According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the U.K. has about 7.7 million families with dependent children, of which 3.7 million have just one child, compared to 3 million with two and 1.1 million with three children or more. The number of families today with just one dependent child is now 47 percent and will likely rise to more than 50 percent in a decade. As the ONS confirms, “It appears that families are getting smaller.”

One obvious reason for this could be that women are putting off having children until they have established careers when they are bound to be less fertile. But it could just as well be a matter of choice. Parents must consider the rising cost of living, combined with economic uncertainty and an increasingly difficult job market. And this trend may continue growing as having an only child becomes more normal, which seems to be the mood on the mothers’ online forum Mumsnet, where one member announced that she “just wanted to start a positive thread about how fab it is to have an only child”.

She had received 231 replies, overwhelmingly in the same upbeat spirit. Parents of only children insist there are plenty of benefits. Nicola Kelly, a writer and lecturer who grew up as an only child and is now a married mother of one, says her 15-year-old son seems more grown-up in many ways than his contemporaries.

Not all products of single-child families are as keen to repeat the experience. In a moving recent account journalist Janice Turner wrote about her own keenness to “squeeze out two sons just 22 months apart” as a reaction to her only-child upbringing.

She was placed on a pedestal by her doting parents, whom she punished with a “brattish, wilful” rejection of everything they stood for. Desperate for a close friend she was repeatedly shattered by rejection and refers to her childhood as being “misery”.

Writer and clinician Dr. Dorothy Rowe, a member of the British Psychological Society, says that we all interpret events in our own individual way and there are some children who no matter what their circumstances feel slighted, while other children see the advantages of their situation.

However, the one part of life that is unlikely to get any easier for only children is when they grow up and find themselves looking after their own parents as they become older.

1.The passage is written with the purpose of ________.

A. illustrating the strength and weakness of having an only child

B. analyzing the reasons why having an only child becomes popular

C. presenting us with different opinions about having an only child

D. guiding people to look at the same issue from different perspectives

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Nearly half of families intend to have just one child.

B. All people don’t stand for the idea of having an only child.

C. Some people fail to recognize the advantage of having an only child.

D. People brought up in an only child family resist downsizing the family.

3.From what Dr. Dorothy Rowe said, we know that ________.

A. journalist Janice Turner experienced a miserable childhood

B. she has a positive attitude towards Janice Turner’s reaction

C. it’s necessary for us to look at the event from our own angle

D. some are unable to make an objective assessment of their conditions

4.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. It’s normal to see the imperfection in character in only children.

B. Mumsnet is an online forum which promotes having an only child.

C. Economic development plays a determining role in the family size.

D. Only children will have difficulty in attending to their parents.

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Anyone who has heard in the past of the often shocking but always inspiring works on at the Saatchi Gallery will not be when visiting the gallery’s new location. Along with the of new British artists, the gallery still the works of Damien Hirst, the Chapman brothers, and Tracy Emin in its permanent .

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Another artist featured at the gallery who has grabbed with her art is Tracy Emin. In 1998, Emin gave to argument when she sold her messy, unmade bed to Saatchi as a work of art My Bed at ￡150, 000.

Are any of these works really art? That is a question you will have to answer for when you visit the Saatchi Gallery. Charles Saatchi himself says, “I don’t have any ground rules for art. Sometimes you look and don’t feel very with it—but that doesn’t tell you very much. It doesn’t reveal much about the quality of the work.”

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2.A．keen B．suitable C．eager D．famous

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4.A．concerts B．reports C．rumors D．a(chǎn)dvice

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短文改錯(cuò)

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The term, culture shock, describes the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place.

We can describe culture shock as the physical and emotional discomfort one suffers when coming to live in another country or place. Often, the way that we lived before is not accepted as or considered as normal in the new place. Everything is different, for example, not speaking the language, not knowing how to use banking machines and so forth.

Although one can experience real pain from culture shock, it is also an opportunity for resetting one' s life objectives. It is a great opportunity for learning and acquiring new viewpoints. Culture shock can make one develop a better understanding of oneself.

Culture shock has many stages. The first stage is called the "honeymoon" stage. The new arrival may feel excited as everything is new.

In the second stage, a person may encounter some difficult times in daily life. For example, communication difficulties may occur such as not being understood. There may be feelings of discontent, anger, sadness, and feeling incompetence. This happens when a person is trying to adapt to a new culture. Transition (過渡) between the old methods and those of the new country is a difficult process and takes time to complete.

The third stage is characterized by gaining some understanding of the new culture. One may start to feel a certain psychological balance. The new arrival may start to have a feeling of direction and want to belong.

In the fourth stage, the person realizes that the new culture has good and bad things to offer. The person has a more solid feeling of belonging and starts to set goals for living.

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A. It has negative effect on people.

B. Its effect can differ from person to person.

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D. It can be avoided if one can understand the language.

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He also has problems in schooling.

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C. Stage 4. D. Stage 5.

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