Unit 8 Learning a foreign languagea: Twice as hard?

I. Tell the sentences true or false

1. Everyday activities and interactions with other people are important when children are learning their mother tongue.

2. If we want to become successful language learner, we should try to learn all by ourselves.

3. If we could spend all our waking hours communicating with native speakers we would make greater progress in English.

4. We learn our mother tongue much faster than we do a foreign language.

5. If we want to become successful language learners, we must first build our confidence and develop our study skills.

6. Although experts don’t agree each other, they all share a common opinion :Life is a very successful language school.

7. We study our mother tongue all day long for about 5 years before we master it. But we only spend a few hours a week and in a few years’ time we can speak a foreign language.

8. Successful language learners usually step away from the academic challenges.

9. The less anxious and more relaxed the learner, the worse their language acquisition.

II. Reading comprehension ：

1. Most children have mastered their mother tongue .

A.at the age of five

B.by the age of eight

C.before they are five

D.since they were five

2. The sentence “Life is a very successful language school” means .

A.we are equipped with a special ability to learn language

B.the key to learn the language well is to communicate with the people around us

C.parents can give children language lessons

D.people can learn the language by themselves

3. In fact, we learn English much faster than we may have thought because ________.

A. A lot of people are born with a special ability to learn a foreign language.

B. English learning always takes place in class.

C. Communicating with people often takes too much time.

D. We can get a lot of help and the learning is more efficient.

4. The text tells us that successful language learners ______.

A. spend as many hours studying English as they do their mother tongue.

B. always have different plans for their learning

C. want very much to become translators and interpreters.

D. are usually very impatient in learning a language.

5. From the text we can see _______.

A. The stronger the motivation is, the more quickly a person will learn a foreign language.

B. Interest, curiosity, willingness and confidence are more important than anything else.

C. We’ll find it easier to learn English if we can learn something from successful language learners.

D. Both B and C.

6.Successful language learners do share the following characteristics except .

A.the ability to memorize the words

B.an interest in understanding their own thinking

C.willingness to take chances

D.confidence in their ability

7.What’s the purpose of writing this article?

A.Learning a foreign language is twice as hard as learning our mother tongue.

B.Learning a foreign language is more important than learning our mother tongue.

C.Learning a foreign language is twice as easy if we develop our study skills.

D.In fact,the number of people learning a foreign language has increased with years.

Answers:1.T F T F T T T F F

2. C B D B D A C

Studying abroad

I. Reading comprehension：

1. The best option for the exchange students is .

A.living with local people

B.living in the dormitory

C.choosing exchange programmes at various academic levels at a reasonable cost

D.making friends with the other students

2. Visiting students do the following things except .

A.staying in the host family’s house

B.eating in the host family’s house

C.becoming a member of the family

D.keeping in touch with the host family afterwards

3. What makes it easier to study abroad nowadays?

A.The cost has become reasonable.

B.There are programmes for all levels.

C.Students can find “home-stay” service and live with the host family.

D.All the above.

4. The greatest value of an exchange student studying abroad is .

A.to learn the language

B.to widen one’s views and understand the culture of other country

C.to get better idea of yourself and your own culture

D.to learn to be independent of oneself

II. Language pratice

1. These books are my most recent ____________.

A.things B. acquisitions C. acquisition D. obtaining

2. He thinks we shouldn’t go ahead with this plan because of the _____ of failure.

A. future B. pressure C. worry D .risk

3. With the help of his English teacher, Tom _____in English in the past few weeks.

A.made great advances B. has been greatly progresse

C.has made a rapid progress D. has made much progress

4. The champion boxer ____________ his less experienced opponent in no time.

A.knocked on B. knocked into C. knocked down D. knocked against

5. What he told us about the affair simply doesn’t make any _________.

A.idea B. meaning C. sense D. significance

6. The stronger the _________is, the more quickly a person will learn a foreign language.

A.acquisition B. comprehension C. association D. motivation

7. in other words in a word in word with the word have a word with sb. have words with sb = quarrel with sb ,

keep one’s word = keep one’s promise Word came that…

1) _____________, he walked away with a smile.

2) It’s no use promising _______, but in deed.

3) ___________, you are a very good boy.

4)She often depends on others. _____________, she doesn’t do things by herself.

5) I hope you will always______________.

6) _______________ Rose and see what she thinks.

7)__________ that our team had come out first.

8)After _______________ the boss, he decided to quit the job.

8. take/ run/ risks at any risk at one’s own risk

at risk = in danger at the risk of ... = at the risk to...

1) He saved my life ________________ his own/losing his own .

2) He __________________ his own/losing his own life to save me.

3) The disease is spreading, and all children under 5 are ____________.

9. knock into knock… into… knock at / on

knock over knock about/around knock down

1) He _________________in New York for several years.

2) With one blow, he ________ the robber ________.

3) I _________ the nail _______ the wall.

4) He _____________ an old friend of his in the hall.

5) He ______________ a glass of beer.

6) Someone was ______________ the window.

ANSWERS：1。A C D C

2.B D D C C D

Words:1.With the words

2.in word

3.In a word

4.In other words

5.keep your words

6.Have a word with

7.Word came

8.having words with

1. at the risk of

2. took risks of

3. at risk

1. has knocked about

2. knocked….down

3. knocked …into

4. knocked into

5. knocked over

6. knocking at/on