Are you learning English and do you need help with grammar? Do you want to learn new vocabulary or slang (俚語)? Well, you can find help online with these top 5 free English as a Second Language websites.

Dave’s ESL Café

This is a complete website that can help you learn and practice English. You can read many stories and do a lot of exercises to test your self. You c an also post questions and answers onto the help center.

About.com

You can get free English courses from About.com and you’ll get regular e-mails that will help you learn English.

The Classroom by Voice of America

You can watch videos and listen to news stories to improve your listening and vocabulary skills. You can also hear English words and their meanings.

Heinle’s Newbury House Dictionary of American English

Do you need to find the definition of a word? Use this online dictionary to find simple and clear definitions, as well as example sentences and idioms (習(xí)語). You can also find different cultural facts.

Perso nal English Portal (門戶網(wǎng)站) on YouTube

You can watch this series of videos on YouTube to develop your listening skills. You can also do a search for “l(fā)earn English” on YouTube to find other videos. This is a good way to practice English and have fun.

1.If you want to do English exercises and test yourself, you can go to .

A. About.com B. YouTube

C. Dave’s ESL Cafe D. the Classroom by Voice of America

2.You can at the help center on the website Dave’s ESL Cafe.

A. watch videos and pictures

B. listen to news and music

C. watch movies and matches

D. read questions and answers

3.About.com often sends e-mails to its visitors to help them .

A. get relaxed B. have fun

C. become famous D. learn English

4.The underlined word “definition” means “ ” in Chinese.

A. 來源 B. 釋義

C. 意圖 D. 背景

5.From Heinle’s Newbury House Dictionary of American English, you can find .

A. cultural information B. online libraries

C. interesting news D. many storybooks

Newspaper Carrier Day happens on September 4 to celebrate Barney Flaherty and all past and present newspaper carriers.

Every day，thousands of newspaper carriers get up early and carry newspapers around the streets. They deliver(遞送)our newspapers before we wake up but few people think about their hard work. In the USA，10－year－old Barney Flaherty became the first newspaper boy. He started working for The New York Sun on September 10，1833.Today，many young people make their pocket money by delivering newspapers.

Perhaps millions of people have been a newspaper deliverer. Delivering newspapers used to be a part－time(兼職的)job for the children aged(……歲的)between 13 and 16.But now many adults often deliver newspapers by car. It has become dangerous for children to be on the streets alone before six in the morning. The newspaper carriers in the world are paid differently. For example，the newspaper carriers in Britain can make about $25 every day. And they usually work seven days a week. When you see your newspapers next time，think about the persons who delivered them.

1.Barney Flaherty，the first newspaper boy in the USA was born in ________.

A. 1843 B. 1833 C. 1823 D. 1820

2.Who used to deliver newspapers as a part-time worker?

A. The young people under the age of 16. B. The children between the ages of 13 and 16.

C. The people of all ages. D. The children over the age of 10.

3.How do adults usually deliver newspapers now?

A. By bike. B. On foot. C. By bus. D. By car.

4.How much money can a newspaper carrier make every week in Britain?

A. About $175. B. About $125. C. About $100. D. About $25.

5.From the passage，we can know that ________.

A. all the newspaper earners in the world are boys aged between 13 and 16

B. it isn't safe for children to walk on the streets alone before 6：00 a.m.

C. newspaper carriers must have all kinds of skills besides driving

D. the writer used to deliver newspapers on foot

We all know that the British people love their manners. They are part of their national identity (特性), as well as having fish and chips and complaining about the weather. Recently I read online that they said “sorry” up to eight times a day.

After some research I have not been able to find any specific reasons why they are like this. I suppose, for centuries, manners, including how they behave at table and talk to other people have been one of the differences between the lower and upper classes and those manners show their social classes. Britain has traditionally been a quite conservative (保守的) country. There are many articles suggesting that their seemingly polite attitude of always saying “please” and “thank you” is quite false because it is impossible for a person to always feel that he or she wants to thank someone or say “please”.

Maybe it is for this reason that people are going one of two ways:they are too polite and hold back their feelings or they are not polite at all and express their true feelings directly. Some British people are tired of pretending that they are always happy and having to please others. But sometimes because they feel they have to be polite, they are prevented from saying what they truly think.

1.What don't the British people often do?

A. Eat fish and chips. B. Have no quite good manners.

C. Be polite to others. D. Talk about the weather.

2.What do the British people say up to eight times every day?

A. Hello. B. Thank you. C. I don't know. D. Sorry.

3.What does the writer think are the reasons why the British people are so polite?

①The upper classes should have good manners.

②They have learned much about politeness at school.

③They like to hold back their true feelings.

④They are not honest at all.

A. ①② B. ③④ C. ①③ D. ②④

4.What does the underlined word “pretending” mean in Chinese?

A. 打算 B. 假裝 C. 想象 D. 體驗(yàn)

5.What is the best title of this passage?

A. British people are too polite B. British people should not be so polite

C. How to learn the British manners D. It's time to change our manners

任務(wù)型閱讀（每小題2分，滿分10分）

If you spend some time in an English-speaking country，you might hear the term “etiquette”. It means normal and polite social behavior. This may seem like a difficult word at first，but it can be very useful to understand.

Etiquette is not the same in every culture or in every situation. For example，standing very close to the person you are talking with is quite common in some Asian countries. However，if you do this in Europe，some people might feel uncomfortable. Even in China，we all know that etiquette is not the same in all situations. Perhaps we think that talking loudly in our own homes is fine，but there are other places where talking loudly is not allowed. For example，most people would agree that talking loudly in a library，a museum or a movie theater is impolite. Even if you are with your friends，it is better to keep your voice down in public places.

If we see someone breaking the rules of etiquette，we may politely give them some suggestions. One of the most polite ways is to ask someone，Would you mind doing this or Would you mind not doing that. People don’t usually like to be criticized，so we have to be careful how we do this.

Although rules of etiquette can often be different，some rules are the same almost everywhere in the world！For example，dropping litter is almost never allowed. If you see someone you know doing this，you can ask him，“Would you mind picking it up？”

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，回答問題。

1. What does the word “etiquette” mean？

2. Find out the key sentence of Paragraph 2. （找出第二段的中心句）

3. If your friend talks loudly in the library, what would you say to him/her?（根據(jù)你對短文的理解，寫出一個委婉的建議）

4. 請將最后一段中的畫線句子譯成漢語。

5.請給短文擬個標(biāo)題。

Plant bring interest mix call famer mean

There are 24 solar terms (節(jié)氣) in China, and the Grain Rain(谷雨) is one of them. It falls on April 19 this year.

This solar term is 1. the Grain Rain because it is known for “rain” that helps the grain grow. From its name, we can guess it 2. a time of more rain. So if you go out in the next two weeks, you may need to bring an umbrella with you.

But this is a great time for 3. crops. If you miss the time for planting during the Grain Rain, you will feel sorry later. So maybe you can try to plant some flowers or vegetables in your garden. When the spring rain falls, 4. begin to grow crops (莊稼). Farmers often say, “Spring rain is as precious (珍貴的) as oil.” It 5. farmers hope for a good year ahead.

There are also many interesting 6. during the Grain Rain. In the northern part of China , people like to eat

Chinese toon7.with eggs. The food made during the Grain Rain tastes wonderful and is good for your stomach. In the southern part of China, the tea leaves are picked during the time. They are called Grain Rain tea, which is famous for its freshness and sweet smell.

1.每個人多天生具有學(xué)習(xí)的能力。

Everybody is _________ ________ the ability to learn.

2.乘地鐵雖然很方便， 但是常常很擁擠。

Taking the subway is ________， but it's often very ________.

3.他經(jīng)常在語法方面犯錯誤。

He often ______ _______ grammar.

4.一旦做出承諾，就要遵守諾言。

Once you ________ ________ ,you should keep it.

5.你可以把這個單詞和有趣的東西聯(lián)系起來。

You can ________ the word __________ something interesting.

6.當(dāng)?shù)卣�府已�?jīng)采取了措施來應(yīng)對空氣污染。

The local government ______ _______ _______ some measures to fight against air pollution.

bookstore go along third floor between supermarket flower store

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根據(jù)自己的學(xué)習(xí)問題尋求幫助：前幾天，一些同學(xué)就英語學(xué)習(xí)現(xiàn)狀進(jìn)行了一次討論，發(fā)現(xiàn)如下問題：

1、對英語學(xué)習(xí)沒有興趣; 2、記憶單詞有困難;

3、怕出錯，不敢參與小組討論； 4、閱讀中如何處理生詞； 5、寫作中……。

假如你是方華，在英語學(xué)習(xí)中也遇到一些類似的問題，你以郵件的形式向英語報(bào)社的編輯（Bob）咨詢，希望得到幫助。

要求：1、提出三個英語學(xué)習(xí)中的問題；

2、可以參考以上提示，也可以根據(jù)自己實(shí)際適當(dāng)發(fā)揮； 3、中心突出，語意連貫，層次清晰，書寫規(guī)范； 4、不少于80詞； 5、開頭和結(jié)尾已經(jīng)給出，不計(jì)入總詞數(shù)。

Dear Bob,

I’m very pleased to write to you……

________________________________________________________________________________________

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Millie is not in the classroom now. She _____ to the playground with Amy.

A. went B. has been C. has gone D. goes

She feels uncomfortable, ____?

A. doesn’t she B. does she C. isn’t she D. is she