When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence“How do you do? ” as an example, if you look up each word in the dictionary, once at a time, what is your translation（翻译）? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.

Languages don’t just have different sounds, they are different in many ways. It’s important to master（掌握）the rules for word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can’t understand the speaker’s sentence easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence changes, the meaning of the sentence also changes. But sometimes when the order changes, the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change. Let’s see the difference between the two pairs of sentences.

“She only likes apples. ” “Only she likes apples. ”

“I have seen the film already. ” “I have already seen the film. ”

When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit of the language and use it as the English speaker does.

Here are some tips on listening. We hope it can help you in one way or another.

    ○Relax yourself.

    Before yon start to listen to something, you need to relax. Don't get nervous or excited . This will help you with your listening.

    ○Listen carefully to the first sentence.

    The first sentence tells a lot about the whole passage. For example, if at the very beginning, you hear "Many shops in many parts of China have decided to take away all kinds of Japanese goods off the[r shelves but some people say it's not a good idea. Our reporter says… ", you know you will hear a piece of news, not a children's story, or a science report.

    ○Think when you're listening.

    When you're listening, try to do some thinking. For example, you can think of the following questions: What happened, When, where and how? What was the result and what does the speaker want to tell us? In this way, you may understand the passage better.

    ○Listen for important facts.

    It's important for you to remember some important facts. For example, if the passage is a science report, you should try to remember its findings and how the scientists got their results.

    ○Don't think about one or two words for too long.

    You may hear some words that you don't know, but don't spend too much time on them. Very often, you'll find out what they mean later when you go on with the listening. But you can remember some words or sentences that you think are important, and you can use them when you're answering the questions.

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If it is 12:30 p.m. in eastern Canada, the time is _______ in western Canada.

While Canadian children are waking up, children in Scotland are ________.

I think it is safe to say that snakes are not popular among most people.It would be hard to find a person who is neutral(中立的),or simply doesn’t care one way or the other.What I wonder is why something even without legs causes such great fear.

Snakes are quite useful,but that doesn’t seem to matter.Snakes help control the population of mice.Withoutsnakes,perhaps we would find mice everywhere.Most of us,however,would rather see a mouse than a snake.

The poison argument(毒性的争论)is a strong one.Some snakes are poisonous,and this causes people’s death.However,the poisonous snakes are only a small number.We can’t say all the snakes are bad just because of a few dangerous ones.

And what do we do with the people who really like snakes? They like snakes even more strongly than we dislike them.These people learn about them,find them out,and watch them carefully.Why? The only reason I can think of is that these people are open-minded.They are able to put aside differences and welcome the snake as a friend.

Whatever the reason for our like or dislike,snakes do something good in the circle of life.They would prefer to be left alone,and that is what we should do.If you’re lucky,you might not run across more than a few of them in a lifetime.That would be fine with most of us.

  The class in America is almost the same as that in China. But something is different.

    1 In America, if the teacher asks you a question but you don't understand, you should put up your hand and ask the teacher to repeat it. If you don't know the answer, it is all right to tell the teacher that you don't know. Then he or she knows what you need to do.

    2 You mustn't be absent on a test day. If you are seriously ill, call and let the teacher know you will not be there for the test. If your teacher allows you a make-up test（补考）, you should take the test in one or two days after you go back to school.

    3 Be on time! It is impossible to be late. If you come in late, be sure to do it quietly. Take your books out of your bag after you enter the room. Then go to your seat and sit down quietly. In the US, you needn't knock before you come into the classroom.

    4 If yon have to leave during the class, do it quietly, too. There's no need to ask for the teacher's agreement.

_________ at the beginning.           

 Many children like to watch TV. It's very interesting. The programs(节目) on TV tell us many things about the country and a lot of news about the world. Judy watches TV on Sundays. There is an English program Getting To Know America. It's her favorite program. It tells about the life of America, such as buildings, traffic, food, houses, movie stars. Why does she love the program? Because she likes English. She likes English best of all the subjects. When she watching the program, she can remember every word she sees on TV. That helps a lot, because she learn many new words, English really interests her(令她感兴趣). She likes learning English. On weekdays, she doesn't watch TV, but reads English story books every night before she goes to bed. She can learn a lot from the TV program and the story books.

All students need to have good study habits. When you have good study habits, you can learn things well. You also remember them easily.

Do you like to study in the living-room? This is not a good place because it is very noisy. You need to study in a quiet place, like your bedroom. A quiet place will help you only think about one thing, and you will learn better.

Before you begin to study, remember to clean your desk. A good desk light is important, too. You are feeling tired easily if there is not enough light.

Do you ever feel like you are just rushing from one subject to another? When things happen so fast, maybe you can’t understand clearly what you are doing or learning, so it is important to stop yourself to think about what you have been doing or learning.     

Self-reflection (反思) means slowing down and calming (使平静) yourself, including calming your mind. By calming down and going slowly, you give your brain a chance to think about what it has already received. Some people prefer to do self-reflection only in their mind. Others keep a diary. What’s more, taking notes is also OK. Each method works, depending on your own personal learning. You can follow the steps to do so self-reflection.  

First, choose the proper time to do it. School textbooks are divided into units of study. This makes it easier to begin self-reflection. Look for time when you complete a unit of study. Sometimes you know the unit is over because there is some kind of test. Use these natural breaks to stop and do self-reflection.

Then, find a quiet place and take out your reflection diary. Write down some notes on the new things that you learned in the unit. Let your mind think about the notes you have written and make some connections.

Finally, think about things that you are not sure of. Maybe you learned a new way to work out a math problem, but you’re not sure when to use it. Writing down your questions will help you remember to look for answers the next time you are working with the same topic.

Successful students always know self-reflection is important. If you have never taken the time to do self-reflection, try it now.