1. How are you getting on with your English lessons (/ teacher )?

I’m getting on quite well with my English lessons ( / teacher ).

get on /along ( well / badly ) with sb. / sth.

2. My grammar is improving, but I find idioms and useful expression hard to learn.

○1 improve vi. My handwriting is improving. (= getting better and better.)

Your English has improved a lot this year.

vt. He started to work hard to improve it. (= to make it better.)

You must improve your pronunciation.

○2

S + V + O + C

I find this story interesting.

I find the text easy to read.

Marx made London the base for his revolutionary work.

He found it important to study the situation in Russia.

--- How did you find the movie last night? ( What do you think of … ? )

--- Oh, both interesting and instructive.

3. own ( Be careful! We can not use “own” after “a” or “the”. )

Jack has his own car. Jack has a car of his own.

I have my own room ( for me and nobody else).

… they shouldn’t translate everything into their own language.

… they should try to forget all about their own.

on one’s own : alone ; without help

She lives on her own.

I can’t move this box on my own --- can you help me?

We don’t own our flat --- we rent it.

Here comes the owner of the shop.

4. A man was walking through a wood and he came across a woodcutter.

○1 wood

U n. This house is made of wood.

We need some wood to make a fence.

a piece of wood

C n. ( a big group of trees, smaller than a forest ) 小樹林

It was lovely walking in the woods.

The path goes through the wood ( woods ).

woodcutter ; a wooden box

○2 walk through a wood / the woods

walk across the square

○3 come across (= run across ) : meet or find sb. by chance

I came across an old school friend in Oxford Street this morning.

5. cut down

○1 use, do or buy less of sth.

If you want to lose weight, cut down on the amount of food you eat.

cut down on smoking / sweets

○2 cut sth. so that it falls down

The apple tree was dead and he cut it down.

cut up : break sth. into pieces with a knife or scissors, for example

6. Match the problems and the advice in the form below.

match v.

○1 （ 在 … ）與 … 匹配、 成為 … 的好對手

No one can match her in knowledge of classical music.

○2 （與…） 匹配

Her clothes don’t match her age.

I want a tie that will match ( with ) this suit.

The tie and the suit don’t match.

○3 使… ( 和… )交手（/ 比賽 ）

He matched his dog against his neighbor’s in a race.

n. ○1 a box of matches matchbox

He struck a match and lit his cigarette.

○2 a football match ; a boxing match ; win a match

7. Karl Marx was born in Germany, and German was his native language.

They are Germans. They’re from Germany. They speak German.

one’s native language = one’s mother tongue ：母語

one’s native land / country /town /…

They are native speakers of English; they can speak English very well.

8. When he was still a young man, he was forced to leave his homeland

○1(= As a young man ) for political reasons.

○2 force sb. to do sth. : be forced to do sth.

( make sb. do sth. : be made to do sth. )

_______________________________________________________

○3The reason (why she was late for school) was that she missed the bus.

The reason ( ___ _____ she was late for school was that ….

The reason (_________ she explained to us ) was unthinkable.

○4 political leaders ; political activities ; political reasons

We study Chinese, maths, English, politics and so on.

9. before long ; long before

My grandfather died long before I was born.

He said that he had seen the film long before.

I haven’t seen the film so far, but I’ll see it before long. ( = soon )

10. He made such rapid progress that ….

○1 make progress

With the help of my English teacher, we’ve made great progress in our English studies.

The science of computer, _______ rapid progress has been made in recent years, is the most important of all science.

A. which B. to which C. with which D. in which

○2 such … that …

____________________________________________________________.

so … that …

____________________________________________________________.

such a big room = so big a room

such clever students

such fine weather

so many books

so much money

so few apples

so little water

Can you imagine ______ little animals can eat _______ much rice.

A. so ; such B. such ; so C. so ; so D. such ; such

11. praise v. / n.

She’s a top student in our class and has been praised for several times for her hard work. ( praise sb. for sth. )

The book has received a lot of praise.

Praise makes good men better and bad men worse.

Engel’s praise had greatly encouraged him.

12. encourage : give sb. hope or help so that they do sth. or continue doing sth.

encourage sb. to do sth.

We encouraged to write a book about his teaching experience.

Tim’s parents gave her a lot of encouragement when she was taking her exams.

13. go on ; go on with sth. ; go on doing sth. ; go on to do sth.

We were all tired out , so we couldn’t go on.

I couldn’t finish my homework, so I have to go on with it tomorrow.

He sipped tea and went on with the story.

He went on talking as if nothing had happened.

After he finished cleaning the house, he went on to do his homework.

14. sure

( be sure + 從句 )

I’m sure ( that ) smoking hurts you.

I’m not sure where he lives.

（ be sure about / of …）

I think he lives at No. 23 West St., but I’m not quite sure about the number.

( Marx was not too sure about two things --- the grammar and some of the idioms. )

Not being sure of the word, I turn it up in the dictionary.

( be sure to do sth. )

If you study hard, you’re sure to succeed.

I’m quite sure of myself.

They will leave tomorrow for sure. （ 肯定地、有把握地 ）

There is only one sure (有把握的)way to succeed.

Make sure that all the lights are off before you leave the classroom.

Have you made sure of the times of the trains?

15. In the years that followed( = In the following years ), Marx kept on studying English and using it.

16. in the 1870s in the1990’s

in one’s teens ; in one’s twenties / thirties / forties / fifties /sixties …

17. give sb. some advice on how to do sth.

Our English teacher always gives us some advice on how to learn English well.

( advice v. / n. )

18. translate … into … ( put … into … / turn … into … )

Please translate this sentence into English.

They say that the book has been translated into English already.

The book is said to have been translated into English already.

19. go to high school ; continue one’s studies at a university

receive a doctor’s degree ; housing problem of the poor people

20.support ( v. )

○1 say that you think that sb. or sth. is right or the best

Everybody else said I was wrong but Paul supported me.

○2 help sb. to live by giving things like money, a home or food

She has three children to support.

○3 hold sb. or sth. up so that they do not fall

The bridge is not strong enough to support heavy trucks.

Thank you for all your support. ( n.)

21. It closed with words ….

He closed his speech with a quotation from the Bible.

The story ended with the hero’s death.

When we learn we begin with ABC. When we sing, we begin with 1 2 3.

The teacher began his lesson with an interesting story.