Guide dogs are an accepted part of everyday life, but what about guide horses? There are really such useful animals, at least in the US.

　　The animals are miniature horses, no more than 86 cm high at the shoulders, like big toys. They are well trained, just as guide dogs are (including house training). They go on public transport, including planes, with their owners and into buildings—if necessary wearing specially made shoes to avoid falling down on floors—but they sleep outside. They might be chosen in preference to a guide dog because the owner is afraid of dogs or wants an animal that will live longer.

　　According to Michigan student Mona Ramouni, it’s not right to have a dog inside the house for some religious (宗教的) reasons. Ramouni, who is blind, says her guide horse Cali has changed her whole world. “She has made it possible for me to do anything I want to do.”

　　1. What are guide horses like?

　　A. Smaller than usual. B. Stronger than usual.

　　C. Faster than usual. D. Cleverer than usual.

　　2. Which of following cannot guide horses do?

　　A. Go on streets. B. Get on planes.

　　C. Work in houses. D. Sleep in houses.

　　3. Why does Mona Ramouni need a guide horse?

　　A. She is old. B. She is young.

　　C. She is blind. D. She is deaf.

　　You’re buying a used car, moving into a new house, or deciding which doctor should treat your illness. These are times when you need to get directly to the core (核心) of an important matter.

　　Asking general questions gets little valuable information and may even result in unreal answers, says Julia Minson, a visiting scholar in decision sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in the US. The best way, says Minson, is to ask a lot of questions that discover there are problems.

　　Let’s say someone is selling a used iPod. An example of a general question is “What can you tell me about it?” A positive-assumption (正面推测) question is “There aren’t any problems with it, right?” But a negative-assumption question, such as “What problems have you had with it?” will get the most honest answer, found Minson and her team.

　　In a study, 87% of the sellers warned the buyers to problems when asked a negative-assumption question, while 59% of those did the same thing to a positive-assumption one.

　　When you want the truth, you have to ask for it. What problems does this car have? What are the worst parts of this job? How many people with my kind of illness have been successfully treated? Your questions should communicate that you are sure there will be difficulties and that you want to know about them.

　　4. What can we do if we want the truth, according to the passage?

　　A. Ask for it ourselves. B. Talk with honest people.

　　C. Study it ourselves. D. Do some experiments.

　　5. What kind of questions has the best result?

　　A. General questions. B. Positive-assumption questions.

　　C. Careful questions. D. Negative-assumption questions.

　　6 Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

　　A. How to Find Honest People B. How to Talk with Others

　　C. How to Get an Honest Answer D. How to Avoid Being Cheated

　　Researchers have recently discovered how to make families work more successfully. A surprising idea has appeared: the single most important thing you can do for your family, it seems, is to develop a family story.

　　I first heard this idea in the mid-1990s from Marshall Duke, a professor at Emory University. Duke was studying stories in families when his wife, a children’s learning specialist, made a discovery: “The students who know a lot about their families will do better when they face challenges (挑战),” Sara said.

　　Interested, Duke set out to test her conclusion. He and Emory workmate Robyn Fivush developed a method called the “Do You Know?” degree that asked children to answer 20 questions such as: Do you know where your grandparents grew up? Do you know where your mum and dad went to high school? Do you know about an illness or something really terrible that happened in your family?

　　Duke and Fivush asked those questions to members of four dozen families in 2001. They then compared the children’s results with a group of psychological (心理学的) tests the children had taken and reached a conclusion that agreed to Sara’s theory. The more children knew about their families’ histories, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-respect, and the more successfully they believed their families worked from generation to generation (代代传承).

　　“We were blown away,” Duke said. The researchers mentioned the children after the terrible events of September 11, 2001. “Once again,” Duke said, “the ones who knew more about their families proved to be stronger.”

　　Why does knowing where her grandmother went to school help a child overcome something terrible and difficult? Duke said that children who have the most self-confidence have what he calls “a strong intergenerational self”. They know that they come from something bigger than themselves.

　　Duke suggested that parents do the same activities with their children again and again. Any kind of activities work to teach the sense of history: holidays, vacations, big family get-togethers, even a drive to the shop. “These traditions become part of your family,” Duke said.

　　Years of research have showed that most happy families also communicate successfully, but it’s not simply a matter of talking through problems. Talking also means telling a positive (正面的) story about yourselves. When faced with a challenge, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter (章) to their life story that shows them overcoming the difficulty. This skill is very important for children when they are growing up.

　　The bottom lines: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s best moments and your relations’ ability to overcome difficulty. That act alone may prove the fact that your family will thrive (兴旺) for many generations to come.

　　7. What does the passage mainly tell us?

　　A. Happy children are usually brought up in happy families.

　　B. Our family is the most important place to teach children.

　　C. There are many things for the young to learn from the old.

　　D. Family history plays an important part when children grow up.

　　8. What can the “Do you know?” degree tell us?

　　A. What relation in one’s family is. B. What story one’s family has had.

　　C. How much one knows his family. D. How much one loves his family.

　　9. The underlined sentence “We were blown away” in the passage may mean “______.”

　　A. We were surprised very much B. We were deeply moved

　　C. We were punished seriously D. We were completely lost

　　10. Which of the following is true, according to the passage?

　　A. The event of September 11, 2001 helped Duke draw his conclusion.

　　B. Duke thinks that a strong intergenerational self is the most important.

　　C. Duke and Sara’s research work led us to an unexpected conclusion.

　　D. According to Duke, positive talks will add new chapters to one’s life.

　　1. A 2. D 3. C

　　4. A 5. D6. C

　　7. D 8. C 9. A 10. B

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