Small talk is meaningless conversation in terms of content，but is often seen as socially important in certain situations，or context．In many English-speaking countries，it can be viewed as rude or unfriendly not to make small talk.
Discussing the weather with people who you don’t really know is an example of small talk that many of us are very familiar with on a daily basis．We may chat about the weather with the cashier at the supermarket or with the attendant at the gas station．Small talk may also be related to the situation such as waiting in line．People in the line may comment to others about how slow it is in the post office or bank that day，for instance．We also engage in small talk with people we may see every day but don’t really know such as those we share the elevator with in our office building．
Small talk is common at parties when guests may know the host but not each other．It is considered rude not to mingle and speak with other guests at social functions，so small talk can break the ice and get guests chatting．Compliments(赞美)may be a type of small talk such as one woman at party complimenting another on her dress．
Some people like small talk because they find silence uncomfortable and／or they enjoy communicating verbally．Others enjoy meeting new people and use small talk to start conversations. When making small talk，especially with strangers or those you don’t know very well，it’s important to observe certain socially acceptable conventions．First，small talk should be general and not personal or about controversial topics. Second，while compliments are acceptable，they shouldn't refer to the person’s body or sound like a pick-up line．
【小题1】What do people usually talk about in small talk?

Squirrels often communicate with whistles, chirps and chucks, which sound like the word “chuck”． Whistles and chirps are like the sounds that many birds make．Now scientists have translated some of their squirrel-speak．
Hare, a professor of zoology at the University of Maniloha in Winnipeg, and his team managed to record squirrels' alarm calls．The researchers studied the sounds and then played them back to 60 wild squirrels, which the scientists approached individually with a video recorder to capture(抓拍）their reponses．Some squirrels lifted their heads up and became．Alert(警惕的）．Creatures that were more frightened simply ran for their lives and dived into caves．
"In effect then, whistles that mix with chucks say 'there's an enemy of average threat that's here', and whistles without chucks say 'there's an enemy of seemingly average threat around here somewhere', while pure chirps say, 'I'm hiding here because there's an immediate danger．' " Hare told．Discovery News．
Hare and some other researchers believe such sounds arc part of an advanced language that develops just as all other communication systems．
Although squirrels risk their lives when they call out to warn others of threats, other squirrels might admire this behaviour, thus increasingly the caller’s social status, like humans who look up to heroes. Hare added that other animals, such as birds, probably understand at least some squirrel language, since they also may benefit from the alarm calls.
In fact, another Canadian study found that deep-voiced, black-capped chickadees have their own language too．According to certain research, there are a lot of tidings in chickadees' calls, such as directing fellows' activities, keeping in contact between mates, and raising alarms．
While chickadees and other birds are often welcomed into gardens by homeowners, squirrels are frequently viewed as pests(害兽）. Hare wishes a greater understanding of the complex social lives and communication systems of squirrels will provide “hope that humans will gain a greater appreciation and stop doing harm to these animals”.
【小题1】The text mainly talks about

Motorists used to listening to the radio or their favorite tunes on CDs may have a new way to entertain themselves, after engineers in Japan developed a musical road surface.
The Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has built a number of “melody roads”, which use cars as tuning forks to play music as they travel.
The concept works by using grooves(凹槽). They are cut at very specific intervals(间隔) in the road surface. The melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes(音符).
Depending on how far apart the grooves are, a car moving over them will produce a series of high or low notes, and designers are able to create a distinct tune.
Patent documents for the design describe it as notches “formed in a road surface so as to play a melody without producing simple sound or rhythm and reproduce melody-like tones”.
There are three musical roads in central and northern Japan---one of which plays the tune of a Japanese pop song. Reports say the system was invented by Shizuo Shinoda. He scraped some markings into a road with a bulldozer(推土机) before driving over them and found that they helped to produce all kinds of tones.
The optimal speed for melody road is 44 kph, but people say it is not always easy to get the intended sound.
“You need to keep the car windows closed to hear well,” wrote one Japanese blogger. “Driving too fast will sound like playing fast forward, while driving around 12 mph (20 kph) has a slow-motion effect, making you almost car-sick.”
59. According to the passage, to create different notes, melody roads use ______.
A. cars    B. grooves    C. spaces between internals    D. bulldozers
60. We can learn from the passage that the highness of notes is dependent on ______.
A. how far the grooves are                B. how big the grooves are
C. the number of the grooves              D. the speed of the car
61. The underlined word “optimal” in the passage might mean ______.
A. fastest      B. possible      C. best     D. suitable
62. In order to hear the music well, you have to ______.
A. drive very fast                       B. drive slowly
C. open the window wide                D. keep the window closed  

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Walking with long steps and his smile lighting up a rainy afternoon, Barack Obama seems to have arrived to visit a school he attended as a boy. But wait. He's not real Obama. The US president is back in Washington, D. C.
So who is this guy? He's llham Anas, 34, a magazine photographer who has taken advantage of his perfect resemblance(相像) to Obama and turned it into his own wealth.
When his sister first mentioned the resemblance, Anas dismissed it. Then a friend asked him to pose as Obama in front of a US flag. He also refused. "I'm a photographer, not an object for the camera," he said.
However, as soon as he accepted the idea, his career took off. Recently a group of reporters followed him on a tour of the school Obama once attended. Anas sat in the classroom where the present US president once studied. He spoke a few lines in English. The moment he opened his mouth, however, the differences became clear. “Obama is a baritone (男中音) ,” Anas said.  “I'm not. I sound like a little boy.” He is also shorter than the president, but he makes up for that by practicing Obama's actions.    
He says he has made a request to meet President Obama when he arrives, but he hasn't heard back from the president' s schedules. Now he no longer sees an average guy. Now he sees a superstar.
Now, Anas hopes that Obama will win a second term in the White House. “The longer he's in office, the longer my fame will last,” he said.
【小题1】 What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 mean?

Kids will often ignore your requests for them to shut off the TV, start their chores (杂事), or do their homework as a way to avoid following your directions. Before you know it, you’ve started to sound like a broken record as you repeatedly ask them to do their assignments, clean their room, or take out the trash. Rather than saying “Do your chores now.” you’ll be more effective if you set a target time for when the chores have to be completed. So instead of arguing about starting chores, just say, “If chores aren’t done by 4 pm, here are the consequences.” Then it’s up to your child to complete the chores. Put the ball back in their court. Don’t argue or fight with them, just say, “That’s the way it’s going to be.” It shouldn’t be punitive(惩罚性的) as much as it should be persuasive. “If your chores aren’t done by 4 pm, then no video game time until chores are done. And if finishing those chores runs into homework time, that’s going to be your loss.” On the other hand, when dealing with homework, keep it very simple. Have a time when homework starts, and at that time, all electronics go off and do not go back on until you see that their homework is done. If your kids say they have no homework, then they should use that time to study or read. Either way, there should be a time set aside when the electronics are off.

When a kid wears his iPod or headphones when you’re trying to talk to him, make no bones about it；he is not ignoring you, he is disrespecting you. At that point, everything else should stop until he takes the earplugs out of his ears. Don’t try to communicate with him when he’s wearing headphones — even if he tells you he can hear you. Wearing them while you’re talking to him is a sign of disrespect. Parents should be very tough about this kind of thing. Remember, mutual respect becomes more important as children mature.

According to the passage, it seldom happens that ________.

A．kids turn a deaf ear to their parents’ requests

B．parents’ directions sound like a broken record

C．children are ready to follow their parents’ directions

D．parents are unaware of what they are repeating to their kids

Parents will be able to deal with their children more effectively if they ________.

A．avoid direct ways of punishment      B．make them do things at their request

C．argue and fight with their children    D．allow their children to behave in their own way

When the kid is doing his homework, parents ________.

A．should provide him with a good learning environment

B．can do whatever they like

C．can stay aside watching TV

D．must switch off the power

It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．parents should take off his headphones when trying to have a talk with their child

B．it will make no difference that a kid is wearing his earplugs while talking to his parents

C．parents shouldn’t give in to their kid when he shows no sign of respect

D．kids’ purposely talking to their parents with iPod gives them a sense of power and control

The main idea of the passage is ________.

A．that respecting each other is more important than anything else

B．how kids behave to ignore and disrespect their parents

C．that children should make choices and decisions on their own

D．how parents can deal with their kids’ behavior effectively