How about starting an IELTS prasticing group on Skype?

I just really wish i could have more chances practising spoken english.Native speakers and IELTS examiners(lol...)are very much welcome!

need some advice...

 I'm a second year student studying electronic science.I don't really like my major but I'm doing not bad actually rank like 6-8 in my major.

 There is very good programme in my university providing the opportunity to study in southampton university for 4 years for free (tuition,life expense,plane tickets all included) until phd and then you could go back for a job teaching in university.It's such a great temptation for me and I push myself harder to study something that I'm not really interested.But sometimes I'm just all at sea thinking that this is how my life going to be.I feel trapped and kind of down.Yet It has always been my dream to study abroad,to step my foot on european continent.

  My real interest is kinda unusual.It's about tradition Chinese medical treatment.But I can't find a good job and support myself then and I really care about how others might think about me.So it's been like that.

 What would you guys do if you were me?Or do you have any advice?Thank you very much!

something i dont know how to express properly There are times when i want to ask people something but i really don't know such expressions. 1、i want to know if a university student is in his first/second/third/fourth year.How should i ask? 2、i want to know if a person is the first/second/third/fourth.How should i ask? please dont give me answers that begin with "are you" but the direct,straightforward way starting with something like"what"/“which"? Hop you understand what i mean.Cheers!Sorry,I mess the 2nd question.that is "I want to ask if a person is the first/second/third...child in their family"

the difference between "be comparable with" and "be comparable to"? are they the same?it would be better if u could give out some examples.thanks!

meaning of a word Of the six pollutants monitored by WHO-carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, lead and particulate matter—it is this last category that is attracting the most attention from health researchers. What does "lead" mean here?(I assume its a noun here but I can't find any sensible explaination in the dictionary.)

meanings of some phrases The scope of the problem facing the world's cities is immense. In 1992, the United Nations Environmental Programmed and the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that allof a sample of twenty megacities likely to have more than ten million inhabitants in the year 2000 - already exceeded the level the WHO deems healthy in or least one major pollutant. Two-thirds of them exceeded the guidelines for two, seven for three or more. What does "all of a sample" mean here? I‘m really really confused with all those figures in the last sentence.What does"two","seven""three"refer to? Thank you!typing mistake:the fourth line-in at least one major pollutant

meaning of a phrase As part of a European Union environmental programme, a London council is testing an infra-red spectrometer from the University of Denver in Colorado. It gauges the pollution from a passing vehicle-more useful than the annual stationary test that is the British standard today – by bouncing a beam through the exhaust and measuring what gets blocked. What does "gets blocked" mean here? Thank you!

meanings of certain words Older cars were the worst offenders;though a sizable number of quite new cars were also definited as gross polluters,they were simply badly TUNED.California has developed a scheme to get these gross polluters off the streets:they offer a FLAT $700 for any old run-down vehicle driven by its owner. what does TUNED and FLAT mean in this passage? Thank you!

meanings of certain phrases women selling The Suffragette at the street corners,or chalking up pavements with details of a forthcoming meeting. what does "chalking up pavements" mean here? Thanks so much!