Pushingchildrentoohardisareall-优题课

第三部分阅读技能 (共三节，满分40分)
阅读理解（共12小题；每小题2分，满分24分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
In England recently three foreign gentlemen came to a bus stop and waited. About five minutes later, the bus they wanted came along. They were just going to get on when suddenly there was a loud noise behind them. People rushed onto the bus and tried to push them out of the way. Someone shouted at them. The bus conductor came rushing down the stairs to see what all the trouble was about. The three foreigners seem all at sea and looked embarrassed. No one had told them about the British custom of lining up for a bus that the first person who arrives at the bus stop is the first person to get on the bus.
Learning the language of a country isn't enough. If you want to have a pleasant visit, find out as much as possible about the manners and customs of your host country. You will probably be surprised just how different they can be from your own. A visitor to India would do well to remember that people there consider it impolite to use the left hand for passing food at table. The left hand is supposed to be used for washing yourself. Also in India, you might see a man shaking his head at another to show that he doesn't agree. But in many parts of India a shake of the head means agreement. Nodding (点头) your head when you are given a drink in Bulgaria will most probably leave you thirsty.
1.The British people tried to push the three gentlemen out of the way, because the gentlemen _______ .
A. were foreigners　　 B. didn't have tickets
C. made a loud noise　　　 D. didn't line up for the bus {007}
2.According to the article, if you want to have a pleasant journey in a foreign country, you should ________.
A. learn the language of the country
B. understand the manners and customs of the country
C. have enough time and money
D. make friends with the people there
3.In India it is considered impolite ________.
A. to use the right hand for passing food at table.
B. to pass food with the left hand.
C. to eat food with your hands.
D. to help yourself at table.
4.The best title (题目) for this article is ________.
A. People's Everyday Life
B. Mind Your Manners
C. Shaking and Nodding Head　
D. Taking a Bus in England

When families gather for Christmas dinner, some will stick to formal traditions dating back to grandma’s generation. Their tables will be set with the good dishes and silver, and the dress code will be Sunday best.
But in many other homes, this china-and-silver elegance has given way to a stoneware (粗陶)-and-stainless informality, with dresses assuming an equally casual-Friday look. For hosts and guests, the change means greater simplicity and comfort. For makers of fine china in Britain, it spells economic hard times.
Last week Royal Doulton, the largest employer in Stoke-on-Trent, announced that it is eliminating 1,000 jobs—one-fifth of its total workforce. That brings to more than 4,000 the number of positions lost in 18 months in the pottery (陶瓷) region. Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.
Although a strong pound and weak markets in Asia play a role in the downsizing, the layoffs in Stoke have their roots in earthshaking social shifts. A spokesman for Royal Doulton admitted that the company “has been somewhat slow in catching up with the trend” toward casual dining. Families eat together less often, he explained, and more people eat alone, either because they are single or they eat in front of television.
Even dinner parties, if they happen at all, have gone casual. In a time of long work hours and demanding family schedules, busy hosts insist, rightly, that it’s better to share a takeout pizza on paper plates in the family room than to wait for the perfect moment or a “real” dinner party. Too often, the perfect moment never comes. Iron a fine-patterned tablecloth? Forget it. Polish the silver? Who has time?
Yet the loss of formality has its down side. The fine points of etiquette (礼节) that children might once have learned at the table by observation or instruction from parents and grandparents (“Chew with your mouth closed.” “Keep your elbows off the table.”) must be picked up elsewhere. Some companies now offer etiquette seminars for employees who may be able professionally but inexperienced socially.
1. Why do people tend to follow the trend to casual dining?
A. Family members need more time to relax.
B. Busy schedules leave people no time for formality.
C. People prefer to live a comfortable life.
D. Young people won’t follow the etiquette of the older generation.
2. It can be learned from the passage that Royal Doulton is ______.
A. a seller of stainless steel tableware B. a dealer in stoneware
C. a pottery chain store D. a producer of fine china
3. The main cause of the layoffs in the pottery industry is ______.
A. the increased value of the pound B. the worsening economy in Asia
C. the change in people’s way of life D. the fierce competition at home and abroad
4. Formal table manners, though less popular than before in current social life, ______.
A. are still a must on certain occasions B. are certain to return sooner or later
C. are still being taught by parents at home D. can help improve personal relationships

The global financial crisis is likely to cause increasing mental health problems and even suicides as people struggle to deal with poverty and unemployment, the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are already affected by mental problems such as depression and bipolar disorders and the current market meltdown (崩溃) could worsen feelings of despair among people who can’t stand such illnesses.
The United Nations agency said the impact could be especially marked for those living in low and middle income countries where access to treatment is often limited.
“We should not be surprised at the turbulence (动荡) and likely consequences of the current financial crisis. Now we are seeing a huge gap in taking care of people in great need, “WHO director general Margaret Chan told at a meeting of mental health experts.
“It should not come as a surprise that we continue to see more stresses, suicides and mental disorders,” Chan warned.
Ben Saraceno, director of WHO’s mental health, said mental health disorders affected one in four people at some point in their lives.
Mental and neurological disorders are often chronic (慢性的) and disabling, he said. Nearly 1 million people commit suicide worldwide every year, a large proportion of them are young adults.
Asked about the financial crisis, Saraceno said, “Poverty can be the consequence of such events, the debts, despair and sense of loss that may reach middle and lower classes. Even the poor can be affected by this crisis.”
“There is a clear evidence that suicide is linked to financial disasters. I am not talking about the millionaire’s jumping out of the window but about poor people,” he said. The global crisis could be expected to affect the “stability of communities and families”, according to Saraceno.
1. According to the passage, the chief result of the worldwide financial crisis is that ______.
A. more people will be poorer B. more people will be out of jobs
C. more people will suffer from mental problems D. more people will commit suicide
2. The United Nations agency worried that _____.
A. more rich people would commit suicide
B. the financial crisis might especially influence developing or underdeveloped countries
C. the current market meltdown could worsen feelings of despair
D. hundreds of millions of people in the world were already affected by mental problems
3. From the passage we can learn that _____.
A. far more work should be done to help those who are mentally ill
B. it will be surprising to see more people commit suicide
C. a mental disorder is a chronic disease
D. many more young adults commit suicide worldwide than people of other ages
4. The best title for the passage is ______.
A. Consequences of Global Financial Crisis
B. Mental Disorders Resulting From Global Financial Crisis
C. Suicides as a Result of Market Meltdown
D. Chronic Mental Disorders

The days of the hunter are almost over in India. This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken mainly by banning tiger-shooting to protect those animals which still survive.
Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree with this view. Surely our earliest forefathers, who at first possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.
I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpowering dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauty of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.
The greatest big-game hunters expressed in their writings something of these finer motives. One of them wrote:
“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it clearly and on the animal’s own territory. You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few years older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals. Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killing—not if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”
I can understand such beliefs, and can compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger-shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used. The so-called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits.
1. There is no more hunting in India now partly because ______.
A. it is dangerous to hunt there B. hunting is already out of date
C. hunters want to protect animals D. there are few animals left to hunt
2. The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly ______.
A. to make the countryside safe B. to earn people’ s admiration
C. to gain power and influenceD. to improve their health
3. What do we learn about the big-game hunters?
A. They hunt old animals. B. They mistreat animals.
C. They hunt for food. D. They hunt for money.
4. What is the author’s view on the tiger-shoots he has seen?
A. Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face.
B. Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons.
C. Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers.
D. Modern hunters should put their safety first.

Warning: reading too much Cinderella to your daughter may damage her emotional health in later life. A paper to be developed at the international congress of cognitive psychotherapy in Gothenburg suggests a link between the attitudes of women abused by their parents and early exposure to the wrong sort of fairy tales. It says girls who identified with Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast were more likely to stay in destructive relationships as adults.
The theory was developed by Susan Darker Smith, a psychotherapist at the University of Derby. She interviewed 67 female abuse survivors and found that 61 put up with severe abuse because they believed they could change their partners with patience, composition and love. The same view was taken by male survivors who had been abused as children. Hardly any of the women in a control group, who had not experienced abuse, thought they could change their partners in this way.
These women and men said they would leave a relationship rather than put up with abuse from a partner. Ms Darker Smith found the abused women were much more likely to identify with Cinderella and other submissive female characters in fairytales, who were later rescued by a stranger prince or hero.
Although most girls heard the stories, damage appeared to be done to those who adopted the characters as role models. “They believe if their love is strong enough they can change their parents’ behaviors,” she said. “Overexposure in children to stories that emphasize the transformational qualities of love may make women believe they can change their partners.” For example, they might never have understood the obvious flaw in the story of Rapunzel, who remained locked in a high tower until rescued by a knight on a white horse, who broke the door down. “The question,” said Ms Darker Smith, “is why she did not break the door down herself.”
1. The passage is especially intended for ______.
A. parents with young daughters B. girls who like reading fairy stories
C. girls who think they can change their partners D. parents with grown-up daughters
2. Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast are similar in that ______.
A. they all married some princes B. they all changed their partners with love
C. they were all abused by their partners D. they all put up with abuse
3. Which of the following statements is true of the women in a control group?
A. They don’t believe in fairy tales.
B. They don’t believe in the transformational qualities of love.
C. They have also experienced abuse.
D. They survived abuse.
4. What does the underlined word “submissive” in the 3rd paragraph probably mean?
A. kind-hearted B. passive C. gentle D. easy-going