D Are you an optimist? Do you look at your glass and see it as half full? Do you believe that every cloud has a silver lining and that things generally turn out for the best? Do you believe that if something is meant to be,it will be? If you reply “yes” to all of these questions,then you are an optimist.You probably are enthusiastic,cheerful and outgoing.You may be successful at work and in love.

But you may be misguided because things don't turn out for the best.You may believe that when on door closes another one opens(for example,you may fail to obtain a new job; another chance will come around soon).Wrong.When one door closes,another door slams(砰然关上)in your face.That's bitter reality.

Now a book has been published which confirms what pessimists(悲观者)have suspected all along.it's called The Positive Power of Defensive Pessimism.Its author argues that defensive pessimism can lead to positive results.Defensive pessimism is a strategy used to manage fear,anxiety and worry.Defensive pessimists prepare for the tings by setting low outcomes for themselves.They carefully consider everything that may go wrong and plan for ways to handle these problems.And this gives them a sense of control.Lawrence Sanno,a psychology professor,says,“What's interesting about defensive pessimists is that they tend to be very successful people,so their low opinion of the situation's outcomes is not realistic.They use it to motivate themselves to perform better.”

So far,so good.This is not rocket science.Defensive pessimists prepare carefully and consider what might go wrong,whether at work,on date or even in a sports game.It makes sense to have a back-up plan.There are many sayings in English urging caution.For example,“Don't put all your eggs in one basket.”

And “Don't count your chickens until they hatch.” To have a confident and optimistic approach to life's problems is good.But listen to what Woody Alien,the American comedian says ,”Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem.”

There are pros and cons to being an optimist and a pessimist.Don't feel bad if you see the glass half empty.You are a realist But lighten up and hook up with someone who sees the same glass half full.

1.What's the passage mainly about?

A.A book that has recently been published.

B.How to become successful in life

C.The dangers of being too optimistic.

D.The benefits of defensive pessimism.

2.The underlined sentence “This is not rocket science”(Para.4)means ______.

A.it's not a dangerous thing to do

B.it is quite simple to understand

C.the cost is not so high

D.there is no real proof

3.Which of the following English expressions would a defensive pessimist believe?

A.Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

B.The glass is half full not half empty.

C.Whatever will be,will be.

D.Every cloud has a silver lining.

4.The writer would probably describe himself as ______.

A.an optimist

B.a defeatist

C.a realist

D.a scientist

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 presented to a conference last week found that, while parents read to preschoolers , this later tails off, and 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 report also found that 820-/o of 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 (课程) " emphasis on reading as a skill to be mastered" was increasing the pressure. This was compounded by parents who saw reading just as a focus of learning, a skill critical to career advancement in a competitive world.

Reading habits and the digital revolution in publishing were key topics of debate at the conference. The theme of the lack of British culture was supported by children's writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the scripts(手稿 ) for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics.

“We discovered the whole nation had forgotten that they did the industrial revolution," he said.

"Books are so central to it; books can be written by anyone. A lot of the pleasure of a book is listening to somebody read it to you. "

"We found a real love of reading al110ng teachers, and a strong desire ,to encourage more children to read for pleasure ,”said Rob Cheney," However ,the teachers also had an overpowering sense of frustration with their situation." "Touch-screen phone and tablets are naturally attractive to children," the survey said, and predicted a period of awkwardness as everyone else adapts. By 2018, 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 tablets 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 can either read or choose to have read to them; 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, the conference was told, such as "a warning for when devices use the Wi-Fi, especially after bedtimes", to allow parents to shut off access to children in the home.

1.What leads to parents' dropping the practice of sharing bedtime stories with their children?

A. Children have less time to spend with their parents after they start school.

B. Parents chink it unnecessary to do so when children can read themselves.

C. The government’s education policies have placed much burden on children.

D. Children don't like parents reading stories to them when they are seven or eight.

2.Which of the following is not teachers' point of view?

A. Children are prevented from reading widely enough in school.

B. Schools pay attention to reading skills instead of reading for fun.

C. Playing video games reduces children's time spent on reading.

D. School libraries can't provide good books for lack of money.

3.The word "compounded" (Paragraph 4) most probably means ______.

A. worsened B. preserved C. reduced D. improved

4.It can be inferred from the article that _____

A. children don't like reading because books are not attractive

B. British people enjoyed reading books very much in the past

C. teachers forbid their students co read more books for fun

D. children should enjoy more freedom to use the Wi-Fi at home

5.What is the passage mainly about?

A. Parents should set a limit to their children's using electric devices at hoI11e.

B. Children are encouraged to read as l11any interesting books as they can.

C. Children miss out on pleasures of reading a good book in modern life.

D. Experts appeals to the government to reduce the heavy burden on children.

It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.

If you give your children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.

My daughter Carla's fifth-grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a perfect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.

You can use the same technique when you evaluate(评价)your child's work at home. Don't always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn't done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.

Learning is a process of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.

1.The whole passage deals with_______.

A. social education B. school education

C. family education D. pre-school education

2.The author thinks that_____.

A. there is no way to get children to help at home

B. the more encouragement and praise you give, the more responsible and helpful children will become

C. it is very difficult to make children responsible for housework

D. children can be forced to help with housework

3.The article gives us a good suggestion about how to evaluate your child's work at home. That is to_____.

A. praise his success

B. promise him a trip

C. give him a punishment

D. promise him a ball game

4. The author advises readers to_______.

A. learn from himself, for he has a good way of teaching

B. take pride in Carla's fifth-grade teacher

C. do as what Carla's teacher did in educating children

D. follow Carla's example because she never fails in the test

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