Everybody hates that feeling when you spend three weeks reading a book, and a month later somebody asks you about it and you can’t remember a thing you read. It makes you wonder why you wasted a couple of hours on the words that didn’t stick.

There are some effective ways to learn. And when I say “to learn effectively”, what I mean is to not just build up knowledge, but to be able to apply(應(yīng)用)that knowledge effectively at some point in the future. By this definition, most of the courses people spend money on is not learning. Something is not truly learned until it changes you in some way.

1. Memory is based on relevance (相關(guān)性)

One of my favorite online book clubs is Mentor Box. What’s cool about the club is not only do they send you books to read, but they send you study materials related to them. The study materials, instead of being like school, where it asks you to repeat information in the book to help memorize it, are designed to help you apply the lessons to various areas of your life.

That’s because memory works based on relevance. We only remember what our brain has considered important to our own lives. If you don’t find a way to make it relevant to you and your well-being in some way, your brain will conveniently forget it.

You can do this on your own. When you come across something interesting in a book, write down its application or relevance to something in your life—how you can use the idea, how it explains something in your past, how it can help with your problems, etc.

2. Reading does not have to be linear

People believe they have to read everything, line by line, one after another. This is not only not true, but it’s often a waste of time and energy.

When you buy a book, you’re not buying the words, you’re buying the useful ideas. The point of a book is to gather the information that is relevant and important to you, not to finish it or to understand every word. What matters is the principle or key idea. Once you’ve received that principle or idea, there’s no reason to feel obligated to sit there and read the rest.

3.Think critically and ask the right questions

Everything you read should be questioned. You should question the writer’s biases(偏見(jiàn) ), whether they’re explaining information correctly, whether they’re overlooking something. When reading something I agree with, I’ll ask myself, “Is it possible that this could be wrong?” Everything should be taken with a grain of salt, for the simple reason that almost everything is largely uncertain. And it’s the ability to manage those uncertainties effectively that will determine the depth of your knowledge and understanding, not the ability to memorize a lot of facts and numbers.

1.According to the writer, effective learning________.

A.is a practical method to have good feelings

B.helps you explain and remember difficult words

C.happens when knowledge changes you in some way

D.is the main goal of the courses people spend money on

2.What does the writer suggest when we learn something new?

A.Read line by line to receive useful ideas.

B.Repeat and rethink information to deepen our memory.

C.Build connections between books and our personal life.

D.Keep asking questions to understand the writer’s opinions.

3.The underlined word “obligated” probably means “________”.

A.worried B.forced C.relaxed D.interested

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A.How to Become A Better Learner

B.How to Memorize Things Effectively

C.Ways of Building Relevance in Your Life

D.The importance of Asking the Right Questions

If you live in Europe or the Americas, you likely pick up a fork every day and give no thought to it. Using it probably seems as natural as breathing. Yet compared with the knife and the spoon, which appeared very early, the fork is a latecomer to the table.

Researches show that the fork was first used in Ancient Egypt, China and Greece. Since the 4th century BC, the fork managed to become common on the tables of upper society in Eastern Europe and by the 9th century, it travelled to the Middle East and started being used by the upper class under the name “barjyn”. This enabled the fork to slowly become popular in these areas.

In the 11th century, the fork came to Italy in the dowry of a princess (王妃的嫁妝) from the Middle East who married an Italian official. After seeing the princess use the fork, the church strongly criticized her, saying that the fork disrespected the practice of using the fingers. Then the fork disappeared from the table for nearly 300 years. It began to get acceptance in Italy by the late 16th century, because the upper-class Italians expressed renewed interest in cleanliness. However, most European countries accepted the fork only by the 18th century and United States didn’t welcome it until the early 19th century.

During its life, the fork has changed in terms of appearance. In its early use, the fork had only two tines (齒). As the centuries went on, its design slowly started taking on a modern look. The fork that we know today, which has four tines, was introduced in the 18th century in Germany. By the early 20th century, the invention of stainless steel(不銹鋼)enabled the fork to be made more easily. Since then, the fork hasn’t changed much in design.

1.Which is a latecomer to the table, the knife, the spoon or the fork?

2.In what countries was the fork first used?

3.When did most European countries accept the fork?

4.What enabled the fork to be made more easily?

5.What’s the passage mainly about?

假如你是李華,在交換生 Peter 的幫助下,你們社團(tuán)成功地舉辦了學(xué)校的英語(yǔ)才藝展示活動(dòng)(English Show)。請(qǐng)你用英語(yǔ)給他寫(xiě)一封感謝信,簡(jiǎn)述感謝他的原因以及你從他身上學(xué)到了什么。

提示詞語(yǔ)：activity, design, advice, creative, helpful, patience

提示問(wèn)題：● What did Peter do to help?

● What have you learned from him?

Dear Peter,

I’m writing to thank you for your great help.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you again for everything you have done for us.

Yours,

Li Hua

曾子曰：“吾日三省吾身。”自�。╯elf-reflection）有助于解決自身的問(wèn)題，也是自我完善和自我超越的必經(jīng)之路。

某英文網(wǎng)站正在開(kāi)展以“自省”為主題的征文活動(dòng)。假如你是李華，請(qǐng)用英語(yǔ)寫(xiě)一篇短文投稿，談?wù)劄榱颂嵘�自身的品德修養(yǎng)或?qū)W業(yè)素養(yǎng)，你平時(shí)是如何進(jìn)行自我反省的，以及這樣做給你帶來(lái)的好處。

提示詞語(yǔ)： think, improve, record, behavior, question, emotion

提示問(wèn)題：● What do you do to be self-reflective?

● What benefits have you gained from doing so?

Self-reflection plays an important role in our life.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A.How do you study for a test?

B.I’m afraid of the dark.

C.I can choose my clothes.

A.It must belong to Carla.

B.What do you think anxious mean?

C.I hope to go to France one day.

A.What are the stamps used for?

B.Let’s come up with some good ideas.

C.Have you ever been late for school?

A.I’ll help clean up the city parks.

B.How do you feel about pollution?

C.Loud music makes me tense.

A.Where would you like to go?

B.What would you do when you had a million dollars?

C.Could you tell me how to get to the hospital?

A. B. C.