Has Tiger Mom gone soft? One year after the release of her book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua is back in the spotlight, reflecting on how overnight infamy (恶名) affected her life, her family and her parenting.

“I have changed a lot,” she told the Huffington Post. “In October, we had 30 kids at our house! We have hosted parties with lots of food and music.”

Last January, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt (节选) from Chua’s book with the headline “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”. In the excerpt, Chua described how her daughters were never allowed to have sleepovers (在外过夜的儿童聚会), appear in school plays, or earn any grade lower than an A. Chua, an author and professor at Yale Law School, spent much of 2011 on the defensive. In fact, many of her interviews seemed to lend fuel to her critics’ fire.

Now, with the book out in paperback, she said, “I put passages in the book and used very harsh words that I regret. Everybody has those moments you wish you could take back.”

For those who still read Battle Hymn as an advice guide, Chua argues that so-called tiger parenting should be employed mainly during a child’s early years, ideally between the ages of 5 and 12. These “super-strict parenting tactics” are not meant for all ages. Remaining strict after middle school makes you a helicopter parent, according to Chua. And she is quick to point out how different that is from being a tiger mom.

“By the time kids get to high school, helicopter parents are hiring all these tutors, carrying their kids’ sports bags. I never checked older daughter Sophia’s papers because I knew she knew how to sit down and focus,” Chua said.

As for younger daughter Lulu, 15, the rebel for whom the book was written, Chua has really backed off. Instead of forcing Lulu to practise violin for hours a day—the source of their biggest fights, Chua “let her give that up”. “My compromise (妥协) is that I’m going to still be as strict academically, but in exchange she has a lot of social freedom. Lulu has had four sleepovers in the last two months!” Chua said. Chua predicts she’ll only get more easygoing with age.

1.What does the passage mainly tell us?

A.How Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came out.

B.Tiger Mom persuaded readers to follow her example.

C.Tiger Mom has changed and wants to be soft.

D.How Tiger Mom became the worldwide spotlight.

2.From paragraph one we can know that after the publication of the book______________.

A.Tiger Mom became stricter with her children

B.Tiger Mom’s life and family were influenced

C.Tiger Mom was thought highly by the public

D.Tiger Mom became wealthy and easygoing

3.Lulu quarreled with her mother mainly over______________.

A.whether she could do well at school

B.when she could have sleepovers

C.what should be written in the book

D.how long she practiced the violin

 

  If we bought only things we needed, there would be enough for everybody. What do we need? What you need depends on how old you are and your way of life. Rearrange the list of things you can buy and put the things you think we most need at the top of the list.

   Coat             Designer jeans          Water       CD player

  Dental check up   Restaurant meal     Telephone   Jewelry

  Food          Shampoo             MP3 player  Beer

  Toothpaste        Bar of chocolate        Cushion covers

     If we don’t need to buy so much, we don’t need to work so much. We can take part-time jobs or reduce our working day from eight hours to six hours. Some people are leaving very well paid jobs to live a healthier life in the countryside or a more exciting life abroad. Parents can spend more time with their children and the unemployed are given more opportunities to work.

   If we start to respect saving the earth more than spending money, we will become ‘conservers’ (保护者). When we are conservers, we try to choose environmentally friendly products that last a long time. We may find growing our own vegetables or making our own clothes more rewarding than buying them.

   Next time you go shopping, think about what you really need to buy. Don’t deprive (剥夺) yourself of things you like, but decide what you should buy before you go out, so that you won’t be influenced by advertisements or promotions. If it is more expensive to buy goods that don’t have much packaging and things that are more durable (耐用的), buy less. If you can choose to work less, decide which things you would like to make, do or grow yourself. Even though you have less money, your life will become richer.

                                                 by Julie Bray

1. From the passage, we can see the author suggests us consumers ______.

  A. find out more about a product instead of buying blindly

  B. consider what we really need before going shopping

  C. avoid regret at not buying enough

  D. find a real bargain

2.. The writer will agree with you if you buy products that are ______.

  A. beautifully packaged       B. extremely cheap

  C. usable for a long time         D. fashionable now

3. According to the passage, if we don’t need to buy so much, the benefits  

  will include ______.

  a. we will have more time enjoying life

  b. the employment rate will increase

  c. we will get better paid jobs

  d. we as consumers will have more choices of what to buy

  A. abc    B. abd       C. ab      D. ad

4.This passage is mainly written to _____.

  A. persuade people to buy less and buy environmentally friendly products

  B. put forward some questions so that you can become a smart buyer

  C. introduce some good ways to make a wiser choice when shopping

  D. criticize the consumer society in which people buy too much

 

 

 

 

Can you believe your eyes? A recent experiment suggests that the answer to that question may depend on your age.

Martin Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland, led the team of scientists. In this experiment, Doherty and his team tested the perception(观察力) of some people, using pictures of some orange circles. The researchers showed the same pictures to two groups of people. The first group included 151 children aged 4 to 10, and the second group included 24 adults aged 18 to 25.

The first group of pictures showed two circles alone on a white background. One of the circles was larger than the other, and these people were asked to identify the larger one. Four-year-olds identified the correct circle 79 percent of the time. Adults identified the correct circle 95 percent of the time.

Next, both groups were shown a picture where the orange circles, again of different sizes, were surrounded by gray circles. Here’s where the trick lies in. In some of the pictures, the smaller orange circle was surrounded by even smaller gray circles — making the orange circle appear larger than the other orange circle, which was the real larger one. And the larger orange circle was surrounded by even bigger gray circles — so it appeared to be smaller than the real smaller orange circle.

When young children aged 4 to 6 looked at these tricky pictures, they weren’t fooled — they were still able to find the bigger circle with roughly the same accuracy as before. Older children and adults, on the other hand, did not do as well. Older children often identified the smaller circle as the larger one, and adults got it wrong most of the time.

As children get older, Doherty said, their brains may develop the ability to identify visual context. In other words, they will begin to process the whole picture at once: the tricky gray circles, as well as the orange circle in the middle. As a result, they’re more likely to fall for this kind of visual trick.

55.Doherty and his team of scientists did an experiment to evaluate________.

A.children’s and adults’ eye-sight

B.people’s ability to see accurately

C.children’s and adults’ brains

D.the influence of people’s age

56.When asked to find the larger circle,___________.

A.children at 6 got it wrong 79 % of the time with no gray ones around

B.only adults over 18 got it right 95% of the time with gray ones around

C.children at 4 got it right about 79 % of the time with gray ones around

D.adults got it right most of the time with gray ones around

57.Visual context may work when children get older than________.

A.4                                     B.6                                     C.10                                   D.18

58.Why are younger children not fooled ?

A.Because they are smarter than older children and adults.

B.Because older people are influenced by their experience.

C.Because people’s eyes become weaker as they grow older.

D.Because their brain can hardly notice related things together.

 

 

The oldest forms of medicine are enjoying a comeback. Modern holistic medicine is an approach that treats the whole patient, not just the disease. It is a way to maintain good health rather than cure illness. The most important influences on today’s holistic medicine are ancient Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurvedic medicine, both of which promoted whole body health.

Holistic medicine usually combines diet, physical exercise and meditation, together with other alternative techniques such as massage(按摩) and acupuncture(针炙). Herbal treatment, a practice of treating illness by using plants, is influenced by the writings of Culpeper as well as Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. Homeopathy(顺势疗法) is one of the forms of holistic medicine which is widely practiced in Europe and the USA. Homeopathy began in Germany in the early 1800s, when Samuel Hahnemann described how very tiny doses(剂量) of a drug had an effect on his patients. According to Hahnemann, the more the drug was diluted(稀释), the stronger its effects. The substance selected would produce similar effects to the disease itself if given in large doses. In the UK homeopathy is regarded as a non-traditional but just about acceptable treatment.

Meditation and contemplation have an important role in holistic medicine. They were brought to Europe by Indian teachers who combined Indian Ayurvedic medicine with Western beliefs. Transcendental meditation(超脱静坐) is one of the best known of these techniques. People repeat words inside their head to reach a state of deep relaxation.

The holistic movement has made many doctors look at the whole patient, not just the disease. Life-style, emotional problems and diet are just some of the factors that can affect a person’s health. Holistic medicine emphasizes good diet, exercise and fresh air, all of which contribute to health. Some clinics now offer holistic medicine along with traditional treatments, so that their patients can choose a combination of treatments that suits them. One problem with holistic medicine is that it is difficult for people to be sure a doctor is reliable. To solve this, many countries want alternative doctors to form professional bodies.

41.Modern holistic medicine centres upon        .

A.curing a disease                                                        B.herbal treatment

C.continuous development                                  D.keeping patients healthy

42.Which of the following does NOT belong to holistic medicine?

A.massage                                                                     B.meditation

C.a balanced diet                                                    D.a knee operation

43.The principle of homeopathy is that        .

A.the large doses of medicine that will not be harmful will take better effect

B.the disease will be cured sooner by taking larger doses of medicine

C.a small thinner dose of medicine will be more effective

D.the doses of medicine depend on how serious the illness is

44.Which of the following titles best sums up the passage?

A.Holistic Medicine                                                      B.Traditional Medicine Returns

C.History of Medicine                                            D.Combination of Treatments Works

45.What can we infer from the passage?

A.Relaxation is the key of holistic treatment.

B.Holistic medicine needs to become more trustworthy.

C.Holistic treatment is more beneficial than traditional treatments.

D.Holistic medicine will become the most welcome treatment soon.

 

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