创新大学英语2 Unit5-6阅读

创新2 Unit5

P170

① Hiring a “Family”

Old Japanese living alone can now hire a “family” for lunch and a few

hours’ pleasant talk. Just give them a telephone call and ask for, say, a daughter,

son-in-law and grandchild. They will show up at your door, and greet you

emotionally as if they hadn’t seen you for years.

Some 15 couples have so far hired “families”. “We have nearly 80 people on

the waiting list.” Said the president of the company that offers such services,

“What is common about these senior citizens is that they are thirsty for human

love. We are helping them make their dreams come true.”

Where once big families with three or more generations living together were

common, now numbers are reducing fast. In cities there are very few indeed.

Many old people see their families only rarely, if at all. This may be because the

children’s bosses have sent them to a distant city, even abroad, or just because

busy family members cannot find time to visit their parents.

“We’ve seen many cases in which parent-children relations are not in a

happy state,” company president continues. “When a son finally visits his parents

after a long while, it is often just to ask for money or for them to let him have

their property early.”

Loneliness is not a one-way street. “One young mother came to us to ask

about grandparents,” he added.

The company is now developing into other fields. Their services include

providing “employees” for businessmen to scold and advisers for young people

unlucky in love on how to find a girlfriend or boyfriend.

(266 words)

Directions: Choose the best answer for each of the questions or unfinished

statements after reading the passage.

1) Old couples in Japan hire family members＿＿＿＿.

A) to ask for help when they are ill

B) to realize their big-family dreams

C) to seek love and comfort D) to strengthen parent-children relations

2) In the sentence “what is common about these senior citizens is that they are

thirsty for human love” Paragraph 2, “senior citizens” could best be replaced by＿＿＿＿.

A) high-ranking officials in cities

B) rich old couples living in cities

C) respectable ladies and gentlemen

D) old people

3) Which of the following is not the reason that Japanese grown-ups seldom visit

their parents?

A) They are too busy.

B) They work in distant cities.

C) They can’t afford expensive visits to their parents.

D) Their relationships are not very close.

4) “Loneliness is not a one-way street” means that＿＿＿＿.

A) both the old and young will feel lonely

B) living alone is not a one-way street

C) young mother with a little child will feel lonely

D) one young mother will hire “grandparents” for their child

5) When a Japanese young man hires an “adviser”,＿＿＿＿.

A) she/he will be his girlfriend or boyfriend

B) she/he will offer him valuable advice on love affairs

C) she/he will find a girlfriend or boyfriend for the young man

D) she/he will say something about his/her own love story

Unit 6

P208

②

The English and other colonists who came to America voluntarily came for

different reasons, but virtually all could be boiled down to one essential point:

they wanted to improve their lives. Behind that self-evident fact was the

additional idea that they had different backgrounds and different motivations. Many thought they could make a better living. They dreamed of finding gold or

silver, or of a life that would reward them in ways that were impossible in their

circumstances at home. Some felt oppressed by political conditions—required

obedience to king or duke or other landlord—which they found intolerable. Some

came for religious freedom, to be able to practice their faith as they wished. Some

were moderately prosperous, and saw the New World as an opportunity for

investment which would allow them to move up a few notches (等级) on the

economic scale.

The decision to emigrate was also often determined by conditions in

England and elsewhere—during times of strife(冲突) or economic hardship, the

impetus(动力) for emigration was stronger than in good, stable times. In general

the very well-to-do did not emigrate because they had everything to lose and

could gain only at great risk. The very poor did not come at first because they had

nothing to offer—no skills, no money for passage, etc. Later many poor people

came against their will—some were prisoners who were offered a chance to go to

America in lieu of a long sentence, and others came as indentured servants(契约佣工), some sold into that temporary form of servitude(奴隶状态) by parents or

families. Both convicts and indentured servants had a chance to succeed because