Your youngest son or daughter has just graduated from high school, and soon he or she will trade his or her bedroom in your home for a college residence hall. You’re starting to worry about the coming silence in your home and are wondering how you will fill the hours that you previously spent with your son or daughter attending his or her school and sporting events.

    Take heart — the empty nest “is often worse in anticipation (预料) than in day-to-day practice”, says psychologist Bert Hayslip Jr.

    Hayslip, who has studied retirement adjustment (调整) and other aging problems, such as aging sleeplessness, for many years, points out that, more often than not, children who leave do not completely cut off contact with their parents. He advises parents to think of it as a series of life events, instead of a sudden change. He also says an empty nest can cause bigger problems to surface “if a couple hasn’t looked after their marriage while raising their children”. According to Hayslip, some couples may find they no longer have anything in common once the children are out of the house.

    Thinking of an empty nest as the loss of children makes the adjustment more difficult. “With the empty-nest syndrome (综合症), parents actually need to deal with the loss of the parenting control over children, not with having really lost their children,” Hayslip says. “They just have to find a new way to get along with their children.”

    “Relating to their college-age children in this new way will come easily to parents as the months pass. As with many things, the passage of time heals the pain of loss,” Hayslip says.

1.What does the “empty nest” mean?

A. Children’s cutting off contact with their parents.

B. Children’s not liking spending time with their parents.

C. Children’s growing up and leaving home.

D. Children’s not accepting parents’ care and love.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. Retirement adjustment.        B. Aging problem.  

C. Sleeplessness.                D. The reality of empty nest.

3.Why do many parents find it hard to adjust to the empty-nest life？

A. Because they think they have actually lost their children.

B. Because they often disagree with their children on many things.

C. Because their children completely cut off contact with them.

D. Because these parents don’t have anything in common.

4.According to Hayslip, what parents actually lose in an “empty nest” is _______.

A. their children’s love for them

B. their control over children

C. their interest in life

D. their contact with children 

三、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分；满分30分）
A
On a cold winter morning in the late 1930s, Bobby awoke early. It was a day that Bobby would never forget. Bobby, his brother and his mother were once again abandoned(抛弃) by his father. When times got hard, the man left home. Bobby wasn’t surprised. He must take the responsibility for caring for his family.
He put on the warmest clothes he had and pulled on his old socks and torn shoes. After thinking of a way to keep his feet dry, he went outside looking for work.
Coming across some men working on the road, he joined in and worked hard for hours. Suddenly, rain poured down. “Go home and get out of this weather,” the men shouted, giving him a few coins.
Bobby used the money to buy as much food as he could afford in the nearest store. While holding a small bag of food ,Bobby stopped to adjust(调整) the thick paper in his shoes.
A man, who was a member of the Salvation Army, saw Bobby’s problem. He bought Bobby a new pair of shoes.
I wasn’t there on that cold day. But I’ve heard the story many times and can always imagine my father, as a child, dancing and wearing a pair of new shoes home.
Several years later, Bobby joined the navy. He continued to support his family and meanwhile worked for the Salvation Army so that another little boy somewhere might receive a new pair of shoes for Christmas.
The tradition lasted until my father became too ill. Daddy died six years ago. While the new shoes kept his feet warm in the 1930s, Daddy’s act of giving back for tens of years warmed his heart in a greater way.
36. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to Paragraph 1?
A. It wasn’t the first time that Bobby’s father had abandoned the family.
B. Bobby’s father was irresponsible toward his family.
C. Bobby was glad that his father left home. 
D. Bobby was an independent and strong-minded boy.
37. How did the men working on the road treat Bobby?
A. They didn’t care for him               B. They gave him some money
C. They refused to let him work with them   D. They laughed at him
38. By putting thick paper in his shoes, Bobby wanted to ___________.
A. keep his feet dry                                         B. protect his socks
C. make himself walk faster                          D. hide his poverty
39. According to the passage, people from the Salvation Army__________.
A. are the members of the army                  B. are willing to help the poor
C. serve at the local church                         D. are local shop assistants

三、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分；满分30分）

A

On a cold winter morning in the late 1930s, Bobby awoke early. It was a day that Bobby would never forget. Bobby, his brother and his mother were once again abandoned(抛弃) by his father. When times got hard, the man left home. Bobby wasn’t surprised. He must take the responsibility for caring for his family.

He put on the warmest clothes he had and pulled on his old socks and torn shoes. After thinking of a way to keep his feet dry, he went outside looking for work.

Coming across some men working on the road, he joined in and worked hard for hours. Suddenly, rain poured down. “Go home and get out of this weather,” the men shouted, giving him a few coins.

Bobby used the money to buy as much food as he could afford in the nearest store. While holding a small bag of food ,Bobby stopped to adjust(调整) the thick paper in his shoes.

A man, who was a member of the Salvation Army, saw Bobby’s problem. He bought Bobby a new pair of shoes.

I wasn’t there on that cold day. But I’ve heard the story many times and can always imagine my father, as a child, dancing and wearing a pair of new shoes home.

Several years later, Bobby joined the navy. He continued to support his family and meanwhile worked for the Salvation Army so that another little boy somewhere might receive a new pair of shoes for Christmas.

The tradition lasted until my father became too ill. Daddy died six years ago. While the new shoes kept his feet warm in the 1930s, Daddy’s act of giving back for tens of years warmed his heart in a greater way.

36. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to Paragraph 1?

A. It wasn’t the first time that Bobby’s father had abandoned the family.

B. Bobby’s father was irresponsible toward his family.

C. Bobby was glad that his father left home. 

D. Bobby was an independent and strong-minded boy.

37. How did the men working on the road treat Bobby?

A. They didn’t care for him               B. They gave him some money

C. They refused to let him work with them   D. They laughed at him

38. By putting thick paper in his shoes, Bobby wanted to ___________.

A. keep his feet dry                                         B. protect his socks

C. make himself walk faster                          D. hide his poverty

39. According to the passage, people from the Salvation Army__________.

A. are the members of the army                  B. are willing to help the poor

C. serve at the local church                         D. are local shop assistants

Premier Wen Jiabao has strongly advised greater efforts to ease poverty, __________ the    environment and adjust(调整) the economic structure in southwest China’s Guizhou    Province.

The clothes you wear. The food you eat. The color of your bedroom walls. Where you go and how you get there. The people you hang around with. What time you go to bed. What do these things have in common, you’re asking? They’re just a few examples of the many hundreds of things that your parents controlled for you when you were a child.

As a kid, you didn’t have a say in everything; your parents made decisions about everything from the cereal you ate in the morning to the pajamas you wore at night. And it’s a good thing, too—kids need this kind of protection on their own.

But finally, kids grow up and become teens. And part of being a teen is developing your own identity—one that is separate from your parents’. But as you change and grow into this new person who makes his own decisions, your parents have a difficult time adjusting(调整).

In many families, it is this adjustment that can cause a lot of fighting between teens and parents. And issues like the type of friends you have or your attitudes to partying can cause bigger arguments, because your parents still always want to protect you and keep you safe, no matter how old you are.

The good news about fighting with your parents get more comfortable with the idea that their teen has a right to certain opinions. It can take several years for parents and teens to adjust to their new roles, though. In the meantime, focus on communicating with your parents.

Sometimes this can feel impossible—like they just don’t see your point of view and never will. But talking and expressing your opinions can help you gain more respect from your parents.

Keep in mind, too, that your parents were teens once and that in most cases, they can relate to what you’re going through.

1.In the first two paragraphs, the writer________.

2.A lot of fighting breaks out between teens and parents because________.

3.In the opinions of the writer, parents control teens in order to ________.

4.The underlined word “this” in paragraph 6 may refer to “________”.

5.What might be the most suitable title for the passage?