When I was a kid, I always used to wonder how in the world my father work outside in the winter without a coat. It could be minus 20 degrees centigrade and there'd be Dad, removing snow, or perhaps chopping some wood --- his coat thrown aside--- wearing a shirt , a cap, and a pair of gloves. "Aren't you cold, Dad?" I'd ask. "No," Dad would reply. "I'm not cold--- working too hard to be cold." Many times I wondered whether my father was an extremely tough man, or whether he was foolish. One time when I was quite young, perhaps five or so, I went ice fishing with Dad. It was a bright, clear day--and bitterly cold. After we'd been out on the ice for a little while, my feet started getting cold. "Daddy, my feet are cold." I said. "Yeah, it's cold out here today," he replied. "Tell you what," he said. "Walk around. Make some circles in the snow. See how many different patterns you can make. That will get your feet warm." Now, I was just a little girl at the time but I remember thinking, "How in the world will walking around in the snow make my feet warm? Dad must be out of mind. But he was my father, after all. I made circles in the snow. I made squares. Pretty soon I was having so much fun making patterns in the snow. I forgot about my feet being cold. Now, all these years later, I know, too, from personal experience how my father was able to take his coat off and work outside in the winter wearing just a shirt, a cap and gloves. Because I do it, too. "Aren't you cold?" my husband asked one winter day. "No," I replied. "I'm not cold--working too hard to be cold." I hope my husband has decided I'm both tough and smart. But I guess quite a bit of the time he thinks I'm foolish. Wherever Dad is in that great big farm in the sky--I'm sure he can't help but smile whenever I take my coat off while I'm working outside in the winter. When the author's feet felt cold, her father advised her to _ . A) go home alone first B) keep walking in the snow C) draw pictures in the snow D) light a fire on the ice
B
EVERY so often, a sensational story hits the media about the kind of role models influencing UK teenagers. Youth culture celebrates too many bad examples, the reports say, and the finger of blame is often pointed at celebrities who drink or take drugs, or who are seen as sexually casual. Yet according to parents and educationalists the media itself is partly to blame. They argue that television, newspapers and magazines are obsessed with celebrity lives and over-promote a "celebrity culture" in which reality show stars are respected purely because they are on television. Meanwhile child psychologists warn of the negative effects of unsuitable role models, claiming that young people are being brainwashed into wanting to become famous overnight. They are taught to value physical appearance over personal achievement and set themselves impossible goals. According to a 2010 Home Office study, too many girls think that they have to look "sexy" and "hot" like their idols , and when they can't achieve this, they lose self-esteem or suffer from depression and eating disorders. But perhaps young people today are not as easily influenced as we think. The Girls' Attitudes Survey by Girlguiding UK (2011), for example, showed that young girls aged 11 to 21 questioned the media's description of women. Over half of the respondents disagreed with the statement that "girls and young women are portrayed fairly in the media". A Scout Association survey, of over a thousand 13- to 18-year-olds, showed that teenagers see their parents and siblings as far more positive role models than celebrities, and while many youngsters list celebrities like Kate Moss and Katie Price as role models, others list high achievers like David Beckham, Paralympian swimmer Eleanor Simmons, and grandparents who fought in the Second World War. What's the best title of the passage? A) Role Modles B) Celebrity Culture C) Media Influence D) Psychological Recognition
B
As a newspaper reporter, Inez' s father traveled around the world. He wrote stories about the interesting people he met. On her fifteenth birthday, Inez could hardly believe it when her father announced that she was old enough to go with him on one of his trips! He said his next story would be about salt mining in Europe. Inez had never thought much about salt,she didn' t know what to expect,but she knew she would love being with her father. Months later, when Inez and her father arrived at the salt mine ,they found themselves walking into the middle of a busy workday. Mrs. Walker, the owner, said she would not be available to talk until the workday was over. She suggested that Inez and her father should help out so Inez ' s father would have first-hand experience for his story. Before Inez realized what was happening, she was in the factory. This was not what she had imagined her trip would be like. People rushed past her carrying hammers, nails, and wood to make boxes for the salt. Everyone seemed to be in such a hurry. As another newly constructed box was pushed at her, Inez spread a label with glue and stuck it on the side of the box. When she had agreed to go with her father on his newspaper assignment, she had pictured an adventure, not hard labor. Inez looked at the salt covering her father' s once-blue pants and sighed. She could taste the salt in her mouth and smell it in the air. Inez had been using salt all her life, but she had never imagined that it existed in such quantities or that it was so hard to package. Inez' s father rubbed his hands together and grinned at her. ''I know this probably isn't what you had in mind," he said, "but sometimes the best days are the ones that don' t go as planned. Best? she wondered. She had learned two lessons today. One was to value every grain of salt to fall from a shaker. The other was to hear the details before agreeing to go on a job with her father! Why does the author most likely write this story? A) To discuss what it is like when a child travels with a parent. B) To describe how places around the world are different. C) To explain which tools are used when packaging salt. D) To show that sometimes events turn out differently than expected.
D