The advantages of using flashcards to build up a vocabulary are well known. You can buy sets of cards, or make your own, and carry them with you wherever you go. There’s no question this is useful and because you can use them in short bursts, it’s not too much for you. It can be fun. I don’t recommend drilling for hours at a time with flashcards.

If you want to use flashcard software, things get even better. There are many packages out there for maintaining and drilling flashcards. I recommend VTrain though there are many others.

One stands out, however: SuperMemo. Similar to Pimsleur, SuperMemo is engineered according to a carefully researched methodology (方法学) in order to test you on a card the very minimum number of times you need to see it for it to stick. When you look at a card, you give some feedback to the software on whether you got it right and how easy you found it. It uses this information, and that of your previous attempts, to decide when you will be shown the card next. It’s smart and it really works.

If you’re like me, the news is even better! I have a version of SuperMemo that runs on my PalmOS phone. Wherever I am, if I have my phone handy, I have thousands of flashcards with me too. Honestly, it would be worth purchasing a cheap Palm device only for this. You can pick one up for $$20 or even less on eBay or elsewhere. Consider it, at least.

29. With SuperMemo, whether the next card will be shown depends on ________.

A. the time you look at the card

B. the information in the computer

C. the feedback one gives to the software

D. the times one attempts to do with a card

30. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Using cards to study can be very tiring.

B. Don’t need to study with flashcards too long at a time.

C. There is not enough flashcards software at present.

D. Flashcard software can be carried wherever you go.

31. What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage?

A. To introduce to us a way to build up a vocabulary.

B. To teach us how to make flashcards.

C. To suggest us buying flashcards.

D. To tell us how to use flashcard software.

D

For years people had told our founders, motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, inspiring stories about themselves. Jack and Mark included these stories in their talks, and their audiences repeatedly asked if they had ever been published. Eventually, Jack and Mark decided to collect the best 101 stories they’d been told and put them in a book. They called it Chicken Soup for the Soul because they wanted it to provide comfort, just like their grandmothers’ cooking.

They took the book to New York, hoping to sell it to one of the big publishers, but every single one turned them down. The project appeared to have stalled until they met Peter Vegso. Peter read some of the stories and loved them, so he decided to give the book a chance, becoming Chicken Soup for the Soul founding publisher.

Chicken Soup for the Soul turned into one of the most popular and loved books ever published, selling 11 million copies around the world. Today, we’ve published more than 250 books and Chicken Soup for the Soul has become the best-selling trade paperback book series of all time.

People have connected with Chicken Soup for the Soul books deeply. Years ago, we started getting letters from readers asking for more, not just more books, but other things, too. Jack and Mark recognized that Chicken Soup for the Soul had grown into something much bigger than the book series they had created. So, in 2008, William Rouhana, Amy Newmark and Robert Jacobs bought Chicken Soup for the Soul from them. Today, we have a line of comfort foods, including healthy and balanced pet foods. We’re online now with our forums, apps and a YouTube channel. We’re working hard on a new Chicken Soup for the Soul TV show and a movie. Meanwhile, we are still collecting stories from our readers and the public, just like we’ve done since the beginning. We have new books coming out almost every month. We’re always looking for ways to share happiness, inspiration and wellness through everything we do.

32. The first Chicken Soup for the Soul_________.

A. was published by Peter Vegso

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