英语第一单元

第一单元
Among the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, I find listening most difficult because I worry about the words I don't know. Now I'm trying to focus on the general idea, not worrying about the new words. This makes me feel good, because I know I've understood something. Then, I listen again carefully and if I have any problems I play the difficult parts again. In this way I come to understand better both the main idea and the details of the listening text.
1) Answer: skills
2) Answer: difficult
3) Answer: worry
1) Answer: focus
2) Answer: general
1) Answer: feel
2) Answer: understood
listening text.
1) Answer: both
2) Answer: main
3) Answer: details
English Pronunciation
I don't think we have to sound like an English person when we speak, but it is important to pronounce well enough to make ourselves understood.
My own pronunciation in English isn't terribly good and I need to work on it. As we are
non-English major students, our class is usually very big. That means our teacher doesn't have much time for practice in pronunciation and intonation in class. So it's necessary that we spend some time after class listening to tapes and practicing reading and imitating. Sometimes, when I'm alone, I listen to text recordings and read the words and sentences aloud. I find that makes my English sound better.
1. Do we have to sound like a native speaker of English when we speak, according to the speaker?
Answer: No, but it is important to pronounce well enough to make ourselves understood.
2. Does the teacher spend much time on pronunciation exercises in class? Why or why not?
Answer: No. Because our class is usually very big.
3. What does the speaker sometimes do on her own to improve her pronunciation?
Answer: She listens to text recordings and reads the words and sentences aloud.
Every day we listen to many different things in many different ways. Perhaps your alarm clock rang this morning. You heard it and woke up. That's listening. Maybe the TV or radio was on as you ate breakfast. You weren't really paying attention until something you wanted to know about—the weather or the news —came on. Then you focused in. Both being aware of the sounds in the background and your focusing were types of listening. Maybe you had a conversation with your family or roommate. Hopefully you were listening. At work you talked and listened to different people in different ways for different purposes. The list goes on. The point is this: What's important is not just what we're listening to. It's what we're listening for. No one has to be taught how to adjust their listening to match their purpose in their native language. It grows naturally out of exposure to the native language and the need to understand different things. Yet, what happens in the classroom? All too often, textbooks introduce students to a very narrow range of listening types and tasks. But to be effective listeners, students need a variety of both. They need to learn how to listen.
Questions:
1. Which of the following is NOT a type of listening?
2. What are the two types of listening according to the passage?
3. What does "listening for" mean according to the passage?
4. Why is listening not a problem for the native people?
5. How do students learn to listen according to the passage?
Question 1
You hear alarm clock ring and get up.
You talk and listen to different things in office.
You listen to the weather report on the radio as you eat your breakfast.
The TV is on while you are working in the office.
Question 2
You hear different people talking and understand them.
You talk to people and make them understand.
You are aware of the sound in the background and focus in.
You talk while listen to different people in different ways.
Question 3
Be aware of the sound and pay attention to it.
Be aware of the different people in different ways for different purposes.
Understand what you listen to.
Focus on what you talk about.
Question 4
For they are not exposed to their native language.
Because they need to understand different things.
For they can adjust their listening skills.
All the other three choices.
Question 5
Listen to various kinds of listening materials.
Pay attention to various kinds of things.
Focus in a variety of listening types and tasks.
Adjust their listening skills like the native people do.
第二单元
How good is your memory? Answer these four questions: What did you have for breakfast yesterday? What clothes did you wear last Friday? Who did you talk to yesterday? Where did you go last Saturday? If you can answer all four questions, your memory is very good.
Memory is important for learning language skills. Education specialists in England want to help people improve their reading abilities. They want students to remember the books and articles they read. The specialists found something to help: facial expressions. They gave ten students a happy article to read. Five of the students read the happy article while smiling. Five students read the happy article while frowning. Then they answered comprehension questions. The smiling students remembered more of the happy article than the frowning students.
Then the specialists gave ten students another article to read. It was an angry letter to the editor of a newspaper . Five students read the angry article while smiling, and five students read the angry article while frowning. Which group remembered better? You're right. The frowning students.
The specialists don't know why facial expressions help memory. They are continuing to study the relationship between the mind and the body. Until they find the answer , keep smiling (or frowning?)!
Statements:
1. If one can answer all the four questions, his memory is thought to be good.
2. The smiling students could remember more happy articles than the frowning students.
3. Education specialists from England haven't found the best way to help people improve reading abilities.
4. The specialists are trying to explain the reason why facial expressions can help memory.
5. According to the speaker , facial expressions might affect a person's memory.
6. In the second group five students who read the angry letter while smiling remembered less.
Statement 1
True
False
Statement 2
True
False
Statement 3
True
False
Statement 4
True
False
Statement 5
True
False
Statement 6
True
False
Many expressions may be used to describe someone who is excited. One such expression is to be "beside oneself". You can be beside yourself with anger or beside yourself with happiness, although usually not both at the same time. If you are beside yourself, you are filled with excitement.
The dictionary tells us that "beside" means "next to", or "at the side of". So the expression
"beside oneself" describes something that is really not possible. You cannot be next to yourself. Some language experts, however , think the expression probably comes from an old belief that through magic, you could indeed be next to yourself. Spirits were believed to be able to have two of the same person appear , especially if that person was excited.
Today, you might hear a husband say, "When my wife told me we were going to have a baby, I was beside myself with joy." Or someone might tell you he was beside himself with anger because he had just lost his job.
When you are full of joy or are extremely excited about something, you may do something else that is strange. You may "flip your lid". A lid is the cover that prevents something from escaping from a container . A lid on a cooking pot, for example, keeps the heat from escaping. To flip something is to turn it over . So when you "flip your lid", you become so excited that your self-control escapes.
You can "flip your lid" over something you like very much. A young man, for example, might flip his lid over a pretty, young woman. Or you can "flip your lid" if something makes you very angry.
In recent years, the word "flip" itself has come to mean the same thing as "flip your lid". It is common to hear a girl say she "flipped" over a new boyfriend.
An expression that means something quite similar is to "lose your head". The head is believed to be connected to reason and careful thought. Thus to "lose one's head" is to act without thinking, to be out of control.
Questions:
1. What condition does the expression "beside oneself" describe today?
2. What is meant by the expression "flip your lid"?
3. What is the meaning of the word "flip"?
4. What may happen to someone who loses his head?
5. What does the passage mainly discuss?
"
Question 1
It describes something that really is not possible.
It describes someone who is extremely excited because of anger or joy.
It describes someone overwhelmed by anger or joy.
It describes the possibility to have two of the same person appear together.
Answer: It describes someone who is extremely excited because of anger or joy.
Question 2
You lose self-control due to happiness or anger.
You are beside yourself with happiness.
You may do something strange in extreme excitement.
You turn over the lid of your cooking pot to let the heat out.
Answer: You lose self-control due to happiness or anger.
Question 3
To like very much.
To become self-conscious.
To be beside oneself with joy.
To be very excited about something or somebody.
Answer: To be very excited about something or somebody.
Question 4
He becomes careless and forgetful.
He becomes unreasonable in whatever he does.
He behaves in a strange way.
He acts without careful thinking.
Answer: He acts without careful thinking.
Question 5
People's excitement and related expressions.
Expressions used to describe someone in great joy.
Origins of some expressions describing someone in great anger.
Meanings and effectiveness of some common expressions.
Answer: People's excitement and related expressions.
Suppose you have the chance to study in the U.S. one day, you will find the first semester of college is always the most difficult, finding out what classes are like, what your reading load will be, how many papers you must write, etc. Organizing your time will be difficult, too. How much time do you have to devote to studying every day, how can you clean, cook and study and have time left to visit friends?
During your first semester you will also encounter language difficulties. If you cannot understand your teachers or that they are speaking too quickly, don't hesitate to ask them to slow down or speak more clearly.
Spoken English is very different from written English. It is full of idiomatic expressions that make absolutely no sense to people whose knowledge of spoken English is less than fluent. Listening to American students talk, listening to television and radio, and using the language labs at school will help you break through the idiom barrier quickly.
Questions:
1. Why do students in the U.S. find the first semester of college the most difficult according to the passage?
2. What should the students do if they can't follow their teachers in class?
3. Why is spoken English different from written English?
will
their time.
1) Answer: classes
2) Answer: load
3) Answer: papers
4) Answer: organize
1) Answer: slow
2) Answer: down
3) Answer: speak
4) Answer: clearly
1) Answer: idiomatic
2) Answer: expressions
Beginner's Chinese
Man: Have you got the catalogue for the adult education courses at the community college this spring?
Woman: Yes, I'm reading it now. I would really like to take that beginner's Chinese class. Man: We've taken Chinese three times already and failed it each time.
Woman: Maybe one more time will do the trick.
Man: I'm afraid you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Woman: I don't know. I think we've learned quite a bit.
Man: Yes. You can say "Ni hao" and "Zai jian".
Woman: Don't be so negative. When we were in China last year, we were able to make ourselves understood quite well.
Man: That's true, but I believe that's because our friends there could speak English better than we speak Chinese.
Woman: Do you remember when we got lost in Shanghai? I was able to explain to the taxi driver where we wanted to go.
Man: Yes, and I also remember trying to go to the Peace Hotel and we ended up in a small restaurant on the wrong side of the city.
Woman: Oh, you always exaggerate.
Man: Yeah, you're right. Anyway, let's take the class one more time. We will be the top students there, at least for the first week or two.
Woman: I have finally begun to have a feel for the language. It doesn't sound so foreign any more. When I hear Chinese spoken, I feel at home.
Statements:
1. The speakers have tried to learn Chinese several times before.
2. They have a large Chinese vocabulary and speak pretty good Chinese.
3. They are going to China in the spring for the purpose of studying the Chinese language.
4. Despite their unsuccessful experience of learning Chinese, they have decided to take it up again.
5. The woman has a more positive attitude toward the Chinese language than the man.
6. Although the man and the woman are no longer young students, they can take courses at a community college.
Statement 1
True
False
Statement 2
True
False
Statement 3
True
False
Statement 4
True
False
Statement 5
True
False
Statement 6
True
False
第三单元
What College Professors Do
College professors are often believed to lead easy lives of quiet thinking while teaching one or two classes every week. But college professors do much more than go to class. The average professor spends between six and fifteen hours in the classroom weekly. And that same college professor works from sixty to eighty hours a week.
Because they must remain current in their fields, professors spend part of that time reading, reading, reading. That leads to additional hours during which they revise and
update their class lecture notes. It takes far longer to prepare notes than to deliver them in class. Professors may spend time conducting experiments, working on college projects, or advising students. They may be writing books, articles, or papers for delivery at
conventions.
When not in the classroom or in the office, professors are still working, behind closed doors in committee sessions or at home grading papers and preparing for tomorrow's classes. To accept this sort of schedule willingly, they must feel strongly about the importance of the college experience.
Statements:
1. College professors actually lead a busy life, while teaching.
2. Usually professors spend about sixty to eighty hours a week in the classroom.
3. Professors spend part of their time in reading and studying, because they always feel their knowledge needs to be improved and updated.
4. College professors have to do all kinds of things besides their usual load of teaching.
5. In order to remain as professors, they may spend their time in writing books and articles.
6. Professors are always working when not in the classroom or in the office.
7. Professors have to accept their busy schedule willingly, if they want to be qualified for their jobs."
Statement 1
True
False
Statement 2
True
False
Statement 3
True
False
Statement 4
True
False
Statement 5
True
False
Statement 6
True
False
Statement 7
True
False。