Question

When I first arrived in Taiwan to teach English, I had already taken several courses in university on Mandarin Chinese. I had done well in those courses and enjoyed them very much. I thought I would be able to have a conversation with Chinese speakers and improve my Chinese in the process.

However, as soon as I settled in Taiwan I became afraid to speak. Seeing all of the signs written in Chinese, constantly overhearing long streams of spoken Chinese, and seeing the effortless fluency of some foreigners who had been there for a while, I began to doubt my own ability to speak Chinese. It’s proved that things were different outside of the classroom.

What really happened to me was what happens every day to Chinese language learners. I became afraid and nervous at the foreignness of the language. Something happened a few weeks later. I tried to spend a lot of time in public, and the sound of spoken Chinese was becoming more ordinary to me. Despite the fact that I had not been practicing my Chinese and I had not consulted my vocabulary flashcards. I begin to notice some words that I recognized from my courses in university. At first, I heard only one word. “dianhua”- telephone. After that, I begin hearing other words. Sometimes, I would hear a couple of words in one sentence.

More and more words began to stand out to me. I started studying Chinese characters and began to be able to read small blocks of text in the advertisements. When I really began speaking in Chinese to Chinese people I met, I began to learn Chinese fast and the smiles that I received in return were a fantastic reward for the work that I had done in learning the language. It was a great feeling to order food from a restaurant in Chinese, or to make a comment about the weather to the lady who works at the bank.

1.What can we conclude from the passage?

A. The author is sharing his Spoken Chinese experience.

B. The author is a fearful and cautious man.

C. The author didn’t get good grades at university.

D. The author couldn’t adjust to the life of Taiwan.

2.According to the passage we know that_______.

A. Chinese dishes and weather attract the author deeply.

B. the author thought he could talk with Chinese in mandarin before he arrived in Taiwan.

C. the author failed to improve his spoken Chinese.

D. the language in reality is just the same as that taught in classroom.

3. Why does the author doubt his ability to speak Chinese at first?

A. Everything in Taiwan is different from that in America.

B. People often misunderstand the author on purpose.

C. Other foreigners can’t communicate with him.

D. He has difficulty understanding the native language.

4. What do you know about the author in the passage?

A. He only enjoys talking with the local people in Chinese.

B. He can speak fluent Chinese when ordering meals at last.

C. He loves to make a comment on woman.

D. He has been rewarded for speaking Chinese.

Answer 1