Your peers are people your age or close to it who have experiences and interests similar to yours. You and your friends make dozens of decisions every day, and you influence each other’s choices and behavior. This is often ________ --- it’s human nature to listen to and learn from other people in your age group.

Sometimes, though, the stresses in your life can actually come from your peers. They may pressure you into doing something you’re uncomfortable with, such as shoplifting, doing drugs or drinking, or taking dangerous risks when driving a car.

The pressure to conform（随潮流） can be powerful and hard to resist. A person might feel pressure to do something just because others are doing it. Peer pressure can influence a person to do something that is relatively harmless--- or something that has more serious consequences.

People may feel pressure to conform, so they fit in or are accepted, or so they don’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. When people are unsure of what to do in a social situation, they naturally look to others for cues（暗示）about what is and isn’t acceptable.

The people who are most easily influenced will follow someone else’s lead first. Then others may go along, too --- so it can be easy to think, “It must be OK. Everyone else is doing it. They must know what they’re doing.” Before you know it, many people are going along with the crowd --- perhaps on something they might not otherwise do.

Responding to peer pressure is part of human nature --- but some people are more likely to give in, and others are better able to resist and stand their ground.

It’s not always easy to resist negative peer pressure. But when you do, it is easy to feel good about it afterwards. And you may even be a positive influence on your peers who feel the same way --- often it just takes one person to speak out or take a different action to change a situation.

1.Which of the following is a kind of peer pressure?

A.Your teachers give you a lot of homework.

B.Your parents expect high scores from you.

C.Your classmates persuade you to cut class.

D.Your relatives invite you to attend a party.

2.Which is most likely to be filled in the blank in Paragraph 1?

A.negative

B.impossible

C.positive

D.uncertain

3.Most people tend to do what others are doing in order to _________.

A.feel a sense of achievement

B.get a feeling of being accepted

C.set a good example for others

D.stand out in a crowd

4.What can we know according to the author?

A.Giving in to peer pressure is unavoidable.

B.Peer pressure usually leads to serious results.

C.Going along with the crowd usually means making a right choice.

D.Everyone can make a difference by resisting negative peer pressure.

5.This passage is mainly about _______.

A.thoughts on peer pressure

B.different types of peer pressure

C.ways to deal with peer pressure

D.the influence of peer pressure on people

 

 In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won’t necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same.

　　We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25% from 1929. But this doesn’t mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn’t afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone.

　　Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes.

　　After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book “The Unemployed Man and His Family”, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job “with tireless search for work.” He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do.

　　The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain. Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale(士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold.

　　Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment.

　　Today’s economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably(无法弥补地)ruined. So it’s only when the economy is healthy again that we’ll begin to see just how many broken families have been created.

1.In the initial stage, the current economic crisis is likely to __________.

A. tear many troubled families apart

B. bring about a drop in the divorce rate

C. contribute to enduring family ties

D. cause a lot of conflicts in the family

2.In the Great Depression many unhappy couples chose to stick together because_______.

A. starting a new family would be hard

B. they expected things would turn better

C. they wanted to better protect their kids

D. living separately would be too costly

3.In addition to job losses. What stands in the way of unhappy couples getting a divorce?

A. Mounting family debts

B. A sense of insecurity

C. Falling housing prices

D. Difficulty in getting a loan

4.What will the current economic crisis eventually do to some married couples?

A. It will irreparably damage their relationship

B. It will undermine their mutual understanding

C. It will help strengthen their emotional bonds

D. It will force them to pull their efforts together

5.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. The economic recovery will see a higher divorce rate

B. Few couples can stand the test of economic hardships

C. A stable family is the best protection against poverty.

D. Money is the foundation of many a happy marriage

 

From babies to body builders, we all have muscles. They grow, they bulge(鼓起), they stretch they stretch and sometimes they even painfully pull. But for all the work they do for us, we are still unable to crown one as "the strongest muscle."
Instead, a few muscles could claim the title, depending on how strength is measured.
If the title goes to the muscle that can exert(产生) the most force, the victor would be the soleus（小腿肚肌）, according to Gray's Anatomy（解剖学）. Without this muscle, we wouldn't be able to stand, walk, run or shake our bodies on the dance floor. If the soleus was not continuously pulling, we would always be falling over ourselves (although some of us tend to do that from time to time anyway).
But perhaps the title should go to the muscle that exerts the most pressure. Pressure is different from force — pressure takes into account the area over which a force is exerted. The muscle that takes the prize for delivering the greatest amount of pressure is the masseter, or the jaw muscle, according to the book "Clinical Oral Science" (Reed Educational and Professional Publishing, 1998).
In 1986, Richard Hofmann of Lake City, Fla., achieved a bite strength of 975 pounds (442 kilograms) for two seconds, setting a Guinness Record. Talk about jaw dropping! The jaw is able to clench（咬紧） and chew because of the masseter muscle.
Others may argue the muscles used in childbirth are the most powerful.
When it comes to versatility, perhaps the tongue is the strongest muscle. Its combination of elasticity（伸缩性） and forcefulness gives us the ability to speak, eat and kiss – all things very desirable on a first date. However dexterous（灵巧的） it may be though, its power does not match that of muscles such as the soleus.
If slow and steady wins the race, the heart is certainly a contender for the title. When it contracts, the muscle pumps about 2 ounces (59 milliliters) of blood, and is constantly working over a lifetime. Beating about 40 million times a year, a person's heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times by the time of their 70th birthday.
【小题1】According the passage, the underlined word “contender” in the last paragraph is closet in meaning to “          ”.

A．failure

B．partner

C．muscle

D．competitor

【小题2】Which would be t he best title for the passage?

A．What’s the strongest muscle in the human body?

B．who is the strongest person in the world?

C．What are the functions of different muscles?

D．What are the standards of the strongest muscle?

【小题3】According to the passage,       .

A．Without the soleus, we could still stand, walk, run or shake our bodies on the dance floor

B．a few muscles could be the winners, according to different measures

C．the muscles used in childbirth are the most powerful

D．tongue is the strongest muscle for delivering the greatest amount of pressure

【小题4】What would be discussed in the following paragraph?

A．Another possible strongest muscle.	B．the conclusion of the strongest muscle.
C．The functions of different muscles.	D．the Guinness record of strongest muscle.

 People who are confident really seem to be naturally outstanding and just seem to do everything with more style than others.    1.   It is a habit that everyone can develop in life. Try these simple tips to drill and build up your confidence:

1. Admit your shortcomings calmly.

Do not try to flee from them or cover them. Face them bravely.   2.    Fight against them every day until the day when you could break away and conquer them.

2. Dress for self-confidence.

     3.   And therefore pay attention to your dress, display your unique physical advantages and exhibit your best image. In addition, on formal occasions such as a business conference or a wedding ceremony, elegant dressing contributes to building your confidence.

3.   4.  

You should break your routine that deals with the work passively(被动地). Concentrate your efforts immediately on overcoming it, because it will make your restless mind at ease and build your self-confidence.

4. Be positive.

Feel pity neither on yourself nor on others. If you are used to hating and accusing yourself, others would tend to do that and believe it. Instead, you should speak positively about yourself, your progress, and your bright future.    5.

A. Your appearance could put you into embarrassment or increase your confidence.

B. Then talk about them to a reliable mate, a friend or a family member.

C. Actually, true self-confidence is neither born nor acquired overnight.

D. Build your confident vocabulary.

E. By doing so, you would encourage your growth in a positive direction.

F. Don’t put off what you eventually have to do.

G. Don’t judge a person by appearance.   

 

用括号中所给词语翻译下列句子，然后再用将这些句子连成一篇短文。

1．中国变得越来越富裕。(become) 

2．健康饮食成为一个非常流行的话题。(healthy eating，topic)

3．人们倾向于在贵的餐馆里吃饭。(tend to do sth.) 

4．他们会点不寻常的食物。他们认为有钱了，吃自己想吃的东西是完全合理的。(order，believe that，reasonable) 

5．然而，事实并非如此。(fact)

6．有些食物并不益于健康，并且过多食用某种食物会引起很多疾病。(be harmful to，cause)  7．所以，均衡饮食与良好的饮食习惯对我们有很多益处。(abalanced diet，benefit)