A. Set a Good Example for Your Kids

B. Build Your Kids’ Work Skills

C. Place Time Limits on Leisure Activities

D. Talk about the Future on a Regular Basis

E. Help Kids Develop Strategies of dealing with different things

F. Help Your Kids Figure Out Who They Are

G. Build Your Kids’ Sense of Responsibility

How Can a Parent Help?

Mothers and fathers can do a lot to ensure a safe landing in early adulthood for their kids. Even if a job’s starting salary seems too small to satisfy an emerging adult’s need for rapid content, the transition from school to work can be less of a setback if the start-up adult is ready for the move. Here are a few measures, drawn from my book Ready or Not, Here Life Comes, which parents can take to prevent what I call “work-life unreadiness.”

1._________You can start this process when they are 11 or 12. Regularly review their emerging strengths and weaknesses with them and work together on any shortcomings, like difficulty in communicating well or cooperating. Also, identify the kinds of interests they keep coming back to, as these offer clues to the careers that will fit them best.

2.________Kids need a range of real role models. Have regular dinner-table discussions about people the family knows and how they got where they are. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of your own career and encourage your kids to form some ideas about their own future. When asked what they want to do, they should be discouraged from saying “I have no idea.” They can change their minds 200 times, but having only a foggy view of the future is of little good.

3._______Teachers are responsible for teaching kids how to learn; parents should be responsible for teaching them how to work. Assign responsibilities around the house and make sure homework deadlines are met. Encourage teenagers to take a part-time job. Kids need plenty of practice developing effective organizational skills, such as managing time and setting priorities(优先).

4._________Playing video games encourages immediate content（满足）. And hours of watching TV shows with canned laughter only teaches kids to process information in a passive way. At the same time, listening through earphones to the songs for a long time encourages kids to stay inside instead of participating in other outdoor activities. All these activities can prevent the growth of children’s communication and thinking skills and make it difficult for kids to develop the kind of sustained (持续的) concentration they will need for most jobs.

5._________They should know how to deal with setbacks, stresses and feelings of inadequacy. They should also learn how to solve problems and resolve conflicts, ways to brainstorm and think critically. Discussions at home can help kids practice doing these things and help them apply these skills to everyday life situations.

What about the son or daughter who is grown but seems to be struggling and wandering aimlessly through early adulthood? Parents still have a major role to play, but now it is more delicate. Most of all, these new adults must feel that they are respected and supported by a family that appreciates them.

 

A new study suggests that the round-the-clock availability that cell phones have brought to people’s lives may take a toll on family life. The study，which followed more than 1,300 adults over 2 years, found that those who consistently used a mobile phone throughout the study period were more likely to report negative “spillover” between work and home life—and，in turn，less satisfaction with their family life.

Spillover essentially(本质上)means that the line between work and home begins to become unclear. Work life may invade home life when a parent is taking job related calls at home，for instance—or family issues may start to take up work time. For example，a child may call mum at work，telling her “microwave exploded”，explained Noelle Chesley，an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the author of the study. The problem with cell phones seems to be that they are allowing for even more spillover between work and home.

This may be especially true for working women，the study found. Among men，consistent use of mobile phones seemed to allow more work issues to creep (潜入)into family time. But for women，the spillover tended to go in both directions. Being “connected” meant that work cut into home time，and family issues came into work life.

Cell phones seem to be opening more lines for stressful exchanges among family members. But there may be ways to control the spillover，according to Chesley. Employers, she said，could look at their policies on contacting employees after hours to make sure their expectations are “reasonable”．For their part，employees could decide that cell phones go off during family time, Chesley said.

67. What does the underlined phrase “take a toll on” probably mean in Paragraph 1?

A. Explaining. 　 B. Founding.　　 C. Extending 　　D. Damaging.

68. According to Chesley，what is the best solution to the problem caused by cell phones?

A Separate work hours from family time.

B. Refuse to use cell phones.

C. Ignore coming calls during family time.

D. Encourage women to stay at home.

69. We can learn from the passage that ________.

A. cell phones affect men as much as women

B. cell phones seem to be convenient to families

C. cell phones make the line between work and home unclear

D. we can do nothing to solve the problem

70. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. How to control the negative spillover caused by cell phones.

B. How work life invades home life.

C. Consistent use of cell phones makes people feel less satisfied with their work.

D. Cell phones cause negative “spillover” between work life and home life.

  The Price of a Dream

      I grew up poor—living with my wonderful mother. We had little money, but plenty of love and attention. I was  1  and energetic. I understood that  2   poor a person was, he could still afford a dream.

       My dream was  3  . By the time I was sixteen, I started playing baseball. I could throw a ninety-mile-per-hour fastball and  4  anything that moved on the football field. I was also

  5  : My high school coach was John, who not only believed in me, but also taught me  6  

to believe in myself. He  7  me the difference between having a dream and remaining true to that dream. One particular  8  with Coach John changed my life forever.

       A friend recommended me for a summer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket money for a new bike, new clothes and the  9  of saving for a house for my mother. Then I realized I would have to  10  summer baseball to handle the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell John I wouldn’t be playing.

When I told John, he was  11  as I expected him to be. “You have your whole life to work,” he said. “Your  12  days are limited. You can’t afford to waste them.” I stood before him with my head  13  , trying to think of the  14  that would explain to him why my dream of buying my mom a house and having money in my pocket was worth facing his  15  in me.

       “How much are you going to make at this job, son?” he asked. “3.5 dollars an hour,” I replied.

“Well,” he asked, “is $3.5 an hour the price of a dream?”

       That simple question made me   16  the difference between  17  something right now and having a  18  . I decided myself to play sports that summer and within the year I was  19  by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play baseball, and was  20  a $20,000 contact agreement. In the same year, I bought my mother the house of my dream!

1．A．happy                   B．popular                C．famous               D．honest

2．A．no matter what      B．no matter how     C．whatever             D．whichever

3．A．athletics               B．music                  C．business              D．money

4．A．kick                     B．play                    C．pass                    D．hit

5．A．right                     B．shy                     C．lucky                  D．confident

6．A．how                     B．why                    C．when                  D．whether

7．A．gave                     B．taught                 C．brought               D．asked

8．A．accident                B．interview             C．problem              D．experience

9．A．view                     B．idea                     C．start                    D．purpose

10．A．keep up               B．take out               C．give up                D．pick out

11．A．mad                    B．helpful                 C．frightened            D．shameful

12．A．living                  B．playing                C．working              D．studying

13．A．moving               B．nodding               C．shaking               D．hanging

14．A．questions             B．choices               C．words                 D．ways

15．A．sadness               B．regret                  C．hopelessness        D．disappointment

16．A．confuse               B．understand           C．doubt                  D．puzzle

17．A．wanting               B．changing             C．dreaming             D．enjoying

18．A．baseball               B．goal                    C．score                  D．house

19．A．fired                   B．helped                 C．watched              D．hired

20．A．paid                    B．got                      C．offered                D．presented

Have you ever seen a movie in which a building was burned down or a bridge was destroyed? Have you seen films in which a train crashed or a ship sank into the ocean? If so, you may have wondered now these things could happen without harming the people in the film. The man who knows the answer is the "special-effects" man. He has one of the most important jobs in the film industry. He may be ordered to create a flood or made a battlefield explode. And he may also be asked to create a special effect which is much less exciting, though just as important to the success of the film. In a scene for one movie there was a big glass box filled with water in which small fish were swimming. The director of the movie wanted the fish to stop swimming suddenly while they seemed to stare at an actor. Then the director wanted the fish to stop staring and swim away. But fish can't be ordered to do anything. It was quite a problem. The special-effects man thought about this problem for a long time. Then there occurred an idea for controlling the fish with a harmless use of electricity. First he used electricity to the fish bowl, causing the fish to be completely still. Then he rapidly reduced the amount of electricity, allowing the fish to swim away. Thus he got the humorous effect that the director wanted. 1. In movie making, a special-effects man ________ . A. Does the most important job B. always creates exciting effects C. finds ways to create something untrue D. cheats the audience in a special way 2. The example in the passage tells us that ________ . A. the movie is on how fish live in a big glass box B. something happened between the fish and an actor C. a special-effects man makes the fish move actively D. it takes a special-effects man a long time to work out a scene 3. In order to make the scene real, a simple action in a movie is probably ________ . A. of great expense B. the success of the film C. formed by chance D. hard to work out