【推荐1】Nicole Eisenberg’s older son has wanted to be a star of the stage since he was a kid. He took voice, dance and drama lessons and attended the well-known Stagedoor Manor summer camp for half a dozen years. “I had to take him on 20 auditions (试演) for musical theater. But he did it with me. I did not helicopter parent him. I was co-pilot.” Ms Eisenberg said.

Helicopter parenting is a term that become popular in the 1980s and grew out of fear about children’s physical safety. It is the practice of hovering anxiously near one’s children, monitoring their every activity. In the 1990s, it meant not just constantly monitoring children, but also always teaching them.

Or was she a snowplow parent? Snowplow parenting is an even more obsessive (强迫性的) form, which keeps their children’s futures obstacle-free, so they don’t have to come across failure, frustration or lose opportunities.

It’s a parent’s job to support the children, and to use their adult wisdom to prepare for the future when their children aren’t mature enough to do so. It’s painful for any parent to watch their child mess up, or not achieve their goals. Now, however, the stakes (赌注) are so much high. “Increasingly, it appears any mistake could be very serious for their class outcome,” said Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland.

“The point is to prepare the kid for the road, instead of preparing the road for the kid.” Ms Lythcott-Haims said. “You have made a role for yourself of always being there to handle things for your child, so it gets worse because your child is ill-equipped to manage the basic tasks of life.” Learning to solve problems, take risks and overcome frustration are important life skills.

However, snowplowing has gone so far that many young people are in crisis, lacking these problem-solving skills and experiencing anxiety. Many snowplow parents know it’s problematic, too. But because of privilege or peer pressure or anxiety about their children’s futures, they do it anyway.

1. What do helicopter parents and snowplow parents have in common?

A．They teach their children everything.

B．They do everything for their children.

C．They care too much about their children.

D．They only fix their eyes on their children.

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined part in Paragraph 5?

A．A thousand miles begins with a single step.

B．All things are difficult before they are easy.

C．Good company on the road is the shortest cut.

D．Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

3. What is the important effect of snowplowing on children?

A．The shortage of problem-solving ability.

B．The decrease of their anxiety.

C．The satisfaction of learning.

D．The pressure from their friends.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Helicopter Parents and Their Children

B．Parents Develop Problem-solving Skills

C．Parents Prepare for Children’s Future

D．Parents Rob Children of Adulthood

【推荐2】How can parents really get their children to do housework? It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be ready to do housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.

If parents give their children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.

My daughter Carla’s fifth-grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a perfect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.

You can use the same technique when you evaluate(评价) your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he/she has done right, not about what he/she hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him/her a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.

Learning is a process(过程) of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake or failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.

1. Why do children think of themselves unable?

A．They don’t do housework.

B．Parents are not friendly to them.

C．Parents don’t allow them to do what they like.

D．They get too little praise in doing housework.

2. What can parents learn from Carla’s fifth-grade teacher?

A．Take a trip with children.	B．Give children more praise.
C．Give children a punishment.	D．Promise children a ball game.

3. We can draw a lesson from the passage that ________.

A．children can be forced to do housework

B．there is no way to get children to help at home

C．it is very easy to make children do housework

D．the more you encourage children, the more helpful they will be

4. What is the whole passage mainly about?

A．Social education.	B．School education.
C．Pre-school education.	D．Family education.

【推荐3】When I was 8 years old, I decided to run away from home after a quarrel with my mother. With my suitcase packed and some sandwiches in a bag, I started for the front door.

My mom asked where I was going. “I’m leaving home,” I said. “What’s that you’re carrying?” she asked.

“Some clothes and food,” I replied.

“If you want to run away, that’s all right,” she said. “But you came into this home without anything and you can leave the same way.”

I threw my suitcase and sandwiches on the floor and started for the door again.

“Wait a minute,” Mom said. “You didn’t have any clothes on when you arrived, and I want them back.”

This infuriated me. I tore my clothes off — shoes, socks, underwear and all — and shouted, “Can I go now?”

“Yes,” my mom answered, “but once you close that door, don’t expect to come back.”

I was so angry that I shut the door forcefully and stepped out of my home. Then I noticed down the street two neighbor girls walking toward our house. I was so shy that I saw the big spruce (云杉) tree in our yard and jumped under the low-hang ng branches (树枝). A pile of dried-up brown needles (针状物) were beneath the tree, and you can’t imagine the pain those sharp needles caused to my body.

After I was sure the girls had passed by, I ran to the front door and knocked at it loudly.

“It’s Billy! Let me in!”

The voice behind the door answered, “Billy doesn’t live here anymore. He ran away from home.”

Looking behind me to see if anyone else was coming down the street I said, “Mom! I’m sorry. I’m still your son. Let me in!”

The door opened and Mom’s smiling face appeared. “Did you change your mind about running away?” she asked.

“What’s for supper?” I smiled back.

1. When the author was leaving home, his mother ordered him to            .

A．stay at home	B．take some sandwiches
C．leave everything behind	D．check his suitcase carefully

2. Which of the following can best describe the author’s mom?

A．Selfish and proud.	B．Strict but loving.
C．Kind and helpful.	D．Wise but impatient.

3. The underlined word “infuriated” probably means “          ”.

A．surprised

B．warned

C．encouraged

D．angered

4. The last sentence “What’s for supper?” mainly shows that the author           .

A．felt very hungry at that time

B．changed his plan to leave home

C．wished to eat something before leaving

D．wanted to know what his mother prepared for supper

【推荐1】阅读理解。
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项 （A 、B 、C 和 D ）中，选出最佳选项。

My friend Jennie Crossen gave her bone marrow (骨髓) to a 51-year-old woman with leukemia, a woman she has never met.

     At the end of March, the Red Cross called back. Six different blood elements were tested; Jennie matched five completely and was about a 3/4 match of the sixth. So she was the best match.

In April, Jennie went for a complete physical exam by one of the doctors who would perform the surgery. The doctor had to make sure that it would be no threat to her. The doctor told her that the surgery would entail having two quarts of bone marrow extracted from her hip bones. Jennie would probably be released the same day the surgery took place and should expect to be sore for a couple of months.

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal until I realized I was a match,” Jennie said, “There wasn’t a question in my head. It didn’t seem like something that was going above and beyond.”

     Jennie was left with two very small scars on her lower back from the surgery and was given medication to help dull the pain. She still felt a great deal of pressure on her lower back. “Being only 21, I feel like I am not old enough to significantly impact someone’s life,” Jennie said, “It seems strange to me that I could possibly save this woman’s life which was being cut short by cancer.”

Three weeks after the surgery, Jennie received a call from the Red Cross representative who told her the transplant was successful. “I feel good, and I think it will actually work for her,” she said, “So many people say they’d only donate if it was for a family member or close friend. This woman is someone’s family and someone’s friend. Obviously, no one she knows is a match, and the fact that you’d be able to help a perfect stranger is great.”

1. Jennie Crossen gave her bone marrow to                .

A．a close friend	B．a stranger
C．a classmate	D．a relative

2. Before Jennie Crossen knew she was the best match, her feeling could described as “               ”.

A．frightened

B．nervous

C．calm

D．excited

3. The underlined word “impact” in Paragraph 5 probably means                 .

A．take pleasure in the beauty

B．devote all one’s life to something

C．end the dangerous practice of something

D．have an important effect on something

4. What would be the best title of this passage?

A．A Great Woman	B．To Save a Stranger
C．My Good Friend	D．Jennie’s Life Blood

【推荐2】Betty Friedan is often called “the mother of the modern women’s liberation(解放) movement” Her famous book The Feminine Mystique changed America. Some people say it changed the world. It has been called one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century. Betty Friedan was born in 1921 in Peoria, Illinois. She attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the country’s best colleges for women. She finished her studies in psychology(心理学) in 1942.

In 1957, Friedan started a research that was to have far- reaching(深远的) results. Most women in her class did not work outside their homes after graduation. Friedan thought women could give a lot to society if they had another identity besides being housewives. She talked to other women across the country, met with experts about the questions and answers and combined this research with surveys and examples from her own life. The result was her book, The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963. The book attacked the popular idea of the time that women could only find satisfaction through being married, having children and taking care of their home. Friedan believed that women wanted more from life than just to please their husbands and children. The book said women suffered from feelings of lack of worth. Friedan said this was because women depended on their husbands for economic(经济的), emotional and intellectual support.

The Feminine Mystique was a huge success, which has been sold more than three million of copies and reprinted in a number of other languages. The book helped change the lives of women in America. More women began working outside the home and more women began studying traditionally male subjects like law, medicine and engineering.

1. What’s The Feminine Mystique mainly about ?

A．women’s equal rights	B．women’s studies
C．women’s political position	D．women s marriage

2. According to Friedan, which of the following statement is True?

A．Women only wanted to please their husbands and children.

B．Women can’t find satisfaction in other ways besides family.

C．Most women in her class worked outside their homes after graduation.

D．Women relied on their husbands for economic, emotional and intellectual support.

3. What is the main reason for the book 's popularity?

A．It influenced women’s life greatly.

B．It was written by a famous woman.

C．It has been prepared for many years.

D．It was a result of long research in society.

4. Which column may the passage belong to in the newspaper?

A．Education

B．Story

C．People

D．Life

【推荐3】Jason Detzel was bored with his work as a psychologist, and he was tired of spending all day in an office. Dr. Detzel felt that in the city he was losing touch with something important, so he quit his job and started a farm.

He and his business partner found 80 acres of land in a small town and signed a 10-year lease. While some farms used a lot of machinery, they decided they wanted to do as much as possible with their own hands. They built a corral for the cows, pig shelters and a house for the chickens.

“I’m definitely happier being out in the fields with my animals. Even if there are bad days, I’m still happy,” Dr. Detzel said. “When you’re inside all day, you don’t get to see nature working.”

“The job is different every day on the farm. It’s amazing,” he said. “You’re a farmer. You’re an animal doctor. You’re a pipefitter. You’re definitely a carpenter a lot. You’re a jack-of-all-trades(万事通), master of none. That’s what I like about it.”

Learning how to manage the animals had been one of the biggest challenges of starting the farm, Dr. Detzel said. He learned that it was important to stick to a routine. That’s why he rang the same bell and called to the cows in the same way each day. The routine helped keep the cows calm and cooperative.

It wasn’t easy for Dr. Detzel to be accepted by the other farmers in his community. With all his tattoos, he looked very different. When he started the farm he was in his early 30s, while most other farmers were older. There weren’t many young people starting farms, because it had become harder and harder for small family farms to make much income.

Dr. Detzel said that began to change when more people became locavores. A locavore is someone who tries to eat food grown and raised nearby. By shopping at their local farmers’ market, many locavores hope to reduce the amount of energy used to ship food long distances. Many locavores like knowing where their food comes from and being able to talk to the farmers about what chemicals were used and how the animals were treated.

1. What was the main purpose of Dr. Detzel starting a farm?

A．To keep in touch with his friends.	B．To make more money.
C．To study agricultural machinery.	D．To get back to nature.

2. What did Dr. Detzel like about his job on the farm?

A．He could do many types of work	B．He was good at many things.
C．He often traded at a profit.	D．He could get to know many farmers.

3. To manage the animals, Dr. Detzel       .

A．followed a routine	B．used different bells
C．learned from other farmers	D．called professionals for help

4. A locavore prefers .

A．self-produced food	B．healthy organic food
C．food grown by local farmers	D．food grown by local farmers

【推荐2】When Nancy Flexer opened the door to her classroom near the end of her final school year, all 41 years of her career as a beloved first-grade teacher came to life right in front of her.

Cole Elementary School in Tennessee surprised Flexer with a memorable and emotional retirement party featuring former students of all ages, dating back to the first class she taught in the 1973-1974 school year. A video of the event shows an overwhelmed Flexer being moved to tears as she hears former students who are now adults tell her how much she affected their lives.

“I’m one of the luckiest people in this world,” Flexer said. “I remember I opened the door to the classroom thinking no one was in there, and it was wall-to-wall people and banners and everything. It was the coolest thing that could have ever happened in my life. How many times do we really realize the lives we’ve touched, the manner in which we’ve touched them, and that these are memories that stay with them for life?

Despite being young when they were taught by Flexer, students easily recalled the heartwarming notes she wrote them on report cards, the ways she helped them overcome shyness and awkwardness, and how she inspired them to future academic success to earn scholarships and advanced degrees.

Even though Flexer hadn’t seen some of the former students for decades, she instantly remembered the names of every single one there.

A scrapbook(剪贴簿) of her career was presented to her as one student after another recalled the effect Flexer had on his or her life.

“I’ve had many opportunities to move to a school closer to my home, but I said ‘Cole gave me so much in my life that when I retire, I will retire from Cole school and give back what’s been given to me, ” Flexer said. “My career could have taken me nowhere that would have made me happier. I think of it as a blessing.”

1. We learn from the text that the retirement party ________.

A．was beyond Flexer’s expectations

B．attracted many of Flexer’s friends

C．was full of appreciative parents

D．was organized by Flexer’s students

2. Flexer’s former students _________.

A．helped her overcome her shyness

B．presented her with cards full of heartwarming notes

C．made a video to express their appreciation

D．bore her help and inspiration in mind

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Flexer missed many chances of further studies.

B．Flexer once studied in Cole Elementary School.

C．Flexer loved her teaching career in Cole.

D．Flexer refused many other schools’ invitations.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．A memorable moving retirement party

B．A teacher’s 41-year teaching career

C．Students’ memories of their beloved teacher

D．Students’ gifts to their beloved teacher

【推荐3】I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg last night, a distance of about eighty miles.   It was late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line   on my left, and I was clinching (紧握) my fists with impatience.

At one point along an open highway, I came to a crossroads with the traffic light. I was alone   on the road by now, but as I approached the light, it turned red and I braked to stop.   I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. Not a car, no suggestion of headlights, but there I sat, waiting for the light to change, the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.

I started wondering why I refused to run the light.   I was not afraid of being arrested, because there were obviously no police around, and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.

Much later that night,   the question of why I' d stopped for that light came back to me.   I think I stopped because it's part of an agreement we all have with each other.   It's not only the law, but it's an agreement we have, and we trust each other to honor it: we don't go through red lights.

It's amazing that we ever trust each other to do the right thing, isn't it? And we do, too.

Trust is our tendency.   We have to make a deliberate decision to mistrust someone or to be

suspicious or skeptical. Those attitudes don't come naturally to us.

It' s a very good thing too, because the whole structure of our society depends on mutual trust, not distrust. This whole thing around us would fall apart if we didn't trust each other most of the time. We do what we say we'll do; we show up when we say we'll show up; we deliver when we say we'll deliver; and we pay when we say we'll pay. We trust each other in these matters, and

when we don't do what we' ve promised,   it's far from the normal.   It happens often that we don't act in good faith and in a trustworthy manner, but we still consider it unusual, and we're angry or disappointed with those badly-behaved people. Anyway I was so proud of myself for stopping for the red light that night.

1. Why did the author feel impatient while driving?

A．Because he had already driven for a long time.

B．Because it was too far away from his destination.

C．Because something urgent happened in his family.

D．Because he could not overpass a truck on a narrow road.

2. The author stopped at the traffic light because         .

A．there were passers-by crossing the road

B．some policemen were on duty just at that point

C．the trust between people influenced the author

D．there was potential danger

3. What would happen if people didn' t trust each other in most cases?

A．All the things would run normally.

B．The social system would be thrown into disorder.

C．The social traditions would be abandoned.

D．Strict rules and laws would be made.

4. What is the theme of the passage?

A．Mutual Trust is the best policy.

B．A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

C．Actions speak louder than words.

D．Among the blind the one-eyed is the king.