五、阅读短文,在空白处填入适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式
Tom loves Chinese, but his ______ (pronounce) of Mandarin (普通话) was very poor. He pronounced so ______ (bad) that he made many mistakes when reading in class. His teacher encouraged him to join in a speech competition to make a change.
Tom practised every day, recording ______ (he) while speaking and finding mistakes in it. He prepared two short ______ (speech): one about friendship and the ______ about his dream to teach children in the future.
On the competition day, Tom felt nervous and froze during his first speech. To ______ (we) surprise, he didn't give up. In the ______ (two) round, he took a deep breath and spoke clearly. Finally, he came third in the competition. Hard work leads to ______ (succeed).
Tom was so happy but he knew he still needed ______ (far) practice.
Now, he ______ (improve) his own speaking and helps his classmates with it at the same time, proving that courage grows with efforts!
41. 42. 43. 44. 45.
46. 47. 48. 49. 50.

六、阅读与回答问题
More than 20 students in a primary school in Changsha, Hunan Province, have learnt the Changsha dialect (方言) in an elective (选修的) course this term. Many language professors at universities such as Hunan Normal University, Central South University and Changsha Normal University are teaching the course.
Besides listening and speaking, students also learn about the idioms, nursery rhymes (童谣) and culture behind the dialect, according to Luo Xinru, a Chinese language professor at Hunan Normal University and one of the teachers of the course.
As China has spent many years promoting (推动) Mandarin, lots of children can't speak dialects now. In recent years, people have realized the importance of dialects and started to protect them. Luo said people can promote Mandarin and use dialects at the same time and children have the ability to speak both of them.
"Dialect protection is very important and different dialects which carry different cultures and values should not and will not disappear (消失)," she said. "We do not expect all children taking the course to learn perfect Changsha dialect, but they should understand the importance of different dialects and perhaps be willing to be part of the research and protection as they grow older."
51. Who teaches the Changsha dialect course in the primary school?
52. What can students learn besides listening and speaking in the dialect course?
53. Why don't many children speak dialects in China?
54. What do different dialects carry according to Luo Xinru?
55. What do you think of speaking dialects? (请自拟一句话作答)