When I was small and my grandmother died I couldn’t understand why I had no tears. But that night when my dad tried to cheer me up, my laugh turned into crying.
So it came as no surprise to learn that researchers believe crying and laughing come from the same part of the brain. Just as laughing has many health advantages, scientists are discovering that crying does so, too.
Whatever it takes for us to reduce pressure is important to our emotional (情感的) health, and crying seems to be helpful. Study found that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after crying.
Besides, tears attract help from other people. Researchers agree that when we cry, people around us become kinder and more friendly and they are more ready to provide support and comfort. Tears also enable us to understand our emotions better; sometimes we don’t even know we’re very sad until we cry. We learn about our emotions through crying, and then we can deal with them.
Just as crying can be healthy, not crying — holding back tears of anger, pain or suffering — can be bad for physical health. Studies have shown that too much control of emotions can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and some other illnesses. If you have a health problem, doctors will certainly not ask you to cry. But when you feel like crying, don’t fight it. It’s a natural — and healthy — emotional response (反应). Why didn’t the author cry when her grandmother died?
A.Because her father did not want her to feel too sad. |
B.Because she did not love her grandmother. |
C.Because she was too shy to cry at that time. |
D.The author doesn’t give the explanation. |
It can be inferred from the text that ______.
A.there are two ways to keep healthy |
B.crying does more good to health than laughing |
C.crying and laughing play the same roles |
D.emotional health has a close relationship to physical health |
According to the author, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.Crying is the best way to get help from others. |
B.Fighting back tears may cause some health problems. |
C.We will never know our deep feelings unless we cry. |
D.We must cry if we want to reduce pressure. |
What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A.Power of Tears | B.How to Keep Healthy |
C.Why Do We Cry | D.A New Scientific Discovery |
Some young Cambodians are learning a new sport — skateboarding. The country’s first skateboard park is located on the grounds of a local charity group at the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital.
Sports like Khmer boxing and soccer are wildly popular in Cambodia. But Chea ,who has been skating for 6 months ,says skating has already become his favorite sport.
The skaters are learning tricks like launching off a jump or half-pipe and flying through the air on their narrow wooden boards.
A non-governmental organization called Skateistan Cambodia organizes weekly programs at the park. Skateistan started its work in Afghanistan years ago. Rory Burke is working with the group which expanded to Cambodia last year.
Rory Burke points out, “Yeah, it’s definitely not a typical Cambodian pastime (消遣).And I think the idea of ‘why skateboarding’is that it’s not been done before here. We want to use skateboarding as something saying, ‘Hey,this is new ,this is something different.,And that kind of itself becomes a little bit of hook. People see it and they think and they say, ‘Wow, what is that?,and they want to get involved. ”
Skateistan partners with local groups that work with young people. The park is on the grounds of the group known as PSE, where children attend school and learn a trade. There are almost one hundred twenty participants. They all come from troubled lives.
Seventeen-year-old Sang Rotha is a student at PSE. “Sometimes I don’t do well on subjects like math,”he says, “I feel bad when I find it hard to keep up with my lessons. So that is why I skateboard -to improve my bad feelings. ’,
He says he began skateboarding more than a year ago. Before he started training, it seemed very easy. But it was very difficult to learn tricks, and he got hurt a lot from falling off.
Rory Burke says learning to deal with the difficulties is part of the lesson for these young skateboarders.According to the passage, PSE is a group ______.
A. that works with Cambodian students |
B. for young Cambodians to learn a trade |
C. for young Cambodians in troubled lives |
D. for young Cambodians taking skateboarding |
What is said about skateboarding in the passage?
A. It is easy for young Cambodians to learn. |
B. It is a good sport to help regain good feeling. |
C. It originated in Afghanistan years ago. |
D. It is as popular as Khmer boxing in Cambodia. |
The underlined part a little bit of hook probably means ______.
A. something strange | B.something quite new |
C. something different | D.something attractive |
It can be inferred from the passage that skateboarding is becoming ______.
A. a sport liked by most young Cambodians |
B. an increasingly popular sport in Cambodia |
C. a sport used to better young Cambodians’ life |
D. a good way to train young Cambodians’ learning skills |
People think what I do is so wonderful because I interview stars. And I have to admit that when I first started working at Sassy in 1987 I was excited about that part of my job for the first couple of months,anyway. Then I noticed how stars would fool me around for months. I could never get enough time with a star to find out anything interesting, and some acted just simply rudely. I started hating the way I was treated, and I was really disappointed to see that these people I had worshipped (崇拜)before were pretty ordinary. So I decided I would just tell the truth instead of keeping up their myths(神秘).If the star was a bad guy, I would say so. If I thought anyone was stupid, I did not hold back that information.
I thought readers would appreciate that kind of honesty. Surprisingly, many of them hated me for it. I have gotten so many attacks on my character. In their eyes,being famous is everything, even more desirable than being truly creative and talented
Why do we need stars? In fact, the media created stars to satisfy our basic need for gossip (闲话).Over time, talking about people we have never met and we are never likely to meet has become what we are crazy about. Thus, some people are more interested in the personal lives of the stars than in the lives of their own family and their own friends. That is why it is so ridiculous when a star wants to discuss only his or her work in an interview -as we care. We want the dirt on their personal lives.
There is another reason we worship stars. As a whole, our society is not as religious as it once was. It seems that people need something to fulfill them the way religion once did. Star worship exists as an unfulfilling desire for true heroes.
We make them stars, but then their reputation makes us feel unimportant, and we truly feel better about ourselves when they die. I am part of this whole process. No wonder I feel soiled at the end of workday.What are the stars like according to the author?
A. They always treat others rudely. |
B. They always talk about something dull. |
C. They are acutually ordinary people. |
D. They are usually honest and polite, |
We worship stars because ______.
A, we need true mental heroes to support us
B. we can learn something useful from famous stars
C. we concern about the stars ,family and friends
D. we like talking about the stars ,dressing stylesWhen the author is writing this article ,his tone sounds ______.
A, excited B. angry C. worried D. calmWhat is the main purpose of the author writing the passage?
A. To show the disadvantages of working with stars. |
B. To remind us not to worship famous stars blindly. |
C. To laugh at the failures of stars he has interviewed. |
D. To talk about the reasons why we worship stars. |
A father in Wuhan, nicknamed "Eagle Dad" for his controversial parenting style, has dismissed critics' claims that he pushes his 4-year-old son too hard.
Police officer Wang Shaoyan came under the spotlight this month after his child took part in an 18-kilometer race in the Hubei provincial capital.
Some parents attacked his methods of extreme physical training, while others reacted strongly to his admission that he regularly exposes the youngster to cold showers. "I just want my son to reach his full potential," Wang said, adding that 4-year-old son not only runs 3 km every day he also takes cold showers from time to time to strengthen his body's resistance and willpower.
"He has never taken any sick leave from kindergarten," he said proudly. However, some parents find his methods too extreme.
"I'm not sure a 4-year-old is prepared for such intense training," said Zhang Ruxia a woman who gave birth to two boys in October in Tianjin. "You can have good intentions to train your child at an early age but you also have to consider whether he can take it." Wang responded by saying children are too young to make decisions, and it is up to parents to lead them on the right path.
"I read many materials before and the whole process is step-by-step without pushing or imposing on my son," Wang said. The father said he was not acting rashly but following a scientific way of education. He said the doubts about his methods reflect the declining standards of modern education.
"Many people in Japan give their children cold showers too ,and no one is fussing about it," he said. The traditional way of education applied by most of his peers might not necessarily help bring the best out of a child he said.
Wang said in addition to the physical training, he has also laid out a detailed and particular program to strengthen the intelligence of the child. "I have hired some university students to expand his knowledge in natural sciences, while playing the video for English-language teaching as well," he said.For what reason was Wang made known to the public?
A.He employed some college students to teach his son. |
B.He made his kid take a long distance race. |
C.He exposed his 4-year-old to cold showers. |
D.He forced his youngster to run 3 km every day. |
Which statement is supported by the parents who hold the opposite opinion?
A.Extreme physical training can explore children's full potentials. |
B.Taking cold showers regularly is beneficial for children's development. |
C.It's up to parents to lead children on the right path. |
D.The way to educate children should agree with their age. |
What does the phrase "fussing about” probably mean in the 8th paragraph?
A.Minding about. | B.Paying attention to. |
C.Laughing at. | D.Talking about. |
In Eagle Dad’s opinion, his extreme parenting was questioned because____.
A.he didn’t take it step by step in a scientific way |
B.the highly tense work-out was misunderstood |
C.modern education is not challenging enough |
D.some parents were jealous of his success |
I moved from Chicago to Brooklyn in July of 2010,just in time to watch my mother die. Our parents were both gone now; I took with me as many things they had left behind as I could.
I was out walking one Saturday later that summer when something caught my eye - a pale green dress. Laid out on the pavement was stuff like earrings, glass candle-holders, books. Hanging on the fence behind were a few pairs of jeans and a green cotton dress.
The woman, the host o£ the stoop (门廊)sale, looked like she was getting rid of a past she didn’t need or want. A dress that was too big for her. A chest of drawers that took up too much space, space she needed, maybe, to heal ,recover, or grow.
I wasn’t planning on buying anything really, but now I needed to show her that I appreciated her things and I would give them a safe home. Then I had my first stoop sale —I paid her 20 dollars for her green cotton dress and her blue candle-holder,
From that day on, I became interested in stoop sales. Some of my favorite things are from someone else’s life. I find no joy in shopping at regular stores any more. I love trying to sniff out a memory from a bud vase or a drawer. It is comforting to know that someone has breathed and laughed inside a sweater before me.
A few weeks ago, I carried my mother’s dresses to a friend’s stoop. These were her best items ,which were once worn by the most important person in my life. For many hours, I watched from across the path people advancing the stoop, some leaving with Mom1S dress. I used to think that her stuff was as forever sacred (神圣的)as my memory of her, I know now that once I love a scarf or shirt too dearly,it needs to find a new home. Even that green dress is long gone by now.The author took her mother*s dresses after her death because ______
A.she valued the things used by her mom |
B.she didn’t want to throw them, away |
C. she could sell them later |
D. they were her mom’s best items |
From the passage, we know that ______.
A. the things the author bought from the woman are too big |
B. the author is fond of imagining others’ life experiences |
C. the author will never shop at regular stores any more |
D. the author still keeps most of her mom’s things |
In the last paragraph ,the author tries to tell us that ______.
A her mom is the number one person in her life
B. she didn’t really want to sell her mom’s dresses
C. she still thinks of her mother quite often
D. love doesn’t mean holding on to something tightlyIt can be inferred that the author will ______.
A. not sell her own things at stoop sales |
B.keep her mom in her mind in another way |
C. be sad about all the memory of her mom |
D. move to another city for a new life |
Stay-at home careers are the preferred way to earn a living for those who like to set their own hours and be their own boss, mothers of young children, and those who like to avoid office politics. There are plenty of opportunities to earn from home. Even if you earn little first, the quality of life should make up for the loss of income. Take a look at the following choices for home-birds:
Online tutoring—You can earn anything from Rs 8,000 to 30,000 a month if you are a qualified teacher with computer and communication skills. The subjects in demand these days are math, English, physics, chemistry and biology. You can either teach part-time (4 hours) or full-time (9 hours).
Freelance writers—You have a good writing skills but don’t have time to work a nine-to-five job? You can still use your skills and earn a good amount of money. Many companies these days require good writers. One can earn up to Rs 8,000 to 50,000.
Online-traders—Earn a lot of money by share trading. Just clear the NCFM (Capital Market) exam and you can start trading. You can bring in Rs 10,000 to 1000,000 per month.
Designers—If you have the creative skills and a creative gift, try becoming a designer. Designers are required in different fields. One can earn nearly Rs 8,000 to 20,000 per month.According to the passage, those who likes stay-at-home careers ________.
A.perhaps can’t earn as much as those working in an office |
B.needn’t do anything at home and earns a lot |
C.can’t be mothers who have children to look after |
D.are often worried about office politics |
If you want to be an online-trader, you will have to ________.
A.be more than 18 years old |
B.pass a kind of exam |
C.have good writing skills |
D.have creative skills and a creative gift |
The passage is written mainly to ________.
A.sell products to readers |
B.join the author’s company |
C.give some advice to readers |
D.get help from readers |