A mother’s ad calling for her son to come home for Chinese New Year ran on the front page of the Chinese Melbourne Daily newspaper on January 14.
It placed a full page ad, saying “Dear Peng, I’ve called you many times but you don’t pick up, maybe you will see this. Dad and mom won’t ever force you to get married anymore, come home for Chinese New Year! From your mom who loves you.”
The ad, which appeared on the front page of the Chinese Melbourne Daily on Tuesday, would cost $2,796.80 Australian dollars ($2465). The newspaper serves the city’s Chinese community. The mother, who lives in Guangzhou had placed the ad after losing contact with her son.
Every year around this time, many Chinese prepare to head home for China’s most important festival. But many of the younger generation are afraid of facing family confrontations about their love life.
On the online Chinese forum Tianya. cn, a single man asked for advice on facing his family. “It’s almost that time of the year. How should I explain to my family and relatives that I am single?” a user in Guangzhou “1979xiaozhu” posted. Many of the replies were telling him not to go home instead.
User “qianlidaiwanwoduxing” wrote: “Going home means they will either arrange blind dates for you or you get scolded.”
“This year my mom gave me an ultimatum. One, bring 50,000 yuan; second, bring a wife home. If I don’t have both then she said I don’t need to come home. What a tragedy!” said user “fghjkh84”.
Those girls who can’t handle the pressure of parents can rent a boyfriend for the day through China’s online shopping giant, Taobao.com. Rental boyfriends come with services such as meeting the parents, shopping and watching movies.
1.The mother placed a full page ad in order to _______.
A. ask her son to come back to China for the festival
B. beg her son to answer her telephone more times
C. force her son to come home and get married
D. make her son become famous in Melbourne
2.Why did the mother place the ad in the Chinese Melbourne Daily?
A. Because her son didn’t want to get married in China.
B. Because she couldn’t get in touch with her son any more.
C. Because her son wanted to live alone in Australia.
D. Because she wanted her son to come back to work.
3.What leads many Chinese young people not to go home for New Year?
A. Their busy work. B. The long distance.
C. Their low pay. D. Their love life.
4.From the passage we can infer ______.
A. the user “1979xiaozhu” is a married young man
B. the user “qianlidaiwanwoduxing” will go home
C. the user “fghjkh84” will bring a wife home
D. some single girls have to bring an untrue boyfriend home
“When an American asks me this question, it’s like a wall of ice crashing down between us.” my Moscow-born friend Galina said. The question is “How are you?”.
The answer Americans give, of course is, “Fine.” But when Russians hear this they think one of two things: you are experiencing a rare moment of fineness or you are lying.
Ask a Russian, “How are you?” and you will hear, for better or worse, the truth. I have experienced many painful minutes of silence after my grandmother made her stock response: “Terrible,” to which she might add, “Why? Because being old is terrible and I am very old.”
“‘Fine’ makes Russians think that Americans have no soul,” I explained recently to an American-born friend. “That they just want to go home, eat a frozen dinner in front of the TV, and wait out the hours before going to work to make money again.” He laughed, “You know, there’s something to that.”
The thing most Russians don’t realize is that, in English, “How are you?” isn’t a question at all, but a form of “hi”, like the Russian “privyet!”
Psychologists at the University of Michigan have shown that, while Russians are, indeed, easier to be depressed than Americans, their open acceptance of bad experiences might be healthier.
Recently, when I looked through a few American guides on traveling to Russia, I was disappointed to find that they all suggested that tourists adopt the American approach to “How are you”.
1.When you ask a Russian “how are you” the Russian will ________.
A. answer “fine” B. tell you the truth
C. make no answer D. get angry and walk away
2.If an American answers “fine” to the question “how are you”, the Russian will think ______.
A. he is not honest B. he will go home
C. he likes watching TV D. he is living a bad life
3.We can infer Russians’ answer to “how are you” can make Americans feel ________.
A. happy B. angry
C. puzzled D. touched
December was always a busy month for our women’s Sunday school class. However, my classmates and I still wanted to do a special together that would really serve a good cause.
“We could at a homeless shelter,” Linda suggested when I asked before class.
“Or send care cards to our soldiers overseas,” said Kelly. “And we could joy to our neighbors right here in town.”
“They’re all good ideas,” I said as we our lesson. “But which one do we pick?”
At the end of the class, as always, we shared our answers again. Katie had made it on time, and she had seemed distracted (分心) during the lesson. But now she told us, “My family could really get your kindness. My husband still hasn’t found full-time work. We’re falling with the rent. I’ve looked everywhere, but I haven’t been able to find a job.” Katie her face in her hands. I knew how she was and how hard their family had .
“We trust you to meet this family’s needs.” our teacher said.
“Poor Katie,” Kelly said to me we walked out to our cars. “On top of everything else, she told me that one of her little had her bike stolen just the other day!”
“I think I know what our special project should be.” I said.
E-mails flew back and forth among class members. Soon we enough money for Katie’s . Linda and Patti bought a shirt for Katie’s husband and a beautiful new for Katie. Kelly found two as good as new, one for each of their girls. Brenda and Diane groceries (食品杂货店) for Christmas dinner and beyond. Stephanie decorated stockings (长袜) with treats. Then, on Christmas Eve, we a person from a neighboring town to send her all of the gifts, so that we could remain Secret Santas.
The first class after Christmas, Katie wore her new dress, and a big smile. By then I think she who her Secret Santas were, but if she hadn’t, the smiles we flashed back surely gave us .
1.A. projectB. taskC. giftD. class
2.A. complainB. stayC. volunteerD. live
3.A. findB. spreadC. feelD. express
4.A. startedB. endedC. preparedD. reviewed
5.A. finallyB. reallyC. rarelyD. actually
6.A. inB. toC. acrossD. behind
7.A. buriedB. turnedC. showedD. washed
8.A. selfishB. sadC. smartD. shamed
9.A. battledB. raisedC. struggledD. fought
10.A. ifB. thoughC. untilD. as
11.A. boysB. girlsC. childrenD. babies
12.A. spentB. savedC. lostD. collected
13.A. jobB. rentC. houseD. car
14.A. dressB. shirtC. hatD. bag
15.A. presentsB. toysC. booksD. bicycles
16.A. acceptedB. receivedC. donatedD. grasped
17.A. decoratedB. preservedC. mixedD. filled
18.A. attractedB. invitedC. employedD. ordered
19.A. figured outB. picked outC. got outD. looked out
20.A. upB. awayC. outD. in
---Believe it or not, I have met him before.
---No kidding? ______ you’ve never mentioned it?
A. What if B. What for
C. How come D. How about
It is our duty to try to ______ production and reduce the number of things we make and buy.
A. cut back on B. put up with
C. hold on to D. run out of
Our factory has been developing rapidly this year. This year’s production is five times _____ it was ten years ago.
A. that B. what
C. which D. as
