About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked, “So, how have you been?” And the boy --- who could not have been more than seven or eight years old ---replied, “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed” until we were in high school.
The evidence of a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to. Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it is certainly different. Children as they once were on longer exists. Why?
Human development is based not only on innate biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social route to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new status. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation machine has been installed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information indiscriminately to all viewers alike, be they children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.
Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practiced. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.
1.According to the author, feeling depressed is ________.
A. a sure sign of a psychological problem in children’s mental development
B. something rarely expected in children’s mental development
C. an inevitable thing in children’s mental development
D. something usually experienced in children’s mental development
2.What does the underlined word innate in Paragraph 4 mean ?
A. something a person is born with
B. something a person is tired of
C. something a person is expected of
D. something a person is dreaming of
3.What of the following statement is NOT true according to the last paragraph?
A. Communication through print helps children develop their reading skills.
B. Communication through print helps children access more social information.
C. Communication through print helps children command a complex code of symbols.
D. Communication through print helps children read different materials at random.
4.What is the attitude of the author about today’s children?
A. He feels shocked by their premature behavior.
B. He thinks it is a phenomenon unworthy of note.
C. He considers it a positive social development.
D. He seems to be concerned about the tendency.
Travis laughed as he tore at the wrapping paper on his birthday present. He was so __ ! Finally, he would have the coolest pair of name-brand basketball shoes.
All the guys on his team were wearing the name-brand shoes of a popular basketball _ , Chuck Hart. _ Hart was criticized for his poor sportsmanship and infamous _ he was a great player. In fact, Travis wasn’t thinking about Hart’s behavior; he had only expected to see Hart’s _ _ on the side of the box. He realized that something was _ as he tore away the last piece of paper. Not Hart’s. The new shoes were the name-brand of another player, Robert Ryann, who was _ for his amazing work in the community.
Travis’s hands _; his heart stopped. It wasn’t that the Ryann shoes weren’t nice, but what would his friends think?
They were the wrong shoes and Travis would be _ by the other players. When he looked up into his dad’s eyes, however, Travis knew he _ tell him. “Thanks, Dad. I was really hoping for shoes,” Travis said as he pulled the shoes out of the box.
Next morning his dad drove him to school. When they _ in front of his destination, Travis slowly opened the car door. Just then, his dad stopped him.
“Hey, Travis, wait a minute…” his dad said _ “Travis, I know those aren’t the shoes you had hoped for, but I saw the names of the two guys and made a(n) _. The guy whose name is on those shoes,” he said, pointing down at Travis’s feet, “is someone I _. Do you know how often Ryann has found himself in _ ? ”
“ No,” Travis said.
“ Never. He’s never talked back to his coach or started a fight, and he’s a team player. You could have acted like a(n) _ when you didn’t get the shoes you wanted, Travis, _ you were polite and made the best of it. You have honor, like the guy whose name is on these shoes. I’ m hoping that someday, your _ _ will be on the coolest pair of shoes I’ll ever see.”
When Travis looked down at his feet, he saw the shoes _ _ . His dad had used his mind and heart to give the son a thoughtful _.
1.A. surprised B. ashamed C. excited D. worried
2.A. team B. player C. coach D. game
3.A. Unless B. If C. Because D. Although
4.A. skill B. performance C. behavior D. action
5.A. name B. photo C. sign D. model
6.A. strange B. wrong C. true D. funny
7.A. known B. encouraged C. adopted D. influenced
8.A. fell B. froze C. shook D. folded
9.A. questioned B. noticed C. teased D. attacked
10.A. mustn’t B. needn’t C. wouldn’t D. couldn’t
11.A. pulled up B. put up C. took up D. turned up
12.A. peacefully B. hesitantly C. delightedly D. naturally
13.A. choice B. effort C. comment D. mistake
14.A. believe B. miss C. admire D. remember
15.A. danger B. anger C. sorrow D. trouble
16.A. teammate B. adult C. kid D. student
17.A. so B. and C. but D. or
18.A. honor B. courage C. name D. belief
19.A. clearly B. carefully C. patiently D. differently
20.A. gift B. smile C. wish D. lesson
—I hear Jane has gone to the Holy Island for her holiday.
—Oh, how nice! Do you know when she ?
A. was leaving B. had left
C. has left D. left
How can you expect him to make any improvement ________you never give him an opportunity to have a try?
A. unless B. when C. until D. while
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which becomes the first city in South America _________ Olympics.
A.hosting B. having hosted
C. being hosted D. to host
—For the long-term development, we have to attach importance to the quality of our products.
—That’s right. ______.
A. Great minds think alike
B. Two heads are better than one
C. In the end things will mend
D. Look before you leap
