-
The sun is shining when I get on No. 151 bus. We passengers sit jammed together in heavy clothes. No one speaks. That’s one of the unwritten rules of Chicago commuting. Although we see the same faces every day, we prefer to hide behind our newspapers. The phenomenon is striking: people who sit so close together are using those thin sheets of newsprint to keep their distance.
As the bus approaches the Magnificent Mile, a voice suddenly rings out: “Attention! Attention!” Papers rattle (发出细小声). Necks crane (伸长). “This is your driver speaking.”
We look at the back of the driver’s head. His voice has authority.
“All of you put your papers down.”
The papers come down, an inch at a time. The driver waits. The papers are folded and placed on our laps.
“Now, turn and face the person next to you. Go ahead.”
Amazingly, we all do it. Still, no one smiles.
I face an older woman, her head wrapped tightly in a red scarf. I see her nearly every day. Our eyes meet. We wait, unblinking, for the next order from the driver.
“Now, repeat after me…” It is a command, delivered in the tones of a drill sergeant (操练军士). “Good morning, neighbor!”
Our voices are weak and timid. For many of us, these are the first words we have spoken today. But we say them at the same time, like schoolchildren, to the strangers beside us.
We smile and can’t help it. We have said it; the barrier has been broken. Good morning, neighbor. It is not so hard after all. Some of us repeat it. Others shake hands. Many laugh.
The bus driver says nothing more. He doesn’t need to. Not a single newspaper goes back up. I hear laughter, a warm sound I have never heard before on bus No. 151. This day is starting off better than most.
1.On hearing the sudden utterance of “Attention!”, the passengers ___________.
A．stopped reading and put down their newspapers immediately
B．sat still without response
C．looked up from the newspapers to see who was speaking
D．were frightened
2.The underlined word “commuting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means ___________.
A．long-distance ride
B．daily traveling between home and work
C．communication technology
D．behavior patterns
3.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A．The passengers on the crowded bus were so absorbed in reading their newspapers that no one spoke.
B．When the bus driver said nothing more, the passengers picked up and read their newspapers again.
C．The passengers didn’t follow the driver’s instruction at first.
D．The passengers were physically close together but mentally they kept each other at a terrible distance.
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A．The Warmth of Communication
B．The Exchange of Information
C．The Power of Observation
D．The Attitude to Loneliness
-
Has Tiger Mom gone soft? One year after the release of her book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua is back in the spotlight, reflecting on how overnight infamy (恶名) affected her life, her family and her parenting.
“I have changed a lot,” she told the Huffington Post. “In October, we had 30 kids at our house! We have hosted parties with lots of food and music.”
Last January, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt (节选) from Chua’s book with the headline “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”. In the excerpt, Chua described how her daughters were never allowed to have sleepovers (在外过夜的儿童聚会), appear in school plays, or earn any grade lower than an A. Chua, an author and professor at Yale Law School, spent much of 2011 on the defensive. In fact, many of her interviews seemed to lend fuel to her critics’ fire.
Now, with the book out in paperback, she said, “I put passages in the book and used very harsh words that I regret. Everybody has those moments you wish you could take back.”
For those who still read Battle Hymn as an advice guide, Chua argues that so-called tiger parenting should be employed mainly during a child’s early years, ideally between the ages of 5 and 12. These “super-strict parenting tactics” are not meant for all ages. Remaining strict after middle school makes you a helicopter parent, according to Chua. And she is quick to point out how different that is from being a tiger mom.
“By the time kids get to high school, helicopter parents are hiring all these tutors, carrying their kids’ sports bags. I never checked older daughter Sophia’s papers because I knew she knew how to sit down and focus,” Chua said.
As for younger daughter Lulu, 15, the rebel for whom the book was written, Chua has really backed off. Instead of forcing Lulu to practise violin for hours a day—the source of their biggest fights, Chua “let her give that up”. “My compromise (妥协) is that I’m going to still be as strict academically, but in exchange she has a lot of social freedom. Lulu has had four sleepovers in the last two months!” Chua said. Chua predicts she’ll only get more easygoing with age.
1.What does the passage mainly tell us?
A．How Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came out.
B．Tiger Mom persuaded readers to follow her example.
C．Tiger Mom has changed and wants to be soft.
D．How Tiger Mom became the worldwide spotlight.
2.From paragraph one we can know that after the publication of the book______________.
A．Tiger Mom became stricter with her children
B．Tiger Mom’s life and family were influenced
C．Tiger Mom was thought highly by the public
D．Tiger Mom became wealthy and easygoing
3.Lulu quarreled with her mother mainly over______________.
A．whether she could do well at school
B．when she could have sleepovers
C．what should be written in the book
D．how long she practiced the violin
-
As the semester(学期) ended, students had a chance to turn the tables on their teachers.
They got to grade me anonymously(匿名地), assessing the ability of my thinking, my organizational skills and the depth of my knowledge. Such evaluations keep me alert to what works and what doesn’t. Students reflect my performance back to me, and I’m glad to learn what they think of my teaching so that I might try to improve.
This system reflects many aspects of my work. There is, of course, nothing wrong with it. But this system assumes that what students need is the same as what they want. Reading my evaluations every semester has taught me otherwise. Actually many students’ expectations for their courses have already changed, reflecting, in part, the business model many universities are following: classes are considered services, and parents are eager to get their money’s worth from their children’s education. Students feel pressure from their parents to get practical use from their courses.
This could make sense for an engineering course, but in my field, creative writing, which rarely trains up excellent 21-year-old writers, it is more difficult to provide the results that the career-minded students desire. Then I tried some teaching techniques to change the criticism of those unhappy students to the opposite and improve my student evaluations. My record would accurately reflect a smart, attentive, encouraging teacher. However, I would admit that they loved me simply because I agreed writing should be easy.
I know other teachers have done the same thing: teach your heart out to the teachable but be sure to please the unteachable; keep your ratings high, like a politician trying to improve his poll(民意调查) results. I believe in the struggle. But I still can’t help wincing(退缩) when I read, “The instructor is mean.” “Marcus is not committed to my work.” “This class sucks.” The business model has taught me that customers are always right. And maybe a few more dissatisfied customers would mean a better learning experience.
1.What can we know from the underlined phrase “turn the tables on their teachers”？
A．Students get a chance to have dinner with their teachers.
B．Students begin to criticize and punish their teachers.
C．Students judge and grade their teachers.
D．Students take action to praise their teachers.
2.Why have the students’ expectations for their courses changed?
A．Because students want to improve other abilities.
B．Because students feel great pressure from universities.
C．Because the business model has changed.
D．Because students have to satisfy their parents.
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A．Parents don’t care about their money spent on their children’s education.
B．The writer adopted some teaching methods so that he improved his student evaluations.
C．Similar to other teachers, the writer struggled to work as politicians.
D．The students intended to punish their teachers by giving comments.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards being graded by his students?
A．Satisfied. B．Negative. C．Positive. D．Scared.
-
A recent survey shows that the alarming rate of child suicide(自杀) in Hong Kong, raising levels of stress and anxiety among young people, increasing conflicts between children and teachers, and children’s complaints that their parents do not understand their problems—all point to a drop in “emotional quotient” (EQ) (情商), the ability to handle relationships.
EQ is defined as the ability to deal with oneself and others effectively. High EQ, psychologists say, is easy to spot. Some of the greatest humanitarian (人道主义的) leaders have high EQ, along with successful managers and inspirational and respected teachers. The problem is not how to spot high EQ but to improve on low EQ, so society as a whole can benefit.
In the United States, declining EQ among young people is seen as one of the factors behind rising young people’s crime because youths fail to understand others’ feelings—one of the key components of EQ. While the situation in Hong Kong is not so bad, there are warning signs that the levels of anxiety among youth may become critical. Declining EQ among Hong Kong teenagers has been acknowledged by several studies including a key study by the education concern group, the Learning-Teacher Association, which found a high degree of anxiety among students over the future and also that young people lacked confidence in dealing with problems. Parents and teachers will also need to develop their own EQ skills in order to deal with them effectively.
Daniel Goleman cites a number of basic elements of high EQ: first, awareness of your feelings as you experience them which is very important to making good decisions in life; second, feeling or awareness of what others are feeling. “90% of emotional information is expressed non-verbally and people vary in their ability to pick it up,” Dr. Goleman says in his book.
Dr. Goleman argues that without high EQ even highly-educated, highly-intelligent people will not find success in life. Or those with low EQ, even though they may be brilliant, tend to lack feeling and impulse control. They fail easily, and they are easily intolerant and often aggressive in interpersonal relations. Some educational psychologists believe work on EQ may be important in Hong Kong with its high rate of suicide among school children. EQ test may be able to help predict those most at risk, and those least able to deal with their own emotions or unable to deal with others, including parents and teachers.
1.According to the passage, children in Hong Kong commit suicide at an alarming rate as a result of _______.
A．parents not understanding their children
B．the rising levels of stress and anxiety among young people
C．the inability of dealing with relationships
D．increasing conflict between children and teachers
2.We can infer from the passage that people with low emotional quotient _______.
A．are least likely to become good leaders
B．can deal with oneself and others effectively
C．are beneficial to society
D．are more likely to be respected
3.The word “its” in the last paragraph refers to ________.
A．the work on EQ
B．Hong Kong
C．EQ
D．China
4.Daniel Goleman believes that _______.
A．one can be just as successful without having a high EQ
B．only people with both high EQ and high IQ will be successful in life
C．people with low intelligence will not get a successful life
D．people not having high EQ may not be successful in life despite being extremely intelligent
