Most dictionaries will tell you a number of （21) about a language. There are three things
Most dictionaries will tell you a number of (21) about a language. There are three things in particular that (22) important. These three things are spelling, pronunciation, and meanings.
The first and most obvious thing is that a dictionary will (23) you the spelling of a word. If you're not sure about the spelling of a word, you can try to find the correct spelling in a dictionary. Words are listed in alphabetical order--a, b, e, and so on. For example, on a dictionary page the word "poor"--p, o, o, r--comes before "poverty"--p, o, v, e, r, t, y and the word "poverty" comes (24) the word "power"--p, o, w, e, r. The words are always given in alphabetical order.
The second thing a dictionary will tell you is (25) . Most dictionaries give the pronunciation of a word in a special kind of alphabet. This special alphabet is called a phonetic, or sound alphabet. The phonetic spelling will tell you generally (26) a word is pronounced. There are a few different phonetic alphabets. Many dictionaries use the International Phonetic Alphabet to show pronunciation.
The (27) thing a dictionary will tell you is the meanings of words. You can (28) a word and find out what it means. Many words have more than one meaning, and a good dictionary will explain all of the word's meanings. For example, in English the common word "get" has over 20 different meanings. The meaning, of course, (29) the sentence in which the word is used.
These three things--spelling, pronunciation, and meanings--are some of the important (30) that you learn from dictionaries.
21. A. thing
B. people
C. things
D. books
Students who say they never or hardly ever used dictionaries often speak English well but usually write poorly, because they make many mistakes.
The students who use dictionaries the most do not learn especially well, either. The ones who looked up every new word do not read fast. Therefore they do not have time to read much. Those who use small two-language dictionaries have the worst problems. Their dictionaries often give only one or two words as a translation of English. But one English word often has many translations in a foreign language and one foreign word has many translations in English.
The most successful students were those who use large college edition dictionaries with about 100, 000 words but do not use them too often. Whey they are reading, these students first try to get the general idea and understand new words from the context. Then they reread and use the dictionary to look up only key words that they still de not understand. They use dictionaries more for writing. If they are not sure how to spell a word, or divide it into syllables (音节) ,they always use a dictionary. Also if they think a noun might have an unusual plural or a verb might have an unusual past tense, they checked them in a dictionary.
The writer tends to think that ______.
A．choose a good dictionary, and you'll succeed in learning English
B．dictionaries are not very necessary to the students who learn English
C．it is very important for students to use good dictionaries properly
D．using dictionaries very often can't help to improve writing
No reference book, perhaps no book of any kind except the Bible, is so widely used as "the dictionary". Even houses that have few books or none at all possess at least one dictionary; most business offices have dictionaries, and most typists keep a copy on their desks; at one time or another most girls and boys are required by their teachers to obtain and use a dictionary.
Admittedly, the dictionary is often used merely to determine the correct spelling of words, or to find out the accepted pronunciation, and such a use is perhaps not the most important from an intellectual point of view. Dictionaries may, however, have social importance, for it is often a matter of some concern to the person using the dictionary for such purpose that he should not suggest to others, by misspelling a word in a letter, or mispronouncing it in conversation, that he is not "well-bred", and has not been well educated.
Yet, despite this familiarity with the dictionary, the average person is likely to have many wrong ideas about it, and little idea of how to use it profitably, or interpret it rightly. For example, it is often believed that the mere presence of a word in a dictionary is evidence that it is acceptable in good writing. Though most dictionaries have a system of marking words as obsolete, or in use only as slang, many people, more especially if their use of a particular word has been challenged, are likely to conclude, if they find it in a dictionary, that it is accepted as being used by writers of established reputation. This would certainly have been true of dictionaries a hundred years or so ago. For a long time after they were first firmly established in the eighteenth century, their aim was to include only what was used by the best writers, and all else was suppressed, and the compiler frequently claimed that this dictionary contained "low" words. Apparently this aspect of the dictionary achieved such importance in the mind of the average person that most people today are unaware of the great change that has taken place in the compilation of present-day dictionaries.
Similarly, the ordinary man invariably supposes that one dictionary is as good and authoritative as another, and, moreover, believes that "the dictionary" has absolute authority, and quotes it to clinch arguments. Although this is an advantage, in that the dictionary presents a definition the basic meaning of which can't be altered by the speaker, yet it could be accepted only if all dictionaries agreed on the particular point in question. But ultimately the authority of the dictionary rests only on the authority of the man who compiled it, and, however careful he may be, a dictionary-maker is fallible: reputable dictionaries may disagree in their judgments, and indeed different sections of the same dictionary may differ.
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage？
A．The Bible is the most widely used reference book.
B．The dictionary is the most widely used reference book.
C．The dictionary is actually the more widely used book than the Bible.
D．The Bible is used as widely as the dictionary.
