How is it that siblings can turn out so differently? One answer is that in fact each sibling grows up in a different family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father. Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others' lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren't getting the same one-on-one time with parents. But that doesn't mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later-borns don't enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between "I" and "me". A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Love-hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs. One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper... What was found about fights among siblings? A) Siblings hated fighting and loved playing. B) Siblings in some families fought frequently. C) Sibling fights led to bad sibling relationships. D) Siblings learned to get on together from fights.
D
Of course,the main difference on the Chinese dinner table is chopsticks instead of knife and fork,but that's only superficial.Besides,in decent restaurants,you can always ask for a pair of knife and fork,if you find the chopsticks not helpful enough.The real difference is that in the West,you have your own plate of food,while in China the dishes are placed on the table and everyone shares.If you are being treated to a formal dinner and particularly if the host thinks you're in the country for the first time,he will do the best to give you a taste of many different types of dishes. The meal usually begins with a set of at least four cold dishes,to be followed by the main courses of hot meat and vegetable dishes.Soup then will be served (unless in Guangdong style restaurants) to be followed by staple food ranging from rice,noodles to dumplings.If you wish to have your rice to go with other dishes,you should say so in good time,for most of the Chinese choose to have the staple food at last or have none of them at all. Perhaps one of the things that surprises a Western visitor most is that some of the Chinese hosts like to put food into the plates of their guests.In formal dinners,there are always "public" chopsticks and spoons for this purpose,but some hosts may use their own chopsticks.This is a sign of genuine friendship and politeness.It is always polite to eat the food.If you do not eat it,just leave the food in the plate. People in China tend to over-order food,for they will find it embarrassing if all the food is consumed.When you have had enough,just say so.Or you will always overeat! The sentence,in passage 2,"you should say so in good time" means _ . A) you should say so early B) you should say so happily C) you'd better say so D) you should say so kindly.
A
(Q).
Most people today think of sleep as one continuous period of downtime.This is not the way people used to sleep.According to researchers,in earlier times,people divided sleep by first sleeping a few hours,waking up,then going back to sleep.In the first period,you would typically sleep until midnight or shortly afterwards.Halfway through the night,you came out of first sleep,you would stay in bed and relax quietly.It was called the watching period.Then you would start to feel sleepy.so would return to bed and tall asleep again for your second sleep.This period would continue until early morning when daylight arrived.With no artificial lighting in homes,people naturally woke up early to take advantage of sunlight. Before the 18th century, people had no gas or electricity in their homes.Fire,candles,or oil lamps were the common forms of lighting.This lack of artificial lighting in homes contributed to people's sleep patterns.It made sense for people to go to bed early. Today,human may consider divided sleep a strange habit,but sleep researchers say that it is actually a more natural sleep pattern.Dr.Thomas Wehr of the U.S.National Institute of Mental Health has studied human sleep.He thinks that modern sleep problems occur because the older, natural way of sleep is breaking through the more recent continuous sleep pattern.Wehr and other scientists believe that artificial lighting has altered the way people sleep.In a research study,he asked 15 adults to rest and sleep in darkness for 14 hours(from 6:00 P.M.to 8:00 A.M.).At first,the subjects took a few hours to get to sleep,and then slept 11 hours a night.Then overtime,they switched to divided sleep.They fell asleep for about three to five hours in the evening,stay awake for an hour or two,and then slept again for four hours till early morning. We modern humans generally do not practice divided sleep.However, many of us have the experience of waking up in the middle of the night.We usually consider this a sleeping"problem".but perhaps we should look at it as... What conclusion does the author make about divided sleep? A) It is one type of sleeping problems. B) It is not the best sleep pattern for everyone. C) It shouldn't be accepted by modern humans. D) It could be helpful for people to handle daily stress.
(A).
D