A: What’s the area of your country?
B: It’s not very big. It’s a little over half a million square kilometers.
A: That sounds quite big! How many people live there?
B: There are about 30 million people in my country. Most of them live in the north.
A: What’s the average income?
B: That’s really hard to say. I think most people earn about two thousand dollars a month, if you convert the money from our currency into dollars.
A: So your country is fairly rich.
B: I think we are richer than most countries, but not as rich as countries in western Europe. Our biggest problem at the moment is unemployment, which is roughly 8%. It has doubled over the last four years.
A: Unemployment in my country is a fraction of that.
1.Cardinal numbers ( 基数词 )
The numbers you use for counting are called “cardinal numbers”,for example:
(1 )从 1 到 10:one,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight,nine,ten.
(2 )从 11 到 19:eleven,twelve,thirteen,fourteen,fifteen,sixteen,seventeen,eighteen,nineteen.
(3 )从 20 到 99 :整数几十中除 twenty,thirty,forty,fifty,eighty 为特殊形式外, sixty,seventy,ninety 都是其个位数形式后添加后缀 -ty 构成。表示几十几时,在几十和个位基数词形式之间添加连字 符“ - ”,如 21:twenty-one;76 seventy-six.
(4 )百位数个数基数词形式加“ hundred ”,表示几百,在几十几与百位间加上 and.
101:a hundred and one;320:three hundred and twenty;648:six hundred and forty-eight.
(5 )千位数以上,从数字的右端向左端数起,每三位数加一个逗号“,”。从右开始,第一个“,”前的 数字后添加 thousand ,第二个“,”前面的数字后添加 million ,第三个“,”前的数字后添加 billion 。然后一 节一节分别表示,两个逗号之间最大的数为百位数形式。
2,648: two thousand six hundred and forty-eight
16,250,064: sixteen million two hundred and fifty thousand and sixty-four
5,237,166,234: five billion, two hundred and thirty-seven million, one hundred and sixty-six thousand,two hundred and thirty-four
2.Ordinal numbers ( 序数词 )
The numbers you use to talk about the order of things are called "ordinal numbers". Here are the first ten ordinal numbers:
第 1:first 1st
第 2:second 2nd
第 3:third 3rd
第 4:fourth 4th
第 5:fifth 5th
第 6:sixth 6th
第 7:seventh 7th
第 8:eighth 8th
第 9:ninth 9th
第 10:tenth 10th
Here is a poem to help you remember the numbers 1 to 10.
One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight.
Nine, ten, a big fat hen.
Keys to the puzzle :
Across
2. 46
5. 29
8. 8
9. 0
10. 11
11. 50
Down
1. 60
3. 15
4. 7
5. 20
6. 12
7. 90
1.Ten little Indian boys.
One little, two little, three little Indians,
Four little, five little, six little Indians,
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians,Ten little Indian boys.
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians,
Seven little, six little, five little Indians,
Four little, three little, two little Indians,
One little Indian boy.
2.Let’s sing and chant.
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
The little one on the right.
3.Sing and chant.
One, two, three, three, two, one.
Counting numbers is fun.
Four, five, six, six, five, four.
Open the windows and close the door.
Seven, eight, nine, nine, eight, seven.
Seven boys’ names are called “Steven”.
4.Sing and chant.
One, two,
Buckle my shoe;
Three, four,
Knock at the door;
Five, six,
Pick up sticks;
Seven, eight,
Lay them straight:
Nine, ten,
A big fat hen;
Eleven, twelve,
Dig and delve;
Thirteen, fourteen,
Maids a-courting;
Fifteen, sixteen,
Maids in the kitchen;
Seventeen, eighteen,
Maids a-waiting
Nineteen, twenty,
My plate’s empty.
5.Let’s chant.
One finger one finger turn turn turn,
turn to a toothbrush, shua shua sha~
Two fingers two fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a rabbit, jump jump jump~
Three fingers three fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a cat, miao miao miao~
Four fingers four fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a dog, wang wang wang~
Five fingers five fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a tiger, wu wu wu~
Six fingers six fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a cow, moo moo moo~
Seven fingers seven fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a snake, si si si~~
Eight fingers eight fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a gun, bang bang bang~~
Nine fingers nine fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a sheep, mie mie mie~~
Ten fingers ten fingers turn turn turn,
turn to a hammer, dang dang dang.
Maria was learning to add numbers. She liked to add numbers. It was easy to add numbers. She could add one and one. She knew that one and one are two. She knew that two and two are four. She knew that three and three are six. But that was it. She didn’t know what four and four are. She asked her mom. Her mom told her that four and four are eight. “Oh, now I know,” Maria said. “I am four years old now. In four more years, I will be eight.” Maria was a fast learner. She wasn’t a slow learner.