The Best of Friends

The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image (印象) of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious (叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation (商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”

So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”

1. What is the popular image of teenagers today?

A. They worry about school.　　　　 B. They quarrel a lot with other family members

C. They have to be locked in to avoid troubles.　 . D. They dislike living with their parents.

2. The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ______.

A. share family responsibility　　　　　　 B. make family decisions

C. go boating with their family　　　　　　 D. cause trouble in their families

3. Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents______.

A. go to clubs more often with their children　　　 B. give their children more freedom

C. care less about their children’s life　　　　 D. are much stricter with their children

4. According to the author, teenage rebellion ______.

A. existed only in the 1960s　　　　　　　　 B. is common nowadays

C. may be a false belief　　　　　　　　　　 D. resulted from changes in families

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Harmony in family.　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Education in family.

C. Negotiation in family.　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Teenage trouble in family.

A child's birthday party doesn't have to be a hassle; it can be a basket of fun, according to Beth Anaclerio, an Evaston mother of two, ages 4 and 18 months.

　　"Having a party at home usually requires a lot of running around on the part of the parents, and often the birthday boy or girl gets lost in wild excitement. But it really doesn't have to be that way," said Anaclerio. Last summer, Anaclerio and her friend Jill Garlisle, a Northbrook mother of a 2-year-old, founded a home party-planning business called "A Party in a Basket." Their goal is to help parents and children share in the fun part of party planning, like choosing the subject or making a cake, while they take care of everything.

　　Drawing on their experiences as mothers, they have created（制作）10 ready-to-use, home party packages. Everything a family needs to plan a party, except the cake and ice cream, is delivered to the home in a large basket.

　　"Our parties are aimed for children 2 to 10."Anaclerio said, "and they're very interactive（互动）and creative in that they build a sense of drama based on a subject. For example, at the Soda Shoppe party the guests become waiters and waitresses and build wonderful ice cream creations."

　　The standard ＄200 package for eight children includes a basket filled with invitations, gifts, games and prizes, paper goods, a party planner and the like. For more information, call Anaclerio at 708-864-6584 or Carlisle at 708-205-9141.

72. The main purpose of writing this text is ____.

　　A. to share information about party planning

　　B. to introduce the joys of a birthday party

　　C. to announce a business plan

　　D. to sell a service

73. The most important idea behind the kind of party planning described here is that ____.

　　A. it brings parents and children closer together

　　B. guests play a part in the preparation of a party

　　C. parents are spared the trouble of sending invitations

　　D. it provides a subject of conversation

74. What does the underlined word "hassle"（Paragraph 1） probably mean？

　　A. a party designed by specialists

　　B. a plan requiring careful thought

　　C. a situation causing difficulty or trouble

　　D. a demand made by guests

75. Which of the following is most likely to be a party planner？

　　A senior United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) official on May 29 praised China for its remarkable achievements in children’s welfare(福利).

A. H. M. Farook, UNICEF’s operations area officer for China and Mongolia said that China “can be very satisfied to tell the whole world what can be done with limited resources to help its children to grow healthily and happily.”

　　China’s child population makes up one-fifth of the world’s total. “The reason behind the tremendous(巨大的) achievement is China’s long tradition of caring for children both at home and in society,” he said.

　　“What’s more is that Chinese people have always given special attention to children who are in special need.” The UN official made the remarks when addressing a group of 50 children and staff from the Beijing Children’s Welfare Home at the Shangri-la Hotel, Beijing.

　　The hotel invited the orphans to share snacks(小吃), sing, dance and play games at a park inside the hotel for a “Share the Sunshine” party, as a prelude(前奏) to celebrations to mark the Children’s Day.

　　The Beijing children’s Welfare Home, set up soon after New China was founded in 1949, has at present more than 400 children.

　　A leading official of the welfare institution said that the children live a happy life and that the agency(机构) spends 400—500 yuan a month for an average orphan. An average Chinese workers earned 440 yuan a month during the first quarter this year.

　　Gu Xiaojin, deputy secretary-general of the China Youth Development Foundation(CYDF), said people from all walks of life have contributed to the welfare of the Chinese children.

　　She said that CYDF set up the Project Hope in 1989, which calls on people across the country to donate money to help poor children to continue their schooling.

　　By the end of last year, she said, CYDF had collected nearly 700 million yuan in donations, which has helped the establishment(建立) of 2, 074 Hope primary schools and enabled more than 1. 25 million dropouts to return to school classrooms.

　　Three “Hope Stars” also attended the party. They were model teenagers chosen among students who are economically supported by the Project Hope to further their nine-year compulsory(义务) studies in the poverty-stricken regions. They will be torchbearers(火炬接力者) for the Chinese Team for the up coming Atlanta Olympic Games this year.

1. Children can grow healthily and happily as long as _______.

A. parents take good care of them both at home and in society

B. the whole society care for children as well as their parents

C. Schools and teachers pay much attention to the growth of children

D. Chinese people always give special attention to children who are in special need

2. Every year the Beijing Children’s Welfare Home spends _______ on the orphans

A. 1, 920, 000 yuan 　　　　　 　　B. 2, 160, 000 yuan

C. Over 2, 400, 000 yuan 　　　　　D. 2, 200, 000 yuan or so

3. CYDF collected 700 million yuan with the purpose of _______.

A. reducing dropouts

B. helping homeless orphans

C. supporting the Chinese Team for the coming Atlanta Olympic Games

D. establishing 2, 074 Hope primary schools all over the country

4. We can infer from the text that _______.

A. Every Chinese child has its own special need, so we should pay special attention to each.

　　B. All the children in the poverty-stricken regions of China are too poor to go to school.

　　C. Ever since liberation. the Chinese Communist Party has been concerned (关心) about the growth of the younger generation.

　　D. With the help of UNICEF officials, there are no more dropouts in China.

5. It is possible that this passage was written in _______.

A. 1992 　　　　B. 1996 　　　　C. 1998 　　　　D. 2000

One morning a few years ago，Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. For this busy man，it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work，he might wear himself out and die an early death.

Only after a week's leave—during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach—was Rudenstine able to return to work.

In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest. Surprisingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying:“I am so busy.”

We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax—this has become the model of a successful life.

Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.

How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week—for followers of some religions—for rest and praying. It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful. It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals，walk and sleep. It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.

Rest is a spiritual and biological need；however，in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities，we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest. The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work. In fact, “Remember the Sabbath ”is more than simply permission to rest；it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.

50. The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to “______”.

　　A. a signal of stress                                   B. a warning of danger

　　C. a sign of age                                       D. a spread of disease

51. According to Paragraph 4,a successful person is one who is believed to ____.

　　A. be able to work without stress　　            B. be more talented than other people

　　C. be more important than anyone else　　 D. be busy working without time to rest

52. Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they ____.

　　A. think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions

　　B. fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life

　　C. fail to realize that religions force them to rest

　　D. think that taking a rest means being lazy

53. What is the main idea of this passage?

　　A. We should balance work with rest.

　　B. The Sabbath givers us permission to rest.

　　C. It is silly for anyone to say “I am so busy.”

　　D. We should be available to our family and friends.