The Best of Friends

The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image(印象)of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past.” We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seen to be about their families,” said one member of the research team.” They’re expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”

So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends.” My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall. ”I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21,agrees.”Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenagers rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments,” Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”

What is the popular images of teenagers today?

A. They worry about school

B. They dislike living with their parents

C. They have to be locked in to avoid troubles

D. They quarrel a lot with other family members

The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ___

A. share family responsibility      B. cause trouble in their families

C. go boating with their family     D. make family decisions

Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents___.

A. go to clubs more often with their children 

B. are much stricter with their children

C. care less about their children’s life      

D. give their children more freedom

According to the authour,teenage rebellion____.

A. may be a false belief            B. is common nowadays

C. existed only in the 1960s         D. resulted from changes in families

What is the passage mainly about?

A. Negotiation in family         B. Education in family

C. Harmony in family           D. Teenage trouble in family

They like using the Internet．They have lots of pocket money to spend．And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us．Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy－games, CDs and clothing－are easily sold on the Web.
But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards．Most have to use a parent’s card．They want a facility that allows them to spend money.
That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic．If successful, these products can stimulate online sales.
In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK．Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK．According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.
In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children．Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street．They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.
One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercast is through prepaid cards such as Internet Cash in the US and Smart cards in the UK．Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.
【小题1】What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Sellers.

B．Buyers.

C．Teenagers.

D．Parents.

【小题2】According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access．

B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards.

C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online.

D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop.

【小题3】A new way to help teenagers shop online is to use ______.

A．a new machine	B．special coins and notes
C．prepaid cards	D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones

【小题4】What is the passage mainly about?

A．Online shopping traps.	B．Internet users in the US and the UK.
C．New credit cards for parents.	D．The arrival of cyber pocket money.

They like using the Internet. They have lots of pocket money to spend. And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us. Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy----games, CDs and clothing----are easily sold on the Web.

But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit(信用) cards. Most have to use a parent’s card. They want a facility that allows them to spend money.

That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. If successful, these products can stimulate(刺激) online sales.

In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK. Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK. According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.

In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children. Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street. They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.

One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercash is through prepaid cards such as InternetCash in the US and Smart cards in the UK. Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a hidden 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.

1.What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Sellers.           B．Buyers.           C．Teenagers.         D．Parents.

2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access.

B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards.

C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online.

D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop.

3.A new way to help teenagers shop online is to use ______.

A．a new machine     B．prepaid cards      C．special coins and notes    D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A．Online shopping traps.                   B．Internet users in the US and the UK.

C．New credit cards for parents.              D．The arrival of cyber pocket money.

 

With fears of a possible nuclear meltdown(核反应堆堆芯的熔毁) in Japan building up, evidence has come to light that the nation received warnings over the stability of its power plants from an international watchdog more than two years ago.

　　As the Telegraph is reporting, an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in December 2008 that safety rules were out of date, and strong earthquakes would cause a “serious problem” for the power stations.

　　A U.S. embassy document, by quoting（引用）an unnamed expert, states: “He (the IAEA official) explained that safety guides for earthquakes have only been updated three times in the last 35 years and that the IAEA is now re-examining them. Also, the presenter noted recent earthquakes in some cases have gone beyond the design basis for some nuclear plants, and that this is a serious problem that is now driving earthquake safety work.”

　　The Telegraph also reports that the government responded to the warnings by building an emergency response center at the Fukushima Daiichi plant designed to resist magnitude-7.0 earthquakes. Friday's earthquake, originally named a magnitude-8.9 shock, has since been upgraded to magnitude-9.0.

　　Other nuclear experts state IAEA officials had willingly ignored lessons from the Chernobyl disaster to protect the nuclear industry's expansion, reports Bloomberg. “After Chernobyl, all the force of the nuclear industry was directed to hide this event, for not creating damage to their reputation,”Russian nuclear accident specialist Iouli Andreyev tells Reuters, before noting that radiation from spent fuel rods（棒）stored close to reactors at Fukushima looked like an example of putting profit before safety. “The Japanese were very greedy, and they used every square inch of the space. But when you have a dense(密集的) placing of spent fuel in the basin, you have a high possibility of fire if the water is removed from the basin.”

1. From the passage, we know that ____________.

A. people fear that the nuclear meltdown will possibly become more and more serious in Japan

B. people are becoming more and more afraid of a possible nuclear meltdown in Japan

C. Japan made no response to the warnings over the safety of its power plants

D. Iouli Andreyev warned Japan not to store spent fuel rods close to reactors

2. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Japan was warned of the stability of its power plants when they were built over 2 years ago.

B. Safety guides for earthquakes should be updated three times in 35 years.

C. The emergency response centre at the Fukushima Daiichi plant can not resist Friday’s  

     earthquake.

D. IAEA officials advised Japan to ignore lessons from the Chernobyl disaster.

3. IAEA officials were willing to ignore lessons from the Chernobyl disaster because they want ________.

A. to put profit before safety.         B. the nuclear industry to develop

   C. to protect the reputation of Japan        D. every inch of land to be made good use of

4.The writer develops this passage mainly by__________.

A. making comments              B. providing facts

C. quoting what experts say             D. analysing what happened

 

 

They like using the Internet．They have lots of pocket money to spend．And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us．Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy－games, CDs and clothing－are easily sold on the Web.

But paying online is a tricky business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards．Most have to use a parent’s card．They want a facility that allows them to spend money.

That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic．If successful, these products can stimulate online sales.

In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK．Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK．According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.

In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children．Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing on the high street．They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.

One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercast is through prepaid cards such as Internet Cash in the US and Smart cards in the UK．Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.

What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?

       A．Sellers.     B．Buyers.     C．Teenagers.       D．Parents.

According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

       A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access．

       B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards.

       C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online.

       D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop.

A new way to help teenagers shop online is to use ______.

       A．a new machine B．special coins and notes

       C．prepaid cards    D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones

What is the passage mainly about?

       A．Online shopping traps.        B．Internet users in the US and the UK.

       C．New credit cards for parents.  D．The arrival of cyber pocket money.