After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be diplomatic, so mostly I just lied a lot to appear to be skilled at dealing with people. At least I never needed the map.
One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she gossiped about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up.
We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me. The boy from England Eric, waved at me from across the room.
It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.
They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't staring at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an over interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught and held my attention.
I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all extremely, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine, or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful -- maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze-haired boy.
1.What does the underlined word “diplomatic” mean?
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A．clever |
B．smooth |
C．honest |
D．delight |
2.From the passage, we can infer that _______________.
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A．“I” was really liking the new place. |
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B．“I” had a bad memory, so it’s hard to remember names. |
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C．“I” was good at making friends. |
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D．“I” was not interested in what the girl said. |
3. According to the last two paragraphs, why did “they” catch “my” attention?
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A．Because “they” looked incredibly beautiful. |
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B．Because “they” weren’t talking. |
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C．Because “they” sat in the corner. |
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D．Because “they” didn’t eat the food. |
4.According to the passage, which statement is NOT true?
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A．The girl walked with “me” was a little short. |
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B．“I” saw the five students for the first time. |
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C．Those students sitting in the corner had finished their food. |
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D．“I” probably wanted to know more about those five students. |
Mothers can still offer comfort, even from a distance, a new study has found. The results show that simply hearing their mothers’ voice over the phone works just as well at calming the nerves of stressed children as a real-life pat on the shoulder.
The soothing（抚慰的）effect is most likely due to the release of the hormone（荷尔蒙）, oxytocin（催生素）, in the brain, the researchers say. This “love hormone” is known to quell stress and is likely to be involved in social connections, including those between a mother and a child.
Previous work has revealed that this hormone is released during physical contact with a mother. “But it’s clear from these results that a mother’s voice can have the same effect as a hug, even if she isn’t actually standing there,” said the researcher, Leslie Seltzer, a biological scientist.
Seltzer tested a group of 61 girls, aged 7 to 12, by having them make an unprepared speech and solve a series of maths problems in front of a group of strangers, sending their hearts racing and levels of cortisol—a hormone associated with stress—soaring.
Facing a challenge like that raises stress levels of a lot of people. Once stressed, a third of the girls were comforted in person by their mothers with hugs. A third of the girls watched an emotionally neutral 75-minute video. The rest were handed a telephone with their mothers on the line.
For the girls who interacted in person or over the phone with their mothers, the levels of the “love hormone” rose significantly, and the stress-marking hormone was washed away. This effect didn’t show up for participants who watched the video.
Seltzer is now testing the amount of oxytocin released with other communication methods—like text messaging—and hopes to see the research spread out from human subjects. “It’s not just us, of course. Lots of very social species have voices,” she said. “on the one hand, we are curious to see if this effect is unique to humans. On the other, we’re hoping researchers who study vocal communication will consider looking at oxytocin release in other animals and apply it to broader questions of social behavior and evolutionary biology.
1.Mothers’ voice over the phone can reduce children’s nerves according to the study, because .
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A．children can imagine their mothers’ hugs on the line |
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B．children enjoy their mothers’ voice and forget their worries |
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C．mothers are good at comforting their children, even on the phone |
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D．mothers’ voice can promote the release of the love hormone |
2.The underlined word “quell” in the second paragraph probably means “ ”.
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A．cause or bring |
B．delay or direct |
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C．stop or reduce |
D．develop or train |
3. From the study, we know that .
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A．the level of cortisol determines how stressed a person is |
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B．the 61 girls were divided into two groups in the research |
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C．the recent study had the same results as the previous one |
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D．watching a video is the best way to reduce one’s stress |
4.From the last paragraph, we can conclude that .
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A．text messaging has the same effect on oxytocin release as telephoning |
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B．the effect of a mother's voice on oxytocin in animals is still not known |
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C．the effect of communication on stress is unique to humans |
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D．the research has been applied to social behavior and evolutionary biology |
It may not be news to parents of teenage girls, but researchers have confirmed that no one can stop their 16-year-old daughter from deciding how the family spends its money.
The willpower and determination of teenage girls give them a big say in how a family’s money is spent on everything from food and meals to mobile phones, and, of course, clothes. Teenage boys did not show up at all in the analysis, which was designed to find out the influence of young people on household spending.
The findings on the spending power of teenage girls were calculated from Office for National Statistics records of family spending during the 1980s and 1990s. Researchers examined how much money went on services and leisure goods in different kinds of homes. They checked spending on food, restaurant meals, alcohol, tobacco, services, heating, transport, clothes and sports in 2,745 British families.
They found that teenage girls in the UK typically played an active role in family decisions about the allocation（分配）of household resources. But older children— those over the age of 21 who are still living with their parents—appear to have no say in household decisions.
They also tried to calculate to what extent the bargaining power of a teenager affected family budgets. “Every parent knows that children, even at a very early age, have their own preferences with regard to consumption, researchers said. “But children are only interested in a limited range of goods—mainly sweets and toys—and parents are able to use punishment to reduce their children’s bargaining power or remove it.” When they become teenagers, however, girls are much more independent and they are capable of earning their own money, which improves their bargaining power in family decisions.
The researchers could not explain why girls have more influence over spending while the evidence for boys is much less conclusive. However, this study could be of great significance to market research and how marketers target children.
1. From the passage we can learn that .
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A．teenage girls have more influence over family budgets than teenage boys |
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B．teenage boys don't want to decide on household spending |
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C．teenage boys have some influence over household |
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D．teenage girls have weaker willpower and determination than teenage boys |
2.What does the underlined part “give them a big say” in the second paragraph mean?
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A．Make them dare to say something. |
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B．Make them want to know. |
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C．Make them say something meaningful. |
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D．Make their influence stronger. |
3.It appears that household decisions are NOT affected by .
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A．girls living with parents |
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B．girls over 21 |
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C．girls over 12 |
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D．girls living alone |
4.How can parents reduce children’s bargaining power?
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A．By persuading them |
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B．By offering them sweets or toys. |
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C．By threatening to punish them. |
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D．By allocating household resources. |
Dear son,
The day that you see me old and I am already not in good health, have patience and try to understand me.
If I get dirty when eating, if I can not dress, have patience and remember the hours I spent 31 it to you. If, when I speak to you, I 32 the same things thousand and one times, do not 33 me, listen to me. When you were small, I had to read to you thousand and one times the same story 34 you got to sleep. When I do not want to have a 35 , neither shame me nor scold me. Remember when I had to chase you with thousand excuses I 36 , in order that you wanted to bathe. When you see my 37 little about new technologies, give me the necessary time and do not look at me with your mocking( 嘲弄 ) smile. I taught you 38 to do so many things: to eat good, to dress well, to confront life…. When at some moment I lose the memory or the 39 of our conversation, let me have the necessary time to remember, and if I cannot do it, do not become nervous, as the most important thing is not our conversation but surely to be with you and to have you 40 to me.
If ever I do not want to eat, do not force me. I know well 41 I need to and when not. When my 42 legs do not allow me to walk, give me your 43 , the same way I did when you gave your first 44 . And when someday I say to you that I do not want to 45 any more ---- that I want to rest forever, do not get 46 . Someday you will understand.
Try to understand that my age is not lived but survived. Some day you will discover that, despite my mistakes, I always wanted the 47 thing for you and that I tried to prepare the way for you. You must not feel sad, angry or impotent( 无可奈何 ) for seeing me 48 you. You must be next to me, try to understand me and to help me as I did it when you 49 living. Help me to walk, help me to end my way with love and 50 . I will pay you by a smile and by the immense love I have had always for you.
I love you, Son.
Your father
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The shortage of entry-level job is the main reason that more university students are
business of their own right after graduation.
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A．taking up |
B．setting up |
C．picking up |
D．making up |
The economic plan announced by the government soon after the crisis was greeted enthusiastically .
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A．in a row |
B．for a moment |
C．on all sides |
D．at first sight |
