BEIJIG—The two-day visit to Washington has been heavy for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he attempts to improve ties with Washington and promote his international image ahead of the upcoming G-20 economic summit in London.
Special Relationship
Brown had been praising the “ special relationship” between Britain and the United States before he traveled to Washington. “There is no international partnership in recent history that has served the world better than the special relationship between Britain and the United States,” Brown said in an article in The Sunday Times of London. Such enthusiasm was quickly responded by Barak Obama, the new leader of the world’s largest economy. “The special relationship between the United States and Great Britain is one that is not just important to me, it is important to the American people,” told reporters after meeting with Brown.
Brown was the first European leader to meet Obama at the White House, and this might help the British leader make his image smooth among countrymen in a turbulent(动荡)time and put him in a better position to appear side by side with Obama at the April G-20 summit that will consider the international economic crisis.
Global New Deal
The talks between Brown and Obama were expected to focus mainly on measures to jump-start international economic growth in the most serious downturn in decades. Brown will first promote his “goal new deal” with Obama before taking the G-20 talks. The prime minister, who is chairing the G-20 gathering, has said he would push for deep adjustable changes and joint efforts from all of the world’s major economies, developed and developing, to correct financial rules and inspire the global economy.
However, as pointed out by many analysts, there is the potential for bitterness between Britain and the United States. That’s because no small number of Britons believe themselves to be victims of a crisis which they say was set off by the United States. Meanwhile, analysts say it was unrealistic to expect another honeymoon for British-US ties as Obama seems to have attached more importance to the Pacific region than to Europe.
1 Brown paid the two-day visit to Washington in order to _______.
A. improve the ties with the US and his image
B. make Obama’s international image better
C. congratulate Obama on coming into power
D. prepare for the coming G-20 economic summit
2. The April G-20 summit will mainly focus on how ________.
A. to solve the international energy crisis
B. to solve the international economic crisis
C. to relax current international tension
D. to achieve the double-win goal lately
3. According to many analysts, there is the potential for bitterness between the UK and the US because___________.
A. Obama is less friendly to Brown than Brown to Obama
B. Obama hasn’t visited the UK yet as a new president
C. Obama seems to have attached more importance to Europe than to the Pacific region
D. many Britons believe themselves to be the victims of a crisis caused by the US
4. The underlined part in the last paragraph suggests that___________.
A. Britons expect too much from Obama
B. Britain and USA used to have close relationship
C. the relationship between the two countries will break up
D. Obama and the first lady will not spend their honeymoon in Britain

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Empathy

Last year, researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy, the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped sharply over the past 10 years. __1.__ Today, people spend more time alone and are less likely to join groups and clubs.

Jennifer Freed, a co-director of a teen program, has another explanation. Turn on the TV, and you’re showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect. __2.__

There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples. Humans are socially related by nature. __3.__ Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers are more likely to have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be a cure for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.

Empathy is also an indication of a good leader. In fact, Freed says, many top companies report that empathy is one of the most important things they look for in new managers. __4.__ “Academics are important. But if you don’t have emotional (情感的) intelligence, you won’t be as successful in work or in your love life,” she says.

What’s the best way to up your EQ (情商)? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others. __5.__

To really develop empathy, you’d better volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital, join a club or a team that has a diverse membership, have a “sharing circle” with your family, or spend time caring for pets at an animal shelter.

A. Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human—and having empathy is decisive to those relationships.

B. Everyone is different, and levels of empathy differ from person to person.

C. That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time, the researchers said.

D. “One doesn’t develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking,” Freed says.

E. Humans learn by example—and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic.

F. Empathy is a matter of learning how to understand someone else—both what they think and how they feel.

G. Good social skills—including empathy—are a kind of “emotional intelligence” that will help you succeed in many areas of life.

 

We parents have sky­high hopes for our children. ___1.____. What can we do to help our kids grow up to lead happy lives? According to the experts, we can do many things to help our kids. 

___2.____ In order to succeed,children need to feel they're good at something. So expose your children to as many interests as possible, and then let them choose those they like best.    Applauded their achievements. A study found that students whose parents paid attention to their abilities were far more likely to do well in school and in life—than students whose parents didn't show such support. ____3.___

____4.____. Making his/her own decisions increases a child's sense of control and builds his/her self­esteem (自尊心). And allowing kids to make wrong decisions—so long as doing so won't harm them—helps kids learn from their mistakes.

Encouraging them to solve their own problems. As they grow, children need practice in communicating,standing up for themselves and compromising(妥协). One of the best places to learn these skills is at home. ____5.____.

A.Help them to find their talents.

B.Let them make decisions and mistakes.

C.Don’t criticize the kids in front of the public.

D.We expect them to be confident and content.

E. The children will lead a happier life if given more freedom.

F. So celebrate your kids’ achievements, no matter how small they are.

G. So the next time your child runs to you complaining that her brother is blaming her,step back and let them work it out.

 

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Make the right choices

What is life’s greatest gift? 1______ Choice is the ability to select one course of action from a set of alternatives to achieve a goal. What is so great about choice? It transforms us from dumb animals into artists. Each of us becomes another Michelangelo. Choice becomes nothing other than the tool we use to sculpt (雕刻)our life. The tool doesn’t come free, however, for the price of choice is responsibility. 2______ The reward is happiness.

Life is not still. It is a flow. 3______ We constantly need to monitor where we are on

our journey. We need to ask questions: Am I moving closer to my goals? If not, what corrective measures can I take? What action will I take now to readjust myself to my goals? Choice is power. Choice is at the heart of life. It is the creative power of life.

4______ And your life becomes more convenient or comfortable because of them. For example, you decide which stores to shop at and which gas station to go to. But the decisions that we make to sculpt our lives are far more important than deciding where to shop. The more we appreciate the difference between minor and major decisions, the greater the probability that we will experience happiness and fulfillment.

All chess lovers realize that it isn’t necessary to win to enjoy the game. The pleasure is in the playing. Life is like a chess game. 5______

A. It is free will or choice.

B. You have to make choices every day.

C. Make the best moves you can under the circumstances.

D. But when we accept and carry it out, we get a great return.

E.    Every choice we make leads us closer to or farther from our goals.

F.    Life is full of hard choices, and the bigger they are, the harder they get.

G.    Choose to carry out responsibilities not because you have to, but because you want to.

 

The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americans from being discovered by the people of Europe.

It is more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) wide.   1.   .

Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands.   2.  .

One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises from the floor of the Atlantic.   3.  . The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.

Ocean currents are sometimes called “rivers in the sea”. One of these “rivers” in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It is a current(流) of warm water. Another is the Labrador Current --- cold water coming down from the Arctic.  4.  .

Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the far north across the paths of ships.

   5. . Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four!

A We now have such fast ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller

B This narrowest place is between the bulge(鼓起) of South America and the bulge of Africa

C Also, it is the world’s saltiest ocean

D This big Atlantic Ocean is not easy and sometimes dangerous to cross

E This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean

F Ocean currents affect the climates of the land near which they flow

G The Atlantic furnishes much food for the people on its shores

 

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