By Jerilyn Watson Broadcast: February 14, 2010.
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember. And I’m Faith Lapidus. February fourteenth is Valentine’s Day. So this is a good time to play some love songs as we explore the subject of dating.
VOICE ONE: Valentine’s Day is a special time for love. Millions of people will receive flowers, chocolate or some other gifts. Others might get just a phone call or an electronic message from someone they care about. Still others would be happy just to have someone special in their life on Valentine’s Day.
VOICE TWO: Traditionally, there are many ways for people to meet. Some meet at work. Others meet by chance. Still others look for help from services that bring people together. Friends and family members might offer to help. They might plan a blind date. This is a meeting between two people who have never seen each other before. A lot of people try to improve their chances by looking in places where people with similar interests go, such as a place of religion, a bookstore, health club and sports team where men and women play together.
VOICE THREE: Internet dating services had been growing sharply through the end of 2009. But people do no always tell the truth about themselves online. And they do not exactly tell about their age, for example, they might offer an old picture instead. People who meet through computer services may not have to give their full name or e-mail address at first. Relationships that begin over the Internet do sometimes lead to marriage. Yet there is a risk anytime strangers meet. It could be a danger, or simply an unpleasant surprise. A young woman in Washington D.C was angry after seeing a date she met over the Internet. In his picture , he looked twenty-five or thirty years old. In reality, she said, he was old enough to be her father.
72. The topic of the VOA broadcast program is probably________.
A. Valentine’s Day B. how to make friends in daily life.
C. dating between men and women D. how to keep your marriage.
73. In VOICE TWO, which of the following ways of dating is NOT mentioned by the speaker in the text?
A. Meeting by chance or at work
B. Meeting with the help of media
C. Meeting with the help of the services
D. Meeting with the help of friends and family
74.The speaker think Internet dating may be a risk, danger, or simply unpleasant surprise because___________.
A. people can’t know each other’s real name
B. people can’t know each other’s address
C. the computer don’t give their full name or e-mail address at first
D. people don’t always tell the truth about themselves online.
75.From the text, we can infer that the speaker is likely to _______dating online.
A. appreciate B. hate C. suggest D. hold a negative attitude
Almost 70 percent of Chinese middle school students have serious problems with their parents, the Beijing Morning Post quoted a survey as saying.
The survey showed 6.62 percent of the surveyed students are afraid of their parents while 13.13 percent of them dislike their parents and 56.28 percent were extremely disgusted with or even hate their parents. Only 4.75 percent of the young people surveyed said they like their parents.
The recently conducted survey among 3,000 middle school students in a Beijing district asked questions about their attitude toward their parents and family education, the paper said.
For many families, conflict between parents and children center on the student's school grades, their weight and their friends. The survey showed that parental influence over children is decreasing, the paper said.
Xiao Xiao, a third year junior middle school student is perhaps typical of most kids when she complains; "I was scolded by my mother because I didn't come first in the class in a mid-term exam."
Xiao Xiao in fact is already one of the top students in her class, the paper said, stressing Xiao Xiao's parents hope she can study at the Beijing University or even attend Harvard in the future.
Sun Yunxiao, an expert with the China Youth and Children Research Center, said "parents expect unrealistically high expectations from their children."
The research centre's own survey of parents showed about 55 percent of parents hope their children will study for a doctoral degree and 83.6 percent require their children to rank in the top 15 of their class.
Conflicts between parents and their children not only come from too high education expectations. Other causes of disconnection between parents and children are family violence, parents' old fashioned ideas, interference in a child's privacy including their choice of friends and time spent surfing the web, the paper said.
Mr Hu, a father of a middle school student, wasn't surprised by the survey results. He says too much concern over school marks is putting tremendous pressure on families. How many young people surveyed said they like their parents?
| A．39390. | B．19860. |
| C．14250 | D．168840 |
What is the central conflict between parents and children in many families?
| A．Family violence and divorce. |
| B．Parents’ old fashioned ideas. |
| C．Interference in a child’s privacy. |
| D．Students’ school grades, weight and friends. |
Xiao Xiao is mentioned as an example to show that ______ .
| A．parental influence over children is decreasing. |
| B．one should study hard to attend Beijing University as a student. |
| C．Parents today expect too high from their children. |
| D．today’s children spend too much time surfing the web. |
As is indicated in the passage, _______ .
| A．Most parents require their children to be the top ones in the class. |
| B．More and more parents have old fashioned ideas. |
| C．More and more families got divorced due to the high education expectations. |
| D．Most parents hope their children will attend Harvard in the future. |
A new word has suddenly become wildly popular in China - "tuhao" - which loosely translated means "nouveau riche". There have been more than 100 million references to the word "tuhao" on social media since early September.
It's being used to describe everything from the new People's Daily building, to expensive celebrity weddings full of bling, and the new gold-coloured iPhone.
In Chinese "tu" means earth and "hao" means rich. To say someone is tuhao is to imply they come from a poor peasant background, and have made it rich quick - but don't quite have the manners, or sophistication to go along with it. It's like the term "nouveau riche", says Professor Steve Tsang at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies in Nottingham - but has even more negative meanings, suggesting a certain vulgarity(粗俗).
"Tuhao" is actually an old word - dating back perhaps as far as the Southern Dynasty 1,500 years ago - but it has always meant something rather different. During the communist revolution, from the 1920s to early 1950s, it was widely used to refer to landholders and gentry who would bully（欺负） those beneath them.
This new usage of the term took off in September after a widely-shared joke about a rich, but unhappy man, who goes to a Buddhist monk for advice, expecting to be told to live a more simple life. The monk replies instead with the phrase: "Tuhao, let's be friends!"
Chinese internet users are highly creative in their use of language, and are constantly inventing, and re-inventing words as a way of getting past censorship(审查) rules. But in this case, its popularity seems to be down to the fact that it expresses China's changing society so well - many people sneer at those with wealth, but are secretly jealous. What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Tuhao, a new popular word in China |
| B．The long history of Tuhao |
| C．The new usage of Tuhao |
| D．Tuhao, a newly-invented Chinese word |
Which of the following may NOT be considered “tuhao”?
| A．A vulgar nouveau riche |
| B．A bully landholder |
| C．A quick-rich peasant without proper manners |
| D．A Buddhist monk. |
The last but one paragraph mainly tells us ______.
| A．what the new usage of the word is |
| B．how the word becomes popular again |
| C．why the unhappy man went to the Buddhist monk |
| D．what advice the monk gave the unhappy man |
What does the underlined word in the last paragraph mean?
| A．respect | B．envy |
| C．laugh | D．disbelieve |
When you are traveling in Thailand，which means of transport is the best choice?
You can rent a variety of motorbikes or bikes in Thailand.It seems to be very popular in most of the beaches and islands along the places in the north.The most popular bikes are the little 125 cc Honda Dream which you can get for about 150 baht(铢)a day or as little as 3，000 baht per month，making it the cheapest way to tour Thailand for the people from other countries.
Sometimes you will have to go somewhere by taxi.When you are in cities in Thailand，especially in Bangkok，always remember to get a taxi that is going on the roads.Some drivers outside hotels refuse to use the milometer(计程表)．They will ask a price which is several times the price when they use the meter!
The quality of the roads in Thailand is generally pretty good，so renting cars is another way to get around.The big car rental companies may offer you slightly older cars at a very reasonable(合理的)price.It is a little surprising considering that the cost of buying a car in Thailand is more than that in the West.Petrol is also reasonably priced in Thailand，more expensive than American prices，but much cheaper than what is paid in Europe.In the past，Bangkok could be a difficult place to drive in—signs were generally in Thai only，making it a hard job to find exactly where you were by looking around.But now，the situation is improved.In a lot of places，even the farthest corners of the country，street signs are in both Thai and English.What is the writer's advice about taking a taxi in Thailand?
| A．To take a taxi driving on the road. |
| B．To take a taxi parked outside hotels. |
| C．To make sure there is a meter in it. |
| D．To bargain with the driver over the price. |
It was difficult to drive in Bangkok in the past because ________．
| A．there were too many traffic jams on the roads |
| B．there were no signs showing directions |
| C．the signs were written only in their own language |
| D．the quality of the roads was not good |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Renting a car to get around Thailand is very expensive. |
| B．Tourists can only rent a motorbike in the beaches and islands. |
| C．The price of petrol in Thailand is lower than that in Europe. |
| D．Cars in Thailand are cheaper than those in the West. |
In which part of a magazine can this passage be found?
| A．Entertainment. | B．Tourism. |
| C．Market. | D．Advertisement. |
My grandmother Adele loved culture and was generous with its gifts. When I was a child, she took me to museums, restaurants, dances. She showered me with gifts from her travels around the world. But I can only remember her giving me one book ― a book that, to this day, I have not read. She presented me with her own favorite childhood book: Hans Brinker. My grandmother was happy to share this book with me. She even decorated the title page with her proud writing.
I tried to read it. I adored reading, and would dive into a new pile of books from the library all at once. But something about Hans Brinker just wouldn’t let me in. The story was set in Holland, a long time ago. It felt dull and unfamiliar ― even though I was a fan of classics of other times and places. I simply read the first pages over and over. I could not progress.
Standing on a bookshelf in our living room, the book was like something I avoided. It scolded me for not being interested, for not trying hard enough, for disappointing my grandmother.
The book started to fit in, almost forgotten, until Adele asked. Had I read it? Did I like it? Always determined, she wanted to know the answer. I would make some kind of excuse, feel bad, and open it again, hoping for a new reaction. The book weighed on me.
Years passed and finally Adele and I both accepted that I would never read Hans Brinker. Eventually I cleared the book from the shelf. The Hans Brinker experience led me to set a rule that I’ve lived by ever since: Do not ask about a book given as a gift. Don’t ask, despite your desire to discuss it to grow closer. The desire for such connection is what gives book-giving with special meaning ― and increases the owner’s possibility to be a letdown.
Guilt is basically the same as for all gifts, though. If the giver doesn’t have the pleasure of seeing or hearing about the gift being enjoyed, and asks whether it is, then the owner ― unless she can truthfully say “yes” ― either has to admit to not liking the present, or else lie on the spot. Neither is pleasant. So, don’t ask.When the author was a kid, his grandmother ________.
| A．took him to travel around the world a lot |
| B．loved to take him to museums and stores |
| C．shared her childhood stories with him |
| D．gave him many gifts |
What does the author think about the book his grandmother gave him?
| A．Boring. | B．Interesting. |
| C．Puzzling. | D．Disappointing. |
The underlined sentence “The book weighed on me” in Paragraph 4 probably means
________.
| A．the book is too heavy for the author to carry |
| B．the author feels stressful facing the book |
| C．the book is full of powerful viewpoints |
| D．the author keeps reading the book |
The author learns from the Hans Brinker’s experience that never ________.
| A．give others books as gifts |
| B．lie to people who give you gifts |
| C．get close to others through gifts |
| D．talk about the books given as gifts |
To Friend or Not to Friend
We all love our parents and turn to them when we’re in need, but would you like them to hear the conversations you have with your friends on the school playground or lunch queue? Social networking sites have become extensions of the school hallways, so would you add your parents as “friends” and allow them to view your online activities and conversations with friends?
In the past the generation gap included a technology gap, where children were up to date with latest technology and parents were left behind, content to continue their day to day lives as they always had because they had no need to know more about technology. However, more and more parents are beginning to realize just how important social networks are in their lives. This realization has given many parents the motivation to educate themselves about social networking sites.
These days many people are attracted to social networking sites because they can choose who they have around them; there’s also a certain amount of control over privacy that we don’t get in real life. Sometimes we feel that privacy is violated when we must accept a “friend” request from a parent or family member.
It’s a difficult choice whether or not to allow a parent to become a part of our online lives. On the one hand we don’t want to “reject” their request because that might hurt their feelings or make them feel you have something to hide. On the other hand if you do accept, then you could have a sense of being watched and no longer feel free to comment or communicate the way you did before.
A recent survey suggested that parents shouldn’t take it personally if their child ignores their request: “When a teen ignores a parent’s friend request, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are hiding something, but it could mean that this is one part of their life where they want to be independent.”
Perhaps talking with parents and giving explanations would help soften the blow if you do choose not to add them to your friends list.From Paragraph 2, we learn that ________.
| A．parents feel secure about their privacy online |
| B．social networks successfully fill the generation gap |
| C．parents have realized the importance of social networks |
| D．social networks offer a platform for parents to communicate |
Teenagers may refuse a parent’s friend request because ________.
| A．they hide something from their parents |
| B．they are unwilling to be watched by parents |
| C．their parents tend to fall behind in technology |
| D．their parents make negative comments on them |
The passage is mainly about ________.
| A．privacy online |
| B．social networks |
| C．the generation gap |
| D．parents’ friend requests |
The passage is written mainly for ________.
| A．parents | B．teenagers |
| C．teachers | D．researchers |