On a recent Saturday, I stepped into a MeDonald to use the ladies’ room. There I saw a woman of my age with a concerned look on her face helping her elderly father slowly make his way to the men’s room with his walker.She seemed like a loving,dutiful daughter dealing with the role reversal(逆转)that comes with age—those moments when it feels like you’re talking care of your parents,instead of being taken care of by your parents.
As a member of the sandwich generation,I can relate.I often feel like the peanut butter between two pieced of bread:I’m trying to hold it together for my two teenage daughters,and also meet the needs of my 89-year-old mom,Elinor.
My mother’s day-to-day care became a must after my father passed away last year.My parents cared for each other through Parkinson’s disease,heart disease and cancer.Now mom is living alone, in the same house in Virginia where my elder sister,my younger brother and I grew up. The house is full of 55 years’ memories about my mom and my dad. And the thought of leaving it makes her extremely sad.
But what if something happens to her and no one is there to help? What about the hours of loneliness that can’t be alleviated with a phone call? I am lucky that my brothers and sisters and I are in regular communication and we all want to do our part.
We don’t want to decide for her, of course. And we do have options: We could ensure that the house is safe for her, or bring in someone a couple of hours a day to cook a few meals and do light house-keeping. The most important thing is to keep talking about it as family,and to keep mom involved in the discussion.
Whatever we decide, we’ll do it together.Mom sacrifices her whole life for us,and we want to help her age with dignity.
1. What does the author think of the woman of her age? (no more than 10 words)2. Why doesn’t the author’s mother want to leave her house? (no more than 8 words)
3. What does the underlined word “alleviated” in Paragraph 4 mean? (1 word)
4. What makes the author think she is lucky ?(no more than 16 words)
5. What inspiration do you get from the passage? Please express it in your own words.(no more than 25 words)
When I was seven years old I saw my mother making doll clothes. She told me that they were for the poor people, so I never gave it another thought. Come Christmas morning when I opened my present, there were those beautiful doll clothes. My mother just smiled and said, “They are for the poor people. We’re poor.”
When I was nine, my greatest desire in life was to own a pogo stick(弹簧高跷). But my mother told me that we simply couldn’t afford one. A few days before Christmas, my parents and I went shopping. While my mother and I were paying the money, my dad came with a long box. I remember wondering at that very moment if it was a pogo stick in that box. After we arrived back at home my dad put the box in the barn(谷仓). While my parents were away, I snuck out to the barn to find the box. I was so excited and I knew that as soon as I opened that magical box my bright, shiny pogo stick would appear. No such luck! Inside the box was a silly old broom(扫帚). And so Christmas morning was disappointing. After all the wrapping paper was cleaned up, my dad came back from the barn with a beautiful pogo stick. I couldn’t believe it, how they were able to get the money for it and how they tricked me with the broom. My parents probably laugh quietly when they played the trick on me and I wonder if they were watching me from the window as I went out to the barn secretly for my Christmas present.
Although we didn’t have much money, my parents gave me the most important gift of all, much love. We had love and we had joy.
1. For whom does the author think her mother made doll clothes at first? (no more than 5 words)2. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 2 mean? (no more than 5 words)
3. Why did the author feel disappointed when he found a broom in the box? (no more than 10 words)
4. Why did the author’s parents put a broom in the box? (no more than 15 words)
5. What are the best present do you want to give your mother or father? Please give your reasons. (no more than 20 words)
3 . 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 |
My family had moved into a new house with big back yard. For some time, my older brother and I had been expecting a family pet. Finally, we managed to persuade our parents that the time had come for keeping one.
Though my brother and I were of like minds about the goal of having a family member, what exactly it meant to each of us was entirely different. I was excited and happy when my parents brought home the dog, Snoopy. Despite the fun of playing with him，I knew it was really more my brother’s pet than mine. I really, really wanted a cat! I tried to show my joy for getting a pet while trying to hide my disappointment that he wasn’t a cat. My parents must have known how I was feeling because they suggested that I could make a wish about it.
Running to my bedroom, I made a wish sincerely that I would have a cat. Not more than a minute or two passed when I heard a faint scratching sound(轻微的抓挠声) coming from the front door. Curious, I stood up, approaching the open front door. There, sitting calmly before me was a large, white cat.
I was absolutely amazed! I went close to the white cat, and it began walking towards me. I gathered his mass into my arms and then I went into the back yard where my parents and brother were playing with Snoopy. So, Snowball joined our household that day, too.
Although my parents always denied having anything to do with Snowball's arrival, I guessed they might have. However, even if they did somehow arrange for him to appear at the front door at the very moment when I was making a wish for a cat, it would not reduce the miracle of a cat doing in my life.
1. What were the author's parents persuaded to do? (no more than 10 words)2. Why did the author feel disappointed? (no more than 10 words)
3. What happened to the author after her wish? (no more than 10 words)
4. How can we understand the underlined part in Paragraph 4? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of the author's parents? And why? (no more than 20 words)
