1 . Nowadays, family life has become even more challenging than before. Then, how can we create a happier family life? Let’s see some advice.
Enjoy togetherness. When children are babies, parents are advised to spend one-on-one time with their babies.
Plan fun activities as a family. This can be something that you do once or twice a month, or even once a week. This can be something as easy as going to the beach, a park, or going on a trip to visit relatives.
| A．Talk more as a family. |
| B．Let family members talk about activities. |
| C．But, as children get older, the one-on-one time is reduced. |
| D．Parents need to help their children manage their daily stress. |
| E．Make quality conversation with your family members, instead. |
| F．You can also try simpler ones such as camping overnight in your backyard. |
| G．Regular communication like this can help you build stronger family relationships. |
2 . Family meals are important and connect family members.
Studies have shown family mealtime increases positive social skills, school engagement and decreases the frequency of negative behaviors.
Healthy eating should be a family affair, and some recommended diets will help you reach that goal by highlighting eating plans that are safe, flexible and nutritious for everyone at the table. In addition, the foods in the diets can be purchased fresh, canned or frozen.
| A．They prefer junk food like hamburgers, fried chicken. |
| B．A team of health experts think family meals are difficult. |
| C．They can get people to relax and make their relationship closer. |
| D．It also offers an opportunity to set healthy eating habits for kids. |
| E．Thus, It is convenient and easy for families to have family meals. |
| F．We also considered how adaptable this diet would be for a whole family. |
| G．We should have a balanced diet and pay attention to what we have every day. |
I live in a small but lovely neighborhood. Our house is neither large nor luxurious, but it has a fairly big garden. My father loves his garden. He planted some seeds in it and took good care of the plants, watering them, applying fertilizer, weeding and getting rid of bugs. He was never tired of doing all that stuff. But at that time, I didn’t understand why working in the dirt excited him so much.
Unfortunately, in the summer vacation before senior high school, my father was seriously injured in an accident. He had to stay in bed for a while. My mother had several business trips, so she couldn’t take care of the garden. I didn’t want my father to worry. I said that I would take care of his garden until he recovered. I assumed that the little plants would continue to grow as long as they had water, and luckily it rained fairly often, so I didn’t think much about the garden.
One Saturday morning, my father said to me, “Christine, the vegetables should be about ready to be picked. Let’s have a salad today!” I went out to the garden and was upset to see that many of the lettuce (生菜) leaves and carrots had been half eaten by bugs. There were hundreds of bugs all over them!
I panicked for a moment but then I quietly went to the nearest supermarket to buy some vegetables. When I was making the salad, my mother came home and saw the bag from the supermarket in the kitchen. I was embarrassed and admitted, “Dad would like a salad, but the garden is a disaster. I don’t want to disappoint him, so I went to the store and bought some vegetables.” My mother smiled, saying, “Honey, you know what is the right thing to do.”
Paragraph 1My father seemed very pleased when I took the salad to him.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2
Feeling guilty, I decided to do the right thing.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Over 37, 000 children
These children,
Child psychologist Whitaker says the
5 . Parents have problems with their children. Every mother or every father wonders about something like “Why is this so? What can and should I do about it?”Strictly, what are these things that we parents call problems with regard to our children?
To a parent, a problem is some action, habit, or attitude that he doesn't expect, or he doesn't approve of, and that he tries to change but finds that he can't. So，whether it is dawdling (游手好闲) or any other everyday behavior in children，the parent calls it a“problem”. In reality, of course, parents and child specialists don't always agree on what is or isn't a“problem”But this disagreement doesn't make much difference to the anxious parent who feels so sure that he faces a problem.
I think common problems of young children can be grouped into four general categories: habit, management, expectation and adjustment. So, what are they really about? Four common types of problems: 1) Habit or training problems -those that have to do with establishing the fundamental habits of the children. 2) Child management problems -related to managing or controlling the child, directing his self-interest, and trying to get him to live agreeably and socially with other people around him. 3) Expectation problems -those that dealt with the child's learning to fulfill certain expectations. Some of these expectations arise in the parents' view of the child; some arise in the child's own thinking as he looks at the world and his place in it. 4) Adjustment problems—related to the child's sense of security and his emotional adjustment.
Why do these problems arise then? Partly, they arise out of the child's growing up, out of his need to be trained to fit into a world that just wasn't designed especially to meet his wishes. Partly, it is because the parent expects certain things from the child and figures that the child isn't meeting those expectations.
But no matter what causes the problem, it is most probably true that the parent's anxiety and distress are almost sure to increase the problem. For a child is something like a mirror, his behavior reflects the parent's concern about that behavior. That's why it is so important for us to understand why the child behaves as he does. Understanding is the first step in trying to manage a "problem". If you understand, you lose some of your anxiety. If you lose some of your anxiety, the child can relax and improve his behavior.
1. This passage was mainly written for______.| A．teachers | B．children |
| C．parents | D．specialists |
| A．Dealing with children's problems needs a calm mind |
| B．Parents and child specialists differ on the definition of a problem. |
| C．Parents sometimes find it difficult to solve the problems of their children. |
| D．Children are usually anxious to solve their problems with the help of their parents. |
| A．habit or training problems | B．child management problems |
| C．expectation problems | D．adjustment problems |
| A．Children haven't received proper treatment at school. |
| B．Parents don't know how to help their children. |
| C．Children haven't achieved their aims while growing up. |
| D．Parents have expected too little on their children. |
| A．introduce some children's problems and how to solve them |
| B．advise readers to understand children's problems |
| C．offer readers some ways to deal with children's problems |
| D．tell readers how to tell different children's problems |
6 . I woke to the sound of birds outside my window and lay in bed, going over the busy day ahead of me. Finally, I got up and attempted to switch on the light — nothing happened. I checked my phone. No Wi-Fi, no data. With our unstable cell service, there was no way of knowing if we had received alerts fbr a power failure. I grabbed a sweater, went downstairs, found a flashlight and a match to light the gas stove, and then boiled water to brew coffee. Outside the window, the falling snow obscured (遮蔽) the sunrise. Deep piles of snow covered the road.
My work meetings and deadlines, my sons’ classes and tests, my husband’s plans — everything would have to wait. Why does this happen today of all days?“ I asked. Thankfully, the wood stove was still going strong. I took a deep breath. I supposed we had everything we needed.
The house was quiet as I sipped my coffee and cuddled (搂抱) our dog. One by one, my husband and sons came downstairs and complained about the turn the day had taken.
I opened the curtains to let light in. We gathered around the table and had cereal. After breakfast, my husband played a game of solitaire. Then my sons joined him in building a house of cards that reached three levels until our cat jumped up to investigate and knocked it down. We played a round of Scrabble and had my favorite snow day lunch: grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Then we took a long walk in the woods behind our house, walking along the stream. We spotted deer tracks and played in the snow that was coming down in big fluffy flakes. When we returned, all the clocks in the house were blinking. I started to make dinner, happy to have things back to normal — even better than normal.
It was a day that began without electricity, cut off from the rest of the world, and ended with hot chocolate and power restored. We were recharged by the unexpected gift of a day together.
1. What did the author find when she woke up?| A．Heavy snow trapped the family in the house. |
| B．The electricity supply had been cut off. |
| C．It was still early for breakfast. |
| D．Her phone wouldn’t be turned on. |
| A．Their arrangements were upset. |
| B．They had to serve themselves with simple meals. |
| C．The family encountered a shortage of supplies. |
| D．Everyone was angry about this unexpected event. |
| A．To pave the way for her insight. |
| B．To present the daily life of the family. |
| C．To show the close family relationship. |
| D．To create a lighthearted atmosphere. |
| A．It was a temporary disaster. |
| B．It was a day full of exciting adventures. |
| C．It was a lovely day of family togetherness. |
| D．It was a rare moment of leisure and freedom. |
7 . Cook in the kitchen
Earlier last month, my parents and I had a free day — a rare event for us.
For our weekend menu, we decided to make smoked pork. I found this recipe online. It looked interesting and the steps were simple. So we decided to make it for dinner one weekend.
First, according to the recipe, the pork needed to be salted. The process would take a long time.
After that, Dad was responsible for slicing (切片) the pork, Mother was responsible for preparing the ingredients (佐料). I was responsible for spreading the black tea and sugar for smoking on the aluminum foil and then a layer of baking paper.
| A．It was easy for me to make the food. |
| B．Pork is the main meat source of our food. |
| C．We decided to cook together in the kitchen. |
| D．Finally, I put the pork on the smoking shelf. |
| E．So, Mom started working on it early the night before. |
| F．Two days later, the pork was ready for the next steps. |
| G．The pork was very delicious and contained the special smell of black tea. |
8 . Making a family
For years, Dad had avoided getting a dog. Whenever the
For me, at age thirteen, Chip brought out my
Chip even
Most
People sometimes complain that dog lovers are
| A．topic | B．news | C．problem | D．doubt |
| A．replaced | B．destroyed | C．bothered | D．controlled |
| A．defeated | B．challenged | C．discouraged | D．transformed |
| A．awkward | B．responsible | C．generous | D．creative |
| A．harvest | B．desire | C．ignore | D．realize |
| A．lesson | B．habit | C．custom | D．routine |
| A．seek | B．greet | C．hide | D．assist |
| A．feared | B．softened | C．admired | D．strengthened |
| A．adorable | B．strong | C．aggressive | D．naughty |
| A．persuade | B．forbid | C．allow | D．order |
| A．necessarily | B．exactly | C．importantly | D．entirely |
| A．drove | B．dragged | C．followed | D．pushed |
| A．languages | B．tricks | C．subjects | D．styles |
| A．satisfying | B．inspiring | C．changing | D．abandoning |
| A．weakness | B．theory | C．darkness | D．beauty |
9 . I spent time at my father’s house and mountain cabin this weekend, both of which have plug -in electric kettles. I enjoyed how quickly they boiled water, plus it’s kind of nice to not have to run across the house to stop the unbearable scream of the whistle( 哨 声 ) , My father was shocked that I didn’t own one, but I explained that I value the classic design of my Revere Ware kettle and I enjoy boiling water on the stove for my tea.
However, I’m nothing if not practical. I have a gas stove and the price of natural gas has been coming up, which isn’t ending any time soon. We’re not as bad as Europe, where people are removing their beloved stoves due to skyrocketing gas prices, but it’s certainly worth considering the cost of gas vs. electricity. The gas company is rolling out a 25% rate increase, which made me dive down this rabbit hole.
It’s not easy to compare gas to electric costs, as an electric kettle uses 1. 5 kilowatts to boil water and it takes 6428 British therm units (BTUs)to boil water using a standard gas stove. Of course, the gas company uses “therms”, and there are 1. 00024e-5 therms in one BTU. 1 kWh=0. 0341296 therms and I pay 14.47e/kWh for electricity and 61. 458≠/therm for gas. So you can see why you almost need an advanced mathematics degree to puzzle out the cost of heating a kettle on the gas stove vs. a plug-in electric. Of course you also have to consider that you’re not actually boiling water for a full hour
I never got even close to a point where I could do the math, but I did come to the conclusion that I could stop mindlessly filling the entire kettle when I’m having just a single cup of tea. Plus my low-tech kettle was produced without planned obsolescence( 过 时 )and should last for a very long time. No additional purchases necessary.
1. What does the author think of her father’s electric kettles?| A．They cause annoying noise | B．They are inconvenient to use |
| C．They are classic in design. | D．They lose some traditional flavor |
| A．Hold a negative attitude to life. | B．Consider moving somewhere else |
| C．Get into an awkward situation. | D．Study how to escape like a rabbit |
| A．To stress an advanced math degree is rewarding |
| B．To show it’s hard to make an economical choice |
| C．To prove the gas company has overcharged users |
| D．To explain the author is a price-sensitive consumer |
| A．Keep using it. | B．Upgrade it. | C．Replace it. | D．Sell it |
10 . Communication is a problem for parents and children of all ages. If it’s hard for you to communicate with your parents, don’t worry about it. Here is some advice for you.
Don’t argue with your parents. Don’t try to talk about something with your parents when you are angry. Your parents probably won’t listen to you if you are shouting at them. Go somewhere else to cool off. Then think about what you want to say to your parents. If you think you can’t speak to them at the moment, try writing a letter to them.
Try to understand your parents. Your parents may think differently from you. Tell your parents what you think, what you care about and why. Perhaps you and your parents disagree on something. Put yourself in their shoes and you may find a better way out.
Michael’s mother didn’t agree with him about buying a motorcycle. They argued over it. But they finally came to an agreement. Michael bought the motorcycle, but only drove it on certain days.
It is also important to show your love to your parents. Try to do some small things at home, like making them a cup of tea, helping do some chores, and so on. It helps to keep your relationship closer. A good relationship with your parents can make you a better and happier person. It is worth having a try.
1. The passage mainly talks about the communication problem between ________.| A．parents and school teachers |
| B．school kids and their parents |
| C．teachers and their students |
| D．parents and children of all ages |
| A．show your love to them | B．often stay with them |
| C．speak to them politely | D．do chores for them |
| A．understand each other |
| B．stay away from your parents |
| C．argue with each other |
| D．disagree with your parents |
| A．you are happy | B．you love them | C．you like chores | D．you are relaxed |
| A．It’s certainly necessary to show your love to your parents. |
| B．It’s hard for all the teenagers to communicate with their parents. |
| C．Think it over before you want to talk to your parents about something. |
| D．Put yourself in your parents’ shoes and you may find some good ways to communicate with your parents. |
