Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident that I discovered the deep meaning of his words. For years we made the long drive from our home in Seattle to my parents' home in Boise in nine hours. We traveled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement and have strong opinions about everything. Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast, stopping only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired. But then Banner, our lamb was born. He was rejected by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me. That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They'd get back in the car breathless and energized, smelling fresh from the cold air. We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass. Even if we simply looked out of the car windows at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons. We eventually arrived at my parents' doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories. I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarreling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence. Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough to wander around and made me realize that a... Why did the author ask the kids to get out of the car on their way back home A) To give herself some time to read B) To order some food for them C) To play a game with them. D) To let them cool down
D
(Question)
NEW YORK-Workers in New York City and nearby towns raced to fix damaged power grids and traffic systems after "superstorm" Sandy left a strip of destruction across 15 US states and cut power to more than 8 million people. "In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that faces us now," said Joseph Lhota, chairman of MTA, which operates New York City's subway system that has been suspended due to historic flooding in some tunnels. Partial subway service was restarted on Thursday. "All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal." Much of the lower half of Manhattan is still without power. Thousands of homes and small businesses may have to put up with darkness at least until this weekend. Nearby areas are struggling to recover from flooding and damages after Hurricane Sandy struck the US East Coast and made a landfall at New Jersey Monday evening. At least 115 people have died from Sandy in the United States since Monday, including 39 from New York City, police said. In New Jersey, the death toll had reached 13 as search and rescue teams gained access to stricken areas. As Sandy faded further inland, bus and bridge services in New York City were restarted late Tuesday, but road blocking was ubiquitous in Manhattan because of a loss of subway service across NYC. The UN Headquarters in New York, located along the East River, were closed for three days due to the storm and suffered damage from high winds and flooding. It reopened on Thursday. With superstorm Sandy fading, Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney Thursday were back on the campaign trail, trying to make up for the lost time as they dashed towards the finish line. The two candidates were making closing arguments before Americans head to polling stations across the country next Tuesday in the question, "Where will the voters go to cast their ballots --particularly for parts of New York City and New Jersey where hundreds of thousands of people... It can be inferred from the passage that _ . A) Sandy caused power failure across the country B) There are 8 million people in the east coast of the US C) The US President Election Day is drawing near D) Obama has more advantages than Romney in the election
(Answer)
C
Ques: Parents should stop blaming themselves because there's not a lot they can do about it. I mean the teenager problem. Whatever you do or however you choose to deal with it, at certain times a wonderful, reasonable and helpful child will turn into a terrible animal. I've seen friends deal with _ in all kinds of different ways. One strict mother insisted that her son, right from a child, should stand up whenever anyone entered the room, open doors and shake hands like a gentleman. I saw him last week when I called round. Sprawling himself on the sofa in full length, he made no attempt to turn off the loud TV he was watching as I walked in, and his greeting was no more than a quick glance at me. His mother was ashamed. "I don't know what to do with him these days," she said. "He's forgotten all the manners we taught him." He hasn't forgotten them. He's just decided that he's not going to use them. She confessed that she would like to come up behind him and throw him down from the sofa onto the floor. Another good friend of mine let her two daughters climb all over the furniture, reach across the table, stare at me and say, "I don't like your dress; it's ugly." One of the daughters has recently been driven out of school. The other has left home. "Where did we go wrong?" her parents are now very sad. Probably nowhere much. At least, no more than the rest of that unfortunate race, parents. From the second example we can infer that the parents of the two daughters _ . A) pay no attention to them B) feel helpless to do much about them C) have come to hate them D) are too busy to look after them
Ans: B
Most recently, it's very common in students who need a parent present for job interviews. Naturally, it's easy to blame the students in these situations, but the bigger problem is us. We--as parents--are so eager to shelter our kids that we fail to realize that this in itself is harming them.As the mother of two young sons, I have to remind myself constantly that the biggest responsibility I have as a parent is to help them develop the skills needed to live in, to live without me.So, I'll let them fail. I'll let them fail because as long as they are safe and warm inside their comfort zones, they will never grow.And failure -- along with loss, heartbreak, disappointment, etc.-- will be part of growth for them.Call me the anti-tiger mom, but leaving them alone, is my way of helping them become equipped to fit in this world as we know it today.From terrorism and seemingly endless natural disasters, to our national debt and beyond, if we expect the next generation to stand up to the very real problems of our time, we need to stop feeding them and start teaching them how to fish. My children now are becoming little masters of compromise, but they try to negotiate everything now.It's a small price to help them learn a skill they'll use for the rest of their lives, including when I don't accompany them on job interviews. Why do parents accompany their kids on job interviews? A) Because they want to protect their kids from difficulties. B) Because they think they can help them on the questions. C) Because their kids are too shy to attend interviews. D) Because their kids strongly request them to do so.
A