My dearest daughter,
As I looked across at you sitting on the sofa watching The X Factor, I noticed that you are no longer a child, and that having just celebrated your 14th birthday, you are now a young woman starting a journey into becoming an adult woman. As I looked at you, I remembered myself at 14, and the vastly different places we are beginning this journey from.
Your identity as a mixed-race young woman, with an English father and a Pakistani mother, has already influenced how you place yourself in this world. Until now, you are unaware of the personal struggles that I took at the age of 25 to marry. How it felt when my mother refused to come to my wedding. The sharp criticisms of the Asian community that such marriages do not work out and always end in divorce. The confidence I had to grow, as we chose to live in a multicultural community, as I refused to be shamed into living in the leafier white suburbs.
Then, at the age of 30, I became your mum with all the joys and struggles this brought, as I refused the Asian traditions for a new baby's arrival. From your birth, your life could not have been more different from mine. I was brought up on a council estate, within a tight-knit extended Muslim family, through which poverty, racism and neglect were woven. I was never given the freedoms or the opportunity to experience new things. Now, as I hear you play your piano, I am grateful that you have these opportunities.
So many doors were closed to me as a young person, and as I fought for small steps of freedom, I soon learned that it was better to do what I wanted without the knowledge of my parents, and so deceit and deception(欺骗) became woven into my life too. The pressures to obey, to be a "good Muslim" girl and to keep the family honour were choking. Behind closed doors at home, the neglect and abuse took place. It was hidden; I felt the shame, lived with the fear and suffered alongside my sister and two younger brothers. Oh, the power we thought our parents had over us! I was convinced that one day my father would indeed beat us so hard that leaving us for dead, he would, as his threats said, bury us in the large back garden and tell the school he had taken us back to Pakistan for good. My sister and I longed for a different blue sky to live under.
As a daughter of immigrant parents, I carried their hopes of a better education for their children my own veins(血管) pulsing with the hard-work ethic(道德) and need to be grateful for the opportunity of a free education. And it was education that provided me with the strength to find my own blue sky. I fought to leave home to go to university at the age of 18, and never returned to live with my parents again.
Now as you explore your mixed-race heritage, which I hope we have supported you to do with visits to Pakistan and ensuring you go to multi-cultural schools, I want you to take the very best of all that is Asian with you as you become a woman.
The struggles of identity and belonging will come but I hope that we have given you a strong foundation from which to explore these struggles. All the opportunities and freedoms that I only dreamed of as a young woman, I have offered you. I have chosen a different path of loving you as my daughter, with an unconditional love that many consider "western".
I want you to know that although your journey has been vastly different. I am excited as I watch you standing on the threshold of becoming a woman for all the adventures and possibilities the future holds for you.
May you fly your blue sky with grace, confidence and hope as you find your place in this beautiful and crazy world.
Loving you now and always.
Mommy
【小题1】Mommy's mother refused to attend her wedding probably because _____.| A．she married against the wishes of her family |
| B．she refused traditional Asian wedding ceremony |
| C．she would leave the family to settle in the white suburbs |
| D．she would bring shame to the multicultural community |
| A．her childhood was no different from her daughter's |
| B．her parents treated her the way she does her daughter |
| C．her daughter experienced the same traditions at birth with her |
| D．her daughter can enjoy the opportunities which she didn’t |
| A．She behaved like a good Muslim girl. | B．She fought against her Muslim identity. |
| C．She suffered much abuse in the family. | D．She was forced to drop out of school. |
| A．provide her daughter with more opportunities and freedoms |
| B．increase her daughter's exposure to different cultures |
| C．encourage her daughter to grow up to be a better woman |
| D．ensure her daughter more opportunities to visit Pakistan |
| A．uncover the sufferings she had as a teenage girl |
| B．criticize the social prejudice in her community |
| C．emphasize the importance of family support |
| D．encourage her daughter to try to achieve her dream |
Five star fathers and their children travel around China, riding camels through the western deserts, fishing off the east coast, and selling vegetables for their bus fare home in southwestern Yunnan province. One dad doesn’t know how to do his daughter’s hair, but give him a couple of days — he’ll figure it out. Another one must survive with his son for three days in the desert, where, because neither can cook, the two only eat instant noodles.
These story lines are part of Where Are We Going, Dad? which, since its first show in October, has become one of China’s most popular television shows, covering more than 600 million viewers each week. And searches for Where Are We Going, Dad? turn up over 40 million hits on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter.
“In traditional Chinese culture, the common conception of parenthood is that the father is strict and the mother is kind. But on the show, we see fathers who are much gentler on their kids and more concerned with their upbringing,” said Li Minyi, an associate professor of early childhood education at the leading Beijing Normal University. “An important question arises in this show for modern Chinese society — what is the role of fathers in today’s China?”
“As they raise their children, parents are growing up at the same time,” said Wang Renping, a popular education expert. “They cannot use parenting styles from 20 years ago to guide the development of children born 20 years later.”
The attraction of Where Are We Going, Dad? lies in the chance to have a close look at the lives of popular Chinese stars and their children. Audiences like watching the failed attempts of star dads making dinner, braiding hair(编头发), and disciplining children — tasks often left to mothers in a society still influenced by the opinion that “men rule outside and women rule inside.”
【小题1】From the passage, we can draw a conclusion that Where Are We Going, Dad? is _____.
| A．a match | B．a novel |
| C．a TV show | D．a news report |
| A．how the fathers do housework at home |
| B．how the children study in their spare time |
| C．how the fathers look after and guide their children |
| D．how the children and their father travel around China |
| A．In modern society, men should not care too much about their kids |
| B．Where Are We Going, Dad? has the most number of viewers in China |
| C．In Chinese tradition, fathers always play an active part in their children’s lives |
| D．While they bring up their children, parents are improving their parenting styles |
| A．audiences enjoy laughing at others’ failure in life |
| B．it can make people laugh and think at the same time |
| C．people love watching the stars and their children’s lives closely |
| D．it presents a new generation of men’s role in their children’s lives |
Bad things sometimes happen to you at school or with a friend. Then who would you like to talk to?
Family is an important part of your everyday life. You can be yourself in front of your family members every day and they will accept you for who you are.
What are the ways that you can strengthen your family tie? You can make a family fun night each week.
Your family is a team. Do you remember when your family tried to help you deal with a challenge? Are there moments when your family tried to get you out of sadness?
| A．Who do you turn to as well? |
| B．Friendship is a bridge that seems weak. |
| C．It can be a game night or a campfire night. |
| D．Who do you love most in your whole life? |
| E．It takes hard work to have a strong family tie. |
| F．Family helps you shape yourself and your life. |
| G．Your family will love you no matter what happens. . |
“Have you checked the oil in the car, Ted?” my father used to say to me. Sometimes our phone calls would begin and end with an only inquiry(询问) about the oil, without asking anything else. Fathers have lots of love to give, but it’s often provided through useful advice. In my experience, it’s mostly about the car.
Why can’t fathers just say “I love you” or “It’s great to see you”? Why can’t the sentences “I care about you” and “You made my life better from the moment you were born” be heard? Because fathers tend to express their true feelings indirectly. You just have to understand the language—Fatherlish(父亲式语言).
When I was 17 years old, I went on my first road trip in that old car. My father stood on the corner on a cold early morning to say goodbye. “Roads are dangerous,” he said, “so don’t try driving faster than a horse. And remember to take a break every two hours. And every time you stop for gas, you really should check the oil.” At the time I thought his speech was pretty funny and old.
Dad’s long gone now. But after all these years, I realize that if I had owned a copy of the Fatherlish-to-English dictionary, I would have understood that the speech that I always laughed at was simply Dad’s way to express love and care.
【小题1】What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．The author’s father expressed his love differently. |
| B．The author forgot to check the oil regularly. |
| C．The author wanted to buy a new car badly. |
| D．The author’s father preferred to make phone calls. |
| A．To show the danger of the trip. | B．To tell a very exciting experience. |
| C．To explain the rules of driving. | D．To present his father’s hidden love. |
| A．Caring. | B．Traditional. | C．Funny. | D．Old. |
| A．Checking the Oil | B．Making Phone Calls |
| C．Speaking Fatherlish | D．Taking Helpful Advice |
组卷网是一个信息分享及获取的平台，不能确保所有知识产权权属清晰，如您发现相关试题侵犯您的合法权益，请联系组卷网
