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YOU'VE GOT QUESTIONS. SHE'S GOT ANSWERS

Q: My problem is computer gaming. I do it day and night, averaging four hours of sleep. I can't control of this, and I don't know where to go for help. Do you?                                 —Player

A: Dear Player,

You have an addiction. For some people playing video games releases dopamine, a powerful brain chemical that makes you feel good. You'd toss your cigarettes if you were ready to quit, right? To kick the habit, get help from a health professional. And don't look for help on line; that would be like an alcoholic going to the bar for advice.

Q: My brother's wife just had triplets(三胞胎). This is such a joy! Yet every time I share the news with co-workers, they ask me if she was on fertility pills. I think this is rude—or has society just become so talk-show numbed (麻木的)that you can ask anyone anything?                    —No Show Host

A: Dear Host,

Yes. Our society has become increasingly disrespectful of privacy. But don't blame it all on the talk-shows. Continue to celebrate and greet impolite questions with stony silence. Their fertility history is nobody's business but their own.

Q: I work at an amusement park, and my manager steals supplies. She has a catering business on the side, and we've seen her load up her van at the back gates. The big bosses think she is the best thing since buttered bread, and we're all afraid that if we say anything, we'll lose our jobs. What can we do?        —Righteous

A: Dear Righteous,

Be sure you're right. You must have evidence about what and why things are going out the back gates. Once you know for certain, it's time to go to the bosses and report what you have seen.

Q: My stepson's wife sometimes leaves their eight-year-old home alone for "a short run to the store." That may be an hour or so. I believe by law we should report it. What do you think?

—The In-laws

A: Dear Laws,

I don't know what the child-protection laws in your state are, but I do know that children need care and attention. This child may be able and unafraid, but kids aren't always careful. It also sounds like there is stress in your family relationship. One thing you can do to help this situation is offer to baby-sit when Mom needs to step out.

1.Which of the following statements is true?

A. Dopamine is a powerful brain chemical good to our health.

B. Looking for help on line is like getting help from a health professional.

C. Player is a video game addict who smokes and sleeps few hours.

D. Player is advised to stay clear of the screen.

2.According to the Q&A,        .

A. Host's colleagues are insensitive

B. The talk-show is to blame

C. Somebody's business is everybody's

D. Host's sister-in-law was on fertility pills

3.What we can infer from the Q&A is       .

A. The Mom is not to blame because she needs a short run to the store

B. Children need care and attention, though not for all of them

C. Laws, the old lady, wants to report what she sees to the child's father

D. Laskas doesn't seem to approve of Laws' trying to report what she sees

4.Which Q&A mentioned transport?

A. The first             B. The second.         C. The third.       D. None.

Directions: Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.

(A)

ASK LASKAS

YOU’VE GOT QUESTIONS. SHE'S GOT ANSWERS

My children go to a primary school where they are not allowed to play football in the playground for fear that a child might be hurt. Besides, now the school says there must be no homework because the local secondary school can't keep up with the amount of homework given in the primary school. Can the school do this?  Puzzled Dad

It can't if enough parents do something about it. It is not just schools. We live in a society which wishes to get rid of risk. However, schools should have a little common sense and courage. Children need risk if they arc to grow up self-sufficient and confident. They need homework, too, if they are to fulfill their academic potential. Complain, loudly.

I have a beautiful teenage daughter who spends an hour making up her face in front of the mirror every day. I tell her to go easy. She just gets mad or bursts into tears. How can I make her understand she's beautiful the way she is.   Plain Mom

You can't. Your daughter is at the age when she's trying to look beautiful, trying on new masks. And if her friends all dress up as she docs, you're in for an extra hard time. Support her and tell her she's beautiful — even if she looks ridiculous for now. Then invite her to join you for a day at a spa (健康美容中心). Let her try various looks until she's comfortable in her own skin.

Why are the children not allowed to play football in the playground?

A. The school is afraid that children might be injured.

B. The school is not sensible and confident.

C. The children don't have enough time to do homework.

D. The children may fail to fulfill their academic potential.

What disturbs Plain Mom is that her daughter______.

A. becomes mad                                                            B. cries a lot

C. spends much rime before the mirror                            D. is not beautiful enough

The solution to Plain Mom's problem is to______.

A. make her daughter look less ridiculous      

B. let her daughter dress up like her friends

C. make her daughter go to a spa every week  

D. let her daughter feel herself what beauty is

My grandmother was an iron-willed woman, the feared head of the family. When I was five years old, she invited some friends to her apartment for a party. 26the guests was a neighborhood big shot(大亨). They had a little girl about my age who was27 and very much used to getting her own way.

Grandmother spent a lot of time with the big shot and his family. She 28 them the most important members of her social circle and tried hard to please them. At one point during the party, I 29my way to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. A minute or two later, the little girl 30the bathroom door and simply walked in. I was still sitting down. “Don’t you know that little girls aren't31to come into the bathroom when a little boy is using it!?” I shouted. The32I had piled upon her shocked the little girl. Then she started to cry. She tearfully33to her parents and my grandmother. Grandmother was waiting for me when I left the bathroom. I received the longest, sharpest34. After her scolding was over and I had been dismissed, the party 35.

Twenty minutes later, all that changed. Grandmother walked by the bathroom and noticed a flood of water36out from under the door. She37the bathroom door and saw that the sink and tub were plugged(塞)up and that the taps 38at full blast (拧到最大). Everyone knew who did it. The guests quickly formed a39wall around me, but Grandmother was40 angry that she almost got to me anyway.

My grandfather took me41to the window. He was a kind and gentle man, full of wisdom and patience.42did he raise his voice to anyone, and never did he43 his wife. He looked at me with much curiosity, 44 angry or upset.

“Tell me,” he asked, “why did you do it?”

“Well, she shouted at me 45,” I said earnestly. “Now she's got something to shout about.”

Grandfather didn’t speak right away. He just sat there, looking at me and smiling. “Eric,” he said at last, “you are my revenge(复仇).”

26. A. Between             B. Among             C. Around             D. Beside

27. A. spoiled               B. harmed             C. liked                D. concerned

28. A. imagined            B. told                  C. evaluated           D. considered

29. A. made                 B. found              C. pushed             D. wound

30. A. closed                B. opened             C. beat                 D. tapped

31. A. expected            B. asked                      C. supposed          D. told

32. A. happiness           B. depression               C. embarrassment D. anger

33. A. complained               B. apologized      C. replied             D. referred

34. A. cry                    B. blame               C. comment         D. demand

35. A. picked up            B. broke down              C. carried on          D. took off

36. A. moving              B. stirring            C. floating            D. streaming

37. A. pushed open       B. pulled down     C. shut up             D. knocked at

38. A. had gone             B. were going        C. went                D. had been going

39. A. productive          B. hard                 C. protective         D. rough

40. A. so                      B. too                   C. as                    D. very

41. A. by his hand               B. by the hand       C. by surprise        D. with anxiety

42. A. Often                 B. Sometimes        C. Always             D. Rarely

43 A. argue with           B. talk with           C. put up with       D. come to terms with

44. A. other than           B. instead of          C. rather than         D. more than

45. A. for something    B. for nothing       C. without doubt   D. with sympathy

ASK LASKAS
YOU’VE GOT QUESTIONS. SHE'S GOT ANSWERS
My children go to a primary school where they are not allowed to play football in the playground for fear that a child might be hurt. Besides, now the school says there must be no homework because the local secondary school can't keep up with the amount of homework given in the primary school. Can the school do this?   Puzzled Dad
It can't if enough parents do something about it. It is not just schools. We live in a society which wishes to get rid of risk. However, schools should have a little common sense and courage. Children need risk if they arc to grow up self-sufficient and confident. They need homework, too, if they are to fulfill their academic potential. Complain, loudly.
I have a beautiful teenage daughter who spends an hour making up her face in front of the mirror every day. I tell her to go easy. She just gets mad or bursts into tears. How can I make her understand she's beautiful the way she is.      Plain Mom
You can't. Your daughter is at the age when she's trying to look beautiful, trying on new masks. And if her friends all dress up as she does, you're in for an extra hard time. Support her and tell her she's beautiful — even if she looks ridiculous for now. Then invite her to join you for a day at a spa. Let her try various looks until she's comfortable in her own skin.
【小题1】Why are the children not allowed to play football in the playground?

After a lot of weightlifting and 25 exhausting days training, a 52-year-old woman recently became the first female “gripman” on San Francisco’s historic cable cars.

Fannie Barnes passed her written test and completed a final run under the watchful eye of a supervisor, Municipal Railway spokesman Alan Siegel said.

Deep calluses(茧) are already forming at the base of her fingers and there is a hole in her glove. Two other women quit after a single day with injured muscles. “Now they’re going to have to change the word from gripman to grip person, just because of me,” Barnes said earlier, “I’m so excited.”

After almost a year of serious workouts, Barns can pull more than 61 kilos, only 23 kilos less than her body weight. And she’ll need the muscle, for this is no modern, push-button technology. Every time a car starts up again after making a stop, the gripman must haul back on a lever controlling a device that grips the cable, which runs continuously at 14 kilometers per hour. If the grip slips, so does the car. A second person operates the brakes.

In addition to having to throw her weight around on the job, she’s got to throw out some attitude to men who were hard to convince. The city employs 76 men in the job.

“A lot of men said mean things to me and didn’t want to help train me. But I would like to thank the guys who were against me because they gave me even more inspiration to do it.” she said.

Not all the men were against her. Many of the male colleagues yelled out support as she did her training runs. One of her biggest tests was drizzly December morning. She first went down the Hyde Street Hill, considered the most dangerous incline on the cable car routes. “I had to have the will and I had to believe I could do it,” she said. “It was scary, but as I started going down full grip and felt that I was in control, I knew I was on my way,” Barnes already is a pioneer of sorts. She started working as a cable car conductor six years ago, collecting fares and assisting on the back brake. She is one of only three women to have that job. But she said she always wanted the job up front on the car. (400)

What is unusual about Fannie Barnes getting a job as a gripman?

 A. She is the oldest one to work as a grpman.

 B. She is the first women to work as a gripman.

 C. She is the fattest women to work as a gripman.

 D. She is the most suitable one to work as a gripman.

What did the 52-year-old woman do when she first began working on the city’s cable car?

 A. As a gripman.    B. As a conductor.    C. As a brakeman.  D. As a supervisor.

It can be inferred from the passage that Fannie Barnes is ________.

A. strong and easy-going            B. strong-willed and self-confident

C. popular and humorous            D. considerate and quick-tempered