A young father was visiting an old neighbor.They were standing in the old man's garden,and talking about children.The young man said,"How strict should parents be with their children?" The old man pointed to a string between a big strong tree and a thin young one. "Please untie that string,"he said.The young man untied it,and the young tree bent over to one side. "Now tie it again, please."said the old man."But first pull the string tight so that the young tree is straight again.'' The young man did so.Then the old man said,"There,it is the same with children.You must be strict with them, but sometimes you must untie the string to see how they are getting on.If they are not yet able to stand alone,you must tie the string tight again.But when you find that they are ready to stand alone,you can take the string away.'' We learn that the big strong tree and the thin young one are like _ . A) the young father and the old neighbor B) parents and their children C) the young and the old D) the old neighbor and the children of the young
B
Rainy days don't have to get you down, a happiness expert has claimed. Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics, said that people only feel _ in bad weather because they think about it too much. Studies have shown that people who live in warm, sunny climates are no happier than those in chilly, wet climates, he says. So the British talking about the weather may be making us gloomier than the weather itself. He said: "A study was done that measured the happiness levels of people in California compared to the North West. "They expected that people in California would be happier because it is more sunny, but they found that levels of happiness were exactly the same. "If it is sunny every day you get used to it and the sunshine doesn't make you any happier. "Most of the time the weather doesn't affect our well-being at all. But when we think about it, and think that it does, that's when we get miserable." In his new book, Happiness By Design, Dolan argues that we can think ourselves happy by taking our attention away from what makes us sad. "Most of our anxieties come from what might be," he argues. "If you want to be happier, pay attention to the things that make you feel good." He also claimed that a problem shared was not always a problem halved. He claimed that humans are actually very good at being able to get over tragedy and loss. Professor Dolan also admitted for the first time that he had a stammer , which had made his early life miserable. He claimed it only got better when he learned not to pay attention to his speech problem. "Things are never as bad as you imagine them being," he said. What is Dolan's suggestion for being happy? A) Don't think too much about yourself. B) Don't focus on what makes you sad. C) Avoid comparing yourself to others. D) Avoid doing many miserable things.
B
Q: The Puritans get a bad reputation in America--especially when it comes to alcohol. Mayflower, the first ship that came over from England to Massachusetts Bay, actually carried more beer than water.In fact the Founding Fathers of America liked a drink--Samuel Adams was a partner in his father's brewery, and Thomas Jefferson was famous for importing European wines. Early Americans took a healthful small drink for breakfast, whiskey was a typical lunchtime drink, ale accompanied supper and the day ended with another drink called nightcap.Most Americans in 1790 consumed an average of 5.8 gallons of pure alcohol a year.In 1830, consumption reached 7.1 gallons a year and alcoholism was starting to have a serious influence on communities.Women and children might be in physical danger if the man of the house began drinking.If he became ill or lost his job through drinking, there was no social safety net to support or protect his family.Eventually, alcoholism was being treated as a disease. By the late 19th Century, support for Prohibition, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol, was powerful.The first arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol was in 1897.On 16 January 1919, Prohibition was set into law.However, by the 1930s when American economy was experiencing a hard time it was widely believed that making alcohol legal again would provide badly-needed jobs and taxes.So in February of 1933, Prohibition was endeD. Still, Prohibition had a great influence on alcohol drinking in this country.In 1955, Americans drank an average of 2.3 gallons of pure alcohol a year.The Prohibition movement was still quite strong after Prohibition ended and it led to a lot of local prohibition on alcohol. The American presidency has done a lot to rehabilitate alcohol and make it respectable again.Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama can all be seen on film drinking socially and making official toasts with international celebrities. The passage mainly talks about _ . A) the brief history of alcohol drinking in America B) American presidents' affection for alcohol drinking C) the Puritans' bad reputation in America D) the reasons why Prohibition came into law
A: A
Question: One of the most successful singers of the twentieth century, Ella Fitzgerald has made several different styles of her own. She was born in Virginia but was brought up in an orphanage in Yonkers, New York. Chick Webb _ her in an amateur competition when she was sixteen. He engaged her to sing with his band and when he died in 1939, she took over. Unlike Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald taught herself the sentimental music so popular in the 1930's -- songs like "My Heart Belongs to Daddy"-- and her recordings became best-sellers. During the 1940's she developed her own "scat singing" -- a breathless, nonsense--syllable style--for songs like "Flying Home" and "Lady Be Good." Ella Fitzgerald was the perfect musical partner for her friend, the trumpeter Louis Armstrong, matching him in warmth and artistry. "I just like music, period," she said. "To me, it's a story. There's only one thing better than singing.... It's more singing." What does the passage mainly discuss? A) A comparison of Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith. B) The musical career of Ella Fitzgerald. C) Ella Fitzgerald's early childhood. D) Ella Fitzgerald's most recent recordings.
Answer: B
(Question)
American doctors say that mothers who smoke cigarettes before their babies are born may slow the growth of their babies' lungs. They say reduced lung growth could cause the babies to suffer breathing problems and lung diseases later in life. Doctors in Boston, Massachusetts studied 1,000 children. The mothers of some of the children smoked, while the other mothers did not. Doctors found that the lungs of the children whose mothers smoked were 8% less developed than the lungs of the children whose mothers did not smoke, and that the children whose mothers smoked had 25% more cold and breathing diseases than other children later in life. Another recent study found that children had a greater chance of having lung cancer if their mothers smoked. The study also showed that the danger of cancer increased only for sons and not for daughters, and that the father's smoking did not affect a child's chance of suffering from lung cancer. Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A) Effects of Smoking B) Smoking is Harmful C) Mothers, Don't Smoke D) Lung Cancer
(Answer)
C