The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on well with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it had ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,” said one number of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds: they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with me.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change. ”What is the popular image of the teenagers today?
| A．They worry about school. |
| B．They quarrel a lot with other family members. |
| C．They have to be locked in to avoid troubles. |
| D．They dislike living with their parents. |
Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents ____________.
| A．go to clubs more often with their children |
| B．are much stricter with their children |
| C．give their children more freedom |
| D．care less about their children’s life |
According to the writer, teenage rebellion __________.
| A．may be a false belief |
| B．is common nowadays |
| C．existed only in the 1960s |
| D．resulted from changes in families |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Negotiation in family. |
| B．Education in family. |
| C．Harmony in family. |
| D．Teenage trouble in family. |
Are people less happy or more happy the older they get ? A study found that people generally become happier and experience less worry after age 50. In fact, it found that by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were at 18.
The finding came from a Gallup survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States in 2008. At that time, the people were between the age of 18 an 85.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25. Stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. But the people least likely to report feeling negative emotions(消极情绪) were those in their seventies and eighties. The survey also found that men and women had similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men did.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
So why would happiness increase with age ? One theory is that, as people get older, they become more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
The original(最初的) goal of the study was to confirm the popular belief that aging is connected with increased sleep problems. The survey did find an increase during middle age, especially in women. But except for that , people reported that they felt their sleep quality improved as they got older.Old people may be happier probably because _________
| A．their children have grown up. |
| B．they don’t have to work every day. |
| C．they can do whatever they like best. |
| D．they are most likely satisfied with life. |
According to the survey, when will adults feel most stressful?
| A．In their twenties. | B．In their fifties. |
| C．In their seventies. | D．In their eighties. |
What may make Arthur Stone a bit surprised?
| A．Women usually live longer than men. |
| B．Middle-age men mostly are very rich. |
| C．Old people usually have a better sleep. |
| D．Most of old people can’t sleep well at night. |
Which of the following may be the topic of this passage ?
| A．The difference between men and women. |
| B．Old people’s feeling of happiness. |
| C．The young people and the old people. |
| D．The connection of sleep and happiness. |
I come to the United States ten year ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.
Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.
One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn’t understand them because I didn’t speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, “Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it.”
The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That’s the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.
That’s how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had to write a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why . She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to College. I will never forget this.According to the passage, the author probably is a .
| A．teacher | B．doctor | C．father | D．mother |
What made the author make up her mind to study English?
| A．What her son said. |
| B．What her daughter said. |
| C．Thinking about herself. |
| D．Thinking about her daughter. |
How did they find Chaffey College?
| A．On the way to the movies. |
| B．They took a new route and got lost. |
| C．Ask a stranger for information. |
| D．According to the banner. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The author came to the United States from another country. |
| B．The author had two children at least including one daughter. |
| C．What really changed the author’s life was she believed in herself. |
| D．The author wrote that she was the person her son most admired. |
Apple is known for offering the best customer service in the consumer technology market, such as Lenovo, Google and Nokia, in customer satisfaction surveys every year .
A particular story tells of how an Apple store manager broke a rule to earn a new, 10-year-old customer for life.
Matt tells us this touching story:
My daughter has been saving her birthday money and allowance for almost 9 months so that she could afford an iPod touch with a camera in it.
As of this morning, she had saved the amount needed and headed to an Apple store in Utah with my wife. They arrived at 10:30 am, not realizing that the store would be closed from 11 am to 2 am that day. As they approach the store, two friendly Apple employees greeted them and said they were sorry, but they were closed.
My wife pointed to my daughter who had a mason jar full of cash in her arms and explained why they were there and also pointed out that it was not quite 11 am yet. They again said they were sorry, but could not let them in. My wife and daughter were sad and regretful, but understood and made their way to another store in the mall.
About three stores down, an Apple employee raced after them and explained that the manager was going to make an exception and let them in. Every one of the employees stopped what they were doing as my daughter approached the register.
As she took all of the cash out of the mason jar, one employee stepped forward and said, “I don’t mean to bother you, but I have to tell you that this made my day wonderful.”
After the transaction(交易), my daughter and wife were on their way out, the store manager raised his voice and said to all of the employees, “Everyone, please give a round of applause for saving her money and buying an iPod today.”What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．Apple doesn’t do well in the customer service. |
| B．Consumers are more satisfied with Apple |
| C．Nokia did better than Apple in the past. |
| D．Customer satisfaction surveys are made every two years. |
According to the text, Matt’s daughter would like to have________.
| A．a computer | B．an iPhone |
| C．an iPod | D．an iPod touch |
According the passage, what is “a mason jar” ?
| A．a money box | B．a pot for cooking |
| C．a coffee cup | D．a candy box |
What is the text mainly about ?
| A．A good example on how to bargain with an Apple employee. |
| B．How a girl and her mother tried to buy what they wanted. |
| C．A touching story about how Apple earned a new customer for life. |
| D．The reason why a girl wanted to buy an Apple product. |
I created a writing group at my school this year, and it has become a hit with all students who enjoy writing. Now students of the group make rapid progress in their writing. Let me share a few tips that you can use to start your own writing group.
Set up separate groups for different ability levels
You probably don’t want to mix a gifted eighth grader with a second grader who writes very little. In a larger school, you could have a beginner group, a more advanced group, and a publishing group. Members can move to more appropriate groups if they are not comfortable in the current one.
Advertise the group in different ways
Send advertisements home with students, and put an advertisement on the school website or in the school newsletter.
The first meeting should be very open
At the first meeting, you should tell the students that this group is all about them. It is not a class, not a grade and not a requirement. Then tell them what some other writing groups do, and ask what they would like to do.
Set up a time to meet once or twice a month
It is important that students bring their writing with them. The group could go in any direction: criticize each other’s work, read your writing aloud, read silently, publish your work in a booklet (小册子), play creativity games or do an online chat with a published author.
It will take a little while to find out what works best for your group
Search for creativity exercises and role plays. You might even be able to set up a special section of your school’s website just for your writing group.The purpose of this passage is to ________.
| A．introduce how to start up a writing group |
| B．offer some advice on how to teach writing |
| C．train highlevel students to start up a writing group |
| D．compare different tips on starting up a writing group |
What does the underlined word “hit” probably mean?
| A．problem | B．test | C．tool | D．success |
Which of the following is NOT the activity of a writing group?
| A．Practice role plays. |
| B．Meet a published author. |
| C．Criticize each other’s work. |
| D．Play creativity games. |
Many of us have heard stories about teachers who can “see” into a student’s future. Even if a student is not performing well, they can predict success. We are convinced that this ability, this gift, is evidence that they were “called to teach” . If the gift of sight is evidence, how greater must be the gift of touch. I have a story.
I grew up in the fifties in a poor African American neighborhood in Stockton, California, that had neither sidewalks nor an elementary school. Each day, always in groups at our parents’ insistence, my friends and I would leave home early enough to walk eight blocks to school and be in our seats when the bell rang. For four blocks, we walked on dusty roads. By the fifth block, we walked on sidewalks that led to lovely homes and to Fair Oaks Elementary School. It was at Fair Oaks, in a sixth grade English class, that I met Ms. Victoria Hunter, a teacher who had a huge influence on my life.
During reading periods, she would walk around the room, stop at our desks, stand over us for a second or two, and then touch us. Without saying anything to us (nothing could break the silence of reading periods), she would place two fingers lightly on our throats and hold them there for seconds. I learned many years later when I was a student at Stanford University that teachers touch the throat of students to check for sub-vocalization (默读), which slows down the reading speed. I did not know at the time why Ms. Hunter was touching our throats, but I was a serious and respectful student and so, during silent reading period, I did what Ms. Hunter told us to do. I kept my eyes on the material I was reading and waited for her to place her fingers lightly on my throat.
One day, out of curiosity, I raised my head from my book — though not high — so that I could see Ms. Hunter, a white woman from Canada, moving up and down the rows, stopping at the desks of my classmates. I wanted to see how they reacted when she touched their throats. She walked past them. I was confused. Did she pass them by because they were model students? What did we, the students who were touched, not do right? I sat up straighter in my chair, thinking that my way of sitting might be the problem. I was confused. Several days later, I watched again, this time raising my head a little higher. Nothing changed. Ms. Hunter touched the same students. Always, she touched me.
She touched me with her hands. She also touched me with her belief in my ability to achieve. She motivated me by demanding the best from me and by letting teachers I would meet in junior high school know that I should be challenged, that I would be serious about my work. I am convinced that she touched me because she could “see” me in the future. That was true of all of us at Fair Oaks who sat still and silent as Ms. Hunter placed her fingers lightly on our throats. We left Fair Oaks as “best students,” entered John Marshall Junior High School, finished at the top of our high school class, and went on to earn graduate degrees in various subjects. Ms. Hunter saw us achieving and she touched us to make certain that we would.
I was not surprised that she came to my graduation ceremony at Edison High School in Stockton or that she talked to me about finishing college and earning a Ph. D. She expected that of me. She gave me a beautifully wrapped box. Inside was a gift, the beauty of which multiplies even as it touches me: a necklace to which I can add charms for each stage of my life.According to the writer, what is a special ability many good teachers possess?
| A．The ability to make all students behave well. |
| B．The ability to treat different students in the same way. |
| C．The ability to discover a student’s potential to succeed. |
| D．The ability to predict the near future of a poor student. |
According to the passage, how did Ms. Hunter motivate the writer?
| A．By correcting the way she sat. |
| B．By having high expectations of her. |
| C．By sending her a valuable necklace. |
| D．By communicating with her parents often. |
What does the writer mean by “a necklace to which I can add charms for each stage of my life” (paragraph 6)?
| A．A gift which encourages me to do well on the journey of my life. |
| B．A gift which becomes more and more valuable as time goes by. |
| C．A necklace which I wear on all important occasions in my life. |
| D．A necklace which suits me and adds to my charm. |
Which of the following serves as the best title for the story?
| A．Ms. Hunter’s Surprise | B．Ms. Hunter’s Challenge |
| C．A Teacher’s Touch | D．A Teacher’s Memory |