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2、Believe it or not,optical illusion (错觉) can cut highway crashes. Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent stripes,called chevrons (人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are,and thus drivers slow down. Now the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan's success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes. Excessive speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents,the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed - related hazards are the greatest - curves,exit slopes,traffic circles,and bridges. Some studies suggest that straight,horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed of drivers in half. However,traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars. Chevrons,scientists say,not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.
4、In a family where the roles of men and women are not sharply separated and where many household tasks are shared to a greater or lesser extent, notions of male superiority are hard to maintain. The pattern of sharing in tasks and in decisions makes for equality, and this in turn leads to further sharing. In such a home, the growing boy and girl learn to accept that equality more easily than did their parents and to prepare more fully for participation in a world characterized by cooperation rather than by the “battle of sexes.” If the process goes too far and man’s role is regarded as less important that has happened in some cases----we are as badly off as before, only in reverse. It is time to reassess the role of the man in the American family. We are getting a little tired of “Momism”----but we don’t want to exchange it for a “neo-Popism.” What we need, rather, is the recognition that bringing up children involves a partnership of equals. There are signs that psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and specialists on the family are becoming more aware of the part men play and that they have decided that women should not receive all the credit----nor all the blame. We have almost given up saying that a woman’s place is in the home. We are beginning, however, to analyze man’s place in the home and to insist that he does have a place in it. Nor is that place irrelevant to the healthy development of the child. The family is a co-operative enterprise for which it is difficult to lay down rules. because each family needs to work out its own ways for solving its own problems. Excessive authoritarianism has unhappy consequences, whether it wears skirts or trousers, and the ideal of equal rights and equal responsibilities is pertinent not only to a healthy democracy, but also to a healthy family.
3、Parents can have a great impact on the development of their children’s creativity in art. But first,they have to know how. They may find the following advice interesting and instructive. Encourage free drawing rather than coloring books. Coloring books stop the possibility of self-expression. A child may just enjoy colorful pictures and never learn how to express himself. As an art teacher says,“Children have a very powerful instinct to draw freely and roughly. Such practice makes them learn language easily.” In fact,a child expresses himself in rough drawing. This is the beginning of literacy and creativity. Also,parents should not teach their kids “how” to draw and they should not make their kids draw realistic pictures to entertain themselves. Experience tells us that such teaching from the parents will discourage children,making them think they can’t do it the “right” way. Competition and rewards should also be avoided in the process of artistic creation. A child’s natural instinct to create will disappear if he or she thinks about prize while drawing. Parents should be role models for their kids. They should not say things like, “I can’t draw a straight line.” Instead,they should learn to say,“I love to create”. This teaches children that the process of creation is more important than the product. If children see their parents drawing, cooking or building creatively,they wi11 do the same. Buy a notebook for your child to use every day. This can be a journal for making up stories,writing ideas and drawing pictures. Even the youngest child can use it to draw freely and roughly,expressing himself. Take your child to places that promote ideas and creativity. Art museums, science centers,libraries and children’s museums all are great places to see other people’s creativity. That will inspire children to make their own creations and inventions. Give children choices and free time. Some of the best ideas come from daydreaming and imagining. In short,parents should allow their kids to have the freedom to invent for themselves. That means not always teaching and commanding.
20、We all believe that modern technology can make life better because it makes everything faster. But by (11) everything up, we suffer losses we have not yet learnt to know. Our day begins with speedy urges:the alarm rings and you jump (12) bed. You take a quick shower. Then you wake the kids and (13) them through breakfast so they won’t miss the bus. At the dining table, you swallow some slices of bread with a cup of tea.When everything (14),you hurry to the car, thinking of the things you would buy from the supermarket on the way (15). Driving 20 minutes in the busy traffic,you reach your workplace, rushing into the building and (16) up the stairs three at a time, arriving at your desk with seconds to spare. You take (17) deep breaths. Then, you instantly remember that the (18) you didn't finish last night must be faxed to Beijing by l0’clock in the morning. Yet it seems that the (19) we go,the further we fall behind. Not only in the literal sense of not getting done what we set out to do,(20) at a deeper level. It has come to the point where my days feel like an Olympic marathon.
2.120In China it is relatively usual to ask people their age, but in the West this question is generally regarded as impolite. This is particularly true (11) women, and even more so if the inquirer is a man. However, it is very (12) to ask children their age, and some adults may not mind being asked either. In fact, some elderly people are quite happy to (13) their age, especially if they feel they look young for their age. Nevertheless, it is not very wise to ask a direct question like “How old are you?”. If elderly people want to talk about their age, they may easily (14) the topic themselves, and ask the other person to guess how old they are . They normally expect to be complimented on their youthfulness, though rather than (15) that they look very old. Even though Westerners do not usually ask people directly how old they are, this does not (16) that they are not interested to know how old other people are. They may ask (17) for the information, or else they may try to (18) the topic indirectly. Sometimes discussions about educational (19) and the number of years of working experience may provide some clues, but this is not always the (20).
