Once in a television interview, I was chatting with the host about stay – at – home athers. I made the point that one reason why we’re seeing more stay – at – homw dads may be hat it’s no longer definite that a man makes more money than his wife. Many families now ake earning power into account when deciding which parent will stay home.
At that point, one of the male crew members pointed out, almost to himself but loud nough for my benefit, “It should be the better parent who stays home.” A lot of guys say hings like that. Usually it’s a code for “My wife, or any woman is the better parent.”
I was a stay – at – home father for 8 years, so his words made me excited. It implied that our family’s choice could only have been correct if I was a “better” parent than my wife.
I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the “better” parent if she spent more time with Jack. She would be able to read him wetter and calm him more quickly. But as the more employable one, my wife went out to work and I looked after our son.
because of the increased time I spent with Jack. I soon knew him well, understood that he needed and could look after him more or less as well as my wife could. Actually, he experience helped me unlock one of the world’s great secrets; Women are good at booking after children because they do it. It is not because of any innate (先天的) female talent. It is because they put in the time and attention required to become good at the job.
Woman obviously get a biological head starting from giving birth and nursing, but ever the long term experience is more important. When I got the experience myself. I was people are able to look after them as well besides their moms.
【小题1】The first paragraph implies          .

A．A man can take better care of children than his wife.

B．A man with experience can take good care of children.

C．A child prefers to stay with his or her mother.

D．A child prefers to stay with his or her father.

完型填空（共20题，每小题1．5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
One winter morning I bought a copy of the New York World and turned its pages until I got The "Help Wanted Unskilled" section．A small advertisement held my   36 ．It read："Easy job．Good wages．No experience  37 ．"it sounded like the job I was   38  ．Easy job．Good Wages．Those four words  39  now and then in my brain as I was traveling to the address indicated in the   40 ．Easy job．Good wages．Easy job．Good Wages．Easy．．．
When I got to the place I saw a series of large  41  half filled with water, out of which I noticed   42  the necks of many bottles of various sizes and shapes． 43 these basins there were a number of workers sitting on small wooden benches．All had their   44  in the water of the basin．the left hand holding a   45 and the thumb（拇指）nail of the right hand   46  the labels（标签）on it．
I Sat down On a   47  beside one of the basins and started to work on one bottle．As the minutes went by I noticed that the  48  0f the water started to   49  from my hand to my body．But   50 still, the delicate thumb of my right hand was   51  by the minute into a full-blown tomato-colored finger．A numb（麻木）pain began to be felt   52  from my right thumb．Then I began to feel as if the pain was coming from a finger bigger than all my body．After three hours of this I told the manager I’d   53  ．He figured I had   54  69 cents at 23 cents an hour．
With the money, I left the working place．"Easy job．Good wages．．．．"came to my brain again．Looking at my hands, I  55  myself, "Can easy job get good wages?"

But when I got _______ the town ought to have been, all I found was a gas station．

1. A.
   where
2. B.
   which
3. C.
   what
4. D.
   that

I was born in New York, but I grew up in San Francisco. I began to live in London 25 years ago. If I am asked now where I want to live forever, I would say London. But I will always be American.

San Francisco, like London, has many parks. Every day my sisters and I were taken to play in the parks as children. I didn't go to school. I only had three hours of formal education when I was five. I was sent to school in the morning but came home at noon on the first day. I said I didn't enjoy it and hadn't learned anything. My parents thought that school was unsuitable for me. They agreed with me, so I never went back to school.

Then my mother taught me and my two sisters at home, in the way of an English lady who had good education. We learned languages and reading more than sciences and maths. Sometimes she taught us herself, but we also had other teachers. They asked us to take lessons every day. About once a week we walked to Golden Gate Park. While we were walking, my mother taught me to read music. One day I noticed a little toy train in the window of a shop and I remember now how I'd like to have it. I couldn't say "r" when I was small. My mother said if I could say an "r" well, I would have the toy train. I practiced and practiced. Then one morning I woke everybody up with my "r"s. I got the toy train. I usually get the things I want in life — but I work hard for them.

The writer ___ .

A. was born in San Francisco      B. likes living in London

C. is living in New York now      D. doesn't like America

The writer didn't go to school in America because ___ .

A. his mother wanted him to go to school in English

B. his parents didn't think formal education was right for him

C. his mother wanted him to play outdoors in the parks

D. he couldn't get on well with the other children

Which of the following is TRUE?

A. The writer was taught by his mother and other teachers.

B. The writer had no education at all.

C. The writer didn't have lessons every day.

D. The writer walked to the park to learn languages once a week.

The writer got the little toy train at last because ___ .

A. his mother gave him the money

B. he tried his best to read music

C. he wanted it very much

D. his mother was pleased with his progress

I was being interviewed by a senior manager for a big company, I told him honestly that the principal reason that I was interviewing with them was my need to keep my family in Boston. My wife had recently died of a heart attack. A job in Boston would help me reduce some pain for my 16-year-old daughter and me. It was important to me to keep her present high school.
Bruce, the interviewer, was politely kind, but he didn’t search any further. He acknowledged(承认) my loss and, with great respect, moved on to another subject. After the next round of interviews, Bruce took me to lunch with another manager. Then he asked me to take a walk with him. He told me that he had lost his wife. And, like me, he had also been married 20 years and had 3 children. I realized that he had experienced the same pain as I had and it was almost impossible to explain to someone who had not lost a loved one. He offered his business card and home phone number and suggested that, should I need help or just want someone to talk to, I should feel free to give him a call. Whether I got the job or not, he wanted me to know that he was there if I ever needed help.
From that one act of kindness, when he had no idea if we could ever see each other again, he helped our family deal with one of life’s greatest losses. He turned the normally cold business interview process into an act of caring and supporting for another person in a time of extreme need.
【小题1】According to the passage, the interviewer, Bruce, was very _______.