For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children. They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern.
Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys, it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact(影响) working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it at high volume. It’s hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone.
1.The main idea about “latchkey children” is that they _______.
A．are growing in numbers
B．are also found in middle-class neighborhoods
C．watch too much television during the day
D．suffer problems from being left alone
2.Which sentence in the second paragraph is the topic sentence?
A．We had a school rule against wearing jewelry.
B．A lot of kids had chains around their necks.
C．I was constantly telling them to put inside their shirts.
D．They were house keys.
3.The main feeling these children have when they are at home by themselves is _______.
A．tiredness B．freedom C．loneliness D．fear
4.We may draw a conclusion that _______.
A．latchkey children enjoy having such a large amount of time alone
B．latchkey children try to hide their feeling
C．latchkey children often watch TV with their parents
D．it’s difficult to find out how many latchkey children there are
When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate (照亮) me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.
When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say: “Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.
When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend. He was in despair and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.
For almost four years I have had a remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “Yes, I must tell...” We have never met.
It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist, who will only fill up the healing silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.
1.In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to .
A．share poems and stories with her friend
B．go to her friend’s house regularly
C．become serious about her study
D．learn from her classmates at school
2.In Paragraph 3, “We gave London to each other” probably means .
A．our unpleasant feeling about London disappeared
B．we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from London
C．our exploration of London was a memorable gift to both of us
D．we parted with each other in London
3.According to Paragraph 4, the author and her friend .
A．call each other regularly
B．enjoy writing to each other
C．have similar personalities
D．dream of meeting each other
4.In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to .
A．seek professional help
B．break the silence
C．stay with her best friend
D．be left alone
完形填空
先通读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后在每小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
One evening last summer, when I asked my 14- year- old son, Ray，for help with dinner, his response(回答)shocked me. "What's a colander(漏勺)?" he asked. I could only blame . In the family, nobody else went into the kitchen except me. But that night, as I to him that a colander is the thing with holes in it，I wondered what else I hadn't Ray for.
As parents，while we focus on our sons' confidence and character，we perhaps don't always consider that we are raising someone's future roommates，boyfriends， husbands，or fathers. I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course. I was to find that he didn't say no. For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine.
I knew that he would rather have been playing basketball with friends than to mend socks with his mother，but in fact he was learning, and more than just housekeeping. "I appreciate(感激)what you do a mom," he told me one day. Ray now realizes there's masculine(男子气概的)about being helpless.
Now，not only can he make his own dinner, but also he can make a big meal for his family. That's I call a man. I'm glad that I prepared so great a present for my future daughter in-law.
1.A. themselves B. ourselves C. myself D. himself
2.A. explained B. continued C. thought D. advised
3.A. planned B. prepared C. produced D. punished
4.A. even B. also C. still D. either
5.A. But B. And C. Because D. So
6.A. cheerful B. nervous C. patient D. serious
7.A. learning B. checking C. asking D. affording
8.A. by B. for C. as D. with
9.A. something B. anything C. everything D. nothing
10.A. what B. how C. why D. who
一Thank you for looking after my son while we were away.
一 ?
A. Why me? B. My pleasure.
C. It's my fault! D. With pleasure!
一A latest China Daily，please!
一Only one copy left. Would you like to have ?
A. one B. it
C. this D. that
一What should we do for the disabled children in the Children's Home?
一You're supposed to a study group to help them.
A. take up B. fix up
C. set up D. stay up
