When punctuation began, it was mainly to help people read out loud. Until a few hundred years ago, not many people were taught to read, so there was a lot more reading out loud by the few people who could. To help those reading out loud in the old days, sign known as "points" were added to pages of writing. Punctuation comes from the Latin word punctus, meaning "point". These points told readers when to pause or take a breath, and what to emphasize . In Europe from the early centuries AD, these points were widely used although not everybody used the same points for the same thing. When printing was invented, printers had to be made more clearly about what to put where, so that everyone was doing the same thing. Since that point, all sorts of punctuation rules have been discovered and invented. Speech marks "..." Speech marks or quotation marks are used to show that someone is speaking. The sort we have in English today began to be widely used during the 18th century. Before that readers simply understood from the way a sentence was written that someone was speaking although sometimes spoken words were underlined. Comma , colon: period(full stop). All three of these sorts of punctuation marks were given their Greek names by Aristophanes, a librarian who lived in Byzantium in the 2nd century BC. They were marks on the page, each with a message to the reader. Comma meant a short pause. Colon meant a medium sized pause. Period meant a long pause. Exclamation mark! In the early days of punctuation, if you saw this sign, you were supposed to pause. Some people think the exclamation mark began as what the Greek word IO looked like if it was turned 90 degrees. This word means "Oh, gosh!" With the I on the top and the O under it, the sign as we know it today was developed. Question mark? In the middle age, a squiggle above a full stop was sometimes used to show the sentence was a question and that a person's voice should go up at the end. By the 17th century it had turned into what we call a question mark. The... What's the problem about punctuation today? A) People have completely different ideas about it. B) Not many people are taught to use it correctly. C) It has different meanings to different people. D) Sometimes spoken words must be underlined.
A
One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, "Look! There's a horseshoe, pick it up and put it in your bag." Thomas said, "It isn't worth the trouble." His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries . The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son lost no time in picking it up and putting it in his mouth. And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the cherries, his father said to him, "My dear son, if you had bent down early to pick up that horseshoe, it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the cherries. Always remember the lesson that he who does not worry about the little things will find that he cannot do the great things." From the story, we can learn that _ . A) cherries are so delicious that most of us like to eat them B) a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us a lot of money C) if we want to eat cherries, we must pick up a horseshoe D) if we don't worry about the little things we cannot do the great things
D
Q: The big red American car was much too wide for an English country road. When Jack saw it running towards him, he stopped his own car at the side of the road to make room for it to pass. The American car went slowly past, so close that he could see the driver's face clearly. "Where have I seen that face before?" he though. "Wait a minute! I remember now. It was in the newspaper!" He took all the newspapers from his bag and turned quickly to the middle page. There was a picture of the face in it. Yes, it had a large mouth and small eyes, and his eyes were behind dark glasses. "Wanted by the police," read by Jack. "The city Bank will give a lot of money to anyone who helps the police to catch this man." "Call the police at once," he said to himself. But a few minutes later, he was sad. "This man was caught this morning," answered the police. Who caught the man with large mouth and small eyes? A) The American. B) The police. C) Jack. D) the driver.
A: B
Question: Helping your children to read and write at home will improve your children's skills and confidence -- it will also make them learn better in the classroom environment. Reading and writing skills are needed by every child in every subject in every year of their school life and outside school. As parents, you can play an important role in improving your children's literacy by practicing reading, writing, spelling and speaking with them outside school. By listening, asking questions, giving information, and reading with your children outside school -- you can make a difference. Students who improve their reading and writing will increase their vocabulary and their ability to use English correctly. Here's some advice on how to help your children to read, write and spell: * reading aloud each night * letting children take part in everyday conversations * listening to your children read * reading your children's writing * using a dictionary * encouraging your children to talk about funny things * trying not to ask questions that require "yes" or "no" answers * Practicing reading and writing by filling in forms, writing letters, sending cards or e-mails. ,. Which is the BEST title for the passage? A) How to teach young children B) How to read and write C) Helping children read and write D) Practicing reading and speaking
Answer: C
"Good Time" is a program on ABC Radio. Jim Green is an announcer for the program. Most of the girls and boys like the program. They also like Jim Green. Some of them often make phone calls to him and thank him for his work. There are lots of letters to him every day, too. Jim Green gets up at 6:00 every morning. He has bread and a glass of milk for breakfast. He leaves home at 6:30 and gets to his office at 7:15. The program begins at 7:30. He plays the new records of the pop songs and modern music for his listeners. At 8:00, it's time for the news. Jim finishes work at 10:30. He goes home in his car. He reads newspapers and listens to music after supper in the evening. He thinks Announcers' job is very interesting and helpful. What does Jim Green do? A) A worker B) A doctor C) An announcer D) A teacher
C