Like most big projects, learning to manage your mother well is what you should do. Here are what I believe the best steps towards a better relationship with her. They are not necessarily surprising or revolutionary, but they have worked for many people. Try them.
Remember your mother’s age. As children, we often do not think of our mother as having an age. Even when we become conscious of her as an individual, age does not change our view; she is still our mother. Knowing our mother’s age, not just in numbers of years but in terms of her psychological and physical state, often helps us to understand her better.
Listen to your mother. I have found that sometimes the things my mother told me long ago are remarkably useful. If your mother knows that you respect her point of view, even if you do not share it, it will help her feel close to you.
Remember that your mother has a past. A key step in managing our relationship with our mother is to find out about her early life. Niclle’s mother suffered much during the Second War World War. “My parents are both Jewish-Turkish. They met in France and married young for love. They were in their twenties when war broke out and because they were Jews, they had to go into hiding. She does speak to me about the war, and I think it is important to know what she went through. It is a part of her life that must have affected her deeply. ” Sometimes, in learning about our mother’s past, we know that it can encourage us to think about her whole life.
Ask your mother about your childhood history. My grandparents died when I was young. If you are fortunate enough to have living family, think of your life as a jigsaw puzzle and ask as many questions as you can to put the picture together. Understanding your roots and your childhood can help you now more clearly who you are, as part of a family which you share with your mother.
Keep a sense of humor about your mother. When we hear about someone else’s misfortunes with their mothers and are amused by them, our laughter is one of recognition. I have often listened to stories of difficult mothers and I have also listened to the following piece of advice they have found most helpful is: “Don’t have a sense of humor failure about your mother. ”
Remember that managing your mother is really about managing yourself. Taking any measure to managing our mother is the issue of how we manage ourselves. No matter how difficult we find her, it is important to remember that is not her behavior it self that is causing us discomfort, but the way we feel about her behavior. We should follow the way of her life. At the heart of managing your mother is being able to accept your flawed self. Only then are you able to accept your mother—-with all her failings. The followings are the steps you can take to get on with your mother EXCEPT________.
A.Remember your mother’s age and past |
B.Share your roots and your childhood with your mother |
C.Have a sense of humor failure about your mother |
D.Managing your shortcoming while managing your mother |
What does the underlined phrase “a jigsaw puzzle” mean?
A.拼图玩具 | B.浏览迷宫 | C.填充字谜 | D.游戏人生 |
Which of the following is implied but not stated in the passage?
A.It will help you have a better relationship with your mother if you respect her opinion. |
B.You should follow a most useful piece of advice——a sense of humor. |
C.The key measure of managing our mother is how we manage ourselves. |
D.It is unreasonable to expect our mother to change totally from the way she was brought up. |
The main purpose of writing the text is ________.
A.to give information about how we think of your mother. |
B.to improve the relationship with your mother. |
C.to keep a sense of humor about your mother all day long. |
D.to accept your mother—-with all her failings. |
Album Name |
Introduction |
“Master of the Chinese Dulcimer” -----Xu Pingxin |
Xu Pingxin shows skillful technique and spellbinding(迷人的)musical expression on the Chinese dulcimer (yangqin) .His musicianship has won him international praise and he is considered one of the most successful yangqin players of the world. |
“The Silk String Quartet(丝弦四重奏组)Contemporary &Traditional Chinese Music” |
Cheng Yu (pipa),Sun Zhuo (guzheng),Hu Bin (erhu)and Zhou Jinyan (yangqin)present traditional as well as modern pieces. The music describes moonlight scenes ,river landscapes, court dances and more. |
“Chinese Masterpieces of the Pipa & Guzheng” ---ChengYu |
Beautiful music as well as lively pieces played on pipa ,guzheng, xiao and dizi. Cheng Yu is an internationally famous pipa and guzheng virtuoso(名家),former soloist(独奏者)at the China Central Orchestra of Chinese Music in Beijing .Information about the artist, the music and the instruments in English, German, French and Spanish. |
TsengYungching----“Magic of the Chinese Flute” |
Beautiful Chinese flute (dizi) music played by world-famous flute virtuoso Tseng Yungching Accompanied(伴奏) on traditional Chinese instruments. |
Zhou Yu----“The Art of the Chinese Erhu” |
During his great musical career Zhou Yu won many awards in China and internationally .Here he presents an album of Chinese music, played on erhu with orchestral accompaniment: pipa, yangqin, ruan, and others. This is a very beautiful album with the typical “mystical ,dreamy” mood of Far Eastern music. Very enjoyable! |
If you are interested in playing the Chinese flute what will you probably buy?
A."Chinese Masterpieces of the Pipa & Guzheng" and "Magic of the Chinese Flute." |
B."The Silk String Quartet” and "Chinese Masterpieces of the Pipa & Guzheng." |
C."Master of the Chinese Dulcimer "and The Art of the Chinese Erhu." |
D."Magic of the Chinese Flute "and "The Silk String Quartet." |
Whose information is introduced in four different languages?
A.Xu Pingxin’s | B.Cheng Yu’s | C.Tseng Yungching’s | D.Zhou Yu’s |
From the passage ,we can know Tseng Yungching is ______.
A.a famous pipa and erhu player | B.a skillful guzheng virtuoso |
C.a famous yangqin player | D.a world-famous flute player |
Which album has the typical mood of Far Eastern music?
A.Zhou Yu ----“The Art of the Chinese erhu.” |
B.“ The Silk String Quartet----Contemporary &Traditional Chinese Music.” |
C.“ Master of the Chinese Dulcimer”---Xu Pingxin |
D.Tseng Yungching-----“Magic of the Chinese Flute.” |
The most frightening words in the English language are,“ Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said,” I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket .Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I looked down the counter(柜台)and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the blank screen. Then I asked her,” What do you do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That ‘s right, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea .Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes , sometimes for two hours. There is no way we can find out without asking the computer , and since it’s down, it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no spare computer ,I said, “ Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington.” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to .Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said, pointing at the dark screen.” Only ‘IT’ knows . ’IT’ can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines .The words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down Some people went, some people started to cry and still others kicked(踢) their luggage.The best title for the passage is ______.
A.Asking the computer | B.The computer of the airport |
C.The most useful words | D.When the computer is down |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
A.She could answer the passengers’ questions | B.She could do nothing |
C.She could sell tickets | D.She could write out tickets |
The last paragraph suggests that _____.
A.modern computers won’t be down |
B.computers can take the place of humans |
C.computers may bring trouble to people |
D.there will be great changes in computers |
"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.
Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).
Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!" he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.
During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.
He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).
He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910."Mark Twain" was _________.
A.a famous American writer | B.name of a book |
C.a great river in America | D.a large ship |
As a child, Samuel did not get much education because _________.
A.his father died too early |
B.the family was very poor |
C.he disliked school very much |
D.he could learn what he liked from the people he met |
What gave him a great deal when he started writing? _______
A.His poor childhood | B.The Mississippi river |
C.All kinds of travelers he met | D.His brother |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
A.Samuel loved writing from his early age |
B.Samuel did not love writing at the beginning |
C.his writings to the newspaper were successful |
D.his brother encouraged him to write more |
According to the writer of the passage, a good writer could _________.
A.write a lot for his readers |
B.make a lot of money for his family |
C.cause his readers to laugh |
D.travel everywhere he wanted |
I came to India a year ago to find a village in which I could live and write but it was many months before I settled down happily in this Himalayan community.
I wasted a lot of time looking for the “typical” village. Yet no such thing exists. Conditions are quite different from village to village. But the villages I stayed in had much in common---poor, dirty and backward. Often the villagers themselves were puzzled and doubtful. Why had I come? I had put aside my work as a political journalist because my ideas had changed. I had come to believe that what was happening in the Third World was more important than anything else. But to understand how three—quarters of the world population live, and what effect their future might have on ours, I felt that I first had to try and share their way of life.
In the end I chose a mountain village because it was little cooler than those in the plains. I took the bus from town along a rocky road. Then came a rough walk down a steep path to the river. After this I began the climb into the hills. Whenever I stopped to catch my breath, there was a beautiful scene. After several hours’ walk the village came into sight.After the writer had arrived in India,________.
A.he spent a year writing about the place he lived in |
B.he spent quite some time looking for a suitable place to live in |
C.he stayed in an Indian village working for the poor |
D.he lived in a Himalayan community for many months. |
While looking for a typical village, the writer found__________.
A.he was searching for the impossible |
B.all the villages were exactly the same |
C.he was doing something enjoyable |
D.the villagers were curious about him |
Before coming to India, the writer________.
A.had been a successful politician |
B.had made a decision to work for India |
C.had studied India culture for some months |
D.had worked for newspapers and magazines |
The write decided to change his way of life because__________.
A.he no longer found his work interesting |
B.he hoped to live a peaceful life in the countryside |
C.he wanted to find out more about the Third World |
D.he wanted to try his luck in a foreign country |
The village the writer finally chose to live in_________.
A.lay at the end of a rocky road |
B.had a beautiful sight of the river |
C.was a short walk from the river |
D.had better weather than those in the plains. |
In recent years advances in medical technology have made it possible for people to live longer than in the past. New medicines and machines are being developed every day to extend life. However, some people, including some doctors, are not in favor of these life extending measures, and they argue that people should have the right to die when they want. They say that the quality of life is as important as life itself and that people should not be forced to go on living when conditions of life have become unbearable. They say thatpeople should be allowed to die with dignity (尊严) and to decide when they want to die. Others argue that life under any conditions is better than death and that the duty of doctors is always to extend life as long as possible. And so the battle goes on and on without a definite answer.The best title for this passage is _____.
A.The Right to Live | B.The Right to Die |
C.The Doctor’s Duty | D.Life Is Better Than Death |
In recent years, people can live longer than in the past. It’s because of _____ .
A.the development of medical technology |
B.big hospitals |
C.good doctors |
D.both B and C |
According to some people whether a dying patient has the right to die or not is up to _____ .
.
A.the doctors | B.the surroundings |
C.his or her family | D.the patient himself or herself |
In the writer’s opinion _____ .
A.death is better than life |
B.life is better that death |
C.neither death nor life is good |
D.none of the above |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.Most of the medical workers join in the argument. |
B.The argument has ended in favor of the patient. |
C.The argument hasn’t ended yet. |
D.The quality of life is not as important as life itself, so it is generally thought that people should not be allowed to die under any conditions. |