Passage Four In a recent Sunday school class in a church in the Northeast, a group of eight-to ten-year- olds were in a deep discussion with their two teachers. When asked to choose which of ten stated possibilities they most feared happening their response was unanimous. All the children most dreaded a divorce between their parents.Later, as the teachers, a man and a woman in their late thirties, reflected on the lesson, they both agreed they’d been shocked at the response. When they were the same age as their students, they said, the possibility of their parents’ being divorced never entered their heads. Yet in just one generation, children seemed to feel much less security in their family ties.Nor is the experience of these two Sunday school teachers an isolated one. Psychiatrists revealed in one recent newspaper investigation that the fears of children definitely do change in different periods; and in recent times, divorce has become one of the most frequently mentioned anxieties. In one case, for example, a four-year-old insisted that his father rather than his mother walk him to nursery school each day. The reason He said many of his friends had "no daddy living at home, and I’m scared that will happen to me."In line with such reports, our opinion leaders expressed great concern about the present and future status of the American family. In the poll 33 percent of the responses listed decline in family structure, divorce, and other family-oriented concerns as one of the five major problems facing the nation today. And 26 percent of the responses included such family difficulties as one of the five major problems for the United States in the next decade.One common concern expressed about the rise in divorces and decline in stability of the family is that the family unit has traditionally been a key factor in transmitting stable cultural and moral values from generation to generation. Various studies have shown that educational and religious institutions often can have only a limited impact on children without strong family support. It is stated that one third of the American population()
A. consider family-oriented concerns to be a big problem
B. are worried about the future of the United States
C. believe the social situation is getting worse
D. are facing family difficulties
Passage One Animals are more like us than we ever imagined. They feel pain, they experience stress, and they show affection, excitement and love. All these findings have been made by scientists in recent years—and such results are beginning to change how we view animals.Strangely enough, this research was sponsored by fast food companies like McDonald’s and KFC. Pressured by animal rights groups, these companies felt they had to fund scientists researching the emotional and mental states of animals.McDonald’s, for instance, funded studies on pig behaviors at Purdue University, Indiana. This research found that pigs seek affection and easily become depressed if left alone or prevented from playing with each other. If they become depressed, they soon become physically ill. Because of this, and other similar studies, the European Union has banned the use of isolating pig stalls from 2012. In Germany, the government is encouraging pig farmers to give each pig 20 seconds of human contact a day, and to provide them with toys to prevent them from fighting.Other scientists have shown that animals think and behave like humans.Koko, the 300-pound gorilla (大猩猩) at the Gorilla Foundation in Northern California, for instance, has been taught sign language. Koko can now understand several thousand English words, more than many humans who speak English as a second language. On human IQ tests, she scores between 70 and 95.Before such experiments, humans thought language skills were absent from the animal kingdom. Other myths are also being overturned, like the belief that animals lack self-awareness. Studies have also shown that animals mourn their dead, and that they play for pleasure.These striking similarities between animal and human behavior have led some to ask a question: "If you believe in evolution, how can’t you believe that animals have feelings that human beings have"Until recently, scientists believed that animals behaved by instinct and that what appeared to be learned behavior was merely genetically-programmed activity. But as Koko the Gorilla shows, this is not the case. In fact, learning is passed from parents to offspring far more often than not in the animal kingdom.So what implications does this knowledge have for humans Because of this, should we ban hunting and animal testing Should we close zoos Such questions are being raised by many academics and politicians. Harvard and 25 other American law schools have introduced courses on animal rights. The experiment with Koko shows ()
A. gorillas’ IQ scores are as high as human beings’
B. animals are much cleverer than we used to believe
C. parent animals can pass learning to their offspring intentionally
D. some gorillas are smarter than many humans
Passage Four In a recent Sunday school class in a church in the Northeast, a group of eight-to ten-year- olds were in a deep discussion with their two teachers. When asked to choose which of ten stated possibilities they most feared happening their response was unanimous. All the children most dreaded a divorce between their parents.Later, as the teachers, a man and a woman in their late thirties, reflected on the lesson, they both agreed they’d been shocked at the response. When they were the same age as their students, they said, the possibility of their parents’ being divorced never entered their heads. Yet in just one generation, children seemed to feel much less security in their family ties.Nor is the experience of these two Sunday school teachers an isolated one. Psychiatrists revealed in one recent newspaper investigation that the fears of children definitely do change in different periods; and in recent times, divorce has become one of the most frequently mentioned anxieties. In one case, for example, a four-year-old insisted that his father rather than his mother walk him to nursery school each day. The reason He said many of his friends had "no daddy living at home, and I’m scared that will happen to me."In line with such reports, our opinion leaders expressed great concern about the present and future status of the American family. In the poll 33 percent of the responses listed decline in family structure, divorce, and other family-oriented concerns as one of the five major problems facing the nation today. And 26 percent of the responses included such family difficulties as one of the five major problems for the United States in the next decade.One common concern expressed about the rise in divorces and decline in stability of the family is that the family unit has traditionally been a key factor in transmitting stable cultural and moral values from generation to generation. Various studies have shown that educational and religious institutions often can have only a limited impact on children without strong family support. Family has been regarded as a major carrier of()
A. religious beliefs
B. various customs
C. social tradition
D. cultural and moral values
Passage Four In a recent Sunday school class in a church in the Northeast, a group of eight-to ten-year- olds were in a deep discussion with their two teachers. When asked to choose which of ten stated possibilities they most feared happening their response was unanimous. All the children most dreaded a divorce between their parents.Later, as the teachers, a man and a woman in their late thirties, reflected on the lesson, they both agreed they’d been shocked at the response. When they were the same age as their students, they said, the possibility of their parents’ being divorced never entered their heads. Yet in just one generation, children seemed to feel much less security in their family ties.Nor is the experience of these two Sunday school teachers an isolated one. Psychiatrists revealed in one recent newspaper investigation that the fears of children definitely do change in different periods; and in recent times, divorce has become one of the most frequently mentioned anxieties. In one case, for example, a four-year-old insisted that his father rather than his mother walk him to nursery school each day. The reason He said many of his friends had "no daddy living at home, and I’m scared that will happen to me."In line with such reports, our opinion leaders expressed great concern about the present and future status of the American family. In the poll 33 percent of the responses listed decline in family structure, divorce, and other family-oriented concerns as one of the five major problems facing the nation today. And 26 percent of the responses included such family difficulties as one of the five major problems for the United States in the next decade.One common concern expressed about the rise in divorces and decline in stability of the family is that the family unit has traditionally been a key factor in transmitting stable cultural and moral values from generation to generation. Various studies have shown that educational and religious institutions often can have only a limited impact on children without strong family support. The two teachers in the Sunday school felt()
A. responsible for tightening school security
B. no fear of the divorce of their students’ parents
C. no threat of broken family ties when they were ten-year-olds
D. shocked at the divorce rates of their students’ parents