题型:任务型阅读 题类:模拟题 难易度:困难
江苏2020年高考英语全真模拟试卷一
Raising Optimistic Kids in an Era of Pessimism
I want a hopeful outlook for my children. I think most of parents do. But we live in particularly pessimistic times, especially when we consider the environment, the government and education. Fortunately, research suggests ways to help our children grow up with the resilient "can do" attitude that's the mark of the optimist—and maintain a happier disposition(性情)ourselves. Here's what I've learned, and what I'm trying.
Pay attention to the positive
There's one problem with the pessimist's perspective: progress is happening everywhere. Humanity has improved by many measures—life expectancy, poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, religious tolerance, gender equality. But that success has become the water in which we swim, and like fish, we take the water for granted. While we fail to notice the positive, our brains naturally emphasize the negative.
But with practice, we can help our brains give the good stuff equal weight. When you hear a great story or achieve something in your own life or just find yourself in a beautiful place with those you love, deliberately rest your mind on that experience and stay with it. Describe what you're doing to your kids, and encourage them to talk about their joys and pleasures as well.
Moderate your news intake
On any given day, ugly things have been said and done, justice has not been served—and vast forces are now aligned to ensure we don't miss a minute of it. But those lashes of anxiety are mostly pointless. I may need and want to know what's going on in the world, but news delivered in that manner evokes fear rather than information, and it makes our children worried as well. It's difficult for them to feel secure when they see us reacting constantly to outside events that are often invisible to them. That's why I've turned my news notifications off.
Involve yourself in your community
Following the "big scary" news can not only leave us feeling helpless and distraught, it can also distract(使分心)us from the smaller issues where knowing the facts and then acting might make a difference. So put your energy toward making sure you and your family are a part of the world immediately around you. That might mean volunteering or voting, but it might also mean simply joining and being part of local institutions and clubs that feed our natural human need for connection.
Raising optimistic kids is hard, in part, because it demands that parents give up the cynical(愤世嫉俗的)perspective, which is the easiest response to an era of pessimism. But while I don't know what I or you or our kids can do to make the news better, I do know that we need to find ways to try—and that means answering the "optimists wanted" call, and raising our children to do the same. Hopeful, resilient problem solvers needed. No application necessary. Just show up, and make the best of it.
Raising Optimistic Kids in an Era of Pessimism | |
The hope of raising optimistic kids | ●The author wishes his or her kids to be optimistic, which is of most parents. ●In an era of pessimism, there are still some ways to our kids up with positive attitudes. |
The to raising optimistic kids | ●You can get rid of pessimism through the positive instead of the negative to make your kids realize any progress counts. ●You can enjoy and your happy moments and encourage your kids to follow suit. |
●You can identify and select information you need and avoid overreacting to news which causes your kids to. ●You can your news notifications to avoid being affected by ugly things. | |
●You can make a difference via on some facts and taking action so that your kids feel secure and confident. ●You can find something in your that makes you feel hopeful, and make it a part of your family life. | |
The contribution everyone can make to raising optimistic kids | ●Parents can give up their cynical perspective in an era of pessimism for the sake of their kids. ●Everyone can show up to answer the "optimists wanted" call and do your to raise optimistic kids. |
Age has its privileges in America, and one of the more prominent of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age — in some cases as low as 55 — is automatically entitled to dazzling array of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility is determined not by one's need but by the date on one's birth certificate. Practically unheard of a generation ago, the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses — as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.
People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent(有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that “elderly” and “needy” are synonymous (同义的). Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor. But most of them aren't.
It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.
Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involve a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point. Buoyed (支持) by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job — thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.
Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a formidable economic privilege to a group with millions of members who don't need them.
It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can't take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against — discrimination by age.
Outline | Details |
Introduction | Age determines whether an American can be given a discount, which is a common {#blank#}1{#/blank#}in American business life today. |
Origin of senior citizen discount | ●Since the senior citizens are often treated as people who are in {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, they are given such priority. |
{#blank#}3{#/blank#} situation | ●The situation has changed a lot where the majority of the elderly are not poor at all. ●Younger Americans were at a/an {#blank#}4{#/blank#} directly or indirectly due to the discounts given to the elderly, thus leading to conflicts between generations. ●The number of older Americans {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to work rather than retire is on the increase, which means {#blank#}6{#/blank#} opportunities for young workers. ●It is no longer a kind of charity because millions of senior citizens don't need the priority {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. |
Conclusion | It's unwise to offer discount priority to the elderly. ●It will mislead people to think they are unable to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to themselves. ●People may think that they are ungrateful and they're hurting the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} of other age groups. ●Actually senior citizen discounts, to some extent, {#blank#}10{#/blank#}against their age. |
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