D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

People should be warned against using mobile phones outdoors in stormy weather because they may“be struck by lightning”，according to doctors．
Three experts have described how a teenage girl was struck by lightning while using her phone in a large London park．The girl，aged 15，recovered，but a year later was still wheelchair-bound and found to be suffering complex physical and emotional problems.
The girl also had a perforate eardrum(打孔耳膜)on the side where she had been holding the mobile phone．She was having general recovery in Northwick Park Hospital，Middlesex．
Swinda Esprit，a senior house officer, said that while the brain and muscle damage was similar to that of many lightning victims—who can experience heart attacks on being struck—the ear problems were not．
She said that the damages were particularly relevant for people who might be involved in less serious lightning incidents，who might otherwise recover, but would never get their full hearing back if struck while on the phone．
“We were shocked by the damage，which is why we wanted to draw attention to it，”Dr Esprit said．“A year on and she still was suffering these difficult hearing．”
They added that three other cases had been reported in newspapers in China，South Korea，and Malaysia．In the Malaysian case，a sales executive was killed by lightning while talking on his phone during a thunderstorm near Kuala Lumpur．
“All these events resulted in death，”the doctors wrote．“This rare phenomenon is a public health issue，and education is necessary to stress the risk．”
The Australian Lightning Protection Standard recommends that metallic objects，including cordless or mobile phones，should not be carried outdoors during thunderstorms．However, “the United States National Weather Service says on its website that both are safe to use “because there is no direct path between you and the lightening”．
Paul Taylor, of “the Met Office'’，said the ear injuries were a consequence of mobile phones being metal，and not related to radio waves．
Mr. Taylor said that mobile phones should be treated as another piece of metal，similar to carrying coins or wearing rings，and people need to be warned against the possible danger．
【小题1】What do we know about the teenage girl?

C
If you were to come up with a list of organizations whose failures had done the most damage to the American economy in recent years, you would probably have to start with the Wall Street firms that brought us the financial crisis．From there, you might move on to the automakers in Detroit．
But I would suggest that the list should also include a less obvious nominee: public education．
At its top level, the American system of higher education may be the best in the world．Yet in terms of its core mission---turning teenagers into educated college graduates--- much of the system is failing．
The United States does a good job enrolling （招生） teenagers in college, but only half of the students who enroll end up with a bachelor’s degree．
So identifying the causes of the college dropout crisis in the world’s largest economy matters enormously, and a new book called “Crossing the Finish Line” tries to do precisely that．Its authors are economists William Bowen and Michael McPherson, and a doctoral candidate Matthew Chingos．The first problem they diagnose is something they call under-matching．It refers to students who choose not to attend the best college they can get into．They instead go to a less selective one, perhaps one that is closer to home or less expensive．About half of the low-income students with a grade-point average of at least 3．5 in high school and an SAT score of at least 1,200 do not attend the best college they could have．“I was really astonished by the degree to which well-qualified students from poor families under-matched,” said Mr．Bowen．
In fact, well-off students attend the colleges that do the best job of producing graduates．Meanwhile, lower-income students -–even when they are better qualified—often go to colleges that excel（擅长）in producing drop-outs．“It’s really a waste,” Mr．Bowen said, “and a big problem for the country．” As the authors point out, the only way to lift the college graduation rate significantly is to lift it among poor and working-class students．Instead, it appears to have fallen．
What can be done? Money is clearly part of the answer．
46. Which of the following would people first think of as a factor responsible for the American financial crisis according to this passage?
A．The government．           B．Public education
C．The Detroit automakers．   D．The Wall Street firms．
47．What is a big problem with American higher education?
A．It is hard to enroll enough students into college．
B．Many colleges are experiencing low rate of graduation．
C．Many college students stay away from classes．
D．It is hard for many colleges to get financial aid from the government．
48．The title of the book Crossing the Finish Line probably means______．
A．running to the end of the line        B．going to college
C．finishing college education     D．working hard in college
49．Why do some students under--match ?
A．Because they have financial difficulty．       B．Because they face ambition crisis．
C．Because they lack confidence．         D．Because they can’t get guidance．
50．The passage is mainly about _______．
A．problems with secondary American education and possible solutions
B．America’s financial crisis, its cause and influence
C．low rate of American college graduation, its cause and its influence
D．relationship between American education and its economy

People should be warned against using mobile phones outdoors in stormy weather because they may “be struck by lightning”, according to doctors.

Three experts have described how a teenage girl was struck by lightning while using her phone in a large London park. The girl, aged 15, recovered, but a year later, was still wheelchair-bound and found to be suffering complex physical and emotional problems.
The girl also had a perforate eardrum（打孔耳膜）on the side where she had been holding the mobile phone. She was having general recovery in Northwick Park Hospital, Middlesex.Swinda Esprit, a senior house offi­cer, said that while the brain and muscle damage was similar to that of many lightning victims—who can experience heart attacks on being struck— the ear problems were not.
She said that the damages were particularly relevant for people who might be involved in less seri­ous lightning incidents, who might other­wise recover, but would never get their full hearing back if struck while on the phone.
“We were shocked by the damage, which is why we wanted to draw attention to it,” Dr Esprit said. “A year on and she still was suffering these difficult hearing.”
They added that three other cases had been reported in newspapers in China, South Korea, and Malaysia. In the Malaysian case, a sales executive was killed by lightning while talking on his phone during a thun­derstorm near Kuala Lumpur
“All these events resulted in death,” the doctors wrote. “This rare phe­nomenon is a public health issue, and edu­cation is necessary to stress the risk.”
The Australian Lightning Protection Standard recommends that metallic objects, including cordless or mobile phones, should not be carried out­doors during thunderstorms. However, “the United States National Weather Service says on its website that both are safe to use “because there is no direct path between you and the lightening”.
Paul Taylor, of “the Met Office”, said the ear injuries were a consequence of mobile phones being metal, and not related to radio waves.
Mr. Taylor said that mobile phones should be treated as another piece of metal, similar to carrying coins or wearing rings, and people need to be warned against the possi­ble danger.
【小题1】What do we know about the teenage girl?

Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook from scratch (从头开始 )? Have you been doing internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can't you be bothered to do?
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults are so idle they'd catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs.
Just over 2000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain's largest health charity. The results were surprising.
About one in six people surveyed said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up.
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus. Worryingly, of the 654 respondents (回答者) with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them.
This led the report to conclude that it's no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese (肥胖) before they start school. 
Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said: "People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and obviously their pets too.
"If we don't start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the most basic of tasks."
And Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the laziest city in the UK, with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%.
The results pose (对... 提出) serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year.
【小题1】For the interest of country people should         .