Exercises for Integrated Skills
1. Dictation
2. Fill in each blank in the passage belowwith ONE word you think appropriate.
Honesty is not praised much these days. We pay it somelip (1) ________, of course, and we tell our children to be honest in theirdealings and with their feelings. But many of us would (2) ________ have ourchildren be shrewd than honest. We want them to learn how to be suspicious, howto protect themselves, and how to ward (3) ________ fast-talking people andnicely packaged, well-advertised distortions of reality. “Chumps,” as I onceheard the term defined, (4) ________ “people who go out of their way to betaken (5) ________ of” — and we don’t want ourselves orour children to be chumps. Therefore we hesitate to praise honesty too (6)________, or to encourage it at the expense of common sense, or expediency orthe pressures of practicality and the “real world.” Even experts ininterpersonal (7) ________ tell us that too much honesty can destroy arelationship. Honesty now looks like a dubious virtue (8) ________ not anactual vice. It is studied and examined as a stratagem rather than (9) ________a hallmark of character.
Despite our contemporary discomfort with too muchhonesty, the quality remains central to our (10) ________ codes and counsels.Deceptions subvert the moral life, and destroy the foundations of our socialarrangements. Whatever basis for humane communion is to be found in (11)________ principles of respect for persons or faith in God is eroded by ourfailures to treat each other as persons worthy of being told the (12) ________.
Hints:
(1) It’sa set collocation with the word lip.
(2) It’sa set phrase with the word would.
(3) It’sa set phrase with the word ward.
(4) Herethe subject and object are both in plural form, so the link verb should also bein plural form.
(5) It’sa set phrase.
(6) Anadverb is expected to modify the predicate.
(7) Inthis prepositional phrase a noun is missing, and we can get this noun from thecontext. (In the same sentence.)
(8) Aconjunction is needed here.
(9) Asame structure is needed after than.
(10) Fromthe next sentence we can get this adjective which can be used to modify codesand counsels.
(11) Thisis a set collocation which contains the word or and implies a choice.
(12) Anoun is expected and from the whole text we can get the meaning of this noun.
1. Making a Dialogue
Topic: Lying and Its Effects
Words and phrases for reference: A habitual liar; a pack of lies; a tissue of lies; a(n) complete / outrightlie; a big lie; a whopper; a whacker, loss of trust, moral consciousness, moraldegradation
2. Giving a Talk
Topic: Lying in Advertisingand Its Influence on our Perception of the World
1. warp or distort our judgment
2. merely exaggerate the effectiveness
Practice
Write a description essayon the following topic: The Mona Lisa.
