Most recently, it’s very common in students who need a parent present for job interviews.
Naturally, it’s easy to blame the students in these situations, but the bigger problem is us. We—as parents—are so eager to protect our kids that we fail to realize that this in itself is harming them. As the mother of two young sons, I have to remind myself all the time that the biggest responsibility I have as a parent is to help them develop the skills needed to live in, to live without me. So, I’ll let them fail.
I’ll let them fail because as long as they are safe and warm inside their comfort zones, they will never grow. And failure—along with loss, heartbreak, disappointment, etc.—will be part of growth for them. Call me the anti-tiger mom, but leaving them alone is my way of helping them become equipped to fit in this world as we know it today. From terrorism (恐怖主义) and seemingly endless natural disasters, to our national debt and beyond, if we expect the next generation to stand up to the very real problems of our time, we need to stop feeding them and start teaching them how to fish.
My children are faced with hard situations in their own life almost each day, but they try to negotiate (协商) everything now. It’s a small price to help them learn a skill they’ll use for the rest of their lives, including when I don’t come with them on job interviews.
1.Why do parents go along with their kids on job interviews?
A．Because they want to protect their kids from difficulties.
B．Because they think they can protect them from being hurt.
C．Because their kids are too shy to attend interviews.
D．Because their kids strongly request them to do so.
2.According to the author, what is helpful to kids’ development?
A．Protecting them. B．Keeping them safe.
C．Leaving them alone. D．Blaming them.
3.The author believes experiencing failure in life can make kids ___________.
A．become healthier than other kids
B．grow in this challenging world
C．develop all social skills
D．escape from natural disasters
4.If the writer’s boy goes to a job interview, she probably will ___________.
A．go with him to protect her kid from difficulty
B．stay home but give him directions over telephone
C．wait outside and talk with other parents
D．let him go to the interview by himself
5.Which of the following might be the best title of the text?
A．Never help your kids B．Let your kids fail
C．Go to the interview with your kids D．Live without parents
The possibility that pleasant smells might reduce pain has recently been suggested by new research. In a scientific study, doctors asked 20 men and 20 women to keep their hands in very hot water for as long as possible while breathing in different smells.
As people believe that strong smells can affect the senses, volunteers were asked not to eat or drink for eight hours before the experiment began. During the experiment, volunteers were asked to take in pleasant smells such as vanilla (香草), and unpleasant smells such as durians (榴莲). The volunteers kept their hands in the water until it became too hot for them. When they could not bear the pain any more, they took their hands out of the water.
Scientists are interested in whether the senses or smell is related to pain and whether men and women have the same senses. Now, the study has proved that for women, pleasant smells reduce pain. For men, there is no change.
Dr Finkelstein has been studying smells since 1999. He says that scientists already have data from 40 volunteers. He adds that this year, scientists will test another 60 volunteers and will be in a better position to explain the results.
One explanation is that women’s sense of smell developed long ago, and is linked to recognizing the smell of babies. Scientists used to believe that mothers recognized their children by sight only. Now, they have started to believe that the sense of smell also helps, but why pleasant smells do not reduce pain in men is a question still to be answered by scientists.
1.Before the experiment, volunteers ______.
A．are gathered and take a training
B．cannot eat or drink for several hours
C．must wash their hands carefully
D．will be interviewed by Dr Finkelstein
2.If both men and women are asked to keep their hands in hot water while taking in some pleasant smells, ______.
A．women may stand the pain of the hot water longer
B．men may keep their hands in the hot water longer
C．they will probably take their hands out at the same time
D．we are not quite sure who will take their hands out earlier
3.From the passage we learn that _________.
A．the reason why women are sensitive to smells is clear
B．the experiment for the sense of smell has come to an end
C．unpleasant smells affect men’s senses more than women’s
D．scientists have not totally explained the result of the study
4.Now scientists believe that _______.
A．mothers recognize their children only by sight
B．men’s sense of smell developed a long time ago
C．strong smells have a great influence on people’s senses
D．smells are helpful for mothers to spot their children
5.The writer wrote the passage in order to ________.
A．supply some entertainment to us
B．show women’s sharper senses than men’s
C．inform the readers of some knowledge
D．call for volunteers for the experiment
A nine-year-old kid was sitting at his desk when suddenly there was a puddle (水坑) between his feet and the front of his trousers was wet. He thought his heart was going to stop because he couldn’t possibly imagine how this had happened. It had never happened before, and he knew that when the boys found out, especially Jack, he would never hear the end of it. When the girls found out, especially Martha and Jackie, they would never speak to him again as long as he lived.
He prayed this prayer, “Dear God, I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat!” He looked up from his prayer and here came the teacher with a look in her eyes that said he had been discovered. As the teacher was walking toward him, a classmate named Susie was carrying a goldfish bowl full of water. Susie lost her balance in front of the teacher and dumped (倒) the bowl of water in the boy’s lap. The boy pretended to be angry, but all the while was saying to himself, “Thank you, Lord!”
Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule (嘲笑), the boy was the object of sympathy (同情). The teacher rushed him downstairs and gave him gym shorts to put on while his trousers dried out. All the other children were on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. Martha even gave him her own candy. The sympathy was wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his had been turned to someone else—Susie. She tried to help, but they told her to get out.
When school was over, the boy walked over to Susie and whispered, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Susie whispered back, “I wet my trousers once, too!”
1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 means _______.
A．the boys would never play with him
B．the boys would treat him as usual
C．he would hardly hear any praise from the boys
D．he would be laughed at by the boys endlessly
2.After Susie dumped water in his lap, the boy was in a state of _______.
A．disappointment B．relief C．anxiety D．anger
3.What did the other kids do after the incident?
A．They offered him dry clothes.
B．They laughed at the boy rudely.
C．They helped the boy do the cleaning.
D．They urged the boy to get out angrily.
4.Why did Susie dump water in the boy’s lap?
A．The boy asked her to do so. B．She just did it by accident.
C．The teacher told her to do so. D．She knew the boy’s trouble.
5.Besides Susie, _______ also knows what had really happened to the boy.
A．Martha B．Jack C．the teacher D．the boys
Dear Dr Fang,
How are you? I am writing to ask for some 36 about how to help my 15-year-old son. At the moment, he refuses to do almost anything his mother and I ask him to do. He is our only child and we treat him very 37 . Though his grandparents buy him many things, yet he is still 38 to them and often shouts at them. He also 39 to spend time with us or do as we tell him.
Recently, he has been refusing to do his homework, and instead insists on 40 his time listening to foreign music. I cannot understand that 41 , and I don’t like it. Meanwhile, he spends too much time in Internet cafes, where he either plays games 42 chats on the Internet. He is wasting valuable time during this 43 period in his life!
What shall I do? I am worried about it. 44 I keep allowing him to do what he wants, he may fail at school, or worse. How can I help my son 45 hurting our feelings?
Best regards
Liu Zhen
1.A questions B advice C problems D lessons
2.A badly B ill C well D coldly
3.A kind B good C polite D rude
4.A prefers B wants C likes D refuses
5.A saving B missing C wasting D winning
6.A music B film C game D play
7.A and B or C but D so
8.A dark B old C sad D important
9.A If B Until C Though D Before
10.A for B in C without D about
He asked me ______.
A．whether was I a football player B．was I a football player
C．that whether I was a football player D．whether I was a football player
____ is known to everybody, the moon travels round the earth.
A．As B．It C．When D．Where
