The English language we know today is about six hundred years old. For half that time, English was just the language of the people living in England. The modem English language grew from about the year 1400. Now English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is one of the working languages at International meetings, business, science and in other fields.

The differences between American English and British English are not very great. Written English is more or less the same in both Britain and America, though there are some spelling differences. For example, centre, license, color and traveled are spelt center, license, color and traveled in American English. In America, "cock, rubber, ill, holiday, lorry, and post... " are called "rooster, eraser, sick, vacation, truck, mail... ". But people from the two countries can still understand each other easily.

     There are only a very small number of differences in grammar between American English and British English. The most important differences are in spoken English. Some words may have two kinds of pronunciations. You may wonder "Which is correct?" The answer is that it doesn't matter. But you should speak either American English or British English. Don't try to speak both at the same time!

1. When did the modem English language begin to grow?

2. Is English the only working language at International meetings?

3. What is the word "color" spelt in British English?

4. What is the word "ill" called in American English?

5. How many differences are there in grammar between American English and British English?

I parked in front of the hotel, wiping(擦)off my car. I had just (1) c     from the car wash and was (2) w     for my wife.

A man came towards me. From the (3) l      of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no (4) m     . There are times when you feel generous but there are (5) o     times that you just don't want to be bothered. "I hope he doesn't ask me for any money," I thought. He didn't." That's a very pretty car," he said. He was ragged (衣著襤褸的) but he had an air of dignity(尊嚴) around him. He sat there quietly as I was (6) w    . After many minutes, I asked him if he (7) n     any help. I was (8) s     that he would say "Yes", but I was wrong.

"Do you need any help?" I asked. "Don't we all?" he said. Don't we all? (9)E      needs help. No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have succeeded, you (10) s     need help.

A: Summer holiday is coming.   1 

B: Well, I'd like to visit my aunt in Hong Kong.

A: Really? Hong Kong is a nice place to travel.   2   

B: I'm leaving next week.   3 

A: Oh, I'd like to go sightseeing in Sichuan.

B: That's great. The scenery in Sichuan is beautiful.   4 

A: By train. It's expensive to go there by plane. By the way, how long are you staying Hong kong?

B: For two weeks.   5 

A: My parents. They are both teachers. They are free in summer.

B: Have a nice vacation!

A: You, too!

_______ exercise you take，_______ you will be．

A．The more，the weaker                             B．The more，the healthier

C．The less，the healthier                               D．The much，the healthy

_______ bad weather! We've never had _______ rainy day．

A．What a，such                                         B．How，such a

C．What，such a                                                  D．What，so a

“Help _______ to the fish，children，”said the mother．

A．yourself             B．yourselves          C．myself                 D．ourselves

_______ a cold morning, I opened the door and was happy to find that it was snowing outside．

A．By              B．In                C．At                D．On

The weather in ShijiaZhuang is hotter than _______ in my hometown．

A．that                 B．this                   C．it                            D．one

There's coffee and tea．You can have _______ of them．

A．all                  B．every                  C．other                   D．either

If it _______ tomorrow, I won't go out．

A．snow                B．snows                 C．snowed               D．will snow