The United States does not require business to pay workers who are sick or caring for a new baby. President Obama and some other U.S. lawmakers want to change time-off policies. Supporters say paid leave is the right thing to do. Opponents say it will kill economic growth.

In 2014, the United Nations reported that Papua New Guinea(巴布亚新几内亚) and the U.S. are the only two -- out of 185 -- countries in the world that do not offer workers paid time off to care for newborns. However, several state governments and some private businesses in the U.S. have provided the benefits for their workers.

Not every American agrees that requiring businesses to pay workers for leave is a good idea.

Tricia Baldwin is a business woman. She is secretary and treasurer for her family's company. Her company employs 400 workers. She says giving all of them paid leave would ruin her company. Instead, Reliable Contracting gives paid leave to employees who have stayed with the company for at least five years. She says paid leave is simply another government order that adds more costs to doing business.

President Obama supports paid leave for workers. Recently, he proposed a measure called the Healthy Family Act. It would allow workers to earn up to seven paid days of sick leave a year to care for themselves or family members.

Mr. Obama also wants Congress to approve a measure giving all workers six weeks of paid leave to have and care for a new baby.

U.S. lawmakers who support the proposed measure say paid leave is good for the families and for businesses. Representative Don Beyer says paid leave is an encouragement to parents to return to the job. Mr. Beyer says training a new employee can cost a company a year's worth of income. But U.S. lawmakers who oppose the bill say they do not want to restrict businesses by requiring them to provide paid leave. They are offering a different measure. The Working Families Flexibility Act would allow employees to work extra hours and earn either time off or more pay.

1.If a woman in the U.S left to care for her newborn baby, she _________.

A. wouldn’t get extra time off

B. would get lower pay

C. would pay for her leave or she will be fired

D. wouldn’t get paid leave

2.Tricia Baldwin opposes paid leave because it will ________.

A. kill the national economic growth

B. not be enough to relieve the workers’ burden

C. add more costs to doing business

D. ruin companies rules

3.Some of the lawmakers are opposed to the proposed measure to require paid leave because they think ______.

A. it encourages parents to return to the jobs

B. it will add companies’ cost of training new employees

C. it gives workers more economic guarantees

D. it reduces employees’ working time

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A. How to reform the Rules of Paid Leave in the U.S.

B. Will the U.S Pay Workers for Family Leave?

C.Is it Good for the U.S to Pay Workers for Family Leave?

D. Why Doesn’t the U.S Pay Workers for Family Leave?

Traveler

My fifteen-year-old son has just returned from abroad with rolls of exposed film and a hundred dollars in uncashed traveler’s checks, and is asleep at the moment.His blue duffel(粗呢) bag lies on the floor where he dropped it.Obviously, he postponed as much sleep as he could: when he walked in and we hugged, his electrical system suddenly switched off, and he headed directly for the bed, where I imagine he beat his old record of sixteen hours.

It was his first trip overseas, so weeks before it, I pressed travel books on him, and a tape cassette of useful French phrases; drew up a list of people to visit; advised him on clothing and other things.At the luggage store where we went to buy him a suitcase, he headed for the duffels, saying that suitcases were more for old people.

During the trip, he called home three times: from London, Paris, and a village named Ullapool.Near Ullapool, he climbed a mountain in a rainstorm that almost blew him off.In the village, a man spoke to him in Gaelic, and, too polite to interrupt, my son listened to him for ten or fifteen minutes, trying to nod in the right places.The French he learned from the cassette didn’t hold water in Paris.The French he talked to shrugged and walked on.

When my son called, I sat down at the kitchen table and leaned forward and hung on every word. His voice came through clearly, though two of the calls were like ship-to-shore communication.When I interrupted him with a “Great!” or a “Really?”, I knocked a little hole in his communication.So I just sat and listened. I have never listened to a telephone so attentively and with so much pleasure.It was wonderful to hear news from him that was so new to me.In my book, he was the first man to land on the moon, and I knew that I had no advice to give him and that what I had already given was probably not much help.

The unused checks are certainly evidence of that.Youth travels light.No suitcase, not much luggage and a slim expense account, and yet he went to the scene, and came back safely.I sit here amazed. The night when your child returns with dust on his shoes from a country you’ve never seen is a night you would gladly turn into a week.

1.During the trip, the author’s son ______.

A. ran out of money

B. had inadequate sleep

C. forgot to call his mother

D. failed to take good pictures

2.According to the passage, which of the following could best describe the author’s son?

A. Polite and careless.

B. Creative and stubborn.

C. Considerate and independent.

D. Self-centered and adventurous.

3.What does the underlined word “that” in the last paragraph refer to?

A. It is important to listen to your child’s story.

B. It’s easy to interrupt the chat with your child.

C. The author is proud of her son landing on the moon.

D. The son no longer needs much help from his mother.

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A. Good parents should protect their children from potential dangers.

B. The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

C. It’s a win-win choice to give a child space to experience and explore.

D. Communication between parents and children is extremely important.

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