For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. The laws of physics or the proper way to break an egg —the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something — and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?
| A．Both can continue for generations. | B．Both are about where to draw the line |
| C．Neither has any clear winner | D．Neither can be put to an end |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict |
| C．The teens cause their parents to mislead them |
| D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents |
Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ________.
| A．give orders to the other | B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other | D．get the other to behave properly |
What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Causes for the parent –teen conflicts | B．Examples of the parent –teen war. |
| C．Solutions for the parent –teen problems | D．Future of the parent-teen relationship |
A cancer-stricken British teenage said Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online "Bucket List" of things she wanted to do before dying.
Alice Pyne, 15, created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells. "I've been fighting cancer for almost four years and now I know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one," she wrote.
For her list, at the site www.alicepyne.blogspot.com, she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor(骨髓捐赠者), swimming with sharks, meeting the boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer.
Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked-about subjects on Twitter.
"Oh, dear and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends！" she wrote after her site attracted huge attention. "Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me."
Pyne, who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston, revealed (透露) the management of Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog. A group of local lawmakers have also joined forces with the Anthony blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell register.What happened after Alice Pyne wrote her "Bucket List?
| A．People around the world sent messages to support her. |
| B．People sent gifts to her from all over the world. |
| C．A lot of people offered to donate bone marrow to her. |
| D．The media called on people to help her. |
Alice Pyne wrote her "Bucket List" to ____________.
| A．catch people's attention |
| B．say goodbye to a few friends |
| C．give comfort to two terminally ill men |
| D．express her last few wishes |
It can be inferred from the second paragraph that Alice Pyne _______.
| A．is unaware of her own conditions |
| B．is very sad to know that she will die |
| C．is calm to know that death is approaching |
| D．is still quite confident in fighting against cancer |
Which of the following is NOT on Alice Pyne's "Bucket List"?
| A．To ask people to donate bone marrow. |
| B．To get a cool computer. |
| C．To swim with sharks. |
| D．To meet a boy. |
"Take That" will arrange to _____
| A．meetPyne in person |
| B．helpPyne in any possible way |
| C．donate money to Pyne |
| D．invitePyne to join the band |
When Boris left school, he could not find a job. He tried hard and pestered (纠缠) his relatives, but they had problems of their own. He answered advertisements until he could not afford to buy any more stamps. Boris grew annoyed, then depressed, then a little hardened. Still he went on trying and still he failed. He began to think that he had no future at all.
"Why don't you start your own business?" one of his uncles told him. "The world is a money-locker. You'd better find a way of opening it. "
"But what can I do?"
"Get out and have a look round," advised his uncle in a vague sort of way. "See what people want; then give it to them, and they will pay for it."
Boris began to cycle around the town and found a suitable piece of waste ground in the end. Then he set up his business as a cycle repairer. He worked hard, made friends with his customers and gradually managed to build up his goodwill and profit. A few months later, he found that he had more work than he could deal with by himself. He found a number of empty shops but they were all no good: in the wrong position , too expensive or with some other snags(小障碍). But at long last, he managed to find an empty shop on a new estate where there were plenty of customers but no competition.
Boris and his assistant taught themselves how to repair scooters and motor-cycles. Slowly but surely the profits increased and the business developed. At last, Boris had managed to open the money-locker and found bank notes and gold coins inside. What's the passage mainly about?
| A．The key to success. |
| B．A story of a graduate from despair to success. |
| C．No education, no future. |
| D．Difficulty of starting a small business. |
Which of the following best describes Boris' job hunting experience?
| A．Surprising. |
| B．Encouraging. |
| C．Boring. |
| D．Disappointing. |
Boris started his career by _______.
| A．cycling around the town |
| B．developing a waste ground |
| C．repairing cycles |
| D．buying empty shops |
Boris finally chose an empty shop on a new estate because ______.
| A．it was not so expensive |
| B．he had a lot of old customers there |
| C．he could make good use of his skills there |
| D．there were good opportunities there |
We can infer from the last paragraph that Boris _______.
| A．still couldn't make good profits |
| B．succeeded in his career |
| C．found a lot of gold coins by accident |
| D．had great difficulty running his business |
Before she appeared on the reality show(真人秀) Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle was just an ordinary middle-aged British woman. Now all this is going to change.
She lives in a house with her cat Pebbles in a tiny Scottish town. Because of learning difficulties, she doesn't have much education. But what she does have is a very good voice. As a kid, she sang in church and choirs and school plays. For a living, she sang at local pubs.
When she took the stage on April lOth, her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed just one step up from rags. The audience laughed at her.
But when she opened her mouth, the laughing audience went silent. A beautiful voice was singing I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables. Everyone was amazed. At the end of her song, the audience jumped to their feet and applauded wildly.
Almost overnight, Susan became a household name. She won fans and millions of admirers. Her online videos have drawn over 85. 2 million hits.
Susan's story proved the truth of an old saying: "Never judge the book by its cover." Susan may look ordinary, and doesn't have much dress sense, but she can certainly sing.
Susan's fans admire her courage, as much as they do her voice. She has experienced mockery and many disappointments, but her love for music has kept her going, which is worth anyone's respect. According to the passage, Susan Boyle ________.
| A．is a famous young actress |
| B．became famous after a show |
| C．used to be a good student |
| D．is good at dancing and has millions of admirers |
The underlined phrase "just one step up from" in the third paragraph probably means "________".
| A．far from |
| B．close to |
| C．different from |
| D．the same as |
The audience jumped and applauded wildly because ______.
| A．her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed just one step up from rags |
| B．she looked very funny |
| C．she sang so well that everyone was amazed |
| D．she made a foolish mistake in the end |
Susan Boyle has many fans now because of ________.
| A．her beautiful face |
| B．her knowing how to dress |
| C．her good education |
| D．her beautiful voice and courage |
The passage is mainly about _________.
| A．how to win fans |
| B．how to sing well |
| C．a woman's sudden success |
| D．a woman's simple life |
I am a professor of sports and exercise so I often deal with nervousness ill my research with sports people. Actually, most people experience nervousness at some time or another.
If you are feeling anxious, my advice is to first find the causes. Make a list of those things that are making you nervous and work out which ones you can do something about. Focus all of your efforts on managing the causes that you can control.
Most people cannot tell the difference between controllable(可控制的)and uncontrollable causes, so things they can't control become a big reason for nervousness. Dealing with this is very important if people want to keep a healthy mind.
Simply try to accept the uncontrollable causes of nervousness. You might be worried about the weather on a big day, an accident or an attack on the train, or perhaps just things that other people are doing at work. The results may be very important but there is still no use worrying because you can't control any of these things. Accept that you can't control everything. Once you understand this, it becomes easier not to worry.
If a situation, such as swimming, is causing you to be anxious, try to face it as often as possible so that you can get used to it.
It can often help to think about yourself doing the thing that makes you nervous-then close your eyes and imagine it going well. Imagine how the flight or job interview is going to happen so that you can get used to it. This will help you understand that the thing you fear most is probably not going to happen. Who wrote this passage?
| A．A reporter. |
| B．A sportsman. |
| C．A patient. |
| D．A professor. |
The writer thinks there is no use worrying aboutsome causes of nervousness because _________.
| A．most are not very important |
| B．they are not the real causes of the problem |
| C．they cannot be controlled by people |
| D．it's better to deal with one cause at a time |
If swimming makes you nervous, what should youdo according to the writer?
| A．Go swimming often to get used to it. |
| B．Avoid going to the swimming pool. |
| C．Find a swimming teacher. |
| D．Imagine watching others swim. |
What is true about nervousness according to the passage?
| A．It usually has only one cause. |
| B．It is usually caused by people. |
| C．People can easily manage it. |
| D．Most people suffer from it. |
What is the main purpose of this passage?
| A．To introduce the writer's sports experience. |
| B．To advise on how to deal with nervousness. |
| C．To help people remember their fears. |
| D．To explain the dangers of nervousness. |
China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, together with her two male crew mates Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, met the media on Friday. The three astronauts boarded the ShenzhouⅨ spacecraft on Saturday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China to fulfill China's first manned space docking mission.
"I am grateful to the motherland and the people. I feel honored to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of female Chinese citizens, "said Liu Yang. She said that to be an astronaut, one has to obtain a lot of theoretical knowledge, go through very challenging space living environment training and survive examinations on operation skills with no error.
"The sense of mission and responsibility as well as the passion for aerospace undertakings is the source of courage to overcome difficulties," she said.
"When I was a pilot, I flew in the sky. Now I am an astronaut, I will fly in space. That will be a higher and farther flight, "Liu said.
She said many tasks had been arranged for this space trip. "Aside from fulfilling the tasks, I want to experience the fantastic environment in space and appreciate the beautiful Earth and our homeland from space."
She said she would keep a detailed record of her feelings and experiences and share with scientists and future astronauts when she came back.
"I will live up to your expectations and work with my teammates to fulfil this space mission," she said.
All three crew members are former pilots of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). They are all members of the Communist Party of China.
Enlisted in the army in 1997, Liu was an experienced pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience and the deputy head of a flight unit of the PLA's Air Force before being enlisted into China's second group of prospective astronauts in May 2010. She is now an air force major.
After two years of training that has shored up her astronautic skills and adaptability to the space environment, Liu excelled in testing and was selected in March this year as a candidate to crew the ShenzhouⅨ. According to Liu Yang, we know all the following are necessary for an astronaut except _____.
| A．obtaining a lot of theoretical knowledge |
| B．surviving examinations on operation skills |
| C．experiencing space living environment training |
| D．keeping calm and confident in any case |
Which of the following is TRUE about Liu Yangfrom the passage?
| A．Liu once was head of a flight unit of the PLA's Air Force. |
| B．Liu Yang has become an air force major in 1997. |
| C．She was enlisted into China's second group of prospective astronauts in 2010. |
| D．After three years of training Liu was selected as a candidate． |
The underlined phrase in the last paragraph probably means“______”．
| A．build up |
| B．put up |
| C．take up |
| D．bring up |