One might expect that theever-growing demands of the tourist trade would bring nothing but good for the countries that receive theholiday-makers. Indeed, a rosy picture is painted for the long-term future of the holiday industry. Every month sees the building of a new hotel somewhere,and every month another rock-bound Pacific island is advertised as the “last paradise(天堂) onearth”.
However, the scale andspeed of this growth seem setto destroy the very things tourists want to enjoy. In those countries where therewas a rush tomake quick money out of sea-side holidays, over-crowded beaches and theconcrete jungles of endless hotels have begun to lose their appeal.
Those countries with little experience of tourism cansuffer most. In recentyears, Nepal set out to attract foreign visitors to fund developments in health andeducation. Its forests, full ofwildlife and rare flowers, wereoffered to tourists as one more untouched paradise. Infact, the nature all toosoon felt the effects of thousands of holiday-makers traveling through the forest land.Ancient tracks became major routes for thewalkers, with the consequent exploitation of precious trees and plants.
Not only the environment of a country can suffer from the sudden growth of tourism. The people as well rapidly feel its effects. Farmland makes way for hotels, roads and airports; the old way of life goes. The one-time farmer is now the servant of some multi-national organization; he isno longer his own master. Once it was his back that bore the pain ; now it is his smile that is exploited. No doubt he wonders whether he wasn't happier inhis village working his own land.
Thankfully, the tourist industry is waking up to the responsibilities it has towards those countries that receive its customers. The protection of wildlife and the creation of national parks go hand in hand with tourist development and in fact obtain financial support form tourist companies. At the same time, tourists are being encouraged to respect not only the countryside they visit but also its people.
The way tourism is handled in the next ten years will decide its fate and that of the countries we all want to visit. Their needs and problems are more important than those of the tourist companies. Increased understanding in planning world-wide tourism can preserve the market for these companies. If not, in a few years’ time the very things that attract tourists now may well have been destroyed.
What does the author indicate in the last sentence of Paragraph 1?
A.The Pacific island is a paradise. |
B.The Pacific island is worth visiting. |
C.The advertisement is not convincing. |
D.The advertisement is not impressive |
The example of Nepal is used to suggest _________ .
A.its natural resources are untouched. |
B.its forests are exploited for farmland |
C.it develops well in health and education. |
D.it suffers from the heavy flow of tourists. |
What can we learn about the farmers from Paragraph 4 ?
A.They are happy to work their own lands. |
B.They have to please the tourists for a living. |
C.They have to struggle for their independence. |
D.They are proud of working in multi-national organizations. |
Which of the following determines the future of tourism ?
A.The number of tourists |
B.The improvement of services. |
C.The promotion of new products. |
D.The management of tourism |
At a meeting, a well-known speaker lifted up a bill of 20 dollars before starting his speech.
Facing 200 people, he asked, “Who wants this 20-dollar bill?” A great many hands were put up. Then he continued to say, “I intended to give it to any one of you, but allow me to do a thing before giving it to you.” Suddenly he crumpled (揉)it into a round mass. Then he asked, “Who wants it? ” Still some hands were lifted up.
He asked again, “Well, how could it be if I do it like this?” he threw the bill onto the ground, stepped on it and twisted it. As he picked it up, the bill had become not only dirty but wrinkled.
“Who still wants it?” Still a few people put up their hands.
“My dear friends, you have had a meaningful class. No matter how I treated this bill, you still want it, because it is worth 20 dollars. On your life road, you may be knocked down(击垮) or even broken into pieces by your determination(决心) or unfavorable(不利的) situations. We may feel ourselves worth nothing, but, my darling, remember that whatever happens in the future, you should never lose your value(价值) in the God’s heart. You’re particular ---- never forget it.”The underlined word “wrinkled” in the third paragraph probably means ________.
A.broken | B.having small lines or folds in it |
C.flat | D.having holes on it |
The speaker did this test in order to _____________.
A.tell the audience that one should never lose one’s own value |
B.tell the audience that God values money most |
C.test if some of the audience were extremely interested in money |
D.play a trick on the audience |
What would the speaker probably talk about next?
A.How money can make people crazy. |
B.How to avoid being knocked down in one’s life. |
C.How to keep one’s value of life. |
D.How to give a meaningful class |
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 quarrel on unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanness 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—politics, 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 accuse their parents of misleading 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 man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspapers.“last week, ” said he, “my umbrella was stolen from a London church.As it was a present, I spent twice its worth in advertising, but didn't get it back.”
“How did you write your advertisement?”asked one of the listeners, a merchant.
“Here it is, said the man, taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper.The other man took it and read, “Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening, a black silk umbrella.The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No.10 Broad Street.”
“Now, ”Said the merchant, “I often advertise, and find that it pays me well.But the way in which an advertisement is expressed is of extreme importance.Let us try for your umbrella again, and if it </PGN0332.TXT/PGN>fails, I'll buy you a new one.”
The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote:“If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn't wish to get into trouble, he will return the umbrella to No.10 Broad Street.He is well known.”
This appeared in the paper, and on the following morning, the man was astonished when he opened the front door.In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colours that had been thrown, and his own was among them.Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake, and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter.The result of the first advertisement was that ______________.
A.the umbrella was found somewhere near the church |
B.the man got his umbrella back |
C.the man wasted some money advertising |
D.nobody found the missing umbrella |
The merchant suggested that the man should _______________.
A.buy a new umbrella |
B.write another and better advertisement |
C.go on looking for his umbrella |
D.report the police |
“If it fails, I’ll buy you a new one,” suggested that the merchant
_______________.
A.wanted to buy him a new umbrella |
B.didn’t know what to do |
C.was rich enough to buy one |
D.was quite sure of success |
The story is mainly about _________________.
A.a useless advertisement |
B.how to make an effective advertisement |
C.what the merchant did for the umbrella owner |
D.how the man lost and found his umbrella |
Many teenagers feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that their family members, especially their parents, don’t know them as well as their friends do. In large families, it is often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for advice. It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or many friends. Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking among themselves on the phone. This communication is very important in children’s growing up, because friends can discuss something difficult to say to their family members.
However, parents often try to choose their children’s friends for them. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends. The question of “choice” is an interesting one. Have you ever thought of the following questions?
Who choose your friends?
Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you?
Have you got a good friend your parent don’t like?When teenagers stay alone, the usual way of communication is to _________.
A.go to their friends | B.talk with their friends on the phone |
C.have a discussion with their family | D.talk with their parents |
Which of the following is DIFFERENT in meaning from the sentence “Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends.”?
A.Some parents may even not allow their children to meet their good friends. |
B.Some parents may even ask their children to stay away from their good friends. |
C.Some parents may want their children to stop to meet their good friends. |
D.Some parents may even not let their children meet their good friends. |
Which of the following sentences is TRUE?
A.Parents should like everything their children enjoy. |
B.In all families, children can choose everything they like. |
C.Teenagers can only go to their friends for help. |
D.Parents should try their best to understand their children better. |
The main idea of this passage is that ___________.
A.Friends can give good advice |
B.Teenagers need friends |
C.Parents often choose their children’s friends for them |
D.Good friends can communicate with each other |
Some American parents might think their children need better education to compete with China and other countries’ children. But how much do the parents themselves need to change?
A new book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother written by Amy Chua has caused a debate about cultural differences in parenting. Ms. Chua is a professor at the Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, and a mother of two daughters. She was raised in America by immigrant Chinese parents. In her book, Ms. Chua wrote about how she demanded excellence from her daughters. For example, she threatened to burn her daughter’s dolls unless she played a piece of music perfectly. She would scold her daughters if they failed to meet her expectations.
Ms. Chua had a clear list of what her daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were not permitted to do: “Attend a sleepover, have a play date, watch TV or play computer games, be in a school play, get any grade less than an A.” Many people criticize Amy Chua, saying her parenting methods were cruel and violent. She even admits that her husband, who is not Chinese, sometimes objected to her parenting style. But she says that is the way her parents raised her and her three sisters.
Ms. Chua says she eased some of the pressure after her younger daughter rebelled and shouted “I hate my life! I hate you!” But she also says American parents often have low expectations of their children’s abilities. Amy Chua thinks one of the biggest differences between Western and Chinese parents is that Chinese parents take on strength rather than fragility.”
Stacy DeBroff, who has written four books on parenting, says: “Parents should rethink, what does it mean to be a successful parent and what does it mean to be a successful child?” She says Amy Chua’s parenting style is not limited to Chinese families. It represents a traditional way of parenting among immigrants seeking a better future for their children. But she also sees a risk. When children have no time to be social or to follow their own interests, they might not develop other skills that they need to succeed in life. Stacey DeBroff advises parents to develop their own style of parenting and not just repeat the way they were raised.Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is mainly about ___________.
A.how to teach children to learn music |
B.how to change the ways of parenting |
C.Amy Chun’s experience in parenting |
D.Amy Chun’s reflection of her family life |
The underlined word “rebelled” in Paragraph 4 probably means “____________”.
A.disobeyed | B.succeeded | C.failed | D.panicked |
According to Ms. Chua, Chinese way of parenting is powerful because ____________.
A.parents set good examples to children |
B.parents understand their children better |
C.parents usually treat their children as friends |
D.parents have high expectations of their children |
What is Stacy DeBroff’s warning to immigrant parents?
A.Don’t expect too much from their children. |
B.Don’t allow them to communicate with others. |
C.Don’t give them freedom to do what they want to. |
D.Don’t bring up their children as their parents did. |