When I was growing up, I was embarrassed to be seen with my father. He was badly crippled , and when we would walk together, his hand on my arm for balance, people would stare, I would be ashamed of the unwanted attention. If ever noticed or bothered, he never let on. It was difficult to walk together--and because of that, we didn't say much as we went along. But as we started out, he always said, "You set the pace. I will try to follow you." Our usual walk was to or from the subway, which was how he got to work. He went to work sick, and even in bad weather. He almost never missed a day, and would make it to the office even if others could not. It was a matter of pride for him. When snow or ice was on the ground, it was impossible for him to walk, even with help... Such times my sister or I would pull him through the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y., on a child's sleigh to the subway entrance. Once there, he would try to grasp handrail until he reached the lower steps that the warmer tunnel air kept ice free. In Manhattan the subway station was the basement of his office building, and he would not have to go outside again until we met him in Brooklyn on his way home. w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m When I think of it now, I am surprised at how much courage it must have taken for a grown man to suffer from shame and disability. And I am also surprised at how he did it--without bitterness or complaint. He never talked about himself as an object of pity, not did he show any envy of the more fortunate or able. What he looked for in others was a "good heart", and if he found one, the owner was good enough for him. Now that I am older, I believe that is a proper standard by which to judge people, even though I still don't know exactly what a "good heart" is. But I know the times I don't have one myself. He has been away for many years now, but I think of him often. I wonder if he sensed my reluctance to be seen with him during our walks. If he did, I am sorry I never told him how sorry I was, how unworthy I was, how I regretted it.... How did the father get to work usually? A) By subway. B) By bus. C) By wheelchair. D) By bike
A
(Question)
Pacing and Pausing Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve's new wife, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn't hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing. Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there's no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I'm finished or fail to take your turn when I'm finished. That's what was happening with Betty and Sara. It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel. The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping . And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in -- and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up. That's why slight differences in conversational style -- tiny little things like microseconds of pause -- can have a great effect on one's life. The result in this cause was a judgment of psychological problems -- even in the mind of... What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her? A) Betty was talkative. B) Betty was an interrupter. C) Betty did not take her turn. D) Betty paid no attention to Sara.
(Answer)
C
Most children have heard their parents at one time or another yell "sit up straight!" or "don't slouch!" In the past, this was usually heard at the dinner table as children ate dinner. But these days, it is also heard around another activity-video games. Ten-year old Owaish Batliwala, from Mumbai, India, admits he spends three to four hours each day playing games on his tablet computer. His mother Mehzabin became concerned when her son started saying that his neck hurt. She said, "My son started having neck problems around June or July. The pain slowly spread to his hand and his back. He plays for hours on the iPad and mobile phone. This is what has caused the problem." Sadia Vanjara is a physical therapist. She says the number of young children with chronic pain in their necks, arms and shoulders is on the rise. Dr. Vanjara says the pain is not from aging, accidents or disease. It is from poor posture, or body position, while playing video games. "They are not aging, they haven't had an accident, their age is like, under 10, they are not complaining, the blood reports are fine, their x-rays are fine, their MRI's are fine, then where is the culprit ? And that is the very common thing that is happening amongst all children and that is smart phones and the gadgets ." This is a problem in many parts of the world. But there are more smartphone users in India than anywhere else in the world, except China. Networking equipment company Cisco estimates that the number of smartphone users in India will increase from 140 million today to 651 million by 2020. 19-year old student Nida Jameel says she feels pain in the finger which holds the weight of her smartphone most of the day. She says she uses her smartphone 24/7. This means 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or all the time. "As I use phone 24/7 (all day) like, so probably yeah, it was because of the phone, continuous usage and Snapchat, Whatsapp, more and more you know social media coming, so like phone is the center of everything." Dr. Vanjara says the best... Whatcaused Owaish Batliwala's neck to hurt _ ? A) Studyingtoohard B) Thebadbodyposition C) Playingthe iPad and mobile phone for hours D) Hismother'sconcern
C