泽熙美文Cloze Test
Directions: In the following passage, there are 75 blanks representing the words that are missing from the contexts. You are to read the passage through before providing the missing word of each blank without looking at the Answer. Then, compare your Answers with the Answers provided and learn from the possible differences.
Holiday Blues
For most of us, the purpose of the holidays is to bring peace, love and goodwill towards all. Yet, for many, the holiday season often means stress, fatigue, pressure, disappointment and loneliness.
These feelings, often known as the “holiday blues,” may be even more 1 this year, due to the emotional turmoil of the past few months, not to 2 the unsteady economy.
Experts say even the more ritual tasks of shopping, 3 , late-night parties, cooking, planning and family 4 can be holiday stressors. In addition, the psychological phenomenon known as 5 affective disorder, or SAD, may bring a specific type of depression 6 to winter’s shorter days and longer nights.
“Certainly just because it’s the 7 which doesn’t mean people are going to be happy,” says Dr. Doug Jacobs of Harvard University. “And 8 will be a particularly hard holiday for some who are dealing with a 9 job, debt, or even a lost loved one.”
And with family reunions becoming less frequent 10 over the years, there is now the added pressure of getting just one 11 to get it all right. “Families are much more disparate now,” says John Stutsman, a 12 psychologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
The 13 and sense of alienation that often results from family gatherings, he 14 , is actually a realization that “the fantasy is not met.”
Still, say experts, the 15 should be addressed. The most essential step, says Stutsman, is for the individuals to 16 their feelings and the reason for their withdrawal. “Denial will only 17 the stress they’re feeling.”
Stutsman also advises that 18 “avoidance is actually not such a bad idea.” In some situations, fulfilling social 19 “may be self-destructive when the best thing may be to just stay home.” The healthy 20 has to do with taking care of oneself.
1.
正确答案：
prevalent
2.
正确答案：
mention
3.
正确答案：
decorating
4.
正确答案：
reunions
5.
正确答案：
seasonal
6.
正确答案：
related
7.
正确答案：
holidays
8.
正确答案：
this
9.
正确答案：
lost
10.
正确答案：
events
11.
正确答案：
chance
12.
正确答案：
clinical
13.
正确答案：
disappointment
14.
正确答案：
adds
15.
正确答案：
blues
16.
正确答案：
acknowledge
17.
正确答案：
compound
18.
正确答案：
sometimes
19.
正确答案：
obligations
20.
正确答案：
choice
Challenges for Today’s Parents
Reruns of situation comedies from the fifties and early sixties dramatize the kinds of problems that parents used to have with children. The Cleavers scold Beaver for not washing his hands before dinner; the Andersons punish Bud for not doing his homework; the Nelsons dock little Ricky’s allowance because he keeps forgetting to clean his room. But times have changed dramatically. Being a parent today is much more difficult than it was a generation ago.
Today’s parents must try, first of all, to control all the new 21 that tempt children away from schoolwork. At home, a child may have a room 22 with a stereo and television. Not many young people can resist the 23 to listen to an album—especially if it is time to do schoolwork. 24 the home, the distractions are even more alluring. Children no 25 “hang out” on a neighborhood corner within earshot of Mom and Dad’s 26 to come in and do homework. Instead, they congregate in vast shopping 27 , buzzing video arcades, and gleaming fast-food restaurants. Parents and school assignments have 28 difficulty competing with such enticing alternatives.
Besides 29 with these distractions, parents also have to shield their children from a flood of 30 explicit materials. Today, children can find sex magazines and pornographic 31 in the same corner store that once offered only comics and 32 . Moreover, the movies young people attend often focus on 33 sexual situations. It is difficult to teach children traditional values 34 films show teachers seducing and young people treading sex as a
