In any family with more than one child, chidren seem to naturally compete for their parents’ love and attention. Parents say they love every child equally. But is that true?

       Susan, founder of a consulting firm in Chicago, interviewed 216 women and found that even though none of her questions asked directly about a parent favoring one child over another, about two-thirds of the women said there was a favored child. And they also remembered their experience when they were young. One of the women said, “My mother always liked my brother better, and he got to go to summer camp in 1968 and I didn’t.”

       Plumez, who interviewed parents with both biological children and adoptive children for an adoption book in 2008, found that what matters most is whether your temperaments(性情) are pleasing. “In some cases, parents would say they felt closer to their adopted children,” she says, “Some parents like the children with characters similar to theirs. Two people who are shy and withdrawn might get along well, unless the shy parent doesn’t like that aspect of themselves and they try to push the naturally withdrawn child to be more extroverted.”

       It could be a result of gender, birth order or how easy or difficult a child’s temperament may be, but a parent’s different treatment has far-reaching effects. Students have found that less-favored children may suffer emotionally, with decreased self-esteem and behavioral problems in childhood. Favoritism is a reason for the next generation not to like each other.

       Experts say it is not realistic to say everyone should be treated equally, because no two people are the same and they relate differently to others.

       “It does not mean that parent loves or likes one child more. It has to do with which one of them is independent,” says psychologist Laurie Kramer of the University of Illinois.

The study carried out by Susan shows that ______.

       A. showing favoritism is common in many families

       B. most mothers like their sons better than their daughters

       C. only two-thirds of the women interviewed have more than a child

       D. it is a favoritism that leads to absence of harmony in most families

The underlined word “extroverted” in the third paragraph means _______.

       A. independent              B. outgoing           C. clever               D. brave

What can we infer from the passage?

       A. Favoritism is not beneficial to the development of children

       B. Parents’ favoritism to a certain child can’t be avoided in families

       C. Parents may be favoring one of their children and don’t realize it

       D. People are very much shaped by how they were treated by their parents

What is the best title for the passage?

       A. Parents’ favoritism can affect children deeply

       B. Why do parents show favoritism to children?

       C. Parents should give attention to all their children

       D. Building a harmonious family is important to children

After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be diplomatic, so mostly I just lied a lot to appear to be skilled at dealing with people. At least I never needed the map.

One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between our heights. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she gossiped about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up.

We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them. They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me. The boy from English, Eric, waved at me from across the room.

It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't staring at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an over interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught and held my attention.

I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all extremely, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine, or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful -- maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze-haired boy.

What does the underlined word “diplomatic” mean?

       A. smooth                    B. clever                      C. honest                      D. delight

From the passage, we can infer that _______________.

       A. “I” was really liking the new place.

       B. “I” was not interested in what the girl said.

       C. “I” had a bad memory, so it’s hard to remember names.

       D. “I” was good at making friends.

According to the last two paragraphs, why did “they” catch “my” attention?

       A. Because “they” weren’t talking.

       B. Because “they” sat in the corner.

       C. Because “they” didn’t eat the food.

D. Because “they” looked incredibly beautiful.

According to the passage, which statement is NOT true?

       A. The girl walked with “me” was a little short.

       B. “I” saw the five students for the first time.

       C. Those students sitting in the corner had finished their food.

       D. “I” probably wanted to know more about those five students.

Our boat floated on between walls of forest. It was too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains. Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed: where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us form going ashore. In any case, what would we have gained by landing? The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way. So we stayed in the boat, hoping that when we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization.

As for water, there was a choice. We could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst. We drank the water. Men who have just escaped from what appeared to be certain death lost all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water. In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result.

One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us. We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time: we might not be so lucky as to escape in a stolen boat again.

It can be inferred from the passage that the only thing they could see in a boat was _______.     

A. walls  B. chains of hills           C. tall trees            D. vast land

From the passage, we can learn that _______.

A. the country was a civilized society       B. the country was a tropical jungle country

C. they found a place where they could land  D. they were on a journey home

According to the passage, what happened to the people in the boat at last?

 A. They were arrested.                             B. They managed to escape to safety.

 C. They were saved by some villagers              D. The passage doesn’t mention it.

The best title for this passage might be _______.

 A. The Problem of Landing                    B. An Adventure

 C. An Entirely New Experience              D. Escape

We often hear people talking about a generation gap (代沟). The name is new,but the idea is old. Young people and their parents don’t understand each other. The world has always kept changing. During the second century after Christ a wise man said, “Bury me on my face because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.”  There has always been a gap between generations, but more people talk about it now. Old Mr. Ellis thinks he understands what has happened. “When I was a boy, I thought the world was a beautiful place. My life was very pleasant. But when I was older, I learned about people who were treated badly, people who didn’t have enough to eat. I wanted to help them, and I married a girl who wanted to help them, too. We went to meetings and talked a lot, but it didn’t seem to make much difference. ”“Our children grew up in a world at war. They didn’t know when the fighting would stop. They wanted their children to have nice clothes and toys. They didn’t want to think about the future. They thought nothing could be done about it.” “Now I have grandchildren, and they have their own ideas. They are trying to make the world better. They are trying to help other people. They’re making people listen to them. I am proud of their generation.”

1. The wise man mentioned in the text told people to bury him on his face so   that when everything is turned upside down he will _____.

A. lie on his stomach       B. lie on his back

C. stand quietly           D. sit in peace

2.Which generation did NOT want to do anything to make the world a better one?

A. Mr. Ellis’ generation             B. His children’s generation

C. His grandchildren’s generation     D. None of the above.

3. What is the writer’s attitude towards the generation gap?

A. Unacceptable. B. Awful.  C. Funny. D. Common.

—Which of the two computer games did you prefer?

—Actually I didn’t like _________. 

A. both of them     B. either of them

C. none of them     D. neither of them