This site contains 100 original short stories about life in America. These stories are written for ESL(English as a second language ) learners who are, at least, high beginners. We want to help ESL students learn English as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Learning should be interesting, not boring. We hope that learners will find that these stories are of some help to improve their English.

The stories have interesting topics and are easy to understand. Each story comes with an audio narrative so that learners can listen as they read. The audio requires downloading the free Real Player. Each story contains a search for pictures, definitions, and pronunciation.“ Following each story are four sets of exercises, and each containing 10 items.

Exercise A is “Yes / No Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Does Sara have children?” The learner can then type in, “Yes, she does.” Then the learner can check whether it’s the right answer or not.

Exercise B is “Wh-Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Where does Sara live?” The learner can then type in, “She lives in Pasadena.” Then the learner can check his answer.

Exercise C is “Ask Questions”. The learner is given an answer like, “They have two children.” The learner must then type in a question like, “How many children do they have?”The learner can then check to see whether he is correct or not. Exercise D is “Dictation”. The learner listens to a sentence. Most of the sentences duplicate  the sentences in the stories. The learner types the dictation and then checks to see whether he is correct or not.

Work on the site is in progress. Help us make it better as the years go by. We welcome all comments, suggestions, complaints, new ideas, and questions. Click here to send us emails.

1.Where does this passage come from?

2.The main purpose of this passage is to _____.

3.All of the following statements are correct EXCEPT _______.

4.If you want to improve your listening ability, you may mainly do some practice in _____.

閱讀下列各小題，根據(jù)漢語句子，用句末括號(hào)內(nèi)的英語單詞完成句子，并將答案寫在答題卡上的相應(yīng)題號(hào)后。

1.While he was rescuing survivors in the ruins, little ___________ his safety, though he was in great danger himself.? (care)???????????

當(dāng)他在廢墟里救助幸存者的時(shí)候，雖然自己處在巨大的危險(xiǎn)之中，他并不在乎個(gè)人安危。

2.Science and technology is developing rapidly and it’s hard to predict ___________ in another 20 years. (like)

科學(xué)技術(shù)日新月異，很難預(yù)測再過20年世界會(huì)是什么樣。

3.Wolves are highly social animals ______________ cooperation. (depend)

狼是高度群體化的動(dòng)物，其成功依賴于合作。

4._______________ her, she always tries to avoid me, pretending not to have seen me at all. (approach)

不管我什么時(shí)候接近她，她總是試圖躲避，假裝根本沒看見我。

5.On Nov. 13, 2013 the powerful typhoon “Haiyan” hit the Philippines, ____________. (leave)

2013年11月13日，強(qiáng)臺(tái)風(fēng)海燕襲擊了菲律賓，使得幾百萬人無家可歸。

6.The young lady _______________ with her husband about money and housework. (hear)

經(jīng)常聽到那位年青女士為錢和家務(wù)事與丈夫爭吵。

7.Should ________________, I would try to help you to apply for a better job in my company. (work)

要是你失業(yè)了，我就在我的公司里為你申請(qǐng)一份更好的工作。

8.It is your efforts, not your intelligence ______________ your success. (contribute)

努力而不是聰明促成的。

9.With _____________, the newly-elected chairman couldn’t sleep well at night. (settle)

新任主席有許多問題要解決，晚上無法安睡。

10.Mary as well as her sisters ______________ to learn Chinese, for they want to have a better understanding of Chinese culture.（decide）

瑪麗和她的姐妹們已經(jīng)決定留下來學(xué)習(xí)漢語，因?yàn)樗齻兿敫�深入地了解中國文化�?/span>

根據(jù)漢語完成句子。（請(qǐng)將答案寫在答題卷上相應(yīng)番號(hào)后的橫線上）

81. 中國人把他們的語言稱為漢語。

   The Chinese                          their language             Han.

82. 他當(dāng)卡車司機(jī)的時(shí)候，有一次和死神打了個(gè)照面。

   While he was working as a lorry driver, he had a                                      death.

83. 你可能就會(huì)看到身穿印有那個(gè)熟悉標(biāo)志的李寧運(yùn)動(dòng)服的學(xué)生們。

                                   you will see students in Li Ning tracksuits with the familiar logo.

84. 那些偷獵者常常是夜里出動(dòng)，一次就捕殺掉整群的藏羚羊，只留下那些毛不怎么值錢的幼崽。

Often            at night，the poachers shoot whole herds of antelopes at a time，            only the babies，            wool is not worth so much.

85想到狂歡節(jié)，你就會(huì)想到人群、各式各樣的服裝和熱鬧非凡的場面。

                          carnival，            you think of crowds，costumes and confusion.

單詞填空：根據(jù)下列句子句意及漢語或英語提示，寫出所缺單詞或使用括號(hào)中詞語的正確形式填空。（每空一詞）（共15小題；每小題1分，滿分15分）

1.       We all have some ___________(缺點(diǎn)) and we should improve ourselves.

2.       Does environment___________(決定)one’s character?

3.       She refused to give the taxi___________(費(fèi)用) because of the delay.

4.       Do you have any ______________(保險(xiǎn))on your car?

5.       What’s your _____________(態(tài)度) to this idea? Is it good or bad?

6.       Since Li Ming _________________ here, he has got along well with his neighbours. （settle）

（李明在這里定居后，和鄰居們相處得很好。）

7.       While_________( walk) the dog, you were careless and it got loose and was hit by a car.

你在遛狗的時(shí)候，你不小心讓狗松開了，結(jié)果被車撞了。

8.       When people use words and ____________(express) different from the “standard language”,it is called a dialect.(當(dāng)人們用不同于“標(biāo)準(zhǔn)語言”的詞語和表達(dá)時(shí)，那就叫做方言。)

9.       Earthquakes are one of the most deadly natural________(災(zāi)難) in the world.

10.    More ________(避身處)for the homeless should be built in some big cities.

11.   _________(百萬)of people watched the exciting football game , according to CCTV-5.

12.   As _______(照常，慣常), it rained on my birthday.

13.   ________they looked nearly everything was destroyed.

（人們無論朝哪里看，哪里的一切都幾乎被毀了。）

14.   we can __________(hard) wait to see them!（我們迫不及待地想要見到他們。）

15.   People began to wonder how long the disaster would____________(持續(xù))。（人們開始納悶，這場災(zāi)難還會(huì)持續(xù)多久）

1.      We all have some ___________(缺點(diǎn)) and we should improve ourselves.

2.      Does environment___________(決定)one’s character?

3.      She refused to give the taxi___________(費(fèi)用) because of the delay.

4.      Do you have any ______________(保險(xiǎn))on your car?

5.      What’s your _____________(態(tài)度) to this idea? Is it good or bad?

6.      Since Li Ming _________________ here, he has got along well with his neighbours. （settle）

（李明在這里定居后，和鄰居們相處得很好。）

7.      While_________( walk) the dog, you were careless and it got loose and was hit by a car.

你在遛狗的時(shí)候，你不小心讓狗松開了，結(jié)果被車撞了。

8.      When people use words and ____________(express) different from the “standard language”,it is called a dialect.(當(dāng)人們用不同于“標(biāo)準(zhǔn)語言”的詞語和表達(dá)時(shí)，那就叫做方言。)

9.      Earthquakes are one of the most deadly natural________(災(zāi)難) in the world.

10.    More ________(避身處)for the homeless should be built in some big cities.