When you are reading something in English, you may often meet with a new word. What’s the best way to know it?
You may look it up 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 thousands of English words? How to find it in the dictionary both quickly and correctly?
First, all the English words are arranged(安排) 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 “desert” and “pull”, “desert” will be certainly before “pull”. Then 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.
Do you understand how to look up in the dictionary?
The dictionary will be your good friend. I hope you’ll use it as often as possible in your English study.
1. This passage is about______.
A. new words in writing B. different dictionaries
C. the best way of reading D. using an English-Chinese dictionary
2. In the dictionary you may not find_______.
A. how to pronounce the word B. the spelling of the word
C. who used the word first D. how to use the word
3. In an English-Chinese dictionary, the last word______.
A. begins with Z B. begins with A C. is a short one D. is not often used
4. Which group of words is in the right order in an English-Chinese dictionary?
A. perhaps, produce, plenty B. straight, subject, surprise
C. century, center, business D. foreign, entrance, headache
5. In the passage the writer tries to tell us that_______.
A. we have to use a dictionary when we read something in English
B. an English-Chinese dictionary can tell us everything about a word
C. an English-Chinese dictionary can help us a lot in our English study
D. all English-Chinese dictionary are the same