What is language for? Some people seem to think it"s for practising grammar rule

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What is language for? Some people seem to think it"s for practising grammar rules and learning lists of words—the longer the lists，the better. That"s wrong. Language is for the exchange（交流）of ideas and information. It"s meaningless knowing all about a language if you can"t use it freely. Many students I have met know hundreds of grammar rules, but they can"t speak correctly or fluently（流利地）. They are afraid of making mistakes. One shouldn"t be afraid of making mistakes when speaking a foreign language. Native speakers make mistakes and break rules, too. Bernard Shaw once wrote, "Foreigners often speak English too correctly. "But the mistakes that native speakers make are different from those that Chinese students make. They"re English mistakes in the English language. And if enough native speakers break a rule, it is no longer a rule. What used to be wrong becomes right. People not only make history, they make language. But a people can only make its own language. It can"t make another people"s language. So Chinese students of English should pay attention to grammar, but they shouldn"t overdo（做过头）it. They should put communication（交际）first.　
1．Language is used to ________.
A. express oneself　　     　       B. practice grammar rules
C. talk with foreigners only            D. learn lists of words
2．Generally, when an American or an Englishman speaks English, he ________.
A. never makes mistakes　　          B. often makes mistakes
C. can"t avoid making mistakes         D. always makes mistakes
3．"Foreigners often speak English too correctly. "This sentence means that ________.
A. foreigners speak correct English
B. foreigners speak incorrect English
C. foreigners speak English according to the grammar rules
D. foreigners never make mistakes when they speak English
4．If too many native speakers break a rule, ________.
A. what they use will become right       B. they are against the law
C. they should say sorry to others        D. they will become heroes

答案

小题1:A
小题2:C
小题3:C
小题4:A

解析

略

举一反三

第三部分：写作（共两节，满分35分）
第一节任务型阅读（共10小题；每小题1分）
阅读下列短文，根据所读的内容在文章后的表格中填入恰当的单词。注意表格中的每个空格只填1个单词。
Global warming is one of the major environmental problems we are facing today. Scientists think a further rise in the carbon dioxide levels will make this situation worse. The greenhouse effect causes the earth’s heat to be trapped in the atmosphere, which results in the increase in temperature. This in turn has an effect on various plants and animals. Global warming makes it difficult for some of them to survive.
Ozone depletion(臭氧耗损) means a drop in the quantity of the ozone in the earth’s stratosphere (平流层). The ozone hole in the Antarctic is mainly due to the release of CFCs ( a type of gas). Because of ozone depletion, humans are facing various problems such as the harmful effects of UV rays.
Water pollution is caused when wastes are thrown into water. What’s more, many harmful chemicals are also put into water, which causes the deaths of many wild animals and endangers the health of humans.
The increasing population is causing a loss of natural resources. This is related to various human activities. For example, overfishing has caused many kinds of fishes to die out. Forests are being cleared to meet the rising demand for paper, wood, even for land. Mining(采矿) has led to a further drop in mineral resources. If we used up all the resources, how could our children survive on this planet?
These are some of the current environmental problems we are facing today. Only with an effort from each person, can we hope to save our planet from being destroyed.

Environmental problem	Cause	Damage
Global (76)_____-	Increasing carbon dioxide levels	Making it difficult for various plants and animals to (77) ______
(78)______ depletion	Releasing CFCs	Various problems such as the harmful effects of UV rays
Water (79) _____	·Throwing (80)_____ into water ·Adding harmful (81) _____into water	Endangering wild animals’ lives Endangering humans’ (82) ______
The loss of natural(83)____	·Increasing (84) _____ ·Various human activi- ties such as （85）_____, cutting down forests and mining	Endangering the next generation

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The Antarctica is actually a desert.
The Antarctica is all ice all the year. The warmest temperature ever recorded there is zero at the South Pole. Explorers(探险家) used to think that a place so cold would have a heavy snowfall. But less than ten inches of snowfalls each year. That is less than half an inch of water. Ten times that much moisture(水分) falls in parts of the Sahara.
The little snow that falls in Antarctica never melts(融化). It continues to pile up deeper and deeper year after year and century after century. When the snow gets to be about eighty feet deep, it is turned to ice by the weight of the snow above it.
1. Antarctica is called a desert because it _____.
A. is sandy
B. has the same temperature as a desert
C. has little moisture
D. all of the above
2. The Antarctica has _____.
A. ten times as much moisture as the Sahara
B. the same amount of moisture as the Sahara
C. about one-tenth the moisture of the Sahara
D. none of these
3. The snow in Antarctica is very deep because it _____.
A. never stops falling
B. piles up year after year
C. never melts
D. Both B and C
4. The best title for this passage is “_____”
A. A Strange Continent
B. The Antarctica—An Ice Desert
C. Snowfall at the South Pole
D. The World’s Greatest Desert

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Electric cars will not be really much cleaner than autos powered by mineral fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from usual coal-fired power plants.
“For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel has to move away from
coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed,” said Jared Cohon, the chairman of a National
Research Council report released on Monday. About half of US power is produced by
burning coal, which gives off many times more of traditional pollutants than natural gas, and about
twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Nuclear and renewable power have to
generate a larger portion of US power for electric cars to become much greener compared to
gasoline-powered cars, Cohan, who is president of Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview.
Advances in coal burning, like capturing carbon at power plants for permanent burial underground,
could also help electric cars become a cleaner alternative to vehicles powered by fossil fuels, he said.
Pollution from energy sources did $120 billion worth of damage to human health, agriculture and
recreation in 2008, and electricity was responsible for more than half of the damage, said the NRC
report.
Electric cars have their benefits such as reducing imports of foreign oil. But they also have hidden
costs. Materials in electric car batteries are hard to produce, which adds to the energy it takes to make
them. In fact, the health and environmental costs of making electric cars can be 20 percent greater
than usual cars, the report said.
The report estimated that electric cars could still co

st more than gas-powered cars to operate and
manufacture in 2030 unless US power production becomes cleaner.
1. Why are electric cars not clean enough?
A. Because they run too slowly              B. Because they are too expensive
C. Because they rely on coal-fired power.      D. Because they give off more carbon dioxide.
2. We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. electric cars will soon take the place of gas-powered cars
B. no one holds hope for electric cars at present
C. electric cars waste more energy than before
D. some people believe that electric cars are cleaner
3. The underlined word “them” refers to “______”.
A. electric cars     B. batteries       C. producers        D. materials
4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to make electric cars cleaner?
A. Developing cleaner coal technologies.        B. Making electric cars run faster.
C. Generating more unclear power.             D. Making advances in coal burning.

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Man is a land animal, but he is also closely tied to the sea. Throughout history the sea has served the needs of man. The sea has provided man with food and a convenient way to travel to many parts of the world. Today, nearly two—thirds of the world’s population live within 80 kilometers of the sea coast.
In the modern technological world, the sea offers many resources to help mankind survive. Resources on land are beginning to be used up. The sea, however, still can be hoped to supply many of man’s needs.
The list of riches of the sea yet to be developed by man’s technology is immense. Oil and gas explorations have been carried out for nearly 30 years. Valuable amounts of minerals exist on the ocean floor ready to be mined.
Fish farming promises to be a good way to produce large quantities of food. The culture of fish and shellfish (贝类动物) is an ancient skill practised in the past mainly by Oriental people.
Besides oil and gas, the sea may offer new sources of energy. Experts believe that the warm temperature of the ocean can be used in a way similar to the steam in a steamship. Ocean currents and waves offer possible use as a source of energy.
Technology is enabling man to explore ever more deeply under the sea. The development of strong, new materials has made this possible.
The technology to harvest the sea continues to improve. Experts believe that by the year 2020 the problems that prevent us from exploiting fully the food, minerals, and energy sources of the sea will be largely solved.
1. The major things that the sea offers man are ______.
A. fish and oil                           B. minerals and oil
C. warm temperature and ocean currents       D. the food, energy sources, and minerals
2. The sea serves the needs of man because ______.
A. in provides man with food              B. it offers oil to man
C. it supplies man with minerals            D. all of the above
3. We can conclude from this passage that ______.
A. the sea resources have largely been used up
B. the sea, in the broad sense, has not yet been developed
C. the problems that prevent us from using the food, minerals, and energy sources of the
sea have already been solved.
D. by the year 2000 , the technology will be good enough to exploit all the sea resources
4. The underlined words Oriental people in the fourth paragraph probably mean ______.
A. the people in Asia                  B. African people
C. European people                   D. American people
5. The best title for this passage is ______.
A. Sea Harvest                       B. Sea Food
C. Technology for Exploiting the Sea     D. Man and the Sea

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A new system that scans customers’ fingerprints and deducts (扣除) the grocery bill from their bank accounts has taken supermarkets in southwestern Germany by storm and is being picked up by hardware stores, school restaurants and even bars are picking it up.
The Edeka supermarket chain is the first retail (零售) business in Germany to use the new system. “Almost a quarter of our customers pay with their fingers,” said an employee at the headquarters. Edeka has tried the system at 70 of its supermarkets and customers like it.
“At first we thought that only the young who really keep up with the latest technology would be interested, but we were wrong,” said Stefan Sewoester from IT Werke. “Almost two-thirds of the people who use the system are 40 and older,” he said.
IT Werke, a computer company, is one of the pioneers of fingerprint payment software in Germany. It has helped about 150 shops, restaurants and bars to put in the fingerprint scanning machines.
To sign up for the service, customers must have their fingerprints taken and leave their addresses and banking details with the shop. The shop then takes the cost of goods directly out of the customer’s bank account.
“It is a godsend for elderly people because they do not have to remember their pin-code to pay with their bank cards, or to look around for their glasses or cash.” Sewoester said.
The stores benefit from the system, too. It saves more than time in the check-out line. It also cuts out the hidden costs of accepting electronic card payments.
Fingerprint date profiling has long been used to control access and for other security purposes in Germany’s airports, laboratories and nuclear power plants. IT Werke plans to keep refining the retail use of the system. It wants to introduce fingerprint payment in school restaurants with an additional feature that might appeal to parents－they could disable their children’s access to junk food.
1. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Pay with Fingers.                                                B. New Development in Technology.
C. Supermarket Revolution.                                 D. Change in Computer Software.
2. Most of the people who use the fingerprint system are ______.
A. youngsters                B. housewives               C. IT fans              D. the elderly
3. The underlined word “godsend” probably means ______.
A. great fortune    sent by God                          B. good luck sent by God
C. good things that happen unexpectedly                    D. gift sent by God
4. What do we know by inference from the passage?
A. Fewer shops will try the new software because of the cost.
B. The new service requires certain personal information.
C. IT Werke should be the largest computer company in Germany.
D. The new change in payment only benefits elderly people.

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