One of the most popular and enduring myths about depression is that depressed people are sad all the time--and that by extension, people who are happy can't be experiencing depression, even if they say they are. It is a mistaken version of depression. Depression doesn't make you sad all the time. When I'm having a depressive feeling, I'm not walking around in black clothes, and weeping. I go out with friends. I play jokes. I keep working, and have friendly chats with the people I work with. I read books. Above all, I experience moments of happiness. Yet I feel a strange conflicting pressure. On the one hand, I feel like I need to engage in a sort of sadness for people to understand that I really am depressed and that each day is a struggle for me. Because that way I will appear suitably sad, and thus, depressed--and then maybe people will recognize that I'm depressed and perhaps they'll even offer support and assistance. On the other hand, I feel an extreme pressure to perform just the opposite, because sad depressed people are boring and no fun, as I am continually reminded every time I speak openly about depression or express feelings of sadness and frustration. I'm caught in a trap where if I don't perform sadness, I'm not really depressed, but if I express sadness at all to any degree, I'm annoying and boring and should stop being so self-centered. Depression can become your master, but you can slip out from under it occasionally. And many depressed people don't actually spend it fainting dramatically on the couch and talking about how miserable they are. What's the writer's attitude to being sad and depressed? A) Positive. B) Negative. C) Indifferent. D) Cold.
B
Mr. Harris used to work in Dover, but then he changed his work, and he and his wife moved to another town. They did not have many friends there, but they soon met a lot of interesting people, and after a few weeks, they often went to dinner or to parties at other people's houses. Then Mrs. Harris said to her husband, "We've been to a lot of other people's houses, and now we must invite them to our house, mustn't we?" "Yes, certainly," answered her husband, "A big party will be the easiest thing, won't it? Then we can start to invite people to dinner in small numbers next month." So Mrs. Harris said, "Yes, I'll invite all our friends here to a big party on 5th December." "How many will that be?" Mr. Harris asked. "Don't invite too many." Mrs. Harris was beginning to write the invitations when her husband saw that she was writing, "Party. 6.30 to 8.30 p.m." "That isn't very nice, is it?" he said. "You're telling our guests that they must go at 8.30." So Mrs. Harris just wrote "Party. 6.30 p.m." A lot of guests came, and they all had a good time, so they did not go home at 8.30. In fact they were still there at mid-night when the door bell rang and a policeman arrived. He said, "You must stop making a noise, because someone has complained." Mr. Harris said he did not want to quarrel with the policeman, so everyone went home. They were sorry to have to go. When Mr. and Mrs. Harris were alone again, she said to him. "That was a surprise, wasn't it? Who complained about the noise?" "I did," Mr Harris answered in a tired voice. What made Mr. and Mrs. Harris hold a party at their house? A) It was easy to hold a big party at home. B) They could ask people to dinner in small numbers. C) They had gone to other people's parties many times. D) They liked making friends with others.
C
Q: China has announced it's abolishing its one-child policy. What difference has it made, statistically speaking? 400 million births prevented The one-child policy, officially in place since 1979, has prevented 400 million births. Parents have faced fines and other punishments for having more children. The majority of the decrease in China's fertility rate happened in the 1970s. It dropped from 5.8 children per woman in 1970 to 2.7 in 1978. Despite the one-child policy the rate had only fallen to 1.7 by 2013. 21:28-baby deaths rate Since the one-child policy was introduced, baby girls have become more likely to die than boys. In the 1970s, according to the United Nations, 60 males per 1, 000 live births died under the age of one. For girls the figure was 53. In the 1980s, after the one-child policy became official, the rate for both was 36. By the 1990s, 26 males per 1,000 live births died before the age of one - and 33 girls. The 2000s saw 21 boys per 1,000 live births dying and 28 girls. 1.16 boys born for every girl Sexually selective abortions have been considered as a major cause of China's unusual imbalance. Gietel-Basten, associate professor in social policy at Oxford University, says the births of many girls are not registered if parents have broken the rule by having two children, adding officials often turn a blind eye. It's estimated there are now 33 million more men than women in China. 4: 2: 1 families With the ageing of China's population and the continuation of the one-child policy, a "4: 2 :1" home is the description given to households in which there are four grandparent, cared for by two working age parents, who themselves have one child. By 2050, it's predicted that a quarter of China's population will be 65 or older. The predicted decline in the number of people of working age is thought to have persuaded the government to drop the one-child policy. The passage sums up the one child policy by _ . A) number B) example C) contrast D) analysis
A: A
Q: The world's oldest person, Ms. Baines, died. She celebrated her 115th birthday with congratulations from Barack Obama, President of the United States. Over her life she lived through the terms of 21 US presidents. Gertrude Baines passed away peacefully in her sleep at the Western Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had lived for her last ten years. Emma Camanag , the hospital's leader ,said she was a respectable lady. "It is really an honor for the hospital to take care of her over the last 10 years and we will greatly miss her. It is just like we have lost a relative ," said Emma. Ms. Baines, who was born in Shellman, Georgia, in 1894, had no living relatives. She grew up in the southern US during difficult times. During that time, African American people were required to use separate, often poor, public services. She married young and later divorced . Her only child, a daughter, was born in 1909 and died of a terrible disease at the age of 18. Ms. Baines worked as a maid in Ohio before moving to Los Angeles where she lived on her own until she was well over 100. She once told an interviewer , "As for the secrets of long life, I do not have any disappointments in my own life." She gained some fame when she voted for Mr. Obama in the US presidential election , saying she supported him "because he's for the colored people". It was only the second time in her life she had voted, the first time being for John F. Kennedy. Ms. Baines became the world's oldest person in January. Japanese woman, Kama Chien, 114, has now taken over the title. The passage is mainly about _ . A) the world's oldest person, Ms. Baines B) why Ms. Baines voted for Mr. Obama C) how Ms. Baines lived for so long D) Ms. Baines and President Obama
A: A