Tired of bad handwriting, Richie decided to perfect his penmanship (書法) last January. Though the year progressed, his writing didn’t. “My penmanship just got worse,” he says. “I get tired of trying to write neatly.”

Like Richie, many teenagers make resolutions in the New Year. More than half of Americans say they make a New Year’s resolution – but only one-third of them keep to it, reports the University of North Carolina, US.

Demanding (追求) perfection  stops people working on their resolutions, says Chicago life coach Alison Miller.

Resolutions sometimes can be unrealistic (不現(xiàn)實).. Going for a goal  that’s too hard to achieve can leave a person feeling sad. “Saying ‘I’m going to look like a super-model’ is going to make you unhappy,” she says.

Sure, it’s a great idea to aim for improvement, but not all resolutions are helpful. The difference between good and bad resolutions is whether you expect too much from yourself, Miller says. For example, it’s OK to say, “I’m going to eat fewer French fries,” but striving (力爭)  for a perfect body isn’t reasonable.

Timing can also damage a resolution. Kevin M., 16, says he doesn't set resolutions because 12 months is unrealistic. “It’s too long and you start putting off keeping your resolution during summer,” he says.

He’s considering a career in music, but says school is his main focus. Knowing how hard he has to work, he says he’ll “be lucky to get 30 minutes a day” of practice. But a bit is better than nothing, and making reminders can help you make progress. Miller says teenagers should write down their goals and say to themselves, “What can I do today to make my goal a reality?”

“It’s just small steps along the way. It’s not about doing it all at once,” Miller says.

1.What’s the writer’s purpose by talking Richie in the first paragraph?

A．To advise people to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

B．To show that some people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

C．To tell readers why Richie isn’t a good hand writer.

D．To show why New Year’s resolutions are important.

2.Many Americans stop working on their New Year’s resolutions because ______.

A．they think it is silly to make resolutions

B．they find keeping resolutions is boring

C．the time of keeping resolutions is too short

D．their choice of resolution turns out to be unrealistic

3.Which of the following statements would Miller probably agree with?

A．Teenagers should set themselves perfect goals.

B．To achieve your goals, you needn’t write them down.

C．People should try to realize their goals step by step.

D．A good resolution helps people realize their possibility.

閱讀理解．

　　Mr Green lives in a village. He has a few farms and is the richest there. And he has pigs, chicks, cows and sheep. He works in the fields with some workers, and his wife has to do all housework at home. So she's very busy and asks her husband to employ a girl to help her, but he doesn't agree.

　　“There're so many chicks, dear,” said the woman one day, “I can't look after them at all.”

　　“That's easy,” said Mr Green. “There's Mr Black's farm outside our enclosure walls and the chicks. We'd better make a few holes in the walls and chicks will go to his farm through them and eat his vegetables.”

　　“That's a good idea!” the woman said happily.

　　And soon Mr Black knew about it. He told Mr Green and his wife about it. They promised they would stop their chicks doing it but they didn't keep their promises at all. The man thought for a while and found a way. He put nearly twenty eggs near the holes one afternoon. And that evening, when Mrs Green was counting her chicks, he cried out in his farm, “Oh, I'm lucky today! I've found twenty eggs in my farm.”

　　Of course, the woman saw it herself. And the next morning Mr Black found all the holes had been stopped up(堵死).

1．The Greens and the Blacks live ________.

[　　]

A．in the different villages

B．in the same town

C．far from each other

D．next to each other

2．Mrs Green is busy because ________.

[　　]

A．she has a few farms

B．she has to do much housework

C．she has to help her husband

D．she isn't strong enough to do all

3．Mr Green doesn't agree with his wife because ________.

[　　]

A．he has little money to employ a helper for his wife

B．he thinks his wife is very lazy

C．he tries his best to save money

D．he has enough time to help her to do some housework

4．Mr Green made some holes in the walls to ________.

[　　]

A．let his chicks go to Mr Black's farm

B．lay(產(chǎn)) some eggs in Mr Black's fields

C．make Mr Black angry

D．watch his chicks

5．The Greens thought ________, so they stopped up the holes night.

[　　]

A．Mr Black would kill their chicks

B．their hens laid the eggs in Mr Black's fields

C．Mr Black's chicks would go to their farms

D．Mr Black would tell the police about it

 
Tired of bad handwriting, Richie decided to perfect his penmanship (書法) last January. Though the year progressed, his writing didn’t. “My penmanship just got worse,” he says. “I get tired of trying to write neatly.”
Like Richie, many teenagers make resolutions in the New Year. More than half of Americans say they make a New Year’s resolution – but only one-third of them keep to it, reports the University of North Carolina, US.
Demanding (追求) perfection  stops people working on their resolutions, says Chicago life coach Alison Miller.
Resolutions sometimes can be unrealistic (不現(xiàn)實).. Going for a goal  that’s too hard to achieve can leave a person feeling sad. “Saying ‘I’m going to look like a super-model’ is going to make you unhappy,” she says.
Sure, it’s a great idea to aim for improvement, but not all resolutions are helpful. The difference between good and bad resolutions is whether you expect too much from yourself, Miller says. For example, it’s OK to say, “I’m going to eat fewer French fries,” but striving (力爭)  for a perfect body isn’t reasonable.
Timing can also damage a resolution. Kevin M., 16, says he doesn't set resolutions because 12 months is unrealistic. “It’s too long and you start putting off keeping your resolution during summer,” he says.
He’s considering a career in music, but says school is his main focus. Knowing how hard he has to work, he says he’ll “be lucky to get 30 minutes a day” of practice. But a bit is better than nothing, and making reminders can help you make progress. Miller says teenagers should write down their goals and say to themselves, “What can I do today to make my goal a reality?”
“It’s just small steps along the way. It’s not about doing it all at once,” Miller says.
【小題1】What’s the writer’s purpose by talking Richie in the first paragraph?