While income worry is a rather common problem of the ahead, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face．Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one．This phenomenon(现象) is commonly k
nown as “Empty Nest Syndrome”.
In order to seek better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return ho
me．Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them．The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries．Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do．This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response(回应) in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as “distant parent phenomenon”, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries．Our society has not yet been well prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome”．According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by_______.
| A．their earlier experience of feeling lonely |
| B．the unfavorable living conditions in their native countries |
| C．the common worry about their income |
| D．the geographical distance between parents and children |
Many young people have gone abroad, leaving their aged parents behind, to_______.
| A．live in the countries with more money. | B．seek a better place for their aged parents |
C．conti nue their studies abroad |
D．realize their dreams in foreign countries |
If young people go abroad, _______.
| A．they do not hold to the value of duty at all． |
| B．they can give some help to their parents back home |
| C．they cannot do what they should for their parents． |
| D．they believe what they actually do is right |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that _______.
| A．the situations in the developed and developing countries are different |
| B．“Empty Nest Syndrome” has arrived unexpectedly in our society |
| C．children will become independent as soon as they go abroad |
| D．the aged parents are not fully prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome” |
Can people change their skin color without suffering like pop king Michael Jackson? Perhaps yes. Scientists have found the gene that determines skin color.
The gene comes in two versions, one of which is found in 99 percent of Europeans. The other is found in 93 to 100 percent of Africans, researchers at Pennsylvania State University report in the latest issue of Science.
Scientists have changed the color of a dark-striped zebra-fish（斑马鱼） to uniform gold by inserting a version of the pigment (色素) gene into a young fish. As with humans, zebra-fish skin color is determined by pigment cells, which contain melanin (黑色素). The number, size and darkness of melanin per pigment cell determine skin color.
It appears that, like the golden zebra-fish, light-skinned Europeans also have a mutation (变异) in the gene for melanin production. This results in less pigmented skin.
However, Keith Cheng, leader of the research team, points out that the mutation is different in human and zebra-fish genes.
Humans acquired dark skin in Africa about 1.5 million years ago to protect bodies from ultra-violet rays of the sun (太阳光紫外线), which can cause skin cancer.
But when modern humans leave Africa to live in northern latitudes, they need more sunlight on their skin to produce vitamin D. So the related gene changes, according to Cheng.
Asians have the same version of the gene as Africans, so they probably acquired their light skin through the action of some other gene that affects skin color, said Cheng.
The new discovery could lead to medical treatments for skin cancer. It also could lead to research into ways to change skin color without damaging it like chemical treatment did on Michael Jackson.The passage mainly tells us that ________.
| A．people can not change their skin color without any pain |
| B．the new discovery could lead to research into ways to change skin color safely |
| C．pop king Michael Jackson often changed his skin color as he liked |
| D．scientists have found out that people’s skin color is determined by the gene |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____________.
| A．nowadays people who want to change their skin color have to suffer a lot from the damage caused by the chemical treatment |
| B．Europeans and Africans have the same gene |
| C．the new discovery could help to find medical treatments for skin cancer |
| D．there are two kinds of genes |
Scientists have done an experiment on a dark-striped zebra-fish in order to _____________.
| A．find the different genes of humans’ |
| B．prove the humans’ skin color is determined by the pigment gene |
| C．find out the reason why the Africans’ skin color is dark |
| D．find out the ways of changing people’s skin color |
The reason why Europeans are light-skinned is probably that _____________.
| A．they are born light-skinned people |
| B．light-skinned Europeans have mutation in the gene for melanin production |
| C．they have fewer activities outside |
| D．they pay much attention to protecting their skin |
The writer’s attitude towards the discovery is ______________.
| A．neutral | B．negative | C．positive | D．unconcerned |
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.
He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.
He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets —nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea. At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.
While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. As he walked along, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat. First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain. Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat. And he made other strange noises. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.
Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.
Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”
Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”
“Say —I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work — wouldn’t you? Of course you would.”
Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said “What do you call work?”
“Why, isn’t that work?” Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly.
“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to say that you like it?” The brush continued to move.
“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,
“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.
“No —no —it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”
“No —is that so? Oh come, now —let me just try. Only just a little.” “Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly … ”
“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. Say —I’ll give you the core of my apple.”
“Well, here —No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid …”
“I’ll give you all of it.”
Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought in for a dead rat —and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures.
And he had not worked. He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company －and the fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.
He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get. Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?
| A．Because he is tired and wanted to play with his toys. |
| B．Because he wanted to throw his toys away. |
| C．Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends. |
| D．Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys. |
Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because ____________.
| A．Tom wanted to do the whitewashing by himself |
| B．Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first |
| C．Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing |
| D．Tom was afraid Ben would do the whitewashing better. |
What made Ben Rogers eagerly gave up his apple and offer to brush the fence for Tom?
| A．His warm heart and kindness to friends. |
| B．His curiosity about Tom’s brushing job. |
| C．Tom’s threat. |
| D．Aunt Polly’s idea. |
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
| A．The Happy Whitewasher |
| B．Tom And His Fellows |
| C．Whitewashing A Fence |
| D．How To Make The Things Difficult To Get |
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
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If you get into BDU, you can _____________.
| A．know more than what you expect in China |
| B．get the most important business information in the world |
| C．get the information of the latest business activities taking place in China |
| D．get all the information in China Daily |
This ad will be very helpful to ___________.
| A．foreign business people | B．foreign travelers |
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To get the information from BDU every day, you must ____________.
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We are not who we think we are.
The American self-image is spread with the golden glow of opportunity. We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility, not so much a classless society but as a place where class is mutable—a place where brains, energy and ambition are what counts, not the circumstances of one's birth.
The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research led by Pew Charitable Trusts, looked at the economic fortunes of a large group of families over time, comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their children in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Here is the finding: "The 'rags to riches' story is much more common in Hollywood than on Main Street. Only 6 percent of children born to parents with family income at the very bottom move to the top.
That is right, just 6 percent of children born to parents who ranked in the bottom of the study sample, in terms of income, were able to bootstrap their way into the top . Meanwhile, an incredible 42 percent of children born into that lowest are still stuck at the bottom, having been unable to climb a single rung of the income ladder.
It is noted that even in Britain---a nation we think of as burdened with a hidebound class system-children who are born poor have a better chance of moving up. When the studies were released, most reporters focused on the finding that African-Americans born to middle-class or upper middle-class families are earning slightly less, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than did their parents.
One of the studies indicates, in fact, that most of the financial gains white families have made in the past three decades can be attributed to the entry of white women into the labor force. This is much less true for African-Americans.
The picture that emerges from all the quintiles, correlations and percentages is of a nation in which, overall, "the current generation of adults is better off than the previous one", as one of the studies notes.
The median income of the families in the sample group was $55,600 in the late 1960s; their children's median family income was measured at $71,900. However, this rising tide has not lifted all boats equally. The rich have seen far greater income gains than have the poor.
Even more troubling is that our nation of America as the land of opportunity gets little support from the data. Americans move fairly easily up and down the middle rungs of the ladder, but there is "stickiness at the ends" —four out of ten children who are born poor will remain poor, and four out often who are born rich will stay rich.What did the Economic Mobility Project find in its research?
| A．Children from low-income families are unable to bootstrap their way to the top. |
| B．Hollywood actors and actresses are upwardly mobile from rags to riches. |
| C．The rags to riches story is more fiction than reality. |
| D．The rags to riches story is only true for a small minority of whites. |
It can be inferred from the undertone of the writer that America, as a classless society, should ________.
| A．perfect its self-image as a land of opportunity |
| B．have a higher level of upward mobility than Britain |
| C．enable African-Americans to have exclusive access to well-paid employment |
| D．encourage the current generation to work as hard as the previous generation |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The US is a land where brains, energy and ambition are what counts. |
| B．Inequality persists between whites and blacks in financial gains. |
| C．Middle-class families earn slightly less with inflation considered. |
| D．Children in lowest-income families manage to climb a single rung of the ladder. |
What might be the best title for this passage?
| A．Social Upward Mobility. |
| B．Incredible Income Gains. |
| C．Inequality in Wealth. |
| D．America Not Land of Opportunity. |
Children start out as natural scientists, eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there’s no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children’s curiosity. Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven-year-olds to talk about science as a job. The children asked me “textbook questions” about schooling, salary and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another in silence. Finally I said, “Now that we’re finished with your lists, do you have questions of your own about science?”
After a long pause, a boy raised his hand, “Have you ever seen a grasshopper(蚱蜢) eat? When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?”
This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.
Secondly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that, after asking a question, adults typically wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children give more logical, complete and creative answers.
Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right” or “Very good”. These words work well when it comes to encouraging good behavior. But in talking about science, quick praise can signal that discussion is over. Instead, keep things going by saying “That’s interesting” or “I’d never thought of it that way before”, or coming up with more questions or ideas.
Never push a child to “Think”. It doesn’t make sense, children are always thinking, without your telling them to. What’s more, this can turn a conversation into a performance. The child will try to find the answer you want, in as few words as possible, so that he will be a smaller target(目标) for your disagreement.
Lastly, show; don’t tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lesson children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass(放大镜), and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water evaporates(蒸发), set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.According to the passage, children are natural scientists, and to raise their interest, the most important thing for adults to do is _______.
| A．to let them see the world around |
| B．to share the children’s curiosity |
| C．to explain difficult phrases about science |
| D．to supply the children with lab equipment |
In the last sentence of the first paragraph, the word “lists” could best be replaced by ______.
| A．any questions | B．any problems |
| C．questions from textbooks | D．any number of questions |
According to the passage, children can answer questions in a more logical, complete and creative way if adults ________.
| A．ask them to answer quickly |
| B．wait for one or two seconds after a question |
| C．tell them to answer the next day |
| D．wait at least for three seconds after a question |
In which of the following paragraph(s) does the author tell us what to say to encourage children in a science discussion?
| A．The second and third. | B．The fourth and fifth. |
| C．The fifth and sixth. | D．The fifth. |
The author mentions all of the following techniques for adults to share with their children’s curiosity except that adults should ________.
| A．tell their children stories instead of reciting(背诵) facts. |
| B．offer their children chances to see things for themselves. |
| C．be patient enough when their children answer questions. |
| D．encourage their children to ask questions of their own. |