Numerouslanguageexercisesofdifferentkindsaredevisedsothatthestudentsmayconsolidateandexpandtheirlanguageknowledgeandfurtherimprovetheirlanguageskills.

　　Thecoursebooksarebasicreadingmaterialforcollegestudents,sothetrainingoflanguageskillscannotbeneglected.Largenumbersofgrammar,vocabulary,andwritingexercisesrelevanttoeachtext,suchasstructure,wordbuilding,translationandstructuredwritingareprovided.Bydoingtheseexercises,thestudentsareexpectedtoconsolidateandenlargetheirvocabulary.Atthesametime,theseexercisesassistthemtowritearticlesindifferentstyles,andtoenhancetheirreadingability.

　　VarioustypesofexercisesaredesignedsothatthestudentsmayacquireintegratedlanguageskillsinEnglish.

　　ListeningisasummaryoftextA.TheadvantagesofthisincludelinkingwrittenEnglishtoitspronunciation,providingmodelsforstressandintonationandgenerallybringingthetexttolife.Itintegratesthelisteningskillwiththereadingskills.Pre-readingQuestionsisakindofintegrationofspeakingandreadingskills.Theseexercisesaremeanttobeusedintheclassroomsoastofurthertrainthestudents’listeningandspeakingskills.Eachunithasawritingassignmenttoimprovethestudents’writingskills.Thefocusoftraining,however,isonreadingskills.Inthiscase,itcanmeetstudent’sneedforimprovingtheirlanguageskillsaswellasteachingsyllabus’srequirement—studentsshouldacquireintegratedlanguageskillsinEnglish.Thefourskillsoflistening,speaking,readingandwritingcannolongerbetreatedasfourseparatesingleskills,astherelationshipamongthemisthatofcoordination,correlationandinterdependence.Oraldiscussionisbasedonreading,butatthesametimeitpromotesreadingcomprehensionanddevelopswritingability.Thewritingabilityderivesfromreading;inthemeantimeitstepsupthespeakingability.Reading,providingthestudentswithlargelanguageinput,isthefountainheadofEnglishstudy.Thus,wemightsaythatthetrainingofthefourskills,thoughnotconductedsimultaneously,isanintegrativeprocess.

　　Non-lineartextsareusedineachunit

　　Ineachunit,thereisalittlepicturerelevanttothetopicoftheunit.Weknowtheeditorismakinguseofvisualaidstomotivatestudentstoread.Differenttypefacesareused.

　　Numerousexercisesareprovidedtotrainstudents’readingskills

　　PreviewoftextA,BandCgivesabriefintroductiontothethreetexts.Itactsasablurboftheunittohelpthestudentunderstandthetexts.ListeningisasummaryoftextA.Thisisakindoftop-downprocessingofthetexts.Wemakeconscioususeofittotrytoseetheoverallpurposeofthetext,orgetaroughideaofthepatternofthewriter’sargument,inordertomakeareasonedguessatthenextstep.

　　Pre-readingQuestions

　　Oneofthepurposesofthissectionistoelicittheschemaandreactivatethestudents’existingrelevantideaandbackgroundknowledge.Peopleofsimilarbackgroundtendtohavesimilarschemata;forthem,thesharedassumptionsaremorethanforpeoplecomingfromdifferentbackground.Letmealsotakeunit1foranexample.Question2“Lookatthesubheadings,1-8,inthetext.Whichoftheseactivitiesdoyoualreadydo?Inwhichareasdoyoufeelyouneedimprovement?”Question3“Arethereany‘secrets’toyourownsuccessas