next week, we will talk about continuing a conversation in English.

A．Speak up loudly and bravely.

B．You may ask, “How are you feeling today?”

C．Ask your friend or teacher to correct them.

D．Keep on doing it, even if you can only speak for a short time.

E．Repeat the sentences and make your voice change the same way.

F．And then, act it out with your friend when you know it well enough.

G．Speaking English plays an important role in communication with natives.

3 . Humans spend about one third of their lives sleeping. But some mammals (哺乳动物), like the northern elephant seal, survive with much less sleep.

Researchers in a new study described the unusual sleep pattern of these ocean animals. They found that when these mammals go to feed on trips that can last seven months, they sleep just two hours each day. Those two hours of sleep are made up of short moments of rest lasting only 10 minutes each as they dive deep to avoid predators (捕食者). The only other mammals known to get so little sleep are African elephants.

The researchers placed a head covered with sensors on the heads of the seals that they studied. The sensors recorded sleep signals created by the seals’ brains and heart rate. The sensors also recorded the animals’ location and depth beneath the sea.

The researchers studied female seals because they go out on long open-ocean trips while males feed in coastal waters.

During dives lasting about 30 minutes, the seals went into a deep sleep called slow-wave sleep while keeping a controlled downward movement. When they then experienced rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, the seals fell into a turning pattern. Then, at the deepest point of their sleeping dive — up to 377 meters deep — they wake up and swim back to the surface.

Terrie Williams is a scientist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who helped write the study. She said, “It is remarkable that a wild animal will fall into deep, paralytic REM sleep when there are predators on the hunt.” She added that the seals solve this problem by going into deep sleep in the deep parts of the oceans where predators usually do not hunt them.

Williams said the brain’s ability to control awakening the sleeping seals at a depth before they drown is also a discovery about how mammalian brains work. She commented on this saying that it shows the survival control of the seals’ brains.

1. Why did researchers study female elephant seals?

A．They are easier to fix with sensors.	B．They are more friendly to humans.
C．They are more convenient to follow.	D．They have a wider range of activities.

2. What are the elephant seals doing when they are in deep sleep?

A．Falling into deep sea.	B．Swimming fast in the sea.
C．Rushing back to the surface.	D．Escaping from their hunters.

3. What’s the advantage of elephant seals’ sleep?

A．They hunt more foods.	B．They avoid being hunted.
C．They get completely relaxed.	D．They control their sleep patterns.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Different Animals Need Different Sleep

B．Elephant Seals’ Short Sleep Makes Them Survive

C．Elephant Seals Sleep Only Two Hours a Day

D．Male and Female Elephant Seals Feed in Different Areas

4 . 假定你是李华，你校英文报就“How to keep our body and mind healthy”这一话题征集投稿。请你写一篇短文投稿，内容包括：
1.保持身心健康的重要性；
2.介绍自己的做法。
注意：1.词数 80 左右；
2.短文的题目已为你写好。

How to keep our body and mind healthy

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5 . It is found that people are more creative following the ______ (complete) of a boring task. (所给词的适当形式填空)

6 . The two companies have formed into a single ______ (organize). (所给词的适当形式填空)

7 . It’s likely, however, that there’s something in your lecture that’s ______ (confuse) or unclear. (所给词的适当形式填空)

8 . The mother’s words may sound like a ______ (describe) of every teenager on the earth. (所给词的适当形式填空)

9 . A ______ (retire) teacher from Des Moines has helped send 33 kids to college. (所给词的适当形式填空)

10 . Considered poisonous for many years in Europe, tomatoes were grown for ______ (decorate) only. (所给词的适当形式填空)