Many Chinese students ask for advice on how to improve their English. There are three common questions.

    The first question is about real English. Li Gang said, "I want to learn real English. But I don't know what to do."

    Watching English films is a good way to learn real English. You can watch them when you are tired after studying for a long time. While watching them, you can relax and learn real English at the same time.

    The second question is about speaking. Chen Ming said, "I'm too shy to talk with foreigners."

    "How are you?" "Where are you from?" "What do you think of China?" These are good questions to start a conversation. Many people are shy when they speak English, so before you begin, take a deep breath(呼吸) and smile! Smiling always helps.

    The third question is about vocabulary. Li Jia said, "I want to remember all the new words. I write them down, but I forget them soon."

    Try to remember eight or ten words a day. Write them on a piece of paper and put it in your bedroom. Spell the words whenever you see them, and change them every day. And when you're shopping, how about counting the English words, or saying the English names for everything you see?

— I don't know.

      When you are reading something in English, you may often meet with a new word. What's the best way ___①___ (know) it?

      You may ___②___ in the English-Chinese dictionary. It will tell you a lot about the word: the pronunciation, the Chinese meaning and how to use the word. But how can you know where the word is in thousands of English words? How to find it in the dictionary both quickly and correctly?

      First, all the English words are arranged in the letter order. In the dictionary you can first see the words beginning with letter A, then B, C, D. . . That means, if there are two words both beginning with the same letter, you may look at the second letter, then the third, the fourth. . . . For example, “pardon” is before “plough”, “judge” before “just”, etc.

     ③Do you understand how we can look up a word in a dictionary?

        The dictionary will be your good friend. ④我希望在你的英语学习中,你会尽可能经常地使用它。