C.call the Admission Section at any time
D. ask Awards Service Section about them
B
Sometimes having a teenager at home can be a real headache. Many teenagers smoke, drink, wear strange hairdos and even fight. Basically, they are often taking risks.
Earlier studies have shown that teenagers are more likely to make irrational decisions than people from any other age group, including children and adults. Is it that teenagers are too young to tell right from wrong? Not really. So what explains their risky behavior?
According to Laurence Steinberg, a professor at Temple University, US, the reason is that teens care a lot about how their peers (同龄人) view them – that’s the effect of “peer influence”, reported Science Daily.
As children enter their teenage years, they spend more time with their friends and classmates and also become more sensitive to their feedback (反馈). This sensitivity drives teenagers to concentrate on the short-term benefits of making risky choices and overlook the costs.
In a test, a group of teenagers were asked to play a video driving game. When they played with their friends watching, they took more chances and drove more carelessly because that would increase their possibility of winning. But when they played alone, they tended to drive more safely.
Why does pressure from peers have such a big influence on teens’ behavior?
As Steinberg sees it, a teenager’s brain is like a car with a good accelerator (油门) but a weak brake (刹车). The “accelerator”, the brain’s ability to notice the benefits of things, is fully developed by teenage years while the “brake”, the brain part related to controlling impulses (冲动) and long-term thinking, is still immature . When teens are under the pressure of being judged by their peers, they tend to push hard on the accelerator. Given how weak the brake is, it is likely that they are going to end up in a crash.
But the good news here, according to Steinberg, is that a violent teenager doesn’t necessarily become a violent adult. About two-thirds to three-quarters of violent youth grow out of it. “They get more self-controlled,” Steinberg told Live Science.
Also, people who haven’t committed a violent crime by age 19 are less likely to start doing it later, added Steinberg.
41. The underlined word “irrational” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning
to ______.
A. crazy B. quick C. careful D. independent 42. Why are teenagers likely to take risks according to the text?
A. They are too young to tell right from wrong.
B. They are eager to challenge themselves.
C. They care a lot about what their peers think of them. D. Their brains are more sensitive to thrilling events.
43. How does Steinberg explain the influence of peer pressure on teens’ behavior?
A. By performing an in-depth analysis. B. By giving examples.
C. By using a metaphor (比喻). D. By presenting research findings.
44. According to the text, with peers around them, teenagers tend to ______. A. use more self-control
B. become more careful about what they do C. perform better than when they are alone D. focus more on short-term benefits 45. What can we conclude from the text?
A. Those who love taking risks are more likely to commit violent crimes. B. The majority of teenagers become less violent when they grow up.
C. Violent teenagers often grow to be adults who cannot control themselves
well.
D. People who are over 19 years old are less likely to commit a crime than teenagers.
C
The Board Meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up and knocked into the table, spilling his coffee over his notes. “How embarrassing! I am getting so clumsy in my old age.”
Everyone had a good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories of our most embarrassing moments. It came around to Frank who sat quietly listening to the others. Someone said, “Come on, Frank. Tell us your most embarrassing moment.”
Frank laughed and began to tell us of his childhood. “I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his Mom and Dad and the other kids that were still at home.”
He looked at us and said, “I wish you could have met my Dad. He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. His rain hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my mother
washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish.”
Frank’s voice dropped a bit. “When the weather was bad he would drive me to school. He had this old truck that he used in his fishing business. That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle down the road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive toward the school, I would shrink (畏缩) down into the seat hoping to disappear. Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would belch (喷出) a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old, and my Dad would lean over and kiss me goodbye!”
He paused and then went on, “I remember the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, “No, Dad.” It was the first time I had ever talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face. I said, “Dad, I’m too old for a goodbye kiss. I’m too old for any kind of kiss.” My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. Then he turned and looked out the windshield. “ You’re right,” he said. “ You are a big boy....a man. I won’t kiss you anymore.”
Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he spoke. “It wasn’t long after that when my Dad went to sea and never came back. It was a day when most of the fleet (船队) stayed in, but not Dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a strong wind and was trying to save the nets and the floats.”
I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Frank spoke again. “Guys, you don’t know what I would give to have my Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek…to feel his rough old face… to smell the ocean on him… to feel his arm around my neck. I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have told my Dad I was too old for a goodbye kiss.”
46. When his father drove him to the school, Frank would shrink down into the seat hoping to
disappear because ________.
A. he was ashamed of his father’s old truck
B. he thought he was old enough to go to school alone C. he didn’t want his schoolmates to see his father
D. he hated the way his schoolmates stared at his father
47. In Frank’s eyes, when his father said “You are a big boy… a man.”, he probably
felt ________. A. disappointed B. hurt C. excited D. proud 48. According to the story we can conclude that Frank’s father ________.
A. was quite confident in his skills in fishing B. loved his children but hardly expressed it C. seldom gave up faced with challenges D. was full of devotion to his family
A. he was fed up with his father kissing him goodbye B. he deeply regretted what he had done to his father C. he was then too young to refuse a goodbye kiss D. he hoped that his father would forgive him A. The Smell of the Ocean B. We All Need Love C. A Goodbye Kiss D. Father’s Embarrassment
D
Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and
49. By saying the sentence “I wish I had been a man then…”, Frank meant _____.
50. Which of the following may be the best title for this passage?
most dangerous jobs in the world? It’s an increasingly urgent question, given the recent mining accidents in Sago. W. Va. and Huntington, Utah. A small group of engineers and robotics experts look forward to a day in the not-too-distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work.
Robotic technology, in particular, holds much promise, McAteer says, especially when it comes to mapping mines and rescuing trapped miners—the special operations of the mining industry.
One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at Canegie-Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. It was called Groundhog. It used lasers to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines – some of the most dangerous work in the business
The latest design is called Cave Crawler. It’s a bit smaller than Grondhog, and even more advanced. It can take photos and video and has more sensors that can discover the presence of dangerous gases. The robot has a real sense of logic, which is hard to believe. If it comes across a thing in the way it gets confused. It has to think through the process and where to go next, and sometimes it throws a fit just like a real person. The greatest problem, though, is cost. The money of the earliest research project was provided by the government, but that money has dried up, and it’s not clear where future money will come from. Partly for that reason, and partly because of advances in safely, mining
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