"How can I learn English well?" This is a question many students ask. In my opinion, the most effective way is to learn lessons by heart. If you can recite the text and write it out, you've learned it fairly well. And if you can tell, in your own words, what the lesson says you're a very successful learner indeed. Your
English will be quite perfect.
     This is a difficult task. However, if you try to learn by heart only part of each lesson, you'll find it not
half so hard as you might have thought.
     Learning this way, you will make rapid progress. Of course, writing is also necessary. It helps you a
lot on our way to success in English.
     Equally important is to feel the language. You should be able to laugh at jokes and be shocked at bad
news. When using English, you should try to forget your mother tongue. Instead of helping you, your own
language gets in your way. So, never try to see English through translation.

1. In the writer's opinion, the most effective way in learning English is ________.

A. To practice speaking, writing and feeling it
B. To forget your own native language
C. To translate everything into his own language
D. To memorize the English words and grammatical rules

2. "Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way." This sentence means that memorizing
     your own language can ______.

A. Help you to study English well      
B. Stop you mastering English
C. Make English easy to learn        
D. Help you notice mistakes

3. Equally important is to feel the language. "to feel the language" here means________.

A. To get a knowledge of English by touching
B. to be able to read and write English
C. To translate English into your own by imagining
D. To be able to experience the rich sensation of the language

     The average temperature around the world is rising. People living in the US Midwest might find this
fact hard to believe, though. Two new studies show that in America's heartland, summers are now cooler
and wetter than they were in years past. The scientists suggest that the change in the Midwest climate
may have happened because of farming.
     The first study was led by David Changnon, a climatologist at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
A climatologist studies the climate of an area, which includes measuring rainfall, temperature and wind.
Climatologists want to know how these factors have changed in the past, and how they will change in the
future.
Changnon and his team studied temperature records from Chicago and 13 other sites in the Midwest.
"These two changes -lower temperatures and more rainfall-may be connected by humidity," Changnon
says. Humidity is the measure of how much moisture is in the air. Humid air, which contains a lot of
moisture, takes longer to heat up than dry air.
     So where did the extra moisture in the air come from? Changnon points to farms in the region. As
plants grow, they pull moisture from the ground and release it into the air. And among plants, soybean
and corn plants release a lot of moisture. Midwestern farms now plant more soybeans and corn than in
the past, with 97 percent of farmland today planted with these two crops. He also notes that the plants
are planted closer together now than they used to be, so there are more plants per acre than in the past.
     The second study was led by famous scientists from the US. The researchers studied a vast area of
the United States that stretches from South Dakota to Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. They found
that in 1930, farmers in that region irrigated only about 1.8 million acres of farmland, an amount roughly
half the size of Connecticut. In 1980, however, farmers irrigated nearly 15 million acres-more land than
Vermont and New Hampshire combined.                              

1. What does the underlined word "changes" mean in Paragraph 3?

A. It means that the temperature is lower and the rainfall is higher than before
B. It means that the rain is heavier than before
C. It means that the weather is cooler and there is also more rainfall than before
D. It means that our mind should be changed about farming in the future

2. From this article, we know that____.

A. the weather will be changed in the future
B. farmers irrigated nearly 15 million acres in 1930
C. we must plant more trees in order to protect our environment
D. the climatologists have told us two aspects about the reason for the climate change

3. The underlined word " moisture" in Paragraph refers to ____.

A. humidity          
B. rainfall            
C. water          
D. steam

4. The best title for the article is ____.

A. The Weather Is Changing Better Now        
B. The Analysis for the Weather
C. Why Climate in Midwest Is Changing        
D. The Importance for Plants and Irrigation 

     Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us.Physicists have created fascinating theories,
but their time is measured by a pendulum (鐘擺) and is not psychological time, which leaps with little
regard to the clock or calendar.As some-one who understood the distinction observed, "When you sit
with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like
two hours."
     Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter
wings as we age.They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the
more rapidly it seems to pass.For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach.
Since most of us spend fewer days at the beach and more at the office as we age, an increase in
structured tune could well be to blame for why time seems to speed up as we grow older.
     Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly.Almost all of us have had the
experience of driving somewhere we've never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no
real idea of when we'll arrive, we experience the trip as lasting a long time. But the return trip, although
exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The novelty of the outward journey has become routine. Thus
taking a different route on occasions can often help slow the clock.
     When was become as identical as identical as beads(小珠子)on a string, they mix together, and even
months become a single day. To counter this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day-to
stop time, so to speak.
     Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days
of our youth seems so full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us,
learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn't have to be.

1. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 is used to show         .

A. psychological time is quite puzzling
B. time should not be measured by a pendulum
C. physical time is different from psychological time
D. physical theory has nothing to do with the true sense of time

2.Why do units of time fly faster as we grow older?

A. Our sense of time changes.
B. We spend less time at the beach.
C. More time is structured and scheduled.
D. Time is structured with too many appointments.

3. In Paragraph 3 "novelty" probably means         .

A. excitement
B. unfamiliarity
C. imagination
D. amusement

4. The purpose of the passage is to         .

A. give various explanations about time
B. describe how we experience time psychologically
C. show the different ideas of physicists and psychologists on time
D. explain why time flies and how to slow it down psychologically

     In the early 1950s, researchers found that people scored lower in intelligence tests if they could speak more than one language.    1   So which one of them is right? There is a new finding recently.
Researchers showed their latest studies at a meeting in February, 2011. The latest evidence shows that
being bilingual(雙語的)does not necessarily make people smarter.    2   .
    Imagine you are driving down the highway. There are many things that could draw your attention and
you really need to be able to notice all of them.    3   Why? The answer is that bilingual people are often
better at controlling their attention.
    The best method to measure it is called the Stroop Test. A person is shown words in different colors.
The person needs to tell the colors of the words.    4   For example, the word  "blue" might be written in
red, but you have to say red. You need to ignore the word and pay more attention to its color so that
you can say correctly. The bilingual people continually practise this function because both languages are
active in their mind at the same time.
        5   Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning and are
more likely to have friends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than
others in suffering from dementia (癡呆癥). 

A. This would be easier if you are bilingual.
B. The problem is that the words are all names of colors.
C. This would be very difficult for them to achieve.
D. However, another research in the 1960s showed the opposite.
E. They would be cleverer than other people.
F. In addition, it might help people in other ways, too.
G. But researchers say it probably does make people better at certain skills.

      While reading a book in English, every few lines of text, you run across a word or two that you don't
know. You look up every new word in the dictionary. Bad move. All that does slow you down. Even electric
or CD -ROM dictionaries can get in the way of your reading progress. A dictionary is like a road map. It can
help you if you get lost and point you in the right direction. But if you stop to look at the "map" each time you
take a step, you'll get nowhere fast. 
      On your English learning "journey", a dictionary can be a helpful "travel companion (伙伴)"-if it is not
overused. To help you start thinking in English, use an English-to-English dictionary. Otherwise, you will
always depend on (依賴) your native language and end up translating in your head.
      A good dictionary can help you do more than just find the meaning of a word. It can help you verify (test
and check) spelling, check word forms and grammar usage, find example sentence and learn pronunciation.
Some dictionaries even provide exercises to teach you how to use their resources (資源).
      Take time to get to know your dictionary. Learn the pronunciation symbols (符號). Understand what the
abbreviations (縮寫字) mean. Try to master the important grammar rules. Look for charts, diagrams and lists
that might be useful in the future. You will discover how helpful it can be to make friends with your dictionary.
And as they say, "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

1. Why do we need a good English-to-English dictionary?

A. Because it is a good friend.
B. Because it can help us to find the right direction if we get lost.
C. Without it we'll always depend on our native language and end up translating in our head.
D. Because it can help us to start thinking in English and in Chinese.

2. The underlined word "that" in the last paragraph refers to _____.

A. pronunciation symbols and grammar rules
B. abbreviations and usage for grammar rules
C. the meaning of a word, spelling and grammar usage
D. charts, diagrams and lists

3. According to the passage, which statement can lead you to believe?

A. The more you use a dictionary, the better you can understand the article.
B. The more you use a dictionary, the faster you may read.
C. The more you use the resources in a dictionary, the more you can benefit (受益) from it.
D. The better a dictionary is, the more expensive it is.

     In 1901, H.G. Wells, an English writer, wrote a book describing a trip to the moon. When the explorers
(探險者) landed on the moon, they discovered that the moon was full of underground cities. They expressed
their surprise to the "moon people" they met. In turn, the "moon people" expressed their surprise. "Why," they
asked, "are you traveling to outer space when you don't even use your inner space?"?
     H.G.Wells could only imagine travel to the moon. In 1969, human beings really did land on the moon.
People today know that there are no underground cities on the moon.However, the question that the "moon
people" asked is still an interesting one. A growing number of scientists are seriously thinking about it.
     Underground systems are already in place. Many cities have underground car parks. In some cities, such
as Tokyo, Seoul and Montreal, there are large underground shopping areas. The "Chunnel", a tunnel (隧道)
connecting England and France, is now completed.?
     But what about underground cities? Japan's Taisei Corporation is designing a network of underground
systems, called "Alice Cities". The designers imagine using surface space for public parks and using
underground space for flats, offices, shopping, and so on. A solar dome (太陽能穹頂) would cover the
whole city.?
     Supporters of underground development say that building down rather than building up is a good way to
use the earth's space. The surface, they say, can be used for farms, parks, gardens, and wilderness.
H.G. Wells' "moon people" would agree. Would you?

1. The explorers in H.G.Wells' story were surprised to find that the "moon people" _____.

A. knew so much about the earth
B. understood their language
C. lived in so many underground cities
D. were ahead of them in space technology

2. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Discovering the moon's inner space.
B. Using the earth's inner space.
C. Meeting the "moon people" again.
D. Traveling to outer space.

3. What sort of underground systems are already here with us?

A. Offices, shopping areas, power stations.
B. Tunnels, car parks, shopping areas.
C. Gardens, car parks, power stations.
D. Tunnels, gardens, offices.

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

A. Alice Cities-cities of the future
B. Space travel with H.G. Wells
C. Enjoy living underground
D. Building down, not up

     As we all know, most of the students feel nervous when taking an exam. There is no 1. ________ (疑問)
that exams are important to us, but it's 2. m________ important to have a right attitude towards them. As a
matter of fact, exams are no more than 3. ________ means of evaluating. Why worry about the results? Only
4. ________ studying hard every day and 5. ________ (準備) for exams in advance can we avoid suffering
from the 6. ________ (壓力) of exams. We'd better go out for a walk 7. ________ do some outdoor exercise
before exams. Besides, having enough sleep can 8. f________ us with energy and make it possible for us to
9. ________ well in the exam. A hot bath or a cup of hot milk may help those 10. ________ (感覺) stressed
out before an exam.