user: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: How do you improve your English speaking skills, so that you can communicate more easily and effectively? These tips will help you to become a more confident speaker. Practice where you can and when you can. Any practice is good--- whether you speak to someone who is a native English speaker or not. It's important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple sentence structure that you know is correct so that you can concentrate on getting your message across. Try to experiment with the English you know. Apply words and phrases you know to new situations. Native English speakers are more likely to correct you if you use the wrong word than if you use the wrong grammar. Experimenting with vocabulary is a really good way of getting feedback  Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way. Try not to translate into and from your own language. It takes too much time and you will find it difficult to get an English answer right away. You don?t know how to do well. The more you want to act well, the more slowly you act. This will make you more shilly-shally. If you forget a word, do what native English speakers do all the time ,and say things that 'fill' the conversation. This is better than remaining completely silent. Try using ' um',or 'er',if you forget the word. Don't speak too fast! It? s important to use a natural rhythm in speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you. Try to relax when you speak and you,11 find that your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for you. Speak English at normal speed. Final tips --Try to become less hesitant and more confident. --Don't be shy to speak------ the more you do it, the more confident you,11 become. --Remember to be polite------ use "please" and "thank you" if you ask someone to do something for you. Question: What is the passage mainly about? Options: A: Good ways of studying English well. B: Suggestions on becoming a confident speaker. C: Things to pay attention to when learning English. D: How to correct your mistakes as you speak English.
B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Cellphone feels like a part of your body? A global survey has found that most people can't live without their mobiles, never leave home without them and, if given a choice, would rather lose their wallet.[: _ ] Calling mobile phones the "remote control" for life, market research firm Synovate's poll said cell phones are so ubiquitous that by last year more humans owned one than did not. Three-quarters of the more than 8,000 respondents polled online in 11 countries said they take their phone with them everywhere, which Russians and Singaporeans the most attached. More than a third also said they couldn't live without their phone, topped by Taiwanese and again Singaporeans, while one in four would find it harder to replace the mobile than their purse. Some two thirds of respondents go to bed with their phones nearby and can't switch them off, even though they want to, because they're afraid they'll miss something. Mobiles have changed the nature of relationships, with the survey finding a fifth of all respondents set up first dates via text and almost the same number use the same method to end a love affair. Apart from the obvious calling and SMS-ing, the top three features people use regularly on their mobile phones globally are the alarm clock, the camera and the games. As for email and Internet access, 17 percent of respondents said they checked their inboxes or surfed the Web on their phones, led by those in the United States and Britain. One in 10 respondents log onto  social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace regularly via mobile, again led by Britain and the United States.[:Zxxk.Com] Not everyone is tech savvy , however,37 percent of respondents said they don't know how to use all the functions on their phone. Question: Which would be the best title of the passage? Options: A: People can live better without the cellphone. B: People would rather lose their wallet than their cellphone. C: Different uses of the cellphone. D: New functions of the cellphone.
B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Head held high, hands firmly gripping her walker, Mary Arnott, 99, walks slowly with dignity through the women's changing room at the Etobicoke Olympium pool, past the teenage girls who have been blow-drying their hair for half an hour, into the mist of the showers, then out the door and first one into the heated pool. She jumps over to the shallow end, stopping to talk to friends--everyone knows Arnott here; she swims twice a week and treats it as a job--about their children, the viciousness  of bridge and their health. In fact, Arnott is an exception to the exception. Not only has she lived 20 years past the average lifespan for Canadians, she's healthy, her mind is sharp and she lives independently. Born in Brooklyn on May 28, 1909, Arnott was raised on Staten Island. She survived scarlet fever , helped bring up four siblings after her mother died in 1923 and worked as a secretary in New York City for 12 years, earning$35 a week and a$150 bonus at Christmas. Now she's happy living in a one-room apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom in her daughter's house. She wears a hearing aid, does the cryptic  crossword with a magnifying glass, and can't really explain why she has live so well so long. Until recently, she has still liked to drink red wine--she used to drink two glasses before supper each day. It's more likely genes, she admits. Her interest in other people and life in general may have had something to do with it. Asked if a star photographer can take her picture at the pool, Arnott seems cheerful. "I look good in a swimsuit," she says, nodding her head firmly. "I look better in a swimsuit than I do in pants. " Question: Which of the following is TRUE as for Mary Arnott as an exception to the exception? Options: A: She lives with her daughter. B: She's healthy and her mind is sharp. C: She likes to live with her children and has a happy life. D: She has lived 30 years past the average lifespan for Canadians.


assistant: B