C
The British love word-play and they’re enthusiastic about defending the use of their language. In recent years, books about the grammar, pronunciation and punctuation (标点) of English have been written by the dozen, and sold extremely well, reflecting people’s love of the English language. People want to defend the “correct” use of their language, but also to preserve its ability to evolve along with society. Lynne Truss’s book Eats, Shoots & Leaves is an excellent example of these two opposite ideas. Its title shows the way that punctuation can change meaning in a sentence. “Eats, shoots and leaves” is a perfectly normal description of a panda’s diet; he eats the shoots and leaves of bamboo trees. But the position of the comma (逗号) turns those nouns into verbs, and makes up a ridiculous little story; the panda eats (his dinner), he shoots (a gun), and he leaves (the building). It’s a silly joke, but it shows how changing something as simple as a comma can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Published in 2003, Eats, Shoots & Leaves was an unexpectedly huge success. It is easy to assume the typical reader of this kind of book as the humourless type. However, the book has sold thousands and thousands of copies -it must be appealing to a wide range of people. The book’s winning secret is this: it makes some serious points about language and punctuation, but also has a light-hearted dimension, and uses stories and jokes to show its points. It has invited some tough criticism, too, especially from the US. On a broader range, Eats, Shoots & Leaves has opened up a lot of public debate on Truss’s ideas. Whether they agree with her or not, punctuation and grammar has become a popular topic to discuss. In every generation there will be people who think that the standard of language is in decline, and who are more than happy to write to the newspapers to express their concern and opinions. Truss’s book also appeals to those who think that texting and blogging (博客) is lowering evolving into new
forms, the success of Eats, Shoots & Leaves proves that this is a subject that many English speakers find interesting and important.
63. The title of the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a joke which shows _________. A. a funny feeling B. a trend in writing C. a grammatical point D. a fact about animals
64. The book has been successful because ________. A. it presents a new research on English B. it solves a serious English language problem C. it shows the British like to teach English to other people D. it causes concern for proper use of language in a fun way 65. What can be inferred from the passage? A. The English language was better in the past. B. The English language is being improved by technology. C. There is often dissatisfaction with the standard of English. D. There have always been debates on the use of punctuation. 66. What is the best title for the passage? A. The Difference a Comma Made B. The Problem Punctuation Created C. Proper Understanding of Silly Jokes D. Public Debate about Language Standards
D
Role-Playing in Child Development
Playing is a key component in the learning process for virtually all of the children. There are various ways in which children play, but one of the most important is role-playing. This involves a child engaging in an activity during which he or she pretends to be another person. Experts on child development believe that role-playing can increase the connections in children's brains that help them learn. Language skills are some of the most important aspects of learning. When children role-play, they must work out steps that needs to be taken to complete a task, and create plans to act out a story. There activities enable children to develop their oral language skills. They become able to organize others and to give directions. Children's social skills can also be developed. When engaged in group activities, children have different roles. Some are leaders while others are followers. At times, the children will disagree, so they must learn to negotiate and compromise with one another, and they must learn to apologize when they have strong arguments or disagreements as well. Children further learn about cooperation and sharing and, hopefully, being to understand things from another person's point of view. Besides helping children learn some kinds of skills, role-playing fosters children's imaginations and can therefore assume a number of forms. For example, boys may pretend to shave like their fathers or perform various tasks around their homes. Girls, meanwhile, often pretend to be mothers to do some daily tasks, particularly if it involves caring or young babies. Sometimes children may imagine belonging to a group of superheroes or imitate (模仿) real-life situations. They might dress up and assume different roles. Another example is the performing of stories they read in books, which is also very common when they role-play. Another beneficial aspect of role-playing is that it can help children deal with
certain actions that may cause them emotional (情感的) pain, such as the fear they face when going to school for the first time or making a visit to the doctor. If children role-play situations like these beforehand, the fear that they experience when doing these actions in reality frequently lessens. For this reason, experts encourage parents to allow their children to role-play and even to take part in these activities to help their children master their fears. Role-playing can benefit children in many ways. There is no activity for which young children are better prepared than fantasy play. Nothing is more dependable and risk-free, and the dangers are only pretend.
67. From the author's description in Paragraph 4, we learn that children often ________. A. involve daily-life activities in groups B. act out the activities that their parents do C. perform daily tasks instead of their parents D. change real-life situations when role-playing
68. The author believe that role-playing may help children ________. A. develop a better awareness of grammar B. receive benefits from their emotional pain C. improve creativity by using their imaginations D. understand how to be both leaders and followers
69. The underlined word “master” in Paragraph 5 probably means _______. A. ignore B. confirm C. overcome D. predict
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