Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends.Is this a good thing?Sometimes, when Mr.Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.
“I would never have said to my mom, ‘Hey, the new Weezer album is really great.How do you like it?’” says Ballmer.“There was just a complete gap in taste.”
Music was not the only gulf.From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families.Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago.Now they are comfortable and common.And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue int0 adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents.“There’s still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,” says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College.“In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes.They see the 1960s as a turning point.Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourages everyone to have a say.
“My parents were on the ‘before’ side of that change, but today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side,” explains Mr.Ballmer.“It’s not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”
(1)
The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means ________.
[ ]
A.
interest
B.
distance
C.
difference
D.
separation
(2)
Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?
[ ]
A.
Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.
B.
Parents put more trust in their children’s abilities.
C.
Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.
D.
Parents share more interests with their children.
(3)
The change in today’s parent-child relationship is ________.
[ ]
A.
more confusion among parents
B.
new equality between parents and children
C.
less respect for parents from children
D.
more strictness and authority on the part of parents
(4)
By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side.” the author means that today’s parents ________.
[ ]
A.
follow the trend of the change
B.
can set a limit to the change
C.
fail to take the change seriously
D.
have little difficulty adjusting to the change
(5)
The purpose of the passage is to ________.
[ ]
A.
describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with
B.
discuss the development of the parent-child relationship
C.
suggest the ways to handle the parent-child relationship
D.
compare today’s parent-child relationship with that in the past
I fell in love with England because it was quaint(古雅)-all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls' houses.I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London.I've slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it's an ugly town now.
Things have changed.For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners.The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners-people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places.You're forced to live indoors.In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs.To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman.The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here.I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p.m.I used to use it, but now I'm afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England.My family is well united and that's typically French.In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now.His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.
(1)
The writer doesn't like London because she ________.
[ ]
A.
is not used to the life there now
B.
has lived there for seventeen years
C.
prefers to live in an old-fashioned house
D.
has to be polite to everyone she meets there
(2)
Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
[ ]
A.
In a cafe.
B.
In a restaurant.
C.
In a nightclub.
D.
In a pub.
(3)
The underlined part“it”(in Par A.4)refers to ________.
[ ]
A.
a taxi
B.
the money
C.
a bomb
D.
public transport
(4)
The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he ________.
[ ]
A.
felt lonely in England
B.
had never been to France
C.
was from a typical French family
D.
didn't like the British idea of family
阅读理解
Shopping is not as simple as you may think!There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand of product on the shelf.Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell.Health foods are packaged(包装)in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours.Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective.
Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package-blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.The size of a product can attract a shopper.But quite often a bottle doesn't contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 per cent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it's not enough to have a good product.The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote(推销)their goods, came to the conclusion:“Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius to sell it.”
(1)
Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
[ ]
A.
The cost of its package.
B.
The price of the product.
C.
The colour of its package.
D.
The brand name of the product.
(2)
The underlined part“the colours turned the customers off”(in Par A.3)means that the colours ________.
[ ]
A.
attracted the customers strongly
B.
had weak effects on the customers
C.
tricked the customers into shopping
D.
caused the customers to lose interest
(3)
Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
[ ]
A.
The way to promote goods.
B.
The discovery of a genius.
C.
The team to produce a good product.
D.
The brand name used by successful producers.
(4)
Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
[ ]
A.
Choice of Good Products
B.
Disadvantages of Products
C.
Effect of Packaging on Shopping
D.
Brand Names and Shopping Tricks
阅读理解
阅读下列四篇短文,从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。
A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Retreating(撤退)to the farmyard, the mouse declared the warning, "There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house."
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house." "I am so sorry, Mr.Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr.Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, huh?"
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and depressed to face the farmer's mouse trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey.The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.In the darkness, she did not see that it was an evil snake whose tail the trap had caught.The snake bit the farmer's wife.The farmer rushed her to the hospital.She returned home with a fever.Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient(成分).His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.The farmer's wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered(屠杀)to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.And traps are usually well disguised.
(1)
We could see from the passage that the mouse was ________.
[ ]
A.
cunning
B.
well-informed
C.
warm-hearted
D.
wise
(2)
Which of the following is TRUE of the passage?
[ ]
A.
The farmer's wife caught hold of the evil snake.
B.
The mouse trap that the mouse discovered was not a practical one.
C.
The pig was comparatively more friendly than the others in the farmyard.
D.
The farmer's family were in fact a happy, wealthy and popular family.
(3)
The soup's main ingredient in Par.7 refers to the ________.
[ ]
A.
mouse
B.
pig
C.
snake
D.
chicken
(4)
What can we learn from the story?
[ ]
A.
Traps are usually the best challenge.
B.
We should be ready to take anything at risk.
C.
To help others is just to save yourselves.
D.
To keep the balance of nature is the duty of us all.