Stepfamilies are commonplace in the United States and their number continues to grow．While stepfamilies differ widely in their make-up， they all consist of a parenting couple and children， one or more of whom is of a previous union．Such combinations of his kids， her kids， and then， possibly， kids of the new union make for complicated and often trying difficulties， more challenging than those of traditional families．
Since stepfamilies involve more people and， consequently， more potential problems from the start than do childless new marriage， it is wise for the couple to do some careful planning prior to （＝before） marriage．Not only do the prospective（预期的） marital partners need agreement about their own carriers， life goals， finance and special interests， they must also prepare for new relationship with their children and attempt to accommodate their individual needs and feelings．Furthermore， there are often the rights of other relatives to consider．
As for any family， the basic ingredient（成分） of a successful stepfamily are affection， kindness and mutual（相互的） respect．However， love alone is not enough．Certainly love is the cornerstone upon which the foundation of any family is built， but there are also many other important ingredients involved in building a successful stepfamily．
Surveys reveal that successful families regard the ability to communicate openly as the most important factor in their success．Communication is what keeps families on track and functioning as a unit．Although healthy communication is easier for some people than for others， this skill can be learned and improved．Healthy communication involves speaking clearly and listening carefully．
By their very nature， stepfamilies often are complicated by past events that give rise to ambivalent（矛盾的） loyalties， lingering（持久的） hurts， fears，feelings of guilt and unrealistic dreams．The difficulties that arise within the stepfamilies are human and understandable．However， there are ways to confront（面临） and resolve them．For example， support groups and professional counselors（法律顾问） are available in most communities to provide help and guidance when communications stopped and problems seem overwhelming（压倒性的）．
Planning and building a stepfamily is not a responsibility to take lightly．It can be a very trying and， at times， seemingly impossible effort．Many potential troubles can arise and threaten to destroy the stepfamily．Nevertheless， meeting and mastering these special challenges can bring unexpected satisfactions and rewarding depths of family closeness and affection．According to the passage， there are in the United States．
| A．no stepfamilies |
| B．more stepfamilies than ever before |
| C．fewer stepfamilies than ever before |
| D．fewer stepfamilies than traditional ones |
Which of the following can help avoid the potential problems arising in a stepfamily？
| A．The pursuit of the same careers． |
| B．Professional interventions（干涉）． |
| C．The development of special interests． |
| D．Careful planning before the marriage． |
Many people believe that contributes most to the building of a successful stepfamily．
| A．everlasting loyalties |
| B．open communication |
| C．kindness and mutual respect |
| D．persistent（持久稳固的） affection |
It is natural for a stepfamily to be ．
| A．unrealistic |
| B．complicated |
| C．ambivalent |
| D．guilty |
According to the author， planning and building a stepfamily is ．
| A．impossible |
| B．satisfying and rewarding |
| C．discouraging and frustrating |
| D．a difficult and trying experience |
Fear can be a wonderful feeling in our lives, protecting us from dangerous situations and keeping us safe. But fear can also limit our lives significantly. While it may not be conscious, fear may make us think we are unacceptable or that what we have to offer isn’t valuable. Fear may make us feel that we are not safe being ourselves.
To avoid feeling fear, we may limit our lives greatly, living in tiny boxes. Living this way gives us the illusion(假象) of safety but leaves us with an unfulfilling life of no passion. If we shine a light on many of our fears, we see they have a very limited view of what is “safe” and how to “protect” us. Many of our fears are concerned only with protecting us from humiliation(羞辱) and failure. While these fears are doing their jobs incredibly well, they are doing so with faulty and outdated programming. Many fears we have as adults are trying to protect us as they protected us when we were children. Indeed, many of our current, automatic reactions to fear were actually formed when we were children.
Even so, it’s important not to judge ourselves for feeling these types of fears. If we judge ourselves, we will bury our fears or disguise them. By denying our fears, however, we also deny our energy, creativity and passion.
So what do we do with fear? We recognize the fear for what it is--- a feeling we’ve experienced many times in the past and a feeling we will experience many times in the future. We become very familiar with our own particular brand of fears and how we allow them to control our lives. It is especially beneficial for each of us to become aware of the particular behavior patterns we’ve adopted when we feel fear, so we can look at our reactions with a sense of humor and compassion. Then, if we wish, we can choose a different response, which can be a scary yet very exciting experience.
66. According to the first paragraph, fear sometimes.
A. protect us when we’ve made mistakes B. makes sure our feelings are not hurt
C. brings great change to our everyday life D. makes us lose confidence in ourselves
67. It can be inferred from the passage that the author.
A. thinks it difficult to control our fear B. believes fears protect us negatively
C. thinks it’s good to criticize ourselves D. values the advantages of feeling fear
68. According to the author, the ways we react to fear.
A. vary from person to person B. have been formed since childhood
C. develop during our growth D. will not change until we get old
69.The last paragraph mainly tells us.
A. what is the essence of fearsB. usual reactions we have when feeling fear
C. how to deal with fears reasonably D. the importance of humor and compassion
70.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Is fear managing your life? B. Be calm when feeling fear
C. What do you fear most? D. Passion, chance and fear
In Japan many workers who work in large corporations have a guarantee of lifetime employment. During their employment, they will not be laid off during recessions(经济萧条) or when the tasks they perform are taken over by robots. To some observers, this is what they call capitalism at its best, because workers are treated as people not things. Others see it as necessarily inefficient and they also believe it cannot continue if Japan is to remain competitive with foreign corporations by being more concerned about profits and less concerned about people.
Defenders of the system argue that those who call it inefficient do not understand how it really works. In the first place not every Japanese worker has the guarantee of a lifetime job. The lifetime employment system includes only “regular employees”. Many employees are not included in this category, including all women. All businesses have many part-time and temporary employees. These workers are hired and laid off during the course of the business cycle just as employees in the United States are. These “irregular workers” make up about 10 percent of the non-agricultural work force. Additionally, Japanese firms keep some flexibility through the large-scale use of subcontractors（转承包者）. This practice is much more common in Japan than in the United States.
The use of both subcontractors and temporary workers has increased remarkably in Japan since the 1974-1975 recessions. All this leads some people to argue that the Japanese system is not all that different from the American system. During recessions Japanese corporations lay off temporary workers and give less business to subcontractors. In the United States, corporations lay off those workers with the least seniority(资历). The difference then is probably less than the term “lifetime employment” suggests, but there still is a difference. And this difference cannot be understood without looking at the values of Japanese society. The relationship between employer and employee cannot be explained in purely contractual(合同的) terms. Firms hold on to the employees and employees stay with one firm. There are also practical reasons for not jumping from job to job. Most retirement benefits come from the employer. Changing jobs means losing these benefits. Also, teamwork is an essential part of Japanese production. Moving to a new firm means adapting to a different team and at least temporarily, possessing lower productivity and lower pay.
61.It is stated in the second paragraph that ____.
A. defenders themselves do not appreciate the system
B. about 90% of “irregular workers” are employed in agriculture
C. the business cycle occurs more often in Japan and in the U.S.
D. not all employees can benefit from the policy
62. During recessions those who are to be fired first in the U.S. corporations are ____.
A. regular employees B. part-time workers
C. junior employees D. temporary workers
63. According to the passage, Japanese firms are remarkably different from American firms in that the former ____.
A. use subcontractors in larger amount
B. are less flexible in terms of lifetime employment
C. hold on to the values of society
D. are more efficient in competition than the latter
64. Which of the following does NOT account for the fact that a Japanese worker is unwilling to change his job?
A. He will probably be low-paid.
B. He will not be able to possess some job benefits.
C. He has got used to the teamwork.
D. He will be looked down upon by his prospective employer.
65. Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
A. The guarantee of employment in Japan
B. The consequence of the Japanese system
C. The advantages of lifetime employment in Japan
D. The expectations of capitalism
NEW YORK---One in five U.S. workers regularly attends after-work drinks with coworkers, where the most common mishaps range from badmouthing another worker to drinking too much, according to a study released on Tuesday.
Most workers attend so-called happy hours to bond with colleagues, although 15 percent go to hear the latest office gossip and 13 percent go because they feel necessary, said the survey conducted for CareerBuilder. com, an online job site. As to what happens when the after-work drinks flow, 16 percent reported bad-mouthing a colleague, 10 percent shared a secret about a colleague and 8 percent said they drank too much and acted unprofessionally. Five percent said they had shared a secret about the company, and 4 percent confessed to singing karaoke. While 21 percent of those who attended said happy hours were good for networking, 85 percent said attending had not helped them get closer to someone higher up or get a better position. An equal number of men and women said they attended happy hours with co-workers, with younger workers aged 25 to 34 most likely and workers over 55 least likely to attend. Overall, 21 percent of workers attend happy hours with co-workers and; of those nearly a quarter go at least once a month.
The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder. com among 6,987 full-time employees between February 11 and March 13. Harris Interactive said the results had a sampling error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
56. Harris Interactive made the survey to find out .
A. how U.S. workers spend their after-work time
B. what U.S. workers do at after-work drinks
C. the relationships between U.S. workers
D. who are most likely to attend after-work drinks
57. of workers who attend after-work drinks speak ill of a colleague.
A. 4 percent B. 8 percent C. 16 percent D. 10 percent
58. According to the passage, most of those surveyed believed attending after-work drinks .
A.benefited them a lot B. could provide information
C.only made them relaxedD. was of no help to them
59. We can learn from the text that .
A. workers over 55 don’t like to attend happy hours at all
B. about 75% of workers go more than once a month
C. 10.5% of male workers attend happy hours with co-workers
D. about 700 workers surveyed shared a secret about a co-worker
60. After the survey, it can be inferred that.
A. all the workers oppose after-work drinks
B. the workers may change their attitudes towards after-work drinks
C. all the workers support after-work drinks
D. all the workers are suggested going to attend after-work drinks
Babies born in summer are more likely to become short-sighted in late life, a study has shown.
As many as a quarter of all cases of short-sightedness are caused by too great an exposure to sunlight in the first weeks of life, say eye experts.
They are advising all parents to put sunglasses on their babies during the first weeks.
Scientists had already established that over-exposure to sunlight caused shortsightedness in animals.
Researchers who compared the months in which babies were born with whether they needed glasses later on say the principle also applies to humans.
A study of almost 300,000 young adults-the largest of its kind-showed that those born in June and July had a 25 per cent greater chance of becoming severely short-sighted than those born in December or January.
Research leader Professor Michael Belkin, of Tel Aviv University, said it was because prolonged illumination(光照) causes the eyeball to lengthen-causing short-sightedness.
Hence the more light a newborn is exposed to, the more the eyeball lengthens and the worse the short-sightedness will be.
The mechanism which lengthens the eyeball is associated with levels of melatonin(褪黑激素), a pigment (色素) which protects the skin against harmful rays of the sun.
In young babies not enough melatonin is released as protection, meaning they are more vulnerable to sunburn and changes to eyeball shape.
Sight expert Professor Daniel O’Leary, of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said “At the moment we don’t know the precise cause of why light exposure affects sight, but the evidence seems to prove that it is one of the reasons for people becoming shortsighted.”
67. Babies born in summer are more likely to be shortsighted ____________.
A. because the summer sun is too strong for babies
B. because babies born in summer have lengthened eyeballs
C. if they are exposed to much sunlight in the first weeks after they are born
D. if parents don’t know a proper way to protect their babies’ eyes
68. Melatonin is a kind of material to ___________.
A. prevent the eyes from becoming near-sighted
B. protect the skin from harmful sun rays
C. make our body strong
D. protect babies’ eyes from summer sun
69.From what Professor Daniel O’Leary says we can conclude that ___________.
A. there is no evidence that shortsightedness is related to exposure to sunlight
B. whether light exposure affects sight still needs to be further proved
C. he believes that light exposure can cause shortsightedness
D. he tries to give the cause of why light exposure affects sight
70.The underlined word “vulnerable” in the passage probably means __________.
A. easy to be harmed B. resistant
C. protective D. changeable
We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. But most mistakes are about people. "Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?" "When I got that great job, did Jim really feel good about it, as a friend? Or did he envy my luck? “And Paul, why didn't pick up that he was friendly just because I had a car?" When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad. But when we look back, it's too late.
Why do we go wrong about our friends—or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don't really listen we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, "You're a lucky dog, "and that's being friendly. But "lucky dog"? There's a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn't see it himself. But bringing in the "dog" bit puts you down a little, what he may be saying is that he doesn't think you deserve your luck.
"Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for" is another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn't important. It's telling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven't got a date for Saturday night.
How can you tell the real meaning behind someone’s words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save another mistake.
62. This passage is mainly about ______.
A. how to interpret what people say
B. what to do when you listen to others talking
C. why we go wrong with people and how to avoid these mistakes
D. why we go wrong with people sometimes
63. According to the author, the reason why we go wrong about our friends is that .
A. we fail to listen carefully when they talk
B. we tend to doubt what our friends say
C. people tend to be annoyed when we check what they say
D. people usually state one thing but mean another.
64. The underlined word "it" in the second paragraph refers to______.
A. being friendly B. a bit of envy C. lucky dog D. your luck
65. When we listen to a person talking, the most important thing for us to do is __.
A. notice the way the person is talking
B. take a good look at the person talking
C. mind his tone, his posture and the look in his eyes
D. examine the real meaning of what he says based on his manner, his tone and his posture
66. The author is most probably a ______.
A. teacher B. psychologist C. philosopher D. doctor