Lisa, a 25year old from Beijing, recently places a number of very unpleasant statements on the
Internet regarding the elderly.They include things like "don"t rely on others", "don"t expect others to
help", "don"t be talkative", and "dont"t be so stubborn". The underlying message was that elderly
people should not take advantage of their old age to demand special favours from others, particularly
from the young.This of course flies_in_the_face_of the Chinese tradition of respecting the elderly.But,
in my opinion, Lisa"s "requests" might not be totally unreasonable.Old people do sometimes behave
like they"re "stubborn"and "talkative". Still, the young woman is rudely insensitive to why the elderly
behave that way.As people get old, they become increasingly weakened physically.So it"s natural for
them to ask for more help from others.As their memories decline, they tend to be talkative because
they easily forget what has just been said.The American psychologists D. R.Atkinson and G. Hackett
said that the brain is characterized by flexibility.It has the ability (most pronounced up to the age of 12)
to change itself as a result of experience.But, as the brain ages, this flexibility decreases.As a result, the
elderly are often inflexible in their ways.
Therefore, old people need real care and deserve to be taken care of.Many have devoted most of
their lives to the wellbeing of the family or social.Their aging is no reason for showing prejudice (偏见)
to them. According to Chinese tradition, older people are to be respected.As are Westerners.
I live in the US for eight years, and in Hong Kong for 13.Never have I seen or heard anyone who
would openly tell old people "to behave themselves".
We may encourage old people to be more selfreliant.But rudely demanding that they do so is ageism.
That"s where the difference lies.
1. What does Lisa think of the elderly?
A. The elderly hate to rely on the others.
B. The elderly should take advantage of their old age.
C. They are not talkative but stubborn.
D. The elderly always demand special favors from the young.
2. The underlined part in the first paragraph can be replaced by"________".
A. expresses the apparent meaning of
B. shows disagreement with
C. deals with the surface meaning of
D. draws a conclusion from
3. What"s the writer"s attitude towards this problem?
A. The young woman is too sensitive to why the elderly behave that way.
B. The elderly naturally ask for more help from others, because their brain is characterized by flexibility.
C. The elderly are often inflexible in their ways, which makes the young suffer.
D. The elderly deserve to be taken care of and we shouldn"t show our prejudice because of their aging.
4. The last three paragraphs really want to show that________.
A. we should respect the elderly
B. the people in the US or Hong Kong respect the older people
C. old people should be encouraged to be more selfreliant
D. different ideas about the elderly are allowed to exist
and I want to explain that I"m not wrong, " says Viola, a nurse.This is a common reaction to criticism, but
not a good one.There are better ways of dealing with criticism.
Try to be objective (客观的). When Sol was criticized by his new employer for not having made a
sale, Sol"s reaction was to feel sorry for himself."I had put everything I had into making that sale, " Sol
says."And I felt that I had failed as a person.I had to learn through experience not to react like that to
each fail ure."
Take time to cool down.Rather than react at once to criticism, take some time to think over what was
said.Your first question should be whether the criticism is fair from the other person"s position.The
problem may be a simple misunderstanding of what you did or your reasons for doing it.
Take positive action.After you cool down, consider what you can do about the situation.The best
answer may be "nothing". "I finally realized that my boss was having personal problems and taking them
out on me because I was there, " says Sheila."His criticisms didn"t really have anything to do with my
work, so nothing I said or did was going to change them." In Sheila"s case, the best way to deal with it
was to leave her job.However, that"s an extreme reaction.
You may simply explain your opinion without expecting an indepth discussion.You may even decide
that the battle isn"t worth fighting this time.The key, in any case, is to have a reasonable plan.
1. When Sol was criticized by his employer, he________.
A. argued bitterly with his employer
B. was angry and gave up his job
C. was sorry for what he did
D. was sad and selfpitying
2. According to the writer, you should take time to think about criticism because________.
A. people may have a mistaken idea of what you did
B. you should welcome other people"s opinions
C. people may discuss it with you in depth
D. you need time to understand yourself
3. When the writer says that "The best answer may be "nothing"", he means you may decide________.
A. to take no notice of the criticism
B. to argue with your boss
C. you need to change your job
D. you"ve done nothing wrong
4. The writer thinks Sheila might decide to leave her job because her boss________.
A. didn"t like her appearance
B. refused to change his opinion
C. made an unreasonable criticism
D. refused to talk to her about the criticism
Hello, everyone!It"s my turn to say something
about graduation.Graduation is a time when we move on
from middle school________university.
Before________(毕业) from school, we usually have a
variety of activities, like taking pictures, leaving encouraging
words to one another in m________of our friendship,
or giving presents to our teachers to________(表达)
our thanks and respect.________, I have mixed feelings
about moving on.I want to stay and have more fun with
my________(朋友), but I have to realize my dream.
Graduation m________growing up and taking up more
responsibilities.We must face our future________(勇敢).
Whether we are ready or not, graduation is drawing near.
So I think________important for us to treasure every
minute of our time at school.To make our
dream come________, we must try our best.
after me.I am__2__today for all of the special times we had as running partners, and times__3__driving
to different races, where we had so many__4__about life in general.I__5__these talks terribly at this time
of the year.
__6__, I am so happy he shared with me the__7__of his faith.He was always so__8__to people,
and I had been with him many times__9__we pulled over to help someone in need, __10__a smile and
helping them get back on the road.So I was not__11__when he told me of the time when he was__12__
in college:It was the end of the month.To make matters worse, it was Friday and he had no__13__in his
pocket for the weekend.Payday was Monday and he had no gas money to get home to__14__my dad
and no money to buy food but he had faith that helping others__15__helping yourself.
On his way home from classes that day, as he was driving along, he noticed a guy ahead of him
__16__his lumber (木材) all over the road as he turned the corner.Mark__17__right over and helped
him load the lumber back into his truck.The guy was so thankful and__18__his hand to Mark, and in it
was one hundred dollars.Mark couldn"t believe his__19__.He told him that was unnecessary but the man
__20__and off he drove.
I still think of Mark sitting there telling me that story, with tears in his eyes, and how faithful he was.
| ( )1. A.hardly ( )2. A.successful ( )3. A.spared ( )4. A.questions ( )5. A.miss ( )6. A.However ( )7. A.record ( )8. A.harmful ( )9. A.because ( )10. A.sharing ( )11. A.pleased ( )12. A.never ( )13. A.food ( )14. A.change ( )15. A.means ( )16. A.carry ( )17. A.pushed ( )18. A.raised ( )19. A.eyes ( )20. A.complained | B. never B. thankful B. wasted B. arguments B. recite B. So B. belief B. helpful B. while B. forcing B. worried B. yet B. money B. attend B. follows B. lose B. moved B. held B. ears B. apologized | C. seldom C. cheerful C. spent C. quarrels C. keep C. Then C. story C. powerful C. until C. recognizing C. surprised C. even C. paper C. see C. explains C. arrange C. pulled C. offered C. mind C. regretted | D. always D. hopeful D. saved D. conversations D. fear D. If D. secret D. grateful D. when D. understanding D. excited D. still D. key D. persuade D. agrees D. place D. walked D. shook D. feeling D. insisted |
| 阅读理解 | |||
People always think about "the problem of youth". If there is one-which I take leave to doubt-it is | |||
| .短文填词 Tom had never been to the north of the country before. But he knew w________to expect, because he had two friends who had t________him a lot about it. It was certainly colder than in the south but the air was c________and dry, and most days the sky was a beautiful blue.The people seemed ________(有礼貌的). In the south no one spoke to you at bus________(停车站) or in the markets, while here people smiled________you and said a few words.But he was still lonely.The other students did their________to look after him. ________(然而), he missed his family very much. At home he was always________(围绕) by his family and friends, while here he spent four or five evenings a week_s________alone in his room. |