Science Daily—Kids may roll their eyes when their mothers asks them about their school day, but answering her may actually help them learn. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom.

“We knew that children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help,” Bethany Rittle-Johnson, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, said. “In this study, we just had the children’s mothers listen, without providing any assistance. We’ve found that by simply listening, a mother helps her child learn.”

Rittle-Johnson believes the new finding can help parents better assist their children with their schoolwork, even when they are not sure of the answer themselves. Although the researchers used children and their mothers in the study, they believe the same results will hold true whether the person is the child’s father, grandparent, or other familiar persons.

“The basic idea is that it is really effective to try to get kids to explain things themselves instead of just telling them the answer,” she said. “Explaining their reasoning, to a parent or perhaps to other people they know, will help them understand the problem and apply what they have learned to other situations. We saw that this simple act of listening by mom made a difference in the quality of the child’s explanations and how well they could solve more difficult problems later on.

1.According to the passage, a mom had better ________.

A. give a kid some help when he is explaining his problem

B. just listen while a kid is explaining his problem

C. work together with a kid toward the solution to a problem

D. leave a kid alone when he meets a problem at school

2. If she wants to help a child with his schoolwork, a mom ________.

A. should know the answer to a problem first

B. should pay attention to the child’s feedback.

C. may not know the answer herself

D. should not interrupt the child

3.Who will be the least help to a kid when he is explaining, according to Rittle-Johnson?

A. The kid’s mom.                                                  

B. The kid’s grandmother.

C. A peer.

D. A relative the kid doesn’t know.

4.Which of the following best gives the main idea of the passage?

A. Children learn better when their mom is hearing their explaining.

B. Children learn better if they find the solution to a problem themselves.

C. Parents should not provide any assistance to their children’s schoolwork.

D. A mom should listen more to their children when they have problems at school.

EAT YOUR VEGETABLES.Wash your hands. Always say  “please” and “thank you”. We are full of advice for our children, but when it comes to money, we often have little to say. As a result, our children may grow up with clean hands and good manners, but without any idea how tomanage their money.
　　Here are some basics that will help guide them their entire lives:
　　Show them the future. If your 13-year-old girl were to save $1.000,invest(投资)it at 8% and add $100 every month, by the time she’s 65,she would have $980,983!
　　Be careful of credit(信用).Credit cards can help you buy necessary things and build a credit history, but they must be used responsibly, which means paying off your debt in time. Explain to your children that when you buy something using a credit card, you can easily end up paying two or three times what you would have paid if you used cash.
　　Teach patience. Suppose your child wants a new bicycle that costs $150.Rather than paying the cash, give him some regular pocket money and explain that by putting aside,say,$15 each week, he will be able to buy it for himself in only ten weeks.
　　Provide incentive. Tell your children the importance of saving. “For every dollar he or she agrees to save and invest rather than spend, you agree to add another dollar to the pot,” says Cathy Pareto, expert in money planning.
　　Explain your values. Values and money are deeply intertwined, says Eilleen Gallo,co-author of The Financially Intelligent Parent. When your child demands that you buy something, explain why you really don’t want to buy it.“You might say, ‘I’d rather save that money for your  education,’” advises Gallo. Every time you spend or don’t spend money, you have a chance to share your values.
【小题1】The writer gives some basics to help________ in a proper way.

 Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.

The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.

Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.

More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.

There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.

1. What do we know about the ways pre-school children are usually taught?

A. More attention is paid to the pictures ,with words and letters being ignored.

B. Preference is given to the shape of letters and the organization of the print.

C. The focus of the teaching is on bringing them up to be good readers.

D. Equal attention is paid to the texts and the pictures.

2.What does Shayne Piasta suggest pre-school teachers should do in class?

A. Teach children how to draw pictures to get an idea of what they mean.

B. Change the way they teach and pay more attention to words and letters.

C. Adopt different methods according to the students’ difference in reading skills.

D. Read storybooks to children rather than explain the meaning of the pictures.

3. Which of the following is TRUE about the study on language skills of pre-school children?

A. Many teachers want to change their way of teaching pre-school children.

B. Attention on the pictures has made the children uninterested in reading.

C. Project STAR aims to research into the results of reading books to pre-school children in the classroom.

D. Teachers are often prevented from taking different approaches to language teaching.

4.Which section of a magazine does the passage probably come from?

A. Fashion.     B. Economy .    C. Entertainment.     D. Education.

I used to be a very self-centered person, but in the past two years I have really changed. I have started to think about other people      I think about myself. I am happy that I am becoming a       person.

I think my      started when I was at Palomar College. At first, I just wanted to get my       and be left alone. I thought I was smarter than everyone else, so I hardly ever      to anyone in my classes. By the end of my first semester, I was really     . It seemed as if everyone but me had made friends and was having fun. So tried a(n)      . I started asking people around me how they were doing, and if they were having trouble I could      to help. That was really a big      for me. By the end of the year, I had several new friends, and two of      are still my best friends today.

A bigger cause of my new     , however, came when I took a part-time job at a Vista Nursing Home. One old lady there who had Alzheimer’s disease became my     . Every time I came into her room, she was      because she thought I was her daughter. Her real daughter never      her, so I took her place. She let me     that making others feel good make me feel good, too, when she died, I was     , but I was very grateful to her.

I think I am a much      person today than I used to be, and I hope I will not      these experiences. They have      me to care about other people more than about myself. I      who I am today, and I could not say that a few years ago.

1.A. since              B. before            C. or                     D. unless

2.A. famous            B. simple          C. different                       D. skilled

3.A. education          B. career  C. tour       D. change

4.A. balance      B. homework    C. degree D. interest

5.A. talked        B. wrote   C. lied       D. reported

6.A. careful       B. lonely   C. curious D. guilty

7.A. argument B. game    C. experiment D. defence

8.A. dare           B. offer    C. hesitate        D. happen

9.A. dream       B. problem        C. duty     D. step

10.A. us    B. which   C. them    D. whom

11.A. attitude   B. hobby   C. hope    D. luck

12.A. friend       B. partner C. guide   D. guest

13.A. polite       B. happy C. strange         D. confident

14.A. bothered         B. answered     C. visited D. trusted

15.A. explain     B. guess    C. declare D. see

16.A. homeless B. heartbroken C. bad-tempered      D. hopeless

17.A. quieter    B. busier C. better D. richer

18.A. forget      B. face       C. improve        D. analyze

19.A. forced     B. preferred     C. ordered        D. taught

20.A. miss B. like       C. wonder         D. expect

You are what you eat and fats are a main food for Asia’s fast-food generation. Dr.Chwang, director of the Department of Food Nutrition, says children are consuming more meat and soft drinks. That is a thorough departure from the traditional diet of vegetables and rice and little meat.” They like big pieces of fried meat with a soft drink. So although they may eat the same volume of food, their calorie intake(卡路里摄入量) has increased. Now that 40 to 45 percent of their calories come from fat,” says Chwang.

Although on the whole Asians tend to thinness, culture--namely Asians’ hospitality--is a reason for the fatness of today’s generation, according to Chwang. “Asian people love food,” she says.” Eating and drinking are important social and family functions.” In the past, however, big meals were only hosted on special occasions, as people were more careful with money. In today’s climate of wealth and remarkable consumption,10-course meals are no longer reserved for significant occasions.

“In the past, people had four or more children--now, they have one or two, so they tend to spoil them,” says Chwang. “The earliest way is to give them quality food. Parents think feeding them well is showing their love. They feel bad when their children look thin.”

When describing the physical condition of most overweight Asian children, Chwang says: “there is a clear relation between fatness and indoor play. Children get fat because they don’t move, and eventually, they don’t want to move because they are fat.”

Thanks to technology, a growing army of children prefer video games to old outdoor sports. “What do children do when watching TV or sitting in front of the computer playing video games? They eat chocolate and drink Coke,” says Chwang.

56.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Asian people tend to save more money.

B. Asian children depart from their diet tradition.

C. Asian children eat big meals on more occasions.

D. Culture contributes to the fatness of Asian children.

57.According to the passage, the quality food fed by more parents is actually _____.

A. healthful food   B. qualified food  C. agreeable food    D. highcalorie food

58.Some parents feel bad when their children look thin, because _____.

A. their children don’t love eating and drinking

B. the children don’t have a good physical condition

C. they feel that they don’t take good care of their children

D. they feel that they are not wealthy enough to afford “quality food”

59.The purpose of this article is to _____.

A. compare the traditional diet with today’s diet of Asian children

B. find reasons for increased food consumption of Asian people

C. explain why many Asian children are overweight nowadays

D. prove the relationship between fatness and indoor play