Has anyone noticed how, with the passage of time, one’s relationship with one’s grown-up daughters and sons becomes changed? I’ve been aware of this for some time but I’m not quite sure how to deal with it.

Take the kitchen sink for example.

Following a family get-together at my place, I walked into the kitchen to find Kate, my daughter carefully cleaning the sink.

“Don’t do that; what are you doing that for?” I said, unhappy about the hidden criticism.

“Mum,” she said, “you really ought to put your glasses on when you clean the sink. Behind the tap here was black!”

But it’s not just things like kitchen sinks. Another time Kate arrived to pick me up to lunch. She looked at me and then asked, “Mum, why do you use brown eyebrow pencil when your hair is grey?”

A sudden memory of her, aged 14, going to her first mixed party flooded back. She had come in to say goodbye. For a moment I thought she’d been an accident. Both eyes were black. I remember suggesting that perhaps a little less eye make-up might be more effective.

Now I told her, “My hair used to be brown.”

“It looks absurd.”

“Mrs. Menzies had dark eyebrows with grey hair.”

“Yes, but you’re not Mrs. Menzies, are you?” she said triumphantly, as if that proved her point.

But a recent event made me realize that something really must be done.

She had returned some for a few weeks before getting married. One evening I went out on a dinner date. By the time my companion left me at the front door, it was about 2am. As I stepped in, an angry figure in a white nightgown stopped me.

“Well, what time of night is this to be coming home?” she shouted. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!”

Shades of the past come back to disturb me. But what should I do about all this? Nothing, probably. Maybe, after all, it’s only a stage young people are going through.

The daughter thought her mother didn’t clean the kitchen sink well because of her        .

       A．laziness    B．carelessness      C．unhappiness     D．poor-quality glasses

From the passage we know the daughter         .

       A．didn’t want to help with the sink

       B．didn’t like brown eyebrow pencils

       C．had an accident when she went to her first party

       D．shouted at her mum because she came home late

How does the mother feel after all these have happened?

       A．Shocked.  B．Proud.      C．Envious.   D．Confused.

The author writes the stories to prove that         .

      A．their relationship became stronger 

       B．their roles changed as time passed

       C．her daughter very much cared about her

       D．her daughter got upset as she grew up

Has anyone noticed how, with the passage of time, one’s relationship with one’s grown-up daughters and sons becomes changed? I’ve been aware of this for some time but I’m not quite sure how to deal with it.
Take the kitchen sink for example.
Following a family get-together at my place, I walked into the kitchen to find Kate, my daughter carefully cleaning the sink.
“Don’t do that; what are you doing that for?” I said, unhappy about the hidden criticism.
“Mum,” she said, “you really ought to put your glasses on when you clean the sink. Behind the tap here was black!”
But it’s not just things like kitchen sinks. Another time Kate arrived to pick me up to lunch. She looked at me and then asked, “Mum, why do you use brown eyebrow pencil when your hair is grey?”
A sudden memory of her, aged 14, going to her first mixed party flooded back. She had come in to say goodbye. For a moment I thought she’d been an accident. Both eyes were black. I remember suggesting that perhaps a little less eye make-up might be more effective.
Now I told her, “My hair used to be brown.”
“It looks absurd.”
“Mrs. Menzies had dark eyebrows with grey hair.”
“Yes, but you’re not Mrs. Menzies, are you?” she said triumphantly, as if that proved her point.
But a recent event made me realize that something really must be done.
She had returned some for a few weeks before getting married. One evening I went out on a dinner date. By the time my companion left me at the front door, it was about 2am. As I stepped in, an angry figure in a white nightgown stopped me.
“Well, what time of night is this to be coming home?” she shouted. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!”
Shades of the past come back to disturb me. But what should I do about all this? Nothing, probably. Maybe, after all, it’s only a stage young people are going through.
【小题1】The daughter thought her mother didn’t clean the kitchen sink well because of her        .

A．laziness

B．carelessness

C．unhappiness

D．poor-quality glasses

【小题2】From the passage we know the daughter         .

A．didn’t want to help with the sink

B．didn’t like brown eyebrow pencils

C．had an accident when she went to her first party

D．shouted at her mum because she came home late

【小题3】How does the mother feel after all these have happened?

A．Shocked.

B．Proud.

C．Envious.

D．Confused.

【小题4】The author writes the stories to prove that         .

A．their relationship became stronger

B．their roles changed as time passed

C．her daughter very much cared about her

D．her daughter got upset as she grew up

I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my adult-education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-year-old daughter. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said, “Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”

This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to the doctors: one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped. He said, “My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤) --- if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪) by sorrow, you know what the meant.

“But thank God, I had one child left --- a four-year-old son. He gave me the solution to the problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent fellow! I had to give in. Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.”

“The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired. Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention. During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am so busy now that I have no time for worry.”

No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, “I am too busy. I have no time for worry.”

The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to _________.

A. having lost a loved one	B. having lost a valuable article
C. having lost a profit-making business	D. having lost a well-paid job

Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because _________.

A. he couldn’t earn enough money to support his family

B. he was suffering from sleeplessness disease

C. he couldn’t get out of mental pressure

D. he felt tired of adult-education classes

Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because _________.

A. he hadn’t been able to spare time to mend them

B. he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them

C. the items had actually been broken and needed attention

D. repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind

At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to ________.

A. prove that he followed Churchill’s example

B. support his student’s solution to his problem

C. show that he was successful in his career

D. make it clear how his conclusion was reached

I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my adult-education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-year-old daughter. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said, “Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”

This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to the doctors: one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped. He said, “My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤) --- if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪) by sorrow, you know what the meant.

“But thank God, I had one child left --- a four-year-old son. He gave me the solution to the problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent fellow! I had to give in. Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.”

“The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired. Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention. During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am so busy now that I have no time for worry.”

No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, “I am too busy. I have no time for worry.”

The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to _________.

A. having lost a loved one	B. having lost a valuable article
C. having lost a profit-making business	D. having lost a well-paid job

Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because _________.

A. he couldn’t earn enough money to support his family

B. he was suffering from sleeplessness disease

C. he couldn’t get out of mental pressure

D. he felt tired of adult-education classes

Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because _________.

A. he hadn’t been able to spare time to mend them

B. he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them

C. the items had actually been broken and needed attention

D. repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind

At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to ________.

A. prove that he followed Churchill’s example

B. support his student’s solution to his problem

C. show that he was successful in his career

D. make it clear how his conclusion was reached