Being a good parent is harder now than it has ever been before. In pressurized modern lives, demands to be a fulfilled individual, a good partner and a good worker, take no account of being a good parent. We haven’t left space for the nurturing parents who are expected to provide what children need. As a result, many families in the western world just don’t work.

       Something will have to change. With luck, people in the future will only have children if they really want them. That should mean parenthood is seen as a much more positive promise than it is now, that parents are socially supported, and are admired for doing a good job.

       The problem is that in the last generation or so we’ve come to assume that women should want and be able to everything that by tradition men have done at the same time as pretty well everything that by tradition women have done. And it’s just not possible. Since adopting a male life style is demonstrably only another form of submission（顺从）, quite a number of highly educated and economically privileged（优越的）women are now choosing to take career breaks so as to be at home with their children for longer than that poor 18 weeks.

       The most welcoming trend in parenting is that men are participating more and more, even that is not free of conflict, however. Intellectually（理智上）, women want men to be equal parents and do their share. But there’s often a contradictory（矛盾的）emotion because children are the last fort of the female power in the family. “I want him to help me but this is my region and being better at it is one of the new things I’ve got as a female.” In truth, although they haven’t had generations of practice, there’s no reason why men can’t raise children as well as women. Men left to cope after bereavement or divorce, as well as some who take on the role of principal career within a partnership, are already doing it.

16.Why is it more difficult today to be good parents?

       A. Because parents don’t want to face the pressure of rearing children.

       B. Because children are in dependent and don’t need to be taken care of.

       C. Because husbands and wives have little time to talk to each other.

       D. Because people want to fulfill their own dreams, leaving no time to look after children.

17. We can learn from the passage that _______.

       A. people in future will not be as interested in children as people at present

       B. parenthood will be considered as a positive commitment as it is now

       C. women do better in rearing children than men

       D. parents will receive admiration for taking good care of children

18. Nowadays, a lot of highly educated and economically privileged women ________.

       A. tend to stay at home for more than 18 weeks

       B. tend to adopt a male life style

       C. tend to quit their jobs and stay at home

       D. tend to be submissive wives

19. It seems that in parenting , women ________.

       A. are contradictory in their thoughts.                B.demand equality between sexes

       C. tend to leave children to their husbands.         D. often quarrel with their husbands

20. The underlined word “bereavement” in the para 4 probably means _________.

       A. departure of his wife.                                          B. death of his wife

       C. return of his wife                                         D. annoyance of his wife

With a good shopping position and the right amount（数量）of money , any educated person ought to be able to make a living out of a bookshop . It is not a difficult trade to learn and the large chain-stores can never force the small bookseller out of existence as they have done to the corner shop . But the hours of work are very long-I was only doing a part-time job , but my boss put in a seventy-hour week ,besides regular journeys out of shopping hours to buy books .

       The real reason why I should not like to be back in the book trade for life , however , is that while I was in it I lost my love of books . A bookseller cannot always tell the truth about his books , and that gives him a dislike for them . There was a time when I really did love books-loved the sight and smell and feel of them-if they were fifty or more years old , that is . Nothing pleased me quite so much as to buy a bargain lot of them on sale for several pounds . There is a peculiar flavour（独特的味道）about the unexpected books you pick up in that kind of collection: little-known eighteenth-century poets , or out-of-date geography books . For occasional（偶尔的）reading-in your bath , for example , or late at night when you are too tired to go to bed-there is nothing as good as a very old picture story-book .

       But as soon as I went to work in the bookshop I stopped buying books . Seen in a mass . five or ten thousand at a time , books were dull and even a little tiresome . Nowadays I do buy one occasionally , but only if it is a book that I want to read and can’t borrow , and I never buy rubbish .

1 According to the passage ,       is one of the necessary conditions to run a bookshop .

A. an educated shop-owner                           B. a good position at a street corner

C. a regular journey out of the shop               D. the force of large chain-stores

2 The author should not like to be back as a bookseller for life because       .

A. he hated his job of selling books      

B. selling books was only a part-time job

C. the books in the shop gave him a dislike

D. he was unable to be honest about the books he sold

3 The books preferred by the author should be those       .

A. stories making readers sleepless           

B. valuable ones bought on sale

C. peculiar ones with great expectation        

D. geography ones from the eighteenth century

4 The author will only buy new books       .

A. if he feels dull and tired              

B. after he gives up his job as a bookseller

C. which are interesting but hard to borrow 

D. when he throws away old ones

With a good shopping position and the right amount（数量）of money , any educated person ought to be able to make a living out of a bookshop . It is not a difficult trade to learn and the large chain-stores can never force the small bookseller out of existence as they have done to the corner shop . But the hours of work are very long-I was only doing a part-time job , but my boss put in a seventy-hour week ,besides regular journeys out of shopping hours to buy books .

　　　 The real reason why I should not like to be back in the book trade for life , however , is that while I was in it, I lost my love of books . A bookseller cannot always tell the truth about his books , and that gives him a dislike for them . There was a time when I really did love books—loved the sight and smell and feel of them—if they were fifty or more years old , that is . Nothing pleased me quite so much as to buy a bargain lot of them on sale for several pounds . There is a peculiar flavour（独特的味道）about the unexpected books you pick up in that kind of collection: little-known eighteenth-century poets , or out-of-date geography books . For occasional reading—in your bath , for example , or late at night when you are too tired to go to bed—there is nothing as good as a very old picture story-book .

　　　 But as soon as I went to work in the bookshop, I stopped buying books . Seen in a mass, five or ten thousand at a time , books were dull and even a little tiresome . Nowadays I do buy one occasionally , but only if it is a book that I want to read and can’t borrow , and I never buy rubbish .

64. According to the passage , 　　 is one of the necessary conditions to run a bookshop .

　　　 A. an educated shop-owner　　

　　　 B. a good position at a street corner

　　　 C. a regular journey out of the shop　　

　　　 D. the force of large chain-stores

65. The author should not like to be back as a bookseller for life because 　　 .

　　　 A. he hated his job of selling books　　　

　　　 B. selling books was only a part-time job

　　　 C. the books in the shop gave him a dislike

　　　 D. he was unable to be honest about the books he sold

66. The books preferred by the author should be those 　　 .

　　　 A. stories making readers sleepless　　　　　

　　　 B. valuable ones bought on sale

　　　 C. peculiar ones with great expectation　　　　

　　　 D. geography ones from the eighteenth century

67. The author will only buy new books 　　 .

　　　 A. if he feels dull and tired　　　　　　　

　　　 B. after he gives up his job as a bookseller

　　　 C. which are interesting but hard to borrow

　　　 D. when he throws away old ones

    The real reason why I should not like to be back in the book trade for life, however, is that while I was in it I lost my love of books. A bookseller cannot always tell the truth about his books, and that gives him a dislike for them. There was a time when I really did love books—loved the sight and smell and feel of them—if they were fifty or more years old, that is. Nothing pleased me quite so much as to buy a bargain lot of them on sale for several pounds. There is a peculiar flavor(独特的味道)about the unexpected books you pick up in that kind of collection: little-known eighteenth-century poets, or out-of-date geography books. For occasional (偶尔的) reading—in your bath, for example, or late at night when you are too tired to go to bed—there is nothing as good as a very old picture story-book.

    But as soon as I went to work in the bookshop I stopped buying books. Seen in a mass, five or ten thousand at a time, books were dull and even a little tiresome.  Nowadays I do buy one occasionally, but only if it is a book that I want to read and can’t borrow, and I never buy rubbish.

1. According to the passage, _________ is one of the necessary conditions to run a bookshop.

A. an educated shop-owner

B. a good position at a street corner

C. a regular journey out of the shop

D. the force of large chain-stores

2. The author should not like to be back as a bookseller for life because _____.

A. he hated his job of selling books

B. selling books was only a part-time job

C. the books in the shop gave him a dislike

D. he was unable to be honest about the books he sold

3. The books preferred by the author should be those

A. stories making readers sleepless

B. valuable ones bought on sale

C. peculiar ones with great expectation

D. geography ones from the eighteenth century

4. The author will only buy new books

A. if he feels dull and tired

B. after he gives up his job as a bookseller

C. which are interesting but hard to borrow

D. when he throws away old ones

    With a good shopping position and the right amount (数量) of money, any educated person ought to be able to make a living out of a bookshop. It is not a difficult trade to learn and the large chain-stores can never force the small bookseller out of existence as they have done to the corner shop. But the hours of work are very long—I was only doing a part-time job, but my boss put in a seventy-hour week, besides regular journeys out of shopping hours to buy books.

    The real reason why I should not like to be back in the book trade for life, however, is that while I was in it I lost my love of books. A bookseller cannot always tell the truth about his books, and that gives him a dislike for them. There was a time when I really did love books—loved the sight and smell and feel of them—if they were fifty or more years old, that is. Nothing pleased me quite so much as to buy a bargain lot of them on sale for several pounds. There is a peculiar flavor(独特的味道)about the unexpected books you pick up in that kind of collection: little-known eighteenth-century poets, or out-of-date geography books. For occasional (偶尔的) reading—in your bath, for example, or late at night when you are too tired to go to bed—there is nothing as good as a very old picture story-book.

    But as soon as I went to work in the bookshop I stopped buying books. Seen in a mass, five or ten thousand at a time, books were dull and even a little tiresome.  Nowadays I do buy one occasionally, but only if it is a book that I want to read and can’t borrow, and I never buy rubbish.

1. According to the passage, _________ is one of the necessary conditions to run a bookshop.

A. an educated shop-owner

B. a good position at a street corner

C. a regular journey out of the shop

D. the force of large chain-stores

2. The author should not like to be back as a bookseller for life because _____.

A. he hated his job of selling books

B. selling books was only a part-time job

C. the books in the shop gave him a dislike

D. he was unable to be honest about the books he sold

3. The books preferred by the author should be those

A. stories making readers sleepless

B. valuable ones bought on sale

C. peculiar ones with great expectation

D. geography ones from the eighteenth century

4. The author will only buy new books

A. if he feels dull and tired

B. after he gives up his job as a bookseller

C. which are interesting but hard to borrow

D. when he throws away old ones