Parents are a child’s first teachers. But some parents never learned from good examples. In New York City, Covenant House tries to help homeless young mothers become good parents.
The twelve or so teenagers who live at the shelter attend parenting classes four days a week. The class is called Mommy and Me.
Teacher Delores Clemens is a mother of five and a grandmother. She teaches basic skills, like how to give a baby a bath and how to dress a baby in different seasons.
She remembers one student who learned from her mother not to pick up a crying baby. The mother said that would only make the child needy.
“I said ‘That’s not true. You have to hold your baby! He is crying for a reason. If you never pick him up, he’s going to keep crying. Pick your baby up. Hug(擁抱)him! And she started to do that. They just want a little hugging and a little love. And it works!” Delores Clemens said.
Delores Clemens says her students also learn how to be good mothers by letting themselves be mothered. “I’m doing something for them that never has been done for them before.”
In class, with her baby son, is Natasha. She lived on the streets. She is glad not only for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. As she told reporter Adam Phillips, she is also glad for the help they offer in looking for a safer life.
“Did you go to high school?”
“Yes.”
“Did you graduate?”
“No, I didn’t. I was in my last year and then, I got pregnant(懷孕)and I got lazy.”
“You look like you are willing to accept responsibility(責(zé)任)for that.”
“Yes, I am, and I would like to finish.”
Some teenage mothers wish they themselves could be children again. 18-year-old Placida knows that feeling. “Because you have to get up every two hours in the middle of the night, and you can’t go out and say ‘I am going to buy this for myself.’ No. I have to buy pampers, clothes and food. So now it’s two. So it’s very hard.” Placida said.
【小題1】What did Natasha want to finish high school for?

每日一讀

　　Mr Bill is going to the shops. He wants to buy some food for supper. He goes into the food shop and sees a woman with ten children. All the children are wearing the same clothes: white hats, blue coats and black trousers.

　　"Are all the children yours?" Mr Bill asks the woman.

　　"Yes, they are," she answers.

　　"Do you always put the same clothes on them?" asks Mr Bill.

　　"Yes," answers the woman. "I put the same clothes on them because I don't want to lose any of them. When (當(dāng)……時候) they are with other children, it's easy to find them out. And I don't want to take other children home by mistake (錯誤地). When other children are with mine, it's easy to see them, because their clothes are different."

(1) Mr Bill goes to the shop to ________.

[　　]

(2) The woman is the ten children's ________.

[　　]

(3) All the children wear ________.

[　　]

(4) Which is NOT true?

[　　]

A．The woman doesn't want to lose any of her children.

B．It's easy to tell the children with the same clothes from others.

C．Some other children often go home with the woman.

D．The woman doesn't want to take other children home.

(5) Which can be the title (題目) ?

[　　]

A．Shopping

B．Ten Children with the Same Clothes

C．Mr Bill and Ten Children

D．Mother and Children