Language is always changing. In a society where life continues year after year with few changes, the language does not change either. The earliest known languages had difficult grammar but a small, limited vocabulary. Over the century, the grammar changed, and the vocabulary grew. For example, the English and Spanish people who came to America during the sixteenth century gave names to all the new plants and animals they found. In this way, hundreds of new words were introduced into English and Spanish vocabularies. Today life is changing very fast, and language is changing fast too.

     There are several major language families in the world. Some scientists say there are nine main families, but other scientists divide them differently. The languages in each family are connected, and scientists think that they came from the same parent language. About 3 percent of the people in the world speak languages that are not in these major families. （詞數(shù)155）

The early language had ________.

   A. a lot of problems        B. words and easy grammar

   C. words but no grammar   D. grammar but not many words

In the next few hundred years we can expect language to _____.

   A. stay exactly the same    B. change a great deal

   C. change only a little      D. ask more words and drop some grammar

What this article shows is that _____.

A. languages change fast          B. languages really don't want to change

C. language really with changes in society    D. Spanish and English change

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容,從短文后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。選項中的兩項為多余選項。

There was a park near my home. But I didn’t go there very often. Many people said there was nothing special. One afternoon I went into the park and found it was really small. I walked quickly because there wasn’t much to see. I walked for some time and found myself standing in front of two paths.  I found that the two paths were different from each other.

The left one was wide and clean. There were lots of flowers on both sides of the path. Though the flowers weren’t very beautiful, they made me feel good. I decided to take this path. But wait! I looked at the right one. The path didn’t look nice.     Grass grew everywhere. For a long time I couldn’t make up my mind.

   It wasn’t nice , but I didn’t want to give up. At last, I came to the end of the path. Ah! There was a small garden there. It was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful garden I had ever seen.     

Many people told me that there was nothing much to see in the park. Now I’d like to tell them that if they had followed the right way, they would have felt differently. But when I told them about what I had seen in the park, they just smiled at me without saying a word. I knew they didn’t believe me. They couldn’t even remember that path because it was so small.

   Don’t be afraid to choose a different path. You may get a big surprise!

A. There is nothing that I want to see.

B. It looked like it had not been cleaned for months.

C. After a while a strange feeling made me follow the dirty path.

D. “ Which way should I go?” I asked myself. I looked at one way, then the other.

E. I told them what happened.

F. My trip to the park that day made me understand something about life.

G. There were trees, flowers and chairs. I thought it was the nicest part of the park.

You should _______ any opportunities you have to practice English.

   A. make fun of     B.  play a part in    C. make use of    D. get along with

It was __________she was injured in the accident _______ she didn’t come to the party yesterday.

  A.as; which    B. because; that    C since; why     D. for; how

It is difficult to imagine his _____ the decision without any consideration.

   A. accept           B. accepting        C. to accept      D. accepted

She is the first person in her family to __________ this kind of social activities.

come near to B. go on with C. keep up with  D. take part in

  The playwright George Bernard Shaw once said humorously, “England and America are two nations divided by a common language. If he were writing today, he might add ‘divided by a common technology--- e-mail’”.

  Two completely different styles of e-mail have formed on either side of the Atlantic-Euromail and Amerimail. Americail is informal and chatty. It’s likely to begin with a “Hi” and end with a “Bye”. The chances of Amerimail containing a smiley face or an “xoxo” are disturbingly high. We Americans are unwilling to dive into the meat of an e-mail. We feel we have to first inform recipients (收信人) about our vacation on the island which was really excellent except the jellyfish were biting and the kids caught a cold, so we had to skip the whale watching trip, but about that investors’ meeting in New York. Amerimail is a bundle of contradictions, casual and yet direct, respectful yet over proud. In other words, Amerimail is America.

  Euromail is stiff and cold often beginning with a formal “Dear Mr. X” and ending with a simple “Sincerely”. You won’t find any mention of kids or the weather or jellyfish in Euromail. It’s all business. It’s also slow. Your correspondent might take days even weeks to answer a message. Euromail is exactly like the Europeans themselves.

  Recently about 100 managers were asked on both sides of the Atlantic whether they noticed differences in e-mail styles. Most said yes. Here are a few of their observations:

  “Americans tend to write (e-mail) exactly as they speak.”

  “Why don’t you just call me instead of writing five e-mails back and forth?”

  “Europeans are less interested in checking e-mail”.

  “In general, Americans are much more responsive to e-mail—they respond faster and provide more information.”

  So which is better, Euromail or Amerimail? I realized it’s not popular these days to suggest we have anything to learn from Europeans, but I’m fed up with an inbox filled with casual, barely meaningful e-mails from friends and colleagues. If the alternative is a few earnestly written, carefully worded bits of Euromail, then I say, “Bring it on.”

What did George Bernard Shaw mean by saying “England and America are two nations divided by a common language”?

A. There is not much difference between British English and American English.

B. Both England and America speak the common language, so they are much the same.

C. Either England or America is a divided nation, though they share a common language.

D. There is sharp difference between England and America despite their common language.

Which of the following is most likely to be the “meat” of an Amerimail?

A. The jellyfish were biting.

B. We had an excellent vacation on the island.

C. We had to skip the whale watching trip.

D. We were to attend the investors’ meeting in New York.

On receiving an e-mail, Europeans tend to __________.

A. respond to it immediately and earnestly

B. take more time than Americans to respond to it

C. respond by calling up their correspondent

D. never respond to it all

What are characteristics of Amerimail?

A. Informal and chatty                                          B. Casual and indirect

C. Stiff and cold                                                       D. Formal and direc60

We can conclude from the passage that __________.

A. the different e-mail styles do much harm to the relationship between the two sides on Atlantic

B. Amerimail is more appreciated by the writer for being informative and casually written

C. Euromail always impresses the writer as something more pleasant to read

D. the writer doesn’t favor either e-mail style as both have their own shortcomings

You shouldn’t keep silent when __________．

A．speaking                       B．spoken to                     C．spoken                          D．speaking t

Always acting in a strange way, Einstein must have __________ to people around to be mad.

A．shown                          B．imagined                    C．a(chǎn)ppeared                             D．thought

She _______ me ______ her parents as I met them for the first time.

A. showed; to      B. drove; to      C. brought; to      D. introduced; to