Ever wondered if dogs can learn new words? Yes, say researchers as they have found that talented dogs may have the ability to grasp new words after hearing them only four times.
While previous evidence seems to show that most dogs do not learn words, unless eventually very well trained, a few individuals have shown some extraordinary abilities, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“We wanted to know under which conditions the gifted dogs may learn novel words,” said researcher xuekw Claudia Fugazza from the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary. For the study, the team involved two gifted dogs, Whisky and Vicky Nina. The team exposed the dogs to the new words in two different conditions.
In the exclusion-based task, presented with seven known toys and one new toy, the dogs were able to select the new toy when presented with a new name. Researchers say this proves that dogs can choose by exclusion when faced with a new word, they selected the only toy which did not have a known name.
However, this was not the way they would learn the name of the toy. In fact, when they were presented with one more equally new name to test their ability to recognize the toy by its name, the dogs got totally confused and failed.
The other condition, the social one, where the dogs played with their owners who pronounced the name of the toy while playing with the dog, proved to be the successful way to learn the name of the toy, even after hearing it only 4 times. “The rapid learning that we observed seems to equal children’s ability to learn many new words at a fast rate around the age of 18 months,” Fugazza says. “But we do not know whether the learning mechanisms(机制) behind this learning are the same for humans and dogs. ”
To test whether most dogs would learn words this way, 20 other dogs were tested in the same condition, but none of them showed any evidence of learning the toy names, confirming that the ability to learn words rapidly in the absence of formal training is very rare and is only present in a few gifted dogs.
1. What was the purpose of the study published in Scientific Reports?| A．To better train dogs’ ability to learn new words. |
| B．To further confirm previous evidence about dogs. |
| C．To prove extraordinary memory abilities of gifted dogs. |
| D．To explore favorable conditions for gifted dogs’ new-word learning. |
| A．Slow to understand. | B．Quick to learn. | C．At a loss. | D．In a panic. |
| A．Learning through playing applied to most dogs. |
| B．The social condition helped dogs learn new words. |
| C．Dogs’ new-word learning turned out to be less effective. |
| D．Dogs shared similar learning mechanisms with children. |
| A．Gifted Dogs Can Learn New Words Rapidly. |
| B．Dogs Identify Newly-named Toys by Exclusion. |
| C．Dogs Can Acquire Vocabulary through Tons of Training. |
| D．Gifted Dogs Have Similar Learning Abilities to Humans. |
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【推荐1】Far from the land of Antarctica（南极洲）, a huge shelf of ice meets the ocean. At the underside of the shelf there lives a small fish, the Antarctic cod.
For forty years scientists have been curious about that fish. How does it live where most fish would freeze to death? It must have some secrets. The Antarctic is not a comfortable place to work and research has been slow. Now it seems we have an answer.
Research was begun by cutting holes in the ice and catching the fish. Scientists studied the fish's blood and measured its freezing point.
The fish were taken from seawater that had a temperature of—1.88°C and many tiny pieces of ice floating in it. The blood of the fish did not begin to freeze until its temperature was lowered to-2.05°C. That small difference is enough for the fish to live at the freezing temperature of the ice—salt mixture.
The scientists' next research job was clear： Find out what in the fish's blood kept it from freezing. Their research led to some really strange thing made up of a protein（蛋白质）that has never been seen before in the blood of a fish. When it was removed, the blood froze at seawater temperature. When it was put back, the blood again had its antifreeze quality and a lowered freezing point.
Study showed that it is an unusual kind of protein. It has many small sugar molecules（分子）held in special positions within each big protein molecule. Because of its sugar content, it is called a glycoprotein. So it has come to be called the antifreeze fish glycoprotein, or AFGP.
1. Why can the Antarctic cod live at the freezing temperature?| A．The seawater has a temperature of-1.88°C. | B．It loves to live in the ice—salt mixture. |
| C．A special protein keeps it from freezing. | D．Its blood has a temperature lower than-2.05°C |
| A．No one can carry out any research work in the Antarctic |
| B．The ice—salt mixture enables the Antarctic cod to live under the freezing water |
| C．The protein in the blood of the Antarctic cod has a low freezing point |
| D．The sugar content is believed to be an unusual kind of protein. |
| A．It is made up of many small sugar molecules. | B．It can be removed from the blood |
| C．It keeps the blood of the cod from freezing. | D．It is called a glycoprotein. |
| A．The terrible conditions in the Antarctic | B．A special fish living in freezing waters. |
| C．The ice shelf around Antarctica. | D．Protection of the Antarctic cod |
【推荐2】Insects have an important role as part of the living planet, and they make up four-fifths of all animal species. But what difference do they make to our lives?
Insects as a problem
Humans have caused some insect species to be moved from one part of the world to another—deliberately or by accident. If the introduced insect species has no natural enemies in their new home, they can become a real problem. A recent UK example is the Harlequin ladybird, which has found its way to Britain and eats other ladybirds.
Some insects can sting, bite, or transmit disease to humans.
So, when it comes to insects, its important to understand the consequences of human actions.
Insects as an opportunity
Insects are very important as pollinators(传粉者). Bees are perhaps the best example of this.
Insects are also useful as models in scientific research. The Fruit Fly is a good example. It breeds rapidly, and can produce very many generations per year in the laboratory, so it is ideal for the study of evolution.
Insects can be useful to the gardener too—ladybirds, for example, are the gardeners’ friend because they eat aphids. Hoverflies and wasps also hunt and kill other insects for food in the garden. These species are called predators(捕食者).
| A．Without them, many crops would fail. |
| B．Many insect species compete with us for food. |
| C．And don’t forget insects can also be eaten by man! |
| D．Many of these have been caused by human activities. |
| E．Sometimes it is joked that this is because they find us tasty. |
| F．Many pests can be controlled by spraying with chemical pesticides. |
| G．In fact, many genetic discoveries couldn’t have been made without it. |
【推荐3】The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it ran after the dogs into the village where they ran for safety.
That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.
Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer. He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up—how to catch wild elephants. Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old life. “Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase,” she says.
But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun. “My work,” she says, “is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man.” And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.
The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly—caught elephant. “Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans.” she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed!
1. For Parbati, catching elephants is mainly to ______.| A．get long lasting excitement | B．keep both man and elephants safe |
| C．send them back to the jungle | D．make the angry elephants tame |
| A．she spent her time hunting with her father |
| B．she learned how to sing love songs after class |
| C．she was taught how to hunt tigers in the woods |
| D．she had already been called an elephant princess |
| A．Because illegal hunters catch them and kill them |
| B．Because they are caught and sent for heavy work |
| C．Because they are attacked and their land gets limited |
| D．Because dogs usually bark at them and interrupt them |
| A．dogs are often as powerful as elephants |
| B．people easily fall victims to elephants' attacks |
| C．elephant tamers are becoming fewer and fewer |
| D．the man-elephant relationship is getting much worse |
【推荐1】Development of a widely accepted chronology for the arrival of humans has been equally difficult, and it was only with the development of optically stimulated luminescence dating that a human presence in Australia was confirmed at 53,000 to 60,000 years ago. Older dates for a human presence in Australia have now been shown to be erroneous .
The importance of Australia as a separate natural laboratory in which to test extinction theories lies in the fact that humans arrived there much earlier than they arrived in the other continental areas (the Americas and northern Eurasia) that experienced substantial megafaunal extinction. What Miller et al. have shown is that the extinction of Genyornis occurred simultaneously across southeastern Australia (indeed probably right across the continent) about 50,000 years ago. This is very close to the presently accepted time of arrival of humans in Australia. It was also a period of modest climate change, well before the dramatic climatic fluctuations of the terminal Pleistocene. The data of Miller et al., therefore, support those who see human hunting rather than climate as causing the extinction of the megafauna.
Genyornis was a ponderous bird, around 80 to 100 kg in weight, about twice as heavy as the living emu and cassowary. It was an inhabitant of Australias inland plains and some coastal regions, but its legs were relatively short and thick, suggestion that it was a slower runner than the emu. Proponents of humancaused extinction suggest that it is just such characteristics that made the megafauna vulnerable to human hunting.
A new school of thought has recently established itself in the extinction debate. It advocates the idea that a combination of human impact and climate change was responsible for the extinction of the worlds megafauna. The new Genyornis data also weaken that argument, for the following reason. Fifty thousand years ago, Australia was experiencing mild cooling; 11,000 to 12,000 years ago, the Americas were experiencing rapid warming. These disparate climatic conditions, all coincident with megafaunal extinction, suggest that whatever was happening with climate, it was bad for the big animals. Under these conditions, the hybrid model becomes indistinguishable from the humancaused extinction model for the influence of climate becomes extremely weak, and only the arrival of humans is important in predicting extinction.
1. The last word “megafauna” in Paragraph 2 most probably means| A．birds. | B．plants. |
| C．big animals. | D．small animals. |
| A．a delicacy. | B．very weak. |
| C．very small in size. | D．clumsy. |
| A．One. | B．Two. |
| C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．the climatic conditions were unfit for Genyornis to live. |
| B．Genyornis were highly adaptable to different climatic conditions. |
| C．The two climatic conditions were both bad for Genyornis. |
| D．The climatic conditions had nothing to do with the extinction of Genyoris. |
| A．the debate over the time of the human presence in Australia. |
| B．the relationship between the human presence and magafaunal extinction. |
| C．the relationship between human activities and climatic changes. |
| D．the debate over factors causing megafaunal extinction. |
【推荐2】Scientists discovered that fewer humpback whales made the singing noises, as their population grew. “It was getting more difficult to actually find singers,” marine biologist Rebecca Dunlop in Brisbane said. She added, “When there were fewer of them, there was a lot of singing-now that there are lots of them, no need to be singing so much.”
Eastern Australia’s humpback whales came close to disappearing in the 1960s. With the end of commercial whaling (捕鲸), the population began to regrow, climbing to about 27,000 whales by 2015. That number is near estimated pre-whaling levels. As the density (密度) of whales increased, their singing behaviors changed. While 2 in 10 males made crying noises in 2004, 10 years later the number had dropped to 1 in 10, Dunlop said.
The team’s study appeared in a recent issue of Nature Communications Biology. Dunlop said she thinks singing played a big part in bringing in mates when populations severely declined. When humpbacks live in denser populations, males looking for mates also have to deal with competing whales.
Boris Worm, an ocean biologist, was not involved in the research. “As animal populations recover, they change their behavior-they have different cries,” Worm said. The research suggests the seas are still noisy with humpback whale sounds.
Many humpbacks seek to bring in mates with a combination of singing and physical movements, the study notes. The large increase in the humpback population during the study period provided valuable data about changes in the animals’ behavior and they must have been singers long before whaling reduced their numbers, said Simon Ingram. But the new study demonstrates (证明) how necessary their complex and beautiful songs were to their survival and recovery, he added.
1. Which may make humpback whales sing in the discovery?| A．The power of waves. | B．The use of microphone. |
| C．The feeling of loneliness. | D．The increase of their numbers. |
| A．Their sudden disappearance. | B．Their sharp rise in numbers. |
| C．Their being well protected. | D．Their change in behaviors. |
| A．Increased. | B．Dropped. | C．Climbed. | D．Recovered. |
| A．Humpbacks’ behaviors have never changed. |
| B．Humpbacks’ numbers increased by whaling. |
| C．Humpbacks’ singing noises are important. |
| D．Humpbacks’ singing will disappear soon. |
【推荐3】Transport has a lot to answer for when it comes to harming the planet. While cars and trains are moving towards greener, electric power, emissions（排放）from air travel are expected to increase massively by 2050. If we want big green sky solutions, we need blue sky thinking. Fortunately, there's plenty of that happening right now, particularly the short - haul flights powered by batteries.
Harbour Air is the largest seaplane airline in North America, flying 30,000 commercial flights in 40 seaplanes each year. Significantly, all Harbour Air routes last less than 30 minutes, making it perfectly fit for electric engines. "As an airline, we're currently in the process of turning all our planes into electric airplanes. says CEO Greg McDougall. To make this happen, the airline has partnered up with MagniX to create the world's first commercial flight with an electric engine.
Making the skies electric isn't just good for the environment, it also makes sound financial sense： a small aircraft uses $ 400 on conventional fuel for a 100 - mile flight, while an electric one costs $ 8 12 for the same distance, and that's before you factor in the higher maintenance costs of a traditional engine. There's also the added bonus that electric planes are just much more pleasant to fly in. No loud engine noise, no smell of fuel, just environmentally friendly peace and quiet.
While there has been real progress in the e-plane industry, the technical challenges that remain are keeping everyone's feet firmly on the ground. A battery, even a lithium one, only provides 250 watt-hours per kilogram； compare this to liquid fuel, which has a specific energy of IL 890 watt-hours per kilogram. Carrying adequate batteries, however, would make the plane too heavy to get off the ground. In aircraft, where every bit of weight counts, this can't just be ignored.
The transition （过渡 ） from gas to electric in the automobile industry has been made easier by hybrids - vehicles powered by both fuel and electricity. Many believe the same pattern could be followed in the air. Fuel consumption could be reduced as the electric component is switched on at key parts of the journey, especially on take-off and landing.
It's certainly an exciting time for electric flying. With companies like Harbour Air taking the lead, battery-powered planes, especially on short-haul journeys, are set to become a reality in the next few years.
1. According to Para l, what is happening in air transport?| A．New explorations of the sky are being launched. |
| B．Pollution caused by batteries is being controlled. |
| C．Efforts are being made to make air travel greener. |
| D．Demand for short-haul flights is increasing massively. |
| A．It runs short routes. | B．It has a strong partner. |
| C．Its planes can land on the sea. | D．It has planes with powerful engines. |
| A．To improve the ground service for e-planes. |
| B．To find qualified technicians for e-plane industry. |
| C．To calculate the energy needed to power e-planes. |
| D．To balance power and weight of batteries in e-planes. |
| A．To produce new electric components. | B．To increase battery consumption. |
| C．To use mixed - power technology. | D．To expand the landing field. |
| A．Short-sighted | B．Wait-and-see | C．Optimistic | D．Skeptical |
【推荐1】AI
AI (ISSN 2673-2688) is an international peer-reviewed open access journal devoted entirely to Artificial Intelligence (AI), including broad aspects of cognition and reasoning, perception and planning, machine learning, intelligent robotics, applications of AI, etc, published quarterly online by MDPI.
● Open Access- free to download, share, and reuse content. Authors receive recognition for their contribution when the paper is reused.
● Rapid Publication: manuscripts (稿子) are peer-reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately
17. 4 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 4.7 days.
Arts
Arts (ISSN 2076-0752) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly online by MDPI in March, June, September and December.
● Open Access- free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
● Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately 22.6 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 5.9 days.
Biology
Biology (ISSN 2079-7737; CODEN: BBSIBX) is an international peer-reviewed open access journal of biological sciences published monthly online by MDPI.
● Open Access- free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
● Rapid Publication; manuscripts are peer -reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately 17.4 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 2.8 days.
Impact Factor: 3.796 (2020)
Energies
Energies (ISN 1996-1073; CODEN: ENERGA) is a peer-reviewed open access journal of related scientific research, technology development, engineering, and the studies in policy and management and is published semimonthly online by MDPI.
●Open Access-free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
●Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer reviewed and a first decision provided to authors approximately 16.5 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 3.5 days.
Impact Factor: 2.702 (2020)
1. What are AI, Arts, Biology and Energies?| A．They are quarterly publications. | B．They are free online books. |
| C．They are online journals. | D．They are traditional magazines. |
| A．Taking the longest time to be accepted. | B．Asking for no article processing charges. |
| C．Having all its articles peer-reviewed. | D．Requiring no charges to read online. |
| A．Energies and Biology. | B．Biology and AI. |
| C．Arts and Energies . | D．Arts and AI. |
【推荐2】For many Daylight Saving Time (DST:夏令时) simply means remembering to change the clocks and twisting your sleep schedule. “Even though the time change is only an hour, it is something that causes much more destruction than people believe,” said Dr. John Sharp, a psychologist and psychiatrist at Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “It’s not just an extra hour of sleep; it’s more of a fast-forward into winter.”
With days getting darker earlier, Sharp suggests making a to-do list for activities after work ahead of time. “Any plans you have, say, going to the gym after work, require much more effort and determination. It’s much better to plan more carefully and not just rely on how you feel, especially when it is dark out,” he said. “Figure it out in advance and stick with the plan.”
In addition. Sharp says in the weeks after Daylight Saving, some may feel like they have a bigger appetite. “Eating more during this time is not the answer. People need to stay on an eating schedule and keep up healthy habits. ”
However, Sharp said there are ways to better acclimate yourself to the time change. If you are having trouble sleeping, he suggests taking some melatonin (退黑激素) in the evening. In contrast, if you find yourself feeling sleepy. Sharp said there is nothing wrong with adding an extra caffeinated drink during your day.
A word to the wise? One sure way to better adjust to the time change is to start going to bed 15 minutes earlier starting four days before Daylight Saving, adding an additional 15 minutes each night.
1. Which is probably the best title for the passage?| A．Are you prepared for DST? | B．Why DST was introduced? |
| C．What DST has brought to life? | D．How DST has been popular? |
| A．Getting up earlier than before. | B．Sticking to the daily routine. |
| C．Being aware of quality sleep. | D．Getting well-prepared for DST. |
| A．adopt | B．accelerate |
| C．adapt | D．acknowledge |
| A．a scientific report | B．an interview |
| C．a speech | D．a statement |
【推荐3】Albert was mad about computer games. He could spend hours in front of the computer. When people encouraged him to leave the screen to have a normal life, he would respond "this is my window to the world. There is much more here than you realize."
Among all his games, he especially liked a rabbit-catching game. He was a real expert at it. He once even won the champion of an online rabbit-catching competition.
One day, as usual, as soon as he got home, he ran to his room to play computer games. But this time he found the computer was not there. Yet in its place there was a box, on which a card said, “Gift for Game Winner." When he opened the box, he found a real rabbit in it. His parents then came in to tell him that they bought him the rabbit in place of the rabbit game because his computer was sent for repair.
Albert loved the little rabbit immediately. He liked playing with it and even gave it a name. He studied its diet and habits. Days later, he actually began to enjoy the company of the rabbit. And he also enjoyed sharing his stories and his growing knowledge about rabbits with his parents, friends and teachers.
Now, Albert is no longer mad about computer games. He prefers learning and discovering new things about animals. He also uses the computer to do that. When someone asks him why he stops playing computer games, he points to his pet and says. “This is my window to the world. There is more than you realize.”
1. Albert used to be _______.| A．mad with his parents | B．interested in rabbit stories |
| C．good at catching rabbits | D．crazy about computer games |
| A．catching rabbits in the woods | B．keeping different kinds of pets |
| C．online computer game competitions | D．computer game of rabbit-catching |
| A．They gave him a real rabbit as a gift. |
| B．They bought him a new rabbit game. |
| C．They replaced his computer with a box. |
| D．They told him to stop playing computer games |
| A．He starts to like the shop that sold the rabbit. |
| B．He prefers discovering new things about animals. |
| C．He likes playing computer games with the rabbit. |
| D．He is no longer good at playing computer games. |
| A．His parents. | B．Computer games. |
| C．His pet rabbit. | D．Knowledge about nature. |
【推荐1】Speaking of children--what child doesn’t like to jump around and act silly sometimes? Monkeys are also known for acting silly. So, when kids act up, parents or teachers may tell them to stop monkeying around. It means to do things that are not useful or serious, or to simply waste time.
Now, in the United States, children do not usually have monkeys as pets, but they do often have dogs. And dogs make most children feel happy. But for some reason, we use “dog” in a phrase that means to feel unwell. If you are as sick as a dog, you are really sick and will most likely stay home from work or school.
Besides, dogs and cats are also favorite pets here in the States. This next phrase combines cats and secrets to make a very common expression. Let’s say you know a secret, a big secret. And let’s say you tell it to people. You have just let the cat out of the bag! This idiom means revealing (揭示) a secret or telling facts that were previously (先前) unknown.
If you let the cat out of the bag, you spoil a surprise. So, if your friend is planning a big surprise birthday for another friend, don’t let the cat out of the bag by accidentally saying it in front of the birthday girl. Even though this is a very common idiom, the origin of “to let the cat out of the bag” is also unknown.
If you are doing an outdoor activity--such as hiking in the woods, or having a picnic in a park--what are some things that may disturb your good time? Bad weather could. And so could bugs! Crawling pests like ants, and flying ones like mosquitoes, could make your experience uncomfortable or annoying.
So, when we bug people we bother them so much that we affect their good time. This common expression is often said as a command: “Stop bugging me !”
1. According to the passage, “monkeying around” is considered _______.| A．silly | B．wrong |
| C．proper | D．happy |
| A．stop bugging me | B．as sick as a dog |
| C．monkeying around | D．let the cat out of the bag |
| A．Don’t trouble me. | B．Give up your good time. |
| C．Stop feeling annoyed. | D．Don’t comfort me. |
| A．The names of animals in the English language. |
| B．The meaning of some English phrases. |
| C．The origins of phrases about animals. |
| D．The strange usages of some words. |
【推荐2】There is evidence that just counting money can produce valuable psychological benefits. According to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, thumbing through your cash can reduce emotional and physical pain as well as increase feelings of internal strength, fearlessness and confidence. The study also finds that when people are reminded of their recent spending, they report higher levels of both psychological and physical distress.
Focusing on the symbolic power of money, researchers started with a simple hypothesis (假设): reminders of money can alter how people experience social interactions — especially so-cial acceptance and rejection.
To test the idea, the researchers took the following approach: 84 students at a Chinese university were divided into two groups. One group counted 80 large-denomination bills: the other group parceled out 80 pieces of plain paper. All participants then played an online video game in which, using game controls, they could throw a ball and play catch with other Internet players. But the game was rigged so that after 10 throws, half the students would no longer get the ball thrown to them, while the rest of the students continued to play catch. When the game ended, participants who had been excluded from the second round of catch rated their level of social distress and how strong they felt. Those who had counted money before being socially excluded reported lower levels of social distress than those who had counted only paper. Additionally, the participants who had counted money also reported greater feelings of inner strength and self-sufficiency.
To see if counting money also reduces physical pain, the researchers repeated the earlier social-exclusion (社会排斥) test, but this time they replaced the ball game with a pain-sensitivity task, in which half the participants were put in a moderate-pain condition(their hands were put in warm water), while the other half were subjected to a high-pain condition (hands were put in very hot water). Again, those who had counted money reported lower levels of pain.
1. According to the text, which of the following behaviors can bring psychological benefits?| A．Throwing coins. | B．Making money. |
| C．Counting money. | D．Checking the bank account. |
| A．Those who counted 80 large-denomination bills. |
| B．Those who counted 80 pieces of plain paper. |
| C．Those whose hands were put in warm water. |
| D．Those whose hands were put in very hot water. |
| A．Playing ball games. | B．Counting plain paper. |
| C．Putting hands in water. | D．Thinking of recent spending. |
| A．A travel guide. | B．A story book. |
| C．A science journal. | D．A fashion magazine. |
When I was younger, I thought that boys and grown men should not cry. The tears were signs of being weak and a sissy(胆小鬼), which a man is not supposed to be. This was even strengthened in my young mind when the song, Boys Don't Cry, came out in the early 1980s.
But just this June, I discovered that courage is not all about trying to keep all the pain inside in check. Courage is not all about trying to hide the tears. It is the opposite — the tears strengthen the heart's courage. And I saw this in my father. That day my father cried.
My 18-year-old sister eloped (私奔) and from it I saw how weak my father's heart was. My sister and I were used to seeing him as an iron-willed figure and authoritarian father.
For three days after my sister eloped, he would not talk. He would just sit quietly outside our house in the dark. On the fourth night, I sat beside him and asked him to tell me what he felt about everything.
It has been years since I have laid my hand on my father's shoulder as we have drifted apart (疏远) farther and farther while I was growing up. That night，though, I sensed my father trying to control his pain and I wanted him to be able to let it out. We have all cried over what happened except him. All of us except him.
The simple touch and my words, “Dad, it is not your fault.”, broke my father's dam. In the darkness, he began to cry. I felt his shoulders shaking as he whispered, "Where did I go wrong? All I ever wanted was for my children to grow up right. Why couldn't your sister wait?"
I understood then why he preferred to be in the dark. By being there, he hoped to spare his family of a father's pain. His tears, though we did not see them before that night, were there all the same. I saw his courage, that night when my father cried with my hand on his shoulder, and understood his pain.
1. Why did the author think men shouldn’t cry when he was younger?(No more than 12 words)
2. According to the author and his sister, what kind of person was their father?
(No more than 6 words)
3. How did the author make his father let out his pain?
(No more than 9 words)
4. When did the author see his father’s courage?
(No more than 7 words)
