1 . My Chinese speaking experience

It’s one thing to study and learn a language, but it’s quite another when you finally get to use it.

On the _______ from Venice to Paris, a group of girls my age sat around me. I had caught enough of the conversation to know that they were speaking Chinese, but at first I didn’t feel _______starting a conversation with the stranger next to me. If it didn’t _______ well, I’d be stuck next to them for the rest of the flight.

As the food cart began to make its way down the aisle (过道) _______ us, I finally found my chance. I _______ to the girl to my left and asked, “Will you be having lunch?” in Chinese. She nodded her head, then realizing the language I had _______, and asked me in English, “You speak Chinese?”

I was a bit surprised. I _______ again in Chinese. “A little bit but not very well.” She nodded again and then returned to her magazine, _______ my effort to communicate with her. Perhaps I should have lied and said that I spoke better...

Another time, at a dinner I sat next to a man who I knew spoke Chinese. I told him that I was learning Chinese, but _______ only speak a little and not very well. When ________ me use the language, he suddenly began to speak ________ in Chinese, but all I caught was that he told me that for Chinese people, the ability to speak a little bit is actually a lot. His behaviour was the complete opposite of my earlier ________. I felt somewhat overwhelmed (不知所措). I never quite     ________ the chance to continue or make any further efforts because the conversation returned to ________ as other people joined the table.

All in all, my experience has ________me that I still have a lot of work to do.

1.

A．subway

B．train

C．plane

D．boat

2.

A．satisfied

B．lucky

C．happy

D．comfortable

3.

A．go

B．fit

C．feel

D．do

4.

A．beyond

B．with

C．off

D．towards

5.

A．promised

B．turned

C．led

D．referred

6.

A．owned

B．used

C．written

D．advised

7.

A．agreed

B．stressed

C．tried

D．delivered

8.

A．ending

B．making

C．focusing

D．increasing

9.

A．should

B．must

C．need

D．could

10.

A．letting

B．seeing

C．hearing

D．helping

11.

A．rapidly

B．extremely

C．calmly

D．seriously

12.

A．class

B．experience

C．lecture

D．attitude

13.

A．got

B．missed

C．exchanged

D．gave

14.

A．Chinese

B．French

C．English

D．Italian

15.

A．requested

B．left

C．regarded

D．taught

2 . When Faith Wanjiku graduated from the Technical University of Kenya last year, she immediately enrolled (注册) at the Confucius Institute in Kenyatta University. She wanted to learn Chinese, as she believed that it would help her land a good job.

She has just completed the hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) 3 exam. HSK is a test of Chinese language level for non-native speakers, organized by the Confucius Institute Headquarters.

However, this level isn’t enough for Wanjiku, who plans to pass HSK 6. She wanted to increase her level of Chinese and improve her spoken Chinese. And Wanjiku isn’t alone. The number of people taking the HSK reached 6.8 million in 2018 and went up 4.6 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Education said on May 31.

Chinese is becoming an increasingly popular choice of language to study around the world. Currently, middle school students in Russia can take Chinese as an elective language test in the country’s national college entrance exam, Sputnik News reported.

In May, Zambia became the fourth country in Africa-after Kenya, Uganda and South Africa—to introduce Chinese language to its schools.

And many English-speaking countries have shown an interest in allowing their students to learn Chinese. The US government announced the launch of “1 Million Strong” in 2015, a plan that aims to bring the total number of learners of Chinese to l million by 2020.

Behind the growing popularity of Chinese language learning is the international community’s positive attitude toward Chinas future development, as well as the people’s longing to learn about Chinese civilization and culture.

Indeed, it’s as the former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela put it, “if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

1. What did Wanjiku do after graduating from university?

A．She went abroad.	B．She learned Chinese.
C．She found a job.	D．She travelled to China.

2. HSK is a test for ______.

A．non-native speakers	B．native speakers
C．middle school students	D．college students

3. What does the underlined sentence mean?

A．Wangjiku has lots of friends.

B．Lots of people want to pass HSK6 exam.

C．Wangjiku has passed HSK3 exam.

D．Many people want to live in China.

4. What may be the best title for the text?

A．Chinese Language Study Takes Off

B．Chinese Play an Important Role in Economy

C．People Share the Experience of Learning Chinese

D．Different Opinions about the Function of Chinese

3 . 选词填空，并翻译划线句子

Unit 4   Body language

Yesterday another student and I,     1     our university’s student association, went to meet this year’s international students. After half an hour of waiting. I saw several young people enter the waiting area looking around     2    . I went forward to greet them. After being introduced, they greeted each other in different ways, causing some     3     and culture mistakes.

As I get to know more intemational friends, I learn more about this cultural “body language”. Not all cultures greet each other the same way, nor are they comfortable in the same way with touching or distance between people. In the same way that people     4     with spoken language, they also express their feelings through physical distance, actions or     5    . English people, for example, do not usually stand very close to others     6     they meet. However, people from places like Spain, Italy or South American countries     7     others closely and are more likely to touch them. Most people around the world now greet each other by shaking hands, but some cultures use other greetings as well, such as the Japanese, who prefer to bow.

These actions are simply ways in which cultures have developed. I have seen, however, that cultural customs for body language are very general—not all members of a culture     8     in the same way.     9    , though, studying international customs can certainly help     10     difficulties in today’s world of cultural crossroads.

Not all cultures greet each other the same way, nor are they comfortable in the same way with touching or distance between people.
    11    
Most people around the world now greet each other by shaking hands, but some cultures use other greetings as well, such as the Japanese, who prefer to bow.
    12    

4 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

When I was a student, I     1     (perform) better in Chinese language and history. But when     2     (surround) by a variety of bronzeware (青铜器) dating back thousands of years at an exhibition, I often feel I should brush up on my knowledge of the Chinese language. Characters, such as zun and ding, are widely used to describe various types of bronze vessels. But many others are rarely seen, and therefore difficult for us     3     (recognize) and correctly pronounce. Qingong Bo is a musical instrument to produce sounds similar to that of a bell. It also bears an inscription of 135 characters,     4     can help historians learn more about the history of the Qin state.

5 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

The word “diary” comes from the Latin word “diarium”,     1     means “daily allowance”. It refers to a book for writings by date. And it     2     (use) for business notes, planning activities, keeping track of scheduled appointments, or documenting     3     has already happened. Some doctors suggest that     4     (write) in a diary is a good form of self-study.

6 . From linguists’ point of view, grammar is a set of patterns for how words are put together to form phrases or clauses, whether in spoken or written. Different languages have different patterns. Some scholars have tried to identify patterns common to all languages. But apart from some basic features, few of these so-called linguistic universals have been found.

The study of these patterns open up “an ongoing debate” between two positions, known as prescriptivism and descriptivism. Prescriptivism thinks a given language should follow consistent rules, while descriptivism sees variation and adaptation as a natural and necessary part of language. From much of history, the vast majority of language was spoken. But as people became more interconnected, writing gained importance. Written language was standardized to allow broader communication and ensure that people in different parts around could understand each other.

Language purists worked to establish and promote this standard by detailing a set of rules that reflected the established grammar of their times. And rules for written grammar were applied to spoken language as well. Speech patterns that deviated from the written rules were considered signs of low social status. And many people who are grown-ups speaking in these ways were forced to adopt the standardized form.

More recently, however, linguists have understood that speech is a separate phenomenon from writing with its own regularities and patterns. Most of us learn to speak at such an early age that we don’t even remember it. We form our spoken skills through unconscious habits, not memorized rules. And because speech also uses mood and intonation for meaning, its structure is often more flexible, adapting to the needs of speakers and listeners. This could mean avoiding complex clauses that are hard to understand in real time, making changes to avoid awkward pronunciation or removing sounds to make speech faster. This linguistic approach that tries to understand and map such differences without dictating correct ones is known as descriptivism. Rather than deciding how language should be used, it describes how people actually use it and tracks the innovation they come up with in the process.

But while the debate between prescriptivism and descriptivism continues, the two are not mutually exclusive. At its best, prescriptivism is useful for informing people about the most common established patterns at a given point in time. Ultimately, grammar is best considered as a set of linguistic habits that are constantly being negotiated and reinvented by the entire group of language users. Like language itself, it’s a wonderful and complex fabric woven through the contributions of speakers and listeners, writers and readers, prescriptivists and descriptivists from both near and far.

1. The underlined word “deviated” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.

A．copied	B．updated
C．differed	D．originated

2. According to the passage, prescriptivism ______.

A．focuses on established language patterns

B．accepts the differences between languages

C．follows the innovations in language patterns

D．attaches more importance to written language

3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．A new understanding of language.	B．The beliefs held by prescriptivists.
C．The impact of grammar on language.	D．The ongoing debate between linguists.

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．The importance of Grammar	B．The History of Grammar
C．Grammar: Rules or Habits	D．Grammar: Writing Rules

7 . One year ago, I was in great trouble. I worked hard at English and devoted all my spare time to practising it. But I failed to pass the mid term examination, which made me greatly disappointed. So I asked my grandpa     1     advice when I got home. Hearing     2     I told him, he said, “To some extent, examination results sometimes cannot reflect your study level. You can’t judge your progress by one examination.” He encouraged me to work hard for a long time to check my results， and I     3     (take)   my grandpa’s advice. Now I realize that the process of     4    ( learn ) is much more important and   my English is much     5     (good) than   before. From my experience, I feel that we should listen to opinions from old people.

8 . Different Cultures

The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish themselves from each other a lot.     1    .

The origin of the Eastern culture is mainly from two countries:China and India. Both of the two cultures are developed by rivers — the Yellow River in China and the Indus River in India.     2    

When the two mother rivers gave birth to the Eastern culture，another famous culture was brought up on the Mesopotamian plain（美索不达米亚平原）一the Mesopotamian Civilization. This civilization later on developed into the cultures of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greek.    3     Like the Chinese culture，the European culture also crossed waters. When the British settled down in America，their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean. So the American culture doesn't distinguish itself from the European culture a lot.

    4     Take the language system for example. In the East，most languages belong to the pictographic language while the Western languages are mostly based on the Latin system. Other causes like human race differences count as well. But what's more，due to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and the West，the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference（干预）from the other.

The differences are everywhere.     5     But different cultures make the world in the 21st century more varied. The cultural gap should not be the obstacle to the civilization of human beings. It ought to be the motivation for our going farther.

A．Let us work together to keep a variety of cultures.

B．One important thing is to learn about the other's culture.

C．And these two are well-known as the base of the European culture.

D．This is because the culture systems are two separate systems on the whole.

E．They helped the two cultures develop for centuries and form their own styles.

F．They are obvious and affect people's ways of thinking and their views of the world.

G．At the same time，some other differences add to the cultural differences.

9 . Language Learning

Learning a new language can be tricky at any age. But in a recent study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a new language seem to quickly drop off: 10. Does this mean you should quit your French class if you’re older than 10? Non!

    1     It found that it’s “nearly impossible” to reach fluency if you start learning a language after age 10. That’s not because language skills start to go downhill. “You’re still learning fast,” says Joshua Hartshorne, one of the study’s coauthors. “It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old.” People who start learning a new language after age 10 may still become quite good, the authors say.     2    

Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more adaptable than those of adults.     3     “All learning involves the brain changing,” Hartshorne says. “Children’s brains seem to be a lot more good at changing.” Kids may also be more willing than adults to try new things. And while adults tend to fall back on the rules and patterns of their first language, kids are able to approach a new one with a blank slate.

    4     It promised to guess people’s native language, dialect, and home country, based on their responses to English grammar questions. At the end of the quiz, people entered their actual native language. They also reported if and when they had learned any other languages and where they had lived. Nearly 670,000 people took the quiz. Analyzing people’s responses and grammar mistakes allowed them to draw conclusions about language learning.

The findings also offer ideas for adults hoping to pick up a new language.     5     Moving to a place where your chosen language is spoken all the time is the best way for adults to learn. Learners of all ages can search out native speakers in their community to talk with. By creating an immersive environment, it’s possible to become good at speaking a new language.

A．Now that’s worth talking about!

B．But they are unlikely to become fluent.

C．The study appeared in the journal Cognition.

D．For the study, the researchers created an online quiz.

E．This means they’re better able to respond to new information.

F．This gave researchers huge amounts of data from English speakers of many ages and backgrounds.

G．Researchers found that people did better when they learned by immersion rather than only in a classroom.

10 . The world's richest man might seem to have it all, but Bill Gates has one regret. The self-made billionaire said he felt stupid for not knowing any foreign languages.

Speaking in his third Ask Me Anything question-and-answer session for online forum Reddit(红迪网), the Microsoft founder said that he wished he spoke French, Arabic or Chinese.

He said, "I took Latin and Greek in high school and got As and I guess it helps my vocabulary. I keep hoping to get time to study one of these—probably French because it is the easiest. I did Duolingo for a while but didn't keep it up."

Gates, who is worth $79.3 billion, praised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for surprising an audience in Beijing when he spoke fluent Chinese. "Mark Zuckerberg amazingly learned Chinese and did a Q & A with Chinese students—unbelievable, isn't it?" he said.

This isn't the first time for Gates to admit his regret over language. He also showed his habits at home and personal insights.

Last February, Gates said he likes to do the dishes himself—to his own special standards every night and also told the interviewer that his wife, Melinda, would likely want Samuel L. Jackson to play her husband in a biopic(传记片).

He also admitted that he would pick up a $100 bill if he found it on the street.

As he took the top spot on Forbes(福布斯) 28th Annual Billionaires list last year for the fourth time, he said he is pretty basic when it comes to spending on clothes and food, but that he enjoys investing in shoes and rackets(球拍) when he plays tennis.

When asked a life lesson he had to learn the hard way, the billionaire said staying up too late is a habit he is still trying to break. "Don't stay up too late even if the book is really exciting. You will regret it in the morning. Pam is still working on this problem," he said.

1. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．An Interview with Bill Gates	B．How Bill Gates Succeeded
C．Bill Gates' Regret	D．The Richest Billionaire

2. The underlined part in paragraph 8 may actually mean that _______.

A．it is important to lay a good foundation of life

B．food and clothing are basic needs for people's life

C．he never cares about buying food and clothing

D．he doesn't spend much money on food and clothes

3. What advice did Bill Gates give?

A．Do the dishes yourself at home.

B．Be a good language learner.

C．Avoid staying up too late.

D．Pick up the $100 bills in the streets.

4. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Bill Gates is also the founder of Facebook.

B．Bill Gates was good at learning languages in high school.

C．Bill Gates topped the list of Forbes 28 times.

D．Bill Gates' wife wants Samuel to play a game with Gates.