"Oh, you must have been a spoiled(宠坏的) kid. You must be really bossy. I wonder what you're going to be like to deal with?" That's often the response Angela Hult gets when people find out she's an only child, she told ABC News, Despite such negative(消极的) remarks, Hult has decided to have only one child herself. And she's not alone.
According to the US' Office for National Statistics, women approaching the end of their childbearing years had an average of l.9 children in 2004, compared with 3.1 for their counterparts in 1976. The percentage of one-child families in Britain had risen from 18 percent in 1972 to 26 percent in 2007.
But even though only children are becoming increasingly common, the traditional view that they're selfish, spoilt and lack social skills holds strong. Even parents of only children, like Hult, are made to feel guilty about having only one child. Worried that they're being selfish and endangering their child's future, they flock to online discussion forums seeking advice. Soon, however, they ask themselves: is this social prejudice really reasonable?
"There have been hundreds and hundreds of research studies that show that only children are no different from their peers(同龄人) ," Susan Newman, a social psychologist at Rutgers University in the US, told ABC News.
This raises another question: why are only children still viewed with such suspicion?
"There is a belief that's been around probably since humans first existed that to have just one child is somehow dangerous, both for you and for the continuation of your race," Toni Falbo, a professor of educational psychology, told the Guardian." In the past a lot of children died, You'd have had to be crazy to only have one. "
Times, of course, have changed and infant mortality(婴儿死亡率) has largely reduced. So what do only children themselves say?
Kayley Kravitz, a blogger for The Huffington Post, grew up as an only child and highly recommends the experience. "Being an only child taught me the most valuable skill of all: the ability to be alone," she said.Which of the following could be the best title for the text?
| A．Are only children lonely? |
| B．Are only children common? |
| C．Are only children dangerous? |
| D．Are only children different? |
What does Susan Newman mean?
| A．Only children are as good as their peers. |
| B．Only children are more selfish and spoiled. |
| C．Parents feel guilty about having only one child. |
| D．Parents will endanger their only child's future. |
What is the common belief since human existed?
| A．The infant death rate always stays high. |
| B．People are crazy to have only one child. |
| C．It's easy for only children to earn their living. |
| D．It's hard to continue the family line with only one child. |
An only child like Kayley _______.
| A．must be difficult to persuade |
| B．can possibly learn to be alone |
| C．should value special skills |
| D．need ignore bad experience |
What's the author's attitude towards having only one child?
| A．Neutral. | B．Negative. | C．Positive. | D．Doubtful. |
From a plane we can see the fields, cities, mountains or seas below．If we go into space, we see more and more of the earth．People and man-made satellites have been sent out into space to look at the earth carefully and people have learnt more about the earth in the last years．
The sea looks very beautiful when the sun is shining on it．But it can be very terrible when there is a strong wind．
The sea is very big, it nearly covers three quarters of the earth．The sea is also very deep in some places．There is one place in the sea is about 11 kilometres deep．The highest mountain in the world is about 9 kilometres high．If that mountain was put into the sea at that place, there would be still 2 kilometres of water above it!
In most parts of the sea, there are many kinds of fishes and plants．Some live near the top of the sea．Others live deep down．There are also a lot of small living things, and lots of fishes live by eating them．
The sea can be very cold．The further people go down, the sea becomes colder and colder．At one time only some men could go down into the deep sea．But, in 1970, five women scientists lived in the deep sea for fourteen days．【改编】 The land covers about _________ of the earth．
| A．1/3 | B．1/4 | C．1/2 | D．3/4 |
【改编】The fishes feed on _________.
| A．plants |
| B．small fish |
| C．small living things |
| D．islands |
【改编】What can we infer from the passage？
| A．The highest mountain is in the deepest place of the sea. |
| B．We can see the fields, cities, mountains or seas in everywhere. |
| C．In 1970, five men scientists lived in the deep sea for fourteen days. |
| D．The further people go down, the colder and colder the sea becomes. |
There once was a master who went to India．In those times, we didn't have the communications or airplanes or many kinds of transportation that we do now．So the master went to India on foot．He had never been to India before; perhaps he came from Persia．And when he got there, he saw a lot of fruit．In India they have plenty of fruit to sell, but much of it is expensive because they can't grow much due to the water situation．So he saw one basket, a big basket of some very red, long fruit．And it was the cheapest in the shop, not expensive at all．
So he went up and asked, "How much per kilo?" And the shopkeeper said, "Two rupees（卢比）．" Two rupees in India is nothing; it's like dirt．So he bought a whole kilogram of the fruit and started eating it．But after he ate some of it: Oh, my God! His eyes watered, his mouth watered and burned, his eyes were burning, his head was burning and his face became red．As he coughed and choked and gasped for breath, he jumped up and down, saying, "Ah! Ah! Ah!"But he still continued to eat the fruit! Some people who were looking at him shook their heads and said, "You're crazy, man．Those are chilies（辣椒）! You can't eat so many; they're not good for you! People use them as a condiment（作料）, but only a little bit to put into food for taste．You can't just eat them by the handful like that; they're not fruit!" So the stupid master said, "No, I can't stop! I paid money for them, and now I'll eat them．It's my money!"
And you think that master was stupid, right? Similarly, we sometimes do a lot of things like that．We invest money, time or effort in a relationship, business or job．And even though it's been a long time, bitter experience tells us it won't work, and we know there's no more hope that things will change in the future — this we definitely know by intuition（直觉）— we still continue just because we've invested money, time, effort and love into it．Just like the man who ate the chilies and suffered so much but couldn't stop because he didn't want to waste the money he'd paid．【改编】 Why did the master go to India on foot?
| A．Because he likes doing sports. |
| B．Because there aren't any kinds of transportation that we do now. |
| C．The price of transportation is very expensive. |
| D．Because the master had lots of time. |
【改编】 What can we infer about the master according to the passage?
| A．His eyes watered because the fruit he ate was delicious. |
| B．He came from Persia on his own． |
| C．He has been to India before. |
| D．He likes chilies very much. |
【改编】 What does passage want to tell us?
| A．To tell us we have to give up sometimes. |
| B．To share us a funny story about a silly master. |
| C．To show us a wise master. |
| D．To offer some information about buying fruits. |
Have you winterized your horse yet? Even though global warming may have made our climate more mild, many animals are still hibernating(冬眠). It’s too bad that humans can’t hibernate. In fact, as a species, we almost did.
Apparently, at times in the past, peasants in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation. So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants. As soon as the weather turned cold people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end.
In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio’s The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed fundamentally since the invention of artificial(人造的) lighting and the electric bulb.
When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first sleep”, which was not clarified, though. Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods. The business of eight hours’ uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention.
In the past, without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight. The late night period was known as ”The Watch” It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbours.
According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia(失眠) at midnight is not a disorder. It is normal. Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning. This period can be an extraordinarily creative time for some people. The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison, used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas.
Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous, as anxiety may set in. Medical science doesn’t help much in this case. It offers us medicines for a full night’s continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however, according to Warren’s theory，it is really the opposite of what we need. The example of the French peasants shows the fact that________.
| A．people might become lazy as a result of too much sleep |
| B．there were signs of hibernation in human sleeping habits |
| C．people tended to sleep more peacefully in cold weather |
| D．winter was a season for people to sleep for months on end |
The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people______.
| A．to set traps to catch animals |
| B．to wake up their family and neighbours |
| C．to remind others of the time |
| D．to guard against possible dangers |
What does the author advise people to do?
| A．Sleep in the way animals do. |
| B．Consult a doctor if they can’t sleep. |
| C．Follow their natural sleep rhythm. |
| D．Keep to the eight-hour sleep pattern. |
What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To give a prescription for insomnia. |
| B．To urge people to sleep less. |
| C．To analyze the sleep pattern of modern people. |
| D．To throw new light on human sleep. |
This brief book is aimed at high school students, but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.
Its formal, serious style closely matches its content, a school-masterly book on schooling. The author, W. H. Armstrong, starts with the basics: reading and writing. In his opinion, reading doesn’t just mean recognizing each word on the page; it means taking in the information, digesting it and incorporating it into oneself just as one digests a sandwich and makes it a part of him. The goal is to bring the information back to life, not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees. Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other; in fact, the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text. I’ve seen it again and again ：some-one who can’t express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn’t read it at all.
Only a third of the book remains after that discussion, which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages, math, science and history. He generally handles these topics thoroughly(透彻地) and equally, except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion(激情) regarding history to his students, that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across. To my disappointment, in this part of the book he ignores the arts. As a matter of fact, they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do, though the study differs slightly in kind. Although it’s commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired, actually, learning the arts is no more natural than learning French or mathematics.
My other comment is that the text aged. The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s—none of the references(参考文献)seem newer than the late 1950s. As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age.
These are small points, though, and don’t affect the main discussion. I recommend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student. According to Armstrong, the goal of reading is to________.
| A．gain knowledge and expand one’s view |
| B．understand the meaning between the lines |
| C．experts ideas based on what one has read |
| D．gets information and keeps it alive in memory |
The author of the passage insists that learning the arts_________.
| A．requires great efforts |
| B．demands real passion |
| C．is less natural than learning maths |
| D．is as natural as learning a language |
What is a shortcoming of Armstrong’s work according to the author?
| A．Some ideas are slightly contradictory. |
| B．There is too much discussion on studying science. |
| C．The style is too serious. |
| D．It lacks new information. |
This passage can be classified as________.
| A．an advertisement |
| B．a book review |
| C．a feature story |
| D．A news report |
They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessories (配饰). Yet these are girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies. A generation which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favoring the same high street looks worn by those half their age.
Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert, said, “Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they did when they were young in the 1960s. In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter. It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to. Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly. ”
Professor Twigg analyzed family expending（支出）data and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same—and 5 or 6 per cent of spending—the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply.
The professor said, “Clothes are now 70 per cent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East. In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from, but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere. Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them. ”
Fashion designer Angela Barnard, who runs her own fashion business in London, said older women were much more affected by celebrity(名流) style than in previous years.
She said, “When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties, they want to follow them. Older women are much more aware of celebrities. There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change their look, and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties. When I started my business a few years ago, my older customers tended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women. My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago. ”Professor Twigg found that, compared with the 1960s, _______.
| A．the price of clothes has generally fallen by 70% |
| B．the spending on clothes has increased by 5% or 6% |
| C．people spend 30% less than they did on clothes |
| D．the amount of clothes bought has risen by 5% or 6% |
What can we learn about old women in terms of fashion？
| A．They are often ignored by fashion designers. |
| B．They are now more easily influenced by stars. |
| C．They are regarded as pioneers in the latest fashion. |
| D．They are more interested in clothes because of their old age. |
It can be concluded that old women tend to wear the latest fashions today mainly because
| A．they get tired of things more quickly |
| B．TV shows teach them how to change their look |
| C．they are in much better shape now |
| D．clothes are much cheaper than before |
Which is the best possible title of the passage?
| A．Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans |
| B．The More Fashionable, the Less Expensive |
| C．Unexpected Changes in Fashion |
| D．Boom of the British Fashion Industry |
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