Most recently, it's very common in students who need a parent present for job interviews. Naturally, it's easy to blame the students in these situations, but the bigger problem is us. We—as parents—are so eager to shelter our kids that we fail to realize that this in itself is harming them. As the mother of two young sons, I have to remind myself constantly that the biggest responsibility I have as a parent is to help them develop the skills needed to live in, to live without me. So, I'll let them fail．

   I'll let them fail because as long as they are safe and warm inside their comfort zones, they will never grow. And failure along with loss, heartbreak, disappointment, etc.—will be part of growth for them. Call me the anti-tiger mom, but leaving them alone is, my way of helping them become equipped to fit in this world as we know it today. From terrorism and seemingly endless natural disasters, to our national debt and beyond, if we expect the next generation to stand up to the very real problems of our time, we need to stop feeding them and start teaching them how to fish.

   My children now are becoming little masters of compromise, but they try to negotiate everything now. It's a small price to help them learn a skill they'll use for the rest of their lives, including when I don't accompany them on job interviews.

1.Why do parents accompany their kids on job interviews?

    A. Because they want to protect their kids from difficulties．

    B. Because they think they can help them on the questions．

    C. Because their kids are too shy to attend interviews．

    D. Because their kids strongly request them to do so．

2.According to the author, what is beneficial to kids' development?

    A. Sheltering them．                    B. Keeping them safe．

    C. Leaving them alone．                D. Blaming them．

3.Why does the author stress failure in kids' life?

    A. To make them stronger than other kids．

    B. To help them grow in this tough world．

    C. To help them develop all social skills．

    D. To make them learn to compromise．

4.Which of the following might be the best title for the text?

    A. Never Shelter Your Kids                 

   B. Let Your Kids Fail

    C. Be Eager to Grow Up                     

    D. Live Without Parents

The sun was just coming up when I headed out to work last May at 6 a.m. Not quite dark but dark enough to need my headlights. I turned onto one of the lonely rural country roads.

Maybe it was because I was listening to the radio, maybe it was because I was already thinking about some projects at work, that I didn’t spot the dark object on the road until I was too late. I ran over it and felt the back left tire pull, and then sink. I stopped and got out of the car.

No mystery here---- my back left tyre was cut like a loaf of bread. Back 50 yards was a piece of sharp iron I had run over. I had never changed a tyre. I looked up the road. Not a car in either direction. The nearest service station was miles away. I threw up my hands. Then I remembered---- my cell phone! I powered it up before realizing, I didn’t know who to call.

Wouldn’t you know it, I spotted a car coming from the opposite direction. The driver slowed as he approached. I guessed he could see I was in trouble. He stopped his car, got out and immediately saw the trouble. “Madam, would you like me to change that tyre for you?” he asked. The man couldn’t have been more friendly. I was frightened out there and he put me completely at ease. “There,” he said, after putting on the spare, “you are all set to go.”

“Good thing for me that you were driving this way,” I told him, as I climbed back into my car.

“Funny you should say that,” he said. “Just like you, I was heading to work, but my job is in the opposite direction. I made a wrong turn at some point. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

1.The writer didn’t notice the object on the road because ______.

A. it was rather dark then                 B. she didn’t use her headlights

C. there was much traffic                  D. she was careless when driving

2.From Paragraph 4 we learn that______.

A. the writer felt quite anxious

B. no one would like to help the writer

C. the writer was a new driver

D. the cell phone should be powered up

3.What did the man do when he saw the writer?

A. He stopped and laughed at her.

B. He walked over to frighten her.

C. He helped her without hesitation.

D. He drove away in the opposite direction.

4.The end of the story tells us that the man ______.

A. went a wrong way                       B. felt the writer funny

C. didn’t know what he was doing     D. come specially to help the writer

One night, a little before nine o’clock, Dr Johnson was answering a telephone call. He was asked to go and give an operation to a very sick boy at once. The boy was in a small hospital in Glens Falls, sixty miles away from Dr Johnson’s city – Albany. The boy had hurt himself in a traffic accident. His wife was in danger, but his family was so poor that they could not pay the doctor anything. After he heard all this, Dr Johnson was driving carefully. He thought that he could get to the hospital before 12 o’clock. A few minutes later, the doctor’s car had to stop for a red light at a crossing. Suddenly a man in an old black coat opened the door of the car and got in.
“Drive on”, he said. “I’ve got a gun (枪).”
“I’m a doctor,” said Johnson, “I’m on my way to a hospital to operate on a very sick…”
“Don’t talk,” said the man in the old black coat, “Just drive.”
A mile out of the town he ordered the doctor to stop the car and get out. Then the man drove on down the road. The doctor stood for a moment in the snow. After half an hour, Dr Johnson found a telephone and called a taxi. At the railway station he learned that the next train to Glens Falls would not leave until 12 o’clock.
It was after two o’clock in the morning when the doctor arrived at the hospital in Glens Falls. Miss Clarke, a nurse, was waiting for him.
“I did my best,” said Dr Johnson. Miss Clarke said, “The boy died an hour ago.”
They walked into the waiting room. There sat the man in the old black coat, with his head in his hands.
“Mr. Shute,” said Miss Clarke to the man, “this is Dr Johnson. He had come all the way from Albany to try to save your boy.”
【小题1】 From the story we know it took Dr Johnson _________ to get to the hospital.

A friend of mine, in response to a conversation we were having about the injustices of life ,asked me the question,“Who said life was going to be fair, or that it was even meant to be fair?” Her question was a good one. It reminded me of something I was taught as a youngster :life isn’t fair. It’s a disappointment, but it’s absolutely true .One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others ,thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be .It’s not and it won’t be .

One of the nice things about surrendering (屈从)to the fact that life isn’t fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves by encouraging us to do the very best we can with what we have . We know it’s not “life’s job ”to make everything perfect :it’s our own challenge .Surrendering to this fact also keeps us from feeling sorry for others because we are reminded that everyone is dealt a different hand ; everyone has unique strengths and problems in the process of growing up, facing the reality and making decisions; and everyone has those times that they feel unfairly treated.

The fact that life isn’t fair doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything in our power to improve our own lives or the world as a whole. To the contrary , it suggests that we should .When we don’t recognize or admit that life isn’t fair ,we tend to feel pity for others and for ourselves .Pity ,of course ,is a self –defeating emotion that does nothing for anyone ,except to make everyone feel worse than they already do .When we do recognize that life isn’t fair, however ,we feel compassion (热情)for others and for ourselves. And compassion is a heartfelt emotion that delivers loving-kindness to everyone it touches .The next time you find yourself thinking about the injustices of the world, try reminding yourself of this very basic fact .You may be surprised that it can make you out of self-pity and into helpful action.

The writer thought of his friend’s question as a good one because          .

A. he also wanted to know who held such an opinion

B. it made him recall something during his childhood

C. like his friend , he also thought life was unfair

D. he learned something from the question as a youngster

The second paragraph of the passage mainly tells us that          .

A. it’s nice to accept the injustice of life     B. it’s nice to surrender to life

C. we should not feel sorry for everything    D. we should not surrender to life

From the passage, we can learn that the author’s attitude to life is           .

   A. negative             B. positive        C. self-pity      D. indifferent

Which of the following could be the best title of the text ?

A. A Helpful Action: Try to Feel Compassion     B. A Good Question: Why Life Isn’t Fair

C. Do Our Best to Improve Ourselves           D. Surrender to the Fact That Life Isn’t Fair