Unit 2 Exploring English

Section Ⅰ Starting out & Understanding ideas

基础训练

单词拼写 根据首字母或汉语提示，用本部分所学单词的正确形式填空。

1. The city filled with u _____________ buildings is a city for lovers of history and food.

2. As you are a high school student now， you should be responsible for you b _____________ .

3. I usually get up as soon as my a _____________ clock goes off in the early morning.

4. The t _____________ of the book gives readers important information about the main idea of it.

5. His writing is so c _____________ that it is difficult to make out what he wants to express.

6. Your facial expression has _____________ （反映） your real feelings.

7. These exchange students begin to feel _____________ （想家的） after they have been here for a week.

8.Picasso produced more than 20，000 pieces of art， and he did not just paint， but made _____________ （雕塑） and worked with all kinds of media.

9.The Great Wall of China is one of the greatest wonders of the world and is _____________ （可见的） from outer space.

10.I came to realize that the key to success lay in trying to learn from _____________ （有创造力的） people.

选择填空 用方框中所给短语的适当形式填空。

wind up burn up fill in speak of in one’s free time

1. Judy says she often goes swimming with her friends _____________ .

2. _____________ the part-time job， I think it’s important for college students to do it during holidays.

3. If you choose to walk home， your body will _____________ 100 calories.

4. Please _____________ this form， giving your name， phone number and address.

5.And you don’t always _____________ with the right answer or wrong answer， but just different points of view.

课文语法填空

Have you ever asked yourself why people often have trouble 1 （learn） English？ I hadn’t， until one day my five-year-old son asked me 2 there was ham in a hamburger. This 3 （get） me thinking how English can be a crazy language to learn.

Even the smallest words can be 4 （confuse）. You also have to wonder at the unique 5 （mad） of a language in which a house can burn up as it burns 6 ， in which you fill in a form by filling it out， and in which 7 alarm is only heard once it goes off！

English 8 （invent） by people， not computers， and it reflects the 9 （creative） of the human race. That is why when the stars are out， they are visible， but when the lights are out， they are 10 （visible）. And that is why when I wind up my watch， it starts， but when I wind up this passage， it ends.

1. _____________   2. _____________   3. _____________   4. _____________   5. _____________

6. _____________   7. _____________   8. _____________   9. _____________   10. _____________

阅读理解

Part of the reason that English has grown as a world language is that it easily adjusts to change. However， this means that what one was taught as a child in school may be out of date many years later. When words or phrases change， it can make speakers feel “wrong” because they were taught that something else was “right”.

One example of this is a term connected to school itself. Today， it is common for people to say that they “graduated” high school or college. The word “graduate” has two common meanings. One is to mark off a series. The other meaning is closely related. As you move through school， you cross off a series of achievements： grade school， middle school， high school， and college. So， in a way， school itself is “graduated”.

So， when people used to speak of getting a degree， they said they “graduated from college”. “To graduate college” would have meant to mark it off by year—the first year， the second year， etc. Similarly， “to graduate to college” would have meant to complete high school and move up to the next level.

But as happens often in English， when people understand your meaning， smaller words can disappear. “I graduated college” is now easy to say. This may distress people who were taught that you had to use “from” to be correct. But this is not the first time this phrase has been simplified. It used to be that you said， “I was graduated from college，” instead of， “I graduated from college.”

You can’t know what English will keep and what it will lose. Who could imagine that we would still say we “dial” a phone number when we now push buttons on our cellphones？ Yet we know what it means.

1. What do we know about the word “graduate” from the text？

A. It has two similar meanings. B. It is changing in its meanings.

C. It had nothing to do with school at first. D. It got another meaning during its development.

2. Which of the following is the newest usage of “graduate”？

A. I was graduated from college. B. I was to graduate to college.

C. I graduated from college. D. I graduated college.

3. What does the underlined word “distress” in Paragraph 4 probably mean？