Gratitude can make us happier, healthier, and even fitter. But do the kids show their gratitude for the stuff we buy them? All the research I’ve done has convinced me that it won’t happen. One mom told me that when she asked her 16-year-old son to thank her for buying him a cellphone, he said, “But that’s what moms should do.” From a teenager’s angle, it’s a parent’s responsibility to take care of the family. According to Dunham, Yale’s assistant professor of psychology, “When teenagers code it that way, a gift is no longer something given freely and voluntarily”—it’s just mom and dad living up to their obligation.
Parents do have the right to demand good manners and children should thank sincerely whoever gives them something. But kids can’t know how blessed they are unless they have a basis for comparison. And they don’t learn that by a parent complaining that they’re ungrateful. We need to give our children the gift of a wider world view. Show by example that gratitude isn’t aboutstuff—which ultimately can’t make any of us happy anyway.It’s about realizing how lucky you are and paying your good fortune forward.
You can collect all the charitable appeals and sit down together with the kids to go through them. You set the budget for giving and the kids decide how it’s distributed. Once the conversation about gratitude gets started, it’s much easier to continue all year. Also you can set up a family routine at bedtime where kids describe three things that have made them grateful. When kids go off to college, you can text them a picture each week of something that inspires your appreciation.
Teaching children to focus on the positive and appreciate the good in their lives is perhaps the greatest gift we can give them. And we can all learn together that the things that really matter aren’t on sale at a department store.
1. How do children respond when receiving gifts from their parents?
| A．They show no interest in their parents’ gifts. |
| B．They can’t wait to open their parents’ gifts. |
| C．They show much gratitude to their parents for the gifts. |
| D．They take their parents’ gifts for granted. |
| A．live up to their obligation |
| B．ask their children to have good manners |
| C．teach their children by setting an example |
| D．complain their children are ungrateful |
| A．No gifts are greater than teaching children to be positive and grateful. |
| B．Children ought to realize how lucky they are to have considerate parents. |
| C．Children are supposed to decide how to distribute their own money |
| D．It is easy for parents to start the conversation about gratitude. |
| A．To explain the reason why children offer no gratitude to their parents. |
| B．To give advice to parents on how to help children develop gratitude. |
| C．To encourage parents to do things together with their children. |
| D．To remind parents of their responsibility to educate their children. |
相似题推荐
Social scientists are of course extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behavior. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature and nurture”．
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme，this theory states that our behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能)．
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists' view of the human being is quite mechanistic. They state that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (刺激) as the basis of their behavior.
Socially and politically, the consequences of these two theories are far-reaching. In the US，for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically lower in status than whites. Behaviorists, on the contrary, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes and that the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.
1. This passage is mainly concerned with ________.
| A．relation between personality and behavior |
| B．relation between behavior and environment |
| C．different accounts of patterns of human behavior |
| D．different theories of the formation of human behavior |
| A．creators | B．advisors |
| C．advocates | D．judges |
| A．the considerable influence of the two theories |
| B．differences between the blacks and whites |
| C．racial discrimination in the United States |
| D．different responds to intelligence tests |
| A．To call our attention to the changes of human behavior. |
| B．To urge scientists to do more research in social science. |
| C．To give us a detailed explanation of human behavior. |
| D．To present an argument in the field of social science. |
【推荐2】What Are the Roots of Your Self-Esteem?
Self-esteem is a person’s subjective assessment of his or her worth to himself or herself. Self-esteem covers various beliefs about oneself (such as “I’m a failure,” and “I’m beautiful”) as well as physiological states, including sadness, joy, and shame. The more we believe that we are worthy of happiness and good things in life, the more self-fulfilled we will be.When we don’t believe that we are worthy of these things, our ability to enjoy them can suffer.
Healthy self-esteem as an adult can be a gift that you are given in your childhood. It is a blessing that most people overlook. There are so many ways that adults with high self-esteem were supported as children that resulted in them having high self-esteem. For instance, they were praised for what they had achieved.
It is common that these adults also were made to feel that in order to be appreciated they needed to be perfect.
How you feel about yourself impacts how you live your life. People with high self-esteem tend to have better relationships than those with low self-esteem.
People with high self-esteem are better equipped at achieving their life goals because they have faith in themselves. They face failure too but they understand that failure or success doesn’t define them. Having high self-esteem allows you to accept yourself for who you are. Flaws and strengths, you know that these make up the essence of who you are.
Why you should work on your self-esteem
Since self-esteem is connected to how we perform in various areas of our lives, it is important to work on it. To build better relationships, careers, and health and achieve goals, you need to first understand that you are worthy of all those things.
That understanding comes from building high self-esteem. If you had a terrible childhood, it doesn’t mean you are doomed. You just have to work a little harder to build high self-esteem and it is possible. However, it isn’t easy.
There are many resources out there that can help you with simple exercises that you can do on a daily basis to achieve this. If you are struggling in many areas of your life, take a step back and evaluate the relationship you have with yourself.
How do you talk to yourself? How do you treat yourself? What do you think of yourself? Do you feel worthy of receiving good in your life or do you feel bad about the good things that happen to you? If you find yourself experiencing something good and you tell yourself “I don’t deserve this” or “I didn’t work hard enough for this,” you may have low self-esteem. And when you have that kind of negative self-talk, you self-sabotage.
| A．There is also a good chance that they were spoken to respectfully. |
| B．When we start to doubt what’s important in life, we tend to do less of it. |
| C．Since self-esteem is connected to how we perform, it is important to work on it. |
| D．People with poor self-esteem, on the other hand, often experienced the opposite. |
| E．This creates an image in the mind that without accomplishment you are worthless. |
| F．They face failure too, but they understand that failure or success doesn’t define them. |
| G．High self-esteem enables you to ask for help from and support from the people around you when you need it. |
【推荐3】Thirteen can be a challenging age. Not only did I have to adapt to my changing body, I also had to deal with my parents’ bitter divorce, a new family and the upsetting move from my country home to a crowed town.
When we moved, my beloved companion (伙伴), a small brown horse, had to be sold. I was heartbroken and terribly lonely. I couldn’t eat or sleep and cried all the time. Finally, realizing how much I missed my horse, my father bought me another horse, Cowboy.
Cowboy was without doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn’t care. I love him beyond all reasons.
I joined a riding club. When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse was judged by the appearance, we were quickly “shown the gate”. I knew nothing could turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the timed speed events. I chose the jumping race.
For the whole next month we practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home, totally exhausted.
All of our hard work didn’t make me feel confident by the time the show came. One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons (丝带). I sat at the gate and sweated all out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the court and finish in first place.
My turn finally came. At the signal, we dashed (猛冲) towards the first fence, jumped over it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him towards the finish line.
No cheers filled the air. The end of our run was met with surprised silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds.
I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the chances would be, I’d always be a winner if I wanted something badly enough and worked for it. I can be the owner of my fate.
1. What does the underlined word probably mean in Para. 1?
| A．Exciting. | B．Unforgettable. |
| C．Delightful. | D．Frustrating. |
| A．Because she loved horses more than anything else. |
| B．Because Cowboy was a strong and smart young horse. |
| C．Because Cowboy had a lot in common with her horse. |
| D．Because she was sad and lonely and needed a companion. |
| A．they didn’t expect Cowboy would win the event. |
| B．they were unhappy that Becky was beaten in the event. |
| C．they didn’t like Cowboy, for it was too ugly. |
| D．they never saw a horse running as fast as Cowboy. |
| A．she ought gather the courage to solve all the problems. |
| B．it was time to forget her horse and treat Cowboy better. |
| C．she needed to work harder to win more blue ribbons. |
| D．she could be the god of her own fate if she tried hard enough. |
【推荐1】The problem of robocalls has gotten so bad that many people now refuse to pick up calls from numbers they don’t know. By next year, half of the calls we receive will be scams (欺诈). We are finally waking up to the severity of the problem by supporting and developing a group of tools, apps and approaches intended to prevent scammers from getting through. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late. By the time these “solutions” become widely available, scammers will have moved onto cleverer means. In the near future, it’s not just going to be the number you see on your screen that will be in doubt. Soon you will also question whether the voice you’re hearing is actually real.
That’s because there are a number of powerful voice manipulation (处理) and automation technologies that are about to become widely available for anyone to use. At this year’s I/O Conference, a company showed a new voice technology able to produce such a convincing human-sounding voice that it was able to speak to a receptionist and book a reservation without detection.
These developments are likely to make our current problems with robocalls much worse. The reason that robocalls are a headache has less to do with amount than precision. A decade of data breaches (侵入) of personal information has led to a situation where scammers can easily learn your mother’s name, and far more. Armed with this knowledge, they’re able to carry out individually targeted campaigns to cheat people.
We need to deal with the insecure nature of our telecom networks. Phone carriers and consumers need to work together to find ways of determining and communicating what is real. That might mean either developing a uniform way to mark videos and images, showing when and who they were made by or abandoning phone calls altogether and moving towards data-based communications－using apps like Face Time, which can be tied to your identity.
Credibility (信任) is hard to earn but easy to lose, and the problem is only going to get harder from here on out.
1. How does the author feel about the solutions to problem of robocalls?| A．Panicked. | B．Confused. | C．Disappointed. | D．Embarrassed. |
| A．aim at victims precisely. |
| B．damage databases easily. |
| C．start campaigns rapidly. |
| D．spread information widely. |
| A．Honesty is the best policy. |
| B．Technologies can be double-edged. |
| C．There are more solutions than problems. |
| D．Credibility holds the key to development. |
| A．Where the Problem of Robocalls Is Rooted. |
| B．Who Is to Blame for the Problem of Robocalls. |
| C．Why Robocalls Are About to Get More Dangerous. |
| D．How Robocalls Are Affecting the World of Technology. |
【推荐2】Facing change and disorder, most people either respond or react. Responding, a spin-off (派生物) of the word responsibility, is considerate and thoughtful. Reacting, on the other hand, literally means to meet one action with another. It is immediate and rash. Responding creates more space between an event and what you do, or don’t do, about it. In that space, you gain a better understanding of what is happening. So you rarely regret responding. But you often regret reacting.
Plenty has been written about what you can do internally to cultivate responsiveness. For instance, one study showed how your internal emotions helps create space between you and a difficult situation. Mindfulness meditation (冥想) is also beneficial. But the external matters, too. If you regularly inhabit reactive environments, it’s hard not to become a more reactive person.
I’ve experienced this firsthand. When I spend too much time on social media, I’m more likely to snap on my children, feel restless and frustrated, and my work — my ability to think deeply — suffers significantly. Yet I’m becoming increasingly concerned that it’s not just me and it’s not just social media, but our entire culture that is making us more reactive, essentially turning us into disturbed and worried at a time when we need our humanity more than ever.
Our modern economy increasingly relies on drawing people’s attention. It rewards speed, fashion, and anger. Reactivity is a feature not a bug. It aims to be first, to be extreme, and to capture as much gaze as possible. It’s why start-up companies pride themselves on “moving fast and breaking things.” It’s why the space for reasonable disagreement and discussion on college campuses seems to be shrinking by the day, giving way to hatred and attack instead.
There are no silver bullet solutions, but clearly naming and describing the problem is an important first step: Our culture and economy encourage reactivity; as a result, we’re becoming a more reactive people, precisely at a time when our most pressing challenges — war, pandemic, climate change — require our great capacity to respond.
1. How is responding different from reacting?| A．Responding results in more immediate emotions. |
| B．Responding brings us deeper understanding of things. |
| C．Responding harms the development of economy. |
| D．Responding needs mindfulness meditation. |
| A．Social media limits our ability to think deeply. |
| B．Being more reactive is a matter of personal preference. |
| C．Modern culture and economy aids responsive behavior. |
| D．War, pandemic and climate change require us to respond. |
| A．How our culture encourages reactivity. | B．How reactivity affects us. |
| C．How responsive behavior boosts economy. | D．How we can develop responsive behavior. |
| A．Name Emotions or Embrace Hatred | B．Avoid Social Media or You Suffer |
| C．Practice Responding or Regret Reacting | D．Inhabit Spacious Rooms or Harmony Shrinks |
【推荐3】For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages. Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.
Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest (征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured(忍受). The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow window of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.
Then there is the time spent being “processed” at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being “processed” at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.
Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. Speed controls people’s lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing—or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.
1. What does the writer try to express in Paragraph 1?| A．Travel by plane has speeded up the growth of villages. |
| B．The speed of modern travel has made distances relatively short. |
| C．The freedom of movement has helped people realize their dreams. |
| D．Man has been fond of traveling rather than staying in one place. |
| A．By giving instructions. |
| B．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| C．By following the order of time. |
| D．By giving examples.． |
| A．they pay less for the tickets |
| B．they feel safer during the travel |
| C．they can enjoy higher speed of travel |
| D．they don’t have to waste time being “processed” |
| A．They could enjoy free and relaxing trave. |
| B．They needed the clock to tell the time. |
| C．They preferred traveling on horseback. |
| D．They could travel with their master. |
| A．Air travel benefits people and industries. |
| B．Train Travel has some advantages over air travel. |
| C．Great changes have taken place in modern travel. |
| D．The high speed of air travel is gained at a cost. |
