Rob Kenney’s dad left him when he was little. At a time when he was on the path to young adulthood, he had no father to guide him on the way. He had a painful experience as a young boy, but learned, with the help of his marriage, to forgive his dad just before his dad died in his 80s. Now, with a wife of 29 years and two successful adult children — Kristine, 27, who works with kids, and Kyle, a software engineer — Kenney wants to pay it forward.
“My goal in life was to raise good adults, not good children,” he explains. The fact that his kids have both grown up and left the house left him thinking how he might help others. And the quarantine (隔离期) was actually the perfect time for him to finally share some key life skills with other kids who might be growing up in difficult situations — maybe they’ve lost a parent or have parents who are absent.
So the dad set up a heart-warming YouTube program called Dad, How Do I?, a program that shares instructional videos like how to cook a meal and tie a perfect tie.
His practical tips have really touched the viewers, which are growing in number day by day. Rob Kenney is just what the Internet needs — a caring dad who wants to share his skills. It’s no wonder that he has gotten as many as 1.9 million fans in return.
The unbelievable success of Rob Kenney’s videos suggests the need for a good father figure in a child’s life. From teaching basic life skills to encouraging them to be kind, a father figure helps kids develop into active members of society. He especially instructs them in good manners, being honest, and being grateful.
1. What do we know about Kenney?| A．He learnt life skills from his wife. | B．He recognised his failing as a father. |
| C．He once hated his father so much. | D．He learnt a lot from his dad. |
| A．To encourage people to lead a healthy life. |
| B．To prepare his own children for the adulthood. |
| C．To teach life skills to kids with absent parents. |
| D．To offer tips on how to deal with loneliness. |
| A．Best qualities of a good father figure. |
| B．A father figure’s role in child development. |
| C．Lessons learnt from Kenney’s success. |
| D．Kenney’s achievements as a father figure. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】It was just the three of us—my parents and me. My dad is a truck driver, and when I was a little kid, he was gone most of the time, delivering supplies around the Mid-west. Then we moved to a small house in Brighton. Colorado on my third birthday. There weren't any kids my age in the neighborhood, so I mostly played in the yard with the dogs. I had a lot of imaginary friends—a whole family, actually, with a husband, children, a best friend...no joke.
My first memory is our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden. One day, my parents asked Arlene and her husband Bill whether they'd watch me when they went out. This worked well, so it became a weekly occurrence.
When I was about five, I had an idea: “What if I adopted Bill and Arlene as my grandparents?” I knocked on their door and said, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and enthusiastically accepted it. Soon after, they printed out an adoption certificate and it hung on their living room wall from then on.
I remember being surprised that they took my offer so seriously. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There's something truly remarkable about a child offering her love and adults being so ecstatic to accept it. From the day I adopted them, I called Bill and Arlene grandpa and grandma. Pretty soon, my parents were calling them Dad and Mom. Even our animals would often sneak out of our yard to visit them. Over the years, Bill and Arlene supported me in all my dreams. And when I got accepted to a university, they presented me with a fund. They told me they'd been putting away money since the day I adopted them.
After Arlene passed away, Bill gave me the ring he'd gifted to Arlene. It's a simple gold band that I wear on my ring finger as a reminder of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.
1. Before meeting Bill and Arlene, the author probably felt ______.| A．worried | B．scared | C．lonely | D．desperate |
| A．They were unfriendly to her animals. |
| B．They influenced her to reward the world. |
| C．They ignored her offer to adopt them at first. |
| D．They gave all their savings to help her with study. |
| A．Parents should keep their kids company | B．Love goes beyond blood relationship |
| C．A friend in need is a friend indeed | D．There is no place like home |
| A．To recall her childhood. |
| B．To encourage herself to pursue dreams. |
| C．To treasure the memory of her “grandparents”. |
| D．To thank her “grandparents” for their instructions. |
【推荐2】It doesn’t take a lot to live a healthy live. That parents often have family meals with their children ranks first.
A Harvard study found that families that eat together are twice as likely to eat their five servings of fruits and vegetables a day as families who don't eat together. Families also eat less fried food when they eat together. Finally, children who regularly eat with family have diets higher in fiber, calcium, iron, and vitamins B6, B12, C and E.
During family meals, parents can set a good example of healthy eating that children may follow. They also display polite table manners. Family meals teach children important skills.
When a family eats together, kids can learn about nutrition and healthy eating. In many studies of school-aged children, those who eat family meals have a higher level of nutrition knowledge.
When a family eats together, kids learn about food safety, like hand washing before eating.
Children who have company at meals are slimmer than those who eat alone. That's because they eat less, eat more slowly, and talk more. This is a good way to deter obesity in children.
Family meals can help children build vocabulary. Studies showed kids who ate with their families performed better at school and had a broader vocabulary. Family meals offer an opportunity for conversations where kids learn vocabulary-building words to help them read and communicate better.
Children gain a better sense of belonging within the family when they eat together with their parents at home. Family meals offer a time for a family to come together as a group and develop a feeling of belonging. That sense of belonging leads to better self-esteem（自尊）. In conclusion, family meals are very important.
1. The writer wants to tell us that .| A．eating together with family is a good chance to teach children |
| B．it's more favorable for children to eat with their families |
| C．it's desirable for children to eat more regularly |
| D．enjoying family meals is equal to eating a big and delicious dinner |
| A．Having a company meal is easy to become fatter and fatter. |
| B．In the mealtime, parents should set a good example of healthy eating. |
| C．Family meals can help children with a higher level of nutrition knowledge. |
| D．Family meals can make children form a good habit of eating. |
| A．find | B．replace | C．prevent | D．improve |
| A．Why family is important to kids. | B．How to eat in a healthy way. |
| C．How to raise children well. | D．Why family meals are important. |
【推荐3】I stare at the row of jars filled with my parents’ homemade tomato sauce. Every time I wonder: “Should I really use one?” I have been saving these jars like precious treasures. No matter how hard I try to find something instead, nothing compares. Store-bought sauces? It just doesn’t taste right. It doesn’t taste like home.
During the tomato season, all my family were a lot busier than usual. My parents would use the basement as an area for letting the tomatoes they had collected locally ripen. Like the other Italian families in the area, we would then take them to the garage when they were ripe enough. There they were cleaned and boiled. Once stewed (炖), whole tomatoes were passed through my father’s homemade machine used to separate the sauce from the skins. Jars at the ready, we filled them with sauce and seasoning. They would then be lined up and ready to use.
My parents would make more than just sauce every fall. I loved it when they would season all the pork sausage. We would fry the meat, tasting it before making the separate sausages. My parents expertly hand-tied the sausages while I would poke (戳) them all over. These were my family’s traditions.
These traditions were hard to maintain when my father got ill. After being diagnosed with cancer in 2019, he spent most of his time in hospital. In September that year he came home, on the same weekend we decided to continue the tradition. I have glorious (美好的) memories of that day as they once again made the sauce. It was a beautiful but short-lived moment. My father died soon after.
Every time I go to reach for one of the jars, something stops me. My mother, ever practical, was visiting us recently and just stared at them. “You should use these or they will go to waste.”
What will it feel like to use that last jar? It would mean the end of an era (时代). Who knows? Maybe it’s time to bring new traditions to life.
1. Why does the author attach so great importance to the jars containing the tomato sauce?| A．The recipe is unique. | B．The sauce is delicious. |
| C．It reminds him of home. | D．It took great patience to make it. |
| A．The time spent making tomato sauce. |
| B．The differences between homemade and store-bought sauces. |
| C．The rules of selecting tomatoes to make sauce. |
| D．The procedure for making tomato sauce. |
| A．Kind. | B．Polite. | C．Enthusiastic. | D．Down-to-earth. |
| A．To recall his family traditions of the past. | B．To show his respect for his late father. |
| C．To introduce his family traditions. | D．To complain about his tough past experience. |
【推荐1】Living abroad requires a small adjustment and balancing of cultures.Moving from Scotland to Austria, the differences aren’t so great, perhaps, as moving to Asia or Africa. But things are still different enough to be unsettling (使人不安的)．
One of the first differences I noticed was the opening hours of shops here.During the week，supermarkets close at 7：30 p.m., at the latest. On Sundays, they aren’t open at all. On my first weekend here, I wasn’t at all prepared for this. I planned to go into town to pick up things I’d forgotten to bring. I wanted to get some groceries, too, after a few days of eating out. A friend had warned me that nothing was open on Sundays, but I didn’t realize she was serious. So, I wandered around town, coming across shop after shop with doors closed.
I ate out again that Sunday, and I learned my lesson.To begin with, I thought it was highly inconvenient.What if I ran out of milk in the evening, or wanted to buy biscuits before bed? In the UK, I was so used to large supermarkets, which stayed open until at least 10 p.m., if not for twentyfour hours. But now, I have to buy food every Saturday. “What do people do here on Sundays?” I asked my flatmate.She just looked at me. “Nothing .” she replied.
If it’s inconvenient, then there’s also something nice about it.Who needs to be able to buy soup or soap or bread twenty four hours a day? No one really needs to of course. But it’s nice, too, to have Sundays completely free from material worries. Sundays here are all about relaxing for hours in coffee shops and spending time with friends. Sunday is a day of rest.
People in the UK often complain, “I thought Sundays were meant to be a day of rest!”, while rushing to work, doing chores(家庭杂务) or standing in queues in shops. Well, here in Austria, it really is a day of rest. It’s different, but it’s a difference I can definitely get used to.
1. Where does the writer probably come from?| A．Austria. | B．Britain. |
| C．Asia. | D．Africa. |
| A．Unhappy. | B．Bored. |
| C．Delighted. | D．Unbelievable. |
| A．Do nothing but rest. | B．Eat out with families. |
| C．Work hard at home. | D．Do some shopping. |
| A．critical | B．doubtful | C．supportive | D．opposed |
【推荐2】As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his body, waved helplessly before his eyes.
What has happened to me? he thought. It was no dream. His room, a regular human bedroom, only rather too small, lay quiet between the four familiar white walls. Above the table on which a collection of cloth samples was unpacked and spread out- Samsa was a commercial traveler-hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty golden frame. It showed a lady. Gregor’s eyes turned next to the window, and the overcast sky-one could hear rain drops beating on the window-made him quite melancholy(忧郁的). What about sleeping a little longer and forgetting all this nonsense, he thought, but it could not be done, for he was accustomed to sleep on his right side and in his present condition he could not turn himself over. However violently he forced himself towards his right side he always rolled on to his back again. He tried it at least a hundred times, shutting his eyes to keep from seeing his struggling legs, and only stopped when he began to feel in him a faint ache he had never experienced before.
He thought: ”what an exhausting job I’ve picked on!“ Traveling about day in, day out. It’s much more boring work than doing the actual business in the office, and on top of that there’s the trouble of constant traveling, of worrying about train connections, the bed and irregular meals, casual acquaintances that are always new and never become intimate friends. The devil take it all! He felt a slight itching up on his belly; slowly pushed himself on his back nearer to the top of the bed so that he could lift his head more easily; identified the itching place which was surrounded by many small white spots the nature of which he could not understand and made to touch it with a leg, but drew the leg back immediately, for the contact made a cold shiver run through him.
……(to be continued)1. What might Gregor Samsa look like when he woke up?
| A．A normal commercial traveler. | B．Something ridiculous. |
| C．A huge insect with thick legs. | D．A lady in the gift frame. |
| A．It was a regular room and tidy. |
| B．There was no window for him to look outside his tiny room. |
| C．Its walls were dull and pale. |
| D．There was a magazine and a pretty golden frame on the table. |
| A．Extremely frightened. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Relieved. | D．Unreal. |
| A．his present condition restricted him |
| B．it rained hard outside, which distracted him |
| C．it was just the right position and the side he used to lie in |
| D．it was painful to do as he might knock his feet on the wall |
| A．Samsa felt unsatisfied about his life before. |
| B．Samsa would rather do actual business. |
| C．Samsa couldn’t identify where was itching however he tried. |
| D．The white spots felt cold when Samsa touched them. |
【推荐3】Al Larson, also known as “The Bluebird Man”, first began his labor of love after he read an article that described how building birdhouses could help to control their falling populations. After seeing a bluebird going in and out of a dead tree in his yard, Larson became inspired to start setting up little boxes that could serve as nests (鸟窝) for bluebirds.
What started as a hobby in his retirement turned into a full-time effort — and after almost forty years of devotion, he has recorded over 30,000 bluebirds, thanks to the 350 birdhouses that he has built across southwest Idaho. He often travels over 5,000 miles to check on all of his boxes during the summer nesting season.
Since bluebirds live in dead or nearly-dead trees, their population began to drop after the invention of the electric chainsaw (链锯) in the early 1900s, which made it easier for homeowners to remove their dead trees. In addition to having their habitats destroyed, the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) caused an uncertain future for the bluebirds of Idaho. But the efforts of Larson have shown us that if we take a moment to understand the needs of a species, we’ll find a way to deal with the problem. Though he is nearing the age of 97, Larson shows no signs of slowing down. Also, his inspiring story has been turned into a documentary Bluebird Man.
“Al is a living example of how much one person can achieve when they set their mind on a task. But he’s also an example of the benefits that a project like this can have for people,” filmmaker Matthew Podolsky said. “Bluebirds have given meaning to Al’s life, and they are truly the secret to his long life.”
1. Why is Al famous as “The Bluebird Man”?| A．He likes observing bluebirds. |
| B．He often feeds food to bluebirds. |
| C．He set up many boxes for bluebirds. |
| D．He made the documentary Bluebird Man. |
| A．In dead trees. | B．In Al’s house. |
| C．In gardens. | D．In boxes. |
| A．The government controlled the populations of bluebirds. |
| B．The nests for bluebirds was destroyed by people. |
| C．Bluebirds lived in dead trees and were short of food. |
| D．Their habitats have been destroyed and people often used pesticides. |
| A．Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. |
| B．The roses in her hand, the flavor in mine. |
| C．One is never too old to learn. |
| D．All roads lead to Rome. |
