When we give our kids holiday gifts, many of us can’t wait to hear their appreciative cries of “thank you!” once the wrapping gets ripped off. But here’s a tip: You’d be wise not to expect much gratitude from them for what they receive.

Gratitude can make us happier, healthier, and even fitter. But do the kids show their gratitude for the stuff we buy them? All the research I’ve done has convinced me that it won’t happen. One mom told me that when she asked her 16-year-old son to thank her for buying him a cellphone, he said, “But that’s what moms should do.” From a teenager’s angle, it’s a parent’s responsibility to take care of the family. According to Dunham, Yale’s assistant professor of psychology, “When teenagers code it that way, a gift is no longer something given freely and voluntarily”—it’s just mom and dad living up to their obligation.

Parents do have the right to demand good manners and children should thank sincerely whoever gives them something. But kids can’t know how blessed they are unless they have a basis for comparison. And they don’t learn that by a parent complaining that they’re ungrateful. We need to give our children the gift of a wider world view. Show by example that gratitude isn’t about stuff—which ultimately can’t make any of us happy anyway. It’s about realizing how lucky you are and paying your good fortune forward.

You can collect all the charitable appeals and sit down together with the kids to go through them. You set the budget for giving and the kids decide how it’s distributed. Once the conversation about gratitude gets started, it’s much easier to continue all year. Also you can set up a family routine at bedtime where kids describe three things that have made them grateful. When kids go off to college, you can text them a picture each week of something that inspires your appreciation.

Teaching children to focus on the positive and appreciate the good in their lives is perhaps the greatest gift we can give them. And we can all learn together that the things that really matter aren’t on sale at a department store.

1.How do children respond when receiving gifts from their parents?

A. They show no interest in their parents’ gifts.

B. They can’t wait to open their parents’ gifts.

C. They show much gratitude to their parents for the gifts.

D. They take their parents’ gifts for granted.

2.To make children grateful for what they have, parents should _________.

A. live up to their obligation

B. ask their children to have good manners

C. teach their children by setting an example

D. complain their children are ungrateful

3.What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A. No gifts are greater than teaching children to be positive and grateful.

B. Children ought to realize how lucky they are to have considerate parents.

C. Children are supposed to decide how to distribute their own money

D. It is easy for parents to start the conversation about gratitude.

4. What’s the purpose of the author writing this text?

A. To explain the reason why children offer no gratitude to their parents.

B. To give advice to parents on how to help children develop gratitude.

C. To encourage parents to do things together with their children.

D. To remind parents of their responsibility to educate their children.

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With courses on David Beckham and Harry Potter on offer at famous universities, it comes as no surprise that students are now able to learn the art of the perfect selfie(自拍).

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1.Learning to take selfies at universities isn't a surprise because .

A. taking selfies is popular nowadays

B. many people take photos crazily

C. the perfect selfie has exploded on the Intenet

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科目:高中英語 來源:2016屆湖北部分重點中學(xué)高三上學(xué)期開學(xué)考試英語試卷(解析版) 題型:閱讀理解

As you are probably aware, the latest job markets news isn’t good: Unemployment is still more than 9 percent, and new job growth has fallen close to zero. That’s bad for the economy, of course. And it may be especially discouraging if you happen to be looking for a job or hoping to change careers right now. But it actually shouldn’t matter to you nearly as much as you think. That’s because job growth numbers don’t matter to job hunters as much as job staff-turnover(人員流動)data. After all, existing jobs open up every day due to promotions, resignations(辭職), and retirements. (Yes, people are retiring even in this economy.)In both good times and bad, staff-turnover creates more openings than economic growth does. Even in June of 2014, when the economy was still booming along, job growth was only 132,000, while staff-turn over was 4.7 million!

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1.The author tends to believe that high unemployment rate____.

A. takes job opportunities from people

B. prevents many people from changing careers

C. does not mean the U.S. economy is worsening

D. should not stop people from looking for a job

2.What does the author say about overall job growth?

A. It increases people’s confidence in the economy.

B. It doesn’t have much effect on individual job seekers.

C. It gives a ray of hope to the unemployed.

D. It doesn’t mean greater job security for the employed.

3.What is the key to finding a job according to the author?

A. Education B. Intelligence

C. Experience D. Persistence

4.What do we learn about The Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment data?

A.They clearly indicate how healthy the economy is.

B.They don’t include those who have stopped looking for a job.

C.They provide the public with the latest information.

D.They warn of the structural problems in the economy.

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