“It hurts me more than you，’’and “This is for your own good．’’These are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin，clean my room，stay home and do homework.
That was before we entered the permissive period in educafion in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school．The schools and the educators made it easy on us．They thought that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators，turned on the television，left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation．
Now teachers，faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years，are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake．One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who says of her students-“so passive”-and-wonders what happened．Nothing was demanded of them，she believes. Television，says Klompus，contributes to children’s passivity．“We’re not training kids to work any more,” says Klompus．“we’re talking about a generation of kids who’ve never been hurt or hungry．They have learned somebody will always do it for them. Instead of saying ‘go look it up’，you tell them the answer．It takes greater energy to say no to a kid．”
Yes，it does．It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work．It’s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it's for their own good．It’s time to start telling them no again.Why are children becoming more inactive in study?
| A．Because they watch TV too often |
| B．Because they have done too much homework． |
| C．Because they have to fulfill too many duties． |
| D．Because teachers are too strict with them． |
To such children as described in the passage
| A．it is easier to say no than to say yes |
| B．neither is easy-to say yes or to say no |
| C．it is easier to say yes than to say no |
| D．neither is difficult-to say yes or to say no |
We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to lay emphasis on
| A．1earning Latin |
| B．natural development |
| C．discipline |
| D．education at school |
By “permissive period in education’’the author means a time ．
| A．when children are allowed to do what they wish to |
| B．when everything can be taught at school |
| C．when every child can be educated |
| D．when ehildren are permitted to receive education |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Parents should leave their children alone， |
| B．Kids should have more activities at school． |
| C．It’s time to be stricter with our kids． |
| D．Parents should always set a good example to their kids． |
The Cost of Higher Education
Individuals (个人) should pay for their higher education.
A university education is of huge and direct benefit to the individual. Graduates earn more than non-graduates. Meanwhile, social mobility is ever more dependent on having a degree. However, only some people have it. So the individual, not the taxpayers, should pay for it. There are pressing calls on the resources (资源) of the government. Using taxpayers' money to help a small number of people to earn high incomes in the future is not one of them.
Full government funding (资助) is not very good for universities. Adam Smith worked in a Scottish university whose teachers lived off student fees. He knew and looked down upon 18th-century Oxford, where the academics lived comfortably off the income received from the government. Guaranteed salaries, Smith argued, were the enemy of hard work; and when the academics were lazy and incompetent, the students were similarly lazy.
If students have to pay for their education, they not only work harder, but also demand more from their teachers. And their teachers have to keep them satisfied. If that means taking teaching seriously, and giving less time to their own research interests, that is surely something to celebrate.
Many people believe that higher education should be free because it is good for the economy (经济). Many graduates clearly do contribute to national wealth, but so do all the businesses that invest (投资) and create jobs. If you believe that the government should pay for higher education because graduates are economically productive, you should also believe that the government should pay part of business costs. Anyone promising to create jobs should receive a gift of capital from the government to invest. Therefore, it is the individual, not the government, who should pay for their university education. The underlined word "them" in Paragraph 2 refers to ______.
| A．taxpayers | B．pressing calls | C．college graduates | D．government resources |
The author thinks that with full government funding ______.
| A．teachers are less satisfied | B．students are more demanding |
| C．students will become more competent | D．teachers will spend less time on teaching |
The author mentions businesses in Paragraph 5 in order to ______.
| A．argue against free university education | B．call on them to finance students' studies |
| C．encourage graduates to go into business | D．show their contribution to higher education |
Pacing and Pausing
Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve's new wife, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn't hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing.
Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there's no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I'm finished or fail to take your turn when I'm finished. That's what was happening with Betty and Sara.
It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel.
The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping (思维定式). And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in --- and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up.
That's why slight differences in conversational style --- tiny little things like microseconds of pause --- can have a great effect on one's life. The result in this case was a judgment of psychological problems --- even in the mind of the woman herself, who really wondered what was wrong with her and registered for assertiveness training.What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her?
| A．Betty was talkative. | B．Betty was an interrupter. |
| C．Betty did not take her turn. | D．Betty paid no attention to Sara. |
According to the passage, who are likely to expect the shortest pauses between turns?
| A．Americans. | B．Israelis. | C．The British. | D．The Finns. |
We can learn from the passage that ______.
| A．communication breakdown results from short pauses and fast pacing |
| B．women are unfavorably stereotyped in eastern cities of the US |
| C．one's inability to speak up is culturally determined sometimes |
| D．one should receive training to build up one's confidence |
The underlined word "assertiveness" in the last paragraph probably means ______.
| A．being willing to speak one's mind | B．being able to increase one's power |
| C．being ready to make one's own judgment | D．being quick to express one's ideas confidently |
Open Letter to an Editor
I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently --- one who works for you. In fact, he’s one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.
Your reporter gave me a copy of his resume(简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues(问题), approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I’m sure you would hate to lose him. Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment (分工), and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you’ve given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.
So why is he looking for a way out?
He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.
The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.
He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he’s doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for your paper. That’s what you want for him, too, isn’t it?
So your reporter has set me thinking.
Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists --- everyone --- is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can’t do it, they’ll find someone who can.What does the writer think of the reporter?
| A．Optimistic. | B．Imaginative. | C．Ambitious. | D．Proud. |
What does the reporter want most from his editors in their talks?
| A．Finding the news value of his stories. | B．Giving him financial support. |
| C．Helping him to find issues. | D．Improving his good ideas. |
Who probably wrote the letter?
| A．An editor. | B．An artist. | C．A reporter. | D．A reader. |
The letter aims to remind editors that they should ______.
| A．keep their best reporters at all costs |
| B．give more freedom to their reporters |
| C．be aware of their reporters’ professional development |
| D．appreciate their reporters’ working styles and attitudes |
Goldie’s Secret
She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Cornwall. No way could I have sent her away. No way, not me anyway. Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. "We’re moving house.’; "No space for her any more with the baby coming." "We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? She was a present." People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.
I called her Goldie. If I had known what was going to happen I would have given her a more creative name. She was so unsettled during those first few days. She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner’s. But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.
That’s why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. Eventually I couldn’t hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.
By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. But when I saw her licking (舔) the four puppies (幼犬) I started to feel sympathy towards them. "We didn’t know what had happened to her," said the woman at the door. "I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared." "She must have tried to come back to them and got lost," added a boy from behind her.
I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I’ve got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. And I’ve learnt a good lesson: not to judge people.How did the author feel about Goldie when Goldie came to the house?
| A．Shocked. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Annoyed. | D．Upset. |
In her first few days at the author’s house, Goldie ______.
| A．felt worried | B．was angry | C．ate a little | D．sat by the fire |
Goldie rushed off to a farmhouse one day because she ______.
| A．saw her puppies | B．heard familiar barking |
| C．wanted to leave the author | D．found her way to her old home |
The passage is organized in order of ______.
| A．time | B．effectiveness | C．importance | D．complexity |
With a £4 million ITV contract（合同） in her pocket and an engagement （婚约） to her England footballer boyfriend, it's been a good year for Christine Bleakley．Perhaps it's no wonder, as the TV presenter is 31, the age at which women are the most attractive, according to a survey．
While the average British woman of 31 may be married with a child, the survey noted they are at a wonderful age because they have not only youthful beauty but also more confidence and a better sense of style than flesh-faced teenagers．
Some 70 percent of more than 2,000 men and women surveyed considered confidence as a key factor in making a woman attractive, ahead of the 67 percent who included physical beauty and 47 percent who looked for a sense of style．Almost two thirds of the women agreed with the opinion "With age, comes beauty", and over half said that as they age they do away with their insecurities and feel more beautiful, while 55 percent felt they knew the best make-up to wear．
Self-confidence varied widely across the country in the survey: London women emerged as the most confident about their looks, with 37 percent describing themselves as beautiful, compared with just 28 percent of Welsh women．Meanwhile, East Midlands women spend the most on beauty programs —£129．69 monthly—compared with a national average of £105．50．
The research was carried on for TV shopping channel QVC to mark the launch of its "Beauty Month"．QVC marketing director Sue Leeson said: "This research shows what many have always suspected — real beauty is about more than just good looks but a combination of confidence, style and personality, too．”Which of the following doesn't have much to do with a woman's beauty?
| A．Being famous and independent． | B．Having self-confidence． |
| C．Looking young and stylish． | D．Wearing proper make-up． |
In the survey_______________ think attractive women should possess a sense of style．
| A．nearly 1,000 women | B．more than 1,000 women |
| C．nearly half the participants | D．55 percent of the women |
Which fact shows that a woman is confident?
| A．Paying little attention to style． |
| B．Wearing expensive make-up． |
| C．Considering herself as beautiful． |
| D．Spending much on beauty programs． |