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Nowadays, reading for pleasure is declining among primary-age pupils, and increasing numbers of “time poor” parents are dropping the practice of sharing bedtime stories with their children once they start school.
Research found that while parents read to preschoolers, by the final year of primary school only around 2% read to their children every day. Once children can read skillfully, parents tend to step back, and this usually happens at the age of seven or eight. The research also found that most teachers blame the government’s “target-driven” education policies for the fact that fewer children are reading for pleasure.
They believe that a straitjacket (束缚) of strictly organized schooling is containing young people’s ability to read more widely. Two-thirds of teachers surveyed said they lacked time in the school day to introduce a variety of books and that this was a “major obstacle to being able to develop a level of reading”. Teachers also cited as main factors the reduction in the number of school librarians, who could put interesting books before children, and the rise in “screen time”, switching children from reading to playing games.
The majority of teachers said the curriculum’s “emphasis on reading as a skill to be mastered” was increasing the pressure, which also came from parents who saw reading as a focus of learning, a skill critical to career advancement in a competitive world.
There was a real love of reading among teachers, and a strong desire to encourage more children to read for pleasure. However, the teachers also had an overpowering sense of frustration with their situation. “Touch-screen phone and computers are naturally attractive to children,” the survey said, and predicted a period of awkwardness as everyone else adapts. By 2021, children’s television will have adopted the presence of this second screen, and it will be strange not to have children, at home drawing along on computers and then having these appearing live in the show.
The hope is that user-friendly screens could, if material is adapted and downloaded easily, present an opportunity for more ambitious publishing — for example, books children like to read or digital books with moving pictures instead of photos to clarify factual and scientific points. Parental controls that are easy to use would be key. And they should be allowed to shut off access to children in the home.
The 1. situation | The change in the number of primary-age pupils who read for pleasure is 2.to that in the number of parents who fail to tell bedtime stories to their children. | |
The reasons | The government | Its “target-driven” education policies are to 3.for the fact that fewer children are reading for pleasure. |
Schools | ●The strictly organized schooling plays a 4. role for the children to read more widely. ●The number of school librarians is 5. ●The curriculum 6.reading skills too much, which burdens the children. | |
Most teachers | They can do nothing to introduce various books because they are 7. in time in the school day. | |
Parents | They 8.to reading as a focus of learning and a critical skill to career advancement in a competitive world. | |
Children | They 9. their attention from reading to the second screen. | |
The hopes | ●Publish books children like to read or 10. books. ●Allow parents to shut off access to children in the home. |
I remember the thrill of first seeing you at law school orientation. You looked happy in a sea of dour, nervous faces. And you swept me off my feet immediately and I was eager to know everything about you. It quickly became clear that you were kind, down-to-earth, engaging and loyal to family and friends. By graduation, we were inseparable. We took the bar exam and were married. The future looked bright-two freshly minted lawyers with supportive families and a dream of starting a family of our own some day.
I started my career with the exhausting hours and high stress that are traditionally visited on young lawyers. You were unexpectedly ambivalent (矛盾情绪的） about finding a good job-or any job. After gentle pressure from me, and more from the student loan payments, you puttered around in some non-legal positions more suited for someone with half your education and intelligence, which offered low pay.
Pregnancy-something we both wanted-gave you the most important job in the world. After a few years, we were blessed with a second child. You have never returned to work, although both kids have been at school full-time for years, and our firstborn is heading to college soon.
I've climbed the professional ladder reasonably well. We have the trappings of middle-class success-a nice house in a safe, quiet neighborhood; annual holidays; happy, healthy children; money saved for their college years. But it has come at enormous personal cost to me. My stress level has increased dramatically with added responsibilities at work and my health has become worse. People who haven't seen me for years flinch (退缩） when we meet again and I've attended more than one event at which I have overheard someone remarking on how much I've aged.
I don't think I can do this for another 25 years. I often dream of leaving my firm for a less demanding position, with you making up any financial deficit with a job-even a modest one-of your own. I've asked, and sometimes pleaded, for years with you to get a job, any job. Many of my free hours are spent helping with the housework and the kids, and I recognize that traditional gender roles are often oppressive, but that cuts both ways. I would feel less used and alone if you pitched in financially, even a little. That's not going to happen. It has become clear that you are OK with my working myself to death at a high-stress career that I increasingly hate, as long as you don't have to return to the workforce.
You keep busy volunteering, exercising and pursuing a variety of hobbies. You socialize with similarly situated women who also choose to remain outside the paid workforce. You always say you are not satisfied with the family income, but never once consider that you could relieve the stress on both our budgets and your burnt-out husband by earning some money yourself.
Our family is grateful for all that we enjoy and we know that we're far more fortunate than millions who work far harder than I ever have, or will. And I know all too well that work can be unpleasant. But I don't want you to work so I can buy a Jaguar or a holiday home. I want you to work so I can get a different position and we can still maintain a similar standard of living.
I want you to get a job so I don't wake up in the middle of the night worrying that my career is the only one between us and financial ruin. I want you to work so our marriage can feel more like a partnership and I can feel less like your financial beast of burden. I want our daughter to see you in the workforce and I want her to pursue a career so she is never as dependent on a man as you are on me, no matter how much he loves her(and he will).But mostly I want you to get a job because I want to feel loved.
1.What can we know about the author?
A.He has a family of five.
B.He got married before graduation.
C.He dreams of being a successful lawyer.
D.He fell for his wife at first sight.
2.What does the author think is the most important job to his wife?
A.Choosing a like-minded life partner.
B.The mother's having a baby inside her body.
C.The woman's being able to support her family.
D.Applying for a high-paid job once again.
3.What message is delivered in the fourth paragraph?
A.The author is not so good at socializing.
B.The author is a person of wealth and power.
C.Great responsibility comes with great power.
D.The heavy work pressure has aged the author.
4.What does the underlined sentence imply?
A.The author's wife won't take high-pressure jobs.
B.The author's wife is not satisfied with his work.
C.The author's wife will not go to work.
D.The author's wife can't keep the work-life balance.
5.We can infer from Paragraph 6 that the author's wife_
A.complains about financial pressure
B.usually volunteers with nearby women
C.always thinks of her husband's feelings
D.determines to earn some money herself
6.Why does the author want his wife to get a job?
A.To raise their standard of living.
B.To improve her ability to be independent.
C.To assist him in buying a nice holiday home.
D.To set a good example to their daughter.
Chinese restaurants began to open in America in the mid-19th century, mainly on the west coast where the first immigrants landed. They mostly served an Americanized version of Cantonese cuisine, chop suey, egg fu yung and the like. In that century and much of the 20th,the immigrants largely came from China's south-east, mainly Guangdong province.
After the immigration reforms of 1965, Chinese migrants from other regions started to arrive. Restaurants began calling their food "Hunan” and “Sichuan". Though their food rarely resembled what was actually eaten in those regions, it was more diverse and boldly spiced than the sweet, fried stuff that defined the earliest Chinese menus. By the 1990s adventurous diners in cities with sizeable Chinese populations could choose from a variety of regional cuisines. A particular favorite was Sichuan food, with its addictively numbing fire due to peppercorn.
Yet over the decades, as Chinese food became universal, it also came to be standardized. There are almost three times as many Chinese restaurants in America (41,000)as McDonald's. Virtually every small town has one. And generally the menus are consistent: pork dumplings （steamed or fried);the same two soups(hot and sour, wonton);stir-fries listed by main ingredient, with a pepper icon or star indicating a slight trace of chilli-flakes. Dishes over$10 are grouped under "chef's specials".
Until recently, the prices varied as little as the menus and they were low. Eddie Huang, a Taiwanese-American restaurateur, recalls how his newly-arrived father kept his prices down because" immigrants can't sell anything full-price in America."
Americans have traditionally been willing to pay through the nose at French or Italian joints （where, in fact, Latinos often do most of the cooking).And every city has its pricey sushi bars and expensive tapas restaurants(tapas, as one joke goes, is Spanish for"$96 and still hungry").
Mr. Huang is right that Americans have long expected Chinese food to be cheap and filling. One step up from the urban takeaway, with its fluorescent lighting, is the Chinese restaurant with its red doors and fake lions standing guard, exotic enough to be special, but still affordable enough for a family to visit once a week when nobody feels like cooking. Even the superior outlets were cheap for what they served.
But now things are changing. Mr. Huang sells delicious stuffed buns in New York and Los Angeles for$5.50 each and encourages other immigrants not to undervalue their work.
Meanwhile, although racism persists, the previous discrimination of earlier ages has been fading. Since the Chinese-American population is six times what was 40 years ago, Americans overall are much more familiar with Chinese people and their cooking, all of which means that the new fancy breed of Chinese restaurants draws a heartening mix of Chinese and non-Chinese diners.
1.We can learn from the first three paragraphs that_
A.Cantonese cuisine was well received by Americans in the 19th century
B.Those so-called Hunan or Sichuan food in America tasted just as what was actually eaten in those regions
C.Nowadays Chinese restaurants are almost twice more than McDonald's in America
D.Americans prefer Hunan food because they have been addicted to peppercorn
2.Why was Chinese food sold at a lower price?
A.Americans have long expected Chinese food to be cheap and filling.
B.Earlier immigrants couldn't sell anything full-price in America.
C.Americans prefer French and Italian food.
D.Chinese restaurants face fierce price competition from other restaurants.
3.In what order did the author write the passage?
A.In order of importance.
B.In order of place.
C.In order of time.
D.In order of position.
4.What is the best title of this passage?
A.Immigration on a plate.
B.Americans' favourite cuisine.
C.Prejudice against Chinese immigrants.
D.Route to success.
The number of snow geese arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has skyrocketed over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes (湿地） where plants were eaten by thousands of hungry birds. In response, the federal government loosened restrictions on snow goose hunting to protect the ecosystem.
But how do the Inuit, in whose backyard this is taking place, view the situation? A recent initiative is giving Inuit wildlife experts the opportunity to lend their knowledge to managing the species. The snow goose study, which is supported in part by Polar Knowledge Board(an Inuit organization that manages hunting, trapping and fishing in central Nunavut),asked the experts to share their generations of knowledge about snow geese and their views on what should be done.
＂The community had concerns about controlling the population," says Ron, a community officer for the Inuit Association," and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew."
Inuit wildlife experts disagreed with that, considering it wasteful and unnecessary. They felt hunting more snow geese in an organized way, such as paying local hunters a minimal amount of money and distributing the birds to disadvantaged families or operating a limited commercial hunt by employing local people, would be appropriate.
Inuit wildlife experts will meet scientists this fall to search for common ground. They say that while there may be too many snow geese in some areas, it's not a crisis. Biologists now generally agree that there seem to be plenty of undamaged marshes available and newer research shows that some damaged areas can recover.
Conservation planners for the three migratory bird protection zones in the area will use the study's recommendations-an example of how native knowledge can strengthen wildlife management." It is providing people who the decisions affect with a real, practical way to make recommendations and influence what happens," says Vicky Johnston, a biologist and manager with the Canadian Wildlife Service involved in the project.
＂Now that we have recorded and documented Inuit knowledge of snow geese," says Ron, ＂when facing the crisis, other people will be able to use the information to help manage the species, which is fundamental to dealing with it effectively."
1.Which of the following might Inuit wildlife experts agree with?
A.Organizing large commercial hunts.
B.Using snow goose hunting to man's best advantage.
C.Regarding too many snow geese as a crisis.
D.Hunting as many snow geese as possible.
2.What might biologists think about the marshes' future now?
A.It's unpredictable.
B.It's a bit promising.
C.It's too discouraging.
D.It's hard to get better.
3.What does the underlined word "it" in the last paragraph refer to?
A.The crisis.
B.Inuit knowledge.
C.The species.
D.Inuit research.
New Zealand is located where two tectonic plates of the earth's crust meet. This causes a large amount of geothermal activity, allowing warm water to bubble up through the earth's crust to form hot pools. These pools often contain minerals dissolved from the rocks they seeped through.
Here you will find a selection of commercial and wild hot pools throughout New Zealand.
Rotorua
In Rotorua, a city built on top of an active volcanic zone, nearly every accommodation establishment offers private, exchange-heated spa pools. You'll also find a selection of hot pool complexes, including Hells Gate and the Polynesian Spa.
Near Reporoa is a hot spring called Butcher's Pool. Rated highly by regular soakers, this free-of-charge pool is owned and maintained by the Rotorua District Council. It has sealed walkways, toilets and changing rooms.
Lake Taupo
Lake Taupo is home to a range of naturally-heated hot pools-perfect for a relaxing soak after a busy day of exploring.
Long time local favorite, Taupo DeBretts Hot Springs offers heated indoor and outdoor pools while Tokaanu Thermal Pools offer private and public hot pool experiences.
If you're looking for a thermal soak and massage in a quiet setting, head to Wairakei Terraces and if you'd like to explore some of the region's thermal pools without pulling out your wallet, head along to either the Lake Terrace or Spa Park.
South Island-Hanmer Springs
There are fewer hot springs in the South Island, which has very different geography to the North Island. However the huge Alpine Fault that created the Southern Alps has done the world a favour with Hanmer Springs, an all-seasons hot spring resort that regularly wins awards for its facilities. At Hanmer you'll find thermal mineral, sulphur and freshwater pools, as well as a large children's activity area with water slides. Beauty and massage treatments put the finishing touches on your relaxation.
If you'd like the unique experience of bathing in heated glacial waters, head to Tekapo Springs. Or soak in fresh mountain water and glorious alpine views at the outdoor Omarma Hot Tubs, just 90 minutes from Aoraki/Mount Cook.
1.Which hot pool near Lake Taupo is free of charge?
A.Taupo DeBretts Hot Springs B.Tokaanu Thermal Pools
C.Spa Park D.Wairakei Terraces
2.This passage is intended to _______
A.introduce several hot pools in New Zealand
B.attract visitors to visit New Zealand
C.compare several hot pools in New Zealand
D.advertise natural resources in New Zealand
Plant a Row for the Hungry
It was a cold night and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I'd read the signs:＂Don't give money to beggars." So I _______ my head and kept walking.
I wasn't _______for a reply, but with submission, he said, "I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me _______!"But I kept on walking.
The_______bothered me for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have _______ me to hand over a buck or two even if he had been_______. On a freezing night I assumed the _______of a fellow human being.
On the flight back home, I couldn't help thinking of him. I tried to explain my _______to help by assuming government agencies, churches and charities were there to_______him. Besides, you're not supposed to give money to ________
One day, I started to write my weekly garden column for The Anchorage Daily News as usual. Out of the blue, an idea ________my mind. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their gardens dedicated to the ________?
We didn't keep records back then, but the idea began to ________.As more and more people started ________the Plant a Row for the Hungry concept, new ways and variations________ up, if you will pardon the pun (双关语）。Today, the program continues to flourish and ________ flowers for the spirit, and comfort for my________.
I am shocked that millions of Americans are________by hunger. If every gardener in America plants one row for the hungry, we can make a________in the number of neighbors who don't have enough to eat. Maybe then I will stop feeling guilty about________ a hungry man I could have helped.
1.A.nodded B.shook C.turned D.lowered
2.A.intended B.meant C.motivated D.prepared
3.A.eat B.shop C.live D.drink
4.A.accident B.situation C.incident D.condition
5.A.pleased B.confused C.saved D.killed
6.A.starving B.lying C.begging D.watching
7.A.best B.better C.worst D.worse
8.A.failure B.responsibility C.hope D.willingness
9.A.adopt B.feed C.house D.free
10.A.churches B.charities C.beggars D.readers
11.A.caught B.crossed C.changed D.slipped
12.A.hungry B.homeless C.poor D.generous
13.A.show up B.take up C.show off D.take off
14.A.paying for B.working with C.advertising for D.messing with
15.A.sped B.showed C.cropped D.broke
16.A.grow B.increase C.decline D.appear
17.A.conscience B.explanation C.assumption D.dedication
18.A.ruined B.infected C.threatened D.depressed
19.A.sense B.link C.difference D.leap
20.A.supporting B.discouraging C.abusing D.abandoning
