1 . People love the “comeback kid”, the “down and out guy”, and any variety of defeated people whom we’ve seen fail, then manage to dust off their bootstraps (独自所作的努力) and take on life again. Everyone should get this chance in life, and they should get it over and over and over again. Everyone, that is, except our teenagers, right?
At least that is how parents, teachers, college admission officers, coaches, and others who spend time with adolescents have led all of us to believe. We have all bought the great lie that there is not only zero room for today’s teenagers to fail academically, but any form of failure is a great embarrassment to everyone involved. And I do mean everyone.
Ever notice how quick parents are to share college acceptance letters, scholarships, SAT scores, and pretty much all the perfect resumes (简历) of their high schoolers for everyone to see on social media? Surely it makes moms and dads extremely proud. We all want to take credit for our teenager’s great accomplishments, and while that is all well and good, it also means that when failure happens, we scatter like sheep when a wolf arrives, because failure on their part means failure on our part.
Adolescent brains do not have the bandwidth to process that failure is temporary, and that high school is but a small spot on their life map. Unfortunately, while we may talk that talk, our actions do not bolster it. Anyone who has been through the competitive college application and scholarship process knows this all too well, because there is no room for any form of failure. But this is wrong.
Tell your kids that failure doesn’t define them. Tell them it’s normal, natural, and expected. Tell them failure creates comeback stories, and the opportunity to rise even higher and better than before. And finally, tell them you don’t worry that they will fail; you worry that they won’t.
1. What is the problem of today’s teenagers?| A．They cannot make their choices. | B．They are easily defeated. |
| C．They’re not allowed to fail. | D．They face various lies. |
| A．Affect. | B．Support. |
| C．Remove. | D．Improve. |
| A．Success is very important. | B．Hard work means success. |
| C．Success needs family’s support. | D．Failure just leads to success. |
| A．Parents should allow themselves to fail. | B．Teens are wrong about their college life. |
| C．Parents are teens’ lifelong supporters . | D．Teens should know failing is OK. |
2 . An advance in electronic publishing could make the book you are reading seem as dated as a silent film. Publishers hope to exploit the growing success of ebooks by releasing versions with added soundtracks and musical accompaniments(伴奏).
The noises in the first multimedia books include rain hitting a window in one of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales. Works by Oscar Wilde and Rudyard Kipling are also available. A Salman Rushdie story with an orchestral score (配乐) will follow this year. In America, works by Shakespeare and Jane Austin have already been released with music and background noise so that, for example, readers can hear tea cups hitting each other in Mr Darcy’s garden as they read Pride and Prejudice.
Supporters argue that sound effects are the next logical development for ebooks and will add excitement for younger readers. Critics, however, will argue that the noises will ruin the simple pleasure of enjoying the imagination required to read a book.
Caroline Michel, chief executive of the literary agency PFD, said the new generation of readers was used to multiple sensory input. She said, “Concentration now is such that people have split computer screens where they may be watching television and replying to an email at the same time. If that’s what the market wants then we should respond to the market.”
Booktrack’s sound effects work by figuring out the user’s reading speed. Each time you “turn” a page, the software reassesses where you have reached in the text and times the sounds to switch on accordingly. If the soundtrack is not in agreement with the words, a click on any word will re-set it.
Some authors fear a soundtrack could destroy the peace and quiet of libraries and ruin the pleasure of reading. David Nicholls, author of One Day, said, “This sounds like the opposite of reading. I have enough trouble reading an ebook because I’m constantly disturbed by emails and so I’ve given up on it for the time being.”
Stuart MacBride, the crime writer whose novel Shatter the Bones was an ebook bestseller, sells 18% of his books as electronic downloads. He said, “If I’m reading, I will do the noises in my head. I don’t need someone to tell me what cutting a tree sounds like. That would upset me.”
1. In whose ebook can we hear the sound of a specific weather condition?| A．Conan Doyle’s. | B．Shakespeare’s. |
| C．Salman Rushdie’s. | D．Rudyard Kipling’s. |
| A．They go against human nature. |
| B．They have an unpredictable future. |
| C．They are in line with market trends. |
| D．They may inspire readers’ imagination. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Appreciative. | D．Disrespectful. |
| A．By presenting different opinions. |
| B．By telling his personal experiences. |
| C．By giving scientific research results. |
| D．By comparing various types of ebooks. |
Do you know what is love?
Love is a telephone which always keeps silent when you are longing for a call, but rings when you are not ready for it. As a result, we often miss the sweetness from the other end.
Love is a telephone which is seldom program-controlled or directly dialed. You cannot get an immediate answer by a mere “hello”, let alone go deep into your lover’s heart by one call. Usually it had to be relayed by an operator, and you have to be patient in waiting. Destiny(命运) is the operator of this phone, who is always irresponsible and fond of playing practical jokes to which she may make you a lifelong victim intentionally or unintentionally.
Love is a telephone which is always busy. When you are ready to die for love, you only find, to your disappointment, the line is already occupied by someone else, and you are greeted only by a busy line. This is an eternal regret handed down from generation to generation and you are only one of those who languish for(因……受煎熬) followers.
Love is telephone, but it is difficult to seize the center time for dialing, and you will let slip the opportunity if your call is either too early or too late.
Love is a telephone which is not always associated with happiness. Honeyed words are transmitted by sound waves, but when the lovers are brought together, the phone servers no purpose that many lovers observe that marriage is the doom of love.
Love is a telephone which, when you use it for the first time, makes you so nervous and excited that you either hold the receiver upside down or dial the wrong number. By the time you’ve calmed down, you will beat a loss to whom you should make the call.
Love is a telephone which often has crossed lines. And this usually happens to you unexpectedly. Your time will either cross or be crossed. Both cases are referred to as “triangle”. Fortunately, all such occurrences are transient(转瞬即逝的).
1. Which statement has the closest meaning to the underlined sentence?| A．All shall be well, Jack shall have Jill.（有情人终成眷属） |
| B．Love is all we have in life. |
| C．A lifelong love is not only romantic but also practical. |
| D．Beauty is in the eyes of beholder. |
| A．monument | B．final end |
| C．key point | D．substitute |
| A．advertisement | B．financial |
| C．Education | D．emotion |
| A．Love is transient | B．Love is permanent |
| C．What’s love in life | D．Love is a telephone |
