A major source of teen stress is school exams, and test anxiety is not uncommon. When you recognize your teen is under stress, how can parents help your teen stay calm before an exam?
Be involved (介入,参与). Parents need to be involved in their teen’s work. What they look for is your patience—to talk, to cry, or simply to sit with them quietly. Communicate openly with your teen. Encourage your teen to express her worries and fears, but don’t let them focus on those fears.
Help them get organized. Together, you and your teen can work out a timetable in which she can study for what she knows will be on the test.
Provide a calm setting. Help your teen set up a quiet place to study and protect her privacy. Give them a nutritious diet. It is important for your teen to eat a healthy, balanced diet during exam times to focus and do her best. If this happens, encourage your teen to eat light meals or sandwiches.
Persuade your teenager to get some sleep and/or do something active when she needs a real break from studying. Help your teen balance her time so that she will feel comfortable taking time out from studying to spend time with friends or rest.
Show a positive attitude. Your panic, anxiety and blame contribute to your teen’s pressure. Make your teen feel accepted and valued for her efforts. Most importantly, reassure your teen that things will be all right, no matter what the results are.
A.Exam stress can make some teens lose their appetite. |
B.Help your teen think about what she has to study and plan accordingly. |
C.They will only make the situation worse. |
D.Encourage your teen to relax |
E. Your teen may also make negative comments about themselves.
F. A parent’s attitude will affect their teen’s emotions.
G. The best thing is simply to be there.
It makes no difference what you read or study if you can't remember it. You just waste your valuable time.One dependable aid that does help you remember what you study is to have a specific purpose or reason for reading.
Why does a clerk in a store go away when your reply to her offer to help is, “No, thank you.I'm just looking.”? Both you and she know that if you aren't sure what you want, you are not likely to find it.But suppose you say instead, “Yes, thank you.I want a pair of sun glasses.” She says, “Right this way, please”If you choose a book, “just looking” for nothing in particular, you are likely to get just that--nothing.But if you do know what you want, you are almost sure to get it.Your reasons will vary; they will include reading or studying “to find out more about”, “to understand the reasons for” and “to find out how”.
Before you start to study, you say to yourself something like this, “I want to know why Stephen Vincent Benet happened to write about America”.Because you know why you are reading or studying, you relate the information to your purpose and remember it better.
At least two important processes go on at the same time.As you read, you take in ideas rapidly and accurately. But at the same time you express your own ideas to
yourself as you react to what you read. You have a kind of mental conversation with the author.
This additional process of thinking about what you read includes evaluating it, relating it to what you already know, and using it for your own purposes.One part of critical reading, as you have discovered, is distinguishing between facts and opinions.Facts can be checked by evidence, opinions are one’s own personalreactions.Another part of critical reading is judging sources.Still another part is drawing accurate inferences.
A.Maybe you have already discovered some clever ways to keep yourself from forgetting. |
B.It is important for students to have a positive attitude to their study. |
C.You remember better when you know what you' re reading. |
D.In other words, a good reader is a critical reader. |
E. It’s quite the same with your studying.
F. Reading is not one single activity.
G. This is the way it works.
The Meanings of Dreams
Sleep and dreams have interested people for centuries. Scientists are learning more about sleep, but they still know very little about why we dream. First, we have most of our dreams during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. At this time, the brain is very active. Second, everyone dreams – even if we cannot remember doing so when we awaken.
While we are asleep, it works more slowly and sometimes puts our thoughts and memories together in strange ways.
Some believe that our dreams are associated with thoughts and feelings that we experience while we are awake. Many dream researchers think that a dream about death, for example, is really about an important life change.
Dreams about a car or travel often represent feelings about your own life. Dreams about teeth – especially broken or loose ones may indicate stress and fear. Dreams in which you are flying often represent freedom or escape.
Researchers think people in our dreams can tell us something about ourselves. If the person in the dream was yelling (叫喊), for example, maybe you are angry.
There is still a lot about dreaming that we do not understand. By learning more about our dreams, we may learn more about ourselves.
A.Dreams may be more important than sleep. |
B.Scientists do not know for certain why we dream. |
C.If he or she was terrified, then maybe you are afraid of something. |
D.Modern research can tell us some important things about dreams. |
E. There are three things you should pay attention to to have a sweet dream.
F. Finally, a part of our brain helps us to understand daily experiences we have.
G. Dreams about telephones are thought to be about giving or receiving an important message.
Expressions about water are almost as common as water.
The expression “to be in hot water” is one of them. It is a very old expression. “Hot water” was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of extremely throwing hot water down on enemies attacking a castle. When we are in “hot water”, we are in trouble. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother if he comes into the house with dirty shoes.
A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.
Another common expression, “to hold water”, is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it. If your argument can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes.
“Throwing cold water” also is an expression that deals with ideas or proposals.For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems. But your wife “throws cold water” on the idea, because she says a new car costs too much.
A.It means disliking an idea. |
B.You are in a difficult situation. |
C.A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. |
D.If it does not hold water, then it is weak and not worth debating. |
E. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings.
F. A man who has long been jobless will find it hard to make both ends meet.
G. “To keep your head above water” is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt.
Smiles and tears are part of life. But do you find enough time for laughing? I’m not asking if you experience lots of good times. Of course, we should laugh during the happy times. .
But she wrote one about a more serious subject--cancer in children. The book is titled I WANT TO GROW HAIR, I WANT TO GROW UP. Erma talks with many children who have cancer and learns important lessons from them. She learns, for example, that cancer survivors(幸存者)know how they should smile at life, though they are receivingchemotherapy(化疗).
.Jessica’s leg was cut off at the knee because of cancer. She was learning to wear a prosthesis(假肢). Jessica told about playing soccer. She hit the ball hard with her foot. The ball flew off in one direction while her man-made leg flew another way. Then the brave girl lay on the floor, laughing happily.
As the saying goes, “” Do you find plenty of time to laugh?
You can, if you find reasons to laugh during the difficult times. Survivors know how to laugh. If you can laugh even when you’re in trouble, you will make it. Remember, laugh and the whole world laughs with you..
A.We just laugh about it. |
B.Cry and you cry alone! |
C.There’s a time to cry and a time to laugh. |
D.Erma Bombeck is known for her funny books. |
E. But do you also laugh during the difficult times?
F. She tells about the experience of 15-year-old Jessica.
G. I still remember those happy days when we were at college.
根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
No fight can end, and no friendship can move on, until everyone says these little words: I’m sorry. Sometimes, though, they can be difficult to say..
It’s not about winning.
Friendships aren’t like the Super Bowl, and there should never be a winner and a loser. When you start fighting with a friend, it may feel important that you “win” the fight by proving you’re right and he is wrong, or by making him be the first to apologize.
You may have heard the expression “His pride stood in the way.” It is usually used to describe a person who is so determined to be“right”that he lets an opportunity for happiness pass him by forever. Remember: as time goes on, we usually forget who was right and who was wrong in a disagreement, and only remember the sadness of losing a friend.
Take the first step.
Are you sick of fighting? Do you think this fight is just not important enough to ruin your friendship? You don’t have to take full responsibility for starting the fight, or even say that your feelings were wrong. But you should find something you did or said that’s worth apologizing for. Maybe you’re sorry that you let the fight go for so long, of that you overreacted(反应过度的) to something your friend did. If you say you are sorry, it’s like an invitation for your friend to do the same.
A.Then try to be the first to apologize. |
B.Stop thinking about your pride. |
C.It’s about taking some responsibility for the argument. |
D.Don’t let this happen to a friendship you care about. |
E.Here are some things to keep in mind.
F.There are some special cases when you shouldn’t be the one to apologize first.
G.Once you’ve both said it, you’ll both feel a million times better.