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 prefect 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（任务）, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
　　Learning is a process（过程）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.
【小题1】The whole passage deals with ________.
　　   

Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe’s top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.

　　The Europe Union is now considering legislation(立法) to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women---up to 60 percent. This proposed mandate(强制执行) was born of frustration. Last year, Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goal of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.

　　Do we need quotas(定量) to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate Ladder fairly as they balance work and family?

　　“Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But I like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling(女性在工作中遇到的一种无形障碍),” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.

　　I understand Reding’s reluctance---and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they conflict with my belief in meritocracy(精英管理), government by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.

　　After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top position---no matter how much “soft pressure” is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power---as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook---they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.

　　If appropriate pubic policies were in place to help all women---whether CEOs or their children’s caregivers---and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.

53. In the European corporate workplace, generally __________.

　 A. women take the lead

　 B. men have the final say

　 C. corporate governance is overwhelmed

　 D. senior management is family-friendly

54. According to Reding, quotas may help women __________.

　 A. get top business positions

　 B. see through the glass ceiling

　 C. balance work and family

　 D. anticipate legal results

55. The author’s attitude toward Reding’s appeal is __________.

　 A. skeptical             B. objective                   C. indifferent                D. approving

56. Women entering top management become headlines due to the lack of __________.

　 A. more social justice

　 B. massive media attention

　 C. suitable public policies

　 D. greater “soft pressure”

Americans are more socially isolated than they were 20 years ago, and nearly a quarter of people said they had “zero”close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants (密友), most often immediate family members, the researchers said.

　 “This is a big social change, and it shows something that’s not good for our society，” said Duke University Professor Lynn Smith. She said that it showed there was a surprising drop in the number of close friends people had since 1985. At that time, Americans most commonly said they had three close friends whom they had known for a long time, saw often, and with whom they shared a number of interests. They were almost likely to name four or five friends and the relationships often sprang from their neighborhoods or communities (社区).

　 Ties to a close network of friends create a social safety net that is good for society, and for the individual. People were not asked why they had fewer intimate (亲密的) ties, but Smith said that part of the causes could be that Americans are working more, marrying later, having fewer children, and commuting (往返上班) longer distances. “It’s one thing to know someone and exchange e-mails with him. It’s another thing to say, ‘Will you give me a ride out of town with all of my possessions and pets?’ and ‘Can I stay with you for a couple or three months?’” Smith said. “Worrying about social isolation is not a matter of nostalgia (怀旧之情) for a warm and comfortable past. Real things are strongly connected with that，” added Harvard University Professor Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, a book on the decline of American communities. He suggested flexible work schedules would allow Americans to tend both personal and professional lives.

1. What’s the passage mainly talking about?

　　 A. American social isolation.

　　 B. Americans have “zero” close friends.

　　 C. Ties to a close network of friends are good for society.

　　 D. Flexible work schedules change Americans’ lifestyle.

2. From the second paragraph we can learn that people tend to ____.

　　 A. be closer than before

　　 B. be less close than before

　　 C. have more friends than before

　　 D. have more family members than before

3. Which of the following is the possible cause of American social isolation?

　　 A. They work more.

　　 B. They don’t marry.

　　 C. They have more children.

　　 D. They spend too much time on relaxation.

4. According to Professor Robert, ____.

　　 A. there could be four possible causes for American social isolation

　　 B. worrying about social isolation is not a matter of nostalgia

　　 C. flexible work schedules don’t affect (影响) Americans’ way of life

　　 D. American social isolation is only a small social　　　　 problem

Blogging may have psychological(心理的) benefits for teens suffering from social anxiety, improving their self-esteem and helping them relate better to their friends, according to the new research published by the American Psychological Association. "Research has shown that writing a personal diary and other forms of expressive writing are a great way to release emotional stress and just feel better," said the study's lead author, Meyran Boniel-Nissim, PhD, of the University of Haifa, Israel. "Teens are online anyway, so blogging enables free expression and easy communication with others."

Blogging has a stronger positive effect on troubled students' well-being than merely expressing their social anxieties and concerns in a private diary, according to the article published online in the APA journal Psychological Services. Opening the blog up to comments from the online community strengthens those effects.

The researchers randomly surveyed high school students in Israel, who had agreed to fill out a questionnaire about their feelings on the quality of their social relationships. A total of 161 students -- 124 girls and 37 boys, with an average age of 15 -- were selected because their scores on the survey showed they all had some level of social anxiety or stress. All the teens reported difficulty in making friends or relating to the friends they had. The researchers assessed the teens' self-esteem, everyday social activities and behaviors before, immediately after and two months after the 10-week experiment.

Four groups of students were assigned to blog. Two of those groups were told to focus their posts on their social problems, with one group opening the posts to comments; the other two groups could write about whatever they wanted and, again, one group opened the blog up to comments. The number and content of comments were not evaluated for this experiment. The students could respond to comments but that was not required. Two more groups acted as controls -- either writing a private diary about their social problems or doing nothing. Participants in the writing and blogging groups were told to post messages at least twice a week for 10 weeks.

Four experts, who held master's or doctor’s degrees in consulting and psychology, assessed the bloggers' social and emotional condition via their blog posts. Students were assessed as having a poor social and emotional state if they wrote a lot about personal problems or bad relationships or showed evidence of low self-esteem.

Self-esteem, social anxiety, emotional stress and the number of positive social behaviors improved significantly for the bloggers when compared to the teens who did nothing and those who wrote private diaries. Bloggers who were instructed to write specifically about their difficulties and whose blogs were open to comments improved the most. All of these results agreed with the two- month follow-up.

The authors admitted that the skewed（有偏向的） sex rate was a limitation to the study. However, the researchers analyzed the results separately by gender and found that boys and girls reacted similarly to the experiment and there were no major differences. However, they said future research should attempt to control the subjects sex.

46. The selection of students for the experiment was largely based on____.　　　　　
　 A. their social relationships　　　　 B. their self-esteem
　　 C. their problems in social life　　 D. their willingness to fill out a questionnaire
47. What’s the function of “controls” (Paragraph 4) in the experiment?
　　 A. To write down some social problems in a private diary.
　　 B. To post messages to the blog and respond to comments.
　　 C. To help evaluate the number and content of blog comments.
　　 D. To offer a comparison for checking the experimental result.
48. From the experiment we can know that____.

A. writing private diaries makes no difference to the relief of one’s emotional stress.

B. teenagers opening their blogs up to comments have more psychological benefits.

C. the positive effects of expressing one’s emotions by blogging don’t last very long.

D. those describing bad relationships on blogs tend to develop more mental problems.

49. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. The authors insisted that all the research findings were accurate.
B. Sex rate had been taken into account before the survey was conducted.

C. The authors were intended to improve the experiment in the future.
D. Similar reactions of boys and girls indicated the failure of the experiment.

　 Americans are more socially isolated than they were 20 years ago, and nearly a quarter of people said they had “zero”close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants (密友), most often immediate family members, the researchers said.

　 “This is a big social change, and it shows something that’s not good for our society，” said Duke University Professor Lynn Smith. She said that it showed there was a surprising drop in the number of close friends people had since 1985. At that time, Americans most commonly said they had three close friends whom they had known for a long time, saw often, and with whom they shared a number of interests. They were almost likely to name four or five friends and the relationships often sprang from their neighborhoods or communities (社区).

　 Ties to a close network of friends create a social safety net that is good for society, and for the individual. People were not asked why they had fewer intimate (亲密的) ties, but Smith said that part of the causes could be that Americans are working more, marrying later, having fewer children, and commuting (往返上班) longer distances. “It’s one thing to know someone and exchange e-mails with him. It’s another thing to say, ‘Will you give me a ride out of town with all of my possessions and pets?’ and ‘Can I stay with you for a couple or three months?’” Smith said. “Worrying about social isolation is not a matter of nostalgia (怀旧之情) for a warm and comfortable past. Real things are strongly connected with that，” added Harvard University Professor Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, a book on the decline of American communities. He suggested flexible work schedules would allow Americans to tend both personal and professional lives.

1. What’s the passage mainly talking about?

　　 A. American social isolation.

　　 B. Americans have “zero” close friends.

　　 C. Ties to a close network of friends are good for society.

　　 D. Flexible work schedules change Americans’ lifestyle.

2. From the second paragraph we can learn that people tend to ____.

　　 A. be closer than before

　　 B. be less close than before

　　 C. have more friends than before

　　 D. have more family members than before

3. Which of the following is the possible cause of American social isolation?

　　 A. They work more.

　　 B. They don’t marry.

　　 C. They have more children.

　　 D. They spend too much time on relaxation.

4. According to Professor Robert, ____.

　 A. there could be four possible causes for American social isolation

　　 B. worrying about social isolation is not a matter of nostalgia

　　 C. flexible work schedules don’t affect (影响) Americans’ way of life

　　 D. American social isolation is only a small social problem