1. What is Tina’s weakest part of learning English?
| A．Speaking. | B．Writing. | C．Reading. |
| A．Being patient. |
| B．Making friends with foreigners. |
| C．Living in an English-speaking country. |
| A．Get up earlier to learn. |
| B．Read newspapers every day. |
| C．Practice English every morning. |
2 . Human language is made possible by an impressive gift for vocal learning. Most animals cannot learn to imitate sounds at all. Though some species can learn how to use natural sounds in new ways, they don’t show a similar ability to learn new calls. Among all nonhuman vocal learners across the branches of life, the most impressive are birds.
“I wouldn’t say they have language in the way linguistic experts define it, ” says the neuroscientist Erich Jarvis. “But I would say they have a primitive form of what we might call spoken language. ”
Birdsong appears to have a lot in common with human speech, such as conveying information intentionally and using simple forms of some of the elements of human language. One key element of human language is semantics, the connection of words with meanings. Over the past four decades, numerous studies have shown that many bird species use different alarm calls for different attackers. Recent studies suggest that the order of some birds’ calls may impact their meaning. This could represent a primary form of the rules governing the order and combination of words and elements in human language known as syntax, as illustrated by the classic “dog bites man” vs “man bites dog” example.
And the parallels run deeper, including similar brain structures that are not shared by species without vocal learning. Jarvis and his team have tried to compare the brain structures in songbirds and humans. “I think we humans tend to overestimate how different we are, ” he says. What has happened is that humans and songbirds have evolved a new forebrain circuit for learned sounds that has taken control of the brain stem circuit for natural sounds. “There is an assumption that species more closely related to us (e. g. monkeys) are going to be most like us. And that is true for many features, ” he says. “But, as you see, this is not true for every feature. ”
With all these similarities in mind, it’s reasonable to ask if birds themselves have language. It may come down to how you define it. But anyway, when the story of the evolution of language is finally complete, be prepared to thank the birds.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To show different capacities for imitating sounds. |
| B．To illustrate the major features of vocal learning. |
| C．To imply the uniqueness of birds as vocal learners. |
| D．To explain the origin of species differences. |
| A．It is superior to human language. |
| B．It lacks meaningful order of calls. |
| C．It has evolved from human speech. |
| D．It shows certain grammatical features. |
| A．Evolved brain circuit paves the way for vocal learning. |
| B．Humans possess biological uniqueness in vocal learning. |
| C．Closely related species are less likely to share parallels. |
| D．Circuit for natural sounds disables new call learning. |
| A．Bird Brains Suggest How Vocal Learning Evolved |
| B．Birds Are Stretching the Boundaries of Language |
| C．Human Speech and Birdsong Share Biological Roots |
| D．Human Speech Could Have Evolved from Birdsong |
1. What is the speaker probably?
| A．A student. | B．A teacher. | C．A host. |
| A．Showing English grammar. | B．Offering listening practice. | C．Explaining English words. |
| A．Keep a diary with them. | B．Guess the meanings. | C．Use them in spoken English. |
| A．Sticking to reading and learning. |
| B．Reciting more English sentences. |
| C．Remembering words as many as possible. |
注意： 1. 词数80 词左右
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
3.开头已给出，不计入总词数。
After having a heated discussion about how to learn English in class, we ...
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5 . As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. To start with, we need to dispel (消除) four common misconceptions about language learning.
You have to have a gift for learning languages.
No, you don’t.
Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than broken English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer.
To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction.
Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language.
I would love to learn but I don't have the time.
How about the time you spend waiting in line or going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPad? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour.
| A．That’s my experience. |
| B．Anyone who wants to, can learn. |
| C．Where you live is not a problem. |
| D．You need to speak in order to learn. |
| E．You have to live where the language is spoken. |
| F．The more students in the class, the more inefficient it is. |
| G．We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. |
6 . It has been shown that watching English movie trailers(预告片) can improve your English vocabulary and thinking skills.
The first step is to find them. Go to YouTube and do a search for something like “official trailer”. Several film trailers will appear.
Make sure the video you choose offers closed captions(字幕), which you will use later. You can find the closed caption mark at the bottom of the video. It may be listed as “CC” or something else. Keep in mind that trailers more than five or seven years old may not offer closed captions on YouTube.
Next, watch the video at a normal speed without closed captions. Try to understand what the story is about overall. Then watch it again to seek more details.
| A．So choose newer videos. |
| B．You can choose some that look interesting. |
| C．They may sound a little strange at a slower speed. |
| D．With this method, you are testing your English skills. |
| E．Then watch the video again, this time with closed captions. |
| F．Besides, try using your notebook as you learn English in your everyday life. |
| G．Now let's talk about steps you can take to get the most out of watching them. |
1. What does the woman think of English?
| A．It is quite difficult to spell. |
| B．It is a stress-based language. |
| C．It is widely spoken in the world. |
| A．He doesn’t have enough vocabulary. |
| B．He can’t pronounce exactly like a robot. |
| C．He can’t tell strong and weak forms. |
| A．Listen to music. |
| B．See English films. |
| C．Stress words clearly. |
8 . Lingokids
Kids will learn English when they discover 5 different topics in Lingokids, including Animals, Food, Nature and Places. The app also provides many enjoyable games which help kids to improve their English skills like listening. speaking, reading and writing. What’s more, this app uses English songs and many interesting short stories to make the lessons easier to “digest”.
Lessons: The app provides a great many topics with different contents. The English lessons are all designed to meet learners’ needs and learning goals.
Monkey Junior
The app uses pictures and real photos to help you learn the content of lessons. It allows kids to learn English with the objects that they usually see in their daily life, newspapers or magazines. With Monkey Junior, kids can learn English and even some other languages. Besides, parents can easily choose suitable levels for their kids. Each level offers a variety of interesting lessons.
Lessons: The app gives learners a great number of lessons with different content.
Fun English
The app offers a great number of interesting topics that kids can choose as their most favorite, including colors, animals, numbers, food, transportations, the human body, fruits, clothes, houses, sea creatures, school items, and actions.
Lessons: Fun English contains a huge number of free lessons and games.
English for Kids
The app concentrates on helping kids to practice English through all kinds of games. These games are divided into 4 groups: Flashcard, Sentence Games, Word Games, Crossword puzzles.
Lessons: A sea of lessons are here! Sentence Games and Word Games are designed to give basic lessons, which really makes the study process more appealing.
1. Who are the most probable potential users of these apps?| A．Teachers. | B．Parents. | C．Kids. | D．Foreigners. |
| A．It has many stories to read. | B．It will supply French or Chinese lessons. |
| C．It hasn’t many potential users. | D．It has many interesting short stories to read. |
| A．They each supply kids a lot of lessons to learn. | B．All the lessons are interesting and very easy. |
| C．They help kids to learn English through games. | D．All supply lessons for parents and their kids. |
| A．English for Kids | B．Monkey Junior | C．Fun English | D．Lingokids |
9 . When Rebecca Vance tells parents that their children have "specific language impairment（障碍）", the parents often wonder aloud what they could have done to prevent the disorder.
Vance, a speech pathologist（病理学家）, runs a summer camp for 4- and 5-yeat-old children who have difficulty acquiring language skills through interactions with their parents and teachers.
Children with specific language impairment have difficulty with grammar, including proper word order. tenses, subject-verb agreement and use of the correct pronouns for gender distinction.
"When the public think about speech problems, they usually think of stuttering（口吃）or not being able to say their R's." Vance says. "But we're really talking about something different. We're talking about the inability to take an idea and then express it in a grammatical way that uses appropriate vocabulary to express that idea, and that's what children really struggle with."
"The idea is if we can get in early when these problems first become really apparent we may be able to have the biggest impact,” Vance says.
Research shows that children who have delayed language development in the preschool years are at risk for academic difficulties when they start school—and, specifically, problems with reading and writing because "reading and writing are language on paper", Vance says.
What's more, children with poor language abilities are at greater risk for dropping out of school and for not being able to get well-paying jobs in later years. "So, there's a socio- economic consequence to this impairment," Vance says.
The important thing to know, Vance says, is that children "are not having these problems because they can't hear, and they’re not having these problems because they’re not intelligent. They’re bright, they can think, they can problem-solve, but when they have to process and use words, it's just very difficult".
"Our ultimate goal is to have children take what we teach them and make it part of their system and use it every day, all the time," Vance says.
1. Whom is the summer camp open to?| A．Parents. | B．Teachers. | C．School students. | D．Preschool children |
| A．Unable to get a good job. | B．Unable to write and read. |
| C．Unable to talk with others. | D．Unable to understand people. |
| A．They have a poor memory. | B．They were born a bit deaf. |
| C．They are normal children. | D．They are of low intelligence. |
| A．How to pronounce a word. | B．How to interact with others. |
| C．How to use their language correctly. | D．How to speak their language fluently. |
10 . When you leave school or college, someone will unavoidably point out that it is not the end and it is only the beginning. Of course the speaker is right.
You must become actively receptive to new words.
As an adult, you will find most of the sources of your supply of new words in books and magazines. Is your reading today largely restricted only to the daily newspapers? Then you will have to change your habits.
You must learn to add to your own vocabulary the new words you meet in your reading.
When you see an unfamiliar word in a book or in a magazine, do not overlook it. Instead stop for a moment and say it to yourself.
You must set a goal.
If you do something about your vocabulary, you will learn, at least, twenty-five to fifty new words in the next twelve months. In conscious efforts, you can learn several thousands.
| A．You must read more. |
| B．Vocabulary building snowballs. |
| C．You must open your mind to new ideas. |
| D．No educative process has the end. |
| E．Get used to its sound and appearance. |
| F．Words won’t come chasing after you. |
| G．For now your mind has been alerted to notice it. |
