A Baby’s Growth
1. To describe a baby's growth, the old saying “one thing leads to another” should really read, “one thing leads to an explosion.” The perfection of vision and the ability to hold his head up allow appreciation of visual space. The evolution of increasingly efficient reaching also lets the baby appreciate and participate in his three-dimensional world.

2. You may notice that your baby can grab toys with either hand. This is partly because the baby has learned to grasp an object even if it touches his hand lightly or his eyes are averted. By the end of the fourth month, he can probably alternate hands to grab the toys or transfer a toy from one hand to the other. He may even wave it briskly, then transfer it and repeat the waving, shuttling it back and forth between hands. In imitating the behavior of one hand with the other, the baby may be becoming aware that he can do the same thing with each arm and that each hand is distinct from the other. This awareness is important to his receiving information about space. The baby also begins to see himself act when he repeatedly reaches for and grasps things. He starts to distinguish himself from the outer world.

3. If you would like another sign of this growth process, try one of Gesell's measures of mental growth, the behavior of a baby before a mirror. According to Gesell, a baby will smile at his image at around twenty weeks of age. Hold your baby up to a mirror and watch him examine the faces there. He will probably attend most to his own image and perhaps smile at it. As his image returns the smile, he may become active and vocalize. He may also look back and forth between your image and you as if the duplication puzzles him. A baby who  knows his mother's face cannot understand two of them. Calling softly to your baby, as he looks at your confusing double, complicates matters even further. His turning back to the real you shows that a baby four months old is likely to have the ability of preference in discrimination.

4. An early attachment to one object—a toy or a stuffed animal—is another index of discrimination, as well as self-development, for the baby's interests are going beyond himself. Most babies do not prefer one toy this early, but some will. After exploring each toy, your baby may start reaching and playing with one special one. In the months to come, the toy or anything else the baby identifies with himself by wearing or carrying may become a “lovey”. A “lovey” will be slept with, chewed, hugged, loved, and “talked to.” These “loveies” give the baby a way of coping with the necessary separations from the mother. A friendly and familiar toy bear may just make him easier on himself. Rather than feeling threatened, a mother should be flattered by her baby’s extension of affection elsewhere. A baby with the heart to find a “lovey” is showing early mental resourcefulness and flexibility.

练习：
1. Paragraph 1 ______________
2. Paragraph 2 ______________
3. Paragraph 3 ______________
4. Paragraph 4 ______________

A. Gesell's measure of the baby's mental growth
B. The baby learns to set himself apart from the outer world through playing with toys
C. The baby's confusion in front of a mirror
D. Significance of one development in a baby's life
E. The baby’s love for “Loveies” indicates early mental resourcefulness and flexibility
F. The functions of a “lovey”

5. The baby’s ability to sense the visual space owes to ______________.
6. In imitating the behavior of one hand with the other, the baby is able to ______________.
7. A baby will smile as his image at ______________.
8. The baby’s extension of affection should make the mother ______________.

A around twenty weeks of age
B. feel flattered
C. tell one hand from the other
D. the perfection of vision and the ability to hold his head up
E. has preference among his toys
F. explore his toys
Heartbeat of America
1. New York—the Statue of Liberty, the skyscrapers, the beautiful shops on Fifth Avenue and the many theaters on Broadway. This is America's cultural capital. It is also her biggest city, with a population of nearly 8 million.  In the summer it is hot, hot, hot and in the winter it can be very cold. Still there are hundreds of things to do and see all the year round.

2. Manhattan is the real center of the city. When people say “New York City,” they usually mean Manhattan. Most of the interesting shops, buildings and museums are here. In addition, Manhattan is the scene of New York’s busy night life. In 1605 the first Europeans came to Manhattan from Holland. They bought the island from the Native Americans for a few glass necklaces worth about $26 today.

3. Wall Street in Manhattan is the financial heart of the USA. It is also the most important banking center in the world. It is a street of “skyscrapers.” These are those incredible, high buildings, which Americans invented, and built faster and higher than anyone else. Perhaps the two most spectacular skyscrapers in New York are the two towers of the New York World Trade Center.  When the sun sets, their 110 floors shine like pure gold.

4. Like every big city, New York has its own traffic system. Traffic jams can be terrible. It's usually quickest to go by subway. The New York subway is easy to use and quite cheap. The subway goes to almost every corner of Manhattan. But it is not safe to take the subway late a night because in some places you could get robbed. New York buses are also easy to use. You see more if you go by bus. There are more than 30,000 taxis in New York. They are easy to see, because they are bright yellow and carry large TAXI signs. Taxis do not go outside the city. However, they will go to the airports. In addition to the taxi fare, people give the taxi driver a tip of 15 percent of the fare's value.

5. Central Park is a beautiful green oasis in the middle of New York’s concrete desert. It is surprisingly big, with lakes and woods, as well as organized recreation areas. New Yorkers love Central Park, and they use it all the time. In the winter, they go ice-skating, and in the summer roller-skating. They play ball, ride horses and have picnics. They go bicycling and boating. There is even a children's zoo, with wild birds and animals.

6. Along the east side of Central Park runs Fifth Avenue, once called “Millionaire's Row.” In the 19th century, the richest men in America built their magnificent homes here. It is still the most fashionable street in the city, with famous department stores.

7. Broadway is the street where you will find New York's best-known theaters. But away from the bright lights and elegant clothes of Broadway are many smaller theaters. Their plays an called “off-Broad-way”and are often more unusual than the Broadway shows. As well as many theaters, New York has a famous opera house. This is the Metropolitan, where international stars sing from September until April. Carnegie Hall is the city's more popular concert hall. But night life in New York offers more than classical music and theater. There are hundreds of nightclubs where people go to eat and dance.

练习：
1. Paragraph 3 ______________
2. Paragraph 4 ______________
3. Paragraph 5 ______________
4. Paragraph 6 ______________

A. The Financial Center of USA
B. The Night Life in New York
C. The Traffic Facilities of New York
D. Shopping Center for the Rich
E. New York—An International City
F. Central Park—A Place of Recreation for the New Yorkers

5. The island of Manhattan was bought by the Hollanders from the native Americans __________________________.
6. Central Park is a good place where the New Yorkers can go and ______________.
7. Fifth Avenue is the place ______________.
8. For those play-lovers who are interested in what is unusual, the small theaters might be more attractive ______________.

A. do whatever they like for relaxation.
B. where you can play all kinds of ball games
C. than the world famous Broadway
D. enjoy the colorful night life of the city
E. where the wealthy people would go shopping
F. for what seems to be a very small sum today