There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world.

But ___1___ a few of them are very ___2___. English is one of these. Many, many people use it, not only in England and the U. S. A, but in other parts of the world. About 200, 000, 000 speak it as their own language. It is difficult to say how many people are learning it as a ___3___ language. Many millions are ___4___ to do so.

Is it easy or difficult to learn English? Different people may have different ___5___. Have you ever ___6___ the ads of this kind in the newspapers or magazines?

“Learn English in six month, or your ___7___ back ...” “Easy and funny? Our records and tapes ___8___ you master your English in a month. ___9___ the first day your ___10___ will be excellent. Just send ...” Of course, it never ___11___ quite like this.

The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should ___12___ that we all learned our own language well when we were ___13___. If we could learn English in the same way, it would not seem so difficult. ___14___ what a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears. When he is using the language, talking in it, and ___15___ in it all the time, just imagine how much ___16___ that gets!

So it is ___17___ to say that learning English is easy, because a good command of English ___18___ upon a lot of practice. And practice needs great effort and ___19___ much time. Good teachers, records, tapes, books, and dictionaries will ___20___. But they cannot do the student’s work for him.

1. A. not                   B. quite                     C. only                    D. very

2. A. difficult            B. important              C. necessary             D. easy

3. A. native               B. foreign                 C. useful                   D. mother

4. A. learning            B. enjoying                C. trying                   D. liking

5. A. questions          B. problems              C. ideas                    D. answers

6. A. found               B. watched               C. noticed                 D. known

7. A. knowledge        B. time                     C. money                  D. English

8. A. make                B. help                      C. let                        D. allow

9. A. From                B. On                       C. Since                   D. After

10. A. spelling           B. grammar               C. English                 D. pronunciation

11. A. happened        B. know                    C. seemed                 D. felt

12. A. know              B. remember             C. understand            D. think

13. A. students          B. children                C. babies                   D. grown-ups

14. A. Imagine          B. Mind                     C. Do                       D. Think of

15. A. using              B. thinking                 C. trying                   D. practicing

16. A. time                B. money                  C. language               D. practice

17. A. hard               B. easy                      C. funny                   D. silly

18. A. depends          B. tries                      C. has                       D. takes

19. A. uses               B. takes                     C. gets                      D. costs

20. A. do                  B. work                     C. help                     D. master

【答案与解析】

1. C。only 意为“仅仅、只有”。句意为：世界上约有五百种语言，但只有记种是重要的。

2. B。important 意为“重要的”，根据下文提到的像英语被广泛使用，说明了这几种语言是重要的。故不宜选其他形容词。

3. B。as a foreign language(外语)与前句中的as their own language相对应。

4. C。are trying to do so = are trying to learn English 意为“在尽力学习英语”。

5. D。answer 意为“答案”，指回答前面的答案。句意为：学习英语容易还是困难，不同的人有不同的答案。

6. C。notice 意为“注意到”，根据不同的动词意义，只有notice切合句意。指注意到这些广告。

7. C。这些广告的目的是为了收钱，故选money。or your money back意为：否则退钱。

8. B。help sb do sth 意为“帮助某人做某事”。而make / let sb do sth意为“使/让某人做某事”。allow不合该句句型。

9. A。from first day 意为“从第一天起”。

10. D。由于是指学习英语语言，应该是先学习发音，故选pronunciation(发音)。

11. A。happen 意为“发生”，这里指上面广告中提到的“快速学好英语这样事情是决不会发生的”。

12. B。remember 意为“记得”。

13. B。children与后面的a small child相对应，指小孩学说母语好。

14. D。think of 意为“想象、想一想”。

15. B。think 意为“思考”，此句意为：谈话用母语，思考用母语。

16. D。practice 意为“练习”。这里说明了孩子学说母语好是因为进行上述大量的练习的结果。

17. A。句意为：说学习英语容易就难说了。

18. A。demand“需要”，句意为：掌握好英语需要大量练习。

19. B。take 意为“花费(时间)”。此句意为：而练习需要付出极大的努力和花费大量的时间。

20. C。这里是说：好教师、录音磁带、书和词典将对学习英语有帮助。但这些都不能代替学生的学习。