初中进阶 (2238 期 ) 4-5 版 DUOLINGO: LEARNING LANGUAGES ON SMARTPHONES

PRE-READING 1. What can smartphones be used for?

2. In addition to the English textbooks, what other resources or tools do you use to learn English?

WHILE READING Answer the following questions. 1. Why do people want to learn a new language? They want to learn a new language for _______________________. 2. How does Duolingo help users learn vocabulary? It helps them learn vocabulary by ____________________________. 3. People can learn at least six languages through Duolingo, can’t they? _________________. 4. Who was the inventor of Duolingo? ________________________________________. fun and their future career using pictures, a smartphone’s microphone and video clips Yes, they can Luis von Ahn and his student Severin Hacker

LANGUAGE STUDY Complete the sentences with the words in their proper forms. 1. A large number of books are ________ to the students. 2. The Ferris wheel ________ a good location in Hong Kong. 3. Some knowledge of chemistry is a definite ________ in this job. 4. Several new films will be ________ in late March. 5. There is a growing ________ of labor in rural areas. plusshortageavailableboastrelease available boasts plus released shortage

Translate the following sentences. use sth. to do sth. 用某物来做某事，常用它的被动语态 (sth.) be used to do sth. ； used to do sth. 过去常常做某事； be/get used to (doing) sth. 习惯于做某事，此处 to 为介词 1. 生活比过去方便多了。 2. 手表是用来看时间的。 3. 过去我经常熬夜，现在我习惯了早睡早起。 Life is more convenient than it used to be. Watches are used to tell time. I used to stay up late, but now I am used to getting up early and going to bed early.

AFTER READING Topic for debate: An e-dictionary is a better helper in language learning than a traditional one.