Our lives were supposed to be more flexible and family-friendly thanks to the technology at our fingertips. But in this age of BlackBerrys, recession pressures, working at home after hours and on weekends, family time may not be working out the way we thought.
Busy parents who expected more time with the kids are Finding that more work hours at home don't necessarily translate into quality time with them.
A new generation of parents needs to discover the meaning of "quality time," researchers say. “Personally, just given the life I lead, I think there is something to this idea of quality time- spending productive time with children vs. just being around,” says Peter Brandon, a professor at Carleton College. He says engaging or interacting with a child in activities such as reading or playing counts as quality time rather than "passive monitoring," such as washing the dishes while the child is watching TV.
“This time with children pays off,” Brandon says. He notes that good parent-child relationships result in children being happier and more successful, including at school.
As parents struggle to be more available to their kids, new research on work and family schedules to be presented Friday at the meeting in Dallas includes a study that shows parents' availability is on the decline because more parents are in the workforce. Although parents today may be spending more time on child care, they are less available overall.
Working parents who spend less time with their children should try to make sure the time they do spend is communicating with them, vs. doing the dishes or spending more time on themselves, Brandon says “The trade-off is not necessarily taking away time from your kid,” he says "You're taking away time from other things”The first paragraph mainly intends to tell us that .
| A．technology lets parents work at home |
| B．parents are satisfied with their work |
| C．technology makes our lives much easier |
| D．the family time is not always satisfying |
We can learn from the third paragraph that .
| A．some families are not experiencing quality time |
| B．it's enough for parents to stay with their children |
| C．parents enjoy engaging in work-at-home activities |
| D．working hours at home can transform into quality time |
According to Brandon, the quality time means
| A．just, being around with children |
| B．work time is separate from family time |
| C．spending instructive time with children |
| D．letting the children do whatever they want to do |
The underlined sentence “This time with children pays” off means .
| A．the time with children is of little value |
| B．the time with children costs quite a lot |
| C．the time with children leads to good result |
| D．the time with children has a bad effect on them |
What will the author most probably talk about in next part of the passage?
| A．How to spend more time at home |
| B．How to do the dishes in a proper way. |
| C．How to spend more time on working at home. |
| D．How to take away time in a much proper way. |
Does Fame Drive You Crazy?
Although being famous might sound like a dream come true, today’s star, feeling like zoo animals, face pressures that few of us can imagine. They are at the center of much of the world’s attention. Paparazzi (狗仔队) camp outside their homes, cameras ready. Tabloids (小报) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives. Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature.
According to psychologist Christina Villareal, celebrities — famous people — worry constantly about their public appearance. Eventually, they start to lose track of who they really are, seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them, not as the people they were before everyone knew their names. “Over time,” Villareal says, “they feel separated and alone.”
The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages. In the 4th century B.C., painters followed Alexander the Great into battle, hoping to picture his victories for his admirers. When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century, his sold-out readings attracted thousands of fans, leading him to complain about his lack of privacy. Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film-stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.
Being a public figure today, however, is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras. When they say something silly or do something ridiculous, there is always the Internet to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.
If fame is so troublesome, why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is there are still ways to deal with it. Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities. They focus not on how famous they are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.
Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice. Still, even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are. They are tired of being famous already.It can be learned from the passage that stars today .
| A．are often misunderstood by the public |
| B．can no longer have their privacy protected |
| C．spend too much on their public appearance |
| D．care little about how they have come into fame |
What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?
| A．Great heroes of the past were generally admired. |
| B．The problem faced by celebrities has a long history. |
| C．Well-known actors are usually targets of tabloids. |
| D．Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers. |
What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?
| A．Availability of modern media. |
| B．Inadequate social recognition. |
| C．Lack of favorable chances. |
| D．Huge population of fans. |
What is the author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?
| A．Sincere. | B．Skeptical. | C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
A person, like a commodity（商品）, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration(夸张) will do no harm when it shows the person’s unique qualities to their advantages. To show personal attractiveness in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A skilled packager knows how to add art to nature without any signs of embellishment so that the person so packaged is not a commodity, but a human being, lively and lovely.
A young person, especially a female, shining with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted. Youth however, comes and goes in a flash. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to hide the marks made by years. If you still enjoy life enough to keep self-confidence and work at pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your attractiveness and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life, which now arrives at a self - satisfied stage of quietness and calmness with no interest in fame or wealth. There is no need to make use of hair dyeing. The snow-capped mountain itself is a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old in step with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the company of the elderly is like reading a thick book of good edition, which attracts one so much that one is unwilling to part with it. As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity sets up its brand by the right packaging.The underlined word in the first paragraph is closest to the word ______ in meaning.
| A．decoration | B．clarification | C．movement | D．identification |
It can be concluded from the text that ______.
| A．people should be packaged at all ages |
| B．people should be packaged in a special way |
| C．elderly people also care about packaging |
| D．proper packaging makes people attractive |
For the middle-aged, attractiveness ______ .
| A．hardly exists | B．is the strongest |
| C．comes from the inside | D．comes from the appearance |
According to the author, if you want to keep in harmony with nature, you should ______.[源
| A．dye your hair | B．make up at a young age |
| C．follow the ageing process | D．give up fame and wealth |
The underlined sentence means that elderly people ______.
| A．are usually packaged like a finely-made book |
| B．experience a lot and have rich knowledge of life |
| C．do a lot of traveling and can give you much information |
| D．enjoy reading thick books about beautiful nature and fairyland |
Children who spend more time reading with their parents have a greater chance of becoming better readers than those who don’t. With help from their parents, children can learn techniques(技巧) to improve their reading skills.
“A lot of parents think after their child learns to read, they should stop reading to them,” Donna George said. “They are sadly mistaken.”
George offers her services to parents at the Title I Learning Centers. She said reading aloud to children may be the most valuable(有价值的) thing parents can do. “It is better for children to hear things at a higher level than where they are,” George said. “Parents are their child’s first teacher.” Parents help their children build listening, phonics(拼读法), comprehension(阅读理解) and vocabulary skills when they read aloud to them.
Before parents can identify reading problems, they should escape the enemy----television and limit the time their children spend watching television. George suggested not allowing kids to have a TV in their bedrooms, setting a schedule of when kids can watch or keeping a list of how many programs children watch. Louise Joiners said while her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son enjoy reading, the television sometimes becomes a distraction. So she tries to build the situation by suggesting books the entire family will enjoy reading together, like the Harry Potter series.
Parents who do not read themselves should not depend on their children being enthusiastic about it. If parents would read to their children at least 15 minutes every day, children would not have so many problems in school. It is the parents’ job to help build that desire in their children, and of course to know what kind of books to read is also important.The underlined word “distraction” means something that.
| A．can improve children’s reading. |
| B．can make children interested |
| C．can make children not pay their attention |
| D．can help children’s right way of reading |
In the fourth paragraphis the most important.
| A．reading speed | B．reading environment |
| C．reading skills | D．reading materials |
If the passage is not completed, what will be written after the passage?
| A．What TV programs children can watch during reading. |
| B．Advice is given to control their children. |
| C．Parents choose reading materials for their children. |
| D．How children improve their reading by themselves. |
Which one would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Parents Are Their Child’s First Teacher. |
| B．How to Improve Children’s Reading Ability. |
| C．Children Spend More Time Reading with Parents. |
| D．How Parents Make Their Child a Better Reader. |
Enough sleep is important to health. The amount of sleep needed depends on the age of the person and the conditions in which sleep takes place. The young may need more sleep than the old, but usually eight hours are enough for the health of grown-ups. Some can do with less than this amount, but others may need more. Every person knows his own need. It is then a matter of good judgment(判断) to satisfy his need. Sleep should always be enough to make one bring back his strength and get ready for a day’s work.
Fresh air is necessary to sound sleep. It is not without reason for some people to think that it is practicable to sleep in the open air. When one can keep himself warm, out-of-door sleeping probably gives the body its most complete relaxation(松弛).
Ability(能力) to sleep is largely a habit. The conditions referred to only lead to sleep. Out-of-door exercises, a good habit of regular hours and the avoidance(避免) of late eating and worry, which are largely within the control of any person, are all helpful to sound sleep.
A bath at bedtime, neither hot nor cool but of body temperature, may be helpful to sleep. Sleep-producing drug(药) should never be taken except when suggested by a doctor.We know from the passageis enough for the health of a pupil.
| A．equal or more than eight hours | B．seven hours or so |
| C．Eight hours or so | D．Less than eight hours |
If you want to have a good sleep, is helpful.
| A．forming the habit of taking sleep-producing drug. |
| B．keeping good habits. |
| C．staying up late night. |
| D．eating something at bedtime. |
The amount of sleep a person probably needs has something to do with.
| A．his character | B．his control | C．his age | D．his habit |
Before going to bed, you’d better not.
| A．take a bath | B．do any housework |
| C．go out for relaxation | D．think a lot |
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances(环境) don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable(不可忍受的) pain and will likely make you quit(放弃) well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent(坚持不懈的), hard work won’t guarantee(保证) you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.What can we learn from paragraph 1?
| A．the meaning of success | B．the reasons for success |
| C．the standards of success | D．the importance of success |
Paragraph 2 tells us.
| A．how to succeed | B．why to set a goal |
| C．how to get good at something | D．how to practice |
That successful people suggest doing what one loves is based on the fact that .
| A．work makes one feel pain | B．one tends to enjoy his work |
| C．it takes a lot of time to succeed | D．one gives up his work easily |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Having a goal is important to success. |
| B．Luck, talent and family help to achieve success. |
| C．Being good is different from being great. |
| D．One cannot succeed without time and practice. |