Living and dealing with kids can be a tough job these days, but living and dealing with parents can be even tougher.
If I have learned anything in my 16 years, it is that communication is very important, both when you disagree and when you get along. With any relationship, you need to let the other person know how you are feeling. If you are not able to communicate, you drift apart. When you are mad at your parents, or anyone else, not talking to them doesn’t solve anything.
Communication begins with the concerns of another. It means that you can’t just come home from school, go up to your room and ignore everyone. Even if you just say “Hi”, and see how their day was for five minutes, it is better than nothing.
If you looked up the word “communication” in a dictionary, it would say “the exchange of ideas, the conveyance of information; means of communication: a letter or a message”. To maintain a good relationship, you must keep communication strong. Let people know how you feel, even if it’s just by writing a note.
When dealing with parents, you always have to make them feel good about how they are doing as a parent. If you are trying to make them see something as you see it, tell them that you’ll listen to what they have to say, but ask them politely to listen to you. Yelling or walking away only makes the situation worse.
This is an example: one night, Sophie went to a street party with her friends. She knew she had to be home by midnight after the fireworks, but she didn’t feel she could just ask to go home. That would be rude. After all, they had been nice enough to take her along with them. Needless to say, she was late getting home. Her parents were mad at first, not when Sophie explained why she was late, they weren’t as mad and let the incident go. Communication is the key factor here. If Sophie’s parents had not been willing to listen, Sophie would have been in a lot of trouble.
Communication isn’t a one-way deal: it goes both ways. Just remember: if you get into a situation like Sophie’s, telling the other person how you feel — listening is the key factor to communication.
1.In the writer’s view, dealing with parents is _______ than with children.
A. more difficult B. easier
C. more uninteresting D. more interesting
2.The main idea of the second paragraph is _______.
A. the importance of friendship
B. to make your feeling known to others
C. the importance of communication
D. the disagreement between generations
3.The example in this passage proves that _______.
A. Sophie’s parents are willing to listen to her
B. Sophie is very polite to her parents
C. Sophie did well in explaining her being late
D. communication is the solution to misunderstanding
4.All the following statements are correct except _______.
A. If you don’t agree with others, you’d better let them know
B. It is better to say “Hi” to others than say nothing
C. If you are not able to communicate, walk away
D. Communication is a two-way deal
Chinese consumers' crazy appetite for luxury goods and services appears unstoppable, with just 2 percent of the Chinese population responsible for one-third of the world's luxury items.
As China's economic miracle develops, the market opportunities for all sorts of luxury goods and services are increasing. Luxury consumption in China now extends way beyond well - known car. Clothing and jewelry brands. For example, the luxury jet market in China is the fastest - growing in the world, even outstripping that of the United States, with a market share of 25 percent. This trend appears to continue, with 20 to 30 percent growth expected in China, compared with only 2 to 3 percent in the US. But more important, China's luxury jet market growth represents a major development in the private consumption of luxury items.
China's high - quality red wine market also provides evidence of the growth in private consumption of luxury goods. In 2013, China became the largest market for red wine in the world, even overtaking the French, with 1. 86 billion bottles consumed in China last year. Over the past five years, China's red wine consumption has grown 136 percent.
According to my ongoing consumer research in this area while working at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, public consumption of such expensive global luxury brands such as Prada and Armani is easily explained by the desire to "gain face" and publicly display social climbing through material possesses. On the other hand, it is "self-reward" that lies behind consumer motivation in this area. Chinese consumer, who have experienced rapid financial and economic gains appear particularly prone to the need to reward themselves for their success. But this has little to do with "gaining face" and impressing others and much more to do with the need for personal contentment.
Finally, the growth in private luxury consumption in China is set to continue in part due to the maturity of the Chinese consumer and advancement of Chinese consumer culture generally.
1.What do you think the author would most probably be?
A. A news reporter, B. An accountant.
C. A professor. D. A conductor.
2.The underlined word "outstripping" in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
A. falling far behind of B. going hand in hand
C. going far ahead of D. keeping pace with
3.What can we learn from paragraph 2 and 3 ?
A. China's luxury jet market growth is only 2 to 3%.
B. French was once the largest market for red wine in the world before 2013.
C. The luxury jet market in the US shares 25% of the jet consumption in the world.
D. China's red wine consumption has increased to 1. 86 billion bottles since 2013.
4.What can be the best title for the passage?
A. Future Private Luxury Consumption in China
B. Chinese Appetite for Luxury Goods and Services
C. The Potential Luxury Jet Market in China
D. The Maturity of the Chinese Consumers
Florence Nightingale was born in a rich family. When she was young she took lessons in music and drawing, and read great books. She also traveled a great deal with her mother and father.
As a child she felt that visiting sick people was both a duty and a pleasure. She enjoyed helping them.
At last mind was made up. “I’m going to be a nurse,” she decided.
“Nursing isn’t the right work for a lady,” her father told her.
“Then I will make it so”, she smiled. And she went to learn nursing in Germany and France.
When she returned to England, Florence started a nursing home. During the Crimean War in 1854 she went with a group of thirty eight nurses to the front hospitals. What they saw there was terrible. Dirt and death were everywhere to be seen — and smelled. The officer there did not want any woman to tell him how to run a hospital, either. But the brave nurse went to work.
Florence used her own money and some from friends to buy clothes, beds, medicine and food for the men. Her only pay was in smiles from the lips of dying soldiers. But they were more than enough for this kind woman.
After she returned to England, she was honored for her services by Queen Victoria. But Florence said that her work had just begun. She raised money to build the Nightingale Home for Nurses in London. She also wrote a book on public health, which was printed in several countries.
Florence Nightingale died at the age of ninety, still trying to serve others through her work as a nurse. Indeed, it is because of her that we honor nurses today.
1.When she was a child, Florence _______.
A. loved to travel very much
B. knew what her duty in life was
C. loved to help the sick people
D. want to learn music and drawing in the future
2.During the Crimean War in 1854, Florence served in the front hospital where _______.
A. she earned a little money
B. work was very difficult
C. few soldiers died because of her work
D. she didn’t have enough food or clothes
3.Why was Florence honored by Queen Victoria?
A. She built the Nightingale Home for Nurses.
B. She wrote a book on public health.
C. She worked as a nurse all her life.
D. She did a great deal of work during the Crimean War.
4.The passage can best be described as _______.
A. the life story of a famous woman
B. a description of the nursing work
C. an example of successful education
D. the history of nursing in England
读者王彬写信给某杂志“开心”栏目记者Mary，询问怎么才会感到幸福，请根据提示给他写一封回信，主题为How to Be Happy。
提示：1. 幸福是人生最宝贵的东西；
2. 凭良心做事，善待他人；
3. 注重健康；
4. 遇到挫折时要保持乐观。
注意：1. 词数：150左右；
2. 根据提示适当发挥，开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Wang Bin,
I’m glad to receive your letter, in which you asked me about how to be happy.
A hobby is an activity we can do in our free time, so that we can keep ourselves busy with something that makes us happy. Different people pursue (追求) different kinds of hobbies, according to their personal likes and dislikes. Hobbies are activities we choose to do, but not activities we have to do. There is a lot of difference between wanting to do something and having to do it. We only want to do those things we like to do, and things that give us pleasure and peace of mind.
Hobbies hold a very important place in our lives. For example, they are a means of connecting us with our inner self. The time devoted to taking up a hobby is our own time. This is the time when we can connect and communicate with ourselves. During this personal time, we can do whatever we like. Doing things according to our own wishes gives us a sense of inner satisfaction, and also helps develop self-confidence.
Hobbies also help discover talents. There is a possibility that we are interested in a certain activity, but have never had a chance to actually try it. If we develop our interest as our hobbies, it’s obvious that we’ll do it with great interest. So, even if we have never tried a certain thing before, we can still learn to do it. Thus, the hobbyists’ hidden talents can be discovered, and this can make them feel extremely proud and satisfied.
It’s human nature to try to know more about the things we like. The moment we pursue some activities as our favorite hobbies, we tend to gain more knowledge about the same hobby. Whether it’s gardening, cooking, painting or collecting stamps, we always try to get a deeper understanding of what we’re doing, so that we can do it more correctly. What’s more, we also happen to meet people with similar tastes and sometimes, possessing (拥有) rich knowledge about their hobbies. Thus, besides gaining knowledge, hobbies also provide us with a chance to meet people who share similar likes and dislikes with us.
Whatever our hobbies are, they can be developed at any age, as a child or as an adult. However, if we begin at a young age, we can get more time to experience the joys of our favorite pursuit. The hobby tends to grow with us, and someday, may also take us to great heights.
Why to take up a hobby | ||
Paragraph outline | Supporting details | |
Meanings | ·Hobbies are activities we do in our free time and can make us 1. . ·Our hobbies are based on our likes. ·Hobbies are those activities people are 2. to do. | |
3. | Helping connect With the inner self | ·The time 4. on the hobby is our personal time when we can be free to do anything we like. ·We’ll feel5. and become more confident. |
Helping discover talents | ·We can learn a lot by trying some activities with great6. ·We’ll be able to find our 7. talents. | |
Helping gain knowledge | ·When pursuing a hobby, we tend to try our best to8. it well, and them we gain a lot of knowledge. ·We can also9. some learned people and learn a lot from them. | |
10. | Though all hobbies can be developed at any age, yet it’s better to develop one when we are young. | |
Baby girls make their way to dolls as son as they can crawl(爬), and boys will head for the toy cars, a study has shown. The findings-the first t o show consistent differences in very young babies-suggest there is a biological basis for their preferences.
Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd carried out an experiment involving 90 babies aged 9 months to 36 months. They were allowed to choose from 7 toys. Some were boys’ toys-a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls’ toys; a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys, and could pick whichever toy they liked. Their choice and amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (9 to 14 months), girls spent much longer time playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and the ball than the girls did. Among the two and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ views on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choices.
Dr Brenda Todd said, “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preferences. But these findings are consistent with the former idea that children show intrinsic(内在的) interest in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to moving objects, probably through hunting instincts (本能), while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the color of a newborn baby.”
1.Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because .
A. baby boys are much more active
B. baby girls like bright colors better
C. their parents treat them differently
D. there is a biological difference between them
2.What can we infer from Paragraph 3?
A. Nine-month-old baby boys don’t play with dolls at all.
B. Two-year-old baby girls sometimes play with cars and balls
C. The older the babies are, the more obvious their preference is.
D. Parents should teach baby boys and girls to share each other’s toys.
3.What conclusion did Dr Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?
A. Adults purposely influence the preference of babies.
B. Babies’ preference isn’t affected by social surroundings.(环境)
C. Baby boys preferring moving toys will be good at hunting.
D. Baby girls preferring warmer colors will be warmhearted.
4.Which column of a newspaper does the passage probably appear in?
A. Science. B. Health.
C. Education. D. Entertainment.
