1 . Genealogy (the study of family history) is a popular hobby in the US and around the world. Finding out about your close relatives as well as your ancestors can help you learn more about your cultural background.
Make a family tree.
One fun way to begin is by making a family tree.
Plan a family reunion.
Last names, also called surnames, are one way families maybe linked across generations. When you look at your family tree, you may see a few common last names. These surnames can give you clues about your family’s history. Some last names are related to jobs people may have held (for example, the name Smith was originally used by blacksmiths), while others might be related to where a family lived. You can find out more about surnames on lots of websites.
| A．Research names. |
| B．Explore where your family once lived. |
| C．This is a chart that lists people you’re related to. |
| D．Learning more about your relatives’ past can be fun and rewarding. |
| E．Keep adding names as far back as you or your relatives can remember. |
| F．You can also feel closer to your family, and strengthen your sense of identity. |
| G．One of the best ways to celebrate your family history is to get together with your relatives. |
2 . Since the Second World War, there has been an obvious trend, especially among the growing group of college students, toward early marriage. Many youths begin dating in the first stages of adolescence, ''go steady'' through high school, and marry before their formal education has been completed. In some quarters, there is much shaking of graying heads over the ways of rebellious youth. However, emotional maturity does not grow with age; it does not arrive automatically at twenty-one or twenty-five. Some achieve it surprisingly early, while others never do, even in three-score years and ten.
Many students are marrying as an escape, not only from an unsatisfying home life, but also from their own personal problems of isolation and loneliness. However, any marriage entered into as an escape cannot prove entirely successful. The sad fact is that marriage seldom solves one's problems; more often, it merely worsens them. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether the home is capable of carrying all that the young are seeking to put into it; one might say that they are abandoning one idol only to worship another. Young people correctly understand that their parents are wrong in believing that success is the ultimate good, but they themselves are wrong in believing that they have found the true center of life's meaning. Their expectations of marriage are essentially unrealistic and therefore incapable of fulfillment. They want too much, and tragic disillusionment (幻想破灭) is often bound to follow.
Shall we, then, join the chorus of those against early marriages? One cannot generalize: all early marriages are not bad any more than all later ones are good. Satisfactory marriages are determined not by how old one is, but by the emotional maturity of the partners. Therefore, each case must be judged on its own merits. If the early marriage is not an escape, if it is entered into with relatively few illusions or false expectations, and if it is economically practicable, why not? Good marriages can be made from sixteen to sixty, and so can bad ones.
1. From Para. 1 we can learn that .| A．emotional maturity automatically grow with age |
| B．some old people disapprove of early marriage |
| C．growing group of college students are against early marriage |
| D．the emotional expectations of young lovers are too high |
| A．negative | B．unsure |
| C．indifferent | D．acceptable |
| A．early marriages should not be encouraged |
| B．later marriages are always better than early marriages |
| C．each marriage should be looked at differently |
| D．young people can benefit a lot from early marriage |
| A．Disillusionment in Marriage | B．Expectations for Marriage |
| C．Marriages and Emotional Maturity | D．The Trend of Early Marriages |
