1 . Career success could be predicted as early as kindergarten, according to a 20­year study recently published in the American journal Public Health.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Duke University tracked more than 700 children from across the US between kindergarten and age 25 and found a significant connection between their social skills as kindergarteners and their success as adults two decades later.

In the research, teachers assessed how the kindergarteners interacted with each other socially using a range of criteria like whether they cooperate with their peers without being encouraged, whether they're helpful to others, whether they're good at understanding feelings, and whether they can solve problems on their own.

Researchers then kept track of whether the students go on to graduate from high school on time, get a college degree, and find and keep a full­time job by 25. They also monitored the participants' involvement with crime, drug abuse, public assistance, and mental health issues.

The results showed that socially capable children are far more likely to earn a college degree and have a full­time job by 25 than those with limited social skills. Those with limited social skills also have a higher chance of getting arrested, binge drinking, and applying for public housing.

“This study shows that helping children develop social and emotional skills is one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for a healthy future,” said Kristin Schubert, program director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research, in a release. “From an early age, these skills can determine whether a child goes to college or prison, and whether they end up employed or addicted.”

The good news, according to Damon Jones, lead author of the study, is that intervention (干预) at a young age can help improve social and emotional skills.

“This research by itself doesn't prove that higher social ability can lead to better outcomes later on, ” he said. “But when combined with other research, it is clear that helping children develop these skills increases their chances of success in school, work, and life.”

1. What did the 20­year study find?

A．Social skills play a key role in children's development.

B．Helpful children understand others' feelings better.

C．Most kindergarteners can solve problems alone.

D．Outgoing children cooperate with their peers easily.

2. What's Paragraph 2 and 3 mainly about?

A．When the researchers began their study.

B．How the researchers conducted the study.

C．How long it took to complete the study.

D．What factors were studied by the researchers.

3. What should parents do to help their children to succeed according to Kristin Schubert?

A．Teach them some basic living skills.

B．Tell them to keep off alcohol.

C．Coach them in their lessons.

D．Teach them how to cooperate with others.

4. According to the passage, it is probably intended for ________.

A．teenagers	B．doctors
C．educators	D．general readers

2 . There are disadvantages and advantages to all parenting styles.There is no such thing as perfect parenting.The two main styles of parenting are tolerant (宽容的) and strict.    1    Some of those advantages are evident (明显的) during childhood or adulthood.

One of the advantages of strict parents is that they push their children to high standards.This is especially true with regard to academics.    2    As a result，the children tend to perform extremely well in their studies due to those expectations.Strict parents may even limit fun activities if their children do not succeed in doing things.

    3    This happens because they help their children learn important values such as discipline.The children learn that they must make certain choices or bear the consequences.This confidence can also lead to independent children and adults.

Children with strict parenting can learn selflessness.If a child's needs are always met in a family with tolerant parents，the child may be spoiled (被宠坏的) and selfish.Strict parents get their children to focus their attention more on the benefits of the family members and learn to share with others.    4    

    5    This is ideal for all children，but especially for those who have behavioral problems.Strict parents tend to have hardline policies regarding homework，school attendance and activities.That selfdiscipline lasts for a lifetime.

A．Strict parents demand the best grades from their children.

B．Both styles of parenting have their advantages and disadvantages.

C．While there are disadvantages，there are also advantages of strict parenting.

D．Another advantage of strict parents is that they help their children build confidence.

E．So children growing up in a family with strict parenting are more likely to be selfless.

F．One of the most beneficial things about strict parenting is that it often teaches discipline.

G．An important advantage of strict parenting is that parents set good examples to their children.

3 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What do the young people in Western society think highly of?

A．Earning much money

B．Enriching their experiences

C．Going to famous universities

2. When are students taking a gap year?

A．Before they go to university

B．When they are 16 years old.

C．Before they enter high school.

3. What can students benefit from a gap year after school?

A．Build good relationships with others

B．Develop their characters better

C．Help decide future careers.

4. Where do many gap year volunteers teach English?

A．In Africa

B．In China

C．In Thailand

4 . Kindergarten outside? Yes，indeed. It’s part of a growing worldwide trend toward outdoor education. The schools are called Forest Kindergartens.

Now the numbers are small in the U. S.，but the idea is well established in Europe, with schools in Scotland, England, and Switzerland. By far most of such schools are in Germany, which has more than 400W aldkindergartens.

Children attending such particular school enjoy a good amount of outdoor education each day,rain or shine. Some lessons are focused on nature ； others are academic topics delivered in a natural setting. In all cases，students are active — not sitting at desks or on mats on the floor but walking, running, jumping, solving problems like how to get the mud off the bottoms of their shoes before their parents find out.

At these forest kindergartens, students learn science by observing and doing it, learn math by applying it to the natural world around them，learn letters and words by putting them together using sights and sounds. The children learn to make comparisons using natural things like apples and rocks. They develop an appreciation for animals and plants in their natural environment — not just by looking at pictures in a book or on a computer screen.

Some of the science activities involve teamwork, like explaining the best way to move a heavy object, showing how a lever(杠杆)works. In other sessions，teachers encourage students to develop their motor skills by building wooden tools such as hammers and knives.

These students also learn how to get along with one another, individually and in a group. They also develop healthy levels of self-confidence,just from being able to do the everyday activities that the school offers.

In a time when so many children are being classified as obese because of long time watching television and playing video games, these outdoor schools help children learn just as much, if not more，from opening their eyes to the world around them.

1. Which of the following country has the most Forest Kindergartens?

A．The U. S.

B．Germany.

C．The U. K.

D．Switzerland

2. What is the purpose of the fourth paragraph?

A．To analyse how children learn socially.

B．To compare different teaching approaches.

C．To show how children learn academically.

D．To describe how active children are in the class.

3. Which may be seen in Forest Kindergartens?

A．Children are doing an experiment with chemicals.

B．Teachers are writing something on the blackboard.

C．Smart phones are widely used to help children learn.

D．Everything in nature is likely to be applied to teaching.

4. What is the author’s attitude to Forest Kindergartens?

A．Negative.

B．Doubtful.

C．Positive.

D．Uncertain.

5 . Parents are often frightened to talk to their kids about money. In fact kids need to understand how to save and manage their money. Proper preparation for your children, even at a young age, can start them down the path of a successful financial life.     1    

Talk early and often.

Children start learning about money long before their first savings account, job or credit card.

    2     Avoiding the subject until your child needs a bank account can make the conversation confusing.

Everyday activities are teachable moments.

    3     An ATM stop offers a chance to explain that money doesn’t actually come from a machine. You can discuss earned income，investment (投资) returns and even inheritance. Opening bills is a chance to talk about payment for services, credit card debt and interest rates. Children need to be taught about debt, specifically loans and credit cards.

Talk about giving.

Children should learn that money doesn’t always need to be used for them.     4     Don’t just write the charitable check. Get the kids involved in the process by asking them to pick and check charities.

Websites like www. charitynavigator. org and www. guide. star. org provide information and ratings.

    5    

If they open a savings account, they can place their savings in the bank to earn a small amount of interest. Besides, they can learn about fees, account maintenance (维护) and even interest. It can provide a motivation (动机) for them to save money. You can offer them a prize if they put the money into savings.

A．It can also provide help for others.

B．Open a checking and savings account.

C．Children are eager to know about money.

D．Parents should help their children know how to use money.

E．Here are some tips that might help you teach your kids about money.

F．A trip to the grocery store is a good time to explain price comparison and value.

G．Begin the conversation even before they’re in school by talking about work and money.

6 . A campaign (活动) is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.

The newly formed Wild Network—a collaboration of nearly 400 organizations—is attempting to attract youngsters away from television and computer screen and to fields, woods and parks. Members of the network include the National Trust, RSPB, Play England and the NHS. Organizers say it is the UK’s biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness (机敏) and general wellbeing.

A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, will forecast the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK from Friday. It looks at the increasing link between children and nature.

Andy Simpson, chairman of the Wild Network, said, “The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation. Time spent outdoors is down, roaming (漫步) ranges have fallen largely, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost.”

Suggestions of how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers (七叶树果), camping or snail racing, and observing autumn colour on trees.

From January, the network will aim to make suggestions to politicians on how government can do more to get children muddy and bright-eyed.

This is not the first time the message of less screen, more play has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were requested to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don’t You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to “switch off your TV set and go to do something less boring instead”.

1. What does the underlined word “surrender” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Give up	B．Get around
C．Take up	D．Run away

2. For what purpose is the Wild Network organized?

A．To make children read more books.

B．To help children distinguish (辨别) the natural world.

C．To encourage children to participate in outdoor activities.

D．To get children out of too much homework from school.

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．The outdoors can be beneficial to children’s wellbeing.

B．The Network advocates (提倡) keeping children’s distance from TV.

C．It is the first time for less screen, more play to be brought up.

D．The government should do more to get children to go outdoors.

4. Which is confusing according to the passage?

A．Government took measures to get children muddy and bright-eyed.

B．A BBC TV series called on its viewers to shut off their TV sets.

C．More children went out to keep in touch with nature.

D．Wild Network launched a campaign to encourage children to go outdoors.

7 . Encouraging early reading skills can build a path to a lifelong love of reading and can help your child get a head start in school. While reading to your child is still the most important thing you can do to build reading skills, there are many techniques that can help.

Make reading fun. Play games with your child as you read. Many traditional children’s games can be adapted to encourage reading skills. While reading or during play, tell your child, “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the letter ‘b’.” Help the child find something on the page or in the room that begins with that letter. For example, “I see a barn.” This can also be used to teach beginning letter sounds. “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the sound‘s’.” Help the child find a word that begins with the “s” sound.

In this variation(变化) on the popular game, instruct the child that, “Simon says, ‘point to something that starts with the letter ‘n’.’” The child can then find an object in the room or a body part, such as the nose, that starts with the letter presented. This can also be used to teach beginning sounds.

Make a game out of rhyming (押韵) words by making up silly words to rhyme with the child’s name or favorite toys. This sets the stage for rhyming real words by showing the child the similarities of sounds. As the child masters making up the words, begin rhyming real words to one another.

Tips to raise a successful reader:

Put books in places where the child plays. If books are easily accessible, children are more likely to pick them up.

Let children “read to you” by looking at pictures. Making up stories to go along with illustrations helps children discover how words relate to pictures.

Take books along on trips or even short visits to the doctor’s office or grocery store.

Have children help you shop. Reading grocery lists and looking for specific items help build vocabulary.

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．A good reading habit can benefit your child at school.

B．Computer games help children develop reading skills.

C．You should be careful as for what books to read.

D．Children enjoy reading poems to their parents.

2. What can we conclude from the text?

A．The most important thing is to make reading funny.

B．Children have a preference for stories with pictures.

C．Rhyming games should begin only with real words.

D．Children tend to read more if books are at hand.

3. What message does the author deliver in the passage?

A．Interest is the best teacher

B．Practice makes perfect

C．Good methods are half done

D．Failure teaches success

4. What are the intended readers of the text?

A．Parents.

B．Children

C．Educators.

D．People in general.

8 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当内容(不多于3个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

As a working mom with three young sons, keeping the house clean is a big challenge. Even       1     we clean the house every week, one hour later our bedrooms and bathrooms are back to their messy(混乱的) look. When     2       (ask), my boys will help neaten their room, clear their plates from the table and pick up their school junk. But I need to remind them       3     it again and again.

If I don't remind them, I will step over all the things       4     make my house look like a garbage can. This is quite     5     change from my pre­kid years when I never left any waste in the house.    6     seems that I cannot get these days back again at my own house.

When last week I     7    (find) a program called “Share a Healthy Habit” on a newspaper, I saw a great chance to engage my sons in cleaning chores. Why not encourage these behaviors during the summer, while school is out and their life is     8    (relax)?

The goal for my boys is to clean their own dorm room       9    themselves when they are free. The rewards for clean habits start young and continue as they get       10       (old), so I need to start my plan as soon as possible.

9 . Being a mother is not easy. You need to have good parenting methods. I admit that I’m not a perfect mom and that there are problems in my family. But I’m willing to change the situation. It’s the beginning of a new year and it’s time to examine ways to do a better job with my kids. This time I have decide to focus more on how I can get my parenting methods to actually get results for me rather than just doing the usual thing and simply making out a long list of impossible things. These are a few ideas about how I plan to keep my parenting methods working throughout the year.

Getting them to be neater

My kids are not really what I would call lazy, but their rooms can look like a war zone at times. Instead of getting annoyed at the sight of their underwear hanging on their laptop table, I am simply going to reward the child who keeps his room neat and take a few dollars from the pocket money of the one who continues to be untidy.

_______________

I have already moved their television into our living room. All of us like to relax in the evenings with TV, but I know watching too much TV harms their health and reduces the time we spend together as a family, so I plan to throw in some snacks and turn a quiet evening into enjoyable family time. In this way I will get to spend more time with my kids as well as stopping them from hiding in their rooms watching those meaningless TV programmes.

Helping them keep a balanced diet

My kids love fries (炸薯条) and biscuits as children usually do. I have worked out a deal with them. We have Tuesdays and Saturdays labelled as “happy food days” when they can eat what they want while the rest of the week we get to focus on some nutritious (有营养的) foods to develop our bodies. In this way I have worked out an effective balance between junk-food (垃圾食品) snacks and good-for-you snacks.

Giving permissions

If you don’t know how many outings you should allow your kids to go on, you are not the only one. I have made a deal with my kids. Out of every three outing choices, they get to choose two they really want and one that I am allowed to say “no” to. You’ll be surprised at how much you can control the number of their activities out with their friends without witnessing a long cry on your living room carpet (地毯).

Sparing time for talks

I have made sure that I am going to set aside five minutes a day for each child. From past experience, I have discovered that children often hide a problem until it reaches a point they cannot handle. Thus I plan to set aside five minutes for each child to just chat about their day and tell me if there is anything they want to talk to me about.

I know that all my plans to keep my ways to solve problems are not always going to go as planned. But having some ideas in place has helped me add some limits and requirements to my children’s lives without stepping on their toes or destroying their fun. I love my kids very much and this is my way of training them to get on the good side of their lives.

So, what are your parenting methods for this year? Please leave a message and share them below.

1. We can infer from Paragraph 1 that _____ .

A．the author is not a good mother

B．the author plans to make a list of things she will do

C．the author’s children bring great problems to her family

D．the author’s parenting methods in the past didn’t quite work

2. What can we learn about the author’s children from Paragraph 2?

A．They are lazy and untidy.

B．They can get pocket money.

C．They always keep their rooms out of order.

D．They often fight with each other in their rooms.

3. What is the best subtitle for Paragraph 3?

A．Spending the evening together

B．Turning TV time into family time

C．Keeping them away from the television

D．Stopping them from hiding in their rooms

4. The author spares five minutes to talk with her kids every day to _____.

A．let them know that she loves them

B．keep an eye on what they do every day

C．help them solve their problems in time

D．discover the secrets they don’t want to share

5. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The author has put all her plans into action.

B．The author is not satisfied with her plan at all.

C．The author allows her children to eat whatever they like.

D．The author’s children have freedom of going out to some degree.

6. Where is the passage most probably taken from?

A．A newspaper.	B．A magazine.
C．A booklet.	D．A website.

10 . Twenty-five years ago, as a parent educator, I began reading about the dangers of praise. I was completely shocked by what I was learning: praise is not good for our kids. How could that be? So I spent years talking with experts, reading about the effects of praise, and finally decided to close the door on praise and focus on building an encouraging family.

Even today, with many studies available to parents, I still hear people say, “How can that be? How can saying ‘Good job’ or ‘You’re smart’ be bad?” I understand. It can be a difficult habit to break.

If we tell a boy “You are so smart!” when he brings home an A in his math test, how does he feel when he comes home with a D? If we’ve told him that he is smart, then he will more likely feel a failure when he struggles with homework — “I’m supposed to be smart. Why can’t I do this?”

Praise trains children to depend on constant feedback on what a “great job” they are doing. This dependency shatters rather than builds children’s confidence. Praise trains children to ask, “Do you like it?” “Did I do a good job?” “Are you proud of me?” They begin to believe that what others think is more important than what they think about their achievements and mistakes.

Praise breaks the relationship between parents and children. Without even realizing it, parents may be using praise as a tool to direct the child’s behavior. The message is clear — I approve of you when you … and I do not approve of you when you … Living with this kind of constant judgment can damage not only the child’s confidence but also the relationship.

The solution to the problem of praise is encouragement. Encouragement can be given at any time, to anyone, in any situation. It is a comment, an acknowledgment, a statement that focuses on effort, improvement or choice. Hearing “You are so smart!” can leave a child at a loss when they don’t do well in a test. Using “That took a lot of work to come home with an A in your test …” gives a child the chance to be something else.

1. What can be inferred from the first two paragraphs?

A．Many parents can’t get on well with their children.

B．The author never shows any approval to his children.

C．It’s hard for many parents to believe praise is harmful.

D．The author spent 25 years changing people’s opinion on praise.

2. According to the passage, it seems that parents’ praise ______.

A．can lead to children’s being smart

B．might have just the opposite effect

C．is a good tool to educate their children

D．helps them get along well with their children

3. Which of the following is a good example of encouragement?

A．You are very good at math.

B．You are the best artist I have ever seen.

C．You have a problem and you have to fix it.

D．You didn’t think you could finish in time, but you did.