阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
On a bright, warm July afternoon, Mac Hollan, a primary school teacher, was cycling from his home to Alaska with his friends. One of his friends had stopped to make a bicycle repair, but they had encouraged Mac to carry on, and they would catch up with him soon. As Mac pedaled (骑行) along alone, he thought fondly of his wife and two young daughters at home. He hoped to show them this beautiful place someday.
Then Mac heard quick and loud breathing behind him. “Man, that's a big dog!” he thought. But when he looked to the side, he saw instantly that it wasn't a dog at all, but a wolf, quickly catching up with him.
Mac's heart jumped. He found out his can of bear spray. With one hand on the bars, he fired the spray at the wolf. A bright red cloud enveloped the animal, and to Mac's relief, it fell back, shaking its head. But a minute later, it was by his side again. Then it attacked the back of Mac's bike, tearing open his tent bag. He fired at the wolf a second time, and again, it fell back only to quickly restart the chase（追赶）。
Mac was pedaling hard now. He waved and yelled at passing cars but was careful not to show down. He saw a steep uphill climb before him. He knew that once he hit the hill, he'd be easy caught up and the wolf's teeth would be tearing into his flesh.
At this moment, Paul and Beeky were driving their car on their way to Alaska. They didn't think much of it when they saw two cyclists repairing their bike on the side of the road. A bit later, they spotted what they, too, assumed was a dog running alongside a man on a bike. As they got closer, they realized that the dog was a wolf. Mac heard a large vehicle behind him. He pulled in front of it as the wolf was catching up fast, just a dozen yards away now.
注意：
1）. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）. 应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）. 续写部分分为两段，每段开头语已为你写好；
4）. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragragh 1:
The car abruptly stopped in front of him.
Paragragh 2:
A few minutes later, the other two cyclists arrived.
My brother and I were alone at home because my parents had gone for a meeting and they had left me in charge. I was doing my homework while my younger brother was watching TV. Suddenly the doorbell rang. My younger brother rushed to the door thinking that our parents had come home, he unlocked the door and opened it.
Outside stood a tall man wearing a black raincoat and black rubber boots. He said he was a salesman and asked politely if out mother or father was at home.
Without thinking, my brother said:” No.” He asked if we would like to buy some comic books which he was selling. I quickly explained that we were not supposed to buy anything without our parent's permission.
Then, as I was about to close the door, he forced his way into our house. He took out a knife and forced me to tie up my brother's hands with some rope which he took out form his pocket. I tied up his hands but tied it in a special way so my brother could untie himself. The man then tied my hands up and locked both of us in the kitchen.
Soon, the went upstairs to search the bedroom for valuables. I managed to teach my brother to untie the rope on the his hands. He then untied me. I rushed to the telephone to call the police, but the line was dead. The doors were all locked from the outside and I did not have the keys to unlock them. Luckily, the robber forgot to lock the kitchen window. My brother managed to get out of the house through the window and I told him to go to the police station nearby and call for help.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右。
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语。
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow（乌鸦）perched on the tree near their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this? ”The son replied, “It is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son the second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Father, I have just now told you It's a crow'.”
After a little while, the old father again asked his son the 3rd time, “What is this?”
At this time some expression of irritation(恼怒) was felt in the son's tone when he said to his father unwillingly. “It's a crow, a crow.” A little while after, the father again asked his son the fourth time, “What is this?”
This time, the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?”
A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered(发皱的) diary, which he had maintained since his son was born.
On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page.
When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:
“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I did not at all feel irritated but I rather felt affection for my innocent son.
注意：
1).所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2).应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的词语；
3).续写部分分为两段，每段开头语已为你写好；
4).续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语；
Paragraph1:After reading the diary.
Paragraph 2: Feeling ashamed, the son got down on his knees before his father.
A: as a volunteer of Friends of Nature(FON), please come to the key roles of this ENPO.
B: Of course. FON, set up in 1994, works towards environmental protection throughout China. We try to instruct the public to promote public involvement and influence the government on issues of environmental protection. We also help enterprise（企业）develop a greater concern for environmental issues.
A: That's a third great force between the government and the public to protect the environment .What can its volunteers do then?
B: We have quite a few environmental programs for the volunteers to participate in, where they can develop themselves to the full and their commitments can make a big difference to nature.
【写作内容】
1）用约30个单词概述对话的主要内容；
2）保护环境需要哪些力量的共同努力？简要谈谈你的看法；
3）如果你是自然之友（FON）的志愿者，谈谈你在环保方面的2-3点做法。
【写作要求】
1）写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2）作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3）不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
Calling Latin a dead language is a matter of semantics (语义学).There are those who would suggest Latin is not dead, and that it lives on in everyday language used by billions of people worldwide. Others argue that because there're routine updates on Latin published by the Roman Catholic Church, it is still alive and developing.
However, Latin is no longer used, on a daily basis, by the vast majority of people outside of specific religious settings, where tradition influences its use. It is no longer anyone's native language. While its use is still taught, Latin is no longer considered to be a developing language to the degree of most modern languages.
The reasons for Latin dying out are numerous. Perhaps the most significant one has to do with the decline of the Roman Empire. During the Roman period, language was standardized to a greater degree. Because Rome was the most powerful political country in the Western world at the time, most of those who had any ambition to succeed had a desire to learn Latin. As a result, the language spread rapidly. However that rapid expansion would eventually begin to plateau (处于停滞状态)and finally decline.
Latin continued to be used during the medieval period. Throughout Europe, it remained the language of choice. However, with nothing to unite the continent, there was no need for a uniform language. So slowly, over a period of hundreds of years, Latin began to change as different regions developed their own dialects (方言),known as the Romance languages today, among which the most commonly spoken and recognizable are Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
Though not directly related to the Romance languages, Latin still has had an effect on many other languages. English, for example, which is not one of the Romance languages but a Germanic one, can trace nearly two-thirds of its words back to Latin roots.
Could you be flexitarian?
What kind of food do you eat? Are you conscious of the types of food you consume? Although there is research on the right diet to follow to help us maintain a healthy lifestyle — but it's hard to know which one to pick and, once chosen, it's harder still to stick to it. And now there's another choice for you.
A flexitarian diet involves eating plant-based foods and only occasionally eating meat and fish. This is a lovely alternative to being a vegetarian by not completely resisting meat.
This eating style allows you to supplement some ingredients that you wouldn't get in a stricter vegan (纯素) diet. And like veganism, flexitarianism isn't about eating carefully to help you lose a few pounds — it's something people choose for ethical reasons, to help the planet. And a study into the global food system and how it affects the climate, has found that eating mainly plant-based foods is one of three key steps towards a sustainable future for all.
This research found that food waste will need to be halved and farming practices will also have to improve to achieve this. But without a single solution, a combined approach is needed. Dr. Marco Springmann, one of the lead authors of the report argued "We really found that a combination of measures would be needed to stay within environmental limits and those include changes towards healthier more plant-based diets."
While vegans think it's wrong for animals to be killed for food, flexitarians believe eating meat once in a while is acceptable. And Dr. Springmann agrees — as long as we "treat it as a luxury, it's probably acceptable but you shouldn't have more than one serving of red meat, which includes beef and pork, per week." And here's another fact to digest: If we moved to this type of diet, the study found that greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture would be cut by more than half.
Should some books be banned from school libraries?
Are there Harry Potter books in your school library? Many kids all over the world are reading J. K. Rowling's books in school. But some parents think their children shouldn't be able to find those and other books in school libraries. Should school libraries keep books that some parents don't approve of? Should they take those books off the shelves? All over the country, schools are wrestling with those questions.
It's true that some hold their argument that some books should be banned from school libraries! "We need certain limits," said one student in Denver, Colorado. He said some books have no place in school libraries. Many people believe that books that contain violence or bad words shouldn't be in schools. Some people want the Harry Potter books removed because they contain talk about wizards and magic.
Most parents know what's good for kids. They have a right to decide which books should or should not be in school libraries.
Books should meet certain standards before they are put in schools. Is this a good book for kids to read? Is it full of violence? Does it contain bad words or ideas kids shouldn't learn about? If a book is not good for all kids, it should not be in a school library. Most parents don't have time to find out everything their kids read. They should be able to trust schools to do that for them.
On the other hand, some believe that books should not be banned from school libraries! "Parents should decide what their own kids read," said Natalie Nicol, of Denver, Colorado. But other parents shouldn't make that choice for them. Many experts say that it's the parents' job, not the school's job, to check out what their kids are reading. If they don't like a book, they should not let their kids read it.
Why should a few parents stop kids from reading stories like the Harry Potter series? Kids should be able to check out books their parents think are OK to read. Many schools let kids borrow certain books if they have a signed paper from a parent. That works fine. A parent doesn't sign the paper if he or she doesn't want the child to read the book. Other kids can read the books if they have permission.
Some books are not OK for all kids to read. But if more adults were careful about what their own kids read, they wouldn't have to ban books from the library.
With more cellphone companies designing models for children, many parents are attracted to buy their kids phones, and pay the bill. According to a July 2012 study, 56% of parents of children aged 8 to12 have given their children a cell phone. According to a recent YouthBeat survey, 12 is the magic number. It is the most common age for kids to get their first cell phone. But 13% of children aged 6 to 10 already have one. That's more than one out of every 10 kids.
Cell phone supporters, including many parents, note that cell phones help kids keep in touch with their friends and families, whether to ask for a ride home from football practice or to call for help when stuck in an emergency (紧急情况). Besides, some cell phones designed for kids can be controlled with settings that allow the phone to only be used in parent-permission ways. What's the harm in that?
However, other people are worried about the effects of cell phones on kids' health and safety. They believe that sending text messages or fielding phone calls while doing homework makes it difficult for kids to stay focused，thus resulting in their poor school work. They also say that kids are spending too much time texting instead of talking to each other. "Our brains evolved (进化) to communicate face to face," says Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, in California. "A lot of this is lost with texting."
And some experts are also concerned about possible health risks. They worry that radiation (辐射)released by cell phones could be harmful to young people. To be safe, they advise limiting talk time.
The Negative Sides of Fast Food
With today's fast lifestyle, it is very hard to keep up with the traditional way of taking care of all human needs. Eating habits are no exception. According to an article in Success magazine(November 1994), America today eats more fast food than ever before. Ninety-six out of every one hundred Americans eat fast food on some kind of regular basis. There are many side effects related to this popular eating habit.
The food sold in most fast food restaurants may not be all that good for us. Everything in the restaurant has to look, taste, and smell the same way. In order for the food to still taste fresh, a lot of chemicals have to be added. As if that were not enough, the main element that the fast food market advertises and competes for is not good food or fresh ingredients, but lowest prices.
People who have the habit of eating fast food rarely even try to change their diet. Instead, people tend to get more and more used to the convenience and taste of fast food. According to a survey, out of every ten fast food eaters, only four will eat the same amount or less, and the other six will double their “loads” of fast food within four years; and out of every ten people who finally get to control their eating disorder, six will come back to eating fast food within six years. These alarming figures seem to be contrary to today's convenient ways of cooking at home. Easy-to-make dishes like those for microwaves, soups etc., would appear to be the solution for the fast food problem, but obviously the real problem is not the trouble of cooking at home, but the addicting simplicity of fast food.
What is eco-fashion? Eco-fashion is about making clothes that considers the environment, the health of consumers and the working conditions of people in the fashion industry.
A closer look at the fashion industry points out many problems that are common practices in the creation of our fashions from the field to the factory. Firstly, the production of textiles pollutes the environment heavily. Cotton-planting uses pesticides; sheep-farming and wool-cleaning bring about global warming. Secondly, every stage of clothing production consumes a great deal of energy and some also involve chemicals which obviously do harm to the surroundings. In addition, there is a lot of waste produced in the process, especially in the form of polluted water. Thirdly, growing purchasing power and our shopping habits further worsen the bad effects. We are now buying clothes in increasing quantities and we are also quick to throw away clothes that have been worn only a couple of times.
Then, how to solve the problem? To a large degree, it is the fashion producers that really have the power and the responsibility to shape our future. There are a great many ways these producers can reduce their ecological footprint, from switching to green energy and reducing energy use, through selecting sustainable materials and choosing local suppliers, to recycling and minimizing waste. On the other hand, as consumers we can all play our part by selecting environmentally friendly clothing and reducing clothing buying.
There is some concern that eco-friendly fashions are just a trend that we will eventually grow tired of but we can make sure that doesn't happen. Now many people are beginning to shop for organic food products because the benefits of eating food free of chemicals are immediate. They relate directly to our personal health. In fact, choosing eco-fashion can also do good to our personal health, though it is mostly done by way of keeping the health of the planet.
How much money should I spend each month? This is asked by college students at the start of every term, and it's become a hot topic of discussion following a controversial online post. The post was about a college student who demanded 4,500 yuan for monthly living expenses from her mom, reported China Daily
In the post, this new college student explained that her school is in a top-tier city and that her expenses included skin-care products and new clothes. Her mother did not agree and "only" gave her 2,000 yuan.
The post started a heated debate. Some people came to her defense. Girls invest a lot in skin-care products and new clothes while boys invest much in shoes, latest electronic devices and equipment for games.
However, someone thinks 4,500 yuan is too much. According to a 2019 report, students in 15 cities spent more than 1,500 yuan a month on average. Beijing topped the list at 2,400 yuan, and Shanghai followed close behind at 2,300 yuan. In some cities, a parent may only earn a monthly salary of 4,000 or 5,000 yuan. Nevertheless, some students insist on buying Dyson vacuum cleaners (吸尘器) for their dormitories instead of common brooms. Others demand Apple laptops to study at Starbucks, instead of going to the library.
【写作内容】
⒈用约30个词概括上文内容；
⒉用约120个词谈谈你对这一现象的看法，包括如下要点：
⑴分析哪些原因造成了大学生生活开销的上涨（不少于两点）；
⑵你觉得文中该大学生的要求是否合理？请阐述你的理由或建议（不少于两点）。
【写作要求】不能直接引用原文句子。
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
The bell rang, announcing the end of the vivid art class Karson loved most. He was delighted that he had created a very satisfying work. So he walked to the back of the classroom to put his work away carefully. There, lying on the carpet in front of the classroom bookcase, was a golden ticket! Karson picked it up. His heart beat faster when he saw that the name line was blank. He couldn't believe his luck!
The boys and girls in Karson's class could earn golden tickets by doing well in their study or by being extra helpful or kind. Once a week their teacher drew a ticket out of a box on her desk and let the winner choose a prize.
Today was the golden ticket drawing, and here was another ticket, just for him! Karson looked around. No one else was near the ticket. All his classmates were at their desks, laughing and talking with each other. Miss Evans was engaged in grading the papers collected earlier in the morning.
Karson decided to write his name on the blank line. Then he could put it into the prize box with the six tickets he'd already earned. With so many chances, one of his tickets would most probably be picked! Then he could choose the pink toy pig for his sister's birthday, just like he had been hoping.
He smiled and reached for the pencil in his pocket. Suddenly his fingers stopped. There was a strange feeling in his chest, and it wasn't his heartbeat. It's finders keepers, right? He wondered. He looked out of the window and tried to figure it out. On the one hand, he did find the ticket, but he hadn't earned it. Somebody must have lost it. But on the other hand, he did need this extra ticket for his great plan!
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段开头语己为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Karson stared at the blank name line for a moment.
Paragraph 2:
"Karson, I'd like you to have another ticket!" Miss Evans said.
Every country in the world has a flag. A flag is a piece of cloth with a picture or pattern on it. The flag is a symbol that stands for the country. It is a custom in many places for people to fly or hang a flag. The flag tells something about the country and its culture. This may be about its land, its history, or the things that the people do there.
Many flags have patterns of stripes (条纹). The flag of Italy has a green stripe, a white stripe and a red stripe. Each stripe tells something about Italy. The white stripe is symbol of Italy's snowy mountains. Some flags show pictures. The flag of Canada has a picture of a red maple (枫叶) leaf, which is a symbol of the maple trees in Canada. The Mexican flag has both a pattern of stripes and a picture. The picture shows an eagle eating a snake. This picture comes from a very old Mexican story.
A flag may also tell about a country's past. The American flag is called the Stars and Stripes. It has pattern of fifty stars and thirteen stripes. The fifty stars are a symbol of the fifty states in the country and the thirteen stripes are a symbol of the country's first thirteen colonies (殖民地).
However, a flag may be a symbol of a group, a school or an event like the Olympics. The flag of the Olympics shows five rings of different colors that connect. Each ring is a symbol for a part of the world that joins in the Olympics. The Red Cross is a group that helps people who are in trouble. If a person sees the Red Cross flag, which has a red cross against a white background, he knows he can ask for help. People may fly a flag as a custom on a holiday. Children's Day in Japan is a holiday when the country wishes for children's happiness. It is a custom on this day to fly a flag with a picture of a fish.
Growing coffee beans is a huge, making-money business. However, unluckily, full-sun production is replacing the industry and causes a lot of damage. The change in growing coffee from shade-grown(荫下栽种) production to full-sun production brings certain animals and birds in danger, and even breaks the world's ecological balance(生态平衡).
On a local level, the damage of the forest that is required by full-sun fields affects the area's birds and animals. The shade of the forest trees gives a home to birds and other species which depend on the trees' flowers and fruits. Full-sun coffee growers destroy this forest home. As a result, many species are quickly in extinction.
On a more global level, the damage to the rainforest for full-sun coffee fields also does harm to human life. Medical research often makes use of the forests' plant and animal life, and the ruin of such species could keep researchers from finding ways for certain diseases. In addition, new coffee-growing methods are harmful to the water locally, and lastly the world's groundwater.
Both locally and globally, the continued spread of full-sun coffee plantations(种植园)could mean breaking the balance of the rainforest ecology. The loss of shade trees is already causing a little change in the world's climate(气候), and studies show that the loss of oxygen-giving trees also leads to air pollution and global warming. Besides, the new growing methods are bringing about acidic (酸性) soil conditions.
It is clear that the way much coffee is grown affects a lot, from the local environment to the global ecology. But coffee users do have a choice. They can buy shade-grown coffee whenever possible, although at a higher cost. The future health of the planet and mankind is surely worth more than an inexpensive cup of coffee.
One morning, little William was taking the bus to school. As usual, the students were doing all sorts of things on the school bus, like chatting with friends, listening to music, or just staring out of the window. Meanwhile, William was watching news reports on his phone. It was about 10 minutes before he would get off when he heard a loud noise. Some students in the front were screaming, and Willam, surprised, looked up to see what was happening. He found that the bus driver was no longer in his seat. He had passed out and fallen onto the bus steps.
The students were scared and didn't know what to do. William, however, had received bus safety training in Grade 5 and had learned how to use the bus' two-way radio in an emergency.
Now, in the face of danger, he quickly jumped out of his seat, grabbed the radio, and reported that the driver needed immediate help. The radios on other buses allowed the bus driver's workmates to hear William report the emergency. Soon, another bus driver and an ambulance arrived to help.
When they got there, the bus driver was awake, sitting up but unable to speak. They sent the driver to hospital. After the incident, William and everyone else on the bus went to school as usual.
William used what he had learned to help a sick bus driver get quick medical treatment. His brave actions attracted a lot of attention. People in his hometown now call the 11-year-old a hero. A local TV station even interviewed him, although he didn't want to be the focus of the public.
An old wooden seat that Susan extremely valued often reminded her of mother's Golden Rule.
Back in the 1930s, the country life was really tough. One day after dinner, Susan's mother sat on the seat, announcing to the children the Golden Rule: "Treat others the way you want to be treated." Susan reflected carefully and seriously on what her mother had said. She resolved that she would keep in mind and follow the rule.
One Saturday afternoon, she went to farmer Jason's inn (小旅馆) to get the pay for her mother's washing for the guests there, which amounted to five dollars. She found Jason in the yard, who, as all the villagers knew, was selfish and mean.
His eyes clouded with anger, as he had just finished a quarrel with one of his guests. He held in his hand an open wallet, full of bills. He barely noticed Susan until she made her request for the money. Instead of shouting at her, as usual, for troubling him when he was busy, he handed her a bank note.
Feeling relieved for escaping from Jason so easily, Susan hurried out of the inn. When carefully putting the money into her pocket, she discovered that Jason had given her two bills instead of one, and her first reaction was joy at the unexpected prize. She looked around and there was nobody nearby to share her discovery. "It is mine. All mine." she said to herself. "I will buy mum a new coat with it, and she can give her old one to sister Mary, and then Mary can go to the Sunday school with me next winter. I wonder if I can buy a pair of shoes for brother Tom too."
Just at that moment, she realized that Jason must have given the extra money to her by mistake, and therefore she had no right to own it. But a voice of temptation (诱惑) whispered, "He gave it, and you can keep it. He will never know, even if it is a mistake. "
As Susan hurried home, this conflict went on in her mind.
……
Susan's face became red with embarrassment and annoyance.
There was a thick forest on the side of a mountain. Many kinds of animals lived in the forest. A deer was eating grass and leaves with her two young ones. The young ones wandered happily here and there. The deer followed her fawns(幼鹿)into a cave. The deer was frightened because it was a tiger's cave. There were bones of dead animals all over the cave. Fortunately, the tiger was not inside the cave at the time.
The deer was trying to lead her young ones out of the cave when she heard a loud roar. She saw the tiger at a distance coming towards the cave. It was dangerous to go out of the cave now. She thought of a plan. The deer raised her voice and shouted, “My dear young children do not weep. I shall capture(捕捉)a tiger for you to eat. You can have a good dinner. ”
The tiger heard these words and became frightened. He thought, “Whose is that strange voice from the cave?A dangerous animal is staying inside to capture me. I shall run away to escape death. ”The tiger began to run away from there as fast as possible.
A jackal(胡狼) saw the running tiger. “Why are you running in great fear?”the jackal asked. The tiger said, “My friend, a powerful and fierce animal is in my cave. The young ones are crying for a tiger to eat. The mother is promising to capture a tiger for them. So, I am running away. ”
The cunning jackal was now sure the tiger was a coward(懦夫). It said, “Don't be afraid. No animal is fiercer or stronger than a tiger. Let us go together to find out. ”
But the tiger said, “I do not want to take a chance. You may run away. I will be left alone to die. So, I will not come with you. ”
The jackal said, “Trust me. Let us knot(打结) our tails together. Then I will not be able to leave you. ”The tiger agreed unwillingly to this proposal. So the jackal tied their tails in a knot. Now they walked towards the cave together.
Paragraph 1:
The deer saw the jackal and the tiger coming together.
Paragraph 2:
The tiger was shocked to hear this and he was sure now the jackal cheated him.
Is the traditional family dinner a thing of the past?In today's households where both parents go to work and kids have busy schedules with school, and many of afternoon activities and much homework, finding time for a gathering at the table seems impossible. Yet, studies have shown time and again that eating together has multiple benefits for family members, especially children.
According to a number of reports issued by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, children who eat at least five times a week with their family are at lower risk of developing poor eating habits, weight problems or alcohol dependencies, and tend to perform better academically than their peers who frequently eat alone or away from home.
Eating together as a family is not just about food and nutrition. Food has become so easily and cheaply available that we no longer appreciate its significance, says Professor Robin Fox, who teaches anthropology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “We have to rediscover its importance and its value. ”Sharing a meal with loved ones should be considered a special event, which can almost take on the form of a ceremony, as it was practiced by our ancestors, for whom finding food was a constant struggle.
Besides appreciation for the value of food, there are also many social elements that come into play when families share meals, says Miriam Weinstein, author of The Surprising Power of Family Meals. The dinner table can be the perfect environment where kids learn how to conduct conversations, observe good manners, serve others, listen, solve conflicts and compromise.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the simple act of eating at home surrounded by family will save children from developing unhealthy lifestyles or making regrettable choices down the road. It may not make them more virtuous(品行端正的) or socially more responsible. But it can form a basis for a lot of things that point them in the right direction.
