Chinese people first encountered the term "empty nest" in a work of famous writer Bing Xin in 1980. In the past three decades, it has become a widespread social phenomenon. And with society and the economy developing at a faster pace, the condition of elderly couples has worsened.

Data shows that over half of the families in China are "empty nest" households, with the figure being as high as 70 percent in some big cities. There were 41.5 million "empty nest" old people aged 65 or above in 2010.Experts even say that "empty nest" families will become the major pattern in Chinese cities and rural areas, dealing a blow to the traditional family support system and requiring the government to take greater care of the material and spiritual needs of senior citizens and to provide them better psychological comfort, proper healthcare and legal aid.

After retirement, people tend to participate in fewer social activities, spending more time at home reading newspapers or watching television. "Empty nest" people, who are not taken proper care of by their children, are bound to feel lonely, and are usually unwilling to engage in recreational activities, which leads to psychological problems. A survey shows that over half of the "empty nest" old suffer from mental problems to different degrees. Loneliness, anxiety and depression are the most common.

Grown-up children are to take care of not only their parents, but also to respect their feelings, by having more heart-to-heart conversations with them. Family love plays an important role in providing mental comfort for the elderly. They should undertake the responsibility of visiting aged parents more often and making them feel wanted.

There is a lot more communities could do to help make senior citizens' life better. To begin with, they could recruit community volunteers, from warm-hearted university students to helpful and devoted middle-aged citizens.

Senior citizens, too, should make an effort to release tension and prepare for a happy life in their twilight years. They should change their mentality and try to be less emotionally dependent on their children, develop hobbies, extend their social circle, and set new goals to make the rest of their life more interesting. (362words)

49. Which of the following are true according to the passage?

A. The elderly take part in the social and entertainment activities actively nowadays.

B. More than half families in big cities are "empty nest".

C. Empty nest families have become the major pattern in China.

D. "Empty nest" people refer to people who are treated badly by their children

50. All of the solutions are mentioned except____________________

A. Children regularly pay a visit to their parents.

B. The local communities take measures to help the old.

C. The elderly should try to obtain employment after retirement.

D. The old should no longer totally depend on their children emotionally.

51. What does the underlined “recruit” mean?

   A. seek to employ    B. show support to      C. appreciate     D. claim

52. The writer writes the passage in order to _____________________

A. Display the happy life of the old in China

B. Compare the difference of life before retirement and after retirement

C. Show the seriousness of "empty nest" problems

D. Appeal to the whole society to take it seriously and try to solve it

Your children’s teacher will be providing extra time for test preparation. This school year’s test will be held on January 8 and 9. The test preparation time is open to all students, and we strongly encourage your children to attend.
This year we are changing the time for our test preparation: it will be on Thursday mornings from 8:10 to 8:50. This helps children who ride the bus and cannot stay for the after-school period. It also helps avoid conflicts with after-school activities.
Danielle and Marina will be working with the recent new test takers 6 days on the following Thursdays: 15^th, Nov; 29^th, Nov; 6^th, Dec; 13^th, Dec.; 20^th, Dec. and 3^rd, Jan.
Besides the test preparation lectures on these dates, teachers are already putting test preparation into their usual courses. We are finding that we can help our students to be both skillful and whole-hearted readers and test takers — after all, we all know that the best test preparation is good reading and writing training.
What can you do at home? Again, the best and most effective test preparation for the ELA test is reading and more reading. The research is quite clear — students who do well in the tests are those who are good readers. Reading not only builds reading ability, it also helps build confidence — important for successful test taking! But do discourage your children from spending too much time on books that are too hard or even a bit too hard. Children best develop comprehension skills when they are reading books just right for them (too easy doesn’t hurt here either).
Finally, on Friday, December 7, we will have a morning lecture on the ELA. Please pay attention!
【小题1】The text is mainly about ________.

A．how teachers will provide more time for test preparation

B．the reason why time for test preparation will be changed

C．how teachers have put test preparation into their usual courses

D．test preparation information that parents should know about

【小题2】The time for test preparation has been changed to _________.

A．make it more convenient for the students to attend

B．help the new test-takers have more time to read

C．avoid disagreement in time between different years of students

D．avoid conflicts between preparation time and the usual courses

【小题3】From the passage, we know that ________.

A．Danielle will help students prepare for different tests

B．the school year test will be on a Tuesday

C．all the children must take part in the test preparation

D．the students can learn how to write well in the test preparation

【小题4】 Parents should _____ at home.

A．prepare good meals for their children

B．read more books with their children

C．ask their children not to spend too much time on reading

D．encourage their children to read more books fit for them

【小题5】Why did the school encourage all the students to take part in the test preparation?

A．Test preparation is what they always do.

B．The students will learn what will be included in the final exam.

C．Test preparation helps students to be more interested in reading and confident.

D．The test is a long way off and there are better things to do.