143 How to Improve Your Writing Skills

　　By the time you reach this page， you will have studied 142 lessons of this book. You will have learned many new words， idioms， sentence structures and quite a bit of grammar. You will have come to a stage where you might be asking yourself， “How much have I improved， if at all？”

　　Why not give yourself a simple test？ Read a short text. Read it carefully， then try to rewrite what you have just read， in your own words. After that， compare what you have written to the text. This is called paraphrasing¹. In face， it is a good way to improve your writing skills.

　　spoken English 口语英语     wirtten English 写作英语    writing skills

　　carperter 木匠     He is skilled in carpentry.

　　By the time 到……时候

　　kick the bucket 俏皮话    pass away 过世

　　I've received a sentence of five years.

　　He was setenced to five years.

　　flunk² or fail

　　How many girlfriends do you have， if at all？