Across the globe, single parent homes are on the rise. In the US, the 2000 census (人口普查) showed 24.8 million, or nearly 24 percent of the nation’s 105.5 million households, were traditional two-parent homes. By comparison, 9.8 million households, or 9 percent of all US households were headed by an adult raising a child alone. The 1990 census showed 26 percent of homes were led by a married mother and father, and 8 percent of homes were led by a single parent.
Similar increases occurred in other countries. In the UK, lone-parent homes increased from 3.3 percent in 1990 to 5.5 percent in 1999. Single parent households in Australia rose from 5.8 percent in 1990 to 7.6 percent in 1999. Belgium saw the increase from 1.8 percent to 2.7 percent during the same period of time. These countries tend to have greater acceptance of the single parent because there are fewer nearby family members to disapprove, Riche, a Census Bureau director, said.
Just as in the US, those changes raised new questions about how involved govenment should be in helping single parent families. Some research suggests children raised in two-parent families are better off than those who depend on one.
“The position of one-parent families in any country is very much a gender (性别) issue-women’s opportunities, especially working-class women on low income,” said Sue Cohen, coordinator (协调员) of the Single Action Parents Network in England.
5.Not considering the exact number of the single-parent families, which country saw the fastest rise rate in 1999, compared with 1990?
A.UK. B.Australia. C.America. D.Belgium.
6.What is the cause of the rise of single parent families across the globe?
A.The nearby family members have a favourable opinion.
B.A lone parent is well off enough to support his /her children.
C.A lot of problems have arisen in two-parent families.
D.We cannot get enough proving information from the text.
7.Which of the following is TRUE about the increase of single parent families according to the passage?
A.It will somewhat limit the growing population of younger generation.
B.Governments should take actions about the social problems brought about by it.
C.Single parent families are not looked down upon in any country mentioned here.
D.Generally speaking, the single parents needn’t worry since they are highly paid.
8.Which of the following diagrams correctly shows the rise of single parent families in the US from
1990 to 2000?
We’re so well educated – but we’re useless students who have lost the ability to do anything practical. The only thing we’ve mastered is consumption(消费).
Large numbers of students have entered higher education in the past 10 years, but despite being the most educated generation in history, it seems that we’ve grown increasingly ignorant when it comes to basic life skills.
Looking back on my first couple of weeks of living in student halls, I consider myself lucky to still be alive. Unfamiliar to fresher’s， there are many hidden dangers in the dirty corners of students accommodation.
I have survived a couple of serious boiling egg incidents and lots of cases of food – poisoning, probably from dirty kitchen counters. Although some of my clothes have fallen victim to ironing experimentation, I think I have now finally acquired all the domestic (居家的) skills I missed out in my modem education.
In 2006 and 2010, the charming educationist Sir Ken Robinson gave two very amusing talks in which he discussed the importance of creativity in education. Robinson’s main viewpoint is that our current education system dislocates people from their natural talents. I would like to go a step further and propose that besides our talents, the system takes away what used to be passed from generation to generation – a working knowledge of basic life skills.
Today’s graduates may have earned themselves honor in history, law or economies, but when it comes to simple things like putting up a shelf to hold all their academic books, or fixing a hole in their on – trend clothes, they have to call for help from a professional handyman or tailor.
Since the invention of the internet, it has never been easier for people to access information, but our highly specialized education has made us more one – sided than ever.
I suggest that we start with the immediate reintroduction of some of the most vital aspects of “domestic science” education, before the current lack leads to serious accidents in student halls.People call us useless students for the reason that .
| A．what we’ve learned is beyond consumption |
| B．we are educated generation |
| C．we’ve entered higher education |
| D．our living skills are so poor |
Which is NOT the incidents the writer had during the first few weeks in student halls?
| A．He was seriously burnt by boiled eggs. |
| B．He was accidentally poisoned by food. |
| C．He damaged his clothes while ironing. |
| D．He was severely beaten by fresher. |
According to Robinson’s opinion, our current education.
| A．focuses on the importance if creativity |
| B．dislocates people from their natural talents |
| C．has equipped students with basic life skills |
| D．has followed the convention properly |
For most people, graduation is an exciting day – the culmination (顶点) of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.
I remember that weekend two years ago, Family and friends had traveled far to watch our class walk across the stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy go from bad to worse during my senior year. We graduates had degrees, but very limited prospects (前景). I hadn’t secured a job, and I knew that the next day, when my lease (租约) ended, I would no longer have a place to call home.
The weeks ahead weren’t easy. I gathered up everything I couldn’t carry and put it into storage. Then, because I had no opportunities in my small university town, I packed up my car and drove to California to find work. But what I thought would take a week dragged into two, then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself still jobless. The due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping even closer.
Have you ever felt utter dread? That feeling became a constant in my life. The most frustrating part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to make any progress.
So what did I do to maintain my sanity? I wrote. Something about putting my words on a page made everything clearer. Something about writing gave me hope.
I channeled my frustration into a children’s book. Beyond the river was the story of an unlikely hero, a little fish who refused to give up.
And then one day, with no writing degree or contacts in the writing world – just hard work and perseverance – I was offered a publishing contract for my first book. After that, things were in place, I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with the Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.
The moral of this story is… don’t give up, even if things look bleak now. Two years ago I was drinking cold soup right out the can. Things change. All we need is the courage to push beyond the river. When it was time to graduate, the author felt _____.
| A．Bored | B．Relieved | C．depressed | D．hopeful |
After the author’s graduation, _____.
| A．he went on a short trip with his family to California |
| B．things turned even worse than he had expected |
| C．he focused on writing instead of applying for jobs |
| D．he found his salary was hardly enough to pay back his student loans |
When did the author’s career life begin to run smoothly according to the article?
| A．After he got his first publishing contract. |
| B．After he began to write his book Beyond the river. |
| C．After he finished his book Beyond the river. |
| D．After he got hired by the Walt Disney Company. |
What is the main message the story intends to convey?
| A．Opportunity lies everywhere. |
| B．Perseverance is essential to success. |
| C．It’s important to adapt yourself to society. |
| D．We should devote ourselves to whatever we do. |
The One and Only Ivan [hardcover]
Katherine Applegate （Author）
Patricia Castelao （Illustrator）
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (117 customer reviews) / Like (58)
List Price: $16.99
Price: $9.34 (for total orders over 25.)
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Product Details
Reading level: Ages 8 and up
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins
Languages: English
ISBN-10: 0061992254
ISBN-13: 978-0061992254
Shopping weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Book Description
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Age level: 8 and up
Grade Level: 3 and up
Ivan is an easy-going gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to human watching him. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it is up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.
Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy (辛辣) to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art and hope. The book is suitable for readers who are _____.
| A．3-5years old | B．5-7 years old | C．7-8 years old | D．more than 8 years old |
The ad is likely to appear _____.
| A．in a novel | B．in a newspaper | C．on TV | D．on the Web |
How much do you have to pay for just one copy of the book?
| A．$16.99 | B．$7.65 | C．$15.99 | D．$9.34 |
Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
| A．The book was released on January 17, 2012. |
| B．Ivan is a bad-tempered gorilla. |
| C．Ruby’s arrival changes Ivan’s life. |
| D．The book is written in the first person narration. |
I live in north Celebes which is near Philippines. Since early December 2010 most tropical regions have been frequently hit by rain. Just like my hometown, tropical regions only have two seasons, including the dry season that usually starts from April to September and the wet or rainy season which usually happens from October to March. But, it could be indeterminate. Sometimes the rainy season can come a month earlier or later. It can be prolonged even more than 4 months and so can the dry season. Even during the dry season, rain can occur several times in certain areas.
The prolonged dry season in tropical areas usually causes a lot of losses. It will be very harmful to local farmers, because most of the tropical areas sre regions of the developing countries. Sometimes agricultural and plantation crops will be damaged because of so much dry land and the fact that the river used to flow the water for rice fields are also dry. Rain is very important for plants because rain contains many nutrients that plants are in great need of.
What’s more, if the prolonged rainy season arrives and then floods usually occur in certain areas of low lands. Even for the capital city of Jakarta floods have struck several times during the prolonged rainy season. In addition to floods, the rainy season can cause many diseases. During the dry season, diseases are usually caused by mosquitoes such as dengue fever. While in the rainy season, people who have the weak immune will be more easily attacked by some diseases such as flu, fever, diarrhea, and much more.
If you live in the other places and want to travel to the tropical regions, make sure that you have known much about the season and the effect for these months in which you want to travel as tourists. Only in that way, can you at least prepare to deal with tropical weather. The underlined word “indeterminate” in paragraph 1 can be replaced by “ _____”
| A．uncertain | B．unknown | C．untrue | D．unbelievable |
The second paragraph mainly tells us something about _____.
| A．the effects of the dry season. | B．the benefits of the rainy season. |
| C．the growth of dry land | D．the diseases in the dry season |
We can learn from the passage that in the wet season, _____
| A．the capital of Jakarta is flooded every year |
| B．more crops will die after being flooded for so long. |
| C．mosquitoes will spread more diseases among the crowd. |
| D．people with weak immune might be attacked by some diseases |
The main purpose of this passage is to introduce _____.
| A．some interesting facts of tropical regions |
| B．some knowledge about tropical regions to travelers |
| C．some knowledge about how to live well in different regions. |
| D．some differences between dry and wet seasons in tropical regions. |
Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true nonbelievers?
Once upon a time – July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (骗局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “bestest” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (猎狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (纪念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X. We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.
| A．moon landings were invented |
| B．U.S. technology was the best |
| C．moon landing ended successfully |
| D．the Mojave Desert was the launching base |
According to the writer, which of the following is to blame for the story about the hoax?
| A．NASA’s publicity campaign. | B．The Fox television program. |
| C．Buzz Aldrin. | D．James E. Oberg. |
According to the writer, Mr. X _______.
| A．told a faithful story | B．was not treated properly |
| C．was a talented creator | D．had a bad reputation |
The believers think that NASA’s publicity campaign is ________.
| A．proof to hide the truth |
| B．stupid and unnecessary |
| C．needed to convince the non-believers |
| D．important to develop space technology |
The tone of the article is _______.
| A．angry | B．conversational | C．humorous | D．matter-of-fact |