--- What did you mention you’d been accustomed to?

   ---______ to soft music before going to bed.

A. To listen   B. Listen   C. Listening   D. Listens

Not until he left his home __________ to know how important the family was for him．

       A．did he begin    B．had he begun        C．he began        D．he had begun

This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A few weeks ago, we talked about the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. A listener in Cambodia named Thida asks if American colleges and universities also accept the IELTS exam. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It was developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL examiners.

Cambridge ESOL says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration or employment. The IELTS tests listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. It uses a mixture of accents and spellings, including British English and American English.

The test is used by government agencies, schools and professional organizations in one hundred and twenty countries. And, yes, that includes the United States. The many American schools that accepted the IELTS can be found on the Web at felts.org.

Some schools accept both the TOEFL and the IELTS, but the graduate school at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for example, says it prefers the IEITS.

The listening and speaking parts are the same for everyone who takes the IELTS, but people have a choice of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.

The listening test takes thirty minutes. There are forty questions based on a recording. The reading test takes sixty minutes. Students answer forty questions based on three written passages.

The writing test also takes sixty minutes. Students have to write two essays. One essay has to be at least one hundred and fifty words long and the other at least two hundred and fifty words. The shorter one is description of something; the longer one has to support and argument.

The speaking test takes less than fifteen minutes. The score is based on a recorded talk between the student and a test examiner.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. If you have a general question for our series, write to special@voanews.com. I'm Barbara Klein.

What does TOEFL stand for?

A. The Voice of America              B. The International English Language Testing System

C. The Test of English as a Foreign Language

D. The Test of English as a Native Language

The International English Language Testing System commonly takes _______ in all.

A. less than 160 minutes                      B. more than 165 minutes

C. no more than 160 minutes                   D. less than 166 minutes

According to the passage, we can infer _______.

A. IELTS is efficient and necessary if you want to go to English-speaking countries

B. IELTS is completely different from TOEFL

C. every American needs to accept TOEFL   D. IEITS isn't used more widely than TOEFL

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. How can the readers write papers to the VOA programme?

B. It talks about some ways to pass TOEFL.

C. It introduces IELTS.                             

D. How can the readers pass two kinds of tests?

The British are not so familiar with different cultures and other ways of doing things, ________ is often the case in other countries.

  A. what                    B. as                     C. so                           D. that

—Did you see who the driver was? 

—No. So quickly_________ that I couldn’t get a good look at his face.

A．does the car speed by               B．the car sped by

C．did the car speed by                D．the car speeds by

—The work will take me another week. I am really tired.

— I think you _____ as well consult an experienced worker.

  A. may        B. can         C. need         D. must

A few years ago, when I was still in high school, I met a wonderful and warm teacher. At that time in my life, there were many changes to adjust to, apart from the usual teenage troubles. My parents had divorced, so my elder brother and I had chosen to stay with my dad. Due to the fact that he was keeping the house, we didn’t have to move.

During this time, my teacher took a special interest in me. Being my English teacher, she encouraged my mind to travel to creativity I had long given up. She brought me out of the shell I built.

She became my mother, my older sister, my friend and my teacher. The one thing she couldn’t do though was to make me more girly as growing up with only my dad and brother made me a real tomboy.

Sometimes, I would be really immature（不成熟的）, especially if she was scoring me less than others on purpose. She knew I could do better than what I was handing in and so pushed me to extend further than limits.

When I finished school and then after college I was about to leave my hometowns she gifted me a watch that every second, with my pulse, should remind me of the one person who will forever wait and love me without reservation.

Time has passed and our friendship is distant, but in my heart, soul and mind, she is the closest I ever got.

The writer and her elder brother chose to live with their father simply because _________.

A. their mother was expecting to have another baby

    B. they didn’t have to move out of their house

    C. they hated their mother remarried

    D. they had a closer relationship with their father

How did the writer get along with her studies before she met her English teacher?

    A. She was hopeless and had given up her studies.

    B. She was getting along well with her studies.

    C. She had some trouble with her studies.

    D. She lacked interest in creativity.

The writer behaved herself like a boy because ________.

    A. she needed the love of mother

    B. she wanted to learn from her father and brother

    C. she lived with only men all the time

    D. her English teacher didn’t care about her

What was the writer’s attitude to the watch given by the teacher?

    A. She considered it to be very useful.

    B. She valued it very much.

    C. She kept it very well.

D. She wanted to do something later in return for it.

As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation．Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down．But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body.

Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it．In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be．A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life．It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health.

The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual．Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities, others lose heart at the first sign of unusual difficulties．When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically．In fact we make choice between "flight or fight" and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life or death．The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response．It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered．Since we can't remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.

People are finding less and less time for relaxing themselves because _____.

       A．they regard working as their greatest enjoyment

       B．they believe that work is superior to relaxation

       C．they are traveling fast all the time

       D．they are becoming busier with their work than ever before

According to the author, the most important character for a good manager is his _____.

       A．strong will to hold out stress

       B．knowing the art of relaxation

       C．high sense of responsibility

       D．having control over performance

Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

       A．We can find quite a few ways to avoid stress.

       B．Stress is always harmful to people's health

       C．It's easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work.

       D．Different people can bear different amount of stress.

In the last sentence of the passage, “do so” refers to _____.

       A．"expose ourselves to stress"

       B．"find ways to deal with stress"

       C．"remove stress from our lives"

       D．"establish links between diseases and stress"

According to the author, the right attitude toward stress is _____.

       A．to avoid it                      

       B．to try to cope with it

       C．to regard it as a vital motivation     

       D．to find some relaxation

下面短文中有8处语言错误。请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在下面加上该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

            2. 只允许修改8处，多者（从第9处起）不计分。

Alice,

     I have just got a good news to tell you. I win a national prize for painting in last week. My

father was very happy that he suggested I go to England for a holiday. I’d like to staying there for

 half a month, visiting place of interest and practicing my English as well. We’ve been writing to

 each other for nearly a year now. I have often dreamed talking face to face with you. I hope

 you’ll be on holiday yourself by that time and I can hard wait to see you!

Yours,

Lily

此题要求改正所给短文中的错误.对标题号的每一行做出判断：如无错误，在该行右边的横线上划（√）；如有错误（每行只有一个错误），则按下列情况改正：

此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。

此行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。

此行错一个词：在错的词下划一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。

注意：原行没有错的不要改。

Dear Alice,                  

I have just got some good news to tell to you.                  

I win a national prize for painting last week.                          

My father was so pleasing that he suggested                   

I go to England for a holiday. I’d like to staying        

there for half a month, visiting place of interest               

or practicing my English as well. we’ve been                

writing to each for nearly a year now. I have                        

often dreamed of talk face-to-face with you.                   

I imagine you’ll be at vacation yourself by that             

time. Perhaps we could go out to do some                     

sightseeing together.

Best,

Lily