“I’d be better off dead.” he said, without any hesitation. Hearing those words come out of my best friend’s mouth tore my heart apart. He has repeated that phrase more than once, and my mind continually plays it over like a voice recording.

    I met him about three years ago. After knowing me for six months, he told me about his struggles with depression. Sadness was not the only feeling that came over me; I was shocked. He seemed so outgoing and happy all the time. I soon learned that he was hurt physically and mentally as a young child, causing him to have the thought of killing himself.

    He refuses to talk to others about his depression because he now distrusts adults, especially those in his family. However, he feels as if I understand him and that I know the right words to speak. Therefore, when it comes to helping him, convenience is not in my vocabulary. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing, for he always comes first.

    Many students at his school laugh at him when they notice scars on his arms from cutting. As he sees it, other kids have every right to make fun of him. But no one holds such a right, so I encourage him to ignore the heartless kids who treat him badly. When he feels the weight of judging eyes or hateful voices, I always remind him that I care about him unconditionally. Just hearing me say I will always be his best friend seems to give him the safety he needs to keep on going.

My best friend once told me that if he had not had me, he would not be alive. He said that my encouraging words helped him not to take his life. Our friendship has taught me that a single kind word can influence someone’s life. Life is not easy for every one, which makes me strongly believe in the necessity of encouragement.

56. According to the first paragraph, hearing his friend’s words, the author felt______.

57. By saying “convenience is not in my vocabulary”, the author means ______.

   A. he is always ready to help his friend

   B. he hardly spares time to help his friend

   C. he has no good excuse for refusing his friend

   D. he is not good at communicating with his friend

58. The author’s friend got into depression mainly because __________.

59. What is the best title for the passage?

The city can seem a cold, mean place. In the middle of so many people hurrying about their own business, a person can feel alone among the millions of others.

    There is a popular view that in cities, strangers are less likely to help an elderly person cross a street or call the police when they see a bike being stolen. Recently, a New Yorker named Casey Neistat did an experiment. He chained up his bike in several public places, then "stole" it in a number of obvious ways, such as using a hacksaw (钢锯). He filmed everything to see whether other New Yorkers would try to stop a shameless bike theft. The result? People just walked on by.

    Is this evidence of an immoral, selfish urban society? Not necessarily. According to another recent study, the way city people mind their own business is about other factors besides morality (道德).

This is called the Bystander Effect, the theory that city people do not react because of the urban enviromnent they live in.

Psychologist Dr. Harold explained why people did not involve themselves in Neistat's bike theft experiment with the Bystander Effect.

    First, people who live in cities are surrounded by so much activity that they stop noticing what is going on around them. Second, they are less easy to surprise and assume every activity has a logical explanation.

    "The third is that people notice it, but they don't know what to do," he continued. "And the fourth is fear — they know they should do something, but they're afraid to challenge someone with a hacksaw."

A lack of concern is only a small reason why people don't take action, concludes Dr. Harold.

     Despite the results of Neistat's experiment, there is also evidence of a sense of team spirit that connects people in cities. All it takes is a funny joke or a shared interest to start a conversation with someone at a bus stop. When city folk are in trouble, they come together for support — famously in New York on September 11, 2001.

City society is different, but that doesn't mean it's cold or mean — it just means it's busy!

1.Casey Neistat fihned everything in the experiment with the purpose of        .

    A. proving that he was not the thief

    B. telling people that bike theft was immoral

    C. finding out who had a sense of right and wrong

    D. making his experiment well-known to the public

2.We can infer from the third paragraph that morality       .

    A. can partly explain a selfish urban society

    B. is what our society should pay special attention to

    C. is the only factor that leads to a selfish urban society

    D. is the root of the Bystander Effect mentioned in the passage

3.The underlined part September 11, 2001 in Paragraph 9 serves as       .

    A. a reminder of the sad memories

    B. a way to prove Dr Harold's Bystander effect

    C. evidence that city life can be really dangerous

    D. an example to show team spirit connecting city people

4.As can be inferred from the passage, the writer probably       .

    A. criticizes the loss of morality in urban society

    B. feels sad about the result of Neistat's experiment

    C. thinks city people are too busy to care about others

D. disagrees that city life sometimes can be cold and mean

“It hurts me more than you”, and “This is for your own good” —these are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.

That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school. The schools and the educators made it easy for us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.

Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Clomps who says of her students—“so passive” —and wonders what has happened. Nothing is demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Clomps, contributes to children’s passivity. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ vet never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them, instead of saying ‘go and look it up’, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say no to a kid.”

Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It’ s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’ s for their own good. It’s s time to start telling them no again.

Children are becoming more inactive in study because _______.

A. they watch TV too often   B. they have done too much homework

C. they have to fulfill too many duties  D. teachers are too strict with them

We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to lay emphasis on _______.

A. learning Latin    B. discipline

C. natural development    D. education at school

By “permissive period in education” (L.1, Para.2) the author means a time _______.

A. when children are allowed to do what they wish to

B. when everything can be taught at school

C. when every child can be educated

D. when children are permitted to receive education

The main idea of the passage is that _______.

A. parents should leave their children alone

B. kids should have more activities at school

C. it’s time to be more strict with our kids

D. parents should always set a good example to their kids

 “It hurts me more than you”, and “This is for your own good” —these are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.

That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school. The schools and the educators made it easy for us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.

Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Clomps who says of her students—“so passive” —and wonders what has happened. Nothing is demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Clomps, contributes to children’s passivity. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ vet never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them, instead of saying ‘go and look it up’, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say no to a kid.”

Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It’ s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’ s for their own good. It’s s time to start telling them no again.

Children are becoming more inactive in study because _______.

A. they watch TV too often   B. they have done too much homework

C. they have to fulfill too many duties  D. teachers are too strict with them

We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to lay emphasis on _______.

A. learning Latin    B. discipline

C. natural development    D. education at school

By “permissive period in education” (L.1, Para.2) the author means a time _______.

A. when children are allowed to do what they wish to

B. when everything can be taught at school

C. when every child can be educated

D. when children are permitted to receive education

The main idea of the passage is that _______.

A. parents should leave their children alone

B. kids should have more activities at school

C. it’s time to be more strict with our kids

D. parents should always set a good example to their kids