Americans All
Type: Musical Running Time: 50 Minutes
This is a musical play set in a high school classroom that will teach you the importance of staying in school. This fun and entertaining musical experience will appeal to anyone. It has a positive message that will be well received by students as well as their teachers and parents. Almost all of the roles can be played either by males or females. The dialogue teaches values, ethics and how to be the best you can be. The lyrics (歌词) and music flow non-stop with piano accompaniment (伴奏).
A Mother in My Head
Type: Short Play Running Time: 45 Minutes
Where does motherly advice and direction begin and where does it end? Or does it ever end? This fast-paced play follows the lives of two young people as they begin their careers, meet, and fall in love, each coached in every step of the way by the "mothers in their heads". The on-stage presence of the mothers provides an interaction (相互交流) between characters that is thoroughly enjoyable.
One of Our Clowns Is Missing
Type: Short Play Running Time: 30 Minutes
Adapted from the full-length play One of Our Clowns Is Missing by Robert Frankel, this play will bring the audience to cheers, tears, and applause. Sandy lacks self-esteem (自尊), but after meeting a group of characters that turn her life around, she regains her confidence and makes a new start.
My Fed Ex Christmas Request
Type: Short Play Running Time: 10 Minutes
Nicky is naughty every year so instead of getting toys under his Christmas tree, Santa has been leaving him a lump (块) of coal in his stocking year after year. Well, Nicky has finally had it with being labeled as naughty by Santa and decides to pack himself in a FedEx box and ship it to the North Pole. He’s going to defend his case face to face with Santa. This comedy shows us what happens when Nicky decides he’s not going to take it anymore!
【小题1】To encourage their children to stay in school, parents should take their children to see __________.

Americans All

Type: Musical Running Time: 50 Minutes

     This is a musical play set in a high school classroom that will teach you the importance of staying in school. This fun and entertaining musical experience will appeal to anyone. It has a positive message that will be well received by students as well as their teachers and parents. Almost all of the roles can be played either by males or females. The dialogue teaches values, ethics and how to be the best you can be. The lyrics (歌词) and music flow non-stop with piano accompaniment (伴奏).

     A Mother in My Head

Type: Short Play Running Time: 45 Minutes

     Where does motherly advice and direction begin and where does it end? Or does it ever end? This fast-paced play follows the lives of two young people as they begin their careers, meet, and fall in love, each coached in every step of the way by the "mothers in their heads". The on-stage presence of the mothers provides an interaction (相互交流) between characters that is thoroughly enjoyable.

     One of Our Clowns Is Missing

Type: Short Play Running Time: 30 Minutes

     Adapted from the full-length play One of Our Clowns Is Missing by Robert Frankel, this play will bring the audience to cheers, tears, and applause. Sandy lacks self-esteem (自尊), but after meeting a group of characters that turn her life around, she regains her confidence and makes a new start.

     My Fed Ex Christmas Request

Type: Short Play Running Time: 10 Minutes

     Nicky is naughty every year so instead of getting toys under his Christmas tree, Santa has been leaving him a lump (块) of coal in his stocking year after year. Well, Nicky has finally had it with being labeled as naughty by Santa and decides to pack himself in a FedEx box and ship it to the North Pole. He’s going to defend his case face to face with Santa. This comedy shows us what happens when Nicky decides he’s not going to take it anymore!

1.To encourage their children to stay in school, parents should take their children to see __________.

A. Americans All                  B. A Mother in My Head

C. One of Our Clowns Is Missing     D. My Fed Ex Christmas Request

2.A Mother in My Head___________________.

A. teaches young women how to be good mothers

B. advises mothers to care more about their children

C. shows mothers’ influence on young people’s lives

D. encourages young people to live with their mothers

3.Which of the following can inspire people to gain more self-confidence?

A. A Mother in My Head.              B. Americans All.

C. My FedEx Christmas Request.       D. One of Our Clowns Is Missing.

Social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, a famous scientist has warned．Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans （幅度）, encourage instant satisfaction and make children more self-centered．
Warnings from neuroscientist （神经系统科学家） Susan Greenfield will disturb the millions whose social lives depend on surfing their favorite websites each day．But they will strike a chord （弦） with parents and teachers who complain that many teenagers lack the ability to communicate or concentrate away from their screens．
More than 150 million use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, share photographs and videos and post regular updates of their movements and thoughts．A further six million have signed up to Twitter, the "micro-blogging" service that lets users exchange text messages about themselves．But while the sites are popular and extremely profitable, a growing number of psychologists and neuroscientists believe they may be doing more harm than good．
Baroness Tarot, an Oxford University neuroscientist believes repeated exposure could rewire the brain．Computer games and fast-paced TV shows were also a factor, she said．"My fear is that these technologies are weakening the brain to the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and live for the moment．" "I often wonder whether real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these easier and faster screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages on the supermarket shelf," she said．
Psychologists have also argued that digital technology is changing the way we think．They point out that students no longer need to plan their term papers before starting to write—thanks to word processors they can edit as they go along．
A study by the Broadcaster Audience Board found teenagers now spend seven and a half hours a day in front of a screen．Educational psychologist Jane Healy believes children should be kept away from computer games until they are seven．Most games only excite the "flight or fight" areas of the brain, rather than the areas responsible reasoning．
Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood, said: "We are seeing children's brain development damaged because they don't engage in the activity they have engaged in for thousands of years．I'm not against technology and computers．But before they start social networking, they need to learn to make real relationships with people．"
【小题1】.
According to the passage, social networking websites might _____．