"I think I'm nothing more than a dead fish." "I don't want to do anything." "I'm so beat and so sad."... The young generation in our country used to enjoy their "happy culture" but now they have become "beat and sad" slowly and secretly. Some people even called it "the beat culture". The "Beat" youths don't want to do anything. They have no purpose, no desire and they are totally depressed so that they only want to live an aimless life. The "Ge You slouch (葛优瘫)" and the song I feel like having been drained are the examples.

    Many media concern themselves about this phenomenon and try to persuade the youths into embracing positive and healthy feelings and encourage them to work hard to get rid of decadence. This is really a kind gesture. However, we don't have to worry too much about this "beat culture." In fact, it's not a negative thing. "Beat" never means despair, but a way of self-mockery (自嘲) and pressure relief.

    In general, the youths in China are not "beat". According to a recent international research, the youths in China hold positive attitude towards the future. 29% of the Chinese interviewees believe they will live and work in peace in China because "as long as you work hard, you can have your own day". Around 93% of the Chinese interviewees believe the future is promising because of medicine industry, renewable energy sources and computer. Compared with Chinese youngsters, youths in developed countries are more pessimistic.

    Of course there are some social reasons for the appearing of "the Beat Culture". As urbanization develops rapidly, youths living in big cities are facing new challenges that their forefathers have never encountered before. Loneliness and feelings of insignificance and powerlessness are easy to get hold of the young people. Without proper care, they could threaten our mentality and cause many social problems. These problems probably need our attention more.

    An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow（乌鸦）perched（栖息）on their window.

    The father asked his son, "What is this?" The son replied, "It is a crow."

    After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, "What is this?" The son said, "Father, I have just now told you, it's a crow!"

    After a little while, the old father again asked his son for the third time, "What is this?"

    At this time some expression of irritation（恼怒）was felt in the son's tone when he said to his father with a rebuff（生硬回绝）. "It's a crow, a crow." A little while later, the father again asked his son the fourth time, "What is this?"

    This time, the son shouted at his father, "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times 'IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?"

    A little while later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered（发皱的）diary, which he had maintained since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

    "Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I did not at all feel irritated but I rather felt affection for my innocent son,

注意：

1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；

4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

Paragraph 1:

    After reading the diary

Paragraph 2:

    Feeling ashamed, the son got down on his knees before his father

    My father asked me to chat with him for a while. Actually, I was unwilling to listen to his talking endlessly as he always did. My father was a lawyer, but I never wanted to go to law school or follow his path through life.

    As was expected, he cleared his throat and started to say, “Er… What… What do you really want to do in the gorgeous future?”

    I was silent for a moment playing with the cell phone. I kept thinking, “Should I tell him my true thoughts? What if he gets angry? What if I let him down?” later I replied, “Well, I want to be a writer.”

    I guessed this may be not the answer he would expect. But surprisingly, “Interesting idea!” he answered. I was shocked, speaking in a low voice with hesitation.

    “Are you serious, dad?”

    “Well, you need confidence and good preparations, and you still have plenty of time. You need to find out what you really enjoy now. Look, it's late. Let's take the boat out tomorrow morning, just you and me. Maybe we can catch some crabs (螃蟹) for dinner, and we can talk more.”

    Early next morning we packed up the equipment and set off along the coast. We didn't talk much, but enjoyed the sound of the seabirds and the sight of the coastline.

There were no big waves and blinding sunlight at that time. “Let's see if we get lucky,” he said, picked up a web basket with a rope tied and threw it into the sea. We waited a while, then my father stood up and said, “Give me a hand with this,” and we pulled up the crab cage onto the deck.

    To our joy, the cage was filled with dozens of soft shell crabs. Squatting (蹲) down, we watched them for a moment. At first they fought against each other to climb out hard, trying to escape. Many were pulled back into the cage. Later, some gave up, but there are still some crabs trying to escape again and again.

注意：

1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；

4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键语。

Paragraph 1:

    At that moment, my father pointed to the cage, “Look at that crab, there!” Paragraph 2:

    From that day on, I was determined to make my dream come true.

    "Helicopter parents" is a description of parents who are hovering over their children in a state of extreme concern. They always show up to solve their children's problems, protect them from real or imagined harm, resolve stressful situation, offer advice and get them out of trouble, even if they misbehaved. Although out of love and concern, it can have harmful effect on their children's emotional development and future autonomy.

    Children learn through their mistakes. But if you intervene (介入) at first sign of struggle and finish your child's homework, he'll miss out on valuable learning opportunities. You're sending him the message that he needs to be perfect and failure is not an option, otherwise you wouldn't always take over for him.

    By constantly rescuing your child from stressful situation, you're sending him a message that you don't believe he's capable of taking care of himself. Children develop self-esteem by learning how to complete challenge on their own. If you are always intervening, he's denied this vital stage in his growth. As a result, your child may lack the confidence necessary to do well in school, pursue hobbies and interests, and develop friendships.

    If you're always taking care of everything for your child, it'll be more difficult for him to become independent. As an adult, he might find it hard to take care of himself, because he's never developed coping skills to deal with life's challenges. He might suffer from irrational fears, anxiety and depression, which could lead him to drop out of college or frequently change jobs, according to Dr. Michele Borba. Instead of developing healthy relationships, he might seek a partner who will take care of him or controlling, as his parents were.

You can help your child become more independent by allowing him to complete tasks and challenges on his own without your intervention. Even if he fails at first don't interfere—encourage him to start again. Show that you have faith in his abilities to succeed without your help. Allow him to learn natural consequences. Even small things can help him become more independent—making his own bed, preparing his own lunch, shopping for his own clothes and doing homework without your help.

    There are some very good things about open education. This way of teaching allows the students to develop their own interests in many subjects.

    Open education allows students to be responsible for their own education. Some students do badly in the traditional classroom. The open classroom may allow them to enjoy learning. Some students will be happier in an open education school. They will not have to worry about grades or rules.

    But many students will not do well in an open classroom. For some students, there are too few rules. These students will do little in school. They will not make good use of open education. Because open education is so different from traditional education, these students may have a problem of getting used to making so many choices. For many students it is important to have some rules in the classroom. They worry about the rules even when there are no rules. Even a few rules will help this kind of students. The last point about open education is that traditional teachers do not like it. Many teachers do not believe in open education. Teachers who want to have an open classroom may have many problems at their school.

    You now know what open education is. Some of its good points and bad points have been explained. You may have your own opinion about open education. The writer thinks that open education is a good idea, but only in theory. In actual fact, it may not work very well in a real class or school. The writer believes that most students, but of course not all students, want some structure in their classes. They want and need to have some rules. In some cases, they must be made to study some subjects. Many students are pleased to find subjects they have to study interesting. They would not study those subjects if they did not have to.