7 . People are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Purchasing property that is environmentally responsible is a good investment for those who are _______ their own health and the well-being of the earth. Based on this trend, eco-communities are being designed with a green _______ in mind. Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia is one of them.

If everything goes according to plan, Dockside Green will be a _______ community along the harbor front of British Columbia’s capital city. The community will be home to 2,500 people and will _______ residential, office, and retail space. Builders of Dockside Green have the environment in mind with every choice they make. They ensure proper ventilation (通风), and guarantee residents 100% fresh indoor air. Building materials, such as paints and wood, are _______ and non-poisonous. Eco-conscious builders use bamboo wherever possible because it grows fast and does not require _______ to grow.

Energy efficiency is one of the _______ concerns in eco-communities, such as Dockside Green. Not only do energy-efficient appliances and light fixtures (照明设备) reduce the environmental _______ of heating and hot water, but they also save residents and business owners money. Dockside Green claims that homeowners will use 55% less energy than average residents in Canada. Residents will have individual water metres (水表) _______ studies show that people use around 20% less energy when they are billed for exactly what they use. ________, water is treated at Dockside Green and reused for flushing toilets.

Planners of eco-communities such as Dockside Green must take the ________ into consideration. Dockside Green plans on reusing 90% of its construction waste. They also plan to continue using local suppliers for all of their transport and maintenance needs. This is a great way to reduce ________.

Dockside residents will be encouraged to take advantage of a mini transport system and buy into the community’s car share program. Finally, plans are underway for a high-tech heating system that will use ________ energy instead of fossil fuels.

Dockside residents will ________ excellent local services with high-quality healthcare, shopping and education at the heart of the community, along with excellent leisure facilities and plentiful green open spaces. Eco-communities will prefer the use of locally-sourced goods and services; they will be ________ places to live, promoting a sense of civic pride, responsibility and, as the name suggests, community.

8 . As countless unmade beds and unfinished homework assignments prove, kids need rules. Yet how parents make demands can powerfully influence a child’s social skills, psychologists at the University of Virginia recently found after the conclusion on a study investigating the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Initially 184 13-year-olds filled out multiple surveys, including one to assess how often their parents employed psychologically controlling strategies, such as threatening to withdraw affection. The kids rated, for example how typical it would be for Dad to suggest that “if I really cared for him, I would not do things that caused him to worry” or for Mom to become “less friendly when I did not see things her way.”

The researchers followed up with the subjects at ages 18 and 21, asking the young adults to bring along a close friend. These pairs were asked to answer questions that were purposefully written to cause a difference of opinion. “We wanted to see whether they could handle a disagreement in a healthy way,” says study leader Barbara Oudekerk, now at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Statistics.

In the October issue of Child Development, Oudekerk and her colleagues report that the 13-year-olds who had highly controlling parents floundered in friendly disagreements at age 18. They had difficulty stating their opinions in a confident, reasoned manner in comparison to the kids without controlling parents. And when they did speak up, they often failed to express themselves in warm and productive ways.

The researchers suspect that controlling parents affect their child’s ability to learn how to argue his or her own viewpoint in other relationships. Although parents do need to set boundaries， dominating strategies imply that any disagreement will damage the bond itself. Separate findings suggest that parents who explain the reasons behind their rules and turn disagreements into conversations leave youngsters better prepared for future disagreements.

The consequences of tense or dominating relationships appear to worsen with time. This study also found that social difficulties at 18 predicted even poorer communication abilities at age 21. Psychologist Shmuel Shulman of Bar-llan University in Israel, who did not participate in the work, thinks these conclusions convincingly reveal how relationship patterns “carry forward” into new friendships.