Being a good parent is harder now than it has ever been before. In pressurized modern lives, demands to be a fulfilled individual, a good partner and a good worker, take no account of being a good parent. We haven’t left space for the nurturing parents who are expected to provide what children need. As a result, many families in the western world just don’t work.

       Something will have to change. With luck, people in the future will only have children if they really want them. That should mean parenthood is seen as a much more positive promise than it is now, that parents are socially supported, and are admired for doing a good job.

       The problem is that in the last generation or so we’ve come to assume that women should want and be able to everything that by tradition men have done at the same time as pretty well everything that by tradition women have done. And it’s just not possible. Since adopting a male life style is demonstrably only another form of submission（顺从）, quite a number of highly educated and economically privileged（优越的）women are now choosing to take career breaks so as to be at home with their children for longer than that poor 18 weeks.

       The most welcoming trend in parenting is that men are participating more and more, even that is not free of conflict, however. Intellectually（理智上）, women want men to be equal parents and do their share. But there’s often a contradictory（矛盾的）emotion because children are the last fort of the female power in the family. “I want him to help me but this is my region and being better at it is one of the new things I’ve got as a female.” In truth, although they haven’t had generations of practice, there’s no reason why men can’t raise children as well as women. Men left to cope after bereavement or divorce, as well as some who take on the role of principal career within a partnership, are already doing it.

16.Why is it more difficult today to be good parents?

       A. Because parents don’t want to face the pressure of rearing children.

       B. Because children are in dependent and don’t need to be taken care of.

       C. Because husbands and wives have little time to talk to each other.

       D. Because people want to fulfill their own dreams, leaving no time to look after children.

17. We can learn from the passage that _______.

       A. people in future will not be as interested in children as people at present

       B. parenthood will be considered as a positive commitment as it is now

       C. women do better in rearing children than men

       D. parents will receive admiration for taking good care of children

18. Nowadays, a lot of highly educated and economically privileged women ________.

       A. tend to stay at home for more than 18 weeks

       B. tend to adopt a male life style

       C. tend to quit their jobs and stay at home

       D. tend to be submissive wives

19. It seems that in parenting , women ________.

       A. are contradictory in their thoughts.                B.demand equality between sexes

       C. tend to leave children to their husbands.         D. often quarrel with their husbands

20. The underlined word “bereavement” in the para 4 probably means _________.

       A. departure of his wife.                                          B. death of his wife

       C. return of his wife                                         D. annoyance of his wife

NEW YORK (AP) — In a report, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.

That is more than twice the 22 percent of users who did in 2002, but Pew senior research specialist Mary Madden was surprised that the growth wasn’t higher than it had been expected.

　　“Yes it’s doubled, but it’s still the case that there’s a big chunk of Internet users who have never done this simple act of connecting their names with search engines,” she said. “Certainly more and more people have become aware of this, but I don’t know it’s necessarily kept pace with the amount of content we post about ourselves or what others post about us.”

About 60 percent of Internet users said they aren’t worried about the extent of information about themselves online, although they are increasingly concerned over how that data can be used.

Americans under 50 and those with more education and income were more likely to self-Google---in some cases because their jobs demand a certain online persona(形象).

Meanwhile, Pew found that 53 percent of adult Internet users admit to looking up information about someone else, famous people not included.

　　Often, it’s to find someone they’ve lost touch with. But looking up information about friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors also was common.

Although men and women equally searched for online information about themselves, women were slightly more likely to look up information about someone they are dating.

　　In many cases, the search is not harmful, done to find someone’s contact information. But a third of those who have conducted searches on others have looked for public records, such as bankruptcies(破产) and divorce proceedings. A similar number have searched for someone else’s photo.

　　Pew also found that teens were more likely than adults to limit the range of people who can see their information at an online hangout like Facebook or News Corp.’s MySpace, contrary to conventional wisdom.

　　“Teens are more comfortable with the applications in some ways, (but) I also think they have their parents and teachers telling them to be very careful about what they post and who they share it with,” Madden said.

1. Mary Madden was surprised at the result that ______.

       A. fewer and fewer adult Internet users are looking for information about themselves

       B. the number of adult Internet users looking for information about themselves has doubled

       C. more adult Internet users should have looked for information about themselves

       D. so many people don’t know how to connect their names with search engines

2.According to the report some people haven’t looked for information about themselves because ______.

       A. they are not rich enough to get a computer

       B. they are not well educated

       C. they don’t know they can look for their own information on the Internet

       D. they think it unnecessary to look for their own information on the Internet

3. Which group of people are more likely to look for their own information on the Internet?

       A. Teens. B. Women.     C. The old.     D. The educated.

4.People look for others’ information on the Internet mainly to ______.

       A. see what they are doing    B. find someone they have lost touch with

       C. have a look at their photos       D. know their personal affairs[来源:Zxxk.Com]

 

A poor traveler stopped under the tree to eat the boiled rice and vegetable which he had brought with him.A few meters away,there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying fish and selling it to travelers.The woman watched the poor traveler carefully,and when he finished his food and began to go,she shouted rudely,“You haven’t paid me for the fried fish!”

“But I have not had any fried fish!” he said.

“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables,” said the woman.“If you had not smelled the fish,your meal would not have been so pleasant!”

Soon a crowd collected,and although they supported the poor traveler,they had to admit that wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten,and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him.

Finally,the woman took the poor traveler to a judge,who said,“The woman says that the traveler ate his meal with the smell of her fried fish.The traveler agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman’s shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating,so he must pay for it.What does your fried fish cost?” he asked the woman.

“Twenty-five cents a plate,” she answered,delighted.

“Then go outside together,”said the judge.There the traveler must hold up a twenty-five-cent piece so that its shadow falls on the woman’s hand.The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of twenty-five cents.

1.Why did the traveler refuse to pay the woman for the fried fish?Because _____.

A.he was poor

B.he was rude

C.he was supported by a crowd

D.he hadn’t eaten her fried fish at all

2.When the judge asked the woman a question,she felt _____.

A.excited

B.anxious

C.glad

D.angry

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A.The traveler bought the boiled rice and vegetables and ate them by the side of the road.

B.The judge had no idea what the woman meant.

C.In the fifth paragraph,the first “it” has the same meaning as the second “it”.

D.The woman got nothing but the shadow of twenty-five cents in the end.

4.What do you think of the judge after reading the passage?

A.He was foolish.

B.He was clever.

C.He was neither foolish nor clever.

D.He was kind enough to give the woman twenty-five cents.

 

Brazil has become one. of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint ef??forts to reduce birth rates, Brazil had better results without re??ally trying, says George Martine at Harvard.

Brazil’s population growth rate dropped from 2. 99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1. 93% a year between 198 land 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2. 7 chil??dren on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.

Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (肥皂剧) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in low??ering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest produc??ers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television net??work, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.

Although they have never really tried to work in a mes??sage towards the problems of reproduction, they describe mid??dle and upper class values: not many children, women work??ing, says Martine. They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious (有意识的) of other patterns of behaviour and other values, which were put into a very attrac??tive package.

Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. " This led to an enormous change in consumption (消费) patterns and consumption was incom??patible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Mar??tine.

according to the passage, Brazil has lowered its population growth ________.

A. by educating its citizens                 B. by careful family planning

C. by developing TV programmes                     D. by chance

according to the passage, many Third World countries

A. haven’t given much attention to birth control

B. would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate

C. haven’t yet found an effective measure to control their population

D. haven’t realized the importance of TV plays in family planning

Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate be??cause ________.

A. they keep people sitting long hours watching TV

B. they have gradually changed people’s way of life

C. people are drawn to their attractive package

D. they popularize birth control measures

What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?

A. The increase in birth rate will increase consumption.

B. The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.

C. Consumption goes with reproduction.

D. A country ‘s production is limited by its population growth.

第三部分 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列段文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

A poor traveller stopped under the tree to eat the boiled rice and vegetables which he had brought with him. A few metres away, there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying (油炸)fish and selling it to travelers. The woman watched the poor traveler carefully, and when he finished his food and began to go, she shouted rudely, “You haven’t paid me for the fried fish!”

“But I have not had any fried fish!” he said.

“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables,” said the woman, “If you had not smelled the fish, your meal would not have been so pleasant!”

Soon a crowd collected, and although they supported the poor traveler, they had to admit that wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten, and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him.

Finally, the woman took the poor traveler to a judge, who said, “The woman says that the traveler ate his meal with the smell of her fried fish. The traveler agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman’s shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables, and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating, so he must pay for it. What does your fried fish cost?” he asked the woman.

“Twenty-five cents a plate,” she answered, delighted.

“Then go outside together,” said the judge. “There the traveler must hold up a twenty-five-cent piece so that its shadow（影子）falls on the woman’s hand. The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of twenty-five cents.”

51. The traveler refused to pay the woman for the fried fish because       .

A. he was poor                                                 B. he was rude

C. he was supported by a crowd                  D. he hadn’t eaten her fried fish at all

52. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. The traveler bought the boiled rice and vegetables and ate them by the side of the road.

B. The judge had no idea what the woman meant.

C. In the fifth paragraph, the first “it” has the same meaning as the second “it”.

D. The woman got nothing but the shadow of twenty-five cents in the end.

53. The best title for the passage should be       .

A. The Smell and the Shadow

B. A Poor Traveler

C. A Rude Woman

D. A Woman and a Traveler