grows up in a different family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely
different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until
the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up
too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a
family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father.
Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others" lives.
Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The
reason for this might be that the later children aren"t getting the same one-on-one time with parents. But
that doesn"t mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later-borns don"t
enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between "I"
and "me".
A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that
helped them grow socially. Love-hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.
One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are
typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their
differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper
studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained from their
parents.
B. in a different family tradition
C. in different family crises
D. in different families
B. learn a lot from their elder siblings
C. experience a lot of difficulties
D. pick up words more quickly
B. Siblings in some families fought frequently.
C. Sibling fights led to bad sibling relationships.
D. Siblings learned to get on together from fights.
B. having qualities of women
C. having defensive qualities
D. having extraordinary qualities
jump out of bed, rush into the shower, into your clothes and out the door with hardly a moment to think.
A stressful journey to work gets your blood pressure climbing. Once at the office, you glance through the
newspaper with depressing stories or reports of disasters. In that sort of mood, who can get down to
work, particularly some creative, original problem-solving work?
The way most of us spend our mornings is exactly opposite to the conditions that promote flexible,
open-minded thinking. Imaginative ideas are most likely to come to us when we"re unfocused. If you are
one of those energetic morning people, your most inventive time comes in the early evening when you are
relaxed. Sleepy people"s lack of focus leads to an increase in creative problem solving. By not giving
yourself time to tune into your wandering mind, you"re missing out on the surprising solutions it may offer.
The trip you take to work doesn"t help, either. The stress slows down the speed with which signals
travel between neurons (神经细胞), making inspirations less likely to occur. And while we all should
read a lot about what"s going on in the world, it would not make you feel good for sure, so put that news
website or newspaper aside until after the day"s work is done.
So what would our mornings look like if we wanted to start them with a full capacity for creative
problem solving? We"d set the alarm a few minutes early and lie awake in bed, following our thoughts
where they lead. We"d stand a little longer under the warm water of the shower, stopping thinking about
tasks in favor of a few more minutes of relaxation. We"d take some deep breaths on our way to work,
instead of complaining about heavy traffic. And once in the office-after we get a cup of coffee-we"d click
on links not to the news of the day but to the funniest videos the web has to offer.
B. relaxed
C. awake
D. busy
B. They are a source of inspiration.
C. They are normally full of bad news.
D. They are more educational than websites.
B. listen to a beautiful tune
C. switch to the traffic channel
D. stop concentrating on anything
B. summarize past experiences
C. advocate diverse ways of life
D. establish a routine for the future
downs of relationships. Many adults believe that somehow boys need friends less than girls do, in
truth, though, no boy is an island: boys value their friends throughout
childhood and adolescence and are happier and healthier when they have solid relationships with peers.
Despite the common belief that girls are better at relationships, most boys consider their friends
a very important part of their lives, and boys may ac
tually be better at keeping friendships than girls are. A recent study of 10-to-15-year-old boys and girls found that girls’
friendships are actually more fragile（脆弱的）. Girls tend to say and do hurtful things to each other more
frequently than boys, and girls are more hurt by the end of a friendship.
Boys are the living definition of the phrase “peer group”: they love games with rules, competition,
and doing things together. Boys seem to enjoy, even need the opportunity to test themselves
against others, and many lasting friendships begin in karate(空手道) class or on the basketball
court. Competence and skill are widely respected: being picked last for a team or left out altogether
is an experience that can haunt (萦绕心头) a boy for years.
As boys mature, the friendship becomes even more important, and it frequently widens to include
girls. During the teen years, friends can become the most important part of a boy’s life ---and a
part in which his parents are not included. The confusion of being a teenager leads boys to form
close bonds with friends. There is the sense for many boys that a friend is someone who is “always
there for me”, someone he can trust. They may be partners in crime or partners in study, but the
friendship of adolescent boys can run surprisingly deep.
B. don’t value friendships as much as girls
C. have the same friendship as girls
D. have healthier friendship than girls
B. boys like to have small groups of friends
C. boys’ friendships seldom result in anyone being hurt
D. boys’ friendships can hardly end in failure
B. most boys consider their friends very important
C. boys may be better at keeping friendships than girls
D. boys may be more active in a friendship
A. widen his circle of friends to include his parents
B. shift his focus from his friends to himself
C. leave his parents out of his friends
D. be confused about what a friendship is
B. Boys and Their Friendship
C. Childhood and Adolescent Friendship
D. Tips on Making Friends with Boys
area does need a car. Would you be willing to rent yours out?
Several car-sharing start-ups, including Getaround, RelayRides and JustShareIt, are eager to
connect car owners with renters this way. The companies have different rules, but participatingo
wners receive, generally speaking, about two-thirds of the rental earnings. RelayRides says an
owner of a midsize, late-model sedan who rents out a car for 10 hours a week could expect to
clear about ＄3,000 a year.
Peer-to-peer car sharing
remains in the trial stage; it can be found in San Francisco and a few other places. It has a long way to go before it becomes the auto equivalent of Airbnb, the surprise
success story for peer-to-peer sharing of space in apartments and houses.
Shelby Clark, founder of RelayRides, says potential investors in his company have been
concerned that owners will be afraid to hand their car over to strangers. To address that, he points
to Airbnb, saying, “Letting people sleep in your living room is much more of a disturbance into
your personal space than letting someone use your car.”
All of these c
ompanies offer their own insurance coverage for their renters, which are supposedto put owners’ minds at ease. But only two states-California and Oregon-have passed laws to
clarify that an owner will not suffer any consequences should a car-sharing renter have an accident.
“In all the other states, legal ambiguity remains,” Shelby Clark says. “If a renter should be
involved in a serious accident in those states, the victim can be expected to go after every party
possible, including the car’s owner.”
Also to remove the worries of car owners, the driving records of renters are checked for recent
serious violations.
A. A kind of car.
B. An owner of a car.
C. A renting company.
D. A car-sharing renter
B. It deals with house-sharing successfully.
C. It is a very popular car-sharing company.
D. Its ideas are being tried out in some states.
a car-sharing renter should have an accident in California, the car’s owner ___ . B. will not suffer the consequence
C. is not covered by health insurance
D. must pay the insurance for the renter
B. renters are warned not to violate traffic rules
C. more money is given to participating owners
D. people are aware of the importance of sharing
B. remains in popularity
C. is against the state law
D. is a new business model
阅读下面短文并回答问题,然后将答案写到答题卡相应的位置上。
［1］Peer tutoring benefits many students in several ways. Peer tutors can help themselves in
understanding materials. They have to master the material themselves and come to a deeper
understanding to teach others rather than getting taught by a teacher.
［2］Peer tutors get communication and social skills by tutoring. In order to communicate the meaning
of material clearly and make it understood, they must practice the necessary skills to communicate with
other people. These skills also carry over socially as it"s much easier, especially for shy children to
communicate with someone than to communicate with a large group as in a classroom. It"s common for
the tutor and his student to become friends. Developing leadership skills, conf
idence and a sense of
responsibility is easy for a tutor. The tutor becomes a better student, gains more confidence and
understands the teacher"s role better.
［3］Those ___________ can also benefit greatly from peer tutoring. Since the tutors are of the same
age as the students, it"s more comfortable for the children who have trouble with the material and in need
of help to get taught by the same age tutors. This will allow them to ask more questions without fear and
to come to a better understanding of the material. The tutor may be able to pass on little tips and tricks
that helped him understand the material better.
［4］The process of peer tutoring works for all the related people. It"s easy to relate to someone of the
same age. The tutor learns to improve skills useful later in life. The teacher has more time to concentrate
on students. It"s a winning situation for everyone.
___________________________________________________________
2. What is peer tutoring according to the text?(no more than 12 words)
___________________________________________________________
3. What are the benefits of being a peer tutor?(no more than 12 words)
1)_____________________ 2)__________________________
4. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words.(no more than 5 words)
__________________________________________________
5. What doe
s the word "it " (paragraph 2)probably refer to ? (no more than 5words) ______________________________________________________________.
阅读下面的短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。
注意:每空一词。
In the United States, engineering is a profession(职业) that has been historically under the control of
men. Even today, it"s still true that few women become civil or chemical or mechanical engineers, but that"s
something on www.EngineerGirl.org encouraging girls to change the present situation. Young women who
visit the web site can find out about a great job choice they might not have considered.
"Women are not well represented in engineering and in engineering education programs and then of
course, down the road, in the engineering workforce. So only about 20 percent of engineering
undergraduate degrees (本科文凭) go to women, and then only about nine percent of working engineers
are women."
Mary Mattis, the Nat
ional Academy of Engineering, says "we know from the research that
middle-school girls are at a critical point in their lives, and that it"s a time when we need to reach them, so
this website aims to increase their awareness of interesting fields in engineering. On the other hand, it wants
to make them understand what a wonderful produ
ctive and exciting job you can have as an engineer."
Engineering is a demanding course of study-there is a lot of science and math, for many girls and even
boys that can be challenging. But Ms. Mattis says that the EngineerGirl website stresses that engineering
can also be fun and exciting.
"It"s about designing things. It"s about changing the world for people. It"s about making a difference.
And, in addition, you can make a good living; you can be independent e
conomically by becoming an
engineer. All of those things are messages that girls need to get."
While most engineers go into traditional fields such as mechanical and electrical engineering, the
EngineerGirl site also emphasizes engineering jobs which are related to other fields such as bio-engineering,
sports engineering and -believe it or not-chocolate engineering.
Even if you are not a girl in the target(目标) age group, there"s a lot of interesting information on the
site, including biographies(自传)of some well-known women engineers.