Where has the Time gone? is the hottest song that has moved thousands of Chinese. Chinese parents give their children endless love and ask nothing in return. However, sometimes, daughters and sons are too busy growing up and forget that their parents are getting older and older. What should we do? Let’s have a look at a letter of a father’s.
Dear son,
One day if you see me old and I am not myself, have patience and try to understand me. If I get dirty when eating…, if I cannot dress…, have patience. Remember the hours I spent teaching it to you.
If, when I speak to you, I say the same things one thousand and one times, do not stop me and listen to me. When you were small, I had to read to you one thousand and one times the same story until you get to sleep.
When I do not want to have a shower, neither shame(羞辱) me nor scold(责备) me. Remember when I had to chase you with a thousand excuses I invented, in order that you wanted to bath.
When you see me meet something new, give me the necessary time and don’t laugh at me. I taught you how to do so many things… to eat well, to dress well… to face life.
If I do not want to eat, do not force me. I know well when I need to and when not. When my legs do not allow me to walk, give me your hand the same way I did when you gave your first steps.
When sometimes I lose the memory during our conversation, let me have the necessary time to remember. And if I cannot do it, do not become nervous because the most important thing is not my conversation but to be with you and to have you listen to me.
Yours,
FFatherWhat do the Chinese parents often do?
A.They often get dirty when eating. |
B.They often read stories to their children at night. |
C.They give their children endless love and ask nothing in return. |
D.They often refuse to take a shower. |
What would the father do, if he wanted his son to go to sleep?
A.He would read the same story many times to make his son sleep. |
B.He would invent many excuses. |
C.He would scold his son. |
D.He would teach his son to count sheep. |
According the father, what should you do, when your old parents lose the memory during your conversation?
A.Go on talking with them. | B.Leave them alone. |
C.Go for a walking with them. | D.Be with them and listen to them. |
Why does the writer write this passage?
A.To introduce the song, Where has the Time gone? |
B.To show what we should do when our parents are old. |
C.To show a father’s love to his son. |
D.To complain that we are too busy. |
The income gap between China's rural and urban residents(居民) has continued to widen during the past few years in spite of rapidly rising rural incomes, Agricultural Minister Sun Zhengcai said here on Wednesday.
The income ratio(比率) between urban and rural residents was 3.28:1 in 2006, against 3.23:1 in 2003, said Sun in his report on the promotion of building a new countryside in 2007. Sun also said the net income of rural residents in different regions also varied widely. The income gap is only one of several problems in rural areas, according to Sun's report. While listing the achievements in rural areas in recent years, Sun believed that rural development still followed behind urban development.
"We have bigger pressure to ensure the supply of major agricultural products such as grain," he said. "China's urbanization(都市化) has been speeded up and more rural residents have gone to urban areas," he said.
"In this case, more agricultural producers become farm produce consumers, which created more pressure for supply," he said.
Another problem facing China's agricultural development is inadequate application of science and technology.
"Only 30 percent of scientific and technological achievements have been applied to agricultural production, which is 40 percentage points lower than developed countries," he said.
Despite increased government spending in rural areas, the infrastructure(基础下部组织) is still poor and easily hit by disasters.
According to Sun, the government spent 431.8 billion yuan ($59.15 billion) on agriculture, rural areas and farmers this year, an increase of 80.1 billion yuan over the previous year.
China set aside 11.38 billion yuan to promote a new rural cooperative medical care system and 27.98 billion yuan to support the new compulsory education mechanism in rural area to ensure that all citizens shared the fruits of China's reform and opening-up, Sun said.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A.Because of the rapidly rising rural incomes, the income gap between China's rural and urban residents will disappear this year. |
B.The net income of rural residents in different regions is the same. |
C.The government has taken measures to develop the economy in the rural areas. |
D.Because of the rapidly rising rural incomes, the supply of major agricultural products is enough. |
Can you infer the meaning of the underlined words in paragraph 5?
A.be made full use of |
B.be made little use of |
C.be not made full use of |
D.be made good use of |
How much is spent on agriculture, rural areas and farmers the previous year?
A.431.8 billion yuan | B.511.9 billion yuan |
C.351.7 billion yuan | D.80.1 billion yuan |
Which is NOT the problem in rural areas?
A.The income gap |
B.The inadequate application of science and technology |
C.The supply of major agricultural products |
D.China's urbanization |
America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect American society in many ways — education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the aging of America has made us a very different society — one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his/ her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
Many people say, “I am much younger than my mother or my father was at my age.” No one says “Act your age” any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.It can be learned from the text that the aging of the population in America ________.
A.has made people feel younger |
B.has changed people’s social position |
C.has changed people’s understanding of age |
D.has slowed down the country’s social development |
The underlined word “one” refers to ________.
A.a society | B.America | C.a place | D.population |
“Act your age” means people should ________.
A.be active when they are old |
B.do the right thing at the right age |
C.show respect to their parents young or old |
D.take more physical exercises suitable to their age |
f a’ 25-year-old man becomes general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it _________.
A.normal | B.wonderful | C.unbelievable | D.unreasonable |
The question of what children learn, and how they should learn, is continually being debated and redebated. Nobody dares any longer to defend the old system, the learning of lessons parrot-fashion, the grammar-with-a-whip system, which was good enough for our grandparents. The theories of modem psychology have stepped in to argue that we must understand the need of children. Children are not just small adults; they are children who must be respected as much.
Well, you may say, this is as it should be, a good idea. But think further. What happens? "Education" becomes the responsibility not of teachers, but of psychologists (心里学家). What happens then? Teachers worry too much about the psychological implications (暗示) of their lessons, and forget about the subjects themselves. If a child dislikes a lesson, the teacher feels that it is his fault, not the child’s. So teachers worry whether history is "relevant" to modern young children. And do they dare to recount stories about violence? Or will this make the children themselves violent? Can they tell their classes about children of different races, or will this encourage racial hatred? Why teach children to write grammatical sentences? Verbal expression is better. Sums? Arithmetic? No: Real-life mathematical situations are more understandable.
You see, you can go too far. Influenced by educational theorists, who have nothing better to do than to write books about their ideas, teachers leave their teacher-training colleges filled with grand, psychological ideas about children and their needs. They make elaborate, sophisticated (精致的,复杂的) preparations and try out their "modem methods" on the long-suffering children. Since one "modem method" rapidly replaces another the poor kids will have had a good bellyful by the time they leave school. Frequently the modem methods are so sophisticated that they fail to be understood by the teachers, let alone the children; even more often, the relaxed discipline so essential for the " informal" feelings the class must have, prevents all but a handful of children from learning anything.People do not dare defend the old system mainly because under the old system________.
A.too much grammar was taught to children |
B.children were spoiled (宠坏) |
C.children were treated as grown-ups |
D.children were made to learn passively(被动的) |
What view do the modem psychologists hold?
A.Children must be understood and respected. |
B.Children are small adults and know what they need. |
C.Children are better off without learning lessons. |
D.Education of children is the responsibility of psychologists. |
What happens when teachers pay too much attention to the psychology of their lessons?
A.They find that the children dislike the lessons. |
B.They tend to blame students for their failure. |
C.They do not pay enough attention to the actual lessons. |
D.They no longer want to teach children history. |
Grammatical sentences are regarded as unimportant because ________.
A.it is better to use verbs only |
B.words are said out of natural feelings only |
C.talking freely and naturally without sentences is a better form of expression |
D.it is felt that formal grammar rules might cause unnatural expressions |
according to the passage, the modern methods are understood by ________.
A.neither teachers nor pupils |
B.only a handful of teachers and pupils |
C.the more sophisticated teachers |
D.everyone who enjoys the relaxed discipline of the informal classes |
As a human being you may have the choice of three basic attitudes towards life. You may treat life with the philosophy (哲学) of the vegetable, in which case your life will include being born, eating, drinking, sleeping, marrying, growing old and dying.
The second basic attitude is to look at life as if it were a business. A great many so-called successful men and women believe that life is a business. If you believe so, your first question of life, naturally, is " What do I get out of it? " " How much is this worth to me?" In a word, based on this attitude, happiness becomes a matter of successful competition. The great majority of human beings today look at life as if it were a business.
The third attitude toward life is the way of the artist. Here the basic philosophy is "What can I put into it?". They value cooperation and contribution. This point of view has been proved by history; for history remembers best those who have contributed most richly to the interests of their fellow-men. The more we investigate(调查),the more we become certain that the artistic attitude is the only one which goes with human happiness.From the passage we know people who take the second life attitude ________.
A.are mostly businessmen |
B.think of getting the interests (利益) first |
C.find their happiness from hard work |
D.take competition as their whole life |
People who are best remembered by history are probably
A.those living on vegetables | B.successful men |
C.artists | D.businessmen |
We may infer from this passage that ________.
A.some people are living only on vegetables |
B.the artistic attitude is accepted by most people |
C.the writer prefers the third life attitude |
D.artists do most for the society in order to be remembered longer than others |
Brazil has become one. of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil had better results without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard.
Brazil’s population growth rate dropped from 2. 99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1. 93% a year between 198 land 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2. 7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (肥皂剧) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.
Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values: not many children, women working, says Martine. They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious (有意识的) of other patterns of behaviour and other values, which were put into a very attractive package.
Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. " This led to an enormous change in consumption (消费) patterns and consumption was incompatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.according to the passage, Brazil has lowered its population growth ________.
A.by educating its citizens | B.by careful family planning |
C.by developing TV programmes | D.by chance |
according to the passage, many Third World countries
A.haven’t given much attention to birth control |
B.would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate |
C.haven’t yet found an effective measure to control their population |
D.haven’t realized the importance of TV plays in family planning |
Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate because ________.
A.they keep people sitting long hours watching TV |
B.they have gradually changed people’s way of life |
C.people are drawn to their attractive package |
D.they popularize birth control measures |
What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?
A.The increase in birth rate will increase consumption. |
B.The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate. |
C.Consumption goes with reproduction. |
D.A country ‘s production is limited by its population growth. |