1. How did Sophia improve her speaking skills?
| A．She often talked with native students. |
| B．She learned at an international school. |
| C．She traveled to English-speaking countries. |
| A．Listening. | B．Grammar. | C．Vocabulary. |
| A．His interest. |
| B．His sister’s influence. |
| C．His teacher’s encouragement. |
2 . Phonics, which involves sounding out words syllable (音节) by syllable, is the best way to teach children to read. But in many classrooms, this can be a dirty word. So much so that some teachers have had to take phonics teaching materials secretly into the classroom. Most American children are taught to read in a way that study after study has found to be wrong.
The consequences of this are striking. Less than half of all American adults were efficient readers in 2017. American fourth graders rank 15th on the Progress in International Literacy Study, an international exam.
America is stuck in a debate about teaching children to read that has been going on for decades. Some advocate teaching symbol sound relationships (the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck, or ch) known as phonics Others support an immersive approach (using pictures of cat to learn the word cat), known as “whole language”. Most teachers today, almost three out of four according to a survey by EdWeek Research Centre in 2019, use a mix of the two methods called “balanced literacy”.
“A little phonics is far from enough.” says Tenette Smith, executive director of elementary education and reding at Mississippi’s education department. “It has to be systematic and explicitly taught.”
Mississippi, often behind in social policy, has set an example here. In a state once blamed for its low reading scores, the Mississippi state legislature passed new literacy standards in 2013.Since then Mississippi has seen remarkable gains., Its fourth graders have moved from 49th (out of 50 states) to 20th on the National assessment of Educational Progress, a nationwide exam.
Mississippi’s success is attributed to application of reading methods supported by a body of research known as the science of reading. In 1997 experts from the Department of Education ended the “reading war” and summed up the evidence. They found that phonics, along with explicit instruction in phonemic (音位的) awareness, fluency and comprehension, worked best.
Yet over two decades on, “balanced literacy” is still being taught in classrooms. But advances in statistics and brain imaging have disproved the whole-language method. To the teacher who is an efficient reader, literacy seem like a natural process that requires educated guessing, rather than the deliberate process emphasized by phonics. Teachers can imagine that they learned to read through osmosis(潜移默化) when they were children. Without proper training, they bring this to classrooms.
1. What do we learn about phonics in many American classrooms?| A．It is ill reputed. | B．It is mostly misapplied. |
| C．It is totally ignored. | D．It is seemingly contradictory. |
| A．A burning passion for improving teaching methods. |
| B．A lasting debate over how to teach children to read. |
| C．An increasing concern with children’s inadequacy in literacy. |
| D．A forceful advocacy of a combined method for teaching reading. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Enthusiastic. | C．Unclear. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．Focusing on the natural process rather than deliberate training. |
| B．Obtaining support from other states to upgrade teaching methods. |
| C．Adopting scientifically grounded approaches to teaching reading. |
| D．Placing sufficient emphasis upon both fluency and comprehension. |
1．上课认真听讲，做好笔记，课后及时复习。
2．词汇是基础，每天早上花半个小时的时间背诵单词，朗读课文。
3．课外多与同学用英语交流，提高听力和口语能力。
4．每天坚持写日记。
注意：1．词数80词左右，短文的开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总数。
2．内容可适当发挥，注意行文连贯。
Dear Wang Mei,
I’m very glad to have received your e-mail.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours,
Li Hua
1.对这一异议作出解释；
2.提出你自己的看法。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 邮件的开头语和结束语已给出，不计入总词数；
3. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Allen,
In your e-mail, you expressed disagreement about our teachers speaking both English and Chinese in English classes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
5 . In Europe, nine out of ten students study a foreign language. In the United States, only one in five does. From 1997 to 2008, the number of American middle schools offering foreign languages dropped from 75percent to 58 percent. From 2009 to 2013, one American college closed its foreign language program; from 2013 to 2017, 651 others did the same.
At first glance, these statistics look like a tragedy (悲剧). But I am starting to accept the strange idea that maybe they are not. What is changing my mind is technology.
I was in Belgium not long ago, and I watched various tourists from different nations use speech translation apps to change their own languages into English and French. The newer ones can even reproduce the tone of the speaker’s voice.
I know a foreign language is a window into a new way of understanding the world. But even beyond the fact that this idea has been rather oversold, can we really say the low level of French or Spanish we and our classmates usually picked up in school really gave us a new look into the world and our lives in it? And if our goals are more limited and practical --- for instance, getting directions to the bus station in Rome-technology now makes that possible at the press of a button. With a smart phone and an app, foreign languages will no longer present most people with the challenge they once did. Learning to speak a new language well will be necessary for those who want to engage with (从事) literature or media in the original language, as well as those of us who find pleasure in it just because they are “there”. Strange as that is, it is in its way a kind of progress.
1. What is the author’s opinion about the drop in foreign language learning in the United States?| A．It is a tragedy that needs to be avoided. |
| B．It is an unacceptable situation that harms society. |
| C．It is a challenge that will be overcome in the future. |
| D．It is a positive development due to advanced technology. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Curious. | D．Supportive. |
| A．It makes the process easier and within reach. |
| B．It provides an easy way to understand the world. |
| C．It removes the need for language learning altogether. |
| D．It improves the traditional methods of language learning. |
| A．What challenges do translation apps bring to language learning? |
| B．Why is it still necessary to learn foreign languages in the digital age? |
| C．Will translation apps make learning foreign languages old-fashioned? |
| D．How can technology help us learn foreign languages more efficiently? |
1．学习活动状况描述：
2．简单评论；
3．你的建议。
1.写作词数应为80个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Learning English Beyond the Classroom
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . There are many podcasts (播客) that teach English and you can listen to them anytime. Here is a list of some of the best podcasts that you must see.
Learn English Podcast
This podcast has three levels.The first is for beginners, the second is for intermediates (中级学生) and the third is for upper intermediates. If a person wants to learn Business English,then episodes are also made for him.Every podcast is short but very informative. Worksheets and vocabulary tasks are also included.
Speaking Broadly
This podcast is made for advanced learners. Explained through discussion and interviews, each episode has non-native English speakers and every recording also has expert feedback. You will see some common mistakes made by English learners and you can improve your English by learning from those mistakes.
The English We Speak
This podcast airs one episode daily and every episode is only three to four minutes, which talks about phrases and idioms.There are two people in each episode who communicate with each other. Whatever level you are,you will find it rewarding
Elementary Podcast
This podcast is mainly for beginners and intermediate level learners. The length of a podcast is around 25 minutes but you can pause it anytime and continue whenever you want. The hosts of each episode are different.
1. Which podcast provides exercises going with it?| A．Learn English Podcast. | B．Speaking Broadly. |
| C．The English We Speak | D．Elementary Podcast. |
| A．It records just expert speakers. | B．It aims at beginners. |
| C．It presents some typical mistakes. | D．It provides feedback from listeners. |
| A．They have the same length. | B．They are both interactive. |
| C．They share the same contents. | D．They are suitable for beginners. |
注意：
1. 词数 80 左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mr. James,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
9 . Why learn English through the news?
Learning English through the news is a great way to improve your vocabulary, listening and discussion skills. You can choose-from written, audio(音频的), video and live TV news with options both online and offline.
Clear English
Latest information
Modern news media is a constant stream of real-life English conversations and fresh information!
Read, watch, and listen
English news comes in many different forms and this gives you greater choice when learning the language. If you prefer reading, there are online newspapers and simpler news websites for. ESL students. If you want to improve your listening and vocabulary skills, there are also TV news channels,YouTube videos, radio stations and podcasts(播客).
Relevant(相关的) to you
Fresh news is produced daily on every imaginable topic!
| A．Popular stories often appear in all of these forums. |
| B．English news is worth including in your study plan for the following reasons. |
| C．Even the word“news”comes from the Latin term“nova”, meaning“new things”. |
| D．An effective way to learn English is by frequently watching English movies. |
| E．Most journalists and newsreaders use Standard English and express themselves well. |
| F．Most learners of English have difficulties understanding original newspapers and TV news. |
| G．Whatever you like, you will always be able to find news articles and stories that are relevant to you. |
10 . Everybody seems to have a unique way to learn a language, and yet we all come to the same result of speaking at most two languages fluently.
You may wonder how talented they are and what their secrets are.
You may have seen their happiness and excitement when they are showing their colorful grammar charts and their carefully handmade flash cards, and their statistics about learning vocabulary using apps or even how they love to cook based on recipes in a foreign language.
So if you don’t like writing words down on paper, why not type them in an app? If you don’t like listening to boring textbook material, why not find interesting content in podcasts? If you’ve also tried to learn a language and you gave up, thinking it’s too difficult or you don’t have the language talent, give it another try.
| A．All of them use different methods. |
| B．No wonder they can get the hang of so many languages. |
| C．But the fact is that they simply love learning languages. |
| D．Maybe you’re just one enjoyable method away from learning that language fluently. |
| E．Polyglots are no geniuses and they don’t have shortcut to learning languages. |
| F．But actually there exists another kind of language learners called polyglot. |
| G．Don’t be afraid that you may fail in the end and just try again. |
