Grown-up children are legally required to go back home regularly to visit their old parents.

Paul Tranter finds that eighty percent of the children were allowed to visit places other than school alone in______.

A．Australia

B．New Zealand

C．Germany

D．Britain

Reading Comprehension (1)

When friends come to visit us in the evening, they spend their time telling us they are in a hurry and looking at their watches. It isn't that our friends are all very busy ; it is just that we haven't got a television. People, think that we are very strange. "But what do you do in the evening ? " they are always asking. The answer is very simple. Both my wife and I have hobbies. We certainly don't spend our evening staring at the walls . My wife enjoys cooking and painting and often attends evening classes in foreign languages. This is particularly useful as we often go abroad for our holidays. I collect stamps and am always busy with my collection. Both of us enjoy listening to the music and Haying chess together.

Sometimes there are power cuts and we no electricity in the house. This does not worry us as we just light candles and carry on with what we were doing before. Our friends are lost—no television!-so they don't know what to do. On such evening our house is very full as they all come to us. They all have a good time. Instead of sitting in silence in front of the television, every-body talks and plays games. Yes, life is possible without television.

The author's friends like______ .

A．sitting and playing chess in the evening

B．attending classes in the evening

C．Listening to music in the evening

D．watching television in the evening

When friends come to visit us in the evening, they spend their time telling us they are in a hurry and looking at their watches. It isn't that our friends are all very busy; it is just that we haven't got a television. People think that we are very strange. " But what do you do in the evening?" they are always asking. The answer is very simple. Both my wife and I have hobbies. We certainly don't spend our evenings staring at the walls. My wife enjoys cooking and painting and often attends evening classes in foreign languages. This is particularly useful as we often go abroad for our holidays. I collect stamps and am always busy with my collection. Both of us enjoy listening to the music and playing chess together.

Sometimes there are power cuts and we have no electricity in the house. This does not worry us as we just light candles and carry on with what we were doing before. Our friends are lost—no television! So they don't know what to do. On such evening our house is very full as they all come to us. They all have a good time. Instead of sitting in silence in front of the television, everybody talks and plays games. Yes, life is possible without television.

The author's friends like______.

A．sitting and playing chess in the evening

B．attending classes in the evening

C．listening to music in the evening

D．watching television in the evening

Concerns about the effects of television on children are a recurrent theme of public debate. Yet it is an area in which children's voices are rarely heard. Too often parental and governmental anxiety has focused on the impact screen violence may have on young viewer's behavior. with little attention paid to children's own emotional responses to the moving image.

David Buckingham, a lecturer in media studies at the University of London's Institute of Education, believes a more useful approach to understanding the role of television in children's lives is to ask children about their own responses to horror films, "weepies", soap operas and news bulletins and to discuss with them how they make sense of what they see. Mr. Buckingham, a father of two boys aged five and nine, also believes it is important to understand how parents help or hinder their children's understanding of television.

In an attempt to throw new light on the issue, Mr. Buckingham interviewed 72 children aged six to 15 about their television viewing. The result is a refreshing book, Moving Images: Understanding Children's Emotional Responses to Television, which is recommended reading for all media policymakers. The children displayed a sophisticated understanding of many of the conventions of television. Even the very youngest subjects knew that families in The Cosby Show or Roseanne are not "real" and were bale to recognize that programs obeyed certain rules whereby things are played for laughs or conflicts are easily resolved. Yet their interpretation of how realistic such programs are also depended on how they compared with their own family lives.

"A key factor to emerge was the way they reacted differently to fact and fiction," Mr. Buckingham says. So much of the debate about television, particularly about the possible imitative effects of screen violence, focuses on fiction, such as horror films and thrillers. Mr. Buckingham discovered, however, that news and documentaries often produced more profound reactions.

As part of the study he interviewed children who had seen Child's Play 3, the "video nasty" which some newspapers speculated may have influenced the child killers of James Bugler in 1993.

Many of the children who had watched the 18-rated film appeared to be seasoned horror film viewers who found it "scary" in parts but also enjoyable. Much of their pleasure appeared to come from its joking attitude to death.

The children's reaction to the media coverage of the Bugler case was quite different. Many said the press and television reports of the case had upset them a great deal; a number said they had cried or had been unable to sleep. In contrast to their view of Child's Play, the children repeatedly related the events to their own experience. Many argued, nevertheless, that it was important for the Bugler coverage to be shown, not least as a warning.

Mr. Buckingham believes these responses raise important issues that media commentators have virtually ignored. If there are questions to be asked about screen violence, perhaps the starting point should be to what extent does news coverage enable children to understand what they are seeing. "Often we see decontextualised images of suffering in the news and it is questionable how far children can understand what they are seeing," he says.

One way of helping children to interpret what they see on television would be to integrate it into their education. "Media studies could be part of English lessons. English is the subject in schools that is most concerned with culture, but to narrow culture down to books is unrealistic. To pretend that television is not part of our culture is not to equip kids to deal with the modem world," he says.

Parents also need education, he adds. Schools encourage parents to help their children to read at home, Mr. Buckingham says, and they should take similar steps to get parents to take par

Hospital visits can be unsettling for all (51) and visitors are often unsure of how to behave at the bedside of sick friend or (52) .

This may explain why so many people shy away from a hospital visit--not for fear of infection (53) rather of saying the wrong thing. By following a few simple guidelines though, embarrassment can easily be avoided.

"A visit is important for a sick person because it allows them to (54) social contact," says Karl Koehle, professor at the Institute for Psychosomatics and Clinical Psychology at Cologne University. Visiting (55) , he says, can actually strengthen interpersonal relationships. "Unfortunately, many people only think of this aspect during the first few weeks."

Then again, not (56) patient may want to receive visitors. So it's always advisable to arrange a visit (57) with the sick person or a close friend or relative. "That applies particularly to visits to a home, even more than in hospital," says Inge Wolff, head of the international Working Group on Etiquette in Bielefeld.

But moderation is (58) . There are frequent cases of (59) ill people becoming worn (60) by an endless streams of visitors. "That's when the doctors might call a halt to it," says Koehle from experience. "And the other patients in the ward need to be taken into (61) , too," says etiquette expert Inge Wolff. They can often feel pestered by a neighbour's frequent visits.

Mobile phones should always be turned off and kept out of (62) during a visit. Otherwise, the sick person could get the impression that the visitor really has no time and would like to be off as soon as an opportune moment (63) , says Wolff. (64) hospitals forbid the use of cellphones in the vicinity of hospital equipment.

Visitors should take a small gift such as a newspaper or magazine, (65) a book. Sweets are tricky, says Inge Wolff, because the patient maybe under instructions to keep to a special diet. Also, the present shouldn't be too large or "over the top"-- such as a huge basket of fruit.

51. A. concern

B. excluded

C. included

D. involved

Hospital visits can be unsettling for all(51)and visitors are often unsure of how to behave at the bedside of sick friend or(52).

This may explain why so many people shy away from a hospital visit--not for fear of infection(53) rather of saying the wrong thing. By following a few simple guidelines though, embarrassment can easily be avoided.

"A visit is important for a sick person because it allows them to(54)social contact," says Karl Koehle, professor at the Institute for Psychosomatics and Clinical Psychology at Cologne University. Visiting(55), he says, can actually strengthen interpersonal relationships. "Unfortunately, many people only think of this aspect during the first few weeks."

Then again, not(56)patient may want to receive visitors. So it's always advisable to arrange a visit(57)with the sick person or a close friend or relative. "That applies particularly to visits to a home, even more than in hospital," says Inge Wolff, head of the international Working Group on Etiquette in Bielefeld.

But moderation is(58). There are frequent cases of(59)ill people becoming worn(60)by an endless streams of visitors. "That's when the doctors might call a halt to it," says Koehle from experience. "And the other patients in the ward need to be taken into(61), too," says etiquette expert Inge Wolff. They can often feel pestered by a neighbour's frequent visits.

Mobile phones should always be turned off and kept out of(62)during a visit. Otherwise, the sick person could get the impression that the visitor really has no time and would like to be off as soon as an opportune moment(63), says Wolff.(64)hospitals forbid the use of cellphones in the vicinity of hospital equipment.

Visitors should take a small gift such as a newspaper or magazine,(65)a book. Sweets are tricky, says Inge Wolff, because the patient maybe under instructions to keep to a special diet. Also, the present shouldn't be too large or "over the top"-- such as a huge basket of fruit.

A．concern

B．excluded

C．included

D．involved