Dreaming girls (P4-5)

I. Pre-reading 

Discuss the following questions with your partner.

What is your dream?

How are you going to achieve your dream?

Have you ever seen the US TV show 2 Broke Girls? If so, what impressed you most about the show?

 

II. Reading 

Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.

1. What has made the TV show 2 Broke Girls so popular according to the article?

A. The pure friendship of the two main characters.

B. The unique characteristics of the two main characters. 

C. How the two main characters overcome their parents’ disapproval.

D. How the two main characters struggle to realize their dreams. 

2. The underlined word “incompetent” in Paragraph 4 probably means ____.

A. unskilledB. efficient

C. necessary D. individual

3. Which of the following is TRUE about the two main characters of 2 Broke Girls?

A. They have similar family backgrounds. 

B. Both of them are optimistic and ambitious. 

C. Their personalities are different but they share the same dream.

D. They save a large amount of money by running a cupcake shop.

4. What is the social problem that 2 Broke Girls reflects according to the article?

A. In the US, the poor suffered more than the wealthy in the 2008 economic crisis.

B. The 2008 economic crisis somewhat bridged the gap between the poor and the wealthy.

C. The 2008 economic crisis put everybody in the US in the same position. 

D. Some people suffered in the 2008 economic crisis, but others benefited greatly. 

 

Key: 

1. D。由文章第二段的“The show has been successful because it shows how difficult it is for those on a low income to realize the American Dream.”可知D为正确答案。

2. A。根据上文“Caroline was not ready for the hard reality of being broke. On her first day of work, Caroline made just $2 (13 yuan) in tips ...”可以推知，Caroline原本生活条件优越，所以还不能接受破产这一现实，她____的工作表现使得她才拿了2美元小费，根据语境可知incompetent在这里表示“不熟练的，不能胜任的”，所以答案为A。

3. C。从第三、四段可知，Max与Caroline来自不同的家庭背景，所以A不对；由文中的“Max feels she is going to live a life of debt, bad jobs and no future.”可知B中的optimistic不对；由文中的“The two soon became friends, roommates and business partners with the goal of earning $250,000 to open their own cupcake shop.”可以推知C为正确答案；文中提到她们的梦想是earning $250,000 to open their own cupcake shop，这一梦想还没实现，所以D不对。

4. B。由文中的“The situation that the two girls find themselves in comes from the 2008 economic crisis (危机), a problem that meant that people in the US who once had a lot of money ended up in the same position as people who never had anything at all.”可知，由于2008年的经济危机，美国很多曾经的富人也变得一贫如洗，从某种意义上说，导致了社会的贫富差距减少，所以B为正确答案。

 

III. Language study

Study the following sentences.

1. The situation that the two girls find themselves in comes from the 2008 economic crisis (危机), a problem that meant that people in the US who once had a lot of money ended up in the same position as people who never had anything at all.

本句的主干为：The situation comes from the 2008 economic crisis。that引导的定语从句修饰先行词The situation；a problem that … 用作the 2008 economic crisis的同位语，进一步解释说明2008年经济危机所带来的问题是什么，problem后的that引导定语从句，修饰先行词a problem；第三个that引导的从句作meant的宾语；该宾语从句的主干为：people … ended up in the same position as people，其中两个who都引导定语从句。

 

2. As Alyssa Rosenberg noted in The Atlantic magazine, “2 Broke Girls is about how people across the 99 percent (not the super-rich) began to see themselves as parts of the same uncertain economy, rather than divided into working-class, middle-class and others.”

引语部分的主干为：2 Broke Girls is about how … 。在how引导的宾语从句中，rather than divided into working-class, middle-class and others与parts of the same uncertain economy并列作介词as的宾语。

 

 

Kangaroos left-handed (P5)

I. Pre-reading 

Discuss the following questions with your partner.

Are you left-handed or right-handed? 

Do you think being left-handed gives people problems? If so, what are they?

What do you think is the right attitude to have toward people who are different from us?

 

II. Reading 

Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.

1. The first paragraph was written mainly to ____.

A. describe the difficulties facing left-handed people

B. show the general situation of left-handedness

C. lead in to the topic of kangaroos’ handedness

D. show that there’s no need to worry if you’re left-handed

2. How did researchers discover the left-handedness of kangaroos? 

A. By studying their behavior in a zoo.

B. By observing kangaroos in the wild.

C. By studying related information online. 

D. By working with a wildlife ecologist in a lab.

3. The discovery is considered an example of “parallel evolution” because ____.

A. it suggests that handedness is not unique to humans as we previously thought

B. it shows that kangaroos’ left-handedness evolved in exactly the same way as humans’ left-handedness did

C. animals with hands aren’t the only ones who prefer the left or right side

D. handedness seems to exist in primates and kangaroos but not in other animals in their parts of the evolutionary tree

4. What are Paragraphs 7-8 mainly about?

A. Celebrities who are left-handed. 

B. The advantages that left-handed people can enjoy.

C. Advice for left-handers on their career development.

D. Reasons why left-handers do well in some fields.

 

Key:

1. C。文章第一段提到了左撇子的可能会遇到的困难，主要是为了引出下文要讨论的袋鼠用手偏好问题，所以答案为C。

2. B。由第二段的“The evidence comes from hours spent observing different species in the wild.”可知B为正确答案。

3. D。由第五段的“This is because handedness seems to have appeared in primates (灵长类动物) as well as the kangaroos in the new study, but not in related animals across these two parts of the evolutionary tree.”可知D为正确答案。 

4. B。第七八段主要讲的是左撇子的人所具有的一些优势，所以答案为B。

 

Break your limits (P6)

I. Skimming 

Read the article quickly and answer the following questions.

1. What does the author say usually happens to a mom if she gives birth to a daughter in India?

In most cases, she has to face criticism.

 

2. What is the author’s attitude toward sexism in her hometown?

She feels angry about it.

 

3. How did her relatives respond to her dream of becoming an engineer?

All of them, except for her parents and grandparents, were shocked and laughed at her – they laughed because they didn’t think she could live up to her goals, being a girl.

 

4. How did the author decide to react to her relatives’ views of her dream?

She decided to change these views. In her world, being a girl is not a problem. Rather, it is an opportunity to allow passion, not stereotypes, to shape her future. Rather than letting them bring her down, she let them be motivation to achieve her goal of becoming an engineer.

 

II. Scanning 

Read the article again and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.

1. The first paragraph was mainly written to ____.

A. show that most Indian people are strongly prejudiced against women 

B. describe how bad the author’s aunt was always made to feel for having a baby girl 

C. show what kind of anxiety and pressure the author’s aunt felt when she was going to have a baby

D. show that the author’s aunt’s generation is fighting against general prejudice (偏见) against women in India

2. From the second and third paragraphs, it can be concluded that ____.

A. the author’s relatives were jealous about her life in the US

B. the author got used to being reminded to stay within her limits after she was born  

C. the author often argued with her relatives because she believed that US lifestyles were right

D. the author was shocked by her relatives’ sexism but she realized that just using words couldn’t change their mind

3. In the article, how does the author show how serious the amount of sexism was in her hometown?

A. By stressing the conflicts she had with her relatives.

B. By describing feeling defeated after arguments.

C. By describing people’s words, behavior and common practices.

D. By giving examples of how her goals were laughed at repeatedly.

4. According to the text, the author decided to change her relatives’ views by ____. 

A. achieving her dream of becoming an engineer

B. achieving her ambition of changing her hometown

C. letting stereotypes influence her future decisions 

D. using her relatives’ comments as motivation 

 

Key：

1. A。 文章开篇描述了生女儿给一个家庭所带来的失望，作者说她阿姨不介意生女孩，但是她的婆婆一直提醒她生了女孩后她将要面临的负面评价，而且作者还总结到“In India, most people held these views.”由此可见，第一段主要就是讲印度人对女性的歧视。

2. D。第二段中，作者说她暑假拜访亲戚时被一句话惹怒，并且跟他们争论。所以可以推断出作者以前没有听过这样的观点，她是很惊讶的。随后，第三段中作者说她的观点跟亲戚们讲不通，指能通过实际行动来改变他们的看法。

3. C。第四段详细描写了歧视女性的做法，例如家庭聚会上男性用餐结束后才能吃饭、一个人做家里所有人的饭、做不需要技术或者教育的工作等。再结合其他段可判断C选项正确。

4. A。作者在第三段中已经表明要用实际行动来改变亲戚们的看法，而她的实际行动就是完成梦想，成为一名工程师。D选项容易混淆，用亲戚的话作为动力并不能让他们改变原本的观点。

 

III. Language study

Study the following sentences.

1. My words didn’t make sense to them so my mind was set on proving them wrong.

释义：我说的话他们没有听进去，因此我决定要用行动证明他们是错的。

分析：词组make sense (to sb)表示“对……讲得通、有意义”。句中还有一个词组set one’s mind on，意思是“下定决心”。例如：If he’s set his mind on doing it, nothing will stop him.

 

2. I decided to channel my relatives’ views into positive energy.

释义：我决定将我亲戚的观点化为积极的能量。

分析：此句值得背诵。Channel作名词意思是“电视或者电台频道”或“渠道，途径”。在此句中为动词，常见搭配为“channel...into...”，意思是“将……用于……”。例如：He wants to start a system that channels the funds into poor countries.

 

Translate the following sentences with the given words or phrases.

1.现在有些年轻人根本不知道如何处理批评意见。(criticism)

Some young people today do not know how to deal with criticism at all.

 

2. 目前你要考虑的事情够多了。(for the moment)

You’ve got enough to think about for the moment.  

 

3. 安吉拉的问题让她父母操碎了心。(tear apart)

Angela’s problems tore her family apart.

 

4. 音乐会很棒——一点儿都没有让我们失望。(live up to)

The concert was brilliant - it lived up to all our expectations. 

 

5. 他们缺乏学习的积极性。(motivation)

They lack the motivation to study.