Unit2 Exploring English 单元测试一、听力（略）（1-20题）二、阅读理解阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
AA student is learning to speak British English. He wonders: Can I communicate with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?Certainly, there are some differences between British and American English. There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say “in hospital” and “Have you a pen?”, Americans say “in the hospital” and “Do you have a pen?”. Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like “bird” and “hurt”. Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, “colour” and “honour” are British, “color” and “honor” are American.These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.21. According to this passage, a student who is learning to speak American English might be afraid that ________.A. the grammar is too hard for himB. American people cannot understand himC. British people cannot understand himD. the spelling is too hard for him22. What is NOT mentioned(提及) in the passage? ________A. How important the differences are.B. Whether British English and American English are one language or two.C. Whether there are differences between British English and American English.D. How the differences between British English and American English came about.23. Most ________ say “Do you have a watch?”A. AmericansB. British peopleC. childrenD. teachersBPutonghua is the official language on the mainland, but if history had played out differently, most of the people could have been speaking Cantonese.高中英语必修第一册1/ 11In 1912, shortly after the end of the Qing dynasty, the founding fathers of the republic met to decide which language should be spoken in the new China.Mandarin now known as Putonghua was just a northern dialect spoken by the hated Manchurian officials at that time. While it had served as China’s lingua franca(混合语) for centuries, many saw it as an “impure form” of Chinese.Many of the leaders, including Sun Yat-sen, were from Guangdong ——where people are open to new ideas. A great debate started and eventually led to a formal vote. Cantonese lost out by a small margin to Putonghua and the rest is history.While historians today still argue about whether this story is real, it is something Guangdong people love to tell. Many Cantonese speakers feel proud of their native language, saying it has more in common with the classical Chinese than Putonghua ——which is a mix of northern dialects heavily influenced by Manchurian and Mongolian.Linguists agree to some degree. “Cantonese is closer to classical Chinese in its pronunciation and some grammar,” Jiang Wenxian, a Chinese language scholar, said. “Using Cantonese to read classical poetry is a real pleasure,” he said. “Many ancient poems don’t rhyme(押韵) when you read them in Putonghua, but they do in Cantonese.”“Cantonese keeps a flavor of ancient Chinese. Nowadays few people understand classical Chinese, so Cantonese should be protected as a type of language fossil helping us study ancient Chinese culture.”Cantonese is spoken by about 70 million people in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau and communities abroad.In the 17th and 18th centuries, Guangdong was the only Chinese province allowed to trade directly with foreigners. Many Westerners at the time learned Cantonese. Up till very recently, there were more Cantonese speakers in overseas Chinese communities than Putonghua speakers. In Canada, for example, Cantonese is the third most commonly spoken language after English and French.24. What’s the function of the first paragraph?A. To introduce the topic.B. To attraction people’s attention.C. To summarize the whole passage.D. To show the importance of Putonghua.25. What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?A. Most of the leaders are in favor of Putonghua.B. Most of the leaders came from Guangdong at that time.C. Guangdong people are more likely to accept new ideas.D. Sun Yat-sen suggested having a debate to decide on the new language.高中英语必修第一册2/ 1126. Why Cantonese should be protected as a type of language fossil?A. Because it’s as important as Putonghua.B. Because it is an ancient language with a long history.C. Because nowadays few people can understand Cantonese.D. Because it is very helpful when studying Chinese culture.27. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?A. New language, New China.B. How Putonghua defeated CantoneseC. The development of an official languageD. Cantonese almost became the official languageCThe English language started about 1,500 years ago in England. Three groups of people came to the country. They were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These three groups brought their languages with them to England-After some time, the three languages became one new-language-English. The name “English” comes from the Angles. They lived in most of England. “England” means “Angle Land” or “Country of the Angles”.The language that we speak today —Modern English —is not the same as the English that people used many years ago, including Old English (before 1150) and Middle English (up till 1500). That language —Old English —sounds different, and it has some different rules of grammar. There were only a few thousand words in Old English. But Modern English does come from Old English, and it is still like it in many important ways.28. When did Modern English start?A. About the year 1150.B. Before the year 1500.C. Between tile 12th century and tile 16th century.D. About the year 1500.29. How many languages did Old English come from?A. One.B. Two.C. Three.D. Four.30. Which language did the name “English” come from?A. Modern English.B. The Angles.C. The Jutes.D. The Saxons.31. According to the passage, Modern English differs from Old English in ________.A. grammarB. pronunciationC. wordsD. All of the aboveDIf you want to become a fluent English speaker, you should take some advice: there are four skills in learning English. They are listening, speaking, reading and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about高中英语必修第一册3/ 11the meaning of the sentences, the meaning of the unfamiliar words, etc.There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammar ——or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening, you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically, and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.32. According to the author, which should you improve first among the four skills? ________A. Reading and listeningB. Reading and writingC. Writing and speakingD. Speaking and listening33. To improve your reading, when you read you should ________.A. look up all the new words in the dictionaryB. think about what you are reading activelyC. spend more time studying grammarD. copy as many words and sentences as possible34. The underlined words “come across” in paragraph3 probably be replaced by ________.A. meet by accidentB. discoverC. find on purposeD. look for35. The author seems to agree with the view that ________.A. everyone should listen to VOA or BBC programs every dayB. you needn’t practice listening if you keep in reading every dayC. being good at reading is helpful in improving your listeningD. you should take notes of whatever you are hearing根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。
