Chinese are very generous (慷慨) when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is.  However what most parents fail to realize is that today's children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Cooking demands (要求)patience and time.  A good cook always tries to improve his cooking. so he will learn to work hard and gradually(逐渐), finish his job successfully.  His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up.  These activities are not merely   teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
【小题1】Parents in China, according to this passage,_______.

One Sunday morning Mr Green and his child , Bill ,are in a big shop . Mr Green wants to

buy a new blouse for Mrs Green . Bill likes oranges , so his father buys two kilos(公斤)of

oranges for him , too . Bill wants to buy some picture—books and colour pencils , too . There

are many people in the shop . They are men and women , old and young . They all want to buy

something there .

 1.Mr Green goes to the shop with ___.

    A．Mrs green　　　B．his son 　　C．his daughter　　D．his father

 2.Mr Green wants to buy a new blouse for ___.

　    A．Bill’s mother 　　B．Bill 　　C．his friend 　　D．other people

 3.Bill likes ___.

    A．all the things 　　B．the new blouse 　　C．oranges 　　D．orange

 4.Bill wants to buy ___.

    A．some picture—books  B．some colour pencils  C．clothes in the shop  D．A and B

 5.The shop is ___.

    A．empty 　　B．close 　　C．full of children 　　D．full of people

You can easily find that your sister or brother is different from you. You live together in the same house and have the same parents, but you have different personalities(性格).
Why? One possible reason is the way your parents treat you.
Firstborn children receive all the attention from their parents. Generally speaking, a firstborn has twice as many photos as any other child has. Parents usually give firstborns more responsibilities (责任)and depend on them to take care of younger brothers and sisters. As a result, firstborns are often responsible, hard-working, and serious. They often want to do well at school and in work. More firstborns became American Presidents, for example George W.Bush, George Washington and Lyndon Baines Johnson, than second or last-borns.
When a second child arrives, parents are more relaxed. The second child has to compete (竞争)with the first-born for parents’ attention and love. These children often choose different sports and hobbies to develop different personalities. They are often outgoing, but can be jealous and get angry easily.
The youngest child is usually the happiest, and has fewer responsibilities and more freedom(自由的). These children do well at school and in work, but have to be creative（创造性的） to get their family’s attention. They are often friendly and cool. Many famous talk-show hosts were born last.
【小题1】The underlined word “jealous” means_______ in Chinese
A. 友好的             B. 嫉妒的            C. 快乐的
【小题2】The writer thinks that the second-born children are often ______.
A. outgoing but jealous
B. cool and friendly
C. hard-working and serious
【小题3】. ______ is usually the happiest in the family according to the passage.
A. The eldest child
B. The second child
C. The youngest child
【小题4】 We can learn from the passage that ______.
A. the second child is very similar to the firstborn child
B. brothers and sisters usually have the same personalities
C. more firstborns became American presidents than second or last-borns
【小题5】 The passage is mainly about ______.
A. birth order and personalities
B. children and their parents
C. different children and different work